It appears from Thomas de la Moore's Life of Edward II. that Was-haile and Drinc-heil were the usual ancient phrases of quaffing among the English, and synonymous with the "Come, here's to you," and "I'll pledge you," of the present day.1 [These pledge-words were frequently varied in olden time. In the tale of King Edward and the Shepherd, MS. Cantab. Ff. v. 48, one says, Passilodion, and the other, Berafrynde; a strange kind of humour, the amusement of which is difficult to be comprehended, though "I warrant it proved an excuse for the glass." In this tale the king says,—

"Passilodyon that is this,
Who so drynkes furst i-wys,
Wesseyle the mare dele:
Berafrynde also I wene,

Hit is to make the cup clene,

And fylle hit efte fulle wele."

But the best explanation of Wassail is that given by Robert de Brunne, in the following passage:—

"This is ther custom and her gest
When thei are at the ale or fest.
Ilk man that lovis qware him think
Salle say Wosseille, and to him drink.
He that bidis salle say, Wassaile,
The tother salle say again Drinkhaille.
That says Wosseille drinkis of the cop,
Kissand his felaw he gives it up."

This explanation is stated to have been given on Vortigern's first interview with Rowena, or Ronix, the daughter of Hengist, the latter kneeling before him, and presenting a cup of wine, made use of the term. Vortigern, not comprehending the words of Rowena, demanded their meaning from one of the Britons. A fragment, preserved by Hearne, carries the origin of the term to a much earlier period.]

"As was is

1 Verstegan gives the subsequent etymology of Wassail : our verb of the preter-imperfect tense, or preter-perfect tense, signifying have been, so was, being the same verb in the imperative mood, and now pronounced wax, is as much as to say grow, or become; and Waesheal, by corruption of pronunciation, afterwards came to be Wassail."—Restitution of Decayed Intelligence, ed. 1653, p. 101. Wassel, however, is sometimes used for general riot, intemperance, or festivity. See Love's Labour Lost, v. 2. A wassel candle was a large candle lighted up at a feast. See 2 Henry IV. i. 2.

The learned Selden, in his Table Talk (article Pope), gives a good description of it: "The pope," says he, "in sending relicks to princes, does as wenches do to their Wassels at New Year's tide-they present you with a cup, and you must drink of a slabby stuff, but the meaning is, you must give them money, ten times more than it is worth." The following is a note of the same learned writer on the Polyolbion, song 9: "I see," says he, "a custome in some parts among us: I mean the yearly Was-haile in the country on the vigil of the new yeare, which I conjecture was a usuall ceremony among the Saxons before Hengist, as a note of health-wishing (and so perhaps you might make it Wish-heil), which was exprest among other nations in that form of drinking to the health of their mistresses and friends. 'Bene vos, bene vos, bene te, bene me, bene nostram etiam Stephanium,' in Plautus, and infinite other testimonies of that nature, in him, Martial, Ovid, Horace, and such more, agreeing nearly with the fashion now used: we calling it a health, as they did also, in direct terms; which, with an idol called Heil, antiently worshipped at Cerne in Dorsetshire, by the English Saxons, in name expresses both the ceremony of drinking and the new yeare's acclamation, whereto, in some parts of this kingdom, is joyned also solemnity of drinking out of a cup, ritually composed, deckt, and filled with country liquor." In Herrick's Hesperides, p. 146, we read,

"Of Christmas sports, the Wassell Boule,
That tost up, after Fox-i-th' Hole;
Of Blind-man-buffe, and of the care
That young men have to shooe the Mare:
Of Ash-heapes, in the which ye use
Husbands and wives by streakes to chuse
Of crackling laurell, which fore-sounds
A plentious harvest to your grounds."

In the Antiquarian Repertory (i. 218, ed. 1775) is a woodcut of a large oak beam, the antient support of a chimneypiece, on which is carved a large bowl, with this inscription on one side, [Wass-heil, and on the other Drinc-heile. The bowl rests on the branches of an apple-tree, alluding, perhaps, to part of the materials of which the liquor was composed.] The ingenious remarker on this representation observes, that it is the figure of the old Wassel Bowl, so much the delight of our

hardy ancestors, who, on the vigil of the New Year, never failed to assemble round the glowing hearth with their cheerful neighbours, and then in the spicy Wassel Bowl (which testified the goodness of their hearts) drowned every former animosity-an example worthy modern imitation. Wassel was the word, Wassel every guest returned as he took the circling goblet from his friend, whilst song and civil mirth brought in the infant

year.

