Nicholas's clerks was, and still is, a cant term for highwaymen and
robbers; but though the expression is very common, its origin is a
matter of uncertainty. In "1 Henry IV." (ii. 1) it is thus alluded to:

"_Gadshill._ Sirrah, if they meet not with Saint Nicholas'
clerks, I'll give thee this neck.

_Chamberlain._ No. I'll none of it: I pr'thee, keep that for
the hangman: for I know thou worshippest Saint Nicholas as
truly as a man of falsehood may."

_Christmas._ Among the observances associated with this season, to which
Shakespeare alludes, we may mention the Christmas Carol, a reference to
which is probably made in "A Midsummer-Night's Dream" (ii. 1), by
Titania:

"No night is now with hymn or carol blest."

Hamlet (ii. 2) quotes two lines from a popular ballad, entitled the
"Song of Jephthah's Daughter," and adds: "The first row of the pious
chanson will show you more."[694]

[694] Drake's "Shakespeare and his Times," vol. i. p. 198.

In days gone by, the custom of carol-singing was most popular, and
Warton, in his "History of English Poetry," notices a license granted in
1562 to John Tysdale for printing "Certayne goodly carowles to be songe
to the glory of God;" and again "Crestenmas Carowles auctorisshed by my
lord of London."[695]

[695] See Sandy's "Christmastide, its History, Festivities, and
Carols;" also _Athenaeum_, Dec. 20, 1856.

In the "Taming of the Shrew" (Ind., sc. 2) Sly asks whether "a
comonty[696] is not a Christmas gambold." Formerly the sports and
merry-makings at this season were on a most extensive scale, being
presided over by the Lord of Misrule.[697] Again, in "Love's Labour's
Lost" (v. 2), Biron speaks of "a Christmas comedy."

[696] His blunder for comedy.

[697] See "British Popular Customs," 1876, pp. 459, 463;
Nares's "Glossary," vol. ii. p. 943; "Antiquarian Repertory,"
vol. i. p. 218.

As we have noticed, too, in our chapter on Plants, a gilt nutmeg was
formerly a common gift at Christmas, and on other festive occasions, to
which an allusion is probably made in the same scene. Formerly, at this
season, the head of the house assembled his family around a bowl of
spiced ale, from which he drank their healths, then passed it to the
rest, that they might drink too. The word that passed among them was the
ancient Saxon phrase _wass hael_[698], _i. e._, to your health. Hence
this came to be recognized as the wassail or wa