“ For about three weeks before Christmas the inhabitants of Burnley and the neighbourhood are almost nightly roused from their slumbers by the "Christmas waits." Two men generally go together. They parade the streets and lanes, playing Christmas tunes on fiddles, or any other instruments they prefer. On stopping at any person's door they generally play some favourite air, and then wish the family a "Merry Christmas when it comes," and "hope that all are well within." ”