CNJ
O
/fj
REESE LIBRARY
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
I^eceived J^f/L't^O' ,igoO.
Accession No. ^02^3- Class No. ^J^
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2007 with funding from
IVIicrosoft Corporation
http://www.archive.org/details/christmasgarlandOObullrich
;?pS ;a^*ii!afeM;! g!i^iiaa^ja^^
PREFACE. xvii
neighbouring clergymen ; and on the 6th seven gentle-
men and tradesmen. Among the guests who lay at the
house were " Mr. Rigden, merchant of York, and his
I wife, a handsome womatt" and "Mr. Belton, an ingeni-
ous clergyman, but too much a good fellow." How
gentle is the censure conveyed in the words " too much
\\ a good fellow ! " Sir John adds : " The expense of
l| liquor, both of wine and others, was considerable, as
of other provisions, and my friends appeared well satis-
fied." So they ought to have been. But all landlords
were not like Sir John Reresby, and he tells us himself
that few of the gentry in his part of the country observed
the festival. Complaints of niggardly housekeeping
were constantly being made. In the " Roxburghe Col-
lection" is a very doleful ballad entitled "Christmas'
Lamentation for the loss of his acquaintance, showing
how he is forced to leave the country and come to
London." Hear how it begins : —
I
Christmas is my name ; far have I gone,
Have I gone, have I gone, have I gone,
"Without regard ;
Whereas great men by flocks there be flown,
There be flown, there be flown, there be flown,
To London ward ;
Where they in pomp and pleasure do waste
That which Christmas was wonted to feast,
Welladay !
Houses where music was wont for to ring,
Nothing but bats and howlets do sing,
Welladay, welladay, welladay !
Where should I stay?
ii^sss^fes^jte^^is^s^^tl^^s^^K^^^^^^i^^s^a^HS^^E^^S
xviii
PREFACE.
Christmas beef and bread is turned to stones, &c.
And silken rags ;
And lady Money sleeps, and makes moans, &c.
In misers' bags.
Houses where pleasure once did abound.
Nought but a dog and a shepherd is found,
Welladay !
Places where Christmas revels did keep,
Is now become habitations for sheep,
Welladay ! "
Poor Robin's Almanac harps perpetually on the same
theme. Against such curmudgeons was directed the
old carol of Dives and Lazarus^ which must have been
sung at many a rich churl's door to the gratification of
a knot of shivering wretches. I give it from an old
broadside ^ in the Bodleian.
** As it fell out upon a day
Rich Dives made a feast.
And he invited all his friends
And gentry of the best.
Then Lazarus laid him down and down,
E'en down at Dives' door ;
Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,
Bestow upon the poor.
Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,
That lies begging at the door.
No meat nor drink will I give to thee,
Nor bestow upon the poor.
1 Printed in the last century by T. Bloomer, 53 Edgbaston
Street, Birmingham.
PREFACE.
I
Then Lazarus laid him down and down,
E'en down at Dives' wall;
Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,
Or with hunger starve I shall.
Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,
That lies begging at my wall ;
For neither meat nor drink will I give,
But with hunger starve you shall.
Then Lazarus laid him down and down
E'en down at Dives' gate ;
Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,
For Jesus Christ His sake.
Thou art none of my brother, Lazarus,
That lies begging at my gate ;
No meat nor drink will I give to thee
For Jesus Christ His sake.
Then Dives sent out his merry men,
To whip poor Lazarus away,
They had no power to strike one stroke,
But flung their whips away.
Then Dives sent out his hungry dogs
To bite him as he lay ;
They had no power to bite at all,
But licked his sores away.
As it fell out upon a day.
Poor Lazarus sickened and died ;
There came two angels out of heaven,
His soul therein to guide.
XX PREFACE.
Rise up, rise up, brother Lazarus,
And go along with me,
For you've a place prepared in heaven
Upon an angel's knee.^
As it fell out upon a day.
Rich Dives sickened and died ;
There came two serpents out of hell,
His soul therein to guide.
Rise up, rise up, brother Dives,
And go along with me ;
There is prepared a place in hell
From which thou ne'er can flee.
Then Dives looked up with his eyes.
And saw poor Lazarus blest ;
Give a drop of water, brother Lazarus,
To quench my burning thirst.
O had I as many years to abide.
As there are blades of grass.
Then there would be an end, but now
Hell's pains will never pass.
O was I now but alive again,
The space of one half hour ;
O that I'd made my peace secure,
Then the devil should have no power ! "
Churls of the class of Dives will always exist, but one
likes to think that there are fewer of them now than
formerly. Truly, there is every need to-day for sympathy
and charity towards the poor and the afflicted.
^ Another copy reads : —
'* In angels' company."
I
PREFACE. xxi
Very pleasant is the obsolete practice of combining
devotion and good fellowship. Fancy a modern
rhymester hailing the arrival of Christmas after this
style ! —
*' Now that the time is come wherein
Our Saviour Christ was born,
The larders full of beef and pork,
The garners filled with corn," &c.
Finding these verses in Poor Robin^s Almanac for 1700,
we are charmed by their quaint sincerity. Ah that
homely piety and simple-hearted mirth might be re-
vived ! These are dull times. Where are the mummers
and the maskers ? Where the Lord of Misrule and the
Twelfth-tide kings and queens ? What a poor business
is a country-fair to-day ! Smock-races,^ hot-hasty-
pudding contests, and grinning through a horse-collar
have been abolished. Merry-go-rounds and shooting-
galleries are well-nigh the only attractions. But we
must remember that, with many innocent diversions,
not a few barbarous sports have been swept away.
Cock-fighting still has its supporters in the Black
Country, but it is to be hoped that nobody is anxious
to revive cock-throwing or goose-riding. In remote
districts many good old customs still linger. The
wassailers still sing their cheery song, and the Christmas
play, with its odd medley of characters, St. George,
'h ^ So called because the successful girl was presented with a
holland smock.
j^^S^^^S
PREFACE.
the Turk, the Doctor, Beelzebub ^ (sometimes with the
addition of Oliver Cromwell and the Duke of Welling-
ton), still delights bucolic audiences. Hone, wTiting more
than half a century ago, anticipated that the practice
of singing Christmas carols would be abolished in the
course of a few years. His lugubrious prophecy has
happily not been fulfilled. " As I sat on a sunny bank,"
** I saw three ships come sailing in," " God rest you,
merry gentlemen," " Remember, O thou man," " The first
Nowell the Angel did say," and others, are still sung year
after year. But the more fantastic carols seem to be losing
ground. " Cherry-tree carol," the finest of all carols,
has been shorn of half its beauty by modem prudishness.
Every girl and boy should be taught the lovely stanzas
beginning, "As Joseph was a-walking " (p. 31). Never
were Christ's praises chanted in sweeter, clearer tones.
At the present day people are too refined (or should we
say — stolid ? ) to appreciate such strange pieces of com-
position as " Holy Well," " The moon shines bright,"
and "The Carnal and the Crane." In the most
characteristic carols there is a pathetic wistful melody,
as though the singer were yearning to give utterance to
the thoughts that crowd his souL Sometimes, as in the
carol beginning " I sing of a maiden " (p. 4), the accents
ring clear and sweet, without a flaw. At other times
Here come I, Beelzebub ;
Under my arm I carry a club.
Under my chin I carry a pan,
Don't I look a nice young man ?
i
j$rteP?y^..^^fia!;ife^'^^^
I
PREFACE.
* O Mother, take you John Evangelist
All for to be your son,
And he will comfort you sometimes
Mother, as I have done.*
* O come thou, John Evangelist,
Thou'rt welcome unto me.
But more welcome my own dear Son
Whom I nursed on my knee.'
Then he laid his head on his right shoulder,
Seeing death it struck him nigh, —
* The holy Mother be with your soul,
I die. Mother dear, I die.'
O the rose, the gentle rose,
And the fennel that grows so green,
God give us grace in every place
To pray for our king and queen.
Furthermore for our enemies all
Our prayers they should be strong :
Amen, good Lord ; your charity
Is the ending of my song."
Sung on the crisp frosty road beneath the flying moon,
that pathetic and fantastic strain might well stir the
hearers' hearts with far-off wonder and awe. But for
some time past it has been a growing practice to sing
carols in churches instead of in the open air. Only the
less poetical carols are in use, and the element of
picturesqueness is fast vanishing. One of the most
popular carols is the piece beginning " Good King
Wenceslas looked out," written by the Rev. Dr. Neale.
The language is poor and commonplace to the last
degree.
II
f
■ <^r^te^3BSS?;5^j^ Pfe^y;^^
PREFACE.
Much has been written about the history of Christmas
Carols, and I have no intention in this brief preface of
minutely traversing the well-trodden ground. In Eng-
land the practice of carol-singing appears to have first
become widely spread in the 15 th century. Many of
the pieces collected from MSS. by the labour of Ritson,
Wright, and Sandys belong to this early date. We are
fortunate in possessing an ancient MS. copy of the
Carol of SI. Stephen (p. 33). Doubtless (in a somewhat
altered shape) The Carnal and the Crane^ The Holy
Well J and The Seven Virgins belong to the 15 th cen-
tury ; but no early copies of these pieces, whether in
print or MS., are known to exist. The earliest printed
collection was issued by Wynkyn de Worde in 152 1.
Only a fragment of it has descended ; and in this frag-
ment Hearne the antiquary found the original version
[f^ of the famous Boar's Head Carol. A later collection,
printed by Richard Kele, was issued about 1550,
Specimens from this unique volume were printed in
" Bibliographical Miscellanies," 1 8 1 3, whence I have
drawn the pieces beginning, " In Bethlehem that noble
place" (p. 10). and "Lords and Ladies all by dene"
(p. 12). Other books of so-called Christmas Carols were
licensed for printing in the latter part of the 1 6th century ;
but the pieces in these collections appear to have been
hymns rather than carols. Early in the next century we
find a genuine example of a carol, with music, (" Re-
member, O thou man ") in Ravenscroft's " Melismata,"
161 1. A few years afterwards an attempt to supplant
xxvi PREFACE.
the old carols was made by William Slatyer in " Cer-
taine of David's Psalmes intended for Christmas Carols."
At a somewhat later date a few carols, though not of the
best kind, are found among the Roxburghe Ballads. In
the second half of the last centry T. Bloomer, a Birming-
ham printer, did good service by printing in broadside
form all the traditional carols he could find. Jemmy
Catnach, of Great Monmouth Street, Seven Dials, in the
second quarter of the present century, was zealous in
diffusing the knowledge of Christmas Carols. As the
season comes round hawkers still call at villagers' doors
with wretchedly-printed slips ; but only a few of the old
traditional carols continue to circulate.
Alongside of the sacred carols sung in the open air,
flourished the jovial carols sung at Christmas feasts. A
small black-letter collection of these pieces was published
in 1642 ; another appeared in 1661 ; a small undated
collection belongs probably to the same time ; a fourth
is dated 1688. These tracts, belonging to the class of
books that are most easily thumbed out of existence, are
of the rarest possible occurrence. The library of the
British Museum does not possess a copy of any of them ;
but luckily they are all in the Bodleian, bound together
in a small duodecimo volume which once belonged to that
"facete" (to use the term he applies to Democritus
Junior) and ingenious scholar, Antony- k- Wood, the
never-to-be-forgotten author of " Athense Oxonienses."
In the Long Vacation I spent some delightful hours in
making copious extracts from these curious tracts,
PREFACE. xxvii
which few previous collectors appear to have examined.
It may be that the reader will not find the same
pleasure in these old rustic songs as I found. For in
truth I was in the mood to enjoy everything. Return-
I ing after long absence to Oxford, I thought the old spires
I and domes had never looked so beautiful before. The
^1 studious hush of the Bodleian was charming after the
noise of London streets. Before me lay the MS. cata-
logue, in a 17th-century hand, of the books which
Robert Burton bequeathed to the library he loved so
well ; and as with reverence I turned the pages, the
air seemed filling with the ghosts of grand old Oxford
scholars, men who lived before the days of competitive
examinations and pretentious sciolism ; men who loved
learning for its own sake, and whose whole life passed
as a summer's day. Then the walk in the mellow
evening-air with an old fellow student to Foxcomb Hill,
and the draught of foaming ale in the inn parlour where
I had spent so many jovial hours ! But I return
to Antony-k- Wood's collection of carols. The reader
will perceive that they are genuine specimens of the
songs that were sung in farm-houses by shepherds and
ploughmen at Christmas feasts in the 17 th century.
Very touching is the gratitude of the poor fellows for
being allowed the run of their teeth : —
•' Of delicates so dainty
I see now here is plenty,
Upon this table ready here prepared ;
Then let us now give thanks to those
PREFACE.
That all things friendly thus bestows,
Esteeming not this world that is so hard.
For of the same my master
Hath made me here a taster ;
The Lord above requite him for the same !
And so to all within this house
I will drink a full carouse,
With leave of my good master and my dame.
And the Lord be praised
My stomach is well eased,
My bones at quiet may go take their rest ;
Good fortune surely followed me
To bring me thus so luckily
To eat and drink so freely of the best."
Their stomachs were sharp-set, and we may be sure
they played a nimble knife and fork throughout the
whole twelve days. Christmas comes but once a year,
so they made the best of their time and lustily trolled
the nut-brown bowl in honour of St. Stephen and St.
John. One of the most interesting pieces is the New
Year's Carol (p. 205), sung by the shepherd, who comes
bringing mellow pippins as presents for his master's
children, points ^ for the farm-labourers, and pins for the
maids. The verses bidding Farewell to Christmas are
lugubrious indeed ; but the honest fellows doubtless
found consolation in the thought that they would feast
again next year.
^ Tagged laces that held up the breeches.
PREFACE.
Those who spent their Christmas at their own fireside
^ had also carols, but of a soberer sort. The following
verses, which evidently cannot boast of a high antiquity,
I heard in Berkshire : —
When I'm at school my father
Is working on the farm,
The harvest he must gather
To keep us all from harm.
My brother is at sea,
My sister's gone from home,
She must in service be
Till merry Christmas come.
We all shall meet together
On merry Christmas Eve ;
We reck not wind or weather
While we our Christmas keep.
All round the rodded (?) earth
Each one might chance to say,
Since last we met in mirth
'Twas merry Christmas Day."
Rather a doleful ditty that ; no mention of goose or
mince-pies. At the same time I took down the follow-
ing slight but pretty rhymes : —
Sing we all merrily,
Christmas is here.
The day that we love best
Of days in the year.
PREFACE.
Bring forth the holly,
The box and the bay,
Deck out our cottage
For glad Christmas Day.
Sing we all merrily,
Draw round the fire,
Sister and brother.
Grandson and sire."
It would be easy to write a long dissertation about
Christmas ceremonies, for the materials are all to our
hand. But as I have no desire to make a parade of
cheap learning, I refer the reader to that elaborate and
easy accessible work, Brand's " Popular Antiquities."
For one who has neither the learning of Brand nor the
light touch of Leigh Hunt, it would be impertinent to
write at length on so trite a theme. The present
volume lays little claim to research. It has been put
together in idle moments, and is intended rather for the
general reader than for scholars. The orthography of
the older pieces has been modernised, but I have en-
deavoured in all cases to give, as far as possible, a
correct text. It may perhaps be thought that a few more
old carols should have been included in the First Part.
I omitted without hesitation such pieces as "When
Jesus Christ was twelve years old " (popular though it
is), "The Lord at first had Adam made," "When
Caesar Augustus had rais'd a taxation," " When old
father Jacob was ready to die," &c. ; but I parted re-
luctantly from " Blessed be that maid Mary," " Mary
PREFACE. xxxi
mother, meek and mild," " Marvel not, Joseph, on Mary
mild," and others. Some readers may be vexed at finding
in the Second Part so well-known a poem as Milton's
"Ode on the Nativity." I have no particular affec-
tion for the poem as a whole, though I greatly admire
certain stanzas, and am not blind to the marvellous
metrical skill displayed throughout. With the sacred
text of Milton I dared not tamper. I felt that I must
print the Ode in its integrity or not at all ; and I chose
the first course. In regard to Crashaw, whose tran-
scendent merits I should be the last to dispute, I had
less hesitation. His Hymn of the Nativity I give entire,
but of the Hymn for the Epiphany I quote only the
opening fines, for the latter part abounds with the most
violent conceits. At the end of the volume I have added
a few notes. There is a striking poem by Frederick
Tennyson, "The Holy Tide," which I should like to
have included ; but it is far too long. With two stanzas
from it I take leave of the reader : —
The days are sad, it is the Holytide :
The Wintermorn is short, the Night is long ;
So let the lifeless Hours be glorified
With deathless thoughts, and echoed in sweet song :
And through the sunset of this purple cup
They will resume the roses of their prime,
And the old Dead will hear us and wake up,
Pass with dim smiles and make our hearts sublime !
The days are sad, it is the Holytide ;
Be dusky mistletoes and hollies strown,
PREFACE.
Sharp as the spear that pierced his sacred side,
Red as the drops upon his thorny crown ;
No haggard Passion and no lawless Mirth
Fright off the sombre Muse, — tell sweet old tales,
Sing songs as we sit bending o'er the hearth,
Till the lamp flickers, and the memory fails."
PART I.
CHRISTMAS Chants and Carols.
From the Coventry Mysteries.
3n cvcv's place 3 sball tell this.
T N every place I shall tell this,
Of a clean maid that God is born,
And in our likeness God now clad is,
Mankind to save that was forlorn ;
His mother a maid as she was beforn,
Not foul-polluted as other women be,
But fair and fresh as rose on thorn,
Lily-white, clean with pure virginity.
•}.;:•
t
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Printed in Ritson's Ancient Songs,
Sandys' Carols, etc. (from Sloane
MS., 2593, temp. Henry VI.)
Melcome ISule.
Welcome Yule, thou merry man,
In worship of this holy day.
VyELCOME be thou, heaven-king,
Welcome born in one morning,
Welcome for whom we shall sing,
Welcome Yule.
Welcome be ye, Stephen and John,
Welcome Innocents every one.
Welcome Thomas Martyr one.
Welcome Yule.
Welcome be ye, good New Year,
Welcome Twelfth Day, both in fere,^
Welcome saintes lef ^ and dear.
Welcome Yule.
In fere =: in company.
2 Lef= loved.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Welcome be ye, Candlemas,
Welcome be ye, Queen of Bliss,
Welcome both to more and less,
Welcome Yule.
Welcome be ye that are here.
Welcome all and make good cheer ;
Welcome all, another year,
Welcome Yule.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Wright's Songs and Carols,
(Warton Society. A collection
printed from Sloane MS. 2593,
temp. Henry VI.)
5 Sing of a /IDatt)en»
T SING of a maiden
That is makeless ; ^
King of all kings
To her son she ches ; ^
He came also ^ still
There his mother was,
As dew in April
That falleth on the grass.
He came also still
To his mother's bower,
As dew in April
That falleth on the flower.
He came also still
There his mother lay,
CAROLS AND POEMS.
As dew in April
That falleth on the spray.
Mother and maiden
Was never none but she ;
Well may such a lady
God's mother be.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Harleian MS. 5396 {date circ.
1500). Printed in Sandys' Christ-
mas Carols, and other collections.
5n Bjcelsts Gloria*
A ^ rHEN Christ was born of Mary free
In Bethlehem in that fair citie,
Angels sungen with mirth and glee,
/n Excelsis Gloria I
Herdsmen beheld these angels bright
To them appeared with great light,
And said, God's son is born this night,
In Excelsis Gloria I
This King is comen to save kind
[Even] in Scripture as we find,
[Therejfore this song have we in mind,
In Excelsis Gloria I
[Then, dear] Lord, for thy great grace
[Grant us] in bliss to see thy face.
Where we may sing to thee solace.
In Excelsis Gloria!
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Printed in Sandys' Christmas Carols,
and other collections.
TTbe iftrst naowell tbe Hn^el Mb sa^»
T^HE first Nowell the Angel did say
Was to three poor Shepherds in the fields as
they lay ;
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep
In a cold winter's night that was so deep.
Nowelly Nowell^ Nowell^ Nowell,
Born is the King of Israel.
They looked up and saw a Star
Shining in the East beyond them far ;
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night.
Nowell, etc.
And by the light of that same Star
Three Wise Men came from country far ;
To seek for a King was their intent,
And to follow the Star wherever it went
Nowell, etc.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
The Star drew nigh to the North- West,
O'er Bethlehem it took its rest,
And there it did both stop and stay
Right over the place where Jesus lay.
JVowe/lj etc.
Then did they know assuredly
Within that house the King did lie :
One entered in then for to see,
And found the Babe in poverty.
Nowell^ etc.
Then enter'd in those Wise Men three
Most reverently upon their knee,
And offer'd there in his presence
Both gold, and myrrh, and frankincense.
Nowell^ etc.
Between an ox-stall and an ass
This Child truly there, born he was ;
For want of clothing they did him lay
All in the manger among the hay.
Nowell, etc.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord,
That hath made heaven and earth of nought,
And with his blood mankind hath bought.
JVowe/Iy etc.
If we in our time shall do well,
We shall be free from death and hell j
For God hath prepared for us all
A resting-place in general.
NowelL etc.
^J-^^
? ^^|t;;^^ja ! ai^i^
lO
CAROLS AND POEMS.
This and the next Carol are from Christ-
mas Carolles newely imprinted
{circ. 1550), of which only a frag-
ment has come down. Our text is
taken from Bibliographical Miscel-
lanies (Oxford, 1813).
