united on one stalk. the shire of Moray, in Scotland, according to the Rev. Mr. Shaw, are accustomed, at the full moon in March, to cut withs of the mistletoe, or ivy, and making circles of them to keep all the year, pretending therewith to cure hectics and other troubles. As the ivy is dedicated to Bacchus, so should the mistletoe be to Love; not, however, to the chaste Eros, but to the sportive Cupid. The sacred regard given to it in Pagan and Druidical rites has long been terminated; but it is still beheld with emotions of pleasurable interest, when hung up in our kitchens at Christmas; it gives licence to seize the soft kiss from the ruby lips of whatever female can be enticed or caught beneath. So custom authorizes, and it enjoins also, that one of the berries of the mistletoe be plucked off after every salute. Though coy in appearance, the chariest maid, at this season of festivity, is seldom loth to submit to the established usage; especially when the swain who tempts her is one whom she approves.

The inhabitants of Elgin, and

A quaint old writer thus spiritualises the practice of Christmas decorations: "So our churches and houses are decked with bayes and rosemary, holly and other plants which are always green, winter and summer, signify and put us in mind of His Deity, that the child that now was born was God and man, who should spring up like a tender plant, should always be green and flourishing, and live for evermore."

Carols, in praise of the evergreens, were formerly chanted at Christmas time, of which the following is a specimen:

HOLLY.

Here comes holly that is so gent,
To please all men is his intent,

Allelujah!

Whosoever against holly do cry,
In a rope shall be hung full high,

Allelujah!

Whosoever against holly do sing,
He may weep and his hands wring,

Allelujah!

DRINKING CUSTOMS.

PLEDGING.

This word is probably derived from the French pleige, a surety or gauge. The expression "I'll pledge you," has been supposed to have arisen from the practice of the Danes when they invaded this country, who would frequently stab the natives, when they were drinking, with knives or daggers. People, therefore, refused to drink in their company unless someone present undertook to be their pledge or surety that they should receive no hurt while drinking.

Strutt says that, in the old mode of pledging each'

other, he who was going to drink asked any one of the company near whether he would pledge him, whereupon the invited one, answering that he would, held up his knife or sword for his protection while he drank.

Such great drinkers were the Danes in the time of Edgar, that, at the suggestion of Dunstan, the King put down many ale-houses, suffering only one in every village or small town. He further ordained that pins or nails should be driven into the drinking-cups and horns at stated distances, and those who drank beyond the marks thus indicated at one draught were liable to severe punishment. This law seems to have originated a drinking custom called pin-drinking, or nick the pin, which Cocker's "Dictionary" thus explains :-" An old way of drinking exactly to a pin in the midst of a wooden cup, which being somewhat difficult, occasioned much drunkenness; so a law was made that priests, monks, and friars, should not drink to or at the pins."

In Young's "England's Bane" is the following passage:"Truely I thinke hereupon comes the name of good fellow, quasi goad fellow, because he forceth and goads his fellowes forward to be drunke with his persuasive termes as I drank to you pray pledge me, you dishonour mee, you disgrace mee, and with such like words, doth urge his consorts forward to be drunke, as oxen being prickt with goads, are compel'd and forced to draw the waine."

The drinking customs of the seventeenth century

с

are thus related-"England's Bane" (1617) says:"I have seen a company amongst the very woods and forests drinking for a Muggle. Sixe determined to try their strengths who could drinke most glasses for the muggle. The first drinkes a glasse of a pint, the second two, the next three, and so every one multiplieth till the last taketh sixe. Then the first beginneth againe and taketh seven, and in this manner they drinke thrice a-peece round, every man taking a glasse more than his fellow, so that hee that dranke least, which was the first, dranke one-and-twentie pints, and the sixth man thirty-six." He adds, "Before we were acquainted with the lingering wars of the Low-Countrie, drunkenness was held in the highest degree of hatred that might be amongst us."

Harris, in his "Drunkard's Cup" (1653), speaks of drinking "by the foot, by the yard; a drinking by the douzens, by the scores; for the wager, for the victory, man against man, house against house, town against town." "There are also terms of art fetcht from Hell, for the better distinguishing of the practitioners. One is coloured, another is foxt, a third is gone to the dogs, and a fourth is well to live."

Allan Ramsay (1721) thus explains the meaning of Hy-jinks:-"He says it is a drunken game, or new project to drink and be rich; thus the quaff or cup is filled to the brim, then one of the company takes a pair of dice, and after crying Hy-jinks, he

throws them out; the number he casts up, points out the person who must drink, he who threw, beginning at himself, No. 1, and so round till the number of the persons agree with that of the dice (which may fall upon himself if the number be within twelve); then he sets the dice to him, or bids him take them ; he on whom they fall is obliged to drink, or pay a small forfeiture in money; then throws, and so on ; but if he forgets to cry Hy-jinks, he pays a forfeiture into the bank. Now he on whom it falls to drink, if there be anything in bank worth drawing, gets it all if he drinks. Then with a great deal of caution he empties his cup, sweeps up the money, and orders the cup to be filled again, and then throws; for, if he errs in the articles, he loses the privilege of drawing the money. The articles are (1) Drink, (2) Draw, (3) Fill (4) Cry Hy-jinks, (5) Count just, (6) Chuse your doublet man, viz., when two equal numbers of the dice are thrown, the person whom you chuse must pay a double of the common forfeiture, and so must you when the dice is in his hand. A rare project this, and no bubble, I can assure you; for a covetous fellow may save money, and get himself as drunk as he can desire in less than an hour's time."

In the time of Beaumont and Fletcher, young gallants used to stab themselves in the arms, and elsewhere on the body, and drink the healths of their mistresses in their own blood.