Page:Songs of Old Canada.djvu/96



A more simple and perfect example of the old noël than this, would be difficult to find. The melody has the same simplicty as the words and is well worth preservation as a Christmas hymn.

Michelet's remark, quoted by M. Gagnon, well illustrates the origin of the noël:—

"In those days, a marvellous dramatic talent, frequently stamped with a childish simplicity but full of boldness and kindliness, existed in the Church… At times she made herself little; she, the great, the learned, the eternal, babbled with her children and translated the ineffable for them into a language they could understand."