5n aBetblebem tbat noble iplace*
T N Bethlehem that noble place,
As by prophecy said it was,
Of the Virgin Mary full of grace,
Salvator mundi natus est.
Be we merry in this feast.
In quo salvator natus est.
On Christmas night an angel it told
To the shepherds, keeping their fold,
That into Bethlehem with beasts wold
Salvator mundi natus est.
Be we merry, etc.
The shepherdes were compassed right.
About them was a great light ;
Dread ye nought, said the angel bright,
Salvator mundi natus est.
Be we merry, etc.
^^^^^^mm^^^^^^^^^^^B^^m^^^^^^s^m
i^^^.;,i^mm^mm$^s^^mmmim^^i^irRr^^^
" Dread ye nought," said the Angel bright,
" Salvator miindi natus est."
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Behold to you we bring great joy ;
For why ? Jesus is born this day ;
To us, of Mary, that mild may,
Salvator mundi natus est.
Be we merry ^ etc.
And thus in faith find it ye shall,
Lying poorly in an ox-stall.
The shepherds then lauded God all,
Quia Salvator mundi natus est.
Be we merry ^ etc.
^
12
CAROLS AND POEMS.
H new Carol of out Xat>i^.
T ORDS and ladies all by dene ^
For your goodness and honour,
I will you sing all of a queen ;
Of all women she is the flower.
Nowell^ Noweil, Nowell, Nowell,
This said the angel Gabriel.
Of Jesse there sprang a wight,
Isay said by prophecy,
Of whom shall come a man of might,
From death to life he will us buy.
Nowelly etc.
There came an angel bright of face.
Flying from heaven with full great light,
And said. Hail ! Mary, full of grace,
For thou shalt bear a man of might.
Now ell, etc.
1 " All by dene " = forthwith.
j j,^Bfe!fJffi!aTS&S^
gT^^^^n^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
'3
Astonied was that lady free,
And had marvell of that greeting ;
Angel, she said, how may that be,
For never of man I had knowing ?
Nbwe//f etc.
Dread thou nothing, Mary mild,
Thou art fulfilled with great virtue.
Thou shalt conceive and bear a child
That shall be nambd sweet Jesu.
Nowellj etc.
She kneeled down upon her knee ;
As thou hast said, so may it be,
With heart, thought and mild cheer,
God's hand-maid I am here.
Nowell^ etc.
Then began her womb to spring,
She went with child without man,
He that is lord over all thing.
His flesh and blood of her had than.^
Nowelly etc.
1 Then.
14
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Of her was born our heaven-king,
And she a maid never the less ;
Therefore be merry and let us sing,
For this new lord of Christmas.
JVowe/lj JVowel/j etc.
I
^a^M^gasf^aSi^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Songs and Carols, now first
printed from a manuscript of the
fifteenth century; Edited by Thomas
Wright, 1847. (Percy Society Pub-
lications.)
I
Ube mtQin ant) Cbilt).
nPHIS endris night ^
I saw a sight,
A star as bright as day ;
And ever among
A maiden sung,
LuUay, by by, luUay.
This lovely lady sat and sang, and to her child [she]
said —
" My son, my brother, my father dear, why liest thou
thus in hayd ?
My sweet bird,^
Thus it is betide
Though thou be king veray ;
But, nevertheless,
I will not cease
To sing, by by, luUay."
1 " Endris night " = last night.
2 Often used as a term of endearment. — In the former line
" hayd " = hay.
i6 CAROLS AND POEMS.
The child then spake j in his talking he to his mother
said —
" I bekid ^ am king, in crib though I be laid ;
For angels bright
Down to me light,
Thou knowest it is no nay,
And of that sight
Thou mayest be light
To sing, by by, luUay."
" Now, sweet Son, since thou art king, why art thou
laid in stall ?
Why not thou ordain thy bedding in some great king's
hall?
Methinketh it is right
That king or knight
Should be in good array ;
And them among
It were no wrong
To sing, by by, luUay."
" Mary, mother, I am thy child, though I be laid in
stall,
Lords and dukes shall worship me and so shall kingbs
all.
i.e. it happens that I am king.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Ye shall well see
That kinges three
Shall come on the twelfth day ;
For this behest
Give me thy breast,
And sing, by by, luUay."
"Now tell me, sweet Son, I thee pray, thou art my
love and dear.
How should I keep thee to thy pay ^ and make thee
glad of cheer ?
For all thy will
I would fulfil
Thou weet'st ^ full well in fay.
And for all this
I will thee kiss,
And sing, by by, luUay."
" My dear mother, when time it be, take thou me up
aloft.
And set me upon thy knee and handle me full soft.
And in thy arm
Thou wilt me warm.
And keep [me] night and day ;
^ Content.
2 Knowest.
l <^^,^i=i!P^y^?i=£^p:>==P^^
i8
CAROLS AND POEMS.
If I weep
And may not sleep
Thou sing, by by, luUay.'
" Now, sweet Son, since it is so, all things are at thy
will.
.1
I pray thee grant to me a boon if it be right and skill,^ j
That child or man.
That will or can,
Be merry upon my day ;
To bliss them bring,
And I shall sing,
LuUay, by by, lullay."
^ Fitting, reasonable.
;^j gp?;^?r^i?rr;5=!y^f;^^^
I
CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Wright's Songs and Carols
{Percy Society).
Hbout tbe jflelt) tbe^ ptpe^ full ri^bt
Tyr/e, tyrle, so merrily the shepherds began to blow.
A BOUT the field they piped full right,
Even about the midst of the night \
Adown from heaven they saw come a light.
Tyrhy iyrle.
Of angels there came a company
With merry songs and melody.
The shepherds anon gan them espy.
Tyrle, tyrle.
Gloria in excelsis the angels sung,
And said who [how ?] peace was present among
To every man that to the faith would long.
Tyrle^ tyrle.
The shepherds hied them to Bethlehem
To see that blessed sun's beam ;
And there they found that glorious stream.
Tyrle^ tyrle.
20
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Now pray we to that meek child,
And to his mother that is so mild,
The which was never defiled.
Tyr/e^ tyrle.
That we may come unto his bliss,
Where joy shall never miss ;
That we may sing in Paradise.
Tyrle, tyrle,
I pray you all that be here
For to sing and make good cheer,
In the worship of God this year.
Tyrle, tyrle.
X^f^i^Sp?!r^ii^_1 ^Sfc^^?^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Printed in Sandys' Christmas Carols
from Add. MS. 5165 {ancient
songs temp. Henry VII. and VIII.)
Ubis BnMtes niQbt 5 saw a Slobt
'i A H, my dear Son, said Mary, ah, my dear,
** '^ Kiss thy mother, Jesu, with a laughing cheer.
This endnes ^ night I saw a sight
All in my sleep,
Mary, that may, she sang luUay
And sore did weep ;
To keep she sought full fast about
Her Son from cold.
Joseph said, Wife, my joy, my life,
Say what ye would.
Nothing, my spouse, is in this house
Unto my pay ; ^
My Son a king, that made all thing,
Lieth in hay.
Ah, my dear Son ! &c.
^ Last.
=* Content.
24 CAROLS AND POEMS.
O they sailed into Bethlehem
On Christmas day, on Christmas day ;
O they sailed into Bethlehem
On Christmas day in the morning.
And all the bells on earth shall ring
On Christmas day, on Christmas day ;
And all the bells on earth shall ring
On Christmas day in the morning.
And all the angels in heaven shall sing
On Christmas day, on Christmas day ;
And all the angels in heaven shall sing
On Christmas day in the morning.
And all the souls on earth shall sing
On Christmas day, on Christmas day ;
And all the souls on earth shall sing
On Christmas day in the morning.
Then let us all rejoice amain
On Christmas day, on Christmas day ;
Then let us all rejoice amain
On Christmas day in the morning.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
25
A more modern, version of the preceding
Carol. Communicated by A. A. to
"Notes and Queries," 2d series, hi.
7. It used to be s^ing in Mid-Kent.
H6 5 sat unt)et a Sycamore Uree.
A S I sat under a sycamore tree, a sycamore tree, a
sycamore tree,
I looked me out upon the sea,
A Christmas day in the morning.
I saw three ships a- sailing there, a-sailing there, a-sail-
ing there,
The Virgin Mary and Christ they bare,
A Christmas day in the morning.
He did whistle, and she did sing, she did sing, she did
sing.
And all the bells on earth did ring,
A Christmas day in the morning.
And now we hope to taste your cheer, taste your cheer,
taste your cheer,
And wish you all a happy new year,
A Christmas day in the morning.
From Byrd's Psalme^, Sonets, etc., 1588.
/IDI? sweet little Babp, wbat meanest
tbou to crp?
A /r Y sweet little baby, what meanest thou to cry ? |
Be still, my blessed babe, though cause thou |
hast to mourn,
Whose blood most innocent to shed the cruel king hath
sworn j
And lo, alas ! behold what slaughter he doth make.
Shedding the blood of infants all, sweet Saviour, for )|
thy sake. <;■
A King, a King is born, they say, which King this (i
king would kill : >
O woe and woeful heavy day when wretches have their
will!
Lulla, la lulla, lulla lullaby.
Three kings this King of kings to see are come from
far,
AH
To each unknown, with offerings great, by guiding of g
a star ;
^^^^RJ^r^fei^^^t^Jiir^ t^^
1
CAROLS AND POEMS. 27
And shepherds heard the song, which angels bright
did sing,
Giving all glory unto God for coming of this King,
Which must be made away — King Herod would him
kill ;
O woe and woeful heavy day when wretches have their
will!
Lulla, &C.
Lo, lo, my little babe, be still, lament no more ;
From fury thou shalt step aside, help have we still in
store :
We heavenly warning have some other soil to seek ;
From death must fly the Lord of life, as lamb both
mild and meek :
Thus must my babe obey the king that would him
kill;
O woe and woeful heavy day when wretches have their
will !
Lulla, &c.
But thou shalt live and reign, as sibyls hath foresaid.
As all the prophets prophecy, whose mother, yet a
maid
28 CAROLS AND POEMS.
And perfect virgin pure, with her breasts shall up- ^H
breed
Both God and man that all hath made, the son of
heavenly seed : ^
Whom caitives none can tray, whom tyrants none can
kill:
O joy and joyful happy day wheti wretches want their S
will ! ^
Lulla, &c.
^^^^S^^^^i^^^<
CAROLS AND POEMS. 29
Knovm as Cherry Tree Carol. Con-
cerning the text see notes.
Josepb was an ©lb /iDan^
I.
JOSEPH was an old man,
And an old man was he,
When he wedded Mary
In the land of Galilee.
Joseph and Mary walked
Through an orchard good,
Where was cherries and berries
So red as any blood.
Joseph and Mary walked
Through an orchard green,
Where was berries and cherries
As thick as might be seen.
O then bespoke Mary,
So meek and so mild,
Pluck me one cherry, Joseph,
For I am with child.
30
CAROLS AND POEMS.
O then bespoke Joseph,
With words most unkind,
Let him pluck thee a cherry
That brought thee with child.
O then bespoke the babe
Within his mother's womb —
Bow down then the tallest tree
For my mother to have some.
Then bowed down the highest tree
Unto his mother's hand :
Then she cried, See, Joseph,
I have cherries at command.
O then bespake Joseph, —
I have done Mary wrong ;
But cheer up, my dearest.
And be not cast down.
O eat your cherries, Mary,
O eat your cherries now,
O eat your cherries, Mary,
That grow upon the bough.
l ^H'feiPgigM^fpfc^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
31
Then Mary plucked a cherry
As red as the blood ;
Then Mary went home
With her heavy load.
11.
As Joseph was a-walking
He heard an angel sing : —
" This night shall be born
Our Heavenly King ;
" He neither shall be born
In housen nor in hall,
Nor in the place of Paradise,
But in an ox's stall ;
" He neither shall be clothed
In purple nor in pall.
But all in fair linen
As were babies all.
" He neither shall be rocked
In silver nor in gold,
But in a wooden cradle
That rocks on the mould.
l^n^^^^^m^^Sf^M'^^^^ivStiiiS
CAROLS AND POEMS.
" He neither shall be christened
In white wine nor red,
But with fair spring water
With which we were christened."
III.
Then Mary took her young son
And set him on her knee :
I pray thee now, dear child,
Tell how this world shall be.
O I shall be as dead, mother,
As the stones in the wall ;
O the stones in the streets, mother.
Shall mourn for me all.
Upon Easter-day, mother,
My uprising shall be ;
O the sun and the moon, mother,
Shall both rise with me.
^^^
From Sloane MS. 2593. The MS. was f
printed in 1856 by Thomas Wright
for the Warton Society.
Saint Stepben was a Clerft.
O AINT STEPHEN was a clerk
"^ In King Herod's hall,
And served him of bread and cloth
As ever king befall.
Stephen out of kitchen came, .
With boar's head on hand.
He saw a star was fair and bright
Over Bethlehem stand.
He kist ^ adown the boar's head
And went into the hall :
" I forsake thee. King Herod,
And thy workes all.
1 Cast.
;^ fy^fc^JBP^;^jFsfe^»?as;^^^
^^
34 CAROLS AND POEMS.
** I forsake thee, King Herod,
And thy workes all ;
There is a child in Bethlehem born
Is better than we all."
" What aileth thee, Stephen ?
What is thee befall ?
Lacketh thee either meat or drink
In King Herod's hall ? "
" Lacketh me neither meat ne drink
In King Herod's hall ;
There is a child in Bethlehem born
Is better than we all."
" What aileth thee, Stephen ?
Art thou wode ^ or thou ginnest to breed ? ^
Lacketh thee either gold or fee
Or any rich weed ? " ^
" Lacketh me neither gold nor fee,
Ne none rich weed ;
There is a child in Bethlehem born
Shall helpen us at our need."
Mad.
Upbraid.
^ Dress.
^2g2^3^^S^^ScJ^^Sfe^liu22^S^^
" That is also sooth,^ Stephen,
Also sooth i-wis ^
As this capon crowb shall
That lieth here in my dish."
That word was not so soon said,
That word in that hall,
The capon crew Christus natus est
Among the lordes all.
" Riseth up, my tormentors,
By two and all by one.
And leadeth Stephen out of this town,
And stoneth him with stone."
Tooken they Stephen
And stoned him in the way,
And therefore is his even
On Christes own day.
1 " Also sooth " = as true.
* Assuredly.
^Ml*
\
36 CAROLS AND POEMS.
First printed in Eavmscroft's Melismata,
Musical Phansies fitting the court, city
and country /tumours (161 1).
IRemember, © tbou /IDan.
T3 EMEMBER, O thou Man,
O thou Man, O thou Man ;
Remember, O thou Man,
Thy time is spent.
Remember, O thou Man,
How thou camest to me than,^
And I did what I can.
Therefore repent.
Remember Adam's fall,
O thou Man, O thou Man ;
Remember Adam's fall
From Heaven to Hell.
Remember Adam's fall,
How we were condemned all
To Hell perpetual,
There for to dwell.
^ Old form of then.
CAROLS AND POEMS. 37
Remember God's goodness,
O thou Man, O thou Man ;
Remember God's goodness
And promise made.
Remember God's goodness,
How his only Son he sent
Our sins for to redress,
Be not afraid.
The Angels all did sing,
O thou Man, O thou Man ;
The Angels all did sing
OnSionhill.
The Angels all did sing
Praises to our heavenly king,
And peace to man living,
With right good will.
The Shepherds amazed was,
O thou Man, O thou Man ;
The Shepherds amazed was
To hear the Angels sing.
The Shepherds amazed was
How this should come to pass.
That Christ our Messias
Should be our King.
38
CAROLS AND POEMS.
To Bethlehem did they go,
O thou Man, O thou Man ;
To Bethlehem did they go,
This thing to see.
To Bethlehem did they go
To see whether it was so,
Whether Christ was born or no,
To set us free.
As the Angels before did say,
O thou Man, O thou Man ;
As the Angels before did say,
So it came to pass.
As the Angels before did say,
They found him wrapt in hay
In a manger where he lay,
So poor he was.
In Bethlehem was he born,
O thou Man, O thou Man ;
In Bethlehem was he born
For mankind dear.
In Bethlehem was he born
For us that were forlorn.
And therefore took no scorn
Our sins to bear.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
In a manger laid he was,
O thou Man, O thou Man;
In a manger laid he was
At this time present.
In a manger laid he was,
Between an ox and an ass,
And all for our trespass,
Therefore repent
39
Give thanks to God always,
O thou Man, O thou Man ;
Give thanks to God always
With hearts most jolly.
Give thanks to God always
Upon this blessed day,
Let all men sing and say,
Holy, Holy.
40 CAROLS AND POEMS.
The most popular 0/ Christmas Carols.
Go^ rest ^ou mert^, Oentlemen^
f^ OD rest you merry, gentlemen,
Let nothing you dismay.
For Jesus Christ our Saviour
Was born upon this day
To save us all from Satan's power
When we were gone astray.
O tidings of comfort and joy,
For Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on
Christmas day.
In Bethlehem in Jewry
This blessed babe was born.
And laid within a manger
Upon this tlessed morn ;
The which his mother Mary
Nothing did take in scorn.
O tidings, &c
CAROLS AND POEMS. 41
From God our Heavenly Father
A blessed angel came,
And unto certain shepherds
Brought tidings of the same,
How that in Bethlehem was born
The Son of God by name.
O tidings, &c.
Fear not, then said the angel,
Let nothing you affright,
This day is born a Saviour
Of virtue, power, and might ;
So frequently to vanquish all
The friends of Satan quite.
O tidings, &c.
The shepherds at those tidings
Rejoiced much in mind,
And left their flocks a feeding
In tempest, storm, and wind,
And went to Bethlehem straightway.
This blessed babe to find.
O tidings. &c
42
CAROLS AND POEMS.
But when to Bethlehem they came,
Whereat this infant lay,
They found him in a manger
Where oxen feed on hay ;
His mother Mary kneeling
Unto the Lord did pray.
O tidings, &c.
Now to the Lord sing praises,
All you within this place,
And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace ;
This holy tide of Christmas
All others doth deface.
O tidings, &c.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
43
This and the six folloming pieces have
been frequently printed in broad-
side form, and in collections of
Carols.
tro^^morrow sball be m^ Dancina 2)ai?^
nrO-MORROW shall be my dancing day,
I would my true love did so chance
To see the legend of my play,
To call my true love to my dance.
Sing, oh! my love, oh! my love, my love, my love,
This have I done for my true love.
Then was I born of a Virgin pure.
Of her I took fleshly substance ;
Thus was I knit to man's nature,
To call my true love to my dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
In a manger laid and wrapped I was.
So very poor, this was my chance.
Betwixt an ox and a silly poor ass.
To call my true love to my dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
44
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Then afterwards baptized I was,
The Holy Ghost on me did glance,
My Father's voice heard from above.
To call my true love to my dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
Into the desert I was led,
Where I fasted without substance ;
The Devil bade me make stones my bread.
To have me break my true love's dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
The Jews on me they make great suit.
And with me made great variance.
Because they lov'd darkness rather than light.
To call my true love to my dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
For thirty pence Judas me sold.
His covetousness for to advance ;
Mark whom I kiss, the same do hold,
The same is he shall lead the dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
I CAROLS AND POEMS. 45
I , ,
; Before Pilate the Jews me brought,
I Where Barabbas had deliverance ;
They scourg'd me and set me at nought,
Judged me to die to lead the dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
Then on the cross hanged I was,
Where a spear to my heart did glance ;
There issued forth both water and blood,
To call my true love to my dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
Then down to hell I took my way
For my true love's deliverance.
And rose again on the third day
Up to my true love and the dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
Then up to heaven I did ascend.
Where now I dwell in sure substance.
On the right hand of God, that man
May come unto the general dance.
Sing, oh ! &c.
46 CAROLS AND POEMS.
xrbe Ibol^ MelL
A S it fell out one May morning,
And upon one bright holiday,
Sweet Jesus asked of his dear mother,
If he might go to play.
To play, to play, sweet Jesus shall go,
And to play pray get you gone ;
And let me hear of no complaint
At night when you come home.
Sweet Jesus went down to yonder town,
As far as the Holy Well,
And there did see as fine children
As any tongue can tell.
He said, God bless you every one,
And your bodies Christ save and see :
Little children, shall I play with you,
And you shall play with me ?
f^SMs^M^iSs^s^m^ ^ Mm ^ m^^
l^^^^^^^s^^J^^^^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
47
But they made answer to him, No :
They were lords' and ladies' sons ;
And he, the meanest of them all,
Was but a maiden's child, born in an ox's stall.
Sweet Jesus turned him around.
And he neither laughed nor smiled.
But the tears came trickling from his eyes
Like water from the skies.
Sweet Jesus turned him about,
To his mother s dear home went he.
And said, I have been in yonder town,
As far as you can see.
I have been down in yonder town
As far as the Holy Well,
There did I meet as fine children
As any tongue can tell.
I bid God bless them every one.
And their bodies Christ save and see :
Little children, shall I play with you,
And you shall play with me ?
48
CAROLS AND POEMS.
But they made answer to me, No :
They were lords' and ladies' sons ;
And I, the meanest of them all,
Was but a maiden's child, born in an ox's stall.
Though you are but a maiden's child,
Born in an ox's stall.
