and sacrificed two white bulls to the sylvan deities whom they thus sought to propitiate.  We hang up our bunches of mistletoe now, but we do not attach any superstitious importance to it, nor imagine that any gods of the woods will be influenced by our procedure.  The bringing in of the Yule-log was a Norse custom observed in honour of Thor, from whose name we derive our word Thursday or Thor’s-day.  The mighty log was drawn into the baronial hall with great pomp, while the bards sang their songs of praise and chanted “Welcome Yule.”

    “Welcome be Thou, heavenly King,
     Welcome, born on this morning;
     Welcome for whom we shall sing
          Welcome, Yule.”

Herrick, who delighted so much in singing of

    “Maypoles, hock-carts, wassails, wakes—­”

then bursts out in joyous strains: 

    “Come, bring with a noise,
       My merry, merry boys,
     The Christmas log to the firing;
       While my good dame, she
       Bids ye all be free
     And drink to your heart’s desiring. 
       With the last year’s brand
       Light the new block, and
     For good success in his spending,
       On your psaltries play,
       That sweet luck may
     Come while the log is a-teending.”

We can fancy that we see the ceremony, the glad procession of retainers and servants, the lights flaring in all directions:  we can hear the shouts and chorus of many voices, the drums beating and flutes and trumpets sounding.  The huge hearth receives the mighty log, and the flames and sparks shoot up the gaping chimney.

At Court in olden times Christmas was kept right royally, if we may judge from the extensive menu of the repasts of King Henry III. and his courtiers in the year 1247.  He kept his Christmas at Winchester Castle, and the neighbourhood must have been ransacked to furnish supplies for the royal table.  The choice dainties were as follows:  Boars, with heads entire, well cooked and very succulent, 48; fowls, 1900; partridges, mostly “put in paste,” 500; swans, 41; peacocks, 48; hares, 260; eggs, 24,000; 300 gallons of oysters; 300 rabbits, and more if possible; birds of various sorts, as many as could be had; of whitings, “particularly good and heavy,” and conger eels the same; a hundred mullets, “fat and very heavy.”  For bread the king paid L27 10s., at the price of four loaves to the penny.  When the king kept his Christmas at York in 1250, the royal treasury must have been very full, for he ordered for the royal banquets 7000 fowls, 1750 partridges, besides immense numbers of boars, swans, pheasants, &c.  Of course the king had a very large retinue of vassals and feudal lords to provide for; but the store seems sufficiently vast to supply the wants of an army of faithful, but hungry, subjects.  Sometimes, when the king was short of money, there was a considerable reduction in the amount of good things consumed at Christmas.