Transcriber’s Note: In the HTML version of this e-book, you can click on the [Listen] link to hear an mp3 audio file of the carol. Click on the [MusicXML] link to download the notation in MusicXML format. These music files are the music transcriber’s interpretation of the printed notation and are placed in the public domain.

CHRISTMAS CAROLS

IN THE SAME SERIES.

ENGLISH NURSERY RHYMES.

Selected and Edited by L. EDNA WALTER. B.Sc.
Harmonized by LUCY E. BROADWOOD.
Illustrated by DOROTHY M. WHEELER.

Containing 32 full-page illustrations in colour, decorative borders, and about 60 decorative headings and tail-pieces. Demy 4to (11½ × 8¾ inches).

SONGS FROM
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
AND
THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS.

Words by LEWIS CARROLL.
Music by LUCY E. BROADWOOD.
Illustrations by CHARLES FOLKARD.

Containing 12 full-page illustrations in colour, decorative borders, and many small illustrations. Demy 4to, cloth.

Published by A. & C. BLACK, Ltd., 4, 5, & 6, Soho Square, London, W.1.

CHRISTMAS
CAROLS

Old English Carols for Christmas and other Festivals.

SELECTED AND EDITED BY
L. EDNA WALTER M.B.E., B.Sc., A.C.G.I.
HARMONISED BY
LUCY E. BROADWOOD
ILLUSTRATED BY
J.H. HARTLEY

NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY, FIFTH AVENUE.
LONDON: A. & C. BLACK, LIMITED, 4, 5, & 6, SOHO SQUARE.

This book is dedicated to
ELIZABETH
because she rather liked it.

Published, Autumn, 1922.

FOREWORD

Special times or events have been celebrated from time immemorial by feasting, dancing, and singing. Often the dancers formed a ring and sang as they danced, first the dance and later the song being called a carol. The carol was not always strictly religious, although in the old times both the singing and dancing often took place in cathedrals and churches. Some of the carols that we still know are connected with times before the Christian era. They have now lost their dance and the melody has changed, but the ideas are very ancient. [The Holly and the Ivy] suggest the old Druids, and we still put up Holly and Ivy in our houses just as people did before the time of Christ. We put them up at Christmas, and we sing the carol at Christmas—but the idea at the back of it is older than Christmas, for the Church accepted all that was found to be of value in the old customs, and adapted them to set forth the newer faith. The carrying in of the [Boar’s Head] is an old ceremony, too. It was considered a Royal Dish, and Henry II. ordered it to appear at a special feast which he gave in honour of his son.

In the old days people thought of the New Year as the time when the trees and flowers began to come out—that is about May Day—so the May Day Carols celebrate the New Year’s Day of ever so long ago. Gradually, however, carols have centred more and more round events in the life of Christ, and especially round the wonderful story of His Birth. Many of them have just been handed on from one person to another through hundreds of years, some have only been written down at all during the last century. For example, the version given here of the “[Black Decree]” was sung into my phonograph by an old man of seventy-five. All the carols chosen for this book are those which have been sung through many, many years at times of festival and mirth (note how often food and drink are referred to), so don’t expect them to be pious in the modern way or to be at all like our present-day hymns.

The Publishers desire to acknowledge their indebtedness to Miss Lucy E. Broadwood for kindly permitting them to reproduce in this collection the following carols from her ENGLISH TRADITIONAL SONGS AND CAROLS: “[King Pharaoh],” “[The Moon Shines Bright],” “[The Sussex Mummers’ Carol],” and “[I’ve been Rambling all the Night].” Also to Miss A.G. Gilchrist for the “[Pace Egging Song]” and “[The Seven Joys of Mary],” and to the Rev. S. Baring-Gould and his publishers (Messrs. Methuen & Co., Ltd.) for the “[Somersetshire Wassail]” from A GARLAND OF COUNTRY SONG.

