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Chapter 11 Stored Procedures and Triggers
1. A database programming language allows a program to combine procedural statements with non-procedural
database access.
True False
2. Due to the growth of online database processing and commercial Web commerce, batch processing is no
longer an important method to process database work.
True False
3. Transitive closure, an important operation for queries involving self-referencing relationships, is supported by
most SQL implementations.
True False
4. Portability across host languages is one advantage of using the statement level interface language style.
True False
5. Because the optimization process can consume considerable computing resources, it is usually desirable to
determine the access plan at run-time using dynamic statement binding.
True False
6. In the SQL:2003 specification, a statement level interface can support both static and dynamic binding, while
a call level interface supports only dynamic binding.
True False
7. For procedures and triggers stored in a database, the database connection is explicit.
True False
8. Triggers provide reuse of common code, while stored procedures provide rule processing for common tasks.
True False

9. A Database Programming Language is a procedural language with an interface to one or more DBMSs. The
interface allows a program to combine procedural statements with nonprocedural database access.
True False
10. A Call-Level Interfaceis a language style for integrating a programming language with a nonprocedural
language such as SQL. A statement-level interface involves changes to the syntax of a host programming
language to accommodate embedded SQL statements.
True False
11. Dynamic binding involves the determination of the access plan at compile time.
True False
12. Procedures and functions are executed by the rule system of the DBMS not by explicit calls as for triggers.
True False
13. Since PL/SQL is a block structured language, all code blocks must have unique names in order to execute in
SQL*Plus.
True False
14. When writing a PL/SQL procedure, it is good practice to include length constraints in the data type
specifications for parameters.
True False
15. To catch a specific error in a stored procedure, you should use a predefined exception or create a
user-defined exception.
True False
16. An important benefit of PL/SQL functions is that they can be used as expressions in SELECT statements.
True False
17. An explicit cursor cannot use parameters for non-constant search values in the associated SELECT
statement.
True False

18. All objects in a package interface are public.
True False
19. To use the objects in a package, you must use the package name before the object name.
True False
20. Because the SQL:1999 trigger specification was defined in response to vendor implementation, most trigger
implementations adhere to the SQL:1999 specification.
True False
21. The body of a trigger is similar to other PL/SQL blocks, except that triggers have more restrictions on the
statements in a block.
True False
22. Like procedures, triggers can be tested directly by executing them in SQL*Plus.
True False
23. Since the number of triggers is a complicating factor in understanding the interaction among triggers, it is
always better to create a few large triggers instead of many smaller triggers.
True False
24. You can encounter mutating table errors in trigger execution, regardless of the DBMS they are executed on.
True False
25. For most triggers, you can avoid mutating table errors by using statement triggers with new and old values.
True False
26. What is the primary motivation for using a database programming language?
A. Customization.
B. Batch processing.
C. Complex operations.
D. All of the above.

27. The two language styles provided by SQL:2003 for integrating a procedural language with SQL are:
A. Statement level interface and function level interface.
B. Procedural level interface and trigger level interface.
C. Statement level interface and call level interface.
D. None of the above.
28. Which of the following is true of a statement level interface?
A. It is more difficult to learn and use than a CLI.
B. It is available only for proprietary languages.
C. It includes a set of procedures and a set of type definitions for manipulating the results of SQL statements in
computer programs.
D. It involves changes to the syntax of a host programming language to accommodate embedded SQL.
29. For statement level interfaces, SQL:2003 provides statements to:
A. Declare cursors.
B. Position cursors.
C. Retrieve values from cursors.
30. As with other programming languages, in PL/SQL the IF-THEN-ELSE statement construct is:
A. A comparison operator.
B. A conditional statement.
C. A logical operator.
31. With regards to conditional decision making in PL/SQL, which statement is true?
A. A condition must evaluate to TRUE or FALSE.
B. Complex conditions are evaluated left to right, and this order cannot be altered.
C. Conditions are evaluated using three-value logic.
D. There is a limit to the number of statements that can be used between the THEN and END-IF keywords.
32. Which of the following is true of PL/SQL iteration statements?
A. The FOR LOOP iterates until a stopping condition is false.
B. The WHILE LOOP iterates over a range of integer values.
C. The LOOP statement iterates until an EXIT statement ceases termination.

33. A PL/SQL block contains:
A. A required declaration section, a required executable section, and an optional exception section.
B. An optional declaration section, a required executable section, and an optional exception section.
C. A required declaration section, a required executable section, and a required exception section.
D. An optional declaration section, a required executable section, and a required exception section.
34. Which of the following is the reason the DBMS, instead of the programming environment, manages stored
procedures?
A. A DBMS can compile the programming language code along with the SQL statements in a stored procedure.
B. Since they are stored on the server, stored procedures allow flexibility for client-server development.
C. Database administrators can manage stored procedures with the same tools for managing other parts of the
database.
35. A database connection identifies the database used by an application. A database connection can be
________ or ________.
A. implicit/explicit
B. internal/external
C. implicit/dynamic
D. virtual/dynamic
36. In PL/SQL, a function is used instead of a procedure when:
A. You want to manipulate output variables.
B. You want to produce a side effect.
C. You are returning a single value.
D. You want to return more than one result.
37. In PL/SQL, functions should:
A. Always use input parameters.
B. Contain a parameter list.
C. Generate an output value using a RETURN statement.

CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION fn_RetrieveStudentName
(aStdSSN IN Student.StdSSN%Type) RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
aFirstName Student.StdFirstName%Type;
aLastName Student.StdLastName%Type;
BEGIN
SELECT StdFirstName, StdLastName
INTO aFirstName, aLastName
FROM Student
WHERE StdSSN = aStdSSN;
RETURN(aLastName || ', ' || aFirstName);
EXCEPTION
WHEN No_Data_Found THEN
RETURN(NULL);
WHEN OTHERS THEN
raise_application_error(-20001, 'Database error.');
END;
/
38. The PL/SQL code block above is an example of:
A. An anonymous block.
B. A PL/SQL package.
C. A PL/SQL function.
39. In the PL/SQL code block above, aStdSSN is:
A. A return variable.
B. An input parameter.
C. A column in the Student table.
40. Based on the PL/SQL code block above, if there is not a SSN in the Student table which matches the value
provided:
A. The code will return the name of the Student record that is the closest numeric match.
B. The code will raise an application error.
C. The code will stop executing without any explanation.
D. The code will return NULL.
41. The PL/SQL code block above:
A. Declares and opens an explicit cursor.
B. Declares and opens an implicit cursor.
C. Does not use a cursor.

42. The PL/SQL statement "FOR StudentRec IN SELECT StudentID FROM StudentTable" is an example of:
A. An implicit cursor.
B. An explicit cursor.
C. A dynamic cursor.
D. This statement does not define a cursor.
43. In the use of an explicit cursor, which 3 statements replace the FOR statement of an implicit cursor?
A. OPEN, FIND, and CLOSE.
B. OPEN, FETCH, and CLOSE.
C. OPEN, GET, and CLOSE.
D. CONNECT, FIND, and CLOSE.
44. Which of the following is not a common cursor attribute?
A. %IsOpen.
B. %IsNotOpen.
C. %Found.
D. %NotFound.
45. One of the advantages of using a package over procedures and functions is:
A. A package supports a larger unit of modularity.
B. Packages provide easier reuse of code.
C. Packages reduce software maintenance costs.
46. For each object defined in a package interface, the package body must define:
A. A private object.
B. An implementation.
C. A cursor.
D. An exception handler.
47. Which of the following is not a typical use for triggers:
A. Complex integrity constraints.
B. Update propagation.
C. Exception reporting.
D. All of the above are typical uses for triggers.

