Page:Oxford Book of English Verse 1250-1900.djvu/997

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  Seem those halls when sunlight launches
  Shafts of gold thro' leafless branches,
Where the winter's feathery mantle blanches
        Field and farm and lane.

Chorus. Christmas knows a merry, merry place, &c.

Drayton.

  'Tis where Avon's wood-sprites weave
    Through the boughs a lace of rime,
  While the bells of Christmas Eve
    Fling for Will the Stratford-chime
  O'er the river-flags emboss'd
  Rich with flowery runes of frost—
O'er the meads where snowy tufts are toss'd—
        Strains of olden time.

Chorus. Christmas knows a merry, merry place, &c.

Shakespeare's Friend.

  'Tis, methinks, on any ground
    Where our Shakespeare's feet are set.
  There smiles Christmas, holly-crown'd
    With his blithest coronet:
  Friendship's face he loveth well:
  'Tis a countenance whose spell
Sheds a balm o'er every mead and dell
        Where we used to fret.

Chorus. Christmas knows a merry, merry place, &c.

Heywood.

  More than all the pictures, Ben,
    Winter weaves by wood or stream,
  Christmas loves our London, when
    Rise thy clouds of wassail-steam—