r.

Some of the old pastimes, however, have fallen into disuse, as, for
instance, the once popular game of _Hot Cockles_, _Hunt the Slipper_,
and "the vulgar game of _Post and Pair_"; but _Cards_ are still
popular, and Snapdragon continues such Christmas merriment as is set
forth in the following verses:--

[Illustration]

SNAP DRAGON.

"Here he comes with flaming bowl,
Don't he mean to take his toll,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Take care you don't take too much,
Be not greedy in your clutch,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!

With his blue and lapping tongue
Many of you will be stung,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
For he snaps at all that comes
Snatching at his feast of plums,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!

But old Christmas makes him come,
Though he looks so fee! fa! fum!
Snip! Snap! Dragon!
Don't 'ee fear him, be but bold--
Out he goes, his flames are cold,
Snip! Snap! Dragon!"

"Don't 'ee fear him, be but bold," accords with the advice of a writer
in "Pantalogia," in 1813, who says that when the brandy in the bowl is
set on fire, and raisins thrown into it, those who are unused to the
sport are afraid to take out, but the raisins may be safely snatched
by a quick motion and put blazing into the mouth, which being closed,
the fire is at once extinguished. The game requires both courage and
rapidity of action, and a good deal of merriment is caused by the
unsuccessful efforts of competitors for the raisins in the flaming
bowl.

BLINDMAN'S BUFF.

A favourite game of Christmastide, is thus described by Thomas
Miller, in his "Sports and Pastimes of Merry England":--

"The very youngest of our brothers and sisters can join in this old
English game: and it is selfish to select only such sports as they
cannot become sharers of. Its ancient name is 'hoodman-blind'; and
when hoods were worn by both men and women--centuries before hats and
caps were so common as they are now--the hood was reversed, placed
hind-before, and was, no doubt, a much surer way of blinding the
player than that now adopted--for we have seen Charley try to catch
his pretty cousin Caroline, by chasing her behind chairs and into all
sorts of corners, to our strong conviction that he was not half so
well blinded as he ought to have been. Some said he could see through
the black silk handkerchief; others that it ought to have been tied