Born: Henry VI of England, 1421, Windsor; Baldassarre
Castiglione, diplomatist and man of letters, 1478, Casatico, near Mantua;
General George Monk,
Duke of Albemarle, 1608, Potheridge, Devonshire; Sir David Baird, hero of
Seringapatam, 1757, Newbyth, Scotland; Rev.
Richard Harris Barham, author of the Ingoldsby Legends, 1788, Canterbury.
Died: Otho II, Emperor of Germany, 983, Reese;
Alphonse I of Portugal, 1185, Coimbra; Pope Clement VI, 1352, Avignon; Dr. John
Lightfoot, divine and
commentator, 1675, Great Munden, Herts; Nicholas Rowe, dramatist, 1718, London;
Florent Carton Dancourt, comic dramatist, 1726; Catharine Clive, celebrated
comic actress, 1785,
Strawberry Hill, Twickenham.
Feast Day: St. Theophilus, bishop of Antioch,
confessor, 190. St. Nicholas, confessor, archbishop of Myra, 342. Saints
Dionysia, Dativa, Aemilianus,
Boniface, Leontia, Tertius, and Majoricus, martyrs, 484. St. Peter Paschal,
bishop and martyr, 1300.
ST. NICHOLAS
St. Nicholas belongs to the fourth century of the Christian
era, and was a native of the city of Patara, in Lycia, in Asia Minor. So strong
were his
devotional tendencies, even from infancy, that we are gravely informed that he
refused to suck on Wednesdays and Fridays, the fast-days appointed by the
church! Having embraced a
religious life by entering the monastery of Sion, near Myra, he was in course of
time raised to the dignity of abbot, and for many years made himself conspicuous
by acts of piety
and benevolence. Subsequently he was elected archbishop of the metropolitan
church of Myra, and exercised that office with great renown till his death.
Though escaping actual
martyrdom, he is said to have suffered imprisonment, and otherwise testified to
the faith under the persecution of Dioclesian.
As with St.
Cuthbert, the history of St. Nicholas does not end with his death
and burial. His relics were
preserved with great honour at Myra, till the end of the eleventh century, when
certain merchants of Bari, on the Adriatic, moved by a pious indignation similar
to what actuated
the Crusaders, made an expedition to the coast of Lycia, and landing there,
broke open the coffin containing the bones of the saint, and carried them off to
Italy. They landed at
Bari on the 9th of May 1087, and the sacred treasure, which they had
brought with them, was deposited in the church of St. Stephen.
On the day when the latter proceeding took place, we are told that thirty
persons were cured of various distempers through imploring the intercession of
St. Nicholas, and since
that time his tomb at Bari has been famous for pilgrimages. In the ensuing
article a description is given of the annual celebration of his festival in that
seaport.
Perhaps no saint has enjoyed a more extended popularity than
St. Nicholas. By the Russian nation, he has been adopted as their patron, and in
England no
fewer than three hundred and seventy-two churches are named in his honour. He is
regarded as the special guardian of virgins, of children, and of sailors.
Scholars were under his
protection, and from the circumstance of these being anciently denominated
clerks, the fraternity of parish clerks placed themselves likewise under the
guardianship of St.
Nicholas. He even came to be regarded as the patron of robbers, from an alleged
adventure with thieves, whom he compelled to restore some stolen goods to their
proper owners.
But there are two specially celebrated legends regarding this
saint, one of which bears reference to his protectorship of virgins, and the
other to that of
children. The former of these stories is as follows: A nobleman in the town of
Patara had three daughters, but was sunk in such poverty, that he was not only
unable to provide them
with suitable marriage-portions, but was on the point of abandoning them to a
sinful course of life from inability to preserve them otherwise from starvation.
St. Nicholas, who had
inherited a large fortune, and employed it in innumerable acts of charity, no
sooner heard of this unfortunate family, than he resolved to save it from the
degradation with which
it was threatened. As he proceeded secretly to the nobleman's house at night,
debating with himself how he might best accomplish his object, the moon shone
out from behind a cloud,
and shewed him an open window into which he threw a purse of gold. This fell at
the feet of the father of the maidens, and enabled him to portion his eldest
daughter. A second
nocturnal visit was paid to the house by the saint, and a similar present
bestowed, which procured a dowry for the second daughter of the nobleman. But
the latter was now
determined to discover his mysterious benefactor, and with that view set himself
to watch. On St. Nicholas approaching, and preparing to throw in a purse of
money for the third
daughter, the nobleman caught hold of the skirt of his robe, and threw himself
at his feet, exclaiming: '0 Nicholas! servant of God! why seek to hide thyself?'