48. To control complexity among a collection of triggers, which guideline(s) should be followed?
A. Use data manipulation statements primarily in BEFORE triggers.
B. For triggers that fire on UPDATE statements, do not list the columns to which the trigger applies.
C. Be cautious about creating triggers on tables affected by actions on referenced rows.
49. A trigger execution procedure can be affected by which of the following?
A. The DBMS the triggers are executed on.
B. The type of data manipulation statements specified in a trigger.
C. Foreign key constraints on referenced rows.
50. In the case of overlapping triggers, which of the following is true?
A. The firing order is predictable and can be depended on to be the same every time.
B. The firing order has not been specified for SQL:2003.
C. The firing order is the same for all DBMSs.
51. Mutating table errors:
A. Can occur when one table is cloned from another.
B. Can occur in trigger actions with SQL statements on the target table or related tables affected by DELETE
CASCADE actions.
C. Never occur in Oracle databases.
52. A _____________________ is a procedural language with an interface to one or more DBMSs.
________________________________________
53. To support customized code, most database application development tools use a coding style known as
_________________.
________________________________________
54. A(n) _____________ level interface is a language style that involves changes to the syntax of a host
programming language to accommodate embedded SQL statements.
________________________________________

55. Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) and Java Database Connectivity (JDBC) are the most widely used
_____________ level interfaces.
________________________________________
56. The concept of ______________ for a database programming language involves the association of an SQL
statement with its access plan.
________________________________________
57. A(n) ______________ is a construct in a database programming language that allows for storage and
iteration of a set of records returned by a SELECT statement.
________________________________________
58. A ______________ can be implicit or explicit.
________________________________________
59. In PL/SQL, a(n) _____________ statement is comprised of a variable, the assignment symbol, and an
expression.
________________________________________
60. In a PL/SQL IF statement, the keywords AND, OR and NOT are ____________ operators.
________________________________________
61. An unnamed PL/SQL block of code, which is useful for testing procedures and triggers, is known as a(n)
_________ block.
________________________________________
62. The common SQL*Plus command used to list the columns of a table is ___________.
________________________________________
63. The common SQL*Plus command used to display compilation errors is ___________________.
________________________________________

64. In a stored procedure, a(n) _____________ parameter should have a value provided outside the procedure
but it can be changed inside the procedure.
________________________________________
65. Functions should be usable in expressions, i.e. a function call can be replaced by the __________ it returns.
________________________________________
66. In the body of a function, a(n) ______________ statement is used to generate the function's output value.
________________________________________
67. A package ________________ contains the definitions of procedures and functions along with other objects
that can be specified in the DECLARE section of a PL/SQL block.
________________________________________
68. A package ________________ contains the private details of a package.
________________________________________
69. Inside a package implementation, each procedure or function must be terminated by a(n) _____________
statement containing the procedure or function name.
________________________________________
70. An event-condition-action rule managed by a DBMS is another name for a ____________.
________________________________________
71. Integrity constraints that compare the values before and after an update to a table occurs are called
___________.
________________________________________
72. The _________________ of a trigger involves the keywords BEFORE, AFTER, or INSTEAD OF, along
with a triggering event using the keywords INSERT, UPDATE, or DELETE.
________________________________________

73. If you omit the keywords FOR EACH ROW from a trigger specification, the trigger by default becomes
a(n) _____________ trigger.
________________________________________
74. The ______________________________ specifies the order of execution among the various kinds of
triggers, integrity constraints, and database manipulation statements.
________________________________________
75. Two triggers with the same timing, granularity, and applicable table ______________ if an SQL statement
may cause both triggers to fire.
________________________________________
76. When a procedure calls itself, this is known as ______________________.
________________________________________

Chapter 11 Stored Procedures and Triggers Key
1. A database programming language allows a program to combine procedural statements with non-procedural
database access.
TRUE
Level: Medium
Mannino - Chapter 11 #1
2. Due to the growth of online database processing and commercial Web commerce, batch processing is no
longer an important method to process database work.
FALSE
Batch processing continues to be an important way to process database work.
Level: Easy
3. Transitive closure, an important operation for queries involving self-referencing relationships, is supported by
most SQL implementations.
FALSE
Transitive closure is not supported by most SQL implementations.
Level: Medium
4. Portability across host languages is one advantage of using the statement level interface language style.
FALSE
The statement level interface is not portable.
Level: Medium

5. Because the optimization process can consume considerable computing resources, it is usually desirable to
determine the access plan at run-time using dynamic statement binding.
FALSE
It is usually desirable to determine the access plan at compile time.
Level: Easy
6. In the SQL:2003 specification, a statement level interface can support both static and dynamic binding, while
a call level interface supports only dynamic binding.
TRUE
Level: Hard
7. For procedures and triggers stored in a database, the database connection is explicit.
FALSE
The database connection is implicit.
Level: Easy
8. Triggers provide reuse of common code, while stored procedures provide rule processing for common tasks.
FALSE
Stored procedures provide reuse of common code, while triggers provide rule processing for common tasks.
Level: Easy
9. A Database Programming Language is a procedural language with an interface to one or more DBMSs. The
interface allows a program to combine procedural statements with nonprocedural database access.
TRUE
Level: Medium

10. A Call-Level Interfaceis a language style for integrating a programming language with a nonprocedural
language such as SQL. A statement-level interface involves changes to the syntax of a host programming
language to accommodate embedded SQL statements.
FALSE
This is the definition of a Statement-Level Interface.
Level: Medium
11. Dynamic binding involves the determination of the access plan at compile time.
FALSE
Static binding involves the determination of the access plan at compile time.
Level: Hard
12. Procedures and functions are executed by the rule system of the DBMS not by explicit calls as for triggers.
TRUE
Triggers are executed by the rule system of the DBMS.
Level: Easy
13. Since PL/SQL is a block structured language, all code blocks must have unique names in order to execute in
SQL*Plus.
FALSE
Anonymous, or unnamed, blocks can be executed in SQL*Plus.
Level: Medium

14. When writing a PL/SQL procedure, it is good practice to include length constraints in the data type
specifications for parameters.
FALSE
You do not provide length in the specification of the data type for a parameter.
Level: Medium
15. To catch a specific error in a stored procedure, you should use a predefined exception or create a
user-defined exception.
TRUE
Level: Medium
16. An important benefit of PL/SQL functions is that they can be used as expressions in SELECT statements.
TRUE
Level: Medium
17. An explicit cursor cannot use parameters for non-constant search values in the associated SELECT
statement.
FALSE
Level: Hard
18. All objects in a package interface are public.
TRUE
Level: Medium
19. To use the objects in a package, you must use the package name before the object name.
TRUE
Level: Easy

20. Because the SQL:1999 trigger specification was defined in response to vendor implementation, most trigger
implementations adhere to the SQL:1999 specification.
FALSE
Level: Medium
21. The body of a trigger is similar to other PL/SQL blocks, except that triggers have more restrictions on the
statements in a block.
TRUE
Level: Medium
22. Like procedures, triggers can be tested directly by executing them in SQL*Plus.
FALSE
To test, you must use SQL statements to cause triggers to fire.
Level: Easy
23. Since the number of triggers is a complicating factor in understanding the interaction among triggers, it is
always better to create a few large triggers instead of many smaller triggers.
FALSE
Per the author, there is no clear preference between few large triggers or many small triggers.
Level: Medium
24. You can encounter mutating table errors in trigger execution, regardless of the DBMS they are executed on.
FALSE
Mutating table errors are unique to Oracle.
Level: Easy

