The changes wrought by the troublous times through which England had passed were fatal to the old-time splendors of the Christmas season. In the country many of the great old estates had passed into new hands and the old ties between the lord of the manor and his tenants had been forever sundered. The rafters of the old baronial halls no longer rang with the merriment which had graced the meeting of master and servants on a holiday basis of equality. Friends and relatives who from childhood had gathered together around the Yule log were now scattered or had been slain by the chances of war. Members of old country families deprived by Cromwell of their estates and driven into exile, now flocked to London to become hangers-on at the court of a “Merry Monarch” whose mirth was often bought at the expense of his subject’s years. The Merry Monarch, himself (that was the name given to Charles II), was a prodigal and a spendthrift, who found all sorts of new ways in which to squander the money raised by taxes from his subjects. He had little left, therefore, to imitate the splendid pageants that distinguished the courts of Queen Elizabeth and James I at the ancient holiday seasons. A famous song called “The Old and Young Courtier” was written shortly after Charles II had regained his throne. It sadly contrasts the good old times and the good old people with the bad new times and the bad new people of the Restoration. The old courtier is lovingly described as “a worshipful old gentleman who had a great estate,” with a lovely old wife by his side, and a great band of servants around them. Then followed this verse: With a good old fashion when Christmas was come, To call in all his old neighbors with bagpipe and drum, With good cheer enough to furnish every room, And old liquor able to make a cat speak, and man dumb; Like an old courtier of the queen’s And the queen’s old courtier. [Illustration: The Old and the New Christmas. From London Punch, Dec. 24, 1881.] A contrast is drawn between this old courtier of the queen’s and the young courtier of the king’s, with all his new-fangled notions, and especially With a new fashion, when Christmas is drawing on, On a new journey to London we must straight all begone And leave none to keep house but our new porter John Who relieves the poor with a thump in the back with a stone. Like a young courtier of the king’s And the king’s young courtier. From time to time, even in periods nearer to our own, complaints have been raised in England that the spirit of the old-time Christmas merriment has departed forever, and that good old Father Christmas is once more an exile from his own. A cartoon by Linley M. Sambourne published in the _London Punch_ for December 24, 1881, shows the Old-Fashioned Christmas holding a lively conversation with the New. This prose bit is printed beneath the picture: