English:
"Christmas and his children", a vision of the lost Christmas of
Merry England
. The author imagines Old Father Christmas as a magician,
"summoning his spirits from the four winds for a general muster". The 'children' are identified on pp114-118 as Roast Beef and his faithful squire Plum Pudding, the slender figure of their sister Wassail with her fount of perpetual youth, a "tricksy spirit" who bears the bowl and is on the best of terms with the Turkey, Mumming, Misrule with a feather in his cap, the Lord of Twelfth Night under a state-canopy of cake and wearing his ancient crown, Saint Distaff looking like an old maid, Carol singing, the Waits, and the twin-faced Janus