But the saint made
him promise that he would inform no one of this seasonable act of munificence.
From this incident in his life is derived apparently the
practice formerly, if not still, customary in various parts of the continent, of
the elder members
and friends of a family placing, on the eve of St. Nicholas's Day, little
presents, such as sweetmeats and similar gifts, in the shoes or hose of their
younger relatives, who, on
discovering them in the morning, are supposed to attribute them to the
munificence of St. Nicholas. In convents, the young lady-boarders used, on the
same occasion, to place
silk-stockings at the door of the apartment of the abbess, with a paper
recommending themselves to 'Great St. Nicholas of her chamber.' The next morning
they were summoned
together, to witness the results of the liberality of the saint who had
bountifully filled the stockings with sweetmeats. From the same instance of
munificence recorded of St.
Nicholas, he is often represented bearing three purses, or three gold balls; the
latter emblem forming the well-known pawnbrokers' sign, which, with considerable
probability, has
been traced to this origin. It is true, indeed, that this emblem is proximately
derived from the Lombard merchants who settled in England at an early period,
and were the first to
open establishments for the lending of money. The three golden balls were also
the sign of the Medici family of Florence, who, by a successful career of
merchandise and
money-lending, raised themselves to the supreme power in their native state. But
the same origin is traceable in both cases�the emblematic device of the
charitable St. Nicholas.
The second legend to which we have adverted is even of a more
piquant nature. A gentleman of Asia sent his two sons to be educated at Athens,
but desired
them, in passing through the town of Myra, to call on its archbishop, the holy
Nicholas, and receive his benediction.
The young men, arriving at the town late in the
evening, resolved to defer their visit
till the morning, and in the meantime took up their abode at an inn. The
landlord, in order to obtain possession of their baggage, murdered the
unfortunate youths in their sleep;
and after cutting their bodies to pieces, and salting them, placed the mutilated
remains in a pickling tub along with some pork, under the guise of which he
resolved to dispose of
the contents of the vessel. But the archbishop was warned by a vision of this
horrid transaction, and proceeded immediately to the inn, where he charged the
landlord with the
crime.
The man, finding himself discovered, confessed his guilt,
with great contrition, to St. Nicholas, who not only implored on his behalf the
forgiveness of
Heaven, but also proceeded to the tub where the remains of the innocent youths
lay in brine, and then made the sign of the cross, and offered up a supplication
for their
restoration to life. Scarcely was the saint's prayer finished, when the detached
and mangled limbs were miraculously reunited, and the two youths regaining
animation, rose up alive
in the tub, and threw themselves at the feet of their benefactor. We are further
informed, that the archbishop refused their homage, desiring the young men to
return thanks to the
proper quarter from which this blessing had descended; and then, after giving
them his benediction, he dismissed them with great joy to continue their journey
to Athens. In
accordance with this legend, St. Nicholas is frequently represented, as
delineated in the accompanying engraving, standing in full episcopal costume
beside a tub with naked
children.
An important function assigned to St. Nicholas, is that of
the guardianship of mariners, who in Roman Catholic countries regard him with
special reverence.
In several seaport towns there are churches dedicated to St. Nicholas, whither
sailors resort to return thanks for preservation at sea, by hanging up votive
pictures, and making
other offerings. This practice is evidently a relic of an old pagan custom
alluded to by Horace:
Me tabul�, sacer
Votiv� paries indicat uvida
Suspendisse potenti
Vestimenta marls Deo.
The office of protector of sailors, thus attributed in
ancient times to Neptune, was afterwards transferred to St. Nicholas, who is
said, on the occasion of
making a voyage to the Holy Land, to have caused by his prayers a tempest to
assuage, and at another time to have personally appeared to, and saved some
mariners who had invoked
his assistance.
THE FEAST OF ST.
NICHOLAS
The Feast of St. Nicholas, at Bari, is one of the chief
ecclesiastical festivals of Southern Italy. It is attended by pilgrims in
thousands, who come from
considerable distances. From the Tronto to Otranto, the whole eastern slope of
the Apennines sends eager suppliants to this famous shrine, and nowhere is there
more distinctly to
be seen how firm and deep a hold the faith in which they have been educated has
on the enthusiastic nature of the Italian peasantry, than at this sanctuary, and
on this occasion.
