And then he passed from the chamber arm-in-arm with his elder brother,
while the King, chuckling greatly over the lad's show of courtliness and
ceremony, went into a learned discussion with my lord of Montacute and
Master Sandy as to the origin of the snapdragon, which he, with his
customary assumption of deep learning, declared was "but a modern
paraphrase, my lord, of the fable which telleth how Dan Hercules did
kill the flaming dragon of Hesperia and did then, with the apple of that
famous orchard, make a fiery dish of burning apple brandy which he did
name 'snapdragon.'"

For King James VI of Scotland and I of England was, you see, something
too much of what men call a pendant.

Christmas morning rose bright and glorious. A light hoarfrost whitened
the ground and the keen December air nipped the noses as it hurried the
song-notes of the score of little waifs who, gathered beneath the
windows of the big palace, sung for the happy awaking of the young
Prince Charles their Christmas carol and their Christmas noel:

A child this day is born,
A child of great renown;
Most worthy of a sceptre.
A sceptre and a crown.

_Noel, noel, noel,
Noel, sing we may
Because the King of all Kings
Was born this blessed day._

These tidings shepherds heard
in field watching their fold,
Were by an angel unto them
At night revealed and told.

_Noel, noel, noel,
Noel sing we may
Because the King of all Kings
Was born this blessed day._

He brought unto them tidings
Of gladness and of mirth,
Which cometh to all people by
This holy infant's birth.

_Noel noel, noel,
Noel sing we may
Because the King of all Kings
Was born this blessed day._

The "blessed day" wore on. Gifts and sports filled the happy hours. In
the royal banqueting hall the Christmas dinner was royally set and
served, and King and Queen and Princes, with attendant nobles and
holiday guests, partook of the strong dishes of those old days of hearty
appetites.

"A shield of brawn with mustard, boyl'd capon, a chine of beef roasted,
a neat's tongue roasted, a pig roasted, chewets baked, goose, swan and
turkey roasted, a haunch of venison roasted, a pasty of venison, a kid
stuffed