1773: Christmas - An Essay
The following essay appeared in the London Magazine and was later reprinted in The Virginia Gazette in Williamsburg in 1773. It offers a lively descriptions of different social classes in Britain celebrating Christmas and then takes a sudden and religious turn at the end of the piece.
Spelling, grammar, and capitalization is original.
From the LONDON MAGAZINE
Christmas: An Essay.
I have been amusing myself, during the three last Days, with observing the various Scenes which Christmas has introduced into this Metropolis. The Arrival of these Holidays has always been a Signal for Society to shake off their little Cares; and turn aside from their usual Channel, and wear a Holiday Appearance. Such a Season as the present, when Revelry is let loose, and Festivity reigns in all Hearts and in all Faces, diffuses universal Cheerfulness, not only among the Actors in the Drama, but among the Spectators also. The simple Man may look on and laugh; the grave man may view them, and shake his Head; and even the Philosopher may wink at the Crowd, and glean a Moral from the Follies of his Fellow Creatures.
It is worth our Attention to observe how this Festival operates on the different Ranks of People in their Manner of celebrating it; for every Rank has a particular Fashion, which follow indistinctly, and exclusively of all others, so that a first Rate Character in the Arrangement of Society shall differ as much from a third or forth Rate one as if the one was a Turk and the other a Laplander. Your high bred Man, your Men of Fashion and Vertu, the My Lords, the Sir Johns, and the Esquires of six Thousand a Year, leap into their Carriages, with their whole Family of Daughters, Sisters, and Cousins, and roll down to their Country Seats, fifty or a Hundred Miles from Town, where they yawn away the vulgar Holidays without Company or Comfort, putting off the tedious Evenings with Scandal or Cards, till the Time comes for genteel Company to fly again to Town, and for the Parliament to meet; while their Tables are covered with all the flippant food of debauched Palates and refined Appetites, the Frippery of French Ragouts, culinary Kickshaws, and the poisonous Spices of the Indies.
The wealthy Citizen, who, having been since his Youth dependent on the Smiles of the Publick, has at length become independent, and sets the World at Defiance, betakes him into his Chariot or Chair, with the Companion of his Life on his right Hand, and Tommy and Jacky sitting on two Stools before them. Things thus settled, he drives to his Box at Clapham, Fulham, Camberwell, Newington Butts, or Kentishtown; where, though a dirty Ditch stretches itself behind his House, rolling down dead Dogs and Cats in its muddy Stream, yet the Citizen lives very happy, having his House upon the high Road Side, and a Square of Chinese Railing before it, enclosing two or three withering Shrubs. Here, in imitation of greater Folks, the drowsy Christmas passes away but heavily; here you may see a Picture on Inconsistence, the Remains of City Life blended with a high Imitation of Court Life, the Manners of the Change awkwardly united with those of St. James.
Your Citizen of humbler Note, who has yet got neither Chariot nor Chair, yet is daily making Money by an unwearied Attention to Business exhibits a livelier Picture in the Circle of his domestick Life. Yet uncorrupted, untainted by an unnatural Affectation of Politeness, nought is he ambitious of being but a plain Citizen. His utmost Wish at this Season is to have his Table covered with a...Rump of Roast Beef, and to have two Puddings smoke upon his Board at Dinner. This Dose is repeated at Night, and with Guttling, Drinking, and Smoking, he finishes a Day of Gluttony and Gratification.
Why should I name that still humbler Class of Mankind, who earn their Beef and Porter by the Sweat of their Brows? To see enough of these civilized Savages, it is only necessary to walk the Streets in Holiday Time. these are they who forsake their Families, and cheat them of their daily Bread to riot at Alehouses and Retail Gin Shops, to roll in the Kennels, or reel along the Streets.
Having thus seen what the good Folks in Town are doing, it will not be amiss to take a Walk in the Country, to observe the Effects of Christmas on rustick Minds. Here, indeed the Whole is a Scene of universal joy. It comes but once a Year, and they make the most of it. Noise and Mirth walk Hand in Hand, and good Humour keep Pace with good Eating. The Spade, the Pitchfork, and good the Wheelbarrow, are thrown away; the one-eyed Parish Fiddler is sent for, and the well smoked Gammon of Bacon is taken down from the Roof. . . .
Such is the Face of Things within, but it is abroad that Revelry break loose. The Spirits, the Games, and Gambols of their Ancestors, are not forgotten; these sacred Reliques of ancient Mariners, which have been piously transmitted down from Generations to Generations, unsullied and unchanged. Dancing, Wrestling, Racing, Cricket, Cudgel playing, Skittles, Bowling, or Hunting are met with in every Thicket, in every Field. Every Place resounds with the Cries of Jollity, the Hill answers to the Dale, and the dale replies to the shelving Rock; babbling Echo runs laughing from Field to Field, and the whole Firmaments is filled with the broken and confused sound of Guns, Tabors, Fifes, Fiddles, Horns, Hounds, and Men.
It is in Imitation, I suppose, of the ancient Tilt and Tournament, where the Youth used formerly to win their fair Ones by Force of Arms, and where they showed the Strength of their Love by the Strength of their Limbs, that such Games as require general Strength and Activity to excel in them are still religiously preserved in the Country. At these Games also, the young Rusticks have good Opportunities of displaying...to please their Mistresses. I have often stood, with great Satisfaction, in the Ring at a Village, to view the Feats performed by these athletick Clowns; and the Observation of those Expressions which Nature throw into the Faces and Actions of the Crowd present, according as each of them is interested in the Business that is going on, is not the least amusing Part of the Entertainment. . .
To be sure, all these Things are very good. Here is enough of Mirth, of Merriment, and of Sporting. Here is enough of every Thing suitable to the Time and Occasion; of every Thing, except Religion. The most sacred Festival in our Kalendar, instead of being celebrated with that pious Joy, that Christian Cheerfulness, which were the great Purposes of its Institution, is converted into one continued Scene of Riot, Profligacy, and Debauchery. That divine Era, which ushered the Son of God into the World, beaming Mercy and Immortality on the Sons of Men, serves now as a Signal for Lewdness to throw off the Mask, and for the Wanton to become more wicked, for the Profligate to become more profane.
Our Ancestors, who have taught us many good Things, would teach us Something worthy of Imitation in this Point also, if we had Virtue enough to copy it. These brave Men considered this annual Festival as the Season for calling forth their most serious Thoughts: If they shut the Doors of their Shops or Compting Houses at the Approach of Christmas, it was only to retire into these Closets and to present their Gratitude to Heaven. Thus it served as a Spur to make them more generous, more virtuous, and more religious; and this naturally inspiring Mirth and become blended with an innocent and laudable Festivity, which made it not only as religious, but (as they called it) a merry Christmas. This was the true and original Meaning of the Phrase; which we, wanting only an Excuse to be riotous, have perverted from its real Explanation. We made Christmas excessively merry, only by being excessively wicked; and we celebrate the Festivity of our Saviour, as if we were ministering the mad Orgies of Bacchus. But Profligacy is the characteristick of this wretched Age.
Source:
"Christmas: An Essay," The Virginia Gazette, December 30, 1773, Page 1. Accessed through Newspapers.com
