Washington Irving's description of Christmas Eve:
"Some say that ever 'gainst that season comes Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, This bird of dawning singeth all night long; And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad, The nights are wholesome--then no planets strike, No fairy takes, no witch hath power to charm, So hallow'd and so gracious is the time."
The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent, Washington Irving, 1819
