Part 139

This festival of St. John is observed by the church of England, and consequently his name is in the church calendar and the almanacs. The church of Rome, from whence the celebration is derived, also keeps another festival to St. John on the 6th of May, concerning which, and the evangelist, there are particulars at p. 617. Mr. Audley says of him, “Tradition reports, that when he was a very old man, he used to be carried into the church at Ephesus, and say, ‘little children, love one another.’ He returned from his banishment, and lived till the third or fourth year of Trajan; so that he must have been nearly a hundred years of age when he died. The appellation of _divine_ given to St. John is not canonical; but was first applied to him by Eusebius, on account of those mysterious and sublime points of divinity, with the knowledge of which he seems to have been favoured above his fellow apostles. Perhaps this may explain the etymology of the word _divine_, as applied to christian ministers.”

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Barnaby Googe, from the Latin of Naogeorgus, thus introduces the day:--

Nexte John the sonne of Zebedee hath his appoynted day, Who once by cruell tyraunts will, constrayned was they say Strong poyson up to drinke, therefore the papistes doe beleeve That whoso puts their trust in him, no poyson them can greeve. The wine beside that halowed is in worship of his name, The priestes doe give the people that bring money for the same. And after with the selfe same wine are little manchets made, Agaynst the boystrous winter stormes, and sundrie such like trade. The men upon this solemne day, do take this holy wine To make them strong, so do the maydes to make them faire and fine.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Flame Heath. _Erica flammea._ Dedicated to _St. John_.

~December 28.~

_The Holy Innocents._ _St. Theodorus_, Abbot of Tabenna, A. D. 367.

~Innocents.~

This is another Romish celebration preserved in the church of England calendar and the almanacs. It has another name--

~Childermas-Day.~

This is conjectured to have been derived from the _masses_ said for the souls of the _Innocents_ who suffered from Herod’s cruelty. It is to commemorate their slaughter that _Innocents_ or _Childermas_-day is appropriated, and hence the name it bears.

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It was formerly a custom to whip up the children on Innocent’s day morning, in order “that the memorial of Herod’s murder of the Innocents might stick the closer, and so, in a moderate proportion, to act over the crueltie again in kinde.”[434] The day itself was deemed of especial ill omen, and hence the superstitious never married on Childermas-day. Neither upon this day was it “lucky” to put on new clothes, or pare the nails, or begin any thing of moment. In the play of “Sir John Oldcastle” the prevalence of this belief is instanced by an objection urged to an expedition proposed on a Friday,--“Friday, quoth’a, a dismal day; Candlemas-day this year was Friday.” This vulgar superstition reached the throne; the coronation of king Edward IV. was put off till the Monday, because the preceding Sunday was Childermas-day.[435] Lastly, a mother in the “Spectator” is made to say, at that time, “No, child, if it please God, you shall not go into join-hand on Childermas-day.”

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Yet this was a day of disport among the sages of the law. In 1517, king Henry VIII., by an order, enjoined, “that the _king of cockneys_, on _Childermas-day_, should sit and have due service; and that he and all his officers should use honest manner and good order, without any waste or destruction making in wine, brawn, chely, or other vitails: and also that he, and his marshal, butler, and constable marshal, should have their lawful and honest commandments by delivery of the officers of Christmas, and that the said king of cockneys, ne none of his officers medyl neither in the buttery, nor in the Stuard of Christmass his office, upon pain of 40_s._ for every such medling: and lastly, that Jack Straw, and all his adherents, should be thenceforth utterly banisht and no more to be used in this house, upon pain to forfeit, for every time, five pounds, to be levied on every fellow hapning to offend against this rule.”[436]

From Herod’s cruel order they, By angel’s order, fled away, And painters add, an angel, too, Attended them the journey through.

