Copy 1, Volume 1

Observations on the popular antiquities of Great Britain: chiefly illustrating the origin of our vulgar and provincial customs, ceremonies, and superstitions / by John Brand.

  • Brand, John, 1744-1806.
Date:
1849
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the popular antiquities of Great Britain: chiefly illustrating the origin of our vulgar and provincial customs, ceremonies, and superstitions / by John Brand. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    553/570 (page 527)
    speaking of Christmas customs, says : “ Strenas quoque ultro citroque mittimus, et dulciariis nos mutuo honoramus.” “At Itippon, in Yorkshire, on Christmas Eve, the grocers send each of their customers a pound or half a pound of cur- rants and raisins to make a Christmas pudding.5’-—Gent. Mag. for Aug. 1/90, p. 719. There is the greatest probability that we have had from hence both our yule-doughs, plum-porridge, and mince-pies, the latter of which are still in common use at this season. The yule-dough has perhaps been intended for an image of the child Jesus, with the Virgin Mary. It is now, if I mistake not, pretty generally laid aside, or at most retained only by children. A writer in the Gent. Mag. for July 1783, p. 578, inquires: “ May not the minced pye, a compound of the choicest pro- ductions of the East, have in view the offerings made by the wise men, who came from afar to worship, bringing spices, &c. ?” In Sheppard’s Epigrams, 1651, p. 121, mince [or minced] pies are called “ slirid-pies.” “ No matter for plomb-porridge, or shrid-pies, Or a whole oxe offered in sacrifice To Comus, not to Christ,” &c. In a tract in my library, the running title of which is “Warres” (the title-page being lost), printed about the time of Q. Eliz. or James I., these pies are called “minched pies.” Minced pies are thus mentioned in a small poem entitled the Religion of the Hypocritical Presbyterians in Meeter, 1661, p. 16 :— “ Three Christmas* or minc’d pies, all very fair, Methought they had this motto, ‘Though they flirt us And preach us down, sub pondere crescit virtus.’ ” In Lewis’s English Presbyterian Eloquence, 1720, p. 17, the author, speaking of the enthusiasts in the grand Rebellion, tells us, that “under the censure of lewd customs they include all sorts of public sports, exercises, and recreations, how inno- cent soever. Nay, the poor rosemary and bays,1 and Christ- 1 “ My dish of chastity with rosemary and hays,” Pericles, iv. 6. Anciently many dishes were served up with this garniture during the season of Christmas.