A writer in the Gentleman's Magazine (liv. May, 1784, p. 347) tells us, that "The drinking the Wassail Bowl or Cup was, in all probability, owing to keeping Christmas in the same manner they had before the feast of Yule. There was nothing the Northern nations so much delighted in as carousing ale, especially at this season, when fighting was over. It was likewise the custom, at all their feasts, for the master of the house to fill a large bowl or pitcher, and drink out of it first himself, and then give it to him that sat next, and so it went round. One custom more should be remembered; and this is, that it was usual some years ago, in Christmas time, for the poorer people to go from door to door with a Wassail Cup, adorned with ribbons, and a golden apple at the top, singing and begging money for it; the original of which was, that they also might procure lamb's wool to fill it, and regale themselves as well as the rich."l

[The following doggrel lines were communicated by a clergyman in Worcestershire, but the occasion and use of them appear to be unknown, and it is not unlikely some corruption has crept into them :

Milner, on an ancient cup (Archæologia, xi. 420), informs us, that "The introduction of Christianity amongst our ancestors did not at all contribute to the abolition of the practice of wasselling. On the contrary, it began to assume a kind of religious aspect; and the Wassel Bowl itself, which, in the great monasteries, was placed on the Abbot's table, at the upper end of the Refectory or eating-hall, to be circulated amongst the community at his discretion, received the honorable appellation of Poculum Charitatis.' This, in our universities, is called the Grace-cup." The Poculum Charitatis is well translated by the toast-master of most of the public companies of the city of London by the words, "A loving cup." After dinner the master and wardens drink "to their visitors, in a loving cup, and bid them all heartily welcome." The cup then circulates round the table, the person who pledges standing up whilst his neighbour drinks to him.

"Wassail brews good ale,
Good ale for Wassail;
Wassail comes too soon,

In the wane of the moon."]

"A

In Ritson's Antient Songs, 1790, p. 304, is given Carrol for a Wassell Bowl, to be sung upon Twelfth Day, at night, to the tune of Gallants come away,' from a collection of New Christmas Carols; being fit also to be sung at Easter, Whitsuntide, and other Festival Days in the year." No date, 12mo, b. l., in the curious study of that celebrated antiquary, Anthony à Wood, in the Ashmolean Museum.

"A jolly Wassel Bowl,

A Wassel of good ale,
Well fare the butler's soul,
That setteth this to sale-
Our jolly Wassel

Good Dame, here at your door
Our Wassel we begin,

We are all maidens poor,
We pray now let us in,

With our Wassel.

Our Wassel we do fill

With apples and with spice,

Then grant us your good will,

To taste here once or twice
Of our good Wassel.

If any maidens be

Here dwelling in this house,

They kindly will agree

To take a full carouse

Of our Wassel.

But here they let us stand
All freezing in the cold;
Good master, give command
To enter and be bold,
With our Wasse..

Much joy into this hall
With us is entered in,
Our master first of all,
We hope will now begin,
Of our Wassel.

And after, his good wife
Our spiced bowl will try,-
The Lord prolong your life!
Good fortune we espy,

For our Wassel.

Some bounty from your hands,
Our Wassel to maintain :
We'll buy no house nor lands
With that which we do gain,
With our Wassel.

This is our merry night

Of choosing King and Queen,

Then be it your delight

That something may be seen
In our Wassel.

It is a noble part

To bear a liberal mind;

God bless our master's heart!

For here we comfort find,
With our Wassel.

And now we must be gone,
To seek out more good cheer;
Where bounty will be shown,
As we have found it here,
With our Wassel.

Much joy betide them all,
Our prayers shall be still,

We hope, and ever shall,

For this your great good will
To our Wassel.

Macaulay, in his History and Antiquities of Claybrook, in Leicestershire, 1791, p. 131, observes: "Old John Payne and his wife, natives of this parish, are well known from having perambulated the hundred of Guthlaxton many years, during the season of Christmas, with a fine gewgaw which they call a Wassail, and which they exhibit from house to house, with the accompaniment of a duet. I apprehend that the practice of wassailing will die with this aged pair. We are by no means so tenacious of old usages and diversions in this country, as they are in many other parts of the world."

In the Collection of Ordinances for the Royal Household, 4to, 1790, p. 121, we have some account of the ceremony of Wasselling, as it was practised at Court, on Twelfth Night, in the reign of Henry VII. From these we learn, that the