Bari is a city of considerable importance, being the second
in population of those belonging to the Neapolitan provinces. It is situated on
the Adriatic
coast, half-way between the spur, formed by Monte Gargano, and the heel of the
boot. It contains some 40,000 inhabitants, and is capital of the province of the
same name, which
contains half a million of population. The city occupies a small peninsula,
which escapes, as it were, into the blue waters of the Adriatic, from the bosom
of the richest and most
fertile country in Italy. The whole sea-board, from the mouths of the Ofanto to
within a few miles of the magnificent but neglected harbour of Brindisi, recalls
the descriptions
given of Palestine in its ancient and highly-cultivated state. The constant
industry of the people�in irrigation, in turning over the soil, in pruning the
exuberant vegetation�is
rewarded by a harvest in every month of the year, and the wealth of the soil is
expressed by the contented aspect, the decent clothing, and the personal
adornment with rings,
chains, and ear-rings, of both men and women. Stockings and even gloves are
commonly worn, and that not as being needed for defence against the climate, but
as marks of decent
competence. At Barletta, the great grain-port, which is situated between this
garden of Italy and the great pastoral plain of Apulia, there is a labour-market
held daily, during
the summer months, at four A.M. There the labourers meet, before going to their
daily toil, to settle the price of labour, and to arrange for the due
distribution of workmen
through the country. Each man is attended by his dog, and most of them mount
their asses, at the conclusion of this ancient and admirable congress, to ride
to the scene of their
occupation.
The harvests of this fertile country commence, in the latter
part of April and earlier portion of May, by the gathering of the pulse crops,
those of beans
especially, on which the people subsist for some weeks, and of vetches. Oranges
and lemons succeed during the month of May, and the country affords many species
of these fruit, one
at least of which, as large as a child's head, and with a thick and edible rind,
is unknown in other parts of Europe. In June, succeeds the harvest of oats,
barley, and wheat, and
the gathering of flax. In July, the maize is harvested; a plant which has been
regarded as of American origin, but which is represented in the frescoes of
Pompei as boiled and
eaten precisely as we see it used at the present day. July is also the chief
month for the making of cheese, as well as for the silk crop, or the tending of
the silk-worm till it
forms its cocoons.
August produces cotton, tobacco, and figs. September yields
grapes and a second shearing of wool, the first having taken place in May. The
next five months,
in fertile years, supply a constant yield of olives; and the plucking and
preserving of the fruit, as well as the manufacture of oil, afford continual
occupation. The olive, which,
in the south of France, appears as a small shrub, covers the hills to the south
of the Ofanto, with trees about the size of the apple-trees of the
Gloucestershire and Herefordshire
orchards; and yet further south, in the Terra di Otranto, it rises into the
magnitude of a forest-tree, and covers large districts of country with a rich
and shady woodland. The
culture and the varieties of the olive are the same with those that are so
minutely described by Virgil, and the flavour of the edible species, and the
delicacy and filbert-like
aroma of the new-made oil, can only be appreciated by a visit to a country like
Apulia. In March, the latest addition to the production of the country, the
little Mandarin orange,
becomes ripe; a delicious fruit, too delicate to export. Introduced into Italy
during the present generation, it has already much increased in size, at the
expense, it is said, of
flavour. In April is the season for the slaughtering of fatted animals, which
brings us round again to the wool-crop.
Bari is an archiepiscopal city, but its ancient cathedral,
with its almost picturesque architecture, is outshone by the splendour of the
Church of St.
Nicholas, the 'protector of the city.' The grand prior of St. Nicholas is one of
the chief ecclesiastical dignitaries in Italy, claiming to rank with the bishop
of Loretto, the
archbishop of Milan, and the cardinal of Capua. The king of Naples for the time
is, when he enters the precincts of St. Nicholas, a less person than the grand
prior, ranking
always, however, as the first canon of the chapter, and having a throne in the
choir erected for his occupation in that capacity. The present grand prior is a
man every way fitted
to sustain such a dignity �courteous and affable, erect and vigorous in form and
gait, and clear and bright in complexion, although hard on fourscore years of
age. He is the very
counterpart of the pictures of Fenelon, but of Fenelon unworn by the charge of
the education of a dauphin.
