that
did so well as he; wherefore all manner of knights deemed that Sir
Lavaine should be made a Knight of the Round Table, at the next high
feast of Pentecost."

THE ANGLO-SAXON EXCESSES

are referred to by some of the old chroniclers, intemperance being a
very prevalent vice at the Christmas festival. Ale and mead were their
favourite drinks; wines were used as occasional luxuries. "When all
were satisfied with dinner," says an old chronicler, "and their tables
were removed, they continued drinking till the evening." And another
tells how drinking and gaming went on through the greater part of the
night. Chaucer's one solitary reference to Christmastide is an
allegorical representation of the jovial feasting which was the
characteristic feature of this great festival held in "the colde
frosty season of December."

"Janus sits by the fire with double beard,
And drinketh of his bugle horn the wine:
Before him stands the brawn of tusked swine,
And 'Nowel' cryeth every lusty man."[9]

The Saxons were strongly attached to field sports, and as the "brawn
of the tusked swine" was the first Christmas dish, it was provided by
the pleasant preliminary pastime of hunting the wild boar; and the
incidents of the chase afforded interesting table talk when the boar's
head was brought in ceremoniously to the Christmas festival.

Prominent among the Anglo-Saxon amusements of Christmastide, Strutt
mentions their propensity for gaming with dice, as derived from their
ancestors, for Tacitus assures us that the ancient Germans would not
only hazard all their wealth, but even stake their liberty, upon the
turn of the dice: "and he who loses submits to servitude, though
younger and stronger than his antagonist, and patiently permits
himself to be bound and sold in the market; and this madness they
dignify by the name of honour." Chess and backgammon were also
favourite games with the Anglo-Saxons, and a large portion of the
night was appropriated to the pursuit of these sedentary amusements,
especially at the Christmas season of the year, when the early
darkness stopped out-door games.

"When they had dined, as I can you say,
Lords and ladies went to play;
Some to tables, and some to chess,
With other games more and less."[10]

Our Saxon forefathers were very superstitious. They had many
pretenders to witchcraft. They believed in the powers of philtres and
spells, and invocated spirits; and they relished a blood-