LIX. On the custom of adorning Churches with Evergreens. MR. URBAN, Har-b-rh, Dec. 12, 1765. IN the Palladium for 1765, was propounded by Mr. J. Lyon, of Margate, this query, "From whence is derived the custom of putting up laurel, box, holly, or ivy, in churches at Christmas; and what is the signification thereof?" And in the Palladium for 1766, we are told, that it was answered by Nobody. Having employed some thoughts on that subject, I should be glad (by means of your Magazine) to offer to the consideration of the curious the following conjecture. It seems very probable that the origin or first hint of the ancient custom of dressing our churches and houses at Christmas with evergreens, was owing to, or taken from certain expressions in the following prophecies of the coming of our Saviour: "Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto a David a righteous branch*: For behold, I will bring forth my servant the brancht: Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is the branch, and he shall grow up out of his placet: At that time will I cause the branch of righteousness to grow up unto David. Thus saith the Lord God, I will also take of the highest branch of the high cedar, and will set it; I will crop off from the top of his young twigs, a tender one, and will plant it upon an high mountain, and eminent, In the mountain of the height of Israel will I plant it; and it shall bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a goodly cedars. In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious. For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground**; and the Lord shall reign over them in mount Zion from henceforth even for evertt. There shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots‡‡, which Jeremiah xxiii. 5. Jeremiah xxxiii. 15. **Isaiah liii. 2. Zechariah iii. 8. ++ Micah iv. 7. Zechariah vi. 12, Isaiah iv. 2. ‡‡ Isaiah xi. 1. shall stand for an ensign of the people; and my servant David shall be their prince for ever t." of For it must be allowed, that those passages and expres sions in which our Saviour is represented under the type a branch, a righteous branch, a "bough, the branch of righteousness, who will reign for ever, &c. in the above-mentioned clear and eminent prophecies, of his first appearance in the flesh, upon earth, are, in a most lively manner, brought to our memories, and strongly alluded to by those branches and boughs of evergreens, &c, with which our churches and houses are adorned, whose gay appearance and perpetual verdure in that dead season of the year, when all nature looks comfortless, dark and dreary, and when the rest of the vegetable world have lost their honours, does agreeably charm the unwearied beholder, and make a very suitable appendage to the universal joy which always attends the annual commemoration of that holy festival. It is not at all unlikely, but that this custom was farther intended as an allusion to those passages of the Prophet Isaiah, which foretell the felicities attending the coming of Christ, viz. "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the firtree, the pine-tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary, (Isaiah lx. 13. Instead of the thorn, shall come up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle-tree: and it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." I am, Sir, &c. GOTHIC. P.S. I have met with another opinion concerning the origin of this ancient custom, which you have below, in the anonymous author's own words: "William of Malmsbury, in his book of Antiquities of Glastonbury, assures us, that Frecuphus affirms, in the fourth chapter of his second book, that Philip the Apostle, preaching the word of God in Gaul, which is now called France, chose out twelve of his disciples, whom he sent to Briton, to preach the word of life. He appointed over these as chief, Joseph of Arimathea, his dear friend, who buried our Lord. "These, according to John Capgrave, who brings Milkin * Isaiah xi, 10. + Ezekiel xxxvii. 25. Isaiah lv. 13. and Merlin for vouchers, came into this land in the year of Christ's incarnation 36, in the time of Arviragus, who gave. to them the isle of Avalon, where they built an oratory of wrythen wands, or boughs, which was the first christian church, if one may so call it, which was erected in Britain. We find this custom was followed in the first times, in building the christian churches in Britain, of boughs; and I am apt to think that the custom of adorning our churches at Christmas, as well as our houses with evergreens, proceeds from what has been related." 1765, Suppl. IX. Account of several British Antiquities, found near Chateris, in the Isle of Ely, in a letter from the late Dr. Stukeley to Mr. Peter Collinson, F.R.S. THE isle of Ely extends from Cotenham, Cambridgeshire, for forty miles in length, to the old river, called Nine, running eastward to Wisbech river, which divides it from Lincolnshire, therefore called Shire-drain, The isle is, for the most part, a vast fenny level, divided into many islets of high ground; some of gravelly soil, some of chalk; separated from one another, as well as from the continent, (if so we may express it) by impassable boggy ground, rivers, and large meres. These islands of firm ground, are well inhabited, have towns and fair churches, woods, pastures, and fresh springs, so that each, in summer time, is as a paradise detached from the rest of the busy world. The fenny parts were originally, for the main, drier, and better ground, than now, I have largely discussed