St. BOOK II. with some of his companions as cardinals. At the cathedral of Salisbury, it appears that the boy-bishop held a sort of visitation, and maintained a corresponding state and prero- Nicholas. gative; and he is supposed to have had power to dispose of prebends that fell vacant during his episcopacy, which continued from the feast of St. Nicholas to the eve of the Innocents, December 27. If he died within this space, he was to be buried like other bishops, in his episcopal ornaments; his obsequies were solemnized with much pomp, and a monument was erected to his memory, with his episcopal effigy. More than a century and a half ago, a boybishop's monument in stone was discovered in Salisbury cathedral. In the statutes of this cathedral, on the state of the choristers, it is ordered that the boy-bishop shall not make any visit, but remain with his companions in the common-house, unless he be invited, as a chorister, to the canon's house for the sake of enjoyment [solatii]. His talents as a singer seem to have been of consequence: in the church of York no chorister was to be elected boybishop, who had not a clear and unbroken, or youthful voice. Not only did this ceremony exist in the cathedrals, but in almost every parish church. On December 7, 1229, the morrow of St. Nicholas, the boy-bishop in the chapel at Heton, near Newcastle-upon-Tyne, said vespers before Edward the First, then on his way to Scotland, who gave a considerable present, to him and the boys that sang with him. Another juvenile bishop, in the reign of Edward the Third, received a present of 19s. 6d. for singing before the king in his private chamber on Innocents' Day, December 28. A statute of St. Mary Overy, a collegiate church, dated 1337, restrains the boy-bishop from going in procession beyond the limits of his own parish. In the will of Thomas Rotheram, archbishop of York, dated in 1481, is a bequest to the college of that place, of a mitre of cloth of gold with two silver enamelled "knoppes,' knoppes," to be worn by the "Barnes Bishop."* Mr. Baker remarks * "Item unam mitram de clothe of goold, habentem 2 knoppes arg. Bequest of amitre for the boy bishop. BOOK St. upon the legacies in this will, that, "Among the rest occurs a myter for the barne-bishop, of cloth of gold, with two knops of silver gilt and enamyled, which shews the great concern they had for that little bishop, when one was to be appointed only out of six choristers, and in a country village. I had thought that custome had been confin'd to cathedral churches, and that a mock bishop was only to appear where there was a true one; but it seems that piece of superstition extended further."* Warton quotes the fragment of a Computus of Hyde Abbey, near Winchester, which is at variance with the assertion made by himself and Strutt, that the boy-bishop did not perform mass; it is a disbursement in 1327, for feasting the boy-bishop, who celebrated mass on St. Nicholas day. Dr. Colet, dean of St. Pauls, countenanced the idle farce, and in the statutes of the school, founded by him at St. Paul's in 1512, he expressly ordains that his scholars "shall, every Childermas Day, come to Paules churche and heer the chylde-bysshop's sermon, and after be at hygh-masse, and each of them offer a penny to the childe-bysshop, and with them the maisters and surveyors of the scole." As patron of scholars, St. Nicholas has a double feast at Eton college, where in catholic times, the scholars to avoid interfering, as it would seem, with the boy-bishop on St. Nicholas's day, elected their boy-bishop on St. Hugh's day, in November.§ enameld, dat. ad occupand. per Barnes Bishop."-Lib. Nig. Scacc., p. 674. Ed. Hearne. This is, perhaps, the same mitre which is named in the inventory of jewels and valuables belonging to the cathedral of York :-" Item una Mitra parva cum Petris pro Episcopo Puerorum."-Dugd. Monast. Anglic., Tom. III., p. 169, col. 2. The tarnished silver knobs seem to have been mistaken for stones. Ibid., p. 686. + Hist. Engl. Poetry, Vol. II., p. 375 note. Ibid., Vol. I., p. 248. Vol. III., p. 390. Knight's Life of Colet, p. 362. It was not always so, for by the statutes of Eton, in 1441, it was permitted that all the holy offices, except mass, should be celebrated on the feast of St. Nicholas, but by no means on that of the Innocents, [doubtless for the reason assigned in the text,] by the boy-bishop, chosen annually for this purpose; and the same clause is in the statutes of King's College, Cam BOOK II. Nicholas. Brande, indeed, is of opinion, that the anniversary Montem at Eton is merely a corruption of the boy-bishop and his companions; the scholars being prevented by the edict of St. Henry the Eighth, from continuing that ceremony, gave a Eton new face to their festivity, and began their pastime at sol- Montem. diers, and electing a captain. Even within the memory of persons living in 1777, when Brande wrote, the Montem was kept a little before Christmas, although now held on Whit-Tuesday. The pageantry of the boy-bishop was revived, with other prohibited ceremonies, by Queen Mary, and in 1554 an edict was issued by the bishop of London to all the clergy of his diocese, to have a boy-bishop in procession.