It so chanced that the writer was in Bari, and was the guest
of this respectable prelate, on the two great festivals that are distinctive of
the city that
of St. Mark, and that of St. Nicholas. On St. Mark's Day, the chief peculiarity
is the procession of the clergy and municipality to the walls of the ancient
castle that overlook
the sea, and the solemn firing of a cannon thrice in the direction of Venice, in
acknowledgment of the relief afforded by the Venetian fleet when Bari was
besieged by the Saracens
in 1002 A.D. The ricochet of the cannon-ball over the surface of the Adriatic is
watched with the greatest interest by the people, and the distance from the
shore at which the
water is struck appears to be regarded as ominous.
But on the festa of St. Nicholas, in addition to the
rejoicings of the citizens, and to the influx of the contadini, the city is
absolutely invaded by an
army of pilgrims. With staves bound with olive, with pine, or with palm, each
bearing a suspended water-bottle formed out of a gourd, frequently barefoot,
clothed in every variety
of picturesque and ancient costume, devotees from every province of the kingdom
of Naples seek health or other blessings at the shrine of the great St.
Nicholas. The priory gives
to each a meal, and affords shelter to many. Others fill every arch or sheltered
nook in the walls, bivouac in the city, or spend the night in devotion. The
grand vicar of the
priory said that on that morning they had given food to nine thousand pilgrims,
and there are many who never seek the dole, but travelling on horseback or in
carriages to within a
few miles of Bari, assume the pilgrim habit only to enter the very precincts of
the shrine.
The clergy composing the chapter of St. Nicholas are not slow
to maintain the thaumaturgic character of their patron, and seem to believe in
it. The bones
of the saint are deposited in a sepulchre beneath the magnificent crypt, which
is in itself a sort of subterranean church, of rich Saracenic architecture.
Through the native rock
which forms the tomb, water constantly exudes, which is collected by the canons
on a sponge attached to a reed, squeezed into bottles, and sold to the pilgrims,
as a miraculous
specific, under the name of the `Manna of St. Nicholas.' As a proof of its
supernatural character, a large bottle was shewn to me, in which, suspended from
the cork, grew and
floated the delicate green bladder of one of the Adriatic ulvae. I suppose that
its growth in fresh water had been extremely slow, for a person, whose word I
did not doubt, assured
me that he remembered the bottle from his childhood, and that the vegetation was
then much less visible. 'This,' said the grand vicar, a tall aquiline-featured
priest, who looked
as if he watched the effect of every word upon a probable heretic-
'this we consider to be conclusive as to the character of
the water. If vegetation takes place in water that you keep in a jar, the
water becomes
offensive. This bottle has been in its present state for many years. You see
the vegetation. But it is not putrid. Taste it, you will find it perfectly
sweet. Questa � prodigiosa.'
I trust that all the water that was sold to the pilgrims was
really thus afforded by St. Nicholas, if its efficacy be such as is asserted to
be the case;
but on this subject the purchasers must rely implicitly on the good faith of the
canons, as mere human senses cannot distinguish it from that of the castle well.
The pilgrims, on entering the Church of St. Nicholas, often
shew their devotion by making the circuit once, or oftener, on their knees. Some
are not content
with this mark of humility, but actually move around the aisles with the
forehead pressed to the marble pavement, being generally led by a child, by
means of a string or
handkerchief, of which they hold the corner in the mouth. It is impossible to
conceive anything more calculated to stir the heart with mingled feelings of
pity, of admiration, of
sympathy, and of horror than to see these thousands of human beings recalling,
in their physiognomy, their dialects, their gesticulations, even their dresses,
the Magna Graecia of
more than two thousand years ago, urged from their distant homes by a strong and
intense piety, and thinking to render acceptable service by thus debasing
themselves below the
level of the brute. The flushed face, starting eyes, and scarred forehead, fully
distinguish such of the pilgrims as have thus sought the benediction of the
saint.
The mariners of Bari take their own part, and that a very
important one, in the functions of the day, and go to a considerable expense to
perform their duty
with eclat. Early in the morning, they enter the church in procession, and
receive from the canons the wooden image of the saint, attired in the robes and
mitre of an archbishop,
which they bear in triumph through the city, attended by the canons only so far
as the outer archway of the precincts of the priory. They take their charge to
visit the cathedral
and other places, and then fairly embark him, and carry him out to sea, where
they keep him until nightfall. They then return, disembark under the blaze of
illumination, bon-fires,
and fireworks, and the intonation, by the whole heaving mass of the population,
of a Gregorian Litany of St. Nicholas; parade the town, visit by torchlight, and
again leave, his
own church; and finally, and late in the night, return the image to the reverend
custody of the canons, who, in their purple robes and fur capes turned up with
satin, play only a
subordinate part in the solemnity. 'It is the only time,' said a
thickly-moustached bystander�
'it is the only occasion, in Italy, on which you see the
religion of Jesus Christ in the hands of the people.'
