manded, together with the subscription of the covenant,
both by the king and kingdom.[**]

* Whitlocke, p. 121. Dugdale, p. 758.

** Such love of contradiction prevailed in the parliament,
that they had converted Christmas, which with the churchmen
was a great festival, into a solemn fast and humiliation;
"in order," as they said, "that it might call to remembrance
our sins and the sins of our forefathers, who, pretending to
celebrate the memory of Christ, have turned this feast into
an extreme forgetfulness of him, by giving liberty to carnal
and sensual delights." Rush. vol. vi. p. 817. It is
remarkable, that as the parliament abolished all holydays,
and severely prohibited all amusement on the Sabbath; and
even burned, by the hands of the hangman, the king's Book of
Sports; the nation found that there was no time left for
relaxation or diversion. Upon application, therefore, of the
servants and apprentices, the parliament appointed the
second Tuesday of every month for play and recreation. Rush.
vol. vii. p. 460. Whitlocke, p. 247. But these institutions
they found great difficulty to execute: and the people were
resolved to be merry when they themselves pleased, not when
the parliament should prescribe it to them. The keeping of
Christmas holydays was long a great mark of malignancy, and
very severely censured by the commons. Whitlocke, p. 286.
Even minced pies, which custom had made a Christmas dish
among the churchmen, was regarded, during that season, as a
profane and superstitious viand by the sectaries; though at
other times it agreed very well with their stomachs. In the
parliamentary ordinance, too, for the observance of the
Sabbath, they inserted a clause for the taking down of
maypoles, which they called a heathenish vanity. Since we
are upon this subject, it may not be amiss to mention that,
besides setting apart Sunday for the ordinances, as they
called them, the godly had regular meetings on the
Thursdays, for resolving cases of conscience, and conferring
about their progress in grace. What they were chiefly
anxious about, was the fixing the precise moment of their
conversion or new birth; and whoever could not ascertain so
difficult a point of calculation, could not pretend to any
title to saintship. The profane