I. TELL us, thou clear and heavenly tongue, II. Or say, if this new Birth of ours III. Declare to us, bright star, if we shall seek 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 breast. CHORUS. He's seen! He's seen! why then around, Let's kiss the sweet and holy ground; And all rejoice that we have found A King, before conception, crowned. IV. Come then, come then, and let us bring Unto our pretty twelfth-tide King, Each one his several offering. CHORUS. And when night comes we'll give him wassailing; And that his treble honours may be seen, We'll choose him King, and make his mother Queen. TWELFTH NIGHT, OR KING AND QUEEN. Now, now the mirth comes, With the cake full of plums, Where bean's the king of the sport here; Beside we must know, The pea also Must revel as queen in the court here. Begin then to choose, This night as you use, Who shall for the present delight here ; Be a king by the lot, And who shall not Be twelfth-day queen for the night here. Which known, let us make Joy-sops with the cake; And let not a man then be seen here, Who unurged will not drink, To the base from the brink, A health to the king and queen here. Next crown the bowl full With store of ale too; And thus ye must do To make the wassail a swinger. Give then to the king And queen wassailing; And though with ale ye be wet here, As free from offence, As when ye innocent met here. CEREMONY FOR CANDLEMAS EVE. OWN with rosemary and bays, Down with the mistletoe ;* Instead of holly, now upraise The greener box, for show. The holly hitherto did sway; Until the dancing Easter-day Then youthful box, which now hath grace Grown old, surrender must his place Unto the crispèd yew. When yew is out, then birch comes in, And many flowers beside, To honour Whitsuntide. Green rushes then, and sweetest bents, With cooler oaken boughs, Come in for comely ornaments, To re-adorn the house. Thus times do shift; each thing his turn does hold; 41 This is the first reference to the mistletoe, in its quality of a Christmas evergreen, that we have met with in the writings of our early poets. ANOTHER CEREMONY. Down with the rosemary, and so Down with the bays and mistletoe ; Wherewith ye dressed the Christmas hall; That so the superstitious find No one least branch there left behind; CEREMONY FOR CANDLEMAS DAY. KINDLE the Christmas brand, and then Till sunset let it burn; Which quenched, then lay it up again, Part must be kept, wherewith to tend In Herrick's time it was customary with the country people to prolong the merriment of the Christmas season until Candlemas Day-a circumstance referred to in the following couplet : CANDLEMAS DAY. END now the white-loaf and the pic, |