The conduct of the festa was, indeed, in the bands of the
mariners and of the pilgrims; the character of the religion is a different
question.
Those who have witnessed the festa of St. Januarius, at
Naples, will err if they endeavour thence to realise the character of the festa
of St. Nicholas at
Bari. The effect on the mind is widely different. Without the frantic excitement
that marks the Neapolitan festival, there is a deep, serious, anxious conviction
that pervades the
thousands who assemble at Bari, which renders the commemoration of St. Nicholas
an event unique in its nature. The nocturnal procession, the flashing torches,
the rockets, the
deep-toned litany, the hum and surge of the people through the ancient archways,
the thousands of pilgrims that seem to have awakened from a slumber of seven
centuries, all tend
power-fully to affect the imagination. But the chief element of this power over
the mind is to be found in the deep earnestness of so great a mass of human
beings, while the stars
look down calm and solemn on their time-honoured rite, and a deep bass to their
litany rolls in from the waves of the Adriatic.
THE BOY-BISHOP
On St. Nicholas's Day, in ancient times, a singular ceremony
used to take place. This was the election of the Boy-bishop, or Episcopus
Puerorum, who, from
this date to Innocents', or Childermas
Day, on 28th December, exercised a burlesque episcopal
jurisdiction, and, with his
juvenile dean and prebendaries, parodied the various ecclesiastical functions
and ceremonies. It is well known that, previous to the Reformation, these
profane and ridiculous
mummeries were encouraged and participated in by the clergy themselves, who,
confident of their hold on the reverence or superstition of the populace, seem
to have entertained no
apprehension of the dangerous results which might ultimately ensue from such
sports, both as regarded their own influence and the cause of religion itself.
The election of the Boy-bishop seems to have prevailed
generally throughout the English cathedrals, and also in many of the
grammar-schools, but the place
where, of all others, it appears to have specially obtained, was the episcopal
diocese of Salisbury or Sarum. A full description of the mock-ceremonies enacted
on the occasion is
pre-served in the Processional of Salisbury Cathedral, where also the service of
the Boy-bishop is printed and set to music. It seems to have constituted
literally a mimic
transcript of the regular episcopal functions; and we do not discover any trace
of parody or burlesque, beyond the inevitable one of the ludicrous contrast
presented by the
diminutive bishop and his chapter to the grave and canonical figures of the
ordinary clergy of the cathedral. The actors in this solemn farce were composed
of the choristers of the
church, and must have been well drilled in the parts which they were to
per-form. The boy who filled the character of bishop, derived some substantial
benefits from his tenure of
office, and is said to have had the power of disposing of such prebends as fell
vacant during the period of his episcopacy. If he died in the course of it, he
received the funeral
honours of a bishop, and had a monument erected to his memory, of which latter
distinction an example may be seen on the north side of the nave of Salisbury
Cathedral, where is
sculptured the figure of a youth clad in episcopal robes, with his foot on a
lion-headed and dragon-tailed monster, in allusion to the expression of the
Psalmist:
'Conculcabis leonem et draconem�
[Thou shalt tread on the lion and the dragon].'
Besides the regular buffooneries throughout England of the
Boy-bishop and his companions in church, these pseudo-clergy seem to have
perambulated the
neighbourhood, and enlivened it with their jocularities, in return for which a
contribution, under the designation of the 'Bishop's subsidy,' would be demanded
from passers-by and
householders. Occasionally, royalty itself deigned to be amused with the
burlesque ritual of the mimic prelate, and in 1299, we find Edward I, on his way
to Scotland, permitting a
Boy-bishop to say vespers before him in his chapel at Heton, near
Newcastle-on-Tyne, on the 7th of December, the day after St.
Nicholas's Day. On this occasion, we are
informed that his majesty made a handsome present to this mock-representative of
Episcopacy, and the companions who assisted him in the discharge of his
functions. During the reign
of Queen Mary of persecuting memory, we find a performance by one of these
child-bishops before her majesty, at her manor of St-James-in-the-Fields, on St.