Thou art the Christ, the King of heaven,
And the Saviour of them all.
Sweet Jesus, go down to yonder town
As far as the Holy Well,
And take away those sinful souls,
And dip them deep in helL
Nay, nay, sweet Jesus said,
Nay, nay, that may not be;
For there are too many sinful souls
Crying out for the help of me.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
49
Ubc Carnal anb tbe Crane.
A S I pass'd by a river side,
And there as I did reign, ^
In argument I chanced to hear
A Carnal ^ and a Crane.
The Carnal said unto the Crane,
If all the world should turn,
Before we had the Father,
But now we have the Son !
From whence does the Son come ?
From where and from what place ?
He said, In a manger,
Between an ox and ass !
I pray thee, said the Carnal,
Tell me before thou go,
Was not the mother of Jesus
Conceived by the Holy Ghost ?
1 A corruption of m«=run.
lf^^^^J^^i5^5^J
CAROLS AND POEMS. 53
And I myself do now believe
Thy name is Jesus called ;
Redeemer of mankind thou art,
Though undeserving all.
The truth, man, thou hast spoken,
Of it thou may'st be sure,
For I must lose my precious blood
For thee and thousands more.
If any one should come this way.
And inquire for me alone,
Tell them that Jesus passed by,
As thou thy seed did sow.
After that there came King Herod,
With his train so furiously,
Inquiring of the husbandman,
Whether Jesus passed by.
Why, the truth it must be spoke.
And the truth it must be known,
For Jesus passed by this way
When my seed was sown.
54
CAROLS AND POEMS.
But now I have it reapen,
And some laid on my wain,
Ready to fetch and carry
Into my barn again.
Turn back, says the Captain,
Your labour and mine's in vain.
It's full three quarters of a year
Since he his seed has sown.
So Herod was deceived
By the work of God's own hand,
And further he proceeded
Into the Holy Land
There's thousands of children young,
Which for his sake did die.
Do not forbid those little ones.
And do not them deny.
The truth now I have spoken.
And the truth now I have shown
Even the blessed Virgin,
She's now brought forth a Son.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
55
30^5 Seven*
T^HE first good joy our Mary had,
It was the joy of one,
To see her own Son Jesus
To suck at her breast bone ;
To suck at her breast bone,
Good man, and blessed may he be,
Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
And Christ to eternity.
The next good joy our Mary had,
It was the joy of two,
To see her own Son Jesus
To make the lame to go ;
To make the lame to go,
Good man, &c.
The next good joy our Mary had.
It was the joy of three,
56 CAROLS AND POEMS.
To see her own Son Jesus
To make the blind to see ;
To make the blind to see,
Good man, &c.
The next good joy our Mary had,
It was the joy of four,
To see her own Son Jesus
To read the Bible o'er ;
To read the Bible o'er,
Good man, &c.
The next good joy our Mary had.
It was the joy of five.
To see her own Son Jesus
To raise the dead alive ;
To raise the dead alive.
Good man, &c.
The next good joy our Mary had.
It was the joy of six,
To see her own Son Jesus
To wear the crucifix ;
To wear the crucifix,
Good man, &c.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
57
The next good joy our Mary had,
It was the joy of seven,
To see her own Son Jesus
To wear the crown of Heaven ;
To wear the crown of Heaven,
Good man, and blessed may he be,
Both Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
And Christ to eternity.
58 CAROLS AND POEMS.
Zbc l^oon Sblnes Bdgbt
n^HE moon shines bright, and the stars give a light
A little before it was day,
Our Lord, our God, he called on us.
And bid us awake and pray.
Awake, awake, good people all,
Awake, and you shall hear.
Our Lord, our God, died on the cross.
For us whom he loved so dear.
O fair, O fair Jerusalem,
When shall I come to thee ?
When shall my sorrows have an end.
Thy joy that I may see ?
The fields were green as green could be.
When from his glorious seat
Our Lord, our God, he watered us.
With his heavenly dew so sweet.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
59
And for the saving of our souls
Christ died upon the cross ;
We ne'er shall do for Jesus Christ
As he has done for us.
The life of man is but a span,
And cut down in its flower ;
We are here to-day and to-morrow are gone,
We are all dead in an hour.
O pray teach your children, man.
The while that you are here ;
It will be better for your souls
When your corpse lies on the bier.
To-day you may be alive, dear man,
Worth many a thousand pound ;
To-morrow may be dead, dear man.
And your body be laid under ground.
With one turf at your head, O man,
And another at your feet.
Thy good deeds and thy bad, O man,
Will all together meet.
.frT^^^is?^^^;^;^'?!^^^;^^!^^
6o
CAROLS AND POEMS.
My song is done, I must be gone,
I can stay no longer here.
God bless you all, both great and small,
And send you a happy new year !
CAROLS AND POEMS.
H XOivQin most pure*
A VIRGIN most pure, as the Prophets do tell,
Hath brought forth a Babe, as it hath befell,
To be our Redeemer from death, hell, and sin.
Which by Adam's transgression hath wrapt us all in.
Rejoice, and be you merry, set sorrow aside,
Christ Jesus our Saviour was bom on this tide.
In Bethlehem city, in Jewry it was.
Where Joseph and Mary together did pass.
And there to be taxed, with many one mo,^
For Caesar commanded the same should be so.
Rejoice, and be you merry, &c.
But when they had entered the city so fair,
The number of people so mighty was there,
That Joseph and Mary, whose substance was small.
Could get in the city no lodging at all.
Rejoice, &c.
* More.
62
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Then they were constrained in a stable to lie,
Where oxen and asses they used to tie ;
Their lodging so simple, they held it no scorn,
But against the next morning our Saviour was
born.
Rejoice, &c.
The King of all glory to the world being brought.
Small store of fine linen to wrap him was brought ;
When Mary had swaddled her young Son so sweet,
Within an ox manger she laid him to sleep.
Rejoice, &c.
Then God sent an angel from heaven so high,
To certain poor shepherds in fields where they lie.
And bid them no longer in sorrow to stay.
Because that our Saviour was born on this day.
Rejoice, &c.
Then presently after, the shepherds did spy
A number of angels appear in the sky,
Who joyfully talked, and sweetly did sing,
To God be all glory, our Heavenly King.
Rejoice, &c.
}i-f^feaiiaaS-tf?f^^^
CAROLS AND POEMS,
65
> Three certain wise princes, they thought it most meet
ll To lay their rich offerings at our Saviour's feet ;
ffl Then the shepherds consented, and to Bethlehem did
I And when they came thither, they found it was so.
1/ '' Rejoice, &c.
^l^^tsg^&Tf^gaffFnfe^a^^
64
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Ube Sat>iout of all people,
f^ OD bless the master of this house,
And all that are therein,
And to begin this Christmas tide
With mirth now let us sing.
For the Saviour of all people
Upon this time was born.
Who did from death deliver us,
When we were left forlorn.
Then let us all most merry be,
And sing with cheerful voice,
For we have good occasion now
This time for to rejoice.
For, &c
Then put away contention all,
And fall no more at strife.
Let every man with cheerfulness
Embrace his loving wife.
For, &c.
i
CAROLS AND POEMS.
65
With plenteous food your houses store,
Provide some wholesome cheer,
And call your friends together
That live both far and near.
For, &c.
Then let us all most merry be.
Since that we are come here.
And we do hope before we part
To taste some of your beer.
For, &c.
Your beer, your beer, your Christmas beer,
That seems to be so strong,
And we do wish that Christmas tide
Was twenty times so long.
For, &c.
Then sing with voices cheerfully,
For Christ this time was born,
Who did from death deliver us,
When we were left forlorn.
For, &c.
66 CAROLS AND POEMS.
By Robert Herrick.
H Cbtistmas CatoL
Sung to the King in the Presence at
Whitehall.
C/tor. — \ 1 rHAT sweeter music can we bring,
Than a carol, for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King ?
Awake the voice ! awake the string !
Heart, ear, and eye, and everything
Awake ! the while the active finger
Runs divisions with the singer.
Jf'rom the flourish they come to the song.
Dark and dull night, fly hence away.
And give the honour to this day,
That sees December turn'd to May.
If we may ask the reason, say
The why and wherefore all things here
Seem like the spring-time of the year?
CAROLS AND POEMS.
67
Why does the chilling winter's morn
Smile like a field beset with corn ?
Or smell like to a mead new-shorn,
Thus on the sudden ? Come and see
The cause why things thus fragrant be :
'Tis he is born whose quickening birth
Gives life and lustre public mirth
To heaven and the under-earth.
s
C/ior. — We see him come, and know him ours,
Who with his sunshine and his showers
Turns all the patient ground to flowers.
The darling of the world is come,
And fit it is we find a room
To welcome him. The nobler part
Of all the house here, is the heart.
Chor. — Which we will give him ; and bequeath
This holly and this ivy wreath,
To do him honour ; who's our King,
And Lord of all this revelling.
I^Pf ^^^ S ^^^^lM^ri^^^rr^:^
68
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Printed in Ritaon's Ancient Songs and
Ballads, Sandys' Christmas Carols,
etc. {from Harl. MS. 5396, temp.
Henry VI.)
XTbe Contest of tbe 3v^ anb tbe 1boll^.
"\T AY, ivy, nay,
It shall not be, i-wis ^ ;
Let holly have the mastery
As the manner is.
Holly stand in the hall,
Fair to behold ;
Ivy stand without the door
She is full sore a-cold.
Nay, ivy, nay, &c.
Holly and his merry men,
They dancen and they sing ;
Ivy and her maidens,
They weepen and they wring.
Nay, ivy, nay, &c.
^ Assuredly.
l f,ii;iS^=^Tii;^^p Ad^9^^^^^
i
CAROLS AND POEMS.
69
Ivy hath a kybe,^
She caught it, with the cold ;
So mot 2 they all have ae,^
That with ivy hold.
Nay, ivy, nay, &c.
Holly hath berries
As red as any rose,
The foster * [and] the hunters
Keep them from the doe[s].
Nay, ivy, nay, &c.
Ivy hath berries
As black as any sloe ;
There come the owl
And eat him as she go.
Nay, ivy, nay, &c.
Holly hath birdes,
A full fair flock.
The nightingale, the popinjay,
The gentle laverock.
Nay, ivy, nay, &c.
1 The MS. has " lybe."— " Kybe " = chapped skin.
2 May. ^ Each, severally. ■* Forester.
70
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Good ivy,
What birdbs hast thou ?
None but the howlet
That krey ^ "how, how."
Nay, ivy, nay.
It shall not be, i-wis ;
Let holly have the mastery
As the manner is.
CAROLS AND POEMS. 71
By Robert Stephen Haicker.
/iDo^r^b /IDan^a— Hunt /IDarp*
A CHRISTMAS CHANT.
In old and simple-hearted Cornwall, the household names " Uncle "
and " Aunt " were uttered and used as they are to this day in
many countries of the East, not only as phrases of kindred, but
as words of kindly greeting and tender respect. It was in the
spirit, therefore, of this touching and graphic usage, that they
were wont on the Tamar side to call the Mother of God in their
loyal language Modryb Mary a, or Aunt Mary.
"XT OW of all the trees by the king's highway,
Which do you love the best ?
O ! the one that is green upon Christmas Day,
The bush with the bleeding breast.
Now the holly with her drops of blood for me :
For that is our dear Aunt Mary's tree.
Its leaves are sweet with our Saviour's Name,
'Tis a plant that loves the poor :
Summer and winter it shines the same
Beside the cottage door.
O ! the holly with her drops of blood for me :
For that is our kind Aunt Mary's tree.
72
CAROLS AND POEMS.
'Tis a bush that the birds will never leave :
They sing in it all day long ;
But sweetest of all upon Christmas Eve
Is to hear the robin's song.
'Tis the merriest sound upon earth and sea :
For it comes from our own Aunt Mary's tree.
So, of all that grow by the king's highway,
I love that tree the best ;
'Tis a bower for the birds upon Christmas Day,
The bush of the bleeding breast.
O ! the holly with her drops of blood for me :
For that is our sweet Aunt Mary's tree.
1838.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
73
By Robert Stephen Hawker.
XTbe Cbtlb Jesus,
A CORNISH CAROL.
^^
■\X ^'ELCOME that star in Judah's sky,
That voice o'er Bethlehem's palmy glen
The lamp far sages hailed on high,
The tones that thrilled the shepherd men :
Glory to God in loftiest heaven !
Thus angels smote the echoing chord ;
Glad tidings unto man forgiven.
Peace from the presence of the Lord.
The Shepherds sought that birth divine.
The Wise Men traced their guided way ;
There, by strange light and mystic sign,
The God they came to worship lay.
A human Babe in beauty smiled.
Where lowing oxen round him trod :
A maiden clasped her Awful Child,
Pure offspring of the breath of God.
74
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Those voices from on high are mute,
The star the Wise Men saw is dim ;
But hope still guides the wanderer's foot,
And faith renews the angel hymn :
Glory to God in loftiest heaven !
Touch with glad hand the ancient chord ;
Good tidings unto man forgiven,
Peace from the presence of the Lord.
1840.
CAROLS AND POEMS. 75
By S. T. Coleridge.
Ubc Sbepber&6 went tbetr bast^ TKIla^*
nPHE shepherds went their hasty way,
And found the lowly stable-shed
Where the Virgin-Mother lay ;
And now they checked their eager tread,
^ For to the Babe that at her bosom clung,
A mother's song the Virgin-Mother sung.
They told her how a glorious light,
Streaming from a heavenly throng,
Around them shone, suspending night !
While sweeter than a mother's song.
Blest angels heralded the Saviour's birth.
Glory to God on high ! and peace on earth !
She listened to the tale divine.
And closer still the Babe she prest ;
And while she cried, the Babe is mine !
The milk rushed faster to her breast :
J^^^^j^s^^^j^^^^j
76
CAROLS AND POEMS,
Joy rose within her like a summer's morn ;
Peace, peace on earth ! the Prince of peace is
born.
Thou Mother of the Prince of peace,
Poor, simple, and of low estate !
That strife should vanish, battle cease,
O why should this thy soul elate ?
Sweet music's loudest note, the poet's story, —
Didst thou ne'er love to hear of fame and glory ?
And is not War a youthful king,
A stately hero clad in mail ?
Beneath his footsteps laurels spring ;
Him earth's majestic monarchs hail
Their friend, their playmate ! and his bold bright eye
Compels the maiden's love-confessing sigh.
" Tell this in some more courtly scene.
To maids and youths in robes of state !
I am a woman poor and mean.
And therefore is my soul elate :
War is a ruffian all with guilt defiled.
That from the aged father tears his child.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
77
" A murderous fiend by fiends adored,
He kills the sire and starves the son ;
The husband kills and from her board
Steals all his widow's toil had won ;
Plunders God's world of beauty ; rends away
All safety from the night, all comfort from the day.
" Then wisely is my soul elate,
That strife should vanish, battle cease ;
I'm poor and of a low estate,
The Mother of the Prince of peace.
Joy rises in me, like a summer's morn :
Peace, peace on earth ! the Prince of peace is
born!"
>7 fe ^ »;TS?R=s?^f;^^^
78 CAROLS AND POEMS.
By Miss Cl^ristina G. Rossetti.
H Cbti0tmas Carol.
T N the bleak mid- winter
Frosty wind made moan,
Earth stood hard as iron,
Water like a stone ;
Snow had fallen, snow on snow.
Snow on snow,
In the bleak mid-winter
Long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold him,
Nor earth sustain ;
Heaven and earth shall flee away
When he comes to reign :
In the bleak mid-winter
A stable-place sufficed
The Lord God Almighty,
Jesus Christ.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
79
Enough for him whom cherubim
Worship night and day,
A breastful of milk
And a mangerful of hay ;
Enough for him whom angels
Fall down before,
The ox and ass and camel
Which adore.
Angels and archangels
May have gathered there,
Cherubim and seraphim
Thronged the air ;
But only his mother,
In her maiden bliss,
Worshipped the Beloved
With a kiss.
What can I give him,
Poor as I am ?
If I were a shepherd
I would bring a lamb,
If I were a wise man
I ^ould do my part, —
Yet what I can I give him,
Give my heart.
80
CAROLS AND POEMS.
By Mr. WiUiam Morris {from Sedding's
Antient Christmas Carols, i860).
/IDastet5, In tbis fbalL
" npo Bethlem did they go, the shepherds three ;
To Bethlem did they go to see whe'r it were so
or no,
Whether Christ were born or no
To set men free."
Masters, in this hall,
Hear ye news to-day
Brought over sea,
And ever I you pray.
Now ell I Nowdl! NowelU Nowell I
Sing we clear I
Holpen are all folk on earth.
Born is God's Son so dear.
Going over the hills,
Through the milk-white snow,
Heard I ewes bleat
While the wind did blow.
NowelL etc.
CAROLS AND POEMS. 8i
Shepherds many an one
Sat among the sheep ;
No man spake more word
Than they had been asleep.
Nowell, etc.
Quoth I " Fellows mine,
Why this guise sit ye ?
Making but dull cheer,
Shepherds though ye be ?
Nowelly etc.
" Shepherds should of right
Leap and dance and sing ;
Thus to see ye sit
Is a right strange thing."
Nowell, etc.
1 Quoth these fellows then,
1 " To Bethlem town we
1 To see a Mighty Lord
1 Lie in manger low."
go,
Nowell^ etc.
F
^1^^ti2S^&f!Mfe?^^?^r=??S^^
j^^^^??5=7^^3$;tfjf;^fc??=^^
82
CAROLS AND POEMS.
" How name ye this Lord,
Shepherds ? " then said I.
" Very God," they said,
"Come from Heaven high."
Nowelly etc.
Then to Bethlem town
We went two and two,
And in a sorry place
Heard the oxen low.
Nowellj etc.
Therein did we see
A sweet and goodly May,
And a fair old man ;
Upon the straw she lay.
Nowell^ etc.
And a little Child
On her arm had she ;
" Wot ye who this is ? "
Said the hinds to me.
Nowell^ etc.
j^g ^Jjl^^^^^jj^^^il^ ^ ^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
83
Ox and ass him know,
Kneeling on their knee
Wondrous joy had I
This Httle Babe to see.
Nowell^ etc.
This is Christ the Lord,
Masters, be ye glad !
Christmas is come in,
And no folk should be sad.
Nowell, etc.
84 CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Mr. William Morrii'a Land
East of the Sun and West of the
Moon [EariMy Paradite, vol. Hi.)
©utlan&er0, wbence come ^c last?
/^UTLANDERS, whence come ye last?
^""^ The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
Through what green sea and great have ye past ?
Minstrels and maidsy stand forth on the floor.
From far away, O masters mine,
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
We come to bear you goodly wine :
Minstrels and maids^ stand forth on the floor.
From far away we come to you,
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
To tell of great tidings strange and true :
Minstrels and maids y stand forth on the floor.
CAROLS AND POEMS,
85
News, news of the Trinity,
T/ie sfi07v in the street and the wind on the door.
And Mary and Joseph from over the sea :
Minstrels and maids, stand forth on the floor.
For as we wandered far and wide,
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
What hap do ye deem there should us betide ?
Minstrels and maids ^ stand forth on the floor.
Under a bent when the night was deep,
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
There lay three shepherds tending their sheep :
Minstrels and maids y stand forth on the floor,
" O ye shepherds, what have ye seen,
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
To slay your sorrow and heal your teen ? "
Minstrels and maids ^ stand forth on the floor.
" In an ox-stall this night we saw,
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
A Babe and a maid without a flaw.
Minstrels and maids, stand forth on the floor.
dI^]i2i£^iS£^3Sj!^?H^
86
CAROLS AND POEMS.
" There was an old man there beside,
T/ie snow in the street and the wind on the door.
His hair was white, and his hood was wide.
Minstrels and maids ^ stand forth on the floor.
"And as we gazed this thing upon.
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
Those twain knelt down to the Little One.
Minstrels and maids ^ stand forth on the floor.
" And a marvellous song we straight did hear,
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
That slew our sorrow and healed our care."
Minstrels and maids, stand forth on the floor.
News of a fair and a marvellous thing,
The snow in the street and the wind on the door.
Nowell, nowell, nowell, we sing !
Minstrels and maids^ stand forth on the floor.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Mr. A. C. Stoinbume's Poems
and Ballads (first series).
XTbree Damsels in tbe (Siueen^s Cbambet.
npHREE damsels in the queen's chamber,
The queen's mouth was most fair ;
She spake a word of God's mother
As the combs went in her hair.
Mary that is of might,
Bring us to thy Son's sight.
They held the gold combs out from her
A span's length off her head ;
She sang this song of God's mother
And of her bearing-bed.
Mary most full of grace.
Bring us to thy Son's face.
When she sat at Joseph's hand,
She looked against her side ;
1 Suggested by a drawing of Mr. D. G. Rossetti's.
^^i iii^i^saai^^^ ^^s^^^
88 CAROLS AND POEMS.
And either way from the short silk band
Her girdle was all wried.
Mary that all good may,
Bring us to thy Son's way. |
Mary had three women for her bed,
The twain were maidens clean ;
The first of them had white and red,
The third had riven green.
Mary that is so sweet.
Bring us to thy Son's feet.
She had three women for her hair.
Two were gloved soft and shod ;
The third had feet and fingers bare.
She was the likest God.
Mary that wieldeth land,
Bring us to thy Son's hand.
