CAROLS, as the name implies, are joyous songs for festive occasions, at one period accompanied with dancing. In an old vocabulary of A.D. 1440, Caral is defined as A Songe; in John Palsgrave's work of A.D. 1530, as Chanson de Noël; whilst in AngloSaxon times the word appears to have been rendered Kyrriole, a chanting at the Nativity. The earliest carol in English, known under that name, is the production of Dame Berners, prioress of St. Alban's in the fourteenth century, entituled A Carolle of Huntynge. This is printed on the last leaf of Wynkyn de Worde's collection of Christmas carols, A.D. 1521, and the first verse modernized runs thus:

"As I came by a green forest side,

I met with a forester that bade me abide,
Whey go bet, hey go bet, hey go how,
We shall have sport and game enow."

Milton uses the word carol to express a devotional hymn:

"A quire
Of squadron'd angels hear his carol sung."

And that distinguished light of the English Church, Bishop Jeremy Taylor, speaks of the angels' song on the morning of the Nativity as the first Christmas carol: "As soon as these blessed choristers had sung their Christmas carol, and taught the Church a hymn to put into her offices for

ever," etc.

According to Durandus, it was customary in early days for bishops to sing with their clergy in the episcopal houses on the feast of the Nativity. "In Natali prælati cum suis clericis ludant, vel in domibus episcopalibus." These merry ecclesiastics sung undoubtedly Christmas carols.

But carols, like everything else, must be divided into two sorts, religious and secular-the carols "in

prayse of Christe" and the merry songs for the festive board or fireside. These may be broken up into further varieties, thus:

RELIGIOUS. Scriptural, Legendary, Lullaby.

SECULAR.

Convivial or festive, Wassail,

Boar's head,

In praise of holly and ivy.

Of the variety called Legendary, I propose now to speak. These are, as a rule, the most popular of all carols, deriving mainly, as I said before, their origin, and many of their expressions, from the ancient mysteries. In the old plays songs are frequently introduced which resemble, in a very striking manner, what are commonly called carols. The following song of the shepherds occurs in one of the Coventry pageants:

"As I rode out this endenes* 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."

The last lines actually form the chorus of one of the carols in the fifteenth

century manuscript formerly in the possession of Mr. Wright:

"About the field they piped full right,
Even about the midst of the night;
Adown from heaven they saw come a light,
Tyrle, tyrle,

So merrily the shepherds began to blow."

Again, in Ludus Coventriæ:

"Joy to God that sitteth in heaven,

And peace to man on earth ground; A child is born beneath the levyn, Through him many folk should be unbound."

A sixteenth-century carol com

mences:

"Salvation overflows the land,
Wherefore all faithful thus may sing,
Glory to God most high

And peace on the earth continually,
And unto men rejoicing."

* Last.

In the Coventry Plays again we find:

"Of a maid a child should be born,
On a tree he should be torn,"
Deliver folks that are forlorn."

A genuine carol of the sixteenth century supplies us with the following:

"Jesu, of a maid thou wouldst be born,
To save mankind that was forlorn,
And all for our sins."

And one of the reign of Henry VI.:

"Thy sweet Son that thou hast borne,
To save mankind that was forlorn,
His head is wreathed in a thorn,
His blissful body is all to-torn."

The "Cherry-Tree Carol," formerly a great favorite throughout England, recollections of which yet linger amongst the country-folk, is in many instances a literal copy from the Coventry Mysteries. I give the popular version of the "Cherry-Tree Carol:"

"Joseph was an old man,

And an old man was he,
When he wedded Mary
In the land of Galilee.

But cheer up, my dearest, སུ དག

And be not cast down.'

I give a portion of the rest of the carol, some of the verses being remarkably touching and beautiful:

"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.
"He neither shall be christened
In white wine nor in red,
But with the spring water

With which we were christened.'"

In the fifteenth pageant of the Coventry Mysteries the following lines

occur:

"Jos. Now I know well, I have offended

my God in trinity,

Speaking to my spouse these unkind words.

For now I believe well it may none other be,

But that my spouse beareth the King's Son of Bliss."

in

It is interesting to note the way which the more modern composition retains all the incidents and traditions of the medieval mystery. Our popular carol speaks of St. Joseph as an old man, and an old man was he, while the mystery represents him as saying (p. x.), I am an old man, and I am so aged and so old. The tree is the same, there is the same desire of the Virgin Mother to taste the fruit, the same refusal and bitter retort of her husband, the bowing-down of the tree, and the regret of St. Joseph for his unkindness. Mr. Hone was not ashamed to say of the "Cherry-Tree Carol:" "The admiration of my earliest days for some lines in it still remains, nor can I help thinking that the reader will see somewhat of cause for it."

The following example is still given on almost every broadside annually printed it is called "The Three Ships." I ought perhaps first to state that the Three Ships are supposed to signify the mystery of the Holy Trinity, the Incarnation being, as the Speculum Vita Christi hath it, "the high work of all the Holy Trinity, though it be that only the Person of the Son was incarnate and became man :"

"I saw three ships come sailing in,

On Christmas day, on Christmas day:
I saw three ships come sailing in

On Christmas day in the morning.

