"A bore ys a souerayn beste, And acceptable in every feste, So mote thys lorde be to moste & leste, Nowell. "This borys hede we bryng with song, In worchyp of hym that thus sprang Of a virgyne to redresse all wrong, Nowell." The printing-press of Wynkyn de Worde has preserved to us the carol believed to have been generally used, prior to 1521, upon these occasions; a modernized version of which continues to be sung in Queen's College, Oxford. It is entitled "A Caroll bringyne in the Bores heed;" and runs thus:-- "Caput apri defero Reddens laudes Domino, The bore's heade in hande bring I With garlandes gay and rosemary, I pray you all synge merely, Qui estis in convivio. "The bore's head I understande Is the chefe servyce in this lande, Loke wherever it be fande, Servite cum cantico. "Be gladde, lordes both more and lasse, For this hath ordayned our stewarde, To chere you all this Christmasse, The bore's head with mustarde." A tradition of the same college states the introduction there of the boar's head (which according to Ritson, is now a mere representation "neatly carved in wood") to be contrived "as a commemoration of an act of valor performed by a student of the college, who while walking in the neighboring forest of Shotover, and reading Aristotle, was suddenly attacked by a wild boar. The furious beast came open-mouthed upon the youth; who, however, very courageously, and with a happy presence of mind, is said to have rammed in the volume, and cried _græcum est_, fairly choking the savage with the sage." To this legend a humorous "song in honor of the Boar's head at Queen's College, Oxford," refers, having for its motto, _Tam Marti quam Mercurio_, but for which we cannot afford space. The ancient mode of garnishing the boar's head was with sprigs of sweet-scented herbs. Dekker, than whom we could not name a more appropriate authority on this subject, speaking of persons apprehensive of catching the plague, says, "They went (most bitterly) miching and muffled up and down, with rue and wormwood stuft into their eares and nostrils, looking like so many bore's heads, stuck with branches of rosemary, to be served in for brawne at Christmas." The following lines describe the manner of serving up this famous dish:-- ----"if you would send up the brawner's head, Sweet rosemary and bays around it spread; His foaming tusks let some large pippin grace, Or 'midst these thundering spears an orange place; Sauce like himself, offensive to its foes, The roguish mustard, dangerous to the nose; Sack, and the well spiced hippocras, the wine Wassail, the bowl with ancient ribands fine, Porridge with plums, and Turkeys, with the chine."