In Devonshire the eve of the Epiphany was devoted to this custom, and in that apple-bearing country, cider was the wassail used on the occasion, and the apple tree the chief recipient of the country folks’ good wishes. The wassailers, with good supply of their favourite beverage, would proceed to some gnarled and crooked, but productive apple tree, and there, forming a circle about his ancient trunk, would drink his health with some such incantation as this:— Here’s to thee, old apple tree, Whence thou mayest bud, and whence thou mayest blow, And whence thou mayst bear apples enow. Hats full, caps full, Bushel, bushel, sacks full, And my pockets full too; hurrah! {237} A variety of the New Year’s Wassail-Bowl custom was, until a few years ago, practised in Scotland. What is called a _hot pint_ (_i.e._, a great kettle full of hot sweetened ale), was prepared, and when the clock had sounded out the knell of the old year, each member of the family drank “A good health and a Happy New Year to all.” A move was then made by the revellers with what remained of the hot pint, and a store of short-bread and _bun_ to visit their friends and neighbours, and to give them seasonable greeting. If the party were the first to enter a friend’s house since twelve o’clock had struck, they were called the _first foot_, and must come in with hands full of cakes, of which all the inmates must partake; and so they went from house to house until either their endurance or that long, long hot pint, failed. Even within this century the custom was so religiously observed that the streets of Edinburgh are described as having been more thronged at midnight than at mid-day. This old practice is said to have received its death-blow in 1812, when the descent of gangs of thieves and pickpockets upon the wassailers caused such scenes of rioting and violence that, after languishing for a few years, it came to an untimely end. It was customary at the beginning of the present century for the inhabitants of the parish of Deerness, in Orkney, to assemble on New Year’s Eve, and pay a round of visits through the district, drinking their neighbours’ healths, and singing various old songs, of which the following may be taken as a specimen:— This night it is guid New Year’s E’en night We’re a’ here Queen Mary’s Men; And we’re come here to crave our right, And that’s before our lady. * * * * * Gae fill the three pint cog o’ ale, The maut maun be aboun the meal. We houp your ale is stark and stout For men to drink the old year out.