WHEN the Danes were masters of England,

and lorded it over the natives of the island, the inhabitants of a certain great city, grown weary of their slavery, had formed a secret conspiracy to murder their masters in one bloody night, and twelve men had undertaken to enter the town-house by a stratagem, and seizing the arms, were to surprise the guard which kept it; at which time their fellow comrades upon a signal given were to come out of their houses, and murder all opposers. But when they were putting their plan in execution, the unusual crowing and fluttering of the cocks, about the place they at

B

tempted to enter at, discovered their design; upon which the Danes became so enraged, that they doubled their cruelty, and used them with more severity than ever. But being soon after freed from the Danish yoke, to revenge themselves on the cocks, for the misfortune they had involved them in, they instituted this custom of knocking them on the head on Shrove Tuesday, the day on which it happened. This sport, though at first only practised in one city, in process of time became a national divertisement, and has continued ever since the Danes first lost this island. Ornithologianova, 1743.

ORIGIN OF CHRISTMAS BOXES.

On looking into history, we find that this custom derived its existence much about the time that mass was first said by a catholic priest. Rome, which originally gave birth to superstition, had an incredible number of clergy to support, and among other devices this was invented as one, and took its name of mass from the Latin word mitto, to send.

This word mitto was a kind of remembrancer, or rather dictator, which said, "send gifts, offerings, and ablations to the priests, that they may intercede with Christ to save your soul by saying so many masses."

Hence it was called Christ's-mass, or, as it is now abbreviated, Christmas.

Thus far the etymology of the word is indisputable, and every man who has attended to the minutiae of sacred history, must know the fact to be as here related.

The word box, is a part of the same priestcraft trade, and took its origin from the following circumstance:

Whenever a ship sailed from any of those ports where the religious profession was under the authority of Rome, a certain saint was always named, unto whose protection its safety was committed, and in that ship there was a box, and into that box every poor person put something, in order to induce the priests to pray to that saint for the safe return of the vessel; which box was locked up by the priests, who said the money should not be taken out until the vessel came back.

This box was called "Christ's Mass-box."

To vassals and servants, who at that time composed a great part of the lower order of the people, there was allowed a liberty of soliciting gifts from the rich, in order to enable them to put money into the box, as well for masses, and for the safe return of the ship, as for the benefit of their own souls, and the forgiveness of sins.

This proving lucrative to the clergy, they so contrived in due time, that the custom became universal, and the priests had boxes wherever there was a chapel in which mass was said: and as without the penny there was no paternoster, so it became a regular custom at the festivals of the Nativity, of Easter, and of Whitsuntide, to put money in those boxes.

In process of time the ship money was totally laid aside, and the priests took hold of Lent as the principal time to collect mass-money for the remission of sins; but still the old custom of poor people soliciting gifts continued; and as the winter season was best adapted to excite charity, the money for Christ's mass-box was solicited at the close of the year, and from that time to this continues a custom, although what was solicited for