ted
for the occasion, "and then, in token of joy and good liking, the
Bench and company pass beneath the hearth and sing a carol."[54] The
revellings began on Christmas Eve, when three Masters of the Revels
sat at the head of one of the tables. All took their places to the
sound of music played before the hearth. Then the musicians withdrew
to the buttery, and were themselves feasted. They returned when dinner
was ended to sing a song at the highest table. Then all tables were
cleared, and revels and dancing were begun, to be continued until
supper and after supper. The senior Master of the Revels, after dinner
and after supper, sang a carol or song, and commanded other gentlemen
there present to join him. This form of high festivity was maintained
during the twelve days of Christmas, closing on Twelfth Night. On
Christmas Day (which in 1561 was a Thursday), at the first course of
the dinner, the boar's head was brought in upon a platter, followed by
minstrelsy. On St. Stephen's Day, December the 26th, the Constable
Marshal entered the hall in gilt armour, with a nest of feathers of
all colours on his helm, and a gilt pole-axe in his hand; with him
sixteen trumpeters, four drums and fifes, and four men armed from the
middle upward. Those all marched three times about the hearth, and the
Constable Marshal, then kneeling to the Lord Chancellor, made a
speech, desiring the honour of admission into his service, delivered
his naked sword, and was solemnly seated. That was the usual
ceremonial when a Grand Christmas was kept. At this particular
Christmas, 1561, in the fourth year of Elizabeth, it was Lord Robert
Dudley, afterwards Earl of Leicester, who was Constable Marshal, and
with chivalrous gallantry, taking in fantastic style the name of
Palaphilos, Knight of the Honourable Order of Pegasus, Pegasus being
the armorial device of the Inner Temple, he contributed to the
splendour of this part of the entertainment. After the seating of the
Constable Marshal, on the same St. Stephen's Day, December the 26th,
the Master of the Game entered in green velvet, and the Ranger of the
Forest in green satin; these also went three times about the fire,
blowing their hunting-horns. When they also had been ceremoniously
seated, there entered a huntsman with a fox and a cat bound at the end
of a staff. He was followed by nine or ten couple of hounds, who
hunted the fox and the cat to the glowing horns, and killed them
beneath the fire. A