25. For most triggers, you can avoid mutating table errors by using statement triggers with new and old values.
FALSE
You can avoid mutating table errors by using row triggers with new and old values.
Level: Hard
26. What is the primary motivation for using a database programming language?
A. Customization.
B. Batch processing.
C. Complex operations.
All 3 are the primary motivations for using a database programming language.
Level: Easy
27. The two language styles provided by SQL:2003 for integrating a procedural language with SQL are:
A. Statement level interface and function level interface.
B. Procedural level interface and trigger level interface.
C. Statement level interface and call level interface.
Level: Medium
28. Which of the following is true of a statement level interface?
A. It is more difficult to learn and use than a CLI.
B. It is available only for proprietary languages.
C. It includes a set of procedures and a set of type definitions for manipulating the results of SQL statements in
computer programs.
D. It involves changes to the syntax of a host programming language to accommodate embedded SQL.
Level: Hard

29. For statement level interfaces, SQL:2003 provides statements to:
A. Declare cursors.
B. Position cursors.
C. Retrieve values from cursors.
Level: Easy
30. As with other programming languages, in PL/SQL the IF-THEN-ELSE statement construct is:
A. A comparison operator.
B. A conditional statement.
C. A logical operator.
Level: Easy
31. With regards to conditional decision making in PL/SQL, which statement is true?
A. A condition must evaluate to TRUE or FALSE.
B. Complex conditions are evaluated left to right, and this order cannot be altered.
C. Conditions are evaluated using three-value logic.
D. There is a limit to the number of statements that can be used between the THEN and END-IF keywords.
Level: Hard
32. Which of the following is true of PL/SQL iteration statements?
A. The FOR LOOP iterates until a stopping condition is false.
B. The WHILE LOOP iterates over a range of integer values.
C. The LOOP statement iterates until an EXIT statement ceases termination.
Level: Medium

33. A PL/SQL block contains:
A. A required declaration section, a required executable section, and an optional exception section.
B. An optional declaration section, a required executable section, and an optional exception section.
C. A required declaration section, a required executable section, and a required exception section.
D. An optional declaration section, a required executable section, and a required exception section.
Level: Medium
34. Which of the following is the reason the DBMS, instead of the programming environment, manages stored
procedures?
A. A DBMS can compile the programming language code along with the SQL statements in a stored procedure.
B. Since they are stored on the server, stored procedures allow flexibility for client-server development.
C. Database administrators can manage stored procedures with the same tools for managing other parts of the
database.
Level: Medium
35. A database connection identifies the database used by an application. A database connection can be
________ or ________.
A. implicit/explicit
B. internal/external
C. implicit/dynamic
D. virtual/dynamic
Level: Easy
36. In PL/SQL, a function is used instead of a procedure when:
A. You want to manipulate output variables.
B. You want to produce a side effect.
C. You are returning a single value.
D. You want to return more than one result.
Level: Hard

37. In PL/SQL, functions should:
A. Always use input parameters.
B. Contain a parameter list.
C. Generate an output value using a RETURN statement.
Level: Hard
CREATE OR REPLACE FUNCTION fn_RetrieveStudentName
(aStdSSN IN Student.StdSSN%Type) RETURN VARCHAR2 IS
aFirstName Student.StdFirstName%Type;
aLastName Student.StdLastName%Type;
BEGIN
SELECT StdFirstName, StdLastName
INTO aFirstName, aLastName
FROM Student
WHERE StdSSN = aStdSSN;
RETURN(aLastName || ', ' || aFirstName);
EXCEPTION
WHEN No_Data_Found THEN
RETURN(NULL);
WHEN OTHERS THEN
raise_application_error(-20001, 'Database error.');
END;
/
Mannino - Chapter 11
38. The PL/SQL code block above is an example of:
A. An anonymous block.
B. A PL/SQL package.
C. A PL/SQL function.
Level: Easy

Exploring the Variety of Random
Documents with Different Content

SIGNS OF THE SEASON.
We have said that the coming festivities of the season "fling their
shadows" long before: the avant-couriers of the old man are to be
seen advancing in all directions. At home and abroad, in town and in
country, in the remote farmstead and on the king's highway, we are
met by the symptoms of his approach, and the arrangements
making for his reception.
We will not dwell here on the domestic operations which are so
familiar to all,—the ample provision for good cheer, which has long
been making in every man's home who can at any time afford to
make good cheer at all. We need not remind our town readers of the
increased activity visible in all the interior departments of each
establishment, and the apparent extent and complication of its
foreign relations; the councils held with the housekeeper and cook;
the despatches to the butcher, baker, poulterer, and confectioner,
which are their consequence; and the efficient state of preparation
which is arising out of all these energetic movements. To our country
readers we need not dwell upon the slaughter of fowls in the
poultry-yard, and game in the field, or the wholesale doings within
doors for the manufacture of pastry of all conceivable kinds and in
all its conceivable forms. And to neither the one nor the other is it
necessary that we should speak of the packages, in every shape and
size, which both are getting ready, for the interchange between
friends of the commodities of their respective positions. Here,
however, the town has clearly the advantage in point of gain, and
the country in point of character,—the former having little besides
barrels of oysters and baskets of Billingsgate fish to furnish to the
country larders in return for the entire range of the products of the
dairy, farmyard, and game-field.

But however lightly we may allude to the other articles which
enter into the charge of the commissariat department, and have no
distinctive character, at this particular season, beyond their
unimaginable abundance, we are by no means at liberty, without a
more special notice, to pass over the mystery of Mince-pie! We speak
not here of the merits of that marvellous compound; because a dish
which has maintained without impeachment, since long before the
days of honest old Tusser (who calls these marvels shred-pies), the
same supreme character which it holds amongst the men of these
latter days, may very well dispense with our commendation; and
every school-boy knows, from his own repeated experience, the
utter inadequacy of language to convey any notion of the ineffable
flavor of this unapproachable viand. The poverty of speech is never
so conspicuous as when even its richest forms are used for the
purpose of describing that which is utterly beyond its resources; and
we have witnessed most lamentable, although ludicrous, failures, on
the part of eloquent but imprudent men, in their ambitious attempts
to give expression to their sensations under the immediate influence
of this unutterable combination. It is therefore to other properties
than those which make their appeal to the palate that we must
confine ourselves in our mention of mince-pie.
The origin of this famous dish, like that of the heroic in all kinds
and classes, is involved in fable. By some it has been supposed, from
the Oriental ingredients which enter into its composition, to have a
reference (as probably had also the plum-porridge of those days) to
the offerings made by the wise men of the East; and it was anciently
the custom to make these pies of an oblong form, thereby
representing the manger in which, on that occasion, those sages
found the infant Jesus. Against this practice—which was of the same
character with that of the little image called the Yule Dough, or Yule
Cake, formerly presented by bakers to their customers at the
anniversary of the Nativity—the Puritans made a vehement outcry,
as idolatrous; and certainly it appears to us somewhat more
objectionable than many of those which they denounced, in the
same category. Of course it was supported by the Catholics with a

zeal the larger part of which (as in most cases of controversy where
the passions are engaged) was derived from the opposition of their
adversaries; and the latter having pronounced the mince-pie to be
an abomination, the eating thereof was immediately established as a
test of orthodoxy by the former. Sandys mentions that even when
distressed for a comfortable meal they would refuse to partake of
this very tempting dish, when set before them, and mentions John
Bunyan when in confinement as an example. He recommends that
under such extreme circumstances they should be eaten with a
protest, as might be done by a lawyer in a similar case.
In a struggle like this, however, it is clear that the advocates of
mince-pie were likely to have the best of it, through the powerful
auxiliary derived to their cause from the savoriness of the dish itself.
The legend of the origin of eating roast-pig, which we have on the
authority of Charles Lamb, exhibits the rapid spread of that practice,
against the sense of its abomination, on the strength of the
irresistible appeals made to the palate by the crackling. And
accordingly, in the case of mince-pie we find that the delicious
compound has come down to our days, stripped of its objectionable
forms and more mystic meanings, from the moment when they
ceased to be topics of disputation, and is freely partaken of by the
most rigid Presbyterian, who raises "no question" thereon "for
conscience' sake."
It may be observed, however, that relics of the more recondite
virtues ascribed to this dish by the Catholics, in the days of its
sectarian persecution, still exist in the superstitions which attach
certain privileges and promises to its consumption. In some places
the form of this superstition, we believe, is, that for every house in
which a mince-pie shall be eaten at the Christmas season, the eater
shall enjoy a happy month in the coming year. As, however, this
version would limit the consumption, as far as any future benefit is
attached to it, to the insufficient number of twelve, we greatly prefer
an edition of the same belief which we have met with elsewhere,
and which promises a happy day for every individual pie eaten

