"Joseph was an old man,
And an old man was he,
And he married Mary,
Queen of Galilee,"—
which, for a carpenter, was certainly a distinguished alliance. It goes on to describe Joseph and his bride walking in a garden,—
"Where the cherries they grew
Upon every tree;"
and upon Joseph's refusal, in somewhat rude language, to pull some of these cherries for Mary, on the ground of her supposed misconduct,—
"Oh! then bespoke Jesus,
All in his mother's womb,
'Go to the tree, Mary,
And it shall bow down;
"'Go to the tree, Mary,
And it shall bow to thee,
And the highest branch of all
Shall bow down to Mary's knee.'"
And then, after describing Joseph's conviction and penitence at this testimony to Mary's truth, occur the beautiful verses to which we alluded:
"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 rock'd
In silver nor in gold,
But in a wooden cradle,
That rocks on the mould.
"'He neither shall be christen'd
In white wine nor in red,
But with the spring water
With which we were christened.'"
The strange, wild ballad beginning,—
"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 the still stranger one of "The Holy Well," we would have copied at length, as examples of these curious relics, if we could have spared the space. Of the latter, however, we will give our readers some account, to show the singular liberties which were taken with sacred personages and things in these old carols. In the one in question, the boy Jesus, having asked his mother's permission to go and play, receives it, accompanied with the salutary injunction,—