Note 208:A — Chapter VI · (continued 2)
Reading edition
Scott's Marmion. Introduction to Canto Sixth. 8vo. edit. p. 300-303.
"At present, Christmas meetings," remarks Mr. Brady, "are chiefly confined to family parties, happy, it must be confessed, though less jovial in their nature; perhaps, too, less beneficial to society, because they can be enjoyed on other days not, as originally was the case, set apart for more general conviviality and sociability; not such as our old ballads proclaim, and history confirms, in which the most frigid tempers gave way to relaxation, and all in eager joy were ready to exclaim, in honour of the festivity,—
"For, since such delights are thine, Christmas, with thy bands I join."
Clavis Calendaria, vol. ii. p. 319.