	PAGE
[GOOD KING WENCESLAS]	[12]
[AS JOSEPH WAS A-WALKING]	[14]
[CHRISTMAS DAY IN THE MORNING]	[15]
[GOD REST YOU MERRY, GENTLEMEN]	[16]
[THE HOLY WELL]	[18]
[THE FIRST NOWELL]	[20]
[THE CHERRY TREE CAROL]	[23]
[DIVES AND LAZARUS]	[24]
[THE HOLLY AND THE IVY]	[25]
[A VIRGIN MOST PURE]	[26]
[THE WASSAIL SONG. Part I.]	[28]
[THE WASSAIL SONG. Part II.]	[29]
[THE BOAR’S HEAD CAROL]	[30]
[ALL THAT ARE TO MIRTH INCLINED]	[33]
[KING PHARAOH: Part I. The Miracle of the Cock]	[34]
[KING PHARAOH: Part II. The Miraculous Harvest]	[37]
[THE BLACK DECREE]	[38]
[SOMERSETSHIRE WASSAIL]	[40]
[A CHILD THIS DAY IS BORN]	[43]
[THE MOON SHINES BRIGHT]	[44]
[A CAROL FOR TWELFTH DAY]	[47]
[THE LORD AT FIRST DID ADAM MAKE]	[48]
[THE SEVEN JOYS OF MARY]	[50]
[THE SUSSEX MUMMERS’ CAROL]	[52]
[AS I SAT ON A SUNNY BANK]	[53]
[PACE-EGGING SONG]	[54]
[I’VE BEEN RAMBLING ALL THE NIGHT]	[57]
[GOOD CHRISTIAN MEN, REJOICE]	[58]

ILLUSTRATIONS IN COLOUR
BY
J.H. HARTLEY

Page and Monarch forth they went	[Frontispiece]
	PAGE
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep	[21]
Mary said to cherry tree, “Bow down to my knee”	[22]
The Boar’s head in hand bear I	[31]
Let all your songs and praises be unto His Heavenly Majesty	[32]
“Say, where did you come from, good man?”	[35]
“Come, husbandman,” cried Jesus, “cast all your seed away”	[36]
O maid, fair maid, in holland smock	[41]
Glad tidings to all men	[42]
Awake, Awake, good people all!	[45]
For I perforce must take my leave of all my dainty cheer	[46]
Oh, here come we jolly boys, all of one mind	[55]
A branch of May, my dear, I say, before your door I stand	[56]
Now to the Lord sing praises, all you within this place	[On the Cover]

Good King Wenceslas

1. GOOD King Wenceslas looked out

On the Feast of Stephen,

When the snow lay round about,

Deep and crisp and even.

Brightly shone the moon that night,

Though the frost was cruel,

When a poor man came in sight,

Gathering winter fuel.

2. “Hither, page, and stand by me

If thou know’st it, telling,

Yonder peasant, who is he?

Where and what his dwelling?”

“Sire, he lives a good league hence

Underneath the mountain;

Right against the forest fence,

By St. Agnes’ fountain.”

3. “Bring me flesh, and bring me wine,

Bring me pine-logs hither;

Thou and I will see him dine,

When we bear them thither.”

Page and monarch forth they went,

Forth they went together

Through the rude wind’s wild lament

And the bitter weather.

4. “Sire! the night is darker now,

And the wind blows stronger;

Fails my heart, I know not how,

I can go no longer.”

“Mark my footsteps, good my page;

Tread thou in them boldly;

Thou shalt find the winter’s rage

Freeze thy blood less coldly.”

5. In his master’s steps he trod

Where the snow lay dinted;

Heat was in the very sod

Which the saint had printed.

Therefore Christian men, be sure,

Wealth or rank possessing,

Ye who now will bless the poor

Shall yourselves find blessing.

[[audio/mpeg]] [[MusicXML]]

As Joseph was a-walking

[[audio/mpeg]] [[MusicXML]]

1. As Joseph was a-walking

He heard an angel sing,

“This night shall be the birthtime

Of Christ, the Heavenly King.

2. “He neither shall be born

In housen nor in hall.

Nor in the place of Paradise,

But in an ox’s stall.

3. “He neither shall be clothed

In purple nor in pall,

But in the fair white linen

That usen babies all.

4. “He neither shall be rocked

In silver nor in gold,

But in a wooden manger

That resteth on the mould.”

5. As Joseph was a-walking,

There did an angel sing;

And Mary’s child at midnight

Was born to be our King.

6. Then be ye glad, good people,

This night of all the year,

And light ye up your candles,

For His star it shineth clear.