A MASQUE OF DAYS
CASSELL & COMPANY
LIMITED: LONDON:
FROM THE
LAST ESSAYS
OF ELIA:
NEWLY DRESSED
& DECORATED
BY
WALTER CRANE
PARIS, NEW YORK
& MELBOURNE. 1901.
THE OLD YEAR being dead, and the NEW YEAR coming of age, wh: he does byCalendar Law, as soon as the breath is out of the old gentleman’s body,nothing would serve the young spark but he must give a dinner upon theoccasion, to wh: all the Days in the year were invited. The Festivals,whom he deputed as his stewards, were mightily taken with the notion.They
[Pg 2]had been engaged time out of mind, they said, in providing mirth andgood cheer for mortals below; and it was time they should have a taste oftheir own bounty. It was stiffly debated among them whether the Fastsshould be admitted. Some said, that the appearance of such lean, starvedguests, with their mortified faces, would pervert the ends of the meeting.But the objection was overruled by Christmas Day who had a design upon AshWednesday
[Pg 3](as you shall hear), and a mighty desire to see how the oldDomine would behave himself in his cups.
Only the VIGILS were requested to come with their lanterns to light the
[Pg 4]gentlefolks home at night.
All the Days came to their day. Covers were provided for three hundred andsixty-five guests at the principal table; with an occasional knife andfork at the side-board for the Twenty-Ninth of February.
[Pg 5]I should have told you that cards of invitation had been issued. Thecarriers were THE HOURS twelve little, merry whirligig foot-pages asyou should desire to see, that went all round, and found