The old artists often painted the flight of the holy family from Herod’s cruel purpose:--“Behold the angel of the lord appeared to Joseph in a dream, saying, Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word: for Herod will seek the young child to destroy him. When he arose he took the young child and his mother by night, and departed into Egypt, and was there until the death of Herod.”[437] In some pictures an angel is painted accompanying them on the way, although on no scriptural authority. In a painting by “Lucca Giordano” they are represented in a boat with the ass, whereon the virgin had rode, held by an angel, who is thus degraded to the condition of a stable boy; while cherubs company them in the sky: the picture being curious, an engraving from it is placed in this article.

_Lucca Giordano._

The artist of the picture mentioned was born at Naples, about 1629: he studied under Spagnoletto, and afterwards under Pietra da Cortona. He is likewise called _Luca fa Presto_, from a phrase used by his father. Though his son painted with amazing facility, from designs of the great masters, while he pursued his studies, and the old man sold them for high prices, yet he was accustomed to hurry his son at his meals as well as his work, and say, “Luca _fa presto!_” Luca, make haste: hence, Luca’s companions nicknamed him _Fa Presto_. His knowledge of the style of artists belonging to different schools was amazing, and though his attainments in judgment and execution were of high order, he seems to have preferred the copying of other compositions to painting designs by himself. Hence, there are more pictures by Luca fa Presto than some connoisseurs would willingly acknowledge. They pervade every collection under the reputation of being by Titian, Guido, Tintorette, and other painters of greater celebrity than Giordano. He etched his own thoughts freely and gracefully, and died loaded with honours from crowned heads, and immensely rich, in 1704.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Bloody Heath. _Erica cruenta._ Dedicated to _the Holy Innocents_.

[434] Gregory on the Boy Bishop.

[435] Fenn’s Letters, i.

[436] Dugdale’s Orig. Jurid.

[437] Acts ii. 13-15.

~December 29.~

_St. Thomas_, Abp. of Canterbury, A. D. 1170. _St. Marcellus_, Abbot of the Acæmetes, A. D. 485. _St. Evroul_, Abbot, A. D. 596.

_Sculpture._

Much has been remarked in the course of these sheets respecting painting, which, if our artists will labour, they may elevate to a height that will honour their country, and amply reward themselves. It is a mistake to suppose that _real_ talent is not appreciated. Precocity is not talent till it has ripened; it usually withers and falls beneath the only test of greatness, labour: patrons experience this, and sicken. Whenever genius labours, it finds patrons.

Sculpture in the English school seems of late to have advanced further than painting, in their simultaneous efforts, and in this department of art, Ireland is likely to compete with England.

At the distribution of medals by sir Thomas Lawrence to students, at the Royal Academy, in the month of December, 1825, Mr. John Gallagher and Mr. Constantine Panormo, natives of the sister country, received the two medals for sculpture. It is a happy augury for the Royal Dublin Society that these young men were the first individuals sent hither by that institution for the purpose of improvement; and it must be highly gratifying to Mr. Behnes, with whom the Royal Dublin Society placed them as pupils, that his tuition so qualified these youths, that they excelled their numerous rivals, and carried both the prizes. So extraordinary an instance is creditable to their native country, whose national establishment fostered them, and whose protection they have distinguished by their perseverance.

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Senista Heath. _Erica genistopha._ Dedicated to _St. Thomas_.

~December 30.~

_St. Sabinus_, Bp. of Assisium, and his Companions, A. D. 304. _St. Anysia_, A. D. 304. _St. Maximus_, A. D. 662.

THE SEASON.

The earth, as it appears in England at this period, is well represented in the “Mirror of the Months,” the pleasant reflex of the year referred to in November. “The meadows are still green--almost as green as in the spring--with the late-sprouted grass that the last rains have called up since it has been fed off, and the cattle called home to enjoy their winter fodder. The corn-fields, too, are bright with their delicate sprinkling of young autumn-sown wheat; the ground about the hedge-rows, and in the young copses, is still pleasant to look upon, from the sobered green of the hardy primrose and violet, whose clumps of unfading leaves brave the utmost rigour of the season; and every here and there a bush of holly darts up its pyramid of shining leaves and brilliant berries, from amidst the late wild and wandering, but now faded and forlorn company of woodbines and eglantines, which have all the rest of the year been exulting over and almost hiding it with their quick-growing branches, and flaunting flowers. The evergreens, too, that assist in forming the home enclosures, have altogether lost that sombre hue which they have until lately worn--sombre in comparison with the bright freshness of spring, and the splendid variety of autumn; and now, that not a leaf is left around them, they look as gay by the contrast as they lately looked grave.”

