lowing letter, respecting the manufacture of Twelfth-night characters ;—which document was handed to us by the artist to whom it was addressed.—

"SIB,

"As I am given to understand that you are an artist of celebrity, I will thank you to make me a hundred and forty-four different characters, for Twelfth-night, the entire cost not to exceed two shillings and sixpence each, say three plates at two pounds ten shillings a plate, including the poetry, which you can, I am told, get plenty of poets to write for nothing, though I should not mind standing a trifle-say twopence more, if the verses gave satisfaction. You will please do your best for me, and, trusting to your speedy attention to this order, I will remain your well-wisher and obedient servant, who will furnish the coppers."

Though we publish this letter, that is no reason why we should publish the writer's name. It is evident, he was a young hand in the trade; and desirous to rival the graphic and literary talent displayed in Langley's and Fairburn's characters,-of which we have preserved specimens, in our portfolio. Mr. Sandys speaks rather disparagingly of the merit of these productions; and this, considering that gentleman's antiquarian zeal, we must confess, surprises us. In the copy of Langley's characters which we possess, the same love of alliteration, upon which we have already commented, as encouraged in the Court of Misrule, is observable. We have, for instance, "Bill Bobstay,"-" Prudence Pumpkin,” "Percival Palette," "Judy Juniper,"-" Peter Puncheon," "Simon Salamander,"-" Countess Clackett,"-" Leander Lackbrain,"-" Nelly Nester,”—“ Felicia Frill," &c., &c.

Where the monarch of the evening and his queen are not determined by this kind of pictorial lottery, a bean and a pea are put into the cake; and whoever finds them, in the pieces they take, become the king and queen of the evening. Other matters -such as a small coin, a ring, &c.—are often introduced into Twelfth-night cakes; and give to the finders characters to be supported for the evening. In some countries, says Sandys, a co'n was put "instead of the bean; and portions of the cake assigned to the Virgin Mary, and the Three Kings, which

were given to the poor; and if the bean should happen to be in any of these portions, the king was then chosen by pulling straws."

The three kings mentioned in the above extract, are those worthies commonly known by the title of the Three Kings of Colen (Cologne),—identified, by old legends, with the wise men of the east, who did homage to our Saviour, on the day of which the Epiphany is the anniversary celebration. They are stated to have been Arabians; and are distinguished in the traditionary tales of the early church, by the names of Melchior, Balthazar, and Gasper. Their bodies are said to have been finally deposited at Cologne, after several removals; and the practice of electing a king, on the evening of the Epiphany, has been, by some, thought to have a reference to their supposed regal characters. We imagine, however, it will be sufficiently evident to our readers, after what we have formerly said, that it is not necessary for us to seek further than we have already done, for the origin of the Twelfth-night king.

SAINT DISTAFF'S DAY.

7TH JANUARY.

CONCLUSION.

THE day which precedes this is, as we have already informed our readers, the last of the twelve days which constitute what is, emphatically, the Christmas season ;—and with the revelries of Twelfth-night, the general holiday is, in strictness, considered to be at an end. As, however, we found it necessary to approach the throng of, its celebrations with some degree of preparationto pass through some of its lighted antechambers, before we ventured to trust our eyes amid the blaze of the temple itself— so also, we dare not step, at once, from its thousand lights, into the common air of the every-day world, without a previous subjecting of our imaginations to the diminished glare of the outer chambers which lie on this other side. And this it is the more incumbent on us to do-because the revellers, whose proceedings it is our business to describe, take the same course, in returning to the business of life.

It is not, as we have said, to be expected that, after the full chorus of increased mirth which hath swelled up anew for the last of these celebrations, the ear should all at once accustom itself to a sudden and utter silence—should endure the abrupt absence of all festival sound :-nor can all the laughing spirits of the season, who were engaged, in added numbers, for the revelries of last night, be got quietly laid at rest, in the course of a single day. One or other of them are, accordingly, found lurking about the corners of our chambers, after the ceremonies, for which they are called up, are over-encouraged to the neglect of the order

for their dismissal, by the young hearts who have formed a merry alliance with the imps, which they are by no means willing to terminate thus suddenly. And, sooth to say, those youngsters are often able to engage heads who are older-and, we suppose, should know better-in the conspiracies which are, day by day, formed, for the detention of some one or more of these members of the train of Momus.

Even in rural districts-where the necessary preparations in aid of the returning season are, by this time, expected to call men abroad to the labors of the field our benevolent ancestors admitted the claim for a gradual subsiding of the Christmas mirth, in favor of the children of toil. Their devices for letting themselves gently down were recognized ;-and a sort of compromise was sanctioned between the spirit of the past holyday, and the sense of an important coming duty to be performed. The genius of mirth met the genius of toil, on neutral ground, for a single day; and the two touched hands, in recognition of the rightful dominion of each other-ere they, severally, set forth, in their own separate directions.

Thus, on the day which followed Twelfth-night, the implements of labor were prepared, and the team was even yoked, for a space ;--but the business of turning the soil was not required to be laboriously engaged in, until the Monday which followedand which, therefore, bore (and bears) the title of Plough Monday. After a few hours of morning labor, a sort of half-holiday was the concluding privilege of this privileged season ;—and the husbandman laid aside his plough, and the maiden her distaff, to engage in certain revels which were peculiar to the day, and to the country districts. From the partial resumption of the spinning labors of the women, on this morning, the festival in question takes its name;—and it is (or was) sometimes called, also, "Rockday," in honor of the rock,-which is another name for the distaff. It is described as being 66 a distaff held in the hand, from whence wool is spun, by twirling a ball below."

Of the sports by which this day was enlivened, we doubt if there are any remains. These seem to have consisted in the burning-by the men who had returned from the field—of the flax and tow belonging to the women-as a sort of assertion of

the supremacy of the spirit of fun over his laborious rival, for this one day more-and a challenge into his court :-and this challenge was answered by the maidens, and the mischief retorted, by sluicing the clowns with pails of water. It was, in fact, a merry contest between these two elements, of water and of fire;-and may be looked upon as typical of that more matter-of-fact extinction, which was about to be finally given to the lights of the season, when the sports of this day should be concluded. Herrick's poem, on the subject—which we must quote from the "Hesperides,"—includes all that is known of the ancient observances of St. Distaff's day.

OUR REVELS NOW ARE ENDED;-and our Christmas prince must abdicate. In flinging down his wand of misrule, we trust there is no reason why he should-like Prospero, when his charms were over, and he broke his staff-drown this, his book, "deeper than did ever plummet sound." The spells which it contains are, we believe, all innocent ;-and we trust it may survive, to furnish the directions for many a future scheme of Christmas happiness.

And now Father Christmas has, at length, departed ;—but not till the youngsters had got from the merry old man his last bonbon. The school-boy, too, has clung to the skirts of the patriarch's coat, and followed him as far as he could. And farther