Nicholas's Day and
Innocents' Day, 1555. This queen restored, on her accession, the ceremonial,
referred to, which had been abrogated by her father, Henry VIII, in 1542.
We accordingly read in Strype's Ecclesiastical
Memorials, quoted by Brand, that on 13th November 1554, an
edict was issued by the bishop
of London to all the clergy of his diocese to have the procession of a
boy-bishop. But again we find that on 5th December, or St. Nicholas's
Eve, of the same year, ' at
even-song time, came a commandment that St. Nicholas should not go abroad or
about. But notwithstanding, it seems so much were the citizens taken with the
mock of St. Nicholas�that
is, a boy-bishop�that there went about these St. Nicholases in divers parishes,
as in St. Andrew's, Holborn, and St. Nicholas Olaves, in Bread Street. The
reason the procession of
St. Nicholas was forbid, was because the cardinal had, this St. Nicholas Day,
sent for all the convocation, bishops, and inferior clergy, to come to him to
Lambeth, there to be
absolved from all their per-juries, schisms, and heresies.' Again Strype informs
us that, in 1556, on the eve of his day,
'St. Nicholas, that is, a boy habited like a bishop in
pontifcalibus, went abroad in most parts of London, singing after the old
fashion, and was received
with many ignorant but well-disposed people into their houses, and had as much
good cheer as ever was wont to be had before, at least, in many places.'
With the final establishment of Protestantism in England, the
pastime of the Boy-bishop disappeared; but the well-known festivity of the Eton
Montem appears
to have originated in, and been a continuance under another form, of the
medieval custom above detailed. The Eton celebration, now abolished, consisted,
as is well known, in a
march of the scholars attending that seminary to Salt Hill, in the neighbourhood
[AD MONTEM�' To the Mount '�whence the name of the festivity], where they dined,
and afterwards
returned in procession to Eton in the evening. It was thoroughly of a military
character, the mitre and ecclesiastical vestments of the Boy-bishop and his
clergy of former times
being exchanged for the uniforms of a company of soldiers and their captain.
Certain boys, denominated salt-bearers, and their scouts or deputies, attired in
fancy-dresses,
thronged the roads in the neighbourhood, and levied from the passersby a tribute
of money for the benefit of their captain.
This was supposed to afford the latter the means of
maintaining himself at the university, and amounted sometimes to a considerable
sum, occasionally
reaching as high as �1000. According to the ancient practice, the salt-bearers
were accustomed to carry with them a handkerchief filled with salt, of which
they bestowed a small
quantity on every individual who contributed his quota to the subsidy. The
origin of this custom of distributing salt is obscure, but it would appear to
have reference to those
ceremonies so frequently practised at schools and colleges in former times, when
a new-comer or freshman arrived, and, by being salted, was, by a variety of
ceremonies more amusing
to his companions than himself, admitted to a participation with the other
scholars in their pastimes and privileges. A favourite joke at Eton in former
times was, it is said, for
the salt-bearers to fill with the commodity which they carried, the mouth of any
stolid-looking countryman, who, after giving them a trifle, asked for an
equivalent in return.
About the middle of the last century, the Eton Montem was a
biennial, but latterly it became a triennial ceremony. One of the customs,
certainly a relic of
the Boy-bishop revels, was, after the pro-cession reached Salt Hill, for a boy
habited like a parson to read prayers, whilst another officiated as clerk, who
at the conclusion of
the service was kicked by the parson downhill. This part of the ceremonies,
however, was latterly abrogated in deference, as is said, to the wishes of Queen
Charlotte, who, on
first witnessing the practice, had expressed great dissatisfaction at its
irreverence. The Eton-Montem festival found a stanch patron in George III, who
generally attended it with
his family, and made, along with them, liberal donations to the salt-bearers,
besides paying various attentions to the boys who filled the principal parts in
the show. Under his
patronage the festival flourished with great splendour; but it afterwards fell
off, and at last, on the representation of the master of Eton College to her
Majesty and the
government, that its continuance had become undesirable, the Eton Montem was
abolished in January 1847. This step, however, was not taken without a
considerable amount of
opposition.
In recent times, the Eton-Montem festival used to be
celebrated on Whit-Tuesday, but previous to 1759, it took place on the first
Tuesday in Hilary Term,
which commences on 23
rd
January. It then not unfrequently became necessary to cut a
passage through the
snow to Salt Hill, to allow the pro-cession to pass. At a still remoter period,
the celebration appears to have been held before the Christmas holidays, on one
of the days between
the feasts of St. Nicholas and the Holy Innocents, the period during which the
Boy-bishop of old, the precursor of the 'captain' of the Eton scholars,
exercised his prelatical
functions.
