RELIGIOUS
Scriptural,
Legendary,
Lullaby.
SECULAR
Convivial or festive.
Wassail,
Boar's head,
In praise of holly and ivy.
Of the variety called Legendary, I propose now to speak. These are, as a rule, the most popular of all carols, deriving mainly, as I said before, their origin, and many of their expressions, from the ancient mysteries. In the old plays songs are frequently introduced which resemble, in a very striking manner, what are commonly called carols. The following song of the shepherds occurs in one of the Coventry pageants:
[Footnote 50: Last]
The last lines actually form the chorus of one of the carols in the fifteenth-century manuscript formerly in the possession of Mr. Wright:
"About the field they piped full right,
Even about the midst of the night;
Adown from heaven they saw come a light,
Tyrle, tyrle,
So merrily the shepherds began to blow."
Again, in Ludus Coventriae:
"Joy to God that sitteth in heaven,
And peace to man on earth ground;
A child is born beneath the levyn,
Through him many folk should be unbound."
A sixteenth-century carol commences:
"Salvation overflows the land.
Wherefore all faithful thus may sing,
Glory to God most high
And peace on the earth continually,
And onto men rejoicing."