during the same period,—thereby giving a man a direct and
prospective interest in the consumption of as large a number out of
three hundred and sixty-five as may happen to agree with his
inclination.
Leaving, however, those proceedings which are going on within
our homes, and of which the manufacture of mince-pies forms so
important an article, we must turn to the symptoms of the
approaching holiday that meet the eye at every turn which we make
out of doors. He who will take the king's highway in his search after
these, planting himself on the outside of a stage-coach, will have the
greater number of such signs brought under his observation in the
progress of a journey which whirls him through town and village,
and by park and farmhouse.
The road is alive with travellers; and along its whole extent there
is an air of aimless bustle, if we may so express ourselves,—an
appearance of active idleness. No doubt he who shall travel that
same road in the days of hay-making or harvest will see as dense a
population following their avocations in the open air and swarming in
the fields. But then at those periods of labor the crowds are more
widely scattered over the face of the country, and each individual is
earnestly engaged in the prosecution of some positive pursuit, amid
a silence scarcely broken by the distant whistle or occasional song
that comes faintly to the ear through the rich sunny air. People are
busier without being so bustling. But now all men are in action,
though all men's business seems suspended. The population are
gathered together in groups at the corners of streets or about the
doors of ale-houses, and the mingling voices of the speakers and the
sound of the merry laugh come sharp and ringing through the clear
frosty air. There is the appearance, every way, of a season of
transition. The only conspicuous evidence of the business of life
going forward with a keen and steady view to its ordinary objects,
exists in the abundant displays made at the windows of every
shopkeeper, in every village along the road. Vehicles of all kinds are
in motion; stage-coach, post-chaise, and private carriage are alike

filled with travellers passing in all directions to their several places of
assembling, and give glimpses of faces bright with the re-awakened
affections that are radiating on all sides to common centres.
Everywhere hearts are stirred and pulses quickened by pleasant
anticipations; and many a current of feelings which for the rest of
the year has wandered only in the direction of the world's miry ways
and been darkened by its pollutions, met by the memories of the
season and turned back from its unpleasing course, is flowing
joyously back by every highway into the sweet regions of its pure
and untainted spring.
Coming Home from School.—Page 163.
But of all wayfarers who are journeying towards the haunts of
Christmas, who so happy as the emancipated school-boy? And of all
vehicles that are carrying contributions of mirth to that general
festival, what vehicle is so richly stored therewith as the post-chaise
that holds a group of these young travellers? The glad day which has
been the subject of speculation so long before, and has been
preceded by days which, in their imaginary calendar, are beyond any
question the very longest days of all the year, has at length arrived,
after seeming as if it never would arrive, and the long restrained and

hourly increasing tide of expectation has at length burst its barriers,
and is rushing forward with no little noise, into the sea of fruition.
"Eja! quid silemus?" says the well-known breaking-up song of the
Winchester boys; and the sentiment therein expressed is wide
awake (as everything must be, on this morning, that lies within any
reasonable distance of their voices) in the breast of every school-
boy, at all schools.
"Appropinquat ecce! felix
Hora gaudiorum,
Post grave tedium,
Advenit omnium
Meta petita laborum.
Domum, domum, dulce domum!
Domum, domum, dulce domum!
Dulce, dulce, dulce domum!
Dulce domum resonemus.
"Musa! libros mitte, fessa;
Mitte pensa dura,
Mitte negotium,
Jam datur otium,
Mea mittito cura!
Domum, domum, etc.
. . . .
"Heus, Rogere, fer caballos;
Eja nunc eamus,
Limen amabile,
Matris et oscula,
Suaviter et repetamus
Domum, domum, etc.
"Concinamus ad Penates,
Vox et audiatur;
Phosphore! quid jubar,
Segnius emicans,

Gaudia nostra moratur.
Domum, domum, etc."
And away they go well inclined to act up to the injunctions of the
ancient song. "Concinamus, O Sodales!" Our readers will do well on
the present occasion to translate the verb by its English equivalent,
—to shout. "Vox et audiatur!"—small doubt of that! That deaf-
looking old woman by the way-side must be "very deaf indeed" if the
sounds of that merriment have failed at least to reach her ears,—
though they may get no further; for she looks like one of those in
whom all the avenues by which mirth reaches the heart, where they
have not been closed at their external outlets by the infirmities of
age, are choked up within by the ruins of that heart itself. But the
entire progress of these glad hearts to-day is in the nature of a
triumph, and all objects in its course are ministers to their
unreflecting mirth. Theirs is the blessed age, and this its most
privileged day, when the spirit can extract from all things the chyle
of cheerfulness. That urchin who is flinging alms (a most gracious
act in childhood!) is doing so to the sound of his merry neighbor's
trumpet; and yet the act performed and the duty remembered, amid
all the heydey and effervescence of the spirits, has not lost its
gracefulness for the frolicsome mood by which it is attended. There
are men in this world who dispense their charities to the flourish of
their own trumpets; and though they are practised performers on
that instrument, and play with considerable skill, the effect is
unpleasing and the act a mockery. Away go the light-hearted boys!
away past the aged and the poor,—as happiness has long since
done, and the happy have long continued to do!—awaking the shrill
echoes of the road and all its adjacent fields with the sound of their
revelry. Every school-boy knows the programme. Flags flying, horns
blowing, racing against rival chaises, taunts from the foremost,
cheers from the hindmost, all sorts of practical jokes upon each
other and upon all they meet and all they pass, and above all, the
loud, ringing laugh,—the laugh of boyhood, so unlike all other
laughter, that comes out clear and distinct, direct from the heart,
stopping nowhere on its way, not pausing to be questioned by the

judgment nor restrained by the memory, presenting no hollowness
nor flatness to the nicest attention, betraying no under-tone to the
finest ear, giving true and unbroken "echoes to the seat where mirth
is throned," born spontaneously of that spirit, and excited so often
by causes too minute for older eyes to see. And it is in this very
causelessness that consists the spell of childhood's laughter, and the
secret of youth's unmingled joy. We seldom begin to seek reasons
for being gay till we have had some for being grave; and the search
after the former is very apt to bring us upon more of the latter.
There are tares among that wheat. The moment we commence to
distrust our light-heartedness, it begins to evade us. From the day
when we think it necessary to reason upon our enjoyments, to
philosophize upon our mirth, to analyze our gladness, their free and
unmingled character is gone. The toy is taken to pieces to see of
what it was composed, and can no more be put together in the
same perfect form. They who have entered upon the paths of
knowledge, or gone far into the recesses of experience, like the men
of yore who ventured to explore the cave of Trophonius, may
perhaps find something higher and better than the light-heartedness
they lose, but they smile never more as they smiled of old. The fine,
clear instrument of the spirit that we bring with us from heaven is
liable to injury from all that acts upon it here; and the string that has
once been broken or disordered, repair it as we may, never again
gives out the precise tone which it did before. The old man,—nay,
even the young man,—let him be as merry as he may, and laugh as
long and loudly as he will, never laughs as the school-boy laughs.
But of all this, and all the slumbering passions yet to be
awakened in those young breasts, and of many a grief to come,
there is no token to darken the joy of to-day. The mighty pleasures
towards which they are hastening have as yet never "broken the
word of promise to their hope." The postilions are of their party, and
even he with the bottle-nose, who seems to be none of the
youngest, is a boy for the nonce. The very horses appear to have
caught the spirit of the occasion, and toss their heads and lay their
haunches to the ground and fling out their forelegs as if they drew

