Note 658 — Chapter IV
Reading edition
Footnote 658
:
(return)
Herrick, Hesperides, "Ceremonies for Christmasse":
"Come, bring with a noise, My merrie merrie boyes, The Christmas log to the firing;... With the last yeeres brand Light the neiv block"
And, again, in his verses, "Ceremonies for Candlemasse Day":
"Kindle the Christmas brand, and then Till sunne-set let it burne; Which quencht, then lay it up agen, Till Christmas next returne. Part must be kept, wherewith to teend The Christmas log next yeare; And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend Can do no mischiefe there"
See The Works of Robert Herrick (Edinburgh, 1823), vol. ii. pp. 91, 124. From these latter verses it seems that the Yule log was replaced on the fire on Candlemas (the second of February).