She had three women for her ease,
The twain were good women ;
The first two were the two Maries,
The third was Magdalen.
Mary that perfect is,
Bring us to thy Son's kiss.
}<^^^^^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
89
Joseph had three workmen in his stall,
To serve him well upon ;
The first of them were Peter and Paul,
The third of them was John.
Mary, God's handmaiden,
Bring us to thy Son's ken.
" If your child be none other man's,
But if it be very mine,
The bedstead shall be gold two spans,
The bed-foot silver fine."
Mary that made God mirth,
Bring us to thy Son's birth.
" If the child be some other man's.
And if it be none of mine.
The manger shall be straw two spans,
Betwixen kine and kine."
Mary that made sin cease.
Bring us to thy Son's peace.
Christ was born upon this wise,
It fell on such a night,
Neither with sounds of psalteries,
Nor with fire for light.
Mary that is God's spouse,
Bring us to thy Son's house.
90
CAROLS AND POEMS.
The star came out upon the east
With a great sound and sweet :
Kings gave gold to make him feast
And myrrh for him to eat.
Mary, of thy sweet mood,
Bring us to thy Son's good.
He had two handmaids at his head,
One handmaid at his feet ;
The twain of them were fair and red,
The third one was right sweet.
Mary that is most wise,
Bring us to thy Son's eyes. Amen.
^jfert^i^mirSf^S
PART IF.
CARMINA SACRA.
By John Milton.
I
Qn tbe /IDorntnG of Cbttst^s IFlativit^^
'T^HIS is the month, and this the happy morn,
Wherein the Son of Heaven's eternal King,
Of wedded maid and virgin-mother born,
Our great redemption from above did bring ;
For so the holy sages once did sing.
That he our deadly forfeit should release,
And with his Father work us a perpetual peace.
That glorious form, that light insufferable,
And that far-beaming blaze of majesty.
Wherewith he wont at heaven's high council-table
To sit the midst of Trinal Unity,
He laid aside ; and, here with us to be.
Forsook the courts of everlasting day,
And chose with us a darksome house of mortal clay.
j^Si^^>==iSfei=^ j?s^.^?^Bg?rf:fj >;^=^^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
To see their King, the kingly sophies ^ come ;
And them to guide unto his Master's home,
A star comes dancing up the Orient,
That springs for joy over the strawy tent,
Where gold, to make their prince a crown, they all
present.
Wise men.
Jl irr^sas7a^fe^:i;»^fe?sate^
jJillliiiRHBiilr^
io6 CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Henry Vmighan's Silex
ScitUUlans.
O WEET, harmless livers ! on whose holy leisure
Waits innocence and pleasure ;
Whose leaders to those pastures and clear springs
Were patriarchs, saints and kings ;
How happened it that in the dead of night
You only saw true light,
While Palestine was fast asleep and lay
Without one thought of day ?
Was it because those first and blessbd swains
Were pilgrims on those plains
When they received the promise, for which now
'Twas there first shown to you ?
Tis true he loves that dust whereon they go
That serve him here below,
And therefore might for memory of those
His love there first disclose ;
But wretched Salem, once his love, must now
No voice nor vision know ;
jj^^s^^S
CAROLS AND POEMS. io7
Her stately piles with all their height and pride
Now languished and died,
And Bethlem's humble cots above them stept
While all her seers slept ;
Her cedar fir, hewed stones, and gold were all
Polluted through their fall ;
And those once sacred mansions were now
Mere emptiness and show.
This made the angel call at reeds and thatch,
Yet where the shepherds watch.
And God's own lodging, though he could not lack.
To be a common rack.
No costly pride, no soft-clothed luxury
In those thin cells could lie ;
Each stirring wind and storm blew through their cots,
Which never harboured plots ;
Only content and love and humble joys
Lived there without all noise ;
Perhaps some harmless cares for the next day
Did in their bosoms play,
As where to lead their sheep, what silent nook.
What springs or shades to look ;
But that was all ; and now with gladsome care
They for the town prepare ;
They leave their flock, and in a busy talk
All towards Bethlem walk.
io8 CAROLS AND POEMS,
To seek their soul's great Shepherd who was come
To bring all stragglers home ;
Where now they find him out, and, taught before,
That Lamb of God adore,
That Lamb, whose days great kings and prophets
wished
And longed to see, but missed.
The first light they beheld was bright and gay.
And turned their night to day ;
But to this later light they saw in him
Their day was dark and dim.
f^0^4j ^Tfc^jS!iS?^fe;i^ ^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
109
From Henry Vaughan's Silex
Scintillans.
A WAKE, glad heart ! get up and sing !
It is the Birthday of thy King.
Awake ! awake !
The sun doth shake
Light from his locks, and, all the way
Breathing perfumes, doth spice the day.
2.
Awake ! awake ! hark how th' wood rings,
Winds whisper, and the busy springs
A concert make !
Awake ! awake !
Man is their high-priest, and should rise
To offer up the sacrifice.
no CAROLS AND POEMS.
3-
I would I were some bird, or star,
Fluttering in woods, or lifted far
Above this inn.
And road of sin !
Then either star or bird should be
Shining or singing still to thee.
4-
I would I had in my best part
Fit rooms for thee ! or that my heart
Were so clean as
Thy manger was !
But I am all filth, and obscene ;
Yet, if thou wilt, thou canst make cleaa
5-
Sweet Jesu ! will then. Let no more
This leper haunt and soil thy door !
Cure him, ease him,
O release him !
And let once more, by mystic birth,
The Lord of life be born in earth.
%
The inns are full, no man will yield
This little pilgrim bed ;
But forced he is with silly beasts
In crib to shroud his head."
CAROLS AND POEMS.
By Robert Southwell.
IRew prince, IRew ipomp^
T) EHOLD a silly tender Babe,
In freezing winter night,
In homely manger trembling lies ;
Alas ! a piteous sight.
The inns are full, no man will yield
This little pilgrim bed ;
But forced he is with silly beasts
In crib to shroud his head.
Despise him not for lying there,
First what he is inquire ;
An orient pearl is often found
In depth of dirty mire.
Weigh not his crib, his wooden dish,
Nor beast that by him feed ;
Weigh not his mother's poor attire,
Nor Joseph's simple weed.^
^ Dress.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
112
This stable is a prince's court,
This crib his chair of state ;
The beasts are parcel of his pomp,
The wooden dish his plate.
The persons in that poor attire
His royal liveries wear ;
The Prince himself is come from heaven,
This pomp is praised there.
With joy approach, O Christian wight !
Do homage to thy King ;
And highly praise this humble pomp
Which he from heaven doth bring.
CAROLS AND POEMS. 113
From George Herbert's Temple.
Cbristmas,
A LL after pleasures as I rid one day,
1^ My horse and I both tired, body and mind.
With full cry of affections quite astray,
I took up in the next inn I could find.
There, when I came, whom found I but my dear-
My dearest Lord ; expecting till the grief
Of pleasures brought me to him ; ready there
To be all passengers' most sweet relief?
O thou, whose glorious, yet contracted, light.
Wrapt in night's mantle, stole into a manger ;
Since my dark soul and brutish is thy right.
To man, of all beasts be not thou a stranger ;
Furnish and deck my soul, that thou may'st have
A better lodging than a rack or grave.
114
CAROLS AND POEMS.
The shepherds sing ; and shall I silent be ?
My God, no hymn for thee ?
My soul's a shepherd too ; a flock it feeds
Of thoughts and words and deeds.
The pasture is thy word, the streams thy grace,
Enriching every place.
Shepherd and flock shall sing, and all my powers
Outsing the daylight hours.
Then we will chide the sun for letting night
Take up his place and right :
We sing one common Lord ; wherefore he should
Himself the candle hold.
I will go searching till I find a sun
Shall stay till we have done ;
A willing shiner, that shall shine as gladly
As frost-nipt suns look sadly.
Then we will sing and shine all our own day,
And one another pay.
His beams shall cheer my breast ; and both so twine, -
Till ev'n his beams sing and my music shine.
CAROLS AND POEMS. 115
By BUhop Hall.
fox dbristmas H)a^.
T MMORTAL Babe, who this dear day
Didst change thine heaven for our clay,
And didst with flesh thy godhead veil,
Eternal Son of God, all hail !
Shine, happy star ; ye angels, sing
Glory on high to heaven's King :
Run, shepherds, leave your nightly watch,
See heaven come down to Bethlehem's cratch.
Worship, ye sages of the east.
The King of gods in meanness dressed
O blessed maid, smile and adore
The God thy womb and arms have bore.
Star, angels, shepherds, and wise sages.
Thou virgin glory of all ages,
Restored frame of heaven and earth,
Joy in your dear Redeemer's birth !
ii6
CAROLS AND POEMS.
By Edmund Bolton. From England^s
Helicon, 1600.
A CAROL OR HYMN FOR CHRISTMAS.
O WEET music, sweeter far
Than any song is sweet :
Sweet music, heavenly rare,
Mine ears, O peers, doth greet.
You gentle flocks, whose fleeces, pearled with dew.
Resemble heaven, whom golden drops make bright,
Listen, O listen, now, O not to you
Our pipes make sport to shorten weary night :
But voices most divine
Make blissful harmony :
Voices that seem to shine,
For what else clears the sky ?
Tunes can we hear, but not the singers see.
The tunes divine, and so the singers be.
Lo, how the firmament
Within an azure fold
The flock of stars hath pent.
That we might them behold.
j^^^^^l
CAROLS AND POEMS.
117
Yet from their beams proceedeth not this light,
Nor can their christals such reflection give.
What then doth make the element so bright ?
The heavens are come down upon earth to live.
But hearken to the song,
Glory to glory's king,
And peace all men among,
These quiristers do sing.
Angels they are, as also (Shepherds) he
Whom in our fear we do admire to see.
Let not amazement blind
Your souls, said he, annoy :
To you and all mankind
My message bringeth joy.
For lo, the world's great Shepherd now is born,
A blessed babe, an infant full of power :
After long night uprisen is the morn,
Renowning BethVem in the Saviour.
Sprung is the perfect day,
By prophets seen afar :
Sprung is the mirthful May,
Which winter cannot mar.
In David's city doth this sun appear
Clouded in flesh, yet, shepherds, sit we here ?
?1ffS^^^gr^fi£?rmi^S^S?v?F^;^
Ii8 CAROLS AND POEMS
By Ben Jonsnn.
H fb^mn on tbe IRatfvit^ ot m^ Saviour.
T SING the birth was born to-night,
The author both of life and light ;
The angels so did sound it.
And like the ravished shepherds said,
Who saw the light, and were afraid.
Yet searched, and true they found it.
The Son of God, th' eternal king.
That did us all salvation bring,
And freed the soul from danger ;
He whom the whole world could not take,
The Word, which heaven and earth did make.
Was now laid in a manger.
The Father's wisdom willed it so.
The Son's obedience knew no No,
Both wills were in one stature ;
And as that wisdom had decreed,
The Word was now made flesh indeed,
And took on him our nature.
j $ptefeFS;afe^$^ife?g^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
119
What comfort by him do we win,
Who made himself the price of sin,
To make us heirs of glory !
To see this babe all innocence ;
A martyr born in our defence :
Can man forget the story ?
i^ fategg2rg^;^j?;;fe<'i?7?g=^^^
20
CAROLS AND POEMS,
From Richard Crashaw'a Steps to the
Temple. The text of ed. 1648 w fol-
lowed.
B Ibpmn of tbe IRatlvttp,
SUNG AS BY THE SHEPHERDS.
Chorus. /^^OME we shepherds whose blest sight
Hath met Love's noon in Nature's night;
Come, Hft we up our loftier song,
And wake the sun that lies too long.
To all our world of well-stol'n joy,
He slept and dreamt of no such thing,
While we found out heaven's fairer eye
And kist the cradle of our King ;
Tell him he rises now too late
To show us ought worth looking at.
Tell him we now can show him more
Than e'er he showed to mortal sight,
Than he himself e'er saw before,
Which to be seen needs not his light.
Tell him, Tityrus, where th' hast been,
Tell him, Thyrsis, what th' hast seen.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
121
Ti/. Gloomy night embraced the place
Where the noble Infant lay,
The Babe looked up and showed his face ;
In spite of darkness it was day.
It was thy day, Sweet, and did rise
Not from the East but from thine eyes.
Chorus. It was thy day. Sweet, &:c.
Thyrs. Winter chid aloud and sent
The angry North to wage his wars ;
The North forgot his fierce intent,
And left perfumes instead of scars ;
By those sweet eyes' persuasive powers.
Where he meant frost he scattered flowers.
Chorus. By those sweet eyes, &c.
Both. We saw thee in thy balmy nest,
Bright dawn of our eternal day !
We saw thine eyes break from their East
And chase the trembling shades away \
We saw thee, and we blest the sight,
We saw thee by thine own sweet light
Tit. Poor world (said I), what wilt thou do
To entertain this starry stranger }
Is this the best thou canst bestow,
A cold and not too cleanly manger ?
?^^^^^gfif^;s^i^»^^=^ s^^^
122
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Contend, ye powers of heaven and earth,
To fit a bed for this huge birth.
Chorus. Contend, ye powers, &c.
Thyrs. Proud world (said I), cease your contest,
And let the mighty Babe alone.
The Phoenix builds the Phoenix nest.
Love's architecture is all one.
The Babe whose birth embraves this morn
Made his own bed ere he was bom.
Chorus. The Babe whose birth, &c.
Tit, I saw the curFd drops, soft and slow,
Come hovering o'er the place's head,
Offering their whitest sheets of snow
To furnish the fair Infant's bed :
Forbear (said I), be not too bold ;
Your fleece is white, but 'tis too cold.
Chorus. Forbear (said I), &c.
Thyrs. I saw the obsequious seraphins
Their rosy fleece of fire bestow ;
For well they now can spare their wings,
Since heaven itself lies here below :
Well done (said I), but are you sure
Your down so warm will pass for pure.
Chorus. Well done (said I), &c.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
123
Tt'f. No, no, your king's not yet to seek
Where to repose his royal head.
See, see, how soon his new-bloom'd cheek
Twixt 's mother's breasts is gone to bed :
Sweet choice (said I), no way but so.
Not to lie cold, yet sleep in snow.
Chorus. Sweet choice (said I), &c.
Both. We saw thee in thy balmy nest,
Bright dawn of our eternal day !
We saw thine eyes break from their East
And chase the trembling shades away ;
We saw thee, and we blest the sight,
We saw thee by thine own sweet light
Chorus. We saw thee, &c.
Full Chorus. Welcome all wonder in one sight,
Eternity shut in a span,
Summer in winter, day in night.
Heaven in earth and God in man !
Great little One ! whose all-embracing birth
Lifts earth to heaven, stoops heaven to earth.
Welcome, though not to gold nor silk.
To more than Caesar's birthright is.
Two Sister Seas of Virgin milk
With many a rarely-tempered kiss.
1
24
CAROLS AND POEMS.
That breathes at once both Maid and Mother,
Warms in the one and cools in the other.
She sings thy tears asleep, and dips
Her kisses in thy weeping eye ;
She spreads the red leaves of thy lips
That in their buds yet blushing lie :
She 'gainst those mother-diamonds tries
The points of her young eagle's eyes.
Welcome, though not to those gay flies
Gilded i' the beams of earthly kings,
Slippery souls in smiling eyes,
But to poor shepherds' home-spun things ;
Whose wealth's their flock, whose wit to be
Well read in their simplicity.
Yet when young April's husband-showers
Shall bless the fruitful Maia's bed,
We'll bring the first-born of her flowers
To kiss thy feet and crown thy head :
To thee, dread Lamb, whose love must keep
The shepherds more than they their sheep.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
125
To thee, meek Majesty ! soft King
Of simple graces and sweet loves,
Each of us his lamb will bring,
Each his pair of silver doves,
Till burnt at last in fire of thy fair eyes
Ourselves become our own best sacrifice.
126 CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Richard Crashaw's Steps to the
Temple. Only the opening lines
are here given.
H Ibymn for tbe Bptpban^,
SUNG AS BY THE THREE KINGS.
1 King. T) RIGHT Babe! whose awful beauties make
The mom incur a sweet mistake ;
2 H^ing. For whom the officious heavens devise
To disinherit the sun's rise ;
3 Xing. Delicately to displace
The day, and plant it fairer in thy face ;
1 King. O thou born King of loves !
2 Xing. Of lights !
3 Xing. Of joys !
Chorus. Look up, sweet Babe, look up and see !
For love of thee,
Thus far from home
The East is come
To seek herself in thy sweet eyes.
I Xing. We who strangely went astray,
Lost in a bright
Meridian night ;
CAROLS AND POEMS.
[27
2 JCi'ng. A darkness made of too much day j
3 Xmg. Beckoned from far
By thy fair star,
Lo, at last have found our way.
Chorus. To thee, thou Day of Night ! thou East of
West !
Lo, we at last have found the way
To thee, the world's great universal East,
The general and indifferent day.
1 Ki7ig. All-circling point ! all-centring sphere !
The world's one round eternal year :
2 King. Whose full and all-unwrinkled face
Nor sinks nor swells with time or place ;
3 King. But every where and every while
Is one consistent solid smile.
1 King. Not vexed and tost,
2 King. 'Twixt spring and frost ;
3 King. Nor by alternate shreds of light.
Sordidly shifting hands with shades and night.
Chorus, O little All, in Thy embrace.
The world lies warm and likes his place ;
Nor does his full globe fail to be
Kissed on both his cheeks by Thee ;
Time is too narrow for Thy year.
Nor makes the whole world Thy half- sphere.
128 CAROLS AND POEMS.
By William Drummond
0/ Hawthornden.
13 UN, shepherds, run where Bethlehem blest
appears.
We bring the best of news ; be not dismayed ;
A Saviour there is born more old than years,
Amidst heaven's rolling height this earth who stayed.
In a poor cottage inned, a virgin maid
A weakling did him bear, who all upbears ;
There is he poorly swaddled, in manger laid,
To whom too narrow swaddlings are our spheres :
Run, shepherds, run and solemnise his birth.
This is that night — no, day, grown great with bliss.
In which the power of Satan broken is :
In Heaven be glory, peace unto the earth !
Thus singing, through the air the angels swam,
And cope of stars re-echoed the same.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
129
By William Drummond
of HaMhomden.
Ube Sbepberbs*
/^ THAN the fairest day, thrice fairer night !
Night to blest days in which a sun doth rise
Of which that golden eye which clears the skies
Is but a sparkling ray, a shadow-light !
And blessed ye, in silly pastors' sight,
Mild creatures, in whose warm crib now lies
That heaven-sent youngling, holy-maid-born wight,
Midst, end, beginning of our prophecies !
Blest cottage that hath flowers in winter spread,
Though withered — blessed grass that hath the grace
To deck and be a carpet to that place !
Thus sang, unto the sounds of oaten reed.
Before the Babe, the shepherds bowed on knees ;
And springs ran nectar, honey dropped from trees.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
By Sir John Beaumont.
Qt tbe Bptpbani^*
"pAlR eastern star, that art ordained to run
Before the sages, to the rising sun.
Here cease thy course, and wonder that the cloud
Of this poor stable can thy Maker shroud :
Ye heavenly bodies glory to be bright.
And are esteemed as ye are rich in light ;
But here on earth is taught a different way.
Since under this low roof the Highest lay.
Jerusalem erects her stately towers.
Displays her windows and adorns her bowers ;
Yet there thou must not cast a trembling spark,
Let Herod's palace still continue dark ;
Each school and synagogue thy force repels.
There Pride enthroned in misty error dwells ;
The temple, where the priests maintain their quire,
Shall taste no beam of thy celestial fire,
While this weak cottage all thy splendour takes :
A joyful gate of every chink it makes.
CAROLS AND POEMS. 131
Here shines no golden roof, no ivory stair,
No king exalted in a stately chair.
Girt with attendants, or by heralds styled.
But straw and hay enwrap a speechless child.
Yet Sabae's lords before this babe unfold
Their treasures, offering incense, myrrh and gold.
The crib becomes an altar : therefore dies
No ox nor sheep ; for in their fodder lies
The Prince of Peace, who, thankful for his bed.
Destroys those rites in which their blood was shed :
The quintessence of earth he takes, and fees.
And precious gums distilled from weeping trees ;
Rich metals and sweet odours now declare
The glorious blessings which his laws prepare,
To clear us from the base and loathsome flood
Of sense and make us fit for angels' food.
Who lift to God for us the holy smoke
Of fervent prayers with which we him invoke,
And try our actions in the searching fire
By which the seraphims our lips inspire :
No muddy dross pure minerals shall infect.
We shall exhale our vapours up direct :
No storm shall cross, nor glittering lights deface
Perpetual sighs which seek a happy place.
(^^^^^I^;^^^^!
132
CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Jeremy Taylor's Festival
Hymns.
fb^mn for Cbristmas-'Da^*
BEING A DIALOGUE BETWEEN THREE SHEPHERDS.
I. T17HERE is this blessed Babe
That hath made
All the world so full of joy
And expectation ;
That glorious boy
That crowns each nation
With a triumphant wreath of blessedness ?
2. Where should he be but in the throng,
And among
His angel ministers, that sing
And take wing
Just as may echo to his voice,
And rejoice,
When wing and tongue and all
May so procure their happiness ?
CAROLS AND POEMS.
133
3. But he hath other waiters now :
A poor cow,
An ox and mule, stand and behold,
And wonder
That a stable should enfold
Him that can thunder.
