but is old, old, good old christmas gone? nothing but the hair of his good, gray old head and beard left? well, i will have that, seeing i ot have more of him.
hue and cry after christmas.
a man might then behold
at christmas, in each hall
good ?res to curb the cold,
a freat and small.
the neighbors were friendly bidden,
and all had wele true,
the poor from the gates were not chidden
when this old cap was new.
old song.
nothing in england exercises a more delightful spell over my imagination than the lingerings of the holiday s and rural games of former times. they recall the pictures my fancy used to draw in the may m of life, when as yet i only khe world through books, and believed it to be all that poets had pai; and they bring with them the ?avor of those ho days of yore, in which, perhaps with equal fallacy, i am apt to think the world was more homebred, social, and joyous than at present. i regret to say that they are daily growing more and more faint, being gradually worn away by time, but still more obliterated by modern fashion. they resemble those picturesque morsels of gothic architecture which we see crumbling in various parts of the try, partly dilapidated by the waste of ages and partly lost in the additions and alterations of latter days.
poetry, however, gs with cherishing fondness about the rural game and holiday revel from which it has derived so many of its themes, as the ivy winds its rich foliage about the gothic ard mouldering tratefully repaying their support by clasping together their t remains, and, as it were, embalming them in verdure.
of all the old festivals, however, that of christmas awakens the stro and most heartfelt associations. there is a tone of solemn and sacred feeling that blends with our viviality and lifts the spirit to a state of hallowed and elevated enjoyment.
the services of the church about this seasoremely tender and inspiring. they dwell on the beautiful story of the in of our faith and the pastoral ses that apas annou. they gradually increase in fervor and pathos during the season of advent, until they break forth in full jubilee on the m that brought pead good-will to men. i do not know a grander effeusi the moral feelings than to hear the full choir and the pealing an perf a christmas anthem in a cathedral, and ?lling every part of the vast pile with triumphant harmony.
it is a beautiful arra, also, derived from
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