THE INTRODUCTION OF
TEA
Dr. Johnson gives Earls Arlington and Ossory the credit of
being the first to import tea into England. He says that they brought it from
Holland in 1666,
and that their ladies taught women of quality how to use it. Pepys, however, records
having sent for a cup of tea, a China
drink of which he had never drunk before, on the 25th of September
1660; and by an act of parliament of the same year, a duty of eightpence a
gallon was levied on all
sherbert, chocolate, and tea made for sale. Waller, writing on some tea
commended by Catherine of
Braganza, says:
The best of herbs and best of queens we owe
To that bold naticn, which the way did shew
To the fair region where the sun does rise.
The Muses' friend, Tea, does our fancy aid,
Repress the vapours which the head invade,
And keeps the palace of the soul serene.'
Her majesty may have helped to render tea-drinking
fashionable, but the beverage was well known in London before the Restoration.
The Mercurius Politicus
of September 30, 1658, contains the following advertisement:
'That excellent, and by all physicians approved, China
drink, called by the Chineans Tcha, by other nations Tay, alias Tee, is sold
at the Sultaness Head
Coffee-House, in Sweeting's Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London.'
Possibly this announcement prompted the founder of
Garraway's to issue the broadsheet, preserved in the British Museum Library, in
which he thus runs riot
in exaltation of tea:
'The quality is moderately hot, proper for winter or
summer. The, drink is declared to be most wholesome, preserving in perfect
health until extreme old
age. The particular virtues are these. It maketh the body active and lusty. It
helpeth the headache, giddiness and heaviness thereof. It removeth the
obstructions of the spleen.
It is very good against the stone and gravel It taketh away the difficulty of
breathing, opening obstructions. It is good against lippitude distillations,
and cleareth the sight.
It removeth lassitude, and cleanseth and purifieth adust humours and a hot
liver. It is good against crudities, strengthening the weakness of the
stomach, causing good appetite
and digestion, and particularly for men of a corpulent body, and such as are
great eaters of flesh. It vanquisheth heavy dreams, easeth the brain, and
strengtheneth the memory.
It overcome-tit superfluous sleep, and prevents sleepiness in general, a
draught of the infusion being taken; so that, without trouble, whole nights
may be spent in study without
hurt to the body. It prevents and cures agues, surfeits, and fevers by
infusing a fit quantity of the leaf; thereby provoking a most gentle vomit and
breathing of the pores, and
hath been given with wonderful success. It (being prepared and drunk with milk
and water) strengtheneth the inward parts and prevents consumptions.
It is good for colds, dropsies, and scutvies, and expelleth
infection.. . And that the virtue and excellence of the leaf and drink are
many and great, is
evident and manifest by the high esteem and use of it (especially of late
years), by the physicians and knowing men in France, Italy, Holland, and other
parts of Christendom, and
in England it hath been sold in the leaf for six pounds, and sometimes for ten
pounds the pound-weight; and in respect of its former scarceness and dearness,
it hath been only
used as a regalia in high treatments and entertainments, and presents made
thereof to princes and grandees till the year 1657.'
Having furnished these excellent reasons why people should
buy tea, Mr. Garway proceeds to tell them why they should buy it of him:
'The said Thomas Garway did purchase a quantity thereof,
and first publicly sold the said tea in leaf and drink, made according to the
directions of the
most knowing merchants and travellers into those Eastern countries; and upon
knowledge and experience of the said Garway's continued care and industry in
obtaining the best tea,
and making drink thereof, very many noblemen, physicians, merchants, and
gentlemen of quality, have ever since sent to him for the said leaf, and daily
resort to his house in
Exchange Alley, to drink the drink thereof. And to the end that all persons of
eminency and quality, gentlemen and others, who have occasion for tea in leaf,
may be supplied,
these are to give notice that the said Thomas Garway hath tea to sell from
sixteen shillings to fifty shillings the pound.'
Rugge's Diurnal tells us that tea was sold in almost every
street in London, in 1659, and it stood so high in estimation, that, two years
later, the East
India Company thought a couple of pounds a gift worthy the acceptance of the
king. Its use spread rapidly among the wealthier classes, although the
dramatists railed against it as
only fit for women, and men who lived like women. In 1678, we find Mr. Henry
Saville writing to his uncle, Secretary Coventry, in disparagement of some of
his friends who have
fallen into `the base unworthy Indian practice' of calling for tea after dinner
in place of the pipe and bottle, seeming to hold with Poor Robin that
'Arabian tea
Is dishwater to a dish of whey.'