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FLORAL DIRECTORY.

Pontieva. _Ponthieva glandalom._ Dedicated to _St. Anysia_.

~December 31.~

_St. Sylvester_, Pope, A. D. 335. _St. Columba_, A. D. 258. _St. Melania_, the younger, A. D. 439.

_St. Sylvester._

This saint, whose name is in the church of England calendar and the almanacs, was pope Sylvester I. “He is said to have been the author of several rites and ceremonies of the Romish church, as asylums, unctions, palls, corporals, &c. He died in 334.”[438]

~New Year’s Eve.~

To end the old year merrily, and begin the new one well, and in friendship, were popular objects in the celebration of this festival. It was spent among our labouring ancestors in festivity and frolic by the men; and the young women of the village carried from door to door, a bowl of spiced ale, the wassail bowl, which they offered to the inhabitants of every house they stopped at, singing rude congratulatory verses, and hoping for small presents. Young men and women also exchanged clothes, which was termed Mumming, or Disguising; and when thus dressed in each other’s garments, they went from one neighbour’s cottage to another, singing, dancing, and partaking of good cheer.[439]

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The anticipated pleasure of the coming year, accompanied by regret at parting with the present old year, is naturally expressed by a writer already cited. “After Christmas-day comes the last day of the year; and I confess I wish the bells would not ring so merrily on the next. I have not become used enough to the loss of the old year to like so triumphant a welcome to the new. I am certain of the pleasures I have had during the twelvemonth: I have become used to the pains. In a few days, especially by the help of Twelfth-night, I shall become reconciled to the writing 6 instead of 5 in the date of the year. Then welcome new hopes and new endeavours. But at the moment--at the _turn_--I hate to bid adieu to my old acquaintance.”[440]

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ELIA, in a delightful paper on the “Eve of New Year’s-day,” 1821, among the other delightful essays of his volume, entitled “ELIA”--a little book, whereof to say that it is of more gracious feeling and truer beauty than any of our century, is poor praise--Elia says, “while that turncoat bell, that just now mournfully chanted the obsequies of the year departed, with changed notes lustily rings in a successor, let us attune to its peal the song made on a like occasion, by hearty, cheerful Mr. Cotton.” Turn, gentle reader, to the first page of the first sheet, which this hand presented to you, and you will find the first two and twenty lines of ELIA’S “song.” They tell us, that, of the two faces of Janus,

----_that_ which this way looks is clear, And smiles upon the New-born year.

These are the remaining verses.

He[441] looks too from a place so high, The year lies open to his eye; And all the moments open are To the exact discoverer; Yet more and more he smiles upon The happy revolution. Why should we then suspect or fear The influences of a year, So smiles upon us the first morn, And speaks us good so soon as born? Plague on’t! the last was ill enough, This cannot but make better proof; Or, at the worst, as we brush’d through The last, why so we may this too; And then the next in reason shou’d Be superexcellently good; For the worst ills (we daily see) Have no more perpetuity, Than the best fortunes that do fall; Which also bring us wherewithal Longer their being to support, Than those do of the other sort; And who has one good year in three, And yet repines at destiny, Appears ungrateful in the case, And merits not the good he has. Then let us welcome the new guest With lusty brimmers of the best; Mirth always should good fortune meet, And render e’en disaster sweet: And though the princess turn her back, Let us but line ourselves with sack, We better shall by far hold out, Till the next year she face about.

ELIA, having trolled this song to the sound of “the merry, merry bells,” breaks out:--

“How say you reader--do not these verses smack of the rough magnanimity of the old English vein? Do they not fortify like a cordial; enlarging the heart, and productive of sweet blood and generous spirits in the concoction?--Another cup of the generous! and a merry New Year, and many of them, to you all, my masters!”