* Warton mentions a poem by Hugh Rhodes at that period, entitled, "The Song of the Chyld-Bysshop, as it was songe before the queenes maiestie in her priuie chamber at her manour of St. James in the Feeldes on Saynt Nicholas day and Innocents day this yeare now present [1555] by the Chylde Bysshop of Paules Churche with his company."+ Strype says, that in 1556, “ On S. Nicholas Even, Saint Nicholas, that is, a boy habited like a bishop, in pontificalibus, went abroad in most parts of London singing after the old fashion, and was received with many ignorant but well disposed people into their houses; and had as much good cheer as ever was wont to be had before." After the queen's death the idle ceremony was totally discontinued. Mr. Brayley reasonably conjectures as to the "chylde byshop's sermons," that "Probably these orations, though affectedly childish, were composed by the more aged members of the church." St. Tibba's Day, December 14, was anciently celebrated S. Tibba bridge, both being adopted from those of Winchester.-Warton, ut suprà, Vol. II., p. 389. · Strype's Eccl. Mem., Vol. III., ch. 25, p. 202. + Ut suprà, Vol. III., p. 321. Ut suprà, Vol. III., ch. 39, p. 310. Lond. and Middles., Vol. II., p. 220. G BOOK in Rutlandshire by fowlers and falconers, who regarded the saint as their peculiar patronness. Camden mentions the St. Tibba. town of Rihall as particularly addicted to this superstitious observance,* and the passage, which is strongly expressed, was ordered to be expunged from his Britannia, by the Index Expurgatorius, printed at Madrid in 1612, by Louis Sanchez. St. Ignace. St. Ignace's Day, December 17. At Sandwick, in the Orkneys, it is usual, by a very ancient custom, for every family to kill a sow, whence this day is called Sow Day. Sow Day. As to the custom, it has probably some reference to the heathen worship of the sun, to which among the northern nations, the male of this animal was sacred. St. Thomas Waits. Carols. On St. Thomas's Day,† December 21, the musical festivities of Christmas usually begin in most Christian countries, especially that sort of nocturnal music commonly called waits, and corruptly wakes,‡ which continue in many parts of England till Christmas. The pious songs at this period, usually termed Christmas Carols, are of very high antiquity. Bishop Taylor remarks that the "Gloria in excelsis," sung by the angels to the shepherds at the Nativity, was the earliest. Within the last century, they have become much less common in England; but formerly, on Christmas Day they took place of psalms in all the churches, especially in the afternoon service, the whole congregation joining; and, at the end, it was usual for the clerk to de "Rihall, ubi cum majores nostros ita fascinasset superstitio, ut Deorum multitudine Deum verum propemodum sustulisset, Tibba minorum gentium Diva, quasi Diana ab aucupibus utique rei accipitrariæ præses, colebatur."-Britan., 8vo., Lond. Edit. 1590, p. 419. + St. Thomas Day of Ynde; Mumping Day. Wakes are vigils. Waits were originally watchmen, and afterwards minstrels at the king's court. The name seems to be taken from the old French guetter, [to watch]. In the old play, “The Historie of Promos and Cassandra," 1578, the carpenter is instructed to " erect a stage, that the wayghtes in sight may stand."-Strutt, Sports and Pastimes, Introd. sect. xxiii. BOOK II. clare in a loud voice his wishes for a merry Christmas and a happy new year.* Mr. Hone asserts, that in Scotland, where no church feasts have been kept since the days of St. Thomas John Knox, the custom of carolling is unknown; but in this he is not altogether accurate. The "Caralles," it is true, were prohibited by act of parliament, as well as the Gysars, a term applied to those who disguised themselves about this period; but, until the present day, in Perthshire the last night of the year is called Carol Euyn, because Carol young people go from door to door singing carols, in return Ewyn. for which they receive small cakes baked for the occasion. In Wales the custom is still retained to a greater extent than in England; and, at a former period, the Welsh had carols adapted to most of the ecclesiastical festivals, and the four seasons of the year; but they are now limited to that of Christmas. On the continent the custom is almost universal. At the village of Thornton, near Sherbourne, in Dorsetshire, a custom obtains among the tenants of the manor, who deposit five shillings in a hole in a certain tombstone in the churchyard, which precludes the lord of the manor from taking the tithe of hay during the year. This must invariably be done before 12 o'clock on this day, or the privilege is void. A custom, called Going a Gooding, formerly prevailed Gooding. in England on this day; women begged money, and in return, presented sprigs of palm and bunches of primroses.+ Mumping. In Herefordshire they go a mumping, or begging in a similar manner. The Eve or Vigil of the Nativity, December 24, which Christmas. closed the old year, was long marked by a superstition, of which the memory, preserved by the favorite dramatist of England, will live when all the other popular rites, cere * Gilbert's Ancient Christmas Carols, with their Tunes. + Gent. Mag., April, 1794. |