the car of Momus. The village boys return them shout for shout,
fling up their hats as the triumph approaches, and follow it till their
breath fails. The older passer-by returns their uproarious salute,
taking no umbrage at their mischievous jokes and impish tricks, and
turning, as the sounds of the merry voices die in the distance, to a
vision of the days when he too was a boy, and an unconscious
rehearsal of the half-forgotten song of "Dulce, dulce domum!"
And then the "limen amabile," and the "matris oscula," and the
"Penates," towards which they are advancing; the yearning hearts
that wait within those homes to clasp them; the bright eyes that are
even now looking out from windows to catch the first token of "their
coming, and look brighter when they come;" the quiet halls that
shall ring to-night to their young voices; and the lanes and alleys
whose echoes they shall awaken to-morrow, and still more loudly
when the ice comes; and, above all, the Christmas revelries
themselves! The whole is one crowded scene of enjoyment, across
whose long extent the happy school-boy has as yet caught no
glimpse of that black Monday which forms the opposite and distant
portal of this haunted time.
Amongst the signs of the time that are conspicuous upon the
roads the traveller whose journeyings bring him towards those which
lead into the metropolis will be struck by the droves of cattle that
are making their painful way up to the great mart for this great
festival. But a still more striking, though less noisy, Christmas
symptom forms a very amusing object to him who leaves London by
such of its highways as lead eastward. There is little exaggeration in
the accompanying picture of a Lynn or Bury coach on its town-ward
journey with its freight of turkeys at the Christmas season. Nay, as
regards the freightage itself, the artist has kept himself within
bounds. Many a time have we seen a Norfolk coach with its hampers
piled on the roof and swung from beneath the body, and its birds
depending, by every possible contrivance, from every part from
which a bird could be made to hang. Nay, we believe it is not
unusual with the proprietors, at this season, to refuse inside

passengers of the human species, in favor of these Oriental gentry,
who "pay better;" and on such occasions of course they set at
defiance the restriction which limits them to carrying "four insides."
Within and without, the coaches are crammed with the bird of
Turkey; and a gentleman town-ward bound, who presented himself
at a Norwich coach-office at such a time, to inquire the "fare to
London," was pertly answered by the bookkeeper, "Turkeys." Our
readers will acquit us of exaggeration when we tell them that Mr.
Hone, in his "Every-Day Book," quotes from an historical account of
Norwich an authentic statement of the amount of turkeys which
were transmitted from that city to London between a Saturday
morning and the night of Sunday, in the December of 1793, which
statement gives the number as one thousand seven hundred, the
weight as nine tons, two hundredweight, and two pounds, and the
value as £680. It is added that in the two following days these were
followed by half as many more. We are unable to furnish the present
statistics of the matter; but in forty years which have elapsed since
that time the demand, and of course the supply, must have greatly
increased; and it is probable that the coach-proprietors find it
convenient to put extra carriages on the road for these occasions.
Norfolk Coach at Christmas.—Page 170.

In making the annexed sketch we presume that Mr. Seymour
must have had in mind, and intended to illustrate by "modern
instances," that class of "wise saws" such as "Birds of a feather flock
together," "Tell me the company, and I will tell you the man," and
others which tend generally to show that men are apt to catch the
hues of surrounding objects, and take the features of their
associates. If this was not his design, we have only the alternative
conclusion, that he had drawn turkeys till he could draw nothing
else, and till his best efforts at representing "the human face divine"
resulted in what the Scotch call a "bubbly-jock." Some poet, in
describing the perfections of his mistress's countenance, speaks of it
as conveying the impression that she "had looked on heaven, and
caught its beauty." Our friend the guard of this coach seems to have
looked on those turkeys of which he has charge till he has "caught
their beauty." It is impossible to conceive that the breath which he is
pouring into that horn of his should issue in any other form of sound
than that of a gobble. The coachman is clearly a turkey in disguise;
and the old-looking figure that sits behind him, with something like a
sausage round its neck, is probably his father. As for the swan with
two necks that floats on the panel of the coach-door, it is a strange-
looking bird at any time, but looks considerably more strange in its
present situation. It is unquestionably out of place, and forms no
fitting cognizance for a Norfolk coach at Christmas time.
Norfolk must be a noisy county. There must be a "pretty
considerable deal" of gabble towards the month of November in that
English Turkistan. But what a silence must have fallen upon its
farmyards since Christmas has come round! Turkeys are indisputably
born to be killed. That is an axiom. It is the end of their training, as
it ought to be (and, in one sense, certainly is) of their desires. And
such being the destiny of this bird, it may probably be an object of
ambition with a respectable turkey to fulfil its fate at the period of
this high festival. Certain it is that at no other time can it attain to
such dignities as belong to the turkey who smokes on the well-
stored table of a Christmas dinner,—the most honored dish of all the
feast. Something like an anxiety for this promotion is to be inferred

from the breathless haste of the turkey of which our artist has here
given us a sketch, in its pursuit of the coach which has started for
London without it. The picture is evidently a portrait. There is an air
of verisimilitude in the eager features, and about the action
altogether, of the bird, which stamps it genuine. In its anxiety it has
come off without even waiting to be killed; and at the rate after
which it appears to be travelling, is, we think, likely enough to come
up with a heavily laden coach. We hope, however, that it is not in
pursuit of the particular coach which we have seen on its way to the
"Swan with two Necks," because we verily believe there is no room
on that conveyance for a single additional turkey, even if it should
succeed in overtaking it.
TOO LATE FOR THE COACH.
One of the most striking signs of the season, and which meets
the eye in all directions, is that which arises out of the ancient and
still familiar practice of adorning our houses and churches with
evergreens during the continuance of this festival. The decorations
of our mantel-pieces, and in many places of our windows, the
wreaths which ornament our lamps and Christmas candles, the
garniture of our tables, are alike gathered from the hedges and
winter gardens; and in the neighborhood of every town and village
the traveller may meet with some such sylvan procession as is here

represented, or some group of boys returning from the woods laden
with their winter greenery, and like the sturdy ambassador in the
plate, engaged in what we have heard technically called "bringing
home Christmas" This symptom of the approaching festivity is
mentioned by Gay in his "Trivia":—
"When Rosemary and Bays, the poet's crown,
Are bawl'd in frequent cries through all the
town,
Then judge the festival of Christmass near,—
Christmass, the joyous period of the year!
Now with bright holly all the temples strow;
With Lawrel green, and sacred Misletoe."

