Page:010 Once a week Volume X Dec 1863 to Jun 64.pdf/21

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Dec. 26, 1863.]
ONCE A WEEK.
13

Here's to Fillpail, and to her long tail,
God send our master as never may fail
Of a cup of good beer; I pray you draw near,
And our jolly wassail it's then you shall hear.

****

Come, butler, come bring us a bowl of the best,
And I'll hope your soul in Heaven will rest,
Hut if you do bring us a bowl of the small,
Then down may fall butler, and bowl, and all.

I venture to quote the beautiful carol by that prince of Christmas poets, Robert Herrick:—

THE STAR SONG.
A CAROLL TO THE KING. SUNG AT WHITEHALL.

2.  1.Tell us, thou cleere and heavenly tongue,
2.  Where is the Babe but lately sprung?
2.  Lies He the lillie-banks among?

2.  Or say, if this new Birth of ours
2.  Sleeps, laid within some ark of flowers,
2.  Spangled with dew-light; thou canst cleere
2.  All doubts, and manifest the where.

2.  3.Declare to us, bright Star, if we shall seek
2.  Him in the morning's blushing cheek,
2.  Or search the beds of spices through,
2.  To find Him out?

Star.find HimNo this ye need not do;
2.  But only come and see Him rest,
2.  A princely Babe in's Mother's brest.

Chorus.He's seen! He's seen! Why then around
2.  Let's kisse the sweet and holy ground;
2.  And all rejoyce that we have found
2.  A King, before conception, crown'd.

2.  4.Come, then, come then, and let us bring,
2.  Unto our prettie twelfth-tide King,
2.  Each one his severall offering.

Chorus.And when night comes, wee'l give Him
wassailing;
2.  And that His treble honours may be seen,
2.  Wee'l chuse him King, and make His Mother
Queen.

The custom of using carols in church at Christmas time has been retained in Cornwall, Wales, the Isle of Man, and the west and north of England, and has been in many places revived with the greatest success. In good truth, the Christmas carol bids fair to be re-instated with full honours to its orthodox position among the festivities of Yule Tide. The annexed paragraph from a Hawaiian journal will moreover testify that the primitive and godly practice is not now confined to our own England:—

On Christmas Eve (at Honolulu, Sandwich Islands) we had a midnight service, in the native language, at which their majesties (King Kamehamèha and Queen Emma) attended. . . . Afterwards, we went through the principal streets singing carols. Forty torchlights, fifteen feet high, formed of the stem of an oleaginous nut peculiar to the islands, were borne by native men, and completely illuminated the streets. We stopped at intervals, and sang some of the old English carols. . . . The king joined in the tenor heartily.

One more example, and I have done. May our good friends who with loving hearts celebrate the "Holy Tide of Christmas," not omit from their catalogue of festivities the hearty and genuine old carol.

The following is extracted from "Antient Christmas Carols," published by Novello, and is written by Mr. Morris:—

Masters in this hall,
Hear ye news to-day,
Brought from over sea,
And ever I you pray.
Chorus.Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Nowell! sing we clear!
Holpen are all folk on earth,
Born is God's Son so dear:
Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Nowell! sing we loud!
God to-day hath poor folk rais'd,
And cast adown the proud.

Going over the hills,
Through the milk-white snow,
Heard I ewes bleat
While the wind did blow.
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

Shepherds many an one
Sat among the sheep,
No man spake more word
Than they had been asleep.
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

Quoth I, "Fellows mine,
Why this guise sit ye?
Making but dull cheer,
Shepherds though ye be?"
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

****

Quoth these fellows then,
"To Bethlem Town we go,
To see a mighty Lord
Lie in manger low."
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

"How name ye this Lord,
Shepherds?" then said I,
"Very God," they said,
"Come from heaven high."
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

Then to Bethlem town
We went two and two,
And in a sorry place
Heard the oxen low.
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

Therein did we see
A sweet and goodly May,
And a fair old man,
Upon the straw she lay.
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

And a little child
On her arm had she,
"Wot ye Who This is?"
Said the hinds to me.
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

Ox and ass Him know,
Kneeling on their knee,
Wondrous joy had I
This little Babe to see.
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

This is Christ the Lord,
Masters be ye glad!
Christmas is come in,
And no folk should be sad.
Chorus. Nowell, &c.

Edmund Sedding.