Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 12.djvu/507

 n s. xii. DEC. 25, 1915.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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A CHRISTMAS HERO. Illustrations usually present " Good King Wenceslas," the hero of our Christmas carol, as a venerable white- bearded grandsire, like Santa Glaus in fact. The carol was based on a Latin original by John Mason Neale, the hymnologist, and I understand that the tune is traditional. Prince (not King) St. Vaclav (Wenzel, Wenceslas) reigned from A.D. 925 to his murder by his heathen brother Boleslav in 936. His mother, St. Ludmilla, was slain by a rival heathen princess. Legends of Vaclav's piety and charity abound, and a memorial shrine marks the spot where he fell in the church at Stara Boleslav, in Northern Bohemia. His countrymen sing a national hymn, ' Svaty Vaclave, pomiluj nas ' ( c St. Wenceslas, protect us ' ). A huge equestrian statue of the saint, by Prof. Myslbek, shows a handsome Crusader. The page of the carol, Podivin, was hanged with his master. The road from Prague to Stara Boleslav was held sacred, and little chapels were erected beside it, one being in memory of Podivin.

We may sing the carol with right good will, as the attitude of Vaclav's countrymen .accords with our own in the present conflict. Bohemia and its saint suffered sorely enough from Teuton aggression.

FRANCIS P. MARCHANT.

Streatham.

THE CHRISTMAS POSSET-BOWL. It was the custom for a farmer's household, as also for that of a better-to-do cottager, seventy years ago to brew for consumption on Christmas Eve a big bowl of ale or elder-wine posset. This was pushed about the table around which all the family was seated, and each member in turn took a spoonful, the bowl going round and round among them till the whole contents were consumed. Each person had a horn or wooden spoon known as a " posset spoon." The " posset- bowl " afforded a method of telling fortunes, or making divinations, for it was the custom to cast into the pot a golden half-guinea, a woman's wedding-ring, a silver sixpence, and a bone button. The young person who fished out the half-guinea would acquire or marry " money " ; the one who drew the wedding-ring would marry within a year ; the one who got the sixpence would remain poor, but have enough to live on ; and the one who got the button would remain single for a year at least. To work the spells properly, the wedding-ring must be from the finger of the mother of the family, whilst the golden half -guinea must be contributed by the head

of the house. I have formed one of the party round such a bowl, and have a lively memory of the fun the posset- bowl produced among the single folk.

THOS. RATCLIFFE. Worksop.

ARCHBISHOP WILLIAMS'S GHOST. Aged folk of a former generation living at Bethesda, Carnarvonshire, traditionarily used to relate of the disturbing presence at intervals, in a particular spot in their part of the country, of a ghost visitant that of the prelate John Williams, Archbishop of York and Lord Keeper, connected with the county family of Williams, Cochwillan, long since merged in the Williams Bulkeleys of Baron Hill, Beaumaris. It was currently believed the distinguished prelate resided at one time at Tyn Twr, Bethesda. Monetary affairs were the alleged cause of periodic ghost visits. The worthy had fallen on evil days, and he and King Charles I. fell foul of each other for contestable supremacy. Times being out of joint, for whatever reason, his Grace on his own admission hid monetary treasure in ground on the present site of a shop built at Tyn Twr. Deponent recollected his mother averring that an old dame, a contemporary of hers, was besought by the ghostly intruder to dig for it and remove it away to ease his conscience. Precise instructions as to its exact location were given, and the whole lump intended for the house tenant, Betty Jones. With this assurance she was bidden to walk as directed as far as an assigned garden spot, and standing thereon watch and take as signal two stage coaches passing over the adjoining road bridge. She com- plied with the request, and overheard a voice declare " Take them." Either her faith vanished or fear was too great. She fainted.

Another time the ghostly haunter bade the old woman take fresh courage, enter the garden, and seize what money she could gather secreted underneath a bush-shaded pillar. The quest was not pursued. The ghost grumbled over the dame's hesitations and lack of initiative will. She in turn expostulated and desired some one else to be the luck}' possessor of treasure- trove ; but the ghost declared it was hers solely. However, a condition was assented to of gift willed to her youngest child on coming of age or being forfeited altogether. The same, being a boy, grew up to manhood, enlisted in the army, and died a tragic death in India. Some years later a father and son