Attempt > Volume 1 and Select writings

THE ATTEMPT
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a ceremony which was generally performed hy the oldest servant, who preceded the
rest of the household to the best-bearing apple-tree in the orchard, round which a
circle having been formed, the wassail bearer chanted such a carol as the following:—
“ Here’s to thee, old apple-tree,
Whence thou may’st bud and whence thou may’st blow,
And whence thou may’st bear apples enow!
Hats full! caps full!
Bushel, bushel, sacks full,
And my pockets full too ! Huzza!”
and having taken a draught from the wassail bowl for the sake of luck, threw the
remainder of its contents of ale and lamb’s-wool upon the tree, amid the shouts of
the beholders.
The revellers generally retired to rest about midnight, the peculiar sacredness of
which hour on Christmas Eve is thus commemorated by Shakespere—
“ Some say that ever ’gainst this season comes
Wherein our Saviour’s birth is celebrate,
This bird of dawning singeth all night long;
And then they say no spirit dares stir abroad.
The nights are wholesome; then no planet strikes,
No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm,—
So hallowed and so gracious is the time.”
The practice of singing carols on Christmas morning dates as far hack as the first
and second centuries; hut of these we have no authentic record, so that those of the
Anglo-Saxon and Anglo-Norman period may be said to be the earliest with which we
are acquainted, except, of course, the greatest of all, thus mentioned by Milton—
“ His place of birth a solemn angel tells
To simple shepherds keeping watch by night;
They gladly thither haste, and by a choir
Of squadron’d angels hear His carol sung.”
Carol singing is now almost extinguished, its only remnant being left us
in the Christmas waits, who in some towns serenade the citizens with sweet
music.
The Christmas dinner has ever been eaten with more relish and greater im¬
portance attached to it than any other dinner during the whole year. In olden time