2*^ S. No 104., Dec. 26. '67.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



507 



Bowl. Besides, we know that the Druids decked 

 their houses with holly and ivy in December. 



Spon observes that we might ask why people 

 wished each other blessings on the first day of the 

 year, rather than at any other time. It is the 

 question which Ovid asked Janus. The answer 

 was, that all things are contained in their com- 

 mencements ; and in fact the Romans thought 

 that there was something divine in beginnings. 

 The head was thought a divine thing, because it 

 is, as it were, the beginning of the body. They 

 began their wars with auguries, sacrifices, and 

 public offerings ; and the commencement of each 

 month was dedicated to Juno, and was a festival. 

 They sacrificed to Janus on New Year's Day — 

 Janus, the door-keeper of the gods — because they 

 hoped thereby to propitiate the favour of all the 

 other gods, if they began by conciliating Janus. 

 Bread and wine were sacrificed to him : hence, 

 perhaps, the origin of the feasting, " tipsy dance 

 and jollity," which became the characteristics of 

 " the Lord of Misrule " at this jovial season. 



Perhaps it is proper to state that several 

 ©pinions have been advanced as to the reason for 

 fixing Dec. 25 for the celebration of the Nativity. 

 The most curious is that which suggests that the 

 Church fixed upon that day because the pagans 

 held It sacred Soli renascenti — to the returning 

 Sun — that is, the period when the Sun, having at- 

 tained Its utmost southern declination, begins to 

 return northwards. This Is the Persian or ori- 

 ental worship of Mithras or the Sun, adopted by 

 the Romans, who admitted to their Olympus the 

 gods of every nation as unscrupulously as they 

 *' annexed" its provinces. But this clever policy 

 did not secure them from the retributive fate 

 which overhangs the lust of conquest. Mithras 

 flourished at Rome until about the year 378 of 

 the Christian era. His statues are still extant. 

 It was alleged that the Church wished to sanctify 

 the pagan notion. This notion accords with 

 the fact of the astrological correspondence of 

 the festivals. Honore de Ste Marie, who states 

 this notion (which he rejects) also informs us 

 that at Rouen the priests, in celebrating Christ- 

 mas, personified not only the prophets who spoke 

 of the coming of Christ, but others who named 

 the Messiah. They personified Nebuchadnezzar, 

 the Three Youths of the Furnace, and Balaam 

 sitting on his Ass. " Hence," says Honore, " the 

 ceremony was called ' the Feast of the Asses,' 

 Festum Asinornm." (Animndversiones in Regulas 

 et Usum Critices, 11. lib. HI. dis. 2.) This book is 

 well worth the perusal of those who are Interested 

 in ecclesiastical literature. It Is not in the li- 

 brary of the British Museum, but I have reason to 

 say that it will soon be there. It is full of curious 

 matter. It was published in French in an en- 

 larged edition of three vols. 4to. in 1713-20. I 

 quote from the Latin translation, by a member of 



the same Order, not having been able to procure 

 the last French edition. The title in French is 

 — Reflexions sur les Regies et T Usage de la Cri- 

 tique, touchant VHistoire de VEglise, les Ouvrages 

 des Peres, Sfc., par le P. Honore de Ste Marie, 

 Carme dechausse, Paris et Lyons, 1713-20, 3 vols, 

 in 4to. The early edition should be rejected. 



The best accounts of Christmas and its festivities 

 are those by Irving, Brand, and Brady. Brady 

 strives ingeniously to repudiate the word Mass in 

 Christmas — as if it could possibly detract from 

 the social blessings of the day ! Alas ! for the de- 

 parted glories of good Old Christmas — gone like 

 the glory of mighty Troy — ingens gloria Teucro- 

 rum ! Gladly at the present time may we fly — in 

 Imagination — from the sad realities of Railroads, 

 British Banks, &c., Indian Mutiny, Money-Panic, 

 and impossible Leviathan (our modern Babel) to 



^c Cl^ri^tmaiS of ae <lBltien Cimr. 



Andrew Steinmetz. 



POPIANA. 



Pope ''of gentle Blood" (2"« S. iv. 407.) _— 

 Some account of "the people of small account liv- 

 ing at Deddlngton, near Banbury," may be found 

 by your correspondent in Warton's Life of Sir 

 Thomas Pope (the founder of Trin. Coll., Oxford.) 

 He should also consult Gutch's Antiq. Oxon., III. 

 532., where Gutch speaks, in a note, of a MS. 

 '* Stemma " of the Pope family, " in rotulo prae- 

 grandi pergamen. penes honoratlss. Com. de Guild- 

 ford." 



I have neither of the books at hand, and my 

 private note Is brief; but I have no doubt there is 

 enough in either book to show that Sir Thomas 

 Pope, and his Deddlngton relatives, were of 

 " gentle blood." Is anything known about the 

 " Stemma" referred to by Gutch ? J. Sansom. 



Pope's Aunt. — Pope has told us (Spence, 192.), 

 that he " learnt to read of an old aunt." Mr. 

 Pottinger spoke of a maiden aunt " equally re- 

 lated to both " himself and Pope. It has generally 

 been assumed that the party referred to was 

 one and the same. Mr. Hunter, however, asserts 

 positively that they were different persons. Thus 

 he tells us (p. 21.) that the aunt referred to by 

 Mr. Pottinger " must have been [a Pope] sister to 

 the rector of Thruxton" and p. 44., " one of the 

 unmarried daughters " [of Turner] " must have 

 been the deformed sister who lived with Mrs. Pope, 

 and who taught her son to read." 



Mr. Hunter is, I believe, a cautious man, and 

 not likely to make confident assertions without 

 due consideration ; but I confess I cannot make 

 out the certainty of either of these conclusions. 

 What say your readers generally ? P. A. 



