Full of religious fervor, and grocer zeal for cups of Peko tea, he concludes with this devout wish May all who do these truths condemn Ne'er taste one single drop of them Carols begin to be spoken of as not belonging to this century (1) and yet no one, that I am aware of, has attempted a collection of these fugitives. As the carols now printed will at no distant period become obsolete, an alphabetical list of those in my possession is subjoined. It excludes all that are disused at the present time, nor does it contain any of the numerous compositions printed by religious societies under the denomination of Carols. Christmas Carols now annually Printed. 1. A glorious star from heaven appear'd. 3. A Virgin most pure as the Prophets did tell. 5. All Englishmen I pray you now attend. 7. All hail the morn! loud anthems raise. 13. As I sat on a sunny bank. 14. As it fell out one May morning. 15. As it fell out upon a day, rich Dives made a feast. 16. Attend, good people, now I pray. 17. Away dark thoughts, awake my joys. (1) October 3, 1822, at the dinner of a city company I heard Mr. Taylor of Covent Garden Theatre sing a new ballad of "good old times," when Christmas had its Christmas carols, And ladies' sides were hoop'd like barrels. 18. Behold the grace appears. 19. Christians awake! salute the happy morn. 20. Christmas now is drawing near at hand. 21. Come, behold the virgin Mother. 22. Come, ye rich, survey the stable. 23. From the High Priest an armed band. 29. Hark! all around the welkin ring. 30. Hark! hark! what news the angels bring. 31. Hark! how the heralds of the Lord. 32. Hark! the herald angels sing. 33. Have you not heard and seen our Saviour's love? 34. Here is a fountain of Christ's blood. 35. Hosanna! to the Prince of Light. 36. In Bethlehem City in Judea it was. 37. In friendly love and unity. 38. In God let all his Saints rejoice. 39. Inspire me, Heav'n! nor in me leave a thought. 40. In the Reign of Great Cæsar, the Emperor of Rome. 41. Let all good Christian people here. 42. Let all that are to mirth inclined. 43. Let children proclaim their Saviour and king. 45. Let Christians all with one accord rejoice. 49. My master and dame I well perceive. - 50. Now when Joseph and Mary went to Bethelem bound. 51. O fair, O fair Jerusalem! when shall I come to thee? 52. O faithful Christians, as you love. 53. O! faithless, proud, and sinful man. 54. O see man's Saviour in Bethlehem born. 55. O the Almighty Lord. 56. Of Jesu's birth, lo! angels sing. 57. On Christmas day in the morn. 58. On Christmas night all Christians sing. 61. Reader, pray do not think I am unkind. 62. Rejoice and be merry, set sorrow aside. 63. Rejoice now all good Christians. 64. See how the blessed Babe on Mother's knee. 65. Shepherds rejoice, lift up your eyes. 66. Sinners, who now do at this time. 67. Sweeter sounds than music knows. 68. The faithless, proud, and sinful man. 69. The first good joy our Lady had. 70. The holly and the ivy, now are both well grown. 71. The King of Glory sends his Son. 72. The moon shines bright, and the stars give a light. 73. The Shepherds amaz'd, the Saviour behold. 74. This second Carol here I sing. 75. This is the truth sent from above. 76. Thus Angels sing, and thus sing we. 77. Turn your eyes that are so fixed. 78. Upon the five and twentieth of December. 79. When bloody Herod reigned king. 80. When Christ the Saviour did appear. 81. When Christ our Lord drew nigh. 82. When Jesus Christ had lived. 83. When Jesus Christ our Lord. 84. When righteous Joseph wedded was. 85. When Zachariah was a priest. 86. While shepherds watch'd their flocks by night. 87. Within this rock that rock is laid. 88. Ye mortals all, of high and low degree. 89. Ye young and ye gay. This Collection I have had little opportunity of increasing except when in the country I have heard an old woman singing an old Carol, and brought back the Carol in my pocket with less chance of its escape, than the tune in my head. The attachment of Carol buyers (1) extends even to the wood cuts by which they are surrounded. Some of these, on a sheet of Christmas Carols, in 1820, were so rude in execution, that I requested the publisher, Mr. T. Batchelar, of 115, Long Alley, Moorfields, to sell me the original blocks. I was a little surprised by his telling me that he was afraid it would be impossible to get any of the same kind cut again. When I proffered to get much better engraved, and give them to him in exchange for his old ones, he said "Yes, but better are not so good; I can get better myself: now these are old favourites, and better cuts will not please my customers so well." However, by assuring him that artists could copy any thing, I obtained them. Those who are fond of specimens of all kinds of wood engraving, will be amused by the annexed impressions from these four blocks, produced in the metropolis of 3 Wise Men. Christ tempted. (1) Mr. Southey describing the fight " upon the plain of Patay," tells of one who fell, as having In his lord's castle dwelt, for many a year, Joan of Arc, b. x. 1. 466. These ditties which now exclusively enliven the industrious servant maid and the humble labourer, gladdened the festivity of royalty in ancient times. Henry VII., in the third year of his reign, kept his Christmas at Greenwich: on the twelfth night, after high mass, the king went to the England in this advanced state of art. They almost defy rivalry with the earliest conceptions, and shew the prevailing taste in graphic illustration among those who in due season, as naturally buy Christmas Carols as they long for mince pies and eat plum-pudding. I recollect the sheet of Carols twice its present size, with more than double the number of cuts, and sold for a halfpenny but alas! "every thing is chang ed;" the present half sheets are raised in Christ brought before. price to a whole penny. I must not omit to observe that Mr. Bat chelar was certainly sincere in the belief he expressed of his customers' attachment to his wood blocks. When he sold them to me he expressly stipulated for a reservation of copyright in the designs; and he exercised it last year by publishing a sheet of Carols, adorned with fac-similes of the impressions which the reader is now looking upon. The inscriptions are placed beneath the cuts exactly as they stand in the original sheet. Pilate. Taken down from the Cross. hall and kept his estate at the table; in the middle sat the Dean, and those of the king's chapel, who immediately after the king's first course sang a carall."-Leland. Collect. vol. iv. p. 237.)-Granger innocently observes that "they that fill the highest and the lowest classes of human life, seem in many respects to be more nearly allied than even themselves imagine. A skilful anatomist would find little or no difference in dissecting the body of a king and that of the meanest of his subjects; and a judicious philosopher would discover a surprising conformity in discussing the nature and qualities of their minds."-Biog. Hist. of Engl., ed. 1804, vol. iv. p. 356. |