The same to you, ELIA,--and “to you _all_ my masters!”--_Ladies!_ think not yourselves neglected, who are chief among “my masters”--you are the kindest, and therefore the most masterful, and most worshipful of “my masters!”

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Under the female form the ancients worshipped the Earth. They called her “_Bona Dea_,” or the “Good Goddess,” by way of excellency, and that, for the best reason in the world, because “there is no being that does men more good.” In respect to her chastity, all men were forbidden to be present at her worship; the high priest himself, in whose house it was performed, and who was the chief minister in all others, not excepted. Cicero imputed to Clodius as a crime that he had entered the sacred fane in disguise, and by his presence polluted the mysteries of the Good Goddess. The Roman ladies offered sacrifices to her through the wife of the high priest, and virgins consecrated to the purpose.

The Earth, _Bona Dea_, or the “Good Goddess,” was represented under the form of a matron with her right hand opened, as if tendering assistance to the helpless, and holding a loaf in her left hand. She was also venerated under the name of _Ops_, and other denominations, but with the highest attributes; and when so designated, she was worshipped by men and boys, as well as women and virgins; and priests ministered to her in dances with brazen cymbals. These motions signified that the Earth only imparted blessings upon being constantly moved; and as brass was discovered before iron, the cymbals were composed of that metal to indicate her antiquity. The worshippers seated themselves on the ground, and the posture of devotion was bending forward, and touching the ground with the right hand. On the head of the goddess was placed a crown of towers, denoting strength, and that they were to be worn by those who persevered.

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To all “of the earth” not wholly “earthy,” the Earth seemed a fit subject to picture under its ancient symbol; and, in a robe of arable and foliage, set in a goodly frame of the celestial signs, with the seasons “as they roll,” it will be offered as a _frontispiece_ to the present volume, and accompany the title-page with the _indexes_ in the next sheet.

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It must have been obvious to every reader of the _Every-Day Book_, as it has been to me, of which there have been several indications for some time past, that the plan of the work could not be executed within the year; and I am glad to find from numerous quarters that its continuance is approved and even required. So far as it has proceeded I have done my utmost to render it useful. My endeavours to render it agreeable may occasion “close” readers to object, that it was more discursive than they expected. I am afraid I can only answer that I cannot unmake my making-up; and plead guilty to the fact, that, knowing the wants of many, through my own deficiencies, I have tried to aid them in the way that appeared most likely to effect the object, with the greater number of those for whom the work was designed. Nor do I hesitate also to acknowledge, that in gathering for others, I have in no small degree been teaching myself. For it is of the nature of such an undertaking to constrain him who executes it, to tasks of thought, and exercises of judgment, unseen by those who are satisfied when they enjoy what is before them, and care not by what ventures it was obtained. My chief anxiety has been to provide a wholesome sufficiency for all, and not to offer any thing that should be hurtful or objectionable. I hope I have succeeded.

I respectfully desire to express my grateful sense of the extensive favour wherein the conduct of the publication is held. And I part from my readers on New Year’s-eve, with kind regards till we meet in the new volume of the _Every-Day Book_ on New Year’s-day--to-morrow.

45, _Ludgate-hill_, 1825.

W. HONE.

[438] Mr. Audley’s Companion to Almanac.

[439] Dr. Drake’s Shakspeare and his Times.

[440] New Monthly Magazine, Dec. 18.

[441] Janus.

END OF VOL. I

INDEXES.

I. GENERAL SUBJECTS. II. ROMISH SAINTS. III. POETRY, ORIGINAL AND SELECTED. IV. FLORAL DIRECTORY. V. CORRESPONDENTS’ SIGNATURES. VI. ENGRAVINGS IN THE VOLUME.

I. GENERAL INDEX.

SUBJECTS CONTAINED OR NOTICED IN THIS VOLUME.

_Festivals and other Holydays of observance, in the Church of England Calendar, are printed in_ CAPITALS.