Chorus. O what a gracious God have we,
How good ! how great ! even as our misery.
^j^^s^^j
'3+
CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Jeremy Taylor's Festival
Hymns.
H Ib^mn tot Cbrf0tma5 Wa^.
A WAKE, my soul, and come away :
Put on thy best array ;
Lest if thou longer stay
Thou lose some minutes of so blest a day.
Go run
And bid good-morrow to the sun ;
Welcome his safe return
To Capricorn,
And that great morn
Wherein a God was born.
Whose story none can tell
But he whose every word's a miracle.
To-day Almightiness grew weak ;
The Word itself was mute and could not speak
That Jacob's star which made the sun
To dazzle if he durst look on,
Now mantled o'er in Bethlehem's night.
Borrowed a star to show him light.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
135
He that begirt each zone,
To whom both poles are one, -^
Who grasped the Zodiac in his hknd
And made it move or stand,
Is now by nature man,
By stature but a span ;
Eternity is now grown short ;
A King is born without a court ;
The water thirsts ; the fountain's dry ;
And life, being bom, made apt to die.
Chorus. Then let our praises emulate and vie
With his humiUty !
Since he's exiled from skies
That we might rise, —
From low estate of men
Let's sing him up again !
Each man wind up his heart
To bear a part
In that angelic choir and show
His glory high as he was low.
Let's sing towards men goodwill and charity,
Peace upon earth, glory to God on high !
Hallelujah ! Hallelujah !
i ^jfeg^:^|p^-;^^:rf^ g?st=^S^^
136 CAROLS AND POEMS.
By Sir Edward Sherburne.
Un^ tbep lai& Ibim in a /IDanger. ^
TJ APPY crib, that wert alone |
To my God, bed, cradle, throne ! ;*
Whilst thy glorious vileness I ^
View with divine fancy's eye, -
Sordid filth seems all the cost, '■
State, and splendour, crowns do boast. s
^^
't
See heaven's sacred majesty i\
Humbled beneath poverty ; | '
Swaddled up in homely rags
On a bed of straw and flags !
He whose hands the heavens displayed,
And the world's foundations laid,
From the world's almost exiled,
Of all ornaments despoiled.
Perfumes bathe him not, new-born,
Persian mantles not adorn ;
Nor do the rich roofs look bright
With the jasper's orient light.
r2 p»=^S!^^?^:^^^;^::P^f^^
CAROLS AND POEMS. 137
Where, O royal Infant, be
Th' ensigns of thy majesty ;
Thy Sire's equalizing state ;
And thy sceptre that rules fate ?
Where's thy angel-guarded throne,
Whence thy laws thou didst make known —
Laws which heaven, earth, hell obeyed ?
These, ah ! these aside he laid ;
Would the emblem be — of pride
By humility outvied ?
j)P!»Mi»ig^^?B^^{^^ ia^^
138
CAROLS AND POEMS.
By Robert Herrick.
Hn Q^c on tbe Mittb of out Saviour*
T N numbers, and but these few,
I sing thy birth, O Jesu !
Thou pretty baby, born here
With sup'rabundant scorn here :
Who for thy princely port here,
Hadst for thy place
Of birth, a base
Out-stable for thy court here.
Instead of neat enclosures
Of interwoven osiers,
Instead of fragrant posies
Of daffodills and roses,
Thy cradle, kingly stranger,
As gospel tells.
Was nothing else
But here a homely manger.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
139
But we with silks not crewels,
With sundry precious jewels,
And lily work will dress thee ;
And, as we dispossess thee
Of clouts, we'll make a chamber.
Sweet babe, for thee
Of ivory.
And plaster'd round with amber.
The Jews they did disdain thee,
But we will entertain thee
With glories to await here
Upon thy princely state here ;
And, more for love than pity,
From year to year
We'll make thee here
A free-born of our city.
-^^^!^^^^0^^
^'^^^^m^pmisr^m^?^^msm^r^ ^ !^ s sim
I40
CAROLS AND POEMS.
By Francis Kinwelmersh. From the
Paradise of Dayntie Denises, 1576.
Ifpr Cbrtetmas Dap*
"D EJOICE, rejoice, with heart and voice !
In Christe's birth this day rejoice !
From Virgin's womb this day did spring
The precious seed that only saved man ;
This day let man rejoice and sweetly sing,
Since on this day salvation first began.
This day did Christ man's soul from death remove.
With glorious saints to dwell in heaven above.
This day to man came pledge of perfect peace,
This day to man came perfect unity.
This day man's grief began for to surcease,
This day did man receive a remedy
For each offence and every deadly sin
With guilty heart that erst he wandered in.
gpto?»giab;ftsi^j^a^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
141
In Christy's flock let love be surely placed,
From Christe's flock let concord hate expel,
Of Christe's flock let love be so embraced
As we in Christ and Christ in us may dwell ;
Christ is the author of all unity,
From whence proceedeth all felicity.
O sing unto this glittering glorious king,
O praise his name let every living thing.
Let heart and voice, like bells of silver, ring
The comfort that this day doth bring.
Let lute, let shawm, with sound of sweet delight,
The joy of Christe's birth this day recite.
142 CAROLS AND POEMS.
Bij S. T. Coleridge.
"PjORMI, Jesu ! Mater ridet
Quae tam dulcem somnum videt,
Dormi,. Jesu ! blandule !
Si non dormis, Mater plorat
Inter fila cantans orat,
Blande, veni, somnule.
5>l
English.
Sleep, sweet babe ! my cares beguiling :
Mother sits beside thee smiling ;
Sleep, my darling, tenderly !
If thou sleep not, mother mourneth,
Singing as her wheel she turneth :
Come, soft slumber, balmily !
^ Copied from a print of the Virgin in a Roman Catholic
village in Germany.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
143
By John Addington Symonds.
H Cbtistmas Xullabi^^
C LEEP, baby, sleep ! The Mother sings :
Heaven's angels kneel and fold their wings
Sleep, baby, sleep !
With swathes of scented hay thy bed
By Mary's hand at eve was spread.
Sleep, baby, sleep!
At midnight came the shepherds, they
Whom seraphs wakened by the way.
Sleep, baby, sleep !
And three kings from the East afar
Ere dawn came guided by thy star.
Sleep, baby, sleep !
They brought thee gifts of gold and gems.
Pure orient pearls, rich diadems.
Sleep, baby, sleep !
144
CAROLS AND POEMS.
But thou who liest slumbering there,
Art King of kings, earth, ocean, air.
Sleep, baby, sleep !
Sleep, baby, sleep ! The shepherds sing :
Through heaven, through earth, hosannas ring.
Sleep, baby, sleep !
CAROLS AND POEMS.
145
From George Wither's Hallelujah,
or Britain's Second Remem-
brancer.
H lRocf?tng 1b^mn*
O WEET baby, sleep ; what ails my dear ?
What ails my darling thus to cry ?
Be still, my child, and lend thine ear
To hear me sing thy lullaby.
My pretty lamb, forbear to weep ;
Be still, my dear ; sweet baby, sleep.
Thou blessed soul, what canst thou fear ?
What thing to thee can mischief do ?
Thy God is now thy Father dear ;
His holy Spouse thy Mother too.
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be still, my babe ; sweet baby, sleep.
Whilst thus thy lullaby I sing.
For thee great blessings ripening be ;
146 CAROLS AND POEMS. |
Thine eldest brother is a king, I,
And hath a kingdom bought for thee. /I
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep ; ' |
Be still, my babe ; sweet baby, sleep. '^
Sweet baby, sleep, and nothing fear,
For whosoever thee offends, \]
By thy protector threatened are, (t
And God and angels are thy friends. |
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be still, my babe ; sweet baby, sleep.
When God with us was dwelling here.
In little babes he took delight :
Such innocents as thou, my dear.
Are ever precious in his sight. ;ij
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep; IH
Be still, my babe ; sweet baby, sleep. S
I
A little infant once was he, })|
And Strength-in-Weakness then was laid ^v'
Upon his Virgin-Mother's knee, r
That power to thee might be conveyed. i
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be still, my babe ; sweet baby, sleep.
: --^^iii!^!^ltJJ:j;a^ ? ^J!^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
H7
In this thy frailty and thy need
He friends and helpers doth prepare,
Which thee shall cherish, clothe, and feed,
For of thy weal they tender are.
S7aeef baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be still, iiy babe ; sweet baby, sleep.
The King of kings, when he was born,
Had not so much for outward ease ;
By him such dressings were not worn.
Nor such-like swaddling-clothes as these.
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be still, my babe ; sweet baby, sleep.
Within a manger lodged thy Lord,
Where oxen lay and asses fed ;
Warm rooms we do to thee afford.
An easy cradle or a bed.
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be still, my babe ; sweet baby, sleep.
The wants that he did then Sustain
Have purchased wealth, my babe, for thee,
And by his torments and his pain
Thy rest and ease secured be.
My baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be still, my babe ; sweet baby, sleep.
{^^^^^WR^^S^^^]^^^^^f^?^^^^P^TOEB^^irt5^^^^^:'
148
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Thou hast (yet more), to perfect this,
A promise and an earnest got
Of gaining everlasting bliss,
Though thou, my babe, perceiv'st it not.
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be stilly my babe; sweet baby, sleep.
P\
PART III.
CHRISTMAS CUSTOMS AND
CHRISTMAS CHEER.
From George Wither's Juvenilia.
So, now i0 come our joi^fulst jFeast
O O, now is come our joyfulst feast,
Let every man be jolly ;
Each room with ivy leaves is drest,
And every post with holly.
Though some churls at our mirth repine,
Round your foreheads garlands twine ;
Drown sorrow in a cup of wine,
And let us all be merry.
Now all our neighbours' chimnies smoke,
And Christmas logs are burning ;
Their ovens they with baked meats choke.
And all their spits are turning.
50 CAROLS AND POEMS. i
Without the door let sorrow lie ; ^
And if for cold it hap to die, m
We'll bury't in a Christmas pie, %
And evermore be merry. ^■
Now every lad is wondrous trim, j--
And no man minds his labour : <(;
Our lasses have provided them )>:
A bag-pipe and a tabor ; |x
Young men and maids, and girls and boys, yi
Give life to one another's joys ; < ,
And you anon shall by their noise ;l
Perceive that they are merry. !
Rank misers now do sparing shun ; Ji
Their hall of music soundeth ; ((
And dogs thence with whole shoulders run, J^
So all things there aboundeth. ))
The country folks themselves advance \\
For crowdy-mutton's ^ come out of France ; ^^\
And Jack shall pipe, and Jill shall dance, jjj
And all the town be merry. I^j
P
Ned Squash hath fetched his bands from pawn, ^J
And all his best apparel ;
Brisk Ned hath bought a ruff of lawn
With droppings of the barrel ;
1 Fiddlers.
^;:?^fi^ P^s:?y^!ri^S^^^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
151
And those that hardly all the year
Had bread to eat or rags to wear
Will have both clothes and dainty fare,
And all the day be merry.
Now poor men to the justices
With capons make their arrants ;
And if they hap to fail of these.
They plague them with their warrants :
But now they feed them with good cheer,
And what they want they take in beer ;
For Christmas comes but once a year,
And then they shall be merry.
Good farmers in the country nurse
The poor that else were undone ;
Some landlords spend their money worse
On lust and pride at London.
There the roysters they do play,
Drab and dice their lands away,
Which may be ours another day ;
And therefore let's be merry.
The client now his suit forbears,
The prisoner's heart is eased ;
The debtor drinks away his cares,
And for the time is pleased.
j3^i^^^
i68 CAROLS AND POEMS.
From Round about our Coal Fire, 1740.
© i^ou mctr^, mern^ Souls* |j
r\ YOU merry, merry Souls,
Christmas is a-coming,
We shall have flowing bowls,
Dancing, piping, drumming.
Delicate minced pies
To feast every virgin,
Capon and goose likewise,
Brawn and a dish of sturgeon.
^i
Then, for your Christmas box.
Sweet plum cakes and money, :
Delicate holland smocks.
Kisses sweet as honey.
Hey for the Christmas ball, Y]
Where we shall be jolly, ;;??^j^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
187
From Wright's Songs and Carols
{Percy Society). An inferior ver-
sion {from MS. Harl. 541) was
printed by Ritson.
B
JSrina us In Goob Hle»
RING us in good ale, and bring us in good ale ;
For our blessed Lady's sake^ bring us in good ale.
Bring us in no brown bread, for that is made of bran,
Nor bring us in no white bread, for therein is no game,
But bring us in good ale.
Bring us in no beef, for there is many bones,
But bring us in good ale, for that goeth down at once ;
And bring us in good ale.
Bring us in no bacon, for that is passing fat,
But bring us in good ale, and give us enough of that ;
And bring us in good ale.
Bring us in no mutton, for that is often lean,
Nor bring us in no tripes, for they be seldom clean ;
But bring us in good ale.
188 CAROLS AND POEMS.
Bring us in no eggs, for there are many shells,
But bring us in good ale, and give us nothing else ;
And bring us in good ale.
<4
Bring us in no butter, for therein are many hairs,
Nor bring us in no pig's flesh, for that will make us
boars ;
But bring us in good ale.
Bring us in no puddings, for therein is all God's good,
Nor bring us in no venison, for that is not for our
blood ;
But bring us in good ale.
Bring us in no capon's flesh, for that is ofte[n] dear,
Nor bring us in no duck's flesh, for they slobber in the
mere;
But bring us in good ale.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
189
This and the three follotoing pieces are
from New Christmas Carols, 1642.
Come follow, follow me^
TO THE TUNE OF THE "SPANISH GIPSIES.'
/^OME follow, follow me,
Those that good fellows be,
Into the buttery
Our manhood for to try ;
The Master keeps a bounteous house,
And gives leave freely to carouse.
Then wherefore should we fear.
Seeing here is store of cheer?
It shows but cowardice
At this time to be nice.
Then boldly draw your blades and fight,
For we shall have a merry night.
When we have done this fray,
Then we will go to play
^tE^^S^^S^1^^^^^^ jS^^ feS g?sMjRy?^ = ^'g^^^
I90
CAROLS AND POEMS.
At cards or else at dice,
And be rich in a trice ;
Then let the knaves go round apace,
I hope each time to have an ace.
Come, maids, let's want no beer
After our Christmas cheer.
And I will duly crave
Good husbands you may have,
And that you may good houses keep,
Where we may drink carouses deep.
And when that's spent the day
We'll Christmas gambols play,
At hot cockles beside
And then go to all-hide,
With many other pretty toys.
Men, women, youths, maids, girls and boys.
Come, let's dance round the hall.
And let's for liquor call ;
Put apples in the fire.
Sweet maids, I you desire ;
And let a bowl be spiced well
Of happy stuff that doth excel.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
191
Twelve days we now have spent
In mirth and merriment,
And daintily did fare,
For which we took no care ;
But now I sadly call to mind
What days of sorrow are behind.
We must leave off to play,
To morrow's working-day ;
According to each calling
Each man must now be falling.
And ply his business all the year,
Next Christmas for to make good cheer,
Now of my master kind
Good welcome I did find.
And of my loving mistress
This merry time of Christmas ;
For which to them great thanks I give,
God grant they long together live.
^J^s^asgtj^^ss^^j^
192 CAROLS AND POEMS
HIl pou tbat ate good jfellows.
A LL you that are good fellows
Come hearken to my song ;
I know you do not hate good cheer
Nor liquor that is strong.
I hope there is none here
But soon will take my part,
Seeing my master and my dame
Says welcome with their heart.
This is a time of joyfulness
And merry time of year,
Whereas the rich with plenty stored
Doth make the poor good cheer ;
Plum-porridge, roast-beef, and minced pies
Stand smoking on the board,
With other brave varieties
Our master doth afford.
J^^^^^J^^^^^^J^^^^^JP^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Jf
CAROLS AND POEMS.
193
Our mistress and her cleanly maids
Have neatly played the cooks ;
Methinks these dishes eagerly
At my sharp stomach looks,
As though they were afraid
To see me draw my blade,
But I revenged on them will be
Until my stomach's stayed.
Come fill us of the strongest,
Small drink is out of date,
Methinks I shall fare like a prince
And sit in gallant state :
This is no miser's feast,
Although that things be dear ;
God grant the founder of this feast
Each Christmas keep good cheer.
This day for Christ we celebrate
Who was born at this time ;
For which all Christians should rejoice
And I do sing in rhyme.
When yQu have given God thanks,
Unto your dainties fall :
Heaven bless my master and my dame,
Lord bless me and you all.
N
194
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Come, maD Bops^
To the tune of ** Bonny Sweet Robing
/^OME, mad boys, be glad, boys, for Christmas is
here,
And we shall be feasted with jolly good cheer ;
Then let us be merry, 'tis Saint Stephen's day.
Let's eat and drink freely, here's nothing to pay.
My master bids welcome, and so doth my dame.
And 'tis yonder smoking dish doth me inflame ;
Anon I'll be with you, though you me outface.
For now I do tell you I have time and place.
I'll troll the bowl to you, then let it go round.
My heels are so light they can stand on no ground ;
My tongue it doth chatter, and goes pitter patter,
Here's good beer and strong beer, for I will not
flatter.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
195
And now for remembrance of blessed Saint Stephen,
Let's joy at morning, at noon, and at even ; ^
Then leave off your mincing, and fall to mince-pies,
I pray take my counsel, be ruled by the wise.
Old ed. "evening."
196
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Come bravely on, mi^ /IDaaters.
To the tune of " The King's going to Bulleine."
/'^OME bravely on, my masters,
For here we shall be tasters
Of curious dishes that are brave and fine.
Where they that do such cheer afiford,
I'll lay my knife upon the board,
My master and my dame they do not pine.
Who is't will not be merry
And sing down, down, aderry ?
For now it is a time of joy and mirth ;
'Tis said 'tis merry in the hall
When as beards they do wag all ;
God's plenty's here, it doth not show a dearth.
Let him take all lives longest,
Come fill us of the strongest,
And I will drink a health to honest John ;
Come pray thee, butler, fill the bowl,
And let it round the table troll,
When that is up I'll tell you more anon.
a
if FMSPs s sm v^^^^^^^^'^^^i
CAROLS AND POEMS.
197
From New Chrutmas Carols (no date).
/iDp /IDaster an^ H)ame, J well perceive^
To the tune of '■''Green Sleeves.'^
A /[ Y master and dame, I well perceive,
Are purposed to be merry to-night.
And willingly hath given me leave
To combat with a Christmas Knight.
Sir Pig, I see, comes prancing in
And bids me draw if that I dare ;
I care not for his valour a pin,
For Jack of him will have a share.
My lady goose among the rest
Upon the table takes her place.
And piping-hot bids do my best,
And bravely looks me in the face ;
For pigs and geese are gallant cheer,
God bless my master and dame therefore !
I trust before the next New Year
To eat my part of half a score.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
I likewise see good minced-pie
Here standing swaggering on the table ;
The lofty walls so large and high
I'll level down if I be able ;
For they be furnished with good plums,
' And spiced well with pepper and salt,
Every prune as big as both my thumbs
To drive down bravely the juice of malt.
Fill me some of your Christmas beer,
Your pepper sets my mouth on heat.
And Jack's a-dry with your good cheer,
Give me some good ale to my meat.
And then again my stomach I'll show,
For good roast-beef here stoutly stands ;
I'll make it stoop before I go,
Or I'll be no man of my hands.
And for the plenty of this house
God keep it thus well-stored alway ;
Come, butler, fill me a good carouse,
And so we'll end our Christmas day.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
199
This piece and the next are from New
Chriatmns Carols, 1661.
Mttb mett^ (3lee ant) Solace*
FOR ST. Stephen's day.
To the tune of ^''Henry's going to Bullen''
A 1 HTH merry glee and solace
This second day of Christmas
Now comes in bravely to my master's house,
Where plenty of good cheer I see,
With that which most contenteth me,
As brawn and bacon, powdered beef and souse.
For the love of Stephen,
That blessed saint of heaven,
Which stonbd was [for] Jesus Christ his sake,
Let us all both more and less
Cast away all heaviness,
And in a sober manner merry make.
^^^^^^^
200
CAROLS AND POEMS.
He was a man beloved,
And his faith approved
By suffering death on this holy day,
Where he with gentle patience
And a constant sufferance.
Hath taught us all to heaven the ready way.^
So let our mirth be civil.
That not one thought of evil
May take possession of our hearts at all,
So shall we love and favour get
Of them that kindly thus do set
Their bounties here so freely in this hall.
Of delicates so dainty,
I see now here is plenty
Upon this table ready here prepared ;
Then let us now give thanks to those
That all things friendly thus bestows.
Esteeming not this world that is so hard.
a
For of the same my master
Hath made me here a taster ;
^ The old ed. gives " Hath taught to us all heaven," &c.
tTKlvi:
M
S^^fa^^^J^^E^^^n^^^^^^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
20I
The Lord above requite him for the same !
And so to all within this house
I will drink a full carouse,
With leave of my good master and my dame.
And the Lord be praised
My stomach is well eased,
My bones at quiet may go take their rest ;
Good fortune surely followed me
To bring me thus so luckily
To eat and drink so freely of the best
f'y^i'^^ilif???;^^?;!?^^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
3n bonout of Saint 3obn we tbus.
(for ST. John's day.)
