THE BOOK OF CHRISTMAS
PREPOSSESSED us in its favour from the first. The idea is good; the title inviting ; the time of publication seasonable ; the out- ward appearance of the volume, in a livery of olive green, with a label wreath of holly, ivy, and mistletoe, appropriate ; and the contents—treating of old national customs and kindly supersti- tions surviving in social conviviality the belief of the age when they originated—are illustrated congenially and comically by SEYMOUR. We sat down to enjoy it as a holyday book ; and, by way of prelude to the perusal, turned over the plates with a group of little round faces over our shoulder,—whose laughing com- ments and queries bore testimony to the drollery and interest of the pictures. The reading was a more serious matter; and, truth to say, the tone is a little too sad for so merry a theme ; and the manner too high-wrought and sermonizing for a homely, jovial subject. The author, Mr. T. K.HERVEY, has spun too fine a web to wrap round the chrysalis of antiquity, of which he seems afraid ; and in trying to avoid being dry and quaint, he has be- come vague and periphrastic. The origin of the Christmas Festival, and its ancient modes of celebration, the feelings and signs of the season, and the sports and observances peculiar to the several days, are all treated of fully, under separate heads. SEYMOUR'S illustrations of the festi- vities embrace the stately feast in the hall, the mumming in the farm-house, the hospitality at the mansion in the olden time, and the modern celebration of Christmas. The School-boys returning home for the Holydays—the Market, the Kitchen, and the Christmas-dinner — Twelfth-night frolics—the Theatre—Seeing in the-New-Year— Waits—Boxing-day, &c., are all delineated
with characteristic truth and pleasantry. Had the humour and . .
with the plates, the book would have been more generally wel- come, and the text and its illustrations in keeping.
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