paraded the streets during winter, to prevent theft, &c. At Exeter they
were set up, with a regular salary, in 1400; and although suppressed by
the Puritans, were reinstated in 1660. M.A. Boyer, in his _French and
English Dictionary_, Rivington. 1747, under the word _waits_, s.
has the following: "in the French, _sorte de hautbois_, (ho-boy,)
corresponding with the signification of the term waits, as itinerant or
wandering (music or) musicians. These nocturnal perambulators, it seems,
were anciently called, as they now are, waits; and persons, bearing the
same name, still go about our streets during the month of December,
(previous to the 25th.) Whatsoever may be the reasons or the motives of
those (maunderers) who _now_ call _themselves waits_, I must
leave for the consideration of such as are favoured with their visits. I
am of opinion it can have neither allusion nor similitude to the
Christmas carol as some have suggested, which was an imitation, however
humble, of 'The glory to God on high,' &c., as sung by the angels who
hovered over the fields of Bethlehem on the morning of our Saviour's
nativity." It is true, indeed, that our modern angels, _the waits_
of 1897, have _hovered about_, and _they may_ (without a pun)
be styled angels (of darkness), not only on account of the watch they
keep _a nights_, but on account of those _spirit-uous propensities_,
for the attainment of which, principally, some have supposed, _we_ are
_indebted_ to _them_ for _their waits_, and also for their _wait-ing_
upon us on the day ycleped boxing-day.

But to return to our subject; independent of the origin of the waits, or
of the persons so called, as relates to the institution in England,
which is, comparatively, of modern date, _it appears there were
peculiar to the Romans_ a description of individuals, who, in their
offices and character, answered to our waits, and from whom there is no
doubt the latter were derived; these, among the Romans, were called