To the tune of" Sellenger's Round:'
T N honour of Saint John we thus
Do keep good Christmas cheer ;
And he that comes to dine with us,
I think he need not spare.
The butcher he hath killed good beef,
The caterer brings it in ;
But Christmas pies are still the chief,
If that I durst begin.
Our bacon hogs are full and fat
To make us brawn and souse ;
Full well may I rejoice thereat
To see them in the house.
^^ssti.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
203
But yet the minced pie it is
That sets my teeth on water ;
Good mistress, let me have a bit,
For I do long thereafter.
And I will fetch your water in
To brew and bake withal,
Your love and favour still to win
When as you please to call
Then grant me, dame, your love and leave
To taste your pie-meat here ;
It is the best in my conceit
Of all your Christmas-cheer.
The cloves and mace and gallant plums ^
That here on heaps do lie,
[And prunes] as big as both my thumbs,
Enticeth much mine eye.
Oh, let me eat my belly-full
Of your good Christmas-pie ;
Except thereat I have a pull,
I think I sure shall die.
Good master, stand my loving friend.
For Christmas-time is short,
1 Old ed. " prunes."— Cf. p. 198, 11. 5-7.
204
CAROLS AND POEMS,
And when it comes unto an end
I may no longer sport ;
Then while it doth continue here
Let me such labour find,
To eat my fill of that good cheer
That best doth please my mind.
Then I shall thank my dame therefore,
That gives her kind consent,
That Jack your boy with others more
May have this Christmas spent
In pleasant mirth and merry glee,
As young men most delight ;
For that's the only sport for me,
And so God give you all good-night.
CAROLS AND POEMS. 205
From New Christmas Carols {no date).
Ubc 1Rew leat Is be^un^
THE shepherd's CAROL TO BE SUNG ON NEW YEAR'S
DAY.
Tune, " Humming of the Drone"
'T^HE New Year is begun,
Good morrow, my masters all !
The cheerful rising sun
Now shining in this hall,
Brings mirth and joy
To man and boy.
With all that here doth dwell ;
Whom Jesus bless
With love's increase,
So all things shall prosper well.
A New Year's gift I bring
Unto my master here,
Which is a welcome thing
Of mirth and merry cheer.
fs #«a 3i^a5 fR!!!^^
2o6 ; CAROLS AND POEMS.
A New Year's lamb
Come from thy dam
An hour before daybreak,
Your noted ewe
Doth this bestow,
Good master, for your sake.
And to my dame so kind
This New Year's gift I bring ;
I'll bear an honest mind
Unto her whilst I live.
Your white-wooled sheep
I'll safely keep
From harm of bush or brere,^
That garments gay
For your array
May clothe you the next New Year.
And to your children all.
These New Year's gifts I bring ;
And though the price be small.
They're fit for queen or king :
Fair pippins red
Kept in my bed
1 Old ed. " Biyar."
CAROLS AND POEMS.
207
A- mellowing since last year,
Whose beauty bright
So clear of sight
Their hearts will glad and cheer.
And to your maids and men
I bring both points and pins ;
Come bid me welcome then,
The good New Year begins :
And for my love
Let me approve
The friendship of your Maid,
Whose nappy ale
So good and stale
Will make my wits afraid.
I dare not with it deal
But in a sober diet :
If I poor shepherd steal
A draught to be unquiet,
And lose my way
This New Year's day
As I go to my fold.
You'll surely think
My love of drink
This following year will hold.
5l^^^^Mt22^Sffi^Sj&^SK^SHS^^S2^^jS^SS^^^JJ^^S!^^S
2o8
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Here stands my bottle and hook,
Good kitchen-maid, draw near,
Thou art an honest cook,
And canst brew ale and beer ;
Thy office show,
Before I go,
My bottle and bag come fill,
And for thy sake
I'll merry make
Upon the next green hill
CAROLS AND POEMS. 209
From A Cabinet of Choice Jewels, or
the Christian's Joy and Gladness,
Ubc ISoung /Iben auD /iDaibs on 1Rew
JSear's S)a^»
Tune of '■^ Caper and jerk it"
nPHE young men and maids on New Year's day,
Their loves they will present
With many a gift both fine and gay,
Which gives them true content :
And though the gift be great or small,
Yet this is the custom still.
Expressing their loves in ribbons and gloves,
It being their kind good-will.
Young bachelors will not spare their coin.
But thus their love is shown ;
Young Richard will buy a bodkin fine
And give it honest Joan.
There's Nancy and Sue with honest Prue,
Young damsels both fair and gay.
Will give to the men choice presents agen
For the honour of New Year's day.
2IO CAROLS AND POEMS.
Fine ruffs, cravats of curious lace,
Maids give them fine and neat ;
For this the young men will them embrace
With tender kisses sweet :
And give them many pleasant toys
To deck them fine and gay.
As bodkins and rings with other fine things
For the honour of New Year's day.
It being the first day of the year,
To make the old amends.
All those that have it will dress good cheer
Inviting all their friends.
To drink great James's royal health,
As very well subjects may,
With many healths more, which we have store,
For the honour of New Year's day.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
211
From New Christmas Carols, 1642.
XTbe ©15 Iffcar now awa^ is ffleb.
To the tune of " Green Sleeves.^''
nPHE old year now away is fled,
The new year it is entered,
Then let us now our sins down tread
And joyfully all appear.
Let's merry be this holiday.
And let us now both sport and play.
Hang sorrow, let's cast care away :
God send you a happy New Year !
For Christ's circumcision this day we keep,
Who for our sins did often weep ;
His hands and feet were wounded deep.
And his blessed side, with a spear.
His head they crowned then with thorn,
And at him they did laugh and scorn,
Who for to save our souls was born ;
God send us a happy New Year !
bAtfi aF3^te^j^?;=?^^jF?'^^=^^^^
212 CAROLS AND POEMS.
And now with New- Year's gifts each friend
Unto each other they do send ;
God grant we may all our lives amend,
And that the truth may appear.
Now like the snake cast-off your skin
Of evil thoughts and wicked sin,
And to amend this New Year begin :
God send us a merry New Year !
And now let all the company
In friendly manner all agree,
For we are here welcome, all may see.
Unto this jolly good cheer.
I thank my master and my dame.
The which are founders of the same ;
To eat, to drink now is no shame :
God send us a merry New Year !
Come lads and lasses every one,
Jack, Tom, Dick, Bessy, Mary and Joan,
Let's cut the meat up unto the bone.
For welcome you need not fear ;
And here for good liquor we shall not lack,
It will whet my brains and strengthen my back ;
This jolly good cheer it must go to wrack :
God send us a merry New Year !
CAROLS AND POEMS.
213
Come, give's more liquor when I do call,
I'll drink to each one in this hall ;
I hope that so loud I must not bawl,
But unto me lend an ear ;
Good fortune to my master send,
And to my dame which is our friend,
Lord bless us all, and so I end :
God send us a happy New Year !
214 CAROLS AND POEMS.
Frmn Poor Robin's Almanac, 1664.
provide tor CbriBtmas^
PROVIDE for Christmas ere that it do come,
To feast thy neighbour good cheer to have
some ;
Good bread and drink, a fire in the hall,
Brawn, pudding, souse and good mustard withal ;
Beef, mutton, pork, and shred pies of the best,
Pig, veal, goose, capon, and turkey well drest ;
Apples and nuts to throw about the hall,
That boys and girls may scramble for them all.
Sing jolly carols, make the fiddlers play.
Let scrupulous fanatics keep away ;
For oftentimes seen no arranter knave
Than some who do counterfeit most to be grave.
•Sife
JfefeffiS^^j^^^^^S^^^^^i
^
i^yi
!;m^7 ^ ' ^^ ' L^..
CAROLS AND POEMS. 215
From Poor Robin's Almanac, 1695.
IFlow tbrice welcomCt Cbtistma6»
TVr OW thrice welcome, Christmas,
Which brings us good cheer,
Minced pies and plum porridge,
Good ale and strong beer ;
With pig, goose and capon.
The best that may be,
So well doth the weather
And our stomachs agree.
Observe how the chimneys
Do smoke all about,
The cooks are providing
For dinner, no doubt ;
But those on whose tables
No victuals appear,
O may they keep Lent
All the rest of the year.
2l6
CAROLS AND POEMS.
With holly and ivy
So green and so gay,
We deck up our houses
As fresh as the day ;
With bay and rosemary
And laurel complete ;
And every one now
Is a king in conceit.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
217
From Poor Robin's A Imanac, 1700.
Mow tbat tbe time Is come wberetn*
IVF OW that the time is come wherein
Our Saviour Christ was born,
The larders full of beef and pork,
The garners fill'd with corn ;
As God hath plenty to thee sent,
Take comfort of thy labours.
And let it never thee repent
To feast thy needy neighbours.
Let fires in every chimney be
That people they may warm them ;
Tables with dishes covered, —
Good victuals will not harm them.
With mutton, veal, beef, pig and pork.
Well furnish every board ;
Plum-pudding, furmity and what
Thy stock will them afford.
sfiiM'q7mg^By$>itft^^
No niggard of thy liquor be,
Let it go round thy table ; ?!
People may freely drink, but not
So long as they are able.
Good customs they may be abused, ;
Which makes rich men to slack us ; i
This feast is to relieve the poor ./
And not to drunken Bacchus. I
Thus if thou doest f
'Twill credit raise thee ; r|
God will thee bless j!
And neighbours praise thee. j
^^
^-t^jSs^^as^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
219
From Poor Robin's Almanac, 1701.
IFlow enter Cbrtstmas Ufte a man.
IV] OW enter Christmas like a man,
Armed with spit and dripping-pan,
Attended with pasty, plum-pie.
Puddings, plum-porridge, furmity;
With beef, pork, mutton of each sort
More than my pen can make report ;
Pig, swan, goose, rabbits, partridge, teal,
With legs and loins and breasts of veal :
But above all the minced pies
Must mention'd be in any wise.
Or else my Muse were much to blame.
Since they from Christmas take their name.
With these, or any one of these,
A man may dine well if he please ;
Yet this must well be understood, —
Though one of these be singly good.
Yet more the merrier is the best
; As well of dishes as of guest.
But the times are grown so bad
Scarce one dish for the poor is had ;
ilS^^^^lE?^^$^v=?=^-l^^S^^^3S!^S^&^lS
220 CAROLS AND POEMS.
Good housekeeping is laid aside,
And all is spent to maintain pride j
Good works are counted popish, and
Small charity is in the land.
A man may sooner (truth I tell ye)
Break his own neck than fill his belly.
Good God, amend what is amiss
And send a remedy to this,
That Christmas day again may rise
And we enjoy our Christmas pies.
i
M
CAROLS AND POEMS. 221
From Poor Robin's Almanac, 1715.
IFI0W Cbristmas comes 'tis fit tbat we.
IVr OW Christmas comes, 'tis fit that we
Should feast and sing and merry be,
Keep open house, let fiddlers play ;
A fig for cold, sing care away !
And may they who thereat repine.
On brown bread and on small beer dine.
Make fires with logs, let the cooks sweat
With boiling and with roasting meat ;
Let ovens be heat for fresh supplies
Of puddings, pasties, and minced pies,
And whilst that Christmas doth abide
Let butt'ry-door stand open wide.
Hang up those churls that will not feast
Or with good fellows be a guest,
And hang up those would take away
The observation of that day ;
O may they never minced pies eat,
Plum-pudding, roast-beef, nor such meat.
222 CAROLS AND POEMS.
But blest be they, awake and sleep,
Who at that time [a] good house keep
May never want come nigh their door,
Who at that time relieve the poor ;
Be plenty always in their house
Of beef, veal, lamb, pork, mutton, souse.
fi J
^j^a^i^^lfiBfe^g^ga^jS^tFi^S^-^??^^^^
t^
CAROLS AND POEMS. 223
From the Bishoprick Garland, 1834 (a
collection of songs, ballads, etc.,
helon'jing to the county of Durham).
/lDatC)6, Gct up anb :flSafee i^our pies.
ly/r AIDS, get up and bake your pies,
Bake your pies, bake your pies ;
Maids, get up and bake your pies,
'Tis Christmas day in the morning.
i Sailing by, sailing by ;
See the ships all sailing by,
See the ships all sailing by
On Christmas day in the morning.
Dame, what made your ducks to die,
Ducks to die, ducks to die ;
Dame, what made your ducks to die
On Christmas day in the morning ?
224
CAROLS AND POEMS.
You let your lazy maidens lie,
Maidens lie, maidens lie ;
You let your lazy maidens lie
On Christmas day in the morning.
vi^^
CAROLS AND POEMS. 225
From Thomas Weelkuf Madrigals, 1597.
XTo sborten Mtnter's sadness.
'T^O shorten winter's sadness
See where the nymphs with gladness
Disguised all are coming,
Right wantonly a mumming.
Fa la.
Whilst youthful sports are lasting,
To feasting turn our fasting ;
With revels and with wassails
Make grief and care our vassals.
Fa la.
For youth it well beseemeth
That pleasure he esteemeth j
And sullen age is hated
That mirth would have abated.
Fa la.
226 CAROLS AND POEMS.
I
By Robert Herrick.
H IRew isear's Gift sent to Sir Simeon
Stewart)*
"XT O news of navies burnt at seas ;
No noise of late-spawned tittyries ;
No closet-plot or open vent
That frights men with a parliament ;
No new device or late-found trick
To read by th' stars the kingdom's sick ;
No gin to catch the state or ring
The free-born nostrils of the king,
We send to you : but here a jolly
Verse, crown'd with ivy and with holly,
That tells of winter's tales and mirth
That milk-maids make about the hearth ;
Of Christmas-sports ; the wassail bowl ;
That tost up, after fox-i'-th'-hole ;
Of blind-man's-buff, and of the care
That young men have to shoe the mare ;
Of Twelfth-tide cakes, of pease and beans,
Wherewith ye make those merry scenes.
^!^maf9f9¥^m9^^9m
1^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
227
Whenas ye chuse your king and queen
And cry out Hey for our toivn-green I
Of ash-heaps, in the which ye use
Husbands and wives by streaks to chuse ;
Of cracking laurel, which foresounds
A plenteous harvest to your grounds :
Of these and such like things, for shift,
We send instead of New- Year's gift.
Read then, and when your faces shine
With buxom meat and cap'ring wine,
Remember us in cups full-crown'd
And let our city-health go round.
Quite through the young maids and the men
To the ninth number, if not ten ;
Until the fired chestnuts leap
For joy to see the fruits ye reap
From the plump chalice and the cup,
That tempts till it be tossed up ;
Then, as ye sit about your embers.
Call not to mind those fled Decembers,
But think on these that are t'appear
As daughters to the instant year.
Sit crowned with rose-buds, and carouse
Till Liber Pater twirls the house
About your ears, and lay upon
The year, your cares, that's fled and gone.
22S
CAROLS AND POEMS.
And let the russet swains the plough
And harrow hang up resting now,
And to the bagpipe all address
Till sleep takes place of weariness.
And thus throughout with Christmas plays
Frolic the full twelve holidays.
gas'tegmg^Sfef^ :
CAROLS AND POEMS.
229
By Robert Herrick.
trwelftb mtgbt ;
OR, KINO AND QUEEN.
I
I
I
IVr OW, now the mirth comes,
With the cake full of plums,
Where bean's the king of the sport here ;
Beside we must know,
The pea also
Must revel as queen in the court here.
Begin then to chuse,
This night as ye use,
Who shall for the present delight here ;
Be a king by the lot.
And who shall not
Be Twelfth-day queen for the night here.
Which known, let us make
Joy-sops with the cake ;
And let not a man then be seen here
Who unurg'd will not drink.
To the base from the brink,
A health to the king and the queen here.
^-^:^^?::=i^ jts^s;?^^^
230
CAROLS AND POEMS.
Next crown the bowl full
With gentle lambs-wool ;
Add sugar, nutmeg, and ginger,
With store of ale too ;
And thus ye must do
To make the wassail a swinger.
I
Give then to the king
And queen wassailing,
And though with ale ye be whet here.
Yet part ye from hence,
As free from offence,
As when ye innocent met here
From Sir Walter Scott's Marmion.
{Introduction to Canto VI.)
Cbrt0tmas In tbe ©l^en Ulme^
'T^HE damsel donned her kirtle sheen ;
The hall was dressed with holly green ;
Forth to the wood did merry-men go
To gather in the misletoe.
Then opened wide the baron's hall
To vassal, tenant, serf and all ;
Power laid his rod of rule aside,
And ceremony doffed his pride.
The heir, with roses in his shoes,
That night might village-partner chuse ;
The lord underogating share
The vulgar game of post-and-pair.
All hailed with uncontrolled delight
And general voice, the happy night.
That to the cottage as the crown
Brought tidings of salvation down.
The fire with well-dried logs supplied
Went roaring up the chimney wide ;
232 CAROLS AND POEMS.
The huge hall-table's oaken face,
Scrubbed till it shone, the day to grace,
Bore then upon its massive board
No mark to part the squire and lord.
Then was brought in the lusty brawn
By old blue-coated serving-man ;
Then the grim boar's head frowned on high,
Crested with bay and rosemary.
Well can the green-garbed ranger tell
How, when, and where the monster fell ;
What dogs before his death he tore,
And all the baiting of the boar.
The wassail round, in good brown bowls,
Garnished with ribbons blithely trowls.
There the huge sir-loin reeked ; hard by
Plum-porridge stood and Christmas pie ;
Nor failed old Scotland to produce
At such high tide her savoury goose.
Then came the merry masquers in
And carols roared with blithesome din ;
If unmelodious was the song
It was a hearty note and strong.
Who lists may in their mumming see
Traces of ancient mystery ;
White shirts supplied the masquerade,
And smutted cheeks the visors made :
I
Then the grim boar's head frowned on high.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
233
But, oh ! what masquers richly dight
Can boast of bosoms half so light !
England was merry England when
Old Christmas brought his sports again.
*Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale,
'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale ;
A Christmas gambol oft would cheer
The poor man's heart through half the year.
l^^qP'ffg^i^^SSM^fi!^^?^'^^^^
234 CAROLS AND POEMS.
Dedication of Wordsworth's River Dud-
don Sonnets. Addressed to his
brother. Dr. Christopher Words-
worth.
Cbdstmas /HMnstrelsp*
'X*HE minstrels played their Christmas tune
To-night beneath my cottage eaves ;
While smitten by a lofty moon,
The encircling laurels thick with leaves,
Gave back a rich and dazzling sheen,
That overpowered their natural green.
Through hill and valley every breeze
Had sunk to rest with folded wings :
Keen was the air, but could not freeze
Nor check the music of the strings ;
So stout and hardy were the band
That scraped the chords with strenuous hand.
And who but listened ? — till was paid
Respect to every inmate's claim.
The greeting given, the music played
In honour of each household name.
Duly pronounced with lusty call,
And a merry Christmas wished to all.
* ^j^^ffij^at^ f^fte^^^sissi^
I
i
O Brother ! I revere the choice
That took thee from thy native hills ;
And it is given thee to rejoice :
Though public care full often tills
(Heaven only witness of the toil)
A barren and ungrateful soil.
Yet would that thou, with me and mine,
Hadst heard this never-failing rite ;
And seen on other faces shine
A true revival of the light ;
Which nature, and these rustic powers.
In simple childhood, spread through ours !
For pleasure hath not ceased to wait
On these expected annual rounds,
Whether the rich man's sumptuous gate
Call forth the unelaborate sounds,
Or they are offered at the door
That guards the lowliest of the poor.
How touching, when at midnight, sweep
Snow-muffled winds, and all is dark,
To hear — and sink again to sleep !
Or at an earlier call, to mark.
By blazing fire, the still suspense
Of self-complacent innocence ;
>^i?r^s;ic^;«^gF^i^a^s^^
,!!S,i!!KS^!.!SS»!-'.'::K
236
CAROLS AND POEMS.
The mutual nod — the grave disguise
Of hearts with gladness brimming o'er,
And some unhidden tears that rise
For names once heard, and heard no more ;
Tears brightened by the serenade
For infant in the cradle laid !
Ah ! not for emerald fields alone,
With ambient streams more pure and bright
Than fabled Cytherea's zone
Glittering before the Thunderer's sight,
Is to my heart of hearts endeared,
The ground where we were born and reared !
Hail ancient manners ! sure defence.
Where they survive, of wholesome laws :
Remnants of love whose modest sense
Thus into narrow room withdraws ;
Hail usages of pristine mould,
And ye that guard them, mountains old !
Bear with me, Brother ! quench the thought
That slights this passion or condemns ;
If thee fond fancy ever brought
From the proud margin of the Thames,
And Lambeth's venerable towers.
To humbler streams and greener bowers.
CAROLS AND POEMS.
237
Yes they can make, who fail to find,
Short leisure even in busiest days j
Moments to cast a look behind,
And profit by those kindly rays
That through the clouds do sometimes steal,
And all the far-off past reveal.
Hence, while the imperial city's din
Beats frequent on thy satiate ear,
A pleased attention I may win
To agitations less severe.
That neither overwhelm nor cloy,
But fill the hollow vale with joy !
Farewell to Christmas^
c^^^G^^HD^sy^f-^-^
From New Christmas Carols, 1642.
I
/IDarft well m^ beavp &oleful Zalc.
To the tune of " The Ladfs Fall:'
TV /T ARK well my heavy doleful tale,
For Twelfth-day now is come,
And now I must no longer sing.
