“On Christmas night he goes round to every house, and says that Jesus Christ, his Master, sent him thither. The parents and elder children receive him with great pomp and reverence, while the little ones are most terribly frightened. He then inquires for the children, and according to the character which he hears from the parents, he gives them the intended presents, as if they came out of heaven from Jesus Christ, or if they should have been bad children, he gives the parents a rod, and, in name of his Master, recommends them to use it frequently. About seven or eight years old, the children are let into the secret, and it is curious how faithfully they keep it.” CHAPTER X THE CHRISTMAS TREE IN ENGLAND AND AMERICA Coleridge’s letter, as we have seen, was written in January 1826. In the succeeding December the English people were to obtain a nearer view of the Christmas tree. A great German lady, the Princess Lieven, who had taken up her residence for a season in London brought many German customs with her. “On Christmas,” says Henry Greville, an amusing gossip whose diary was published after his death, “the Princess Lieven got up a little fête such as is customary all over Germany. Three trees, in great pots, were put upon a long table covered with pink linen. Each tree was illuminated with three circular tiers of colored wax candles,--blue, green, red and white. Before each tree was displayed a quantity of toys, gloves, pocket-handkerchiefs, work boxes, books and various articles--presents made to the owner of the tree. It was very pretty. Here it was only for the children. In Germany the custom extends to persons of all ages.” Not yet, however, did the custom pass over to England. The people who saw the tree in the parlor of the Princess Lieven or who heard about it from those who had there seen it, made no attempt to copy it in their own homes. A dozen years were to pass before the tree took firm roots in English soil. It was the marriage of Queen Victoria to a German prince--Albert of Saxe-Coburg--that brought about this result. The first child was a daughter (named Victoria after her mother) who became Empress of Germany and the mother of the present Emperor William. The second child was a son, who is now King Edward VII of England. When the Princess Victoria was about five years old Prince Albert set up a Christmas tree, German fashion, in the royal nursery at Windsor Castle. A writer in the _Cornhill Magazine_ places the date of the introduction of the Christmas tree into England as December 1841. He remembers, he says, when his parents, “who had spent many winters in Germany, first introduced it, some forty-five years ago into England, what astonishment it created, what surprised delight it afforded.”