Edmund Sedding

“ 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:—
Masters in this hall,
Hear ye news to-day,
Brought from over sea,
And ever I you pray.
Chorus.Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Nowell! sing we clear!
Holpen are all folk on earth,
Born is God's Son so dear:
Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Nowell! sing we loud! ”

“ Amongst the earliest specimens of carols are those for bringing in the boar's head.
The boar's head was the first dish served up at ancient feasts, and was carried in with great solemnity, dressed with garlands. Flourishes of trumpets and singing of carols accompanied the pageant. The custom of bringing in the boar's head is still observed in great houses, and (as has been stated over and over again) at Queen's College, Oxford, where upon Christmas night the precentor and choir sing a modernized version of Wynkin de Worde's carol. ”

“ There is a place prepared in hell,
From which thou canst not flee.
Another species of carol is that for bringing in the wassel. This term, derived from the Saxon, and signifying "Be in health," occurs in the early Anglo-Norman-French carol preserved in the British Museum, and translated by Mr. Douce. The wassel was introduced with considerable state originally upon Twelfth Night, but in course of time New Year's Eve came in for a share of these festivities ”

“ The mental powers of the printer are again taxed to invent "catching" titles for his publications; and we have "The Christmas Holly," "The Star of Bethlehem," "Christmas Mirth," "Blossoms of Holiness," "The Heavenly Garland," "The Select Carolist," "The Morning Star," "The Golden Chaplet," and "The Gem, a variety of excellent carols."
The design and execution of the woodcuts are sometimes highly ludicrous; and when coloured in the "approved style," they are apt to provoke mirth rather than devotion. ”

“ Upon another is shown a Village, a young man borne to the skies in the arms of some ethereal beauty (by sprites of all sizes and shapes) , our Blessed Lord instituting the Holy Eucharist, a Family Party, and a Deathbed. Again, we have the Seven Ages, boys playing at marbles, girls gathering flowers, fiends seizing a murderer, and a congregation at worship, to illustrate "favourite carols for the present year." ”

“ In A.D. 1822 Gilbert published the music of twelve favourite carols preserved in the west of England, and in the following year enlarged the collection to twenty. Mr. W. Sandys, F.S.A., brought out in A.D. 1833 a set of fourscore carols, with seventeen melodies, and some French Noëls. This valuable work, containing an abundant store of information on all customs and traditions of Yule-tide, has been since supplemented by a book by the same author on "Christmas; its History, Festivities, and Carols." Mr. Wright's reprint of mediæval and later carols, published for the Percy Society, with Dr. ”