And say no words but mum ;
For I perforce must take my leave
Of all my dainty cheer,
Plum-porridge, roast beef, and minced pies,
My strong ale and my beer.
Kind-hearted Christmas, now adieu.
For I with thee must part,
And for to take my leave of thee
Doth grieve me at the heart ;
240 CAROLS AND POEMS.
Thou wert an ancient housekeeper,
And mirth with meat didst keep,
But thou art going out of town,
Which makes me for to weep.
God knoweth whether I again
Thy merry face shall see,
Which to good-fellows and the poor
That was so frank and free.
Thou lovedst pastime with thy heart,
And eke good company ;
Pray hold me up for fear I swoon.
For I am like to die.
Come, butler, fill a brimmer up
To cheer my fainting heart,
That to old Christmas I may drink
Before he doth depart ;
And let each one that's in this room
With me likewise condole.
And for to cheer their spirits sad
Let each one drink a bowl.
And when the same it hath gone round
Then fall unto your cheer.
For you do know that Christmas time
It comes but once a year.
p^ammisHliii ^
r
I
CAROLS AND POEMS. 241
But this good draught which I have drunk
Hath comforted my heart,
For I was very fearful that
My stomach would depart.
Thanks to my master and my dame
That doth such cheer afford ;
God bless them, that each Christmas they
May furnish thus their board.
My stomach having come to me,
I mean to have a bout,
Intending to eat most heartily ; |
Good friends, I do not flout.
242 CAROLS AND POEMS.
This piece and the next are from New k
Christmas Carols, 1661. )]
n
3>'
<'\
IR0W ifarewell, Goob Cbrtstmas*
To the tune of ^^ Bonny Sweet Robing
TVT OW farewell, good Christmas,
Adieu and adieu,
I needs now must leave thee,
And look for a new ;
For till thou returnest,
I linger in pain,
And I care not how quickly
Thou comest again.
But ere thou departest < '
I purpose to see '/^
What merry good pastime ^
This day will show me : ^i
For a king of the wassail ^-^^j
This night we must choose, ji
Or else the old customs
We carelessly lose.
I CAROLS AND POEMS. 243
i
The wassail well spiced
About shall go round,
Though it cost my good master
Best part of a pound :
The maid in the buttery
Stands ready to fill
Her nappy good liquor
With heart and good will.
And to welcome us kindly
Our master stands by,
And tells me in friendship
One tooth is a-dry.
Then let us accept it
As lovingly, friends ;
And so for this twelfth-day
My carol here ends.
!l:^*SE3&a$j^!fe?5S^
244 CAROLS AND POEMS.
Cbristmas batb mat)e an iBnl>.
To the tune of " Well a day.''
/^HRISTMAS hath made an end,
Welladay, welladay,
Which was my dearest friend,
More is the pity ;
For with a heavy heart
Must I from thee depart,
To follow plough and cart
All the year after.
Lent is fast coming on,
Welladay, welladay.
That loves not any one,
More is the pity ;
For I doubt both my cheeks
Will look thin, eating leeks j
Wise is he then that seeks
For a friend in a corner.
fii3iaf!lF?«g5^ ^
CAROLS AND POEMS.
245
All our good cheer is gone,
Welladay, welladay,
And turned to a bone,
More is the pity.
In my good master's house
I shall eat no more souse,
Then give me one carouse,
Gentle, kind butler.
It grieves me to the heart,
Welladay, welladay,
From my friend to depart,
More is the pity.
Christmas, I mean, 'tis thee
That thus forsaketh me.
Yet till one hour I see
Will I be merry.
Hi
i^^^fj
i^^Ei=a=5<:><^C=::*di=i^^
NOTES.
fe;--^^?c^^)5arn^lfiT^^iii^
i
j fg^fe^y^a^fejJ^fBte^^^
NOTES.
: "/w every place,'' &c. — These lines are spoken by
Salomee. For disbelieving that the Child had been born of a
virgin, her hand was withered up ; but on her repentance God
sent an angel who bade her worship the Child and touch his
clothes. She obeyed, and her hand was restored ; whereupon
she raised this hymn of praise.
Page 4 : ^^ I sing of a maiden" — This perfect little poem will
be new to most readers. It has been passed over by the
collectors.
Page 17 : " You ^hall well see that kinges three,''' &c. — The
names of the three kings were Melchior, Caspar, and Balthazar.
The first was old, with grey hair and a long beard : his oflfering
was gold. Caspar, who was young and beardless, brought
frankincense ; and Balthazar, who was of a swarthy com-
plexion, offered myrrh. Cold was symbolical of kingship,
frankincense of divinity, and myrrh of humanity. The bodies
of the three kings were taken, about three hundred years after
their death, by the Empress Helena to Constantinople ; thence
by Eustatius to Milan ; afterwards by Renaldus the bishop to
Cologne, or CoUein. Hence they were commonly called the
Three Kings of CoUein. There is an old carol about the Three
Kings. Wright, in his collection of " Songs and Carols " pub-
lished by the Percy Society, has printed one version of it ; but
the text of the following copy (from Notes and Queries, 6th
Series, vi. 505-7) is fuller and more accurate : —
250
NOTES.
Now is Christmas y-come,
Father and Son together in one,
Holy Ghost us be on
In fere-a ; ^
God send us a happy New Year-a !
I would you sing for, and I might,
Of a Child is fair in sight ;
His mother him bare this Yules night
So still-a,
And as it was his will-a.
There came three kings from Galilee
Into Bethlem that fair citie,
To seek Him that e'er should be
By right-a
Lord and king and knight-a.
As they came forth with their oflf'ring,
They met with Herod that moody king
This tide -a,
And this to them he said-a.
' Of whence be ye, you kinges three ? '
* Of the East, as you may see,
To worship Him that e'er should be
By right-a
Lord and king and knight-a.'
' When you at this Child have be,
Come home again by me ;
Tell me the sight that you have see ;
I pray you,
Go you none other way-a.'
a
In fere = in company.
g yA.^^^^yagBj^?J :^^
They took their leave both old and younj
Of Herod that moody king ;
They went forth with their offering
By light-a,
The star that shone so bright-a.
Till they came into the place
There Jesu and his mother was ;
Offered they up with great solace
In fere-a
Gold and 'cense and myrrh-a.
The Father of heaven an angel sent
To these three kings that made present
This tide-a,
And this to them he said-a : —
* My Lord have warned you every one
By Herod king you go not home,
For and you do he will you slone ^
And 'stroy-a,
And hurt you wonderly-a.'
Forth they went these kinges three
Till they came home to their countrie ;
Glad and blithe they were all three
Of the sight that they had see ;
By dene-a "
The company was clean-a.
Kneel we now here a-down ;
Pray we in good devotion
To the King of great renown,
Of grace-a
In heaven to have a place-a."
1 Slay.
By dene = immediately.
^l^^s^
252
NOTES.
(The last line of the penultimate stanza seems somewhat
unintelligible.)
Page 19 : " Tyrle, tyrle, so merrily,^' &c. — Compare a song in
the Coventry Mysteries : —
" As I rode out this endnes night
Of three jolly shepherds I saw a sight,
And all about their fold a star shone bright :
They sang terli terlow,
So merrily the shepherds their pipes can blow."
Page 21 : " This endnes nighV — The MS. from which this
piece is taken contains a large collection of church-services,
hymns, carols, and songs, — with music. It formerly belonged
to Joseph Ritson, who presented it to the British Museum.
The collection deserves to be printed in full.
Page 25 : " As I sat under a sycamore tree.^^ — This is a variation
of the very common carol, " As I sat on a sunny bank."
Page 26 : William Byrd, a celebrated musician, was born
about 1545, and died in 1623. The reader will find an account
of his works in Oliphant's Musa Madrigalesca. Probably Byrd
wrote only the music for his collections.
Page 29 : ^^ Joseph was an old man''' — I do not feel at all sure
that I have done right in dividing this carol into three parts.
Perhaps it would have been better to print Part II. as a separate
piece, and join Part III. to Part I. As regards the text of this
carol no two copies are found to agree, and one is obliged to
adopt an eclectic method. The alterations made by modern
editors in deference to the mock-modesty of the day are singu-
larly flat. Mr. Bramley, in " Christmas Carols New and Old,"
gives the following ridiculous rendering of the fourth and fifth
stanzas : —
%
%\
itffaflff^^ite^jfcteP^^ J :^
NOTES.
253
" Mary said to Joseph
With her sweet lips so mild,
Pluck those cherries, Joseph,
For to give to my Child.
then replied Joseph,
With words so unkind,
1 will pluck no cherries
For to give to thy Child."
Could anything be more pointless? Hone, in his Ancient
Mysteries (p. 90), gives after the first stanza —
" When Joseph was married,
And his cousin Mary got,
Mary proved big with child,
By whom Joseph knew not."
After the penultimate stanza some copies add —
'*And upon a Wednesday
My vow I will make.
And upon Good Friday
My death I will take."
Page 33: ** SL Stephen was a clerk." — We learn from Dr.
Prior's "Ancient Danish Ballads" (I. 395) that the oldest
account of the singular legend which is the subject of this carol
" is in Vine. Bellovacensis, from an author who lived about 1200.
Two friends sat down to dinner in Bologna, and one bade the
other to carve the cock, which he did, so that, as he said, not St.
Peter or our Lord himself could put it together again. The
cock sprang up, clapped his wings and crowed, scattering the
sauce over the two friends, and rendering them lepers till the
day of their death. The same miracle is related as having
occurred to prove the innocence of persons falsely accused, and is
found in the legends of Spain Brittany, Italy, and Slavonian
254
NOTES.
countries. How it came to be appropriated to St. Stephen
does not appear."
Page 36 : '"'^ Remember , O thou man.'^ — A different version of
this carol is given in Mr. Thomas Hardy's " Under the Green-
wood Tree."
Page 40 : " God rest you merry, gentlemen^ — The comma, by
a curious oversight, has been misplaced. It should stand before,
not after, the word ** merry."
Page 48 : ''^ Nay, Nay, sweet Jesus said," &c. — I have ven-
tured to end the carol with this stanza. In all the copies that
I have seen an additional stanza follows —
** O then spoke the angel Gabriel,
Upon one good Saint Stephen,
Although you're but a maiden's child,
You are the King of heaven."
The conclusion is spoiled by the introduction of these mysterious
lines, which have no connection with the context.
PS'ge 55 : ^^ Joys Seven. " — There is an older carol of a similar
sort, entitled, "Joyis Fyve."
Page 58 : ** The Moon shines bright.'^ — Robert Bell, in his
"Songs of the Peasantry " (1857), gives a May-day song (which
used to be sung at Hitchin), containing some of the stanzas
-found in this carol. Here is the song —
" Remember us poor Mayers all !
And thus do we begin
To lead our lives in righteous ways,
Or else we die in sin.
We have been rambling all the night
And almost all the day ;
And now returned back again.
We have brought you a branch of May.
j fHfe:gWP!P^^
NOTES.
255
A branch of May we have brought you,
And at your door it stands ;
It is but a sprout,
But it's well budded out
By the work of our Lord's hands.
The hedges and trees they are so green.
As green as any leek ;
Our heavenly Father he watered them
With his heavenly dew so sweet :
The heavenly gates are open wide,
Our paths are beaten plain ;
And if a man be not too far gone,
He may return again.
The life of man is but a span,
It flourishes like a flower ;
We are here to-day and gone to-morrow,
And we are dead in an hour.
The moon shines bright and the stars give a light,
A little before it is day ;
So God bless you all, both great and small,
And send you a joyful May ! "
Page 68 : ** The contest of the Ivy and the Holly:'— The two
following pieces are from Wright's ** Songs and Carols," pub-
lished by the Percy Society : —
" Hallelujah, hallelujah^ hallelujah now sing we I
Here comes holly that is so gent.
To please all men in his intent.
Hallelujah.
But Lord and Lady of this hall.
Whosoever against holly call, —
Hallelujah.
256
NOTES.
^
Whosoever against holly do cry,
In a lepe ^ shall he hang full high.
Hallelujah.
Whosoever against holly do sing,
He may weep and handes wring.
Hallelujah."
** Holly and ivy made a great party
Who should have the mastery
In lands where they go.
Then spake Holly, I am free and jolly,
I will have the mastery,
In lands where they go.
Then spake Ivy, I am loud and proud,
And I will have the mastery
In lands where they go.
Then spake Holly and set him down on his knee,
I pray thee, gentle Ivy, say me no villany,
In lands where they go."
There is a modern carol of TAe Holly and the Ivy, frequently
printed during the last hundred years. I give it from a broad-
side printed in the last century by T. Bloomer of Birmingham : —
" The holly and the ivy
Now are both well grown :
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown.
Chorus. — The rising of the sun.
The running of the deer,
The playing of the merry organ.
Sweet singing in the choir.
A large basket.
f
NOTES.
257
The holly bears a blossom
As white as the lily flower ;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To be our sweet Saviour.
The holly bears a berry.
As red as any blood ;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To do poor sinners good.
The holly bears a prickle,
As sharp as any thorn ;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
On Christmas-day in the morn.
The holly bears a bark,
As bitter as any gall ;
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
For to redeem us all.
The holly and the ivy
Now are both well grown :
Of all the trees that are in the wood
The holly bears the crown."
Page 71: ^^ Modryb Marya" — The figure of the noble-
hearted vicar of Morwenstow stands out with striking pic-
turesqueness. Had he been a border-minstrel in the old
tumultuous days, he would surely have written many a ballad
that the world would not willingly let die. His poems are few
and unequal ; the best are singularly precious.
P^gs 75 • *' ^'^ shepherds went their hasty way^ — Few
great poets have written more execrably than Coleridge, when
he is at his worst. His carol begins well ; but nothing more
R
258
NOTES.
inappropriate could be conceived than the reference to "The
maiden's love-confessing sigh," **Waris a ruffian," &c. The
carol was written in 1799, two years after the peerless Kubla
Khan and the first part of Christabel.
Page 80 : "Masters, in this hall''' — In Sedding's *'Antient
Christmas Carols " this carol is said to be translated from the
French.
Page 103 : " Who can forget ^^' &c. — These stanzas are taken
from the speech of Mercy towards the close of "Christ's
Victorie in Heaven," the first part of ** Christ's Victorie and
Triumph in Heaven, and Earth, over, and after Death," first
published in 1610. The poem is full of striking and magnificent
imagery, expressed in richly-glowing jewelled stanzas. Milton
was a close student of Giles Fletcher.
Page 106 : ** The Shepherds'' —Yierixy Vaughan, called "the
Silurist," from the fact that he was born among the Silures or
people of South Wales, is incomparably the greatest of English
devotional poets. The pieces that I have quoted, fine as they
are, do not give the reader a just idea of his greatness. "Who-
ever will study Silex Scintillans as it deserves to be studied,
read it through and through again and again, cannot fail to be
deeply impressed by the magical beauty of the diction, the
perfect success with which the most difficult metrical effects
are lightly produced, the imaginative splendour and subtlety.
Vaughan was no less a born poet than Shelley or Keats or
Coleridge. He was born in 1621, and died in 1695. The
first part of Silex Scintillans was published in 1651 ; the
complete collection in two parts appeared in 1655. **01or
Iscanus. A Collection of some select Poems and Translations.
Formerly written by Henry Vaughan, Silurist," was published
by the author's friends in 165 1 ; it is far inferior to the volume
in I
I
NOTES.
259
'^ of sacred poems. Vaughan published nothing after 1655. ^^'
Grosart has edited a complete edition of Vaughan's writings.
Page III : "New Prince, JVezv PompP — A very quaint and
tender little poem. Another piece, entitled "New Heaven,
New War," is perhaps almost too quaint for modem readers ;
yet I venture to quote it in full : —
** Come to your heaven, you heavenly quires !
Earth hath the heaven of your desires ;
Remove your dwelling to your God,
A stall is now his best abode ;
Sith men their homage do deny.
Come, angels, all their fault supply.
His chilling cold doth heat require.
Come, seraphims, in lieu of fire ;
This little ark no cover hath,
Let cherubs' wings his body swathe ;
Come, Raphael, this babe must eat,
Provide our little Toby meat.
Let Gabriel be now his groom,
That first took up his earthly room ;
Let Michael stand in his defence,
Whom love hath linked to feeble sense ;
Let Graces rock when he doth cry,
And angels sing his lullaby.
The same you saw in heavenly seat
Is he that now sucks Mary's teat ;
Agnize your King a mortal wight,
His borrowed weed lets not your sight ;
Come kiss the manger where he lies.
That is your bliss above the skies.
260 NOTES.
This little Babe so few days old
Is come to rifle Satan's fold ;
All hell doth at his presence quake,
Though he himself for cold do shake ;
For in this weak unarmed wise
The gates of hell he will surprise.
With tears he fights and wins the field,
His naked breast stands for a shield ;
His battering shots are babish cries ;
His arrows, looks of weeping eyes ;
His martial ensigns, cold and need ;
And feeble flesh his warrior's steed.
His camp is pitch&d in a stall,
His bulwark but a broken wall ;
The crib his trench, hay-stalks his stakes ;
Of shepherds he his muster makes ;
And thus, as sure his foe to wound,
The angels' trumps alarum sound.
My soul, with Christ join thou in fight ;
Stick to the tents that he hath pight ;
Within his crib is surest ward,
This little Babe will be thy guard ; g'
If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy, %
Then flit not from this Heavenly Boy." (iH
I must also find room for the poem, entitled "The Burning
Babe":—
"As I in hoary winter's night stood shivering in the snow, i;
Surprised I was with sudden heat which made my heart to glow ; ',!r\
And lifting up a fearful eye to view what fire was near,
A pretty babe all burning bright did in the air appear,
i
NOTES.
261
^
Who scorched with excessive heat such floods of tears did shed,
As though his floods should quench his flames which with his
tears were fed.
Alas ! quoth he, but newly born in fiery heats I fry,
Yet none approach to warm their hearts or feel my fire but I !
My faultless breast the furnace is, the fuel wounding thorns ;
Love is the fire and sighs the smoke, the ashes shame and scorns ;
The fuel Justice layeth on, and Mercy blows the coals ;
The metal in this furnace wrought are men's defiled souls ;
For which, as now on fire I am, to work them to their good,
So will I melt into a bath to wash them in my blood.
With that he vanish'd out of sight and swiftly shrunk away.
And straight I called unto mind that it was Christmas Day."
Ben Jonson told Drummond of Hawthomden that he would
have been content to destroy many of his own writings if he
had written ** The Burning Babe."
Southwell's longest poem, "St. Peter's Complaint," is
smoothly written, but tedious. After three years' close impri-
sonment in the Tower, Southwell was executed at Tyburn, on
February 22, 1594-5, at the age of thirty-four or thirty-five.
Though he was found guilty of treasonable practices, his sole
offence was that he had been a zealous priest of the Church of
Rome. He appears to have been a man of noble character,
humble and gentle and intrepid. [In the last line of the pen-
ultimate stanza of " New Prince, New Pomp," the word praishi
should be prizM. I quoted from an inaccurate reprint.]
Page 113 : '^ All after pleasures as I rid one day" — These
lines are very characteristic of the polished high-born scholar,
who, after strenuous attempts to gain preferment at court,
abandoned at length the fruitless quest and found content in the
retirement of a country vicarage. Herbert is a soothing writer ;
his Muse took an equable steady flight, never soaring into the
ilri=^=t^^ig=t?is^^
262
NOTES.
"highest heaven of invention," but yet keeping at a respectable
distance from the ground. He numbers at least ten readers for
Vaughan's one, — a fact which is not at all surprising.
Page 115 : ^' Immortal Babe^' &c.— From "The Shaking of
the Olive Tree," 1660. Joseph Hall, Bishop of Exeter, was
born in 1574, and died on 8th September 1656. He was an
eloquent, liberal-minded, witty, and bold divine. He was also
one of our earliest English satirists.
Page 116 : " The Shepherd's Song.'' — This piece is subscribed
** E. B." in the original editions (1600 and 1614) of " England's
Helicon." Other pieces in that delightful collection bear the
name " Edmund Bolton " in full ; so doubtless we are right in
giving the present poem to Bolton. In the early editions the
two last lines are printed thus : —
" In Daui(rs Cittie dooth this Sunne appeare :
Clouded in flesh, yet Sheepheards sit we heere."
My punctuation seems preferable. Bolton is known as a poet
only from his contributions to " England's Helicon."
Page 120 : "^ Hymn of the Nativity'"' — This poem strikingly
exhibits Crashaw's power and weakness. Thrice-refined golden
speech, a subtle sense of melody, fervid richness of imagination,
— these great gifts were marred by a constant indulgence in
violent conceits, by diffuseness, and occasionally by studied
harshness of phrase and rhythm. The second piece, " Hymn
for the Epiphany," offends so outrageously by ill-timed conceits,
that I have only printed the first part of it, although there are
many fine lines in the latter part. Crashaw was driven from
Cambridge at the time of the Civil Wars ; escaped to France,
embraced the Catholic faith, and afterwards became secretary
to Cardinal Palotta at Rome. He died at Loretto in 1650 (at
^5^ffiS^H^K^^5J5^^fe^;^^^s^:^:
NOTES.
k
263
fc> the age of thirty-seven) ; and it has been supposed that he was
poisoned. His poems were published in 1646 under the title of
.; " Steps to the Temple," and " The Delights of the Muses."