Bringing Home Christmas.—Page 173.
The practice of these decorations, which is recommended to
modern times by its own pleasantness and natural beauty, is of very
high antiquity, and has been ascribed by various writers to various
sources. They who are desirous of tracing a Christian observance to
a Christian cause remind us of those figurative expressions in the
prophets which speak of the Messiah as the "Branch of
righteousness," etc., and describe by natural allusions the fertility
which should attend his coming. "The Lord shall comfort Zion," says
Isaiah: "he will comfort all her waste places; and he will make her

wilderness like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord."
Again, "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the
pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my
sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious." And
Nehemiah, on an occasion of rejoicing, orders the people, after the
law of Moses, to "go forth unto the mount and fetch olive branches,
and pine branches, and myrtle branches, and palm branches, and
branches of thick trees," and to make booths thereof, "every one
upon the roof of his house, and in their courts, and in the courts of
the house of God," and in the streets; "and all the congregation of
them that were come again out of the captivity" sat under these
booths, "and there was very great gladness." A writer in the
"Gentleman's Magazine" asks if this custom may not be referred, as
well as that of the palms on Palm Sunday, to that passage in the
Scripture account of Christ's entry into Jerusalem which states that
the multitude "cut down branches from the trees, and strawed them
in the way."
The practice, however, of introducing flowers and branches
amongst the tokens of festivity seems, and very naturally, to have
existed universally and at all times. It was, as we know, a pagan
manifestation of rejoicing and worship, and is forbidden on that
express ground in early councils of the Christian Church. Hone, in his
"Every-Day Book," quotes Polydore Virgil to the effect that
"trymming of the temples with hangynges, flowres, boughes, and
garlondes, was taken of the heathen people, whiche decked their
idols and houses with suche array;" and it came under the list of
abominations denounced by the Puritans for the same reason. The
practice was also in use amongst the nations both of Gothic and
Celtic origin; and Brand quotes from Dr. Chandler's "Travels in
Greece" a very beautiful superstition, mentioned as the reason of
this practice, amongst the votaries of Druidism. "The houses," he
says, "were decked with evergreens in December, that the sylvan
spirits might repair to them and remain unnipped with frost and cold
winds until a milder season had renewed the foliage of their darling
abodes."

In England the practice, whencesoever derived, has existed from
the very earliest days, and, in spite of outcry and prohibition, has
come down in full vigor to our own. In former times, as we learn
from Stow, in his "Survey of London," not only were our houses and
churches decorated with evergreens, but also the conduits,
standards, and crosses in the streets; and in our own day they
continue to form a garniture not only of our temples and our houses,
but constitute a portion of the striking display made at this festive
season in our markets and from the windows of our shops. Holly
forms a decoration of the shambles, and every tub of butter has a
sprig of rosemary in its breast.
The plants most commonly in use for this purpose appear to have
generally been the holly, the ivy, the laurel, the rosemary, and the
mistletoe; although the decorations were by no means limited to
these materials. Brand expresses some surprise at finding cypress
included in the list, as mentioned in the tract called "Round about
our Coal-Fire," and observes that he "should as soon have expected
to have seen the yew as the cypress used on this joyful occasion."
The fact, however, is that yew is frequently mentioned amongst the
Christmas decorations, as well as box, pine, fir, and indeed the larger
part of the Christmas plants which we have enumerated in a former
chapter. The greater number of these appear to have been so used,
not on account of any mystic meanings supposed to reside therein,
but simply for the sake of their greenery or of their rich berries.
Stow speaks of the houses being decked with "whatsoever the year
afforded to be green;" and Sandys observes that "at present great
variety is observed in decorating our houses and buildings, and
many flowers are introduced that were unknown to our ancestors,
but whose varied colors add to the cheerful effect; as the
chrysanthemum, satin-flower, etc., mingling with the red berry of the
holly and the mystic mistletoe. In the West of England," he adds,
"the myrtle and laurustinum form a pleasing addition." There is a
very beautiful custom which we find mentioned in connection with
the subject of evergreens as existing at this season of the year in
some parts of Germany and Sicily. A large bough is set up in the

principal room, the smaller branches of which are hung with little
presents suitable to the different members of the household. "A
good deal of innocent mirth and spirit of courtesy," it is observed, "is
produced by this custom."
Herrick, however (a poet amid whose absurd conceits and
intolerable affectation there are samples of the sweetest versification
and touches of the deepest pathos, and who amongst a great deal
that is liable to heavier objections still, has preserved many curious
particulars of old ceremonies and obsolete superstitions), carries this
custom of adorning our houses with evergreens over the entire year,
and assigns to each plant its peculiar and appropriate season. To
Christmas he appoints those which we have stated to be most
commonly used on that occasion, but insists upon a change of
decoration on the eve of Candlemas Day:—

"Down with the rosemary, and so
Down with the baies and misletoe;
Down with the holly, ivie, all
Wherewith you drest the Christmas hall;
That so the superstitious find
Not one least branch there left behind;"
and he urges the maids to the careful performance of this charge by
the following threat:—
"For look! how many leaves there be
Neglected there, maids, trust to me,
So many goblins you shall see."
The plant by which he orders these to be replaced for Candlemas
Day is box, whose turn is to continue—
"Until the dancing Easter Day
Or Easter's Eve appeare."
Then the box is to make way for "the crisped yew;" which is to be
succeeded at Whitsuntide by birch and the flowers of the season;
and these again are to yield to the—
"Green rushes, then, and sweetest bents,
With cooler oken boughs;"
whose reign continues till the period again comes round of
preparation for Christmas. We believe that it is still usual in many
parts of England to suffer the Christmas greens to remain in the
windows of our churches, and sometimes of our houses, until
Candlemas Eve.
Of those plants, then, which are considered as containing
meanings that make them appropriate decorations for the
Christmas-tide, or which have for any reason been peculiarly
devoted to that season, the laurel, or bay, may be dismissed in a few
words. Since the days of the ancient Romans this tree has been at
all times dedicated to all purposes of joyous commemoration, and its

branches have been used as the emblems of peace and victory and
joy. Of course its application is obvious to a festival which includes
them all, which celebrates "peace on earth," "glad tidings of great
joy," and a triumph achieved over the powers of evil and the original
curse by the coming of the Saviour.
We may add that, besides forming a portion of the household
decorations, it is usual in some places to fling branches and sprigs of
laurel on the Christmas fire, and seek for omens amid the curling
and crackling of its leaves:—
"When laurell spirts i' th' fire, and when the
hearth
Smiles to itselfe and guilds the roofe with
mirth;
When up the Thyrse is rais'd, and when the
sound
Of sacred orgies flyes around, around,"
says Herrick. At the two English universities the windows of the
college chapels are still carefully decked with laurel at the season of
Christmas.
The holly is a plant of peculiar veneration at this period of the
year,—so much so as to have acquired to itself by a popular
metonymy the name of the season itself, being vulgarly called
"Christmas." It is no doubt recommended to the general estimation
in which it is held by the picturesque forms of its dark, glossy leaves
and the brilliant clusters of its rich red berries. There is in the
Harleian Manuscripts a very striking carol of so remote a date as the
reign of Henry VI., which is quoted by most of the writers on this
subject, and gives a very poetical statement of the respective claims
of this plant and of the ivy to popular regard. The inference from the
second and fourth verses (taken in connection with the authorities
which place it amongst the plants used for the Christmas ornaments)
would seem to be, that while the former was employed in the
decorations within doors, the latter was confined to the exteriors of

buildings. Mr. Brand, however, considers those passages to allude to
its being used as a vintner's sign and infers from others of the verses
that it was also amongst the evergreens employed at funerals. It
runs thus:—
"Nay, Ivy! nay, it shall not be, I wys;
Let Holy hafe the maystry, as the manner ys.
"Holy stond in the halle, fayre to behold;
Ivy stond without the dore: she ys ful sore a
cold.
Nay, Ivy! etc.
"Holy and hys mery men they dawnsyn and
they syng.
Ivy and hur maydenys they wepyn and they
wryng.
Nay, Ivy! etc.
"Ivy hath a lyve; she laghtyt with the cold:
So mot they all hafe that wyth Ivy hold.
Nay, Ivy! etc.
"Holy hat berys as rede as any rose,
The foster the hunters kepe hem from the
doos.
Nay, Ivy! etc.
"Ivy hath berys as blake as any slo;
Ther com the oule and ete hym as she goo.
Nay, Ivy! etc.
"Holy hath byrdys a ful fayre flok,
The Nyghtyngale, the Poppingy, the gayntyl
Lavyrok.
Nay, Ivy! etc.

