Here were kept
up the old games of hoodman blind, shoe the wild mare, hot
cockles, steal the white loaf, bob apple, and snap dragon; the
Yule-clog and Christmas candle were regularly burnt, and the
mistletoe with its white berries hung up, to the imminent peril
of all the pretty housemaids.*
* The mistletoe is still hung up in farm-houses and kitchens at
Christmas, and the young men have the privilege of kissing the
girls under it, plucking each time a berry from the bush. When
the berries are all plucked the privilege ceases.
So intent were the servants upon their sports that we had to ring
repeatedly before we could make ourselves heard. On our arrival
being announced the squire came out to receive us, accompanied by
his two other sons--one a young officer in the army, home on a
leave of absence; the other an Oxonian, just from the university.
The squire was a fine healthy-looking old gentleman, with silver
hair curling lightly round an open florid countenance, in which
the physiognomist, with the advantage, like myself, of a previous
hint or two, might discover a singular mixture of whim and
benevolence.
The family meeting was warm and affectionate; as the evening was
far advanced, the squire would not permit us to change our
travelling dresses, but ushered us at once to the company, which
was assembled in a large old-fashioned hall.
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