"And what was in those ships all three, On Christmas day? etc., And what was in, etc.,

On Christmas day in the morning?

"Our Saviour Christ and our Lady, etc.,

On Christmas day in the morning.

Pray whither sailed those ships all three? etc., On Christmas day in the morning.

"O, they sailed into Bethlehem, etc.,

On Christmas day in the morning;
And all the bells on earth shall ring, etc.,
On Christmas day in the morning.

"And all the angels in heaven shall sing, etc.,
On Christmas day in the morning.
And all the souls on earth shall sing, etc.,
On Christmas day in the morning.

"Then let us all rejoice amain, etc., Ou Caristmas day in the morning."

Another rude and rather amusing version is sometimes given of this carol, called "The Sunny Bank :"

"As I sat on a sunny bank,

A sunny bank, a sunny bank,
As I sat on a sunny bank,

On Christmas day in the morning,

"I spied three ships come sailing by, etc.,

On Christmas day, etc.;

"And who should be with those three ships? On Christmas day, etc.,

"But Joseph and his fair lady, etc.,
On Christmas day, etc.

"Oh, he did whistle, and she did sing,
And all the bells on earth did ring,
For joy that our Saviour they did bring
On Christmas day in the morning."

An old Dutch carol, given by Hoffman, commences:

"There comes a vessel laden,
And on its highest gunwale
Mary holds the rudder,

The angel steers it on."

And thus explains the mission of the ship:

"In one unbroken course

There comes that ship to land:
It brings to us rich gifts,
Forgiveness is sent to us."

This translation is taken from Mr. About the sixteenth century a similar "Christmas-tide." Sandys' book on carol was sung at Yule, which is given by Ritson:

"There comes a ship far sailing then,
Saint Michael was the steersman;
Saint John sat in the horn:
Our Lord harped, our Lady sang,
And all the bells of heaven they rang
On Christ's Sunday at morn.

'We're seeking for no leaves, Thomas,

But for a friend of thine, We're seeking for sweet Jesus Christ, To be our heavenly guide,' 'Go down, go down to yonder town, And sit in the gallery,

And there you'll see sweet Jesus Christ
Nailed to a yew tree.'

And they went down to yonder town
As fast as foot could fall,

And many a bitter and grievous tear
From our Lady's eyes did fall.
'O, peace, mother, O, peace, mother,
Your weeping doth me grieve,
I must suffer this, he said,

For Adam and for Eve.

O mother, take you John Evangelist To be your favorite son,

And he will comfort you sometimes, Mother, as I have done.'

*

"Then he laid his head on his right shoulder,
Seeing death it struck him nigh,
The Holy Ghost be with your soul,
I die, mother, I die.'"

Many of my readers will recollect the famous carol of "The Seven Joys," still croaked out in the streets of London and elsewhere about Christmas time. Very similar carols to this exist of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, one of which I select from Mr. Wright's manuscript. I have, as in all other cases, modernized the orthography:

OF THE FIVE JOYS OF OUR LADY.

*

"The first joy that came to thee
Was when the angel greeted thee,
And said, Mary, full of charity,
Ave, plena gratia.'

The second joy that was full good
When God's Son took flesh and blood,
Without sorrow and changing of mood,
Enixa es puerpera.'
The third joy was full of might,
When God's Son on rood was put,
Dead and buried, and laid in sight,
Surrexit die tertia."

The fourth joy was on Holy Thursday,
When God to heaven took his way,
God and man withouten nay,

'Ascendit supra sidera.'

The fifth joy is for to come,

At the dreadful day of doom,

When he shall deem us all and some

'Ad cœli palatia.'

The following carol for St. Stephen's day is from a manuscript of the time of King Henry VI. The reader will be amused to find the great protomartyr here introduced as a servant of King Herod, and intrusted with the task of bringing in the boar's head, a famous dish, and "the first mess" at Christmas and other high festivals. There was evidently some honor attached to this office, for Holinshed tells

us that King Henry II., in 110, on the day of his son's coronation, served him as sewer, bringing up the bar's head, according to the manner; and in 1607, at St. John's College, Oxford the "first mess was carried by the tallest and lustiest of all the guard."

"Saint Stephen was a clerk in Kn Herod's hall,

And served him of bread and dra as ever king befall.

"Stephen out of kitchen came, wit boar's head in hand,

He saw a star was fair and brigh over Bethlem stand.

This brings us to the more modern legendary carol of "The Carnal [a bird] and the Crane," in which the same incident occurs of the bird crow ing in the dish :

"As I passed by a river side,

And there as I did rein [run],
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.'

*

"Where is the golden cradle

That Christ was rocked in? Where are the silken sheets That Jesus was wrapt in?' "A manger was the cradle That Christ was rocked in; The provender the asses left So sweetly he slept on.'