>^' Page 128: " Run^ shepherds, rutty" &c — Too often in read-
ing Drummond of Hawthornden we feel that the poet is giving
us "words, words, words." His work is always polished and
refined, but seldom throbs with life. The two sonnets I have
quoted are graceful but (it must be confessed) commonplace.
S There is an elaborate life of Drummond (who died in 1649) t>y
Professor Masson.
Page 130 : " 0/ the Epiphany." — Sir John Beaumont was an
elder brother of Francis Beaumont the dramatist. Drayton, in
his Epistle to Henry Reynolds, couples the brothers together in
terms of genial praise : —
"Then the two Beaumonts and my Browne arose,
My dear companions whom I freely chose
My bosom friends ; and in their several ways
Rightly born poets, and in these last days
Men of much note and no less nobler parts,
Such as have freely told to me their hearts,
As I have mine to them."
John Beaumont was created a baronet in 1626 and died in 1628,
aetat, 44. He is the author of ** Bos worth Field and other
Poems " (posthumously printed in 1629), which have been
praised by Wordsworth for their ** spirit, elegance, and har-
mony."
Page 132 : " Where is this blessed Babe ? " — ^Jeremy Taylor,
whose prose is one of the glories of English literature, handles
his lyre awkwardly. At starting we are confronted with a false
rhyme ; and as we proceed we feel that the versification is want-
jSf^i^fr^r^rSfN^lHSgFS???^^^^
264
NOTES.
ing in ease and fluency. "What a change when we turn to the
perfect prose-periods of the funeral sermon on the Countess of
Carbery !
Page 136 : "And they laid hint in a manger.^'' — Sir Edward
Sherburne came of an ancient Lancashire family ; he was born
in 1 616, and is supposed to have died in 1702. He made a
translation of Manilius and of some plays of Seneca. When
the Civil Wars broke out he sided with the King's party and
lost his fortune. He was knighted by Charles the Second.
Page 140 : " Rejoice^ rejoice^ with heart and voiced'' — The
author, Francis Kinwelmersh, was a member of Gray's Inn. He
had a brother Antony, who also wrote verse.
Page 143 : "Sleeps haby^ sleeps — This Christmas Lullaby has
not been printed before.
Page 145: "^ Rocking Hymn."—Wi\hQx's besetting fault
is his prolixity ; he seldom knew when to stop. It is tedious
to read through the voluminous list of his forgotten writings, but
to read the works themselves is a Herculean task. Yet every
student of English poetry knows that some of Wither's songs
are miracles of sweetness, and that even in his most arid wastes
of prose and verse there are green oases. It is much to be wished
that some capable scholar would make an anthology from
Wither. From the cradle hymn I ventured to omit the second
stanza, which ran thus : —
" Though thy conception was in sin,
A sacred bathing thou hast had ;
And though thy birth unclean hath bin,
A blameless babe thou now art made :
Sweet baby, then, forbear to weep ;
Be still, my dear ; sweet baby, sleep."
NOTES.
265
^> The piece would be improved by making a few more omissions.
Not so with the carol which follows, written in Wither's blithest
strain, perfect from first to last.
Page 151 : *' Now poor men to the justices.^'' — The old poet
Gascoigne tells us that tenants used to take their landlords
presents on Quarter-Day :
" And when the tenants come to pay their quarter's rent,
They bring some fowl at Midsummer, a dish of fish in Lent ;
At Christmas a capon, at Michaelmas a goose ;
And somewhat else at New-Year's Wde, for fear their lease flie
looser
Page 152 : " The wild mare in is bringing''' — The game of
"shoeing the wild mare." A youth was chosen to be the wild
mare : he was allowed a start, and the other players then pursued
him with the object of shoeing him. From Strutt's meagre de-
scription it appears to have been a poor sport. I suppose that
in the attempt to escape from the pursuers the wild mare kicked
out lustily, upsetting chairs and tables. I don't know what
game is meant in the previous line, " The boys are come to
catch the owls.'' In the next stanza "noddy" is an old game
of cards resembling cribbage. Of the game of " Rowland-ho "
I can find no particulars.
ij Page 154 : " With the last year's brand" &c.— When a piece
^ of last year's Christmas log was preserved, the household
reckoned itself secure from the assaults of hobgoblins, as Her-
rick elsewhere relates : —
** Kindle the Christmas brand, and then
Till sunset let it burn ;
Which quenched, then lay it up again
Till Christmas next return.
<^yi?fa^^=i=t^^lr^^<^r^^^^
is^msss^^^^i^s^^^^^^si^^^^as^^^^i^^^k^-
266
NOTES.
Part must be kept wherewith to teend
The Christmas log next year ;
And where 'tis safely kept, the fiend
Can do no mischief there."
Page 156 : " Wassail the trees. ''^ — This custom was kept up
till the end of the last century. Brand relates that in 1 790 a
Cornish man informed him it was the custom for the Devonshire
people on the eve of Twelfth Day to go after supper into the
orchard with a large milk-pan full of cyder with roasted apples
in it Each person took what was called a clayen cup, i.e. an
earthenware cup full of cyder, and standing under each of the
more fruitful trees, sung —
•* Health to thee, good apple-tree,
Well to bear, pocket-fulls, hat-fulls,
Peck-fulls, bushel-bag-fulls."
After drinking part of the contents of the cup, he threw the
rest, with the fragments of the roasted apples, at the trees, amid
the shouting of the company. Another song sung on such
occasions was : —
" Here's to thee, old apple-tree,
Whence thou may'st bud, and whence thou may'st blow,
And whence thou may'st bear apples enow !
Hats full ! caps full !
Bushel-bushel-sacks full.
And my pockets full, too, huzza ! "
It is supposed that the custom was a relic of the sacrifice to
Pomona.
Page 163 : " March beer." — Harrison, in his "Description of
England," ii. 6, says : — "The beer that is used at noblemen's
tables in their fixed and standing houses is commonly of a year
old, or peradventure of two years' tunning or more, but this is
i
NOTES.
267
not general. If is also brewed in March^ and therefore called
March beer ; but for the household it is usually not under a
month's age, each one coveting to have the same stale as he may,
so that it be not sour, and his bread as new as possible, so that
it be not hot."
Page 168 : " O you merry ^ merry souls. ''^ — These lively verses,
with some additions and alterations, are also found in an undated
collection of songs entitled "The Hop Garland." — Last year
the enterprising publishers, Messrs. Field & Tuer, issued a
reprint of ** Round about the Coal Fire."
Page 170: ' * Caput apri defero. " — There is still another Boar's-
head Carol, in addition to those in pp. 170-2. Ritson first
printed it (from Add. MS. 5665, the valuable folio which he
presented to the British Museum) : —
** Nowell, nowell, no well, nowell.
Tidings good I think to tell.
The boar's head that we bring here
Betokeneth a prince without peer,
Is bom this day to buy us dear,
Nowell.
A boar is a sovran beast,
And acceptable in every feast,
So mote this lord be to most and least,
Nowell.
This boar's head we bring with song.
In worship of him that thus sprung
Of a virgin to redress all wrong,
Nowell."
Page 173 : "May both with manchet stand replete."-
chet was fine wheaten bread.
•Man-
268
NOTES.
Page 176: **A jolly wassail bowl,^^ — The undated black-
letter '* New Christmas Carols," from which this piece is taken,
is bound up with three other collections of Christmas verses.
The volume, which is in the Bodleian Library, formerly belonged
to Antony-^-Wood. Each tract numbers only a few i2mo
pages. In the same little volume is a curious prose-tract on
the Arraignment of Christmas.
Page 183: ^^ Here we come a whistling.^'' — Another corres-
pondent of Notes and Queries mentions that at Harrington in
Worcestershire it was customary for children on St. Thomas's
Day (December 21) to go round the village begging for apples,
and singing —
" Wassail, wassail through the town,
If you've got any apples throw them down ;
Up with the stocking and down with the shoe,
If you've got no apples money will do ;
The jug is white and the ale is brown,
This is the best house in the town,"
An Oxfordshire lady tells me that at her house near Witney
the village children sing on Christmas-eve —
* * Holly and ivy, tickle my toe,
Give me a red apple and let me go ;
Give me another for my little brother,
And I'll go home to my father and my mother."
A writer in Current Notes for January 1856 gives the following
verses : —
" I wish you a merry Christmas
And a happy New Year,
A pocket full of money,
And a cellar full of beer.
And a good fat pig to serve you all the year.
t
>^ j,^^i;^^j^ i giapiji ^^g ji^^
NOTES:
269
Ladies and gentlemen, sat by the fire,
Pity we poor boys out in the mire."
In Oxfordshire the children sing the first four lines of this
piece, and then proceed : —
** All the roads are very dirty,
My boots are very thin ;
I've got a little pocket.
Will you put a penny in ? "
Page 190 : " Ai hot cockles beside.^' — In the game of hot cockles
one of the players, after being blindfolded, laid his head in
another's lap. The rest proceeded in turn to strike the blind-
folded victim, until he was released from his position by
guessing the name of the person who struck him. In Strutt's
" Sports and Pastimes " (ed. 1801, p. 293) there is an illustration
if of this ancient sport from a fifteenth-century illuminated MS.
■jl Page 214 : " Provide for Christmas,^"* — Poor Robin's Almancu^
;s from which this and other pieces are taken, began in 1663 and
;^ ended in 1 776. No public or private library, so far as I know,
4 possesses a complete set of these very interesting almanacs.
I] It has been stated that Robert Herrick was the original pro-
g jector of the series, but I believe there is no authority for the
% statement. '* Poor Robin " was the nom de plume of Robert
\ Winstanley of Saffron Walden, a list of whose publications is
k given by Mr. H. Eckroyd Smith in Notes and Queries^ ser. vi.
% vol. 7, pp. 321-3. More information about Poor Robin is very
% much needed.
i^l Page 225 : " Right wantonly a mumming^ — Christmas mum-
^ ming still continues in many parts of the country, but it is only
the shadow of its former self. A few years ago it was kept up
at Chiswick. Robert Bell (in " Songs of the Peasantry" ) gives an
270
NOTES.
amusing Mummer's Song that used to be sung in the neighbour-
hood of Richmond, Yorkshire, by a rustic actor dressed as an
old horse. One verse in a Somersetshire Mummer's song is
very droll : —
"Here comes I, liddle man Jan,
With my zword in my hand !
If you don't all do
As you be told by I,
I'll zend you all to York
For to make apple-pie."
My fair Oxfordshire correspondent writes : — " The mummers
still go round to the farm-houses at home, but their glory has
departed. I can remember being immensely pleased with their
acting, and remember one little bit they said which always
took my fancy. One fellow would shout out, * Come in, Jack
Spinner ! ' Then in came Jack Spinner, saying : —
' Yer comes I as an't bin it,
We my gret yead and little wit.'
{i.e. Here come I that haven't been yet
With my great head and little wit.) "
In "Round about our Coal Fire" we read: — "Then comes
Mumming or Masquerading, when the squire's wardrobe is
ransacked for dresses of all kinds, and the coal-hole searched
around, or corks burnt to black the faces of the fair or make
deputy-moustaches; and every one in the family except the
squire himself must be transformed from what they were."
Page 227 : 0/ ash-heaps^ in the which ye use" &c. — William
Browne (in one of his sonnets to Celia) alludes to this curious
mode of divination : —
I
I
* ' If, forced by our sighs, the flame shall fly
Of our kind love and get within thy rind,
Be wary, gentle Bay, and shriek not high
When thou dost such unusual fervour find :
Suppress the fire, for, should it take thy leaves,
Their crackling would betray us and thy glory."
Works, ed. Hazlitt, ii. 288.
Page 229 : " Where bean's the king of the sport here J' — A bean
and pea were enclosed in the Twelfth-cake. When the cake
was divided, he who got the slice containing the bean was king
of the feast, and the girl to whose lot the pea fell was queen.
This Twelfth-tide custom existed in France as early as the
thirteenth century. See some interesting remarks in the preface
to Sandys' Christmas Carols (pp. lxxvi.-ix.)
Page 230 : * * IVith gentle lambs-wool. " — Lambs-wool consisted
of strong nappy ale, in which roasted crab-apples were pressed.
Nares conjectures that the name was derived from the liquor's
"smoothness and softness, resembling the wool of lambs."
Page 231 : " Christmas in the Olden Time,'^ — It may not be
amiss here to quote a lengthy passage, relating to Christmas
observances, from the fourth book of Barnabe Googe's " Popish
Kingdom," (1570), a translation of Thomas Kirchmaier's [Nao-
georgus'] " Regnum Papisticum " (1553). The writer is describ-
ing the customs observed in Germany ; but in many respects the
description would be equally applicable to English society in the
middle of the sixteenth century : —
" Three weeks before the day whereon was born the Lord of
grace,
And on the Thursday boys and girls do run in every place,
And bounce and beat at every door, with blows and lusty snaps
And cry, the advent of the Lord, not born as yet perhaps :
272
NOTES.
I
And wishing to the neighbours all, that in the houses dwell,
A happy year, and everything to spring and prosper well :
Here have they pears and plums, and pence, each man gives
willingly,
For these three nights are always thought unfortunate to be :
"Wherein they are afraid of sprites and cankered witches' spite,
And dreadful devils black and grim, that then have chiefest
might.
In these same days young wanton girls that meet for marriage be.
Do search to know the names of them that shall their husbands
be.
Four onions, five, or eight, they take, and make in every one
Such names as they do fancy most and best do think upon.
Thus near the chimney then they set, and that same onion than
The first doth sprout doth surely bear the name of their good
man.
Their husband's nature eke they seek to know and all his
guise;
When as the sun hath hid himself, and left the starry skies.
Unto some woodstack do they go, and while they there do
stand.
Each one draws out a faggot stick, the next that comes to hand.
Which if it straight and even be, and have no knots at all,
A gentle husband then they think shall surely to them fall.
But if it foul and crooked be, and knotty here and there,
A crabbed churlish husband then they earnestly do fear.
These things the wicked Papists bear, and suffer willingly.
Because they neither do the end, nor fruits of faith espie :
And rather had the people should obey their foolish lust,
Than truly God to know, and in him here alone to trust.
Then comes the day wherein the Lord did bring his birth to
pass,
Whereas at midnight up they rise, and every man to Mass.
f
NOTES.
273
This time so holy counted is, that divers earnestly
Do think the waters all to wine are changed suddenly :
In that same hour that Christ himself was born, and came to
light,
And unto water straight again transformed and altered quite.
There are beside that mindfully the money still do watch,
That first to altar comes, which then they privily do snatch.
The priests lest other should it have takes oft the same away,
Whereby they think throughout the year to have good luck in
play,
And not to lose : then straight at game till daylight do they
strive,
To make some present proof how well their hallowed pence will
thrive.
Three masses every priest doth sing upon that solemn day,
With offerings unto every one, that so the more may play.
This done, a wooden child in clouts is on the altar set,
About the which both boys and girls do dance and trimly jet,
And carols sing in praise of Christ, and for to help them here,
The organs answer every verse, with sweet and solemn cheer.
The priests do roar aloud, and round about the parents stand,
To see the sport, and with their voice do help them and their
hand.
Thus wont the Coribants perhaps upon the mountain Ide,
The crying noise of Jupiter new born with song to hide,
To dance about him round, and on their brazen pans to beat,
Lest that his father finding him, should him destroy and eat.
Then followeth Saint Stephen's Day, whereon doth every
man
His horses jaunt and course abroad, as swiftly as he can.
Until they do extremely sweat, and then they let them blood,
For this being done upon this day, they say doth do them
good,
I
274
NOTES.
And keeps them from all maladies and sickness through the
year,
As if that Stephen any time took charge of horses here.
Next John the son of Zebedee hath his appointed day,
Who once by cruel tyrant's will constrained was, they say,
Strong poison up to drink, therefore the Papists do believe.
That whoso puts their trust in him, no poison them can grieve.
The wine beside that hallowed is, in worship of his name,
The priests do give the people that bring money for the same.
And after with the selfsame wine are little manchets made,
Against the boisterous winter storms, and sundry such like
trade ;
The men upon this solemn day do take this holy wine.
To make them strong, so do the maids to make them fair and
fine.
Then comes the day that calls to mind the cruel Herod's
strife.
Who seeking Christ to kill, the King of everlasting life,
Destroyed the infants young, a beast unmerciless,
And put to death all such as were of two years age or less.
To them the sinful wretches cry, and earnestly do pray
To get them pardon for their faults, and wipe their sins away.
The parents when this day appears, do beat their children all
(Though nothing they deserve), and servants all to beating fall.
And monks do whip each other well, or else their Prior great,
Or Abbot mad, doth take in hand their breeches all to beat
In worship of these Innocents, or rather as we see,
In honour of the cursed king that did this cruelty.
The next to this is New Year's Day, whereon to every friend
They costly presents in do bring and New Year's gifts do
send.
These gifts the husband gives his wife and father eke the child.
And master on his men bestows the like, with favour mild.
^
NOTES.
275
And good beginning of the year they wish and wish again,
According to the ancient guise of heathen people vain.
These eight days no man doth require his debts of any man,
Their tables do they furnish out with all the meat they can :
With marchpanes, tarts, and custards great they drink with
staring eyes,
They rout and revel, feed and feast as merry all as pies,
As if they should at the entrance of this New Year have to die,
Yet would they have their bellies full and ancient friends ally.
The wise men's day here followeth, who out from Persia far,
Brought gifts and presents unto Christ, conducted by a star.
The Papists do believe that these were kings, and so them call.
And do affirm that of the same there were but three in all.
Here sundry friends together come, and meet in company.
And make a king amongst themselves by voice or destiny ;
"Who after princely guise appoints his officers alway.
Then unto feasting do they go, and long time after play :
Upon their boards in order thick the dainty dishes stand.
Till that their purses empty be and creditors at hand.
Their children herein follow them, and choosing princes here.
With pomp and great solemnity, they meet and make good
cheer
With money either got by stealth, or of their parents eft,
That so they may be trained to know both riot here and theft.
Then also every householder to his ability.
Doth make a mighty cake, that may suffice his company :
Herein a penny doth he put, before it come to fire.
This he divides according as his household doth require ;
And every piece distributeth, as round about they stand.
Which in their names unto the poor is given out of hand ;
But whoso chanceth on the piece wherein the money lies
Is counted king amongst them all, and is with shouts and
Itftf
276
NOTES.
Exalted to the heavens up, who taking chalk in hand,
Doth make a cross on every beam and rafters as they stand :
Great force and power have these against all injuries and
harms
Of cursed devils, sprites and bugs, of conjurings and charms.
So much this king can do, so much the crosses bring to pass,
Made by some servant, maid or child, or by some foolish ass.
Twice six nights then from Christmas they do count with dili-
gence.
Wherein each master in his house doth bum up frankincense :
And on the table sets a loaf, when night approacheth near.
Before the coals, and frankincense to be perfumed there :
First bowing down his head he stands, and nose and ears and
eyes.
He smokes and with his mouth receive[sj the fume that doth
arise :
Whom followeth straight his wife, and doth the same full solemnly,
And of their children every one, and all their family :
Which doth preserve they say their teeth, and nose, and eyes,
and ear,
From every kind of malady, and sickness all the year.
When every one received hath this odour great and small.
Then one takes up the pan with coals, and frankincense and
all.
Another takes the loaf, whom all the rest do follow here,
And round about the house they go, with torch or taper clear.
That neither bread nor meat do want, nor witch with dreadful
charm
Have power to hurt their children, or to do their cattle harm.
There are that three nights only do perform this foolish gear,
To this intent, and think themselves in safety all the year.
To Christ dare none commit himself. And in these days beside
They judge what weather all the year shall happen and betide :
NOTES.
277
Ascribing to each day a month, and at this present time
The youth in every place do flock, and, all appareled fine,
With pipers through the streets they run, and sing at every door
In commendation of the man rewarded well therefore,
Which on themselves they do bestow, or on the church, as tho*
The people were not plagued with rogues and begging friars
enow.
There cities are where boys and girls together still do run,
About the street with like, as soon as night begins to come,
And bring abroad their wassail bowls, who well rewarded be
With cakes and cheese and great good cheer and money plen-
teously.
Page 239 : '* Mark well my heavy doleful tale.'* — Christmas
festivities were not wholly ended on Twelfth day. The 7th of
January, Distaff day (otherwise called Rock day), was given
up partly to business and partly to play, as Herrick tells us in
the following dainty poem (two lines of which I am forced to
omit) : —
*' Partly work and partly play
Ye must on Saint Distaffs day.
From the plough soon free your team,
Then come home and fodder them.
If the maids a-spinning go,
Bum the flax and fire the tow.
Bring in pails of water then,
Let the maids bewash the men.
Give Saint Distaff all the right,
Then bid Christmas sport good night ;
And next morrow, every one
To his own vocation,"
27^
NOTES.
On Candlemas day, the 2nd of February, the hoUy and ivy
were taken down, and all traces of Christmas disappeared, as
Herrick tells us in his Ceremonies for Candlemas Eve. Lector
benevole. vale.
i[ule*s come antr Rule's gane,
^nt( ijje fjabe fcastetj to eel;
,Sae 3ocft tnaun to fjts flail again,
^nti 3enn2 to l^er totjeel.
\
Printed by BALLANTYNE, H ANSON & CO.
Edinburcrh and London
4 mwmm ^ mmmmmsmmmmmmmm
m
^mmsmmass^m^