The enemies of the new fashion attacked it as an innocent
pretext for bringing together the wicked of both sexes, and ladies were accused
of slipping out of
a morning:
'To Mrs. Thoddy's
To cheapen tea, without a bodice.'
Dean Swift thus
sketches a tea-table scene:
'Let me now survey
Our madam o'er her evening tea,
Surrounded with the noisy clans
Of prudes, coquettes, and harridans.
Now voices over voices rise,
While each to be the loudest vies.
They contradict, affirm, dispute;
No single tongue one moment mute;
All mad to speak and none to hearken,
They set the very lapdog barking,
Their chattering makes a louder din,
Than fishwives o'er a cup of gin;
Far less the rabble roar and rail,
When drunk with sour election ale!'
Scandal, if the poets are to be believed, was always an
indispensable accompaniment of the cheering cup:
'Still, as their ebbing Malice it supplies,
Some victim falls, some reputation dies.'
And Young exclaims:
'Tea! how I tremble at thy fatal stream!
As Lethe dreadful to the love of fame.
What devastations on thy banks are seen,
What shades of mighty names that once have been!
A hecatomb of characters supplies
Thy painted altars' daily sacrifice!'
Other writers denounced tea on economicalgrounds. The Female
Spectator (1745) declares the tea-table 'costs more to support than would
maintain two children
at nurse; it is the utter destruction of all economy, the bane of
good-housewifery, and the source of idleness.' That it was still a luxury rather
than a necessity, is plain from
the description of the household management of a model country rector, as given
in The World (1753). 'His only article of luxury is tea, but the doctor says he
would forbid that,
if his wife could forget her London education. However, they seldom offer it but
to the best company, and less than a pound will last them a twelvemonth.' What
would the frugal man
have thought of the country lady mentioned by Southey, who, on receiving a pound
of tea as a present from a town-friend, boiled the whole of it in a kettle, and
served up the
leaves with salt and butter, to her expectant neighbours, who had been invited
specially to give their opinions on the novelty! They unanimously voted it
detestable, and were
astonished that even fashion could make such a dish palatable.
Count Belchigen, physician to Maria Theresa, ascribed the
increase of new diseases to the weakness and debility induced by daily drinking
tea; but as a
set-off, allowed it to be a sovereign remedy for excessive fatigue, pleurisy,
vapours, jaundice, weak lungs, leprosy, scurvy, consumption, and yellow fever.
Jonas Hanway was a
violent foe to tea. In an essay on its use, he ascribes the majority of feminine
disorders to an indulgence in the herb, and more than hints that the same vice
has lessened the
vigour of Englishmen, and deprived Englishwomen of beauty. He is horrified at
the fact of no less than six ships and some five hundred seamen being employed
in the trade between
England and China! Johnson reviewed the essay in the Literary Magazine,
prefacing his criticism with the candid avowal that the author:
'is to expect little justice from a hardened and shameless
tea-drinker, who has for twenty years diluted his meals with only the infusion
of this
fascinating plant; whose kettle has scarcely time to cool; who with tea amuses
the evening, with tea solaces the midnight, and with tea welcomes the
morning.'
Spite of this threatening exordium, the doctor's defence of
his beloved drink is but weak and lukewarm. He admits that tea is not fitted for
the lower
classes, as it only gratifies the taste without nourishing the body, and styles
it 'a barren superfluity,' proper only to amuse the idle, relax the studious,
and dilute the meals
of those who cannot use exercise, and will not practise abstinence. For such an
inveterate tea-drinker, the following is but faint praise:
'Tea, among the greater part of those who use it most, is
drunk in no great quantity. As it neither exhilarates the heart, nor
stimulates the palate, it
is commonly an entertainment merely nominal, a pretence for assembling to
prattle, for interrupting business or diversifying idleness.'
He gives the annual importation then (1757) as about four
million pounds, 'a quantity,' he allows, 'sufficient to alarm us.' What would
the doctor say now,
when, as evening closes in, almost every English household gathers round the
table, where
'The cups
That cheer but not inebriate wait on each,'
and the quantity of the article imported is nearly twentyfold
what he regards in so serious a light?
