520 



NOTES AND QUERIES. [2n<' s. vi. ise., dec. 25. '58. 



The whole of maskrads first bill 



The segund bill 



Payed Devoe 



The sprigs of corall - 



And thus ends my account of tbe rare doinirs at 

 Christmas at tbe Court of the Merry Monarch — 

 who must have laughed in his sleeve when he 

 heard, in the Second Act of Calisto, 



". . How useful and of what delight 

 Is Sovereign power : 'tis that determines right. 

 Nothing is tndy good, but ivhat is great." 



J. D. C 



CHEISTMAS CAROL. 



The following curious old Carol in the Scotch 

 language may perhaps be interesting to your 

 readers, especially now, at the season of Christ- 

 mas. The fifth stanza strikes me as peculiarly 

 beautiful : — 



" Ane Song of the Birth of Christ. 

 With the Tune of Baw lula law. 

 " I come from Hevin to tell 



The best nowellis that ever befell : 

 To yovv thir Tythenges trew I bring, 

 And I will of them say and sing. 



" This day to you is borne ane Childe, 

 Of Marie raeike and Virgine mylde, 

 That Blessit Barne, bining and kynde, 

 Sail yow rejoice baith Hert and Mind. 



" M3' Saull and Lyfe, stand up and see 

 Quha lyes in ane Cribe of Tree ; 

 Quhat Babe is that so gude and faire? 

 It is Christ, God's Sonne and Aire. 



" O God that made all Creature, 

 How art Thou become so pure, 

 That on the Hay and Straw will lye. 

 Among the Asses, Oxin, and Kye ? 



" O my deir Hert, zoung Jesus sweit, 

 Prepare thy Creddil in my Spriet, 

 And I will rocke Thee in nij' Hert, 

 And never mair from Thee depart. 



" But I sail praise The ever moir 

 With Sangs sweit unto thy Gloir, 

 The knees of my Hert sail I bow, 

 And sing that richt Balulalow." 



(Baw lula law, also halililoiu, and here at the 

 close of the last stanza, balulalow., is supposed to 

 be part of an old Fr. lullaby. — Jamieson on 

 Balow. — Thir, these. — Bining, benign ? — Cribe of 

 Tree, wooden crib or cradle? — Pare := puir, 

 poor.) Thomas Boys. 



MEDia:VAI> SYMPOSIA. 



Our ancestors were less squeamish, both in their 

 intellectual and gastronomical tastes, than our- 

 selves. Whilst not a few of their existing descen- 

 dants infer that the festive ceremonies peculiar 



to Christmas originated in the Saturnalia of the 

 heathen, and therefore ought to be discounten- 

 anced by all true believers, the baron, knight, 

 and franklin, who flourished in the fourteenth 

 and fifteenth centuries, troubled themselves very 

 little about the derivation of customs, but con- 

 fined their attention exclusively, and perhaps not 

 unwisely, to the use of those good things which 

 the universal happiness of the season prescribed. 

 In conning over some of their bills of fare on ex- 

 traordinary galas (such, for instance, as the In- 

 stallation of Ralph, Abbot of Canterbury, in 1309,) 

 we are no less astonished at tbe prodigious num- 

 ber of guests provided for (sometimes amounting 

 to several thousands), than at the perfection to 

 which they had carried the ars coquinaria. Those 

 who may be desirous of knowing, not only what 

 messes our ancestors were partial to, but also how 

 they were prepared, must consult that most exact 

 and unique Forme of Cury, or roll of ancient 

 English cookery, which was compiled about the 

 year 1390 by the master cooks of Richard II. — 

 " the best and ryallest viander of all christian 

 kynges" — where their curiosity and pains will be 

 amply rewarded. It is given in extenso in War- 

 ner's Antiquitates CuliiMrim, 4to., Lond, 1791. 



The symposium of the Middle Ages was a very 

 different affair to what it is in our time. The 

 hour was much earlier. Dr. Thos. Cogan, in his 

 Haven of Health (4to., Lond. 1589), says : — 



" When foure hours be past after breakfast, a man niaj'- 

 safely taste his dinner, and the most convenient time for 



dinner is about eleven of the clocke before noone 



At Oxford in my tyrae they used commonly at dinner 

 boyled biefe with potage, bred, and here, and no more. 

 The quantity of biefe was in value an halfe-pennj' for one 

 mouth ; sometimes, if hunger constrayned, they would 

 double their commons." — P. 184. 



That was scant fare, notwithstanding " the 

 double commons" occasionally, compared with the 

 ordinary baronial meal, or "servise on fleshe day," 

 as described by the royal cooks in their Forme of 

 Cury. Here it is : — 



" At the tirst cours, browet farsyne (rich broth of meats') 

 and charlet to potage (fsh stewed in spices) ; and ther- 

 withe bake maudelard (mallard'), and teles, and smale 

 briddes (small birds), and do (put) therto almonde raylke ; 

 and therwithe capon rested with the S3'rip ; and ther- 

 withe veel rested, and pygge rested and endored ( basted), 

 and served with the yolke on his neke over gilde and 

 hernesewes (on strainers) ; therwithe a leche (slice of meat 

 or bread), and a tarte of fleshe. At the second cours 

 browet of almayne and viande rial to potage; and ther- 

 withe maularde and conyngis (rabbits) rested, and faisaunt, 

 and venyson ; and therwithe gele (jelly) and a leche, and 

 urchynnes (hedgehogs), and pome de orynge. At the 

 thri tide cours, bore in egurdeuce (stewed in spiced wines) 

 and mawmene (a highly spiced compound of pork, wild and 

 tame fowl, fruits, kc.) ; and therwithe cranes, and kydde, 

 and curlew, and partoryche rested, and therwithe a leche, 

 and custarde, and pecok, endoret and rested, and served 

 with the skynne ; and therwith kockagris (an old cock), 

 and flaumpeyns (mince-meat pie), and daryoles (baked 

 custard in a crust), and peres in syrip." 



