Forth to the woods do the merry men go 
To gather in the mistleto 
and it is chosen, as it were, to preside over the Christ¬ 
mas gambols; at least in the servants’ hall or the 
kitchen, where a large bunch is hung up in great state, 
and is the occasion of much merriment. It is men¬ 
tioned in most songs which refer to these revelries, 
thus: — 
“ They come! they come! each blue-eyed-port, 
The twelfth-night king and all his court — 
*T is mirth fresh crown’d with mistletoe : 
Music with her merry fiddles, 
Joy on light fantastic toe ; 
Wit, with all his jests and riddles, 
Singing and dancing as they go.” 
Both ancient and modern usages, however, seem to 
forbid its being mingled with other evergreens for the 
adornment of our churches at Christmas. Gay, indeed, 
assigns it a place amongst them, for he says, — 
“ All your temples strow 
With laurel green and sacred mistletoe 
but Brand, who is authority on such a subject, gives 
it as his opinion, that “ although Gay mentions the 
misletoe among those evergreens which we put up in 