"Good Ivy, what byrdys ast thou?
Non but the howlet that kreye 'How, how!'
Nay, Ivy! nay, hyt shal not, etc."
We had some thoughts of modernizing the orthography, and very
slightly the diction, of this curious old ballad; but it reads best in its
own quaint garb, and even those of our friends who are not in the
habit of perusing ancient writings will find scarcely any difficulty in
making it out.
The rosemary, besides its rich fragrance, and probably because
thereof, was supposed to possess many occult virtues, and was used
for the sake of one or other of them on occasions both of rejoicing
and of mourning. It was believed to clear the head, to strengthen
the memory, and to make touching appeals to the heart. For these
reasons it was borne both at weddings and at funerals. Herrick says:
—
"Grow for two ends, it matters not at all,
Be 't for my bridal or my burial."
"There's rosemary," says Ophelia; "that's for remembrance: pray
you, love, remember;" and the custom of decking the corpse with
this flower, as well as that of flinging its sprigs into the grave, would
naturally spring out of this touching superstition. Its presence at
bridals would seem to suggest that it was dedicated to hope as well
as to memory. We have in Shakspeare's play of "Romeo and Juliet"
allusions to the use of this herb on both of these important but very
different occasions, which allusions are affecting from the application
of both to the same young girl. The first, which refers to the joyous
celebration, occurs in an interview between Romeo and the Nurse of
Juliet, in which arrangements are making for the secret marriage,
where the garrulous old woman observes, as hinting at Juliet's
willingness, "She hath the prettiest sententious of it, of you and
rosemary, that it would do you good to hear it." The second is in
that scene in which Juliet is supposed to be dead:

"Friar. Come, is the bride ready to go to church?
Capulet. Ready to go, but never to return!"
And is inserted amongst the holy father's exhortations to
resignation:—
"Dry up your tears, and stick your rosemary
On this fair corse; and, as the custom is,
In all her best array bear her to church."
Independently of the beautiful suggestion to remembrance which
is made by its enduring perfume, that precious perfume itself would
recommend this herb, for reasons less fine, as "strewings fitt'st for
graves." The fact of its being in bloom at this season would naturally
introduce the rosemary, with all its fine morals, into the Christmas
celebrations; and such customs as that which prescribed that the
wassail-bowl should be stirred with a sprig of this plant before it
went round amongst friends, seem to have a very elegant reference
to its secret virtues ("that's for remembrance," perhaps), and
suggest that the revellings of the season in those old times were
mingled with the best and most refined feelings of our nature.
But the mistletoe, the mystic mistletoe, where is the man whose
school-boy days are gone by, in whom that word conjures up no
merry memories?
"Oh, the mistletoe-bough!" who hath not, at the name, thronging
visions of sweet faces that looked sweetest in those moments of
their startled beauty beneath the pendent bough! If the old spells
with which superstition has invested the mistletoe have lost some of
their power over me, it hath now another, which in earlier days I
knew not of,—the power to restore the distant and to raise the dead.
I am to laugh no more as I have laughed of old beneath the
influence of that mystic cognizance of the gay Christmas-tide; but
even now as I write thereof, look in upon my heart bright portraits,
traced with a skill which no mortal pencil shall achieve,—faces on
which the earth hath long lain, and others from whom the wide

spaces of the world have separated me for many a weary year; and,
heavier far, some to whom unkindness hath made me too long a
stranger! There they rise and stand, one by one, beneath the merry
snare, each with the heightened beauty on her cheek, which is the
transient gift of the sacred bough!
O M——! how very fair is thine image in the eye of memory, and
how has thy going away changed all things for me! The bright and
the beautiful lie still about,—still bright and beautiful even to me,—
but in another manner than when thou wert here. All things are
tinged with thy loss. All fair things have a look, and all sweet sounds
a tone, of mourning since thou leftest me. How long it seems, as if
ages, instead of years, of the grave had grown between us, as if,
indeed, I had known thee in some former and far-removed state of
being! I do not love to think of thee as dead, I strive to think of thee
rather as of one whom I have left behind in the quiet valley of our
youth and our love,—from whom I have wandered forth and lost my
way amid the mazes of the world. But where is the clew that should
lead me back to thee? There may have been fairer (sweeter never)
things than thou in this fair world, but my heart could never be
made to believe or understand it. Had I known thee only in that
world, I might not so have marked thy beauty; but thou wert with
me when the world left me. In the flood of the sunshine, when a
thousand birds are about us, we go upon our way with a sense that
there is melody around, but singling perhaps no one note to take
home to the heart and make a worship of. But the one bird that
sings to us in the dim and silent night—oh! none but they on whom
the night has fallen can know how dear its song becomes, filling with
its music all the deserted mansions of the lonely soul. But the bird is
dead, the song is hushed, and the houses of my spirit are empty and
silent and desolate!
And thou whom the grave hath not hidden, nor far distance
removed, from whom I parted as if it were but yesterday, and yet of
whom I have already learned to think as of one separated from me
by long years of absence and death, as if it were very long since I

had beheld thee,—as if I gazed upon thee from a far distance across
the lengthened and dreary alleys of the valley of the dead! Physically
speaking, thou art still within my reach; and yet art thou to me as if
the tomb or the cloister had received thee, and made of thee (what
the world or the grave makes of all things we have loved) a dream
of the night, a phantom of the imagination, an angel of the memory,
a creation of the hour of shadows! Whatever may be thy future
fortunes, however thy name may hereafter be borne to my mortal
ear, my heart will ever refuse to picture thee but as one who died in
her youth!
And thou!—thou too art there, with thy long fair hair and that
harp of thine which was so long an ark of harmony for me. "Alas! we
had been friends in youth." But all things bring thee back, and I am
haunted yet, and shall be through the world, by the airs which thou
wert wont to sing me long ago. I remember that even in those days,
at times, in the silent night, when broken snatches of melodies
imperfectly remembered stole through the chambers of my heart,—
ever in the sweet tones in which it had learned to love them,—I
have asked myself if the ties that bound us might ever be like those
passing and half-forgotten melodies; if the time could ever come
when they should be like an old song learned in life's happier day,
and whose memory has been treasured, to make us weep in the
years when the heart has need to be soothed by weeping; if there
would ever be a day when thy name might be sounded in mine ear
as the name of a stranger! And that day has long since come,—
"For whispering tongues will poison truth."
How truly may we be said to live but in the past and in the future,—
to have our hearts made up of memory and of hope, for which the
present becomes, hour after hour, more and more of a void! And
alas! is it not true, as a consequence, that the more they are
occupied with memory, the less room have they for hope? And thus
the one is ever gaining upon the other, and the dark waters of
memory are hourly spreading upon that shore where hope had room
to build her edifices and to play about them, till at length they cover

all, and hope, having "no rest for the sole of her foot," flies forward
to a higher and a better shore!
And such are my visions of the mistletoe; these are amongst the
spirits that rise up to wait upon my memory,—"they and the other
spirits" of the mystic bough! But brighter fancies has that charmed
branch for many of our readers, and merrier spirits hide amid its
leaves. Many a pleasant tale could we tell of the mistletoe-bough
which might amuse our readers more than the descriptions to which
we are confined, if the limits of our volume would permit. But
already our space is scarcely sufficient for our purpose. We think we
can promise our readers in another volume a series of tales
connected with the traditions and superstitions which are detailed in
the present, and which may serve as illustrations of the customs of
the Christmas-tide.
Some of the names by which this remarkable plant were formerly
called are, "misselden," "misseldine," and, more commonly, "missel."
Old Tusser tells us that,—
"If snow do continue, sheep hardly that fare,
Crave mistle and ivy;"
and Archdeacon Nares says "the missel-thrush" is so designated
"from feeding on its berries." From the generality of the examples in
which this plant is mentioned by the name of "missel," it is
suggested to us, by Mr. Crofton Croker that the additional syllable
given to the name now in common use is a corruption of the old tod,
and that mistletoe, or mistletod, implies a bush, or bunch, of missel,
such as is commonly hung up at Christmas. He quotes in support of
this suggestion the corresponding phrase of "ivy-tod," which occurs
frequently in the writings of the Elizabethan age. If this be so, the
expression "the mistletoe-bough" includes a tautology; but as it is
popularly used, we retain it for the instruction of such antiquarians
of remote future times as may consult our pages for some account
of the good old customs which are disappearing so fast, and may fail
to reach their day.

