DECEMBER. 401 



served and valued ; the different species of ever- 

 lasting flowers, so pleasing an ornament to our 

 parlours in winter, and indeed during the whole 

 year, also attract our attention. The oak, the 

 beech, and the hornbeam, in part retain their 

 leaves, while all other trees are entirely de- 

 nuded. The scarlet berries of the holly, and 

 the fiery bunches of Pyracantha on its dark 

 green, thorny sprays, are brightly conspicuous, 

 and the mosses are in their pride. 



December, says Verstegan, had his due ap- 

 pellation given him by our ancestors, in the 

 name of winter-monath, to wit, winter-month; but 

 after the Saxons received Christianity, they then, 

 out of devotion to the birth-time of Christ, termed 

 it by the name heligh-monath, that is to say holy- 

 month. Sayers adds, they also called it mid- 

 wmtermonath, guiLerra, which means the former, 

 or first guil. Guil, now corrupted, yule, was 

 the feast of Thor, celebrated at the winter sol- 

 stice, and so called from iol or ol, which sig- 

 nified all. 



RURAL OCCUPATIONS. 



Except in clear, frosty weather, when manure 

 can be carted out, all operations have concen- 

 trated themselves round home : tending and 



