a festival of the Christian Church, observed on the 25th of December, in memory of the nativity of Jesus Christ. The day, however, now kept as Christmas cannot be that of the nativity of our Lord, for the reason assigned long ago by Shaw and others, viz., that in December, which is the height of the rainy season in Judaea, neither flocks nor shepherds could have been at night in the fields of Bethlehem, which we are told was the case at the nativity of Christ. As to the antiquity of this festival, the first traces we find of it are in the second century, about the time of the Emperor Commodus. The decretal epistles indeed carry it a little higher, and state that Telephorus, who lived in the reign of Antoninus Pius, ordered divine service to be celebrated, and an angelical hymn to be sung, the night before the nativity of our Saviour. We have a melancholy proof that it was observed before the times of Constantine; for whilst the persecution raged under Diocletian, who then kept his court at Nicomedia, that prince, among his many acts of cruelty, finding multitudes of Christians assembled together to celebrate Christ's nativity, commanded the church doors where they were met to be shut, and fire to be put to it, which in a short time reduced the church and all within it to ashes.

In all civilized countries the annual recurrence of Christmas was celebrated with festivities of various kinds. In none however was it more joyfully welcomed than in England, where even still all the "old honour" has not altogether fled. In that country it was the custom on Christmas eve, after the usual devotions were over, to light large candles and throw on the hearth a huge log, called the Yule Log or Christmas Block. This latter practice is still observed to a considerable extent in England, especially in the northern counties. At court, and in the houses of the wealthy, an officer, named the Lord of Misrule, was appointed to superintend the revels; and even in Scotland a similar functionary used to be appointed under the title of the Abbott of Unreason, till the year 1555, when the office was abolished by act of parliament. The reign of the Lord of Misrule began on All-Hallow Eve and lasted till Candlemas day. The favourite pastimes over which he presided were gaming, music, conjuring, dipping for nuts and apples, dancing, fool-plough, hot cockles, blind-man's-buff, &c. All these recreations were regarded with the utmost horror by the Puritans, who cursed them with a wrath that was at best fanatical. The favourite dishes for breakfast and supper at this season were the boar's head with an apple or orange in the mouth, and set off with rosemary, plum pudding, and mince pies. The latter dish was regarded with peculiar aversion by the Puritans, and it was therefore a point of orthodoxy to partake of it. The houses and churches were decked with evergreens, especially with mistletoe, to which a traditionary sacredness has attached since the days of the Druids.