That this plant was held in veneration by the pagans, has been
inferred from a passage in Virgil's description of the descent into the
infernal regions. That passage is considered to have an allegorical
reference to some of the religious ceremonies practised amongst the
Greeks and Romans, and a comparison is therein drawn between the
golden bough of the infernal regions, and what is obviously the
misletoe:—
"Quale solet silvis brumali frigore viscum
Fronde virere nova, quod non sua seminat
arbos,
Et croceo fetu teretis circumdare truncos," etc.
The reference is given by Mr. Christie in his "Enquiry into the Ancient
Greek Game" of Palamedes; and he mentions likewise the respect in
which this plant was held by the Gothic as well as the Celtic nations.
Sandys furnishes a legend from the Edda in proof of the
extraordinary qualities ascribed to it by the former. Amongst the
Celtic nations it is well known to have been an object of great
veneration, and the ceremony of collecting it by the Druids against
the festival of the winter solstice was one of high solemnity. It was
cut by the prince of the Druids himself, and with a golden sickle. It
was said that those only of the oaks were sacred to the Druids which
had the mistletoe upon them, and that the reverence of the people
towards the priests, as well as their estimation of the mistletoe,
proceeded in a great measure from the cures which the former
effected by means of that plant. Medicinal properties, we believe,
are still ascribed to it, and it was not very long ago deemed
efficacious in the subduing of convulsive disorders. Sir John
Colbatch, in his dissertation concerning it, observes that this
beautiful plant must have been designed by the Almighty "for further
and more noble purposes than barely to feed thrushes, or to be
hung up surreptitiously in houses to drive away evil spirits." Against
the latter it appears to have been used as a charm up to the last
century.

Its introduction into the Christian festival might therefore be
considered appropriate as emblematic of the conquest obtained over
the spirits of darkness by the event of the Nativity; and perhaps its
supposed healing properties might be deemed to recommend it
further, as a symbol of the moral health to which man was restored
from the original corruption of his nature, and a fitting
demonstration of the joy which hailed the "Sun of Righteousness"
that had arisen, "with healing in his wings."
Notwithstanding all this, however, Brand is of opinion that its
heathen origin should exclude it at all events from the decorations of
our churches, and quotes a story told him by an old sexton at
Teddington, in Middlesex, of the clergyman of that place having
observed this profane plant intermingled with the holly and ivy which
adorned the church, and ordered its immediate removal. Washington
Irving, who has studied old English customs and manners with
sincere regard, introduces a similar rebuke from the learned parson
to his unlearned clerk, in his account of the Christmas spent by him
at Bracebridge Hall.
The reverence of the mistletoe among the Ancient Britons
appears, however, to have been limited to that which grew upon the
oak; whereas the Viscum album, or common mistletoe,—the sight of
whose pearly berries brings the flush into the cheek of the maiden of
modern days,—may be gathered besides from the old apple-tree,
the hawthorn, the lime-tree, and the Scotch or the silver fir. Whether
there remain any traces of the old superstitions which elevated it
into a moral or a medical amulet,—beyond that which is connected
with the custom alluded to in the opening of our remarks upon this
plant, and represented, by our artist here,—we know not. We
should, however, be very sorry to see any light let in amongst us
which should fairly rout a belief connected with so agreeable a
privilege as this. That privilege, as all our readers know, consists in
the right to kiss any female who may be caught under the mistletoe-
bough,—and, we may hope, will continue, for its own pleasantness,
even if the superstition from which it springs should be finally lost.

The Mistletoe Bough.—Page 191.
This
superstition
arose, clearly
enough, out of
the old mystic
character of the
plant in
question, and
erects it into a
charm, the
neglect of
which exposes
to the imminent
danger of all
the evils of old-
maidenism. For,
according to
Archdeacon
Nares, the
tradition is,
"that the maid
who was not
kissed under it,
at Christmas,
would not be
married in that
year,"—by
which, we
presume, the Archdeacon means in the following year. Accordingly, a
branch of this parasitical plant was hung (formerly with great state,
but now it is generally suspended with much secrecy) either from
the centre of the roof, or over the door,—and we recommend this
latter situation to our readers, both as less exposed to untimely
observation, and because every maiden who joins the party must of
necessity do so by passing under it. We learn from Brand that the
ceremony was not duly performed unless a berry was plucked off

with each kiss. This berry, it is stated by other authorities, was to be
presented for good luck to the maiden kissed; and Washington
Irving adds that "when the berries are all plucked, the privilege
ceases." If this be so, it behooves the maidens of a household to
take good care that the branch provided for the occasion shall be as
well furnished with these pearly tokens as the feast is likely to be
with candidates for the holy state of matrimony. The practice is still
of very common observance in kitchens and servants' halls,
particularly in the country. But, as we have hinted, we have met with
it (and so, we dare say, have most of our readers) in higher scenes;
and many a merry laugh have we heard ring from beneath the
mistletoe-bough. There are lips in the world that we would gladly
meet there in this coming season.
Another of the symptoms of the approaching season which has,
at least to us, a very pleasing effect, consists in the bursts of solemn
minstrelsy by which we are aroused from our slumbers in the still
hour of the winter nights, or which, failing to break our sleep, mingle
with our dreams, leading us into scenes of enchantment, and filling
them with unearthly music. This midnight minstrelsy, whether it
comes in the shape of human voices, hallowing the night by the
chanting of the Christmas carol, or breaks upon the silence of the
mid-watches from the mingling instruments of those wandering
spirits of harmony, the waits, has in each case its origin in the Gloria
in Excelsis,—the song with which the angels hailed the birth of the
Redeemer in the fields near Bethlehem. "As soon," says Jeremy
Taylor, "as these blessed choristers had sung their Christmas carol,
and taught the Church a hymn to put into her offices forever on the
anniversary of this festivity, the angels returned into heaven."
Accordingly, these nocturnal hymns, although they spread over the
entire period of Advent, grow more and more fervent and frequent
as the season approaches, and the night which ushers in the great
day itself is filled throughout all its watches with the continued
sounds of sacred harmony. How beautiful is the effect given to this
music by this consideration of its meaning and its cause! Many and

many a time have we been awakened by the melody of the waits
when
"The floor of heaven
Was thick inlaid with patines of bright gold,"—
and have lain and listened to their wild minstrelsy, its solemn swells
and "dying falls" kept musical by the distance and made holy by the
time, till we have felt amid all those influences as if it were
"No mortal business, nor no sound
That the earth owes,"
and could have fancied that the "morning stars" were again singing,
as of old they "sang together for joy," and that the sounds of their
far anthem came floating to the earth. This sort of fancy has
occurred over and over again to him who has looked out from his
bed upon a sky full of stars, and listened at the same time to
invisible and distant music, under the holy impressions of the
season. Shakspeare has helped us to this feeling, perhaps, as we
can trace his influence upon all our feelings, and upon none more
than the most sacred or the most solemn:—
"There's not the smallest orb which thou
behold'st,
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubims;
Such harmony is in immortal souls."
To the rudest carol that ever flung its notes upon the still air of these
solemn hours we have hearkened with a hush of pleasure which
recognized how well—
"Soft stillness, and the night,
Become the touches of sweet harmony!"
And the wildest music that ever broke upon that solemn calm from
the instruments of the most unskilful waits,—if it were but remote

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