this affair, in cap. iv. of my Medallic History of Carausius, Book II. on account of an artificial canal called Carsdike, which that emperor drew across it, to carry corn boats to the Scottish Pretenturæ, and of the many roads he made there. Before Roman times, we may be well assured the most ancient Britons, when they advanced so far northward as the isle of Ely, from the southern coasts of their first landing, would greedily seize upon these islets of high ground, so fortified with rivers and fens; and erect petty Sovereignties there, in a soil so rich, and so secure; for each may be reckoned as a British oppidum according to Cæsar's description of that of Cassibelin, Sylvis, paludibusque egregie munitum. I here exhibit a curious instance, in these remains of remote antiquity, found at Chateris, in the summer of the year 1757, and given to me by Robert Fawcet, Esq. lord of the manor; and as we may say, successor to the king, who owned these martial accoutrements before us. The world has been lately obliged in a high degree to Mr. Macpherson, for publishing a translation of those excellent poetic compositions of Ossian in the Ersk language. I cannot call it vanity in me, if I think no one can be a better judge of their authenticity. My reason is, because they illustrate and confirm, those notions, and those ideas, I formed in my mind concerning the original Britons; when, for many summers, I examined into those stupendous works, the temples of Abury and Stonehenge, the cursus's, and innumerable barrows, and like matters pertaining to them; which I have long ago printed. The reading of Fingal revives all my former thoughts concerning them. I see clearly, that people of his, were the true remains of our most ancient Britons; who came by sea from the eastern countries, Phoenicia, Arabia, Egypt, and that before Gaul was peopled, I saw the same notions and customs in the highland heroes; they were the same people, had the same customs and religion as the first Britons. The Ersk language, old Scottish, Manks, Irish, Cornish, all are remains of the most ancient inhabitants, thrust forward by the Romans. From this book, I see the reason of the appearance of these present antiquities; agreeable to those I found, in digging into the tumuli, about Abury and Stonehenge. Chateris has its name Chartreuse, from a nunnery founded there A. D. 980, by Alfwena mother to Earl Ailwyn, alderman of all England; founder of the noble abbey of Ramsey. The scite of Chateris monastery was probably the palace of the monarch among the old Britons, whose tomb they dug up. It was a piece of gravelly ground pretty much elevated, toward Somershan ferry, and was his family burying place, for there were more bodies interred in the same spot. They were not above two feet and a half under the turf. On the right side of his body, and under his arm, lay his sword; the handle consumed, no guard or cross bar at the handle appeared. Such were the long Irish skenes; on the left side, lay the spear, the staff of it consumed; the same must be said of his bow, for often they were buried with them. On his breast lay the iron umbo, or navel of his shield; the materials of which it was made, a bull's hide, consumed. At his head was placed the great urn as usual, of black earth or clay; this we suppose held the bones of his wife, burnt; she dying before him, they were kept to be interred with him. This case I have often observed at Stonehenge, and this was the origin of urn burial, long before the Roman name was extant; which I take to be the present case, for this sepulture may be 3000 years old; and of some of the first inhabitants of our island. The sword is only an intire body of rust; the same may be said of the spear head, and of the umbo. We may not think amiss, in supposing it of the fabric of Damascus, for I look upon it little to be doubted of, that our first British ancestors were of the progeny of Abraham, in the Arabian line, by Hagar and by Keturah; those Ishmaelite and Midianite merchants, who came hither with the Tyrian Hercules to seek for tin. Much I could say in proof of it, but not at this time. I am the more persuaded into this sentiment, on account of the curious glass vase, found along with the recited utensils; it was broken in pieces as well as the urn, by the workmen. I could not set the pieces together, so as to be certain of the exact figure of the glass; but the pieces are of a fabric very extraordinary; and what I have never observed before, nor can I guess at its use. It is notorious, that our Britons were famous for their artifice in glass works. We find many of their beads, snakestones, as they are called; and like things of exquisite curiosity. Mr. Bell, of the Antiquarian Society, bought a curious piece in glass, representing a snake rolled up. Mr. Baker has another; this is the thing of which Pliny writes, in a marvellous fable. Some curious party-coloured beads of theirs are to be seen; some in Mr. Edward Llwyd's plate of British antiquities, in Camden's Britannia. Between Tyre, and the city Acon, in Phoenicia, is the famous sand-hill, for making glass, mentioned by Josephus, Strabo, Stephanus the geographer, Pliny. Our Hercules came from Tyre, he built Acon; he made a serpentine temple there, like that of Abury; whence the name Acon, signifying a serpent; hence the hakpen hill of Abury, signifying the serpent's head. I mention all this, to show how our old Britons brought the art of glass-making with them from the east; and these matters mutually prove one another, both, that they came |