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

. 26, 1863.] Here's to Fillpail, and to her long tail,

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:—

Tell us, thou cleere and heavenly tongue,

Where is the Babe but lately sprung?

Lies He the lillie-banks among?

2. Or say, if this new Birth of ours

Sleeps, laid within some ark of flowers,

Spangled with dew-light; thou canst cleere

All doubts, and manifest the where.

Declare to us, bright Star, if we shall seek

Him in the morning's blushing cheek,

Or search the beds of spices through,

To find Him out?

Star.No this ye need not do;

But only come and see Him rest,

A princely Babe in's Mother's brest.

Chorus.He's seen! He's seen! Why then around

Let's kisse the sweet and holy ground;

And all rejoyce that we have found

A King, before conception, crown'd.

Come, then, come then, and let us bring,

Unto our prettie twelfth-tide King,

Each one his severall offering.

Chorus.And when night comes, wee'l give Him

wassailing;

And that His treble honours may be seen,

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:—

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:—

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