We must not omit to mention Milton’s ‘Ode and Hymn on the Nativity.’
“It was the winter wild,
While the heaven-born child,
All meanly wrapt, in the rude manger lies;”
and single hymns or carols may be found in other writers, to name which would only be to swell this, already I fear, too tiresome list. Lewis’s ‘Presbyterian Eloquence,’ 1720, contains a catalogue of Presbyterian books, in which is the following: ‘A Cabinet of Choice Jewels; or, the Christian’s Joy and Gladness: set forth in sundry pleasant new Christmas carols, viz. a carol for Christmas Day, to the tune of Over Hills and High Mountains; for Christmas Day, at night, to the tune of My Life and my Death; for St. Stephen’s Day, to the tune of O, cruel bloody Tale; for New Year’s Day, to the tune of Caper and Firk it; for Twelfth Day, to the tune of O Mother Roger.’ Several of Poor Robin’s Almanacs contain carols or Christmas poems.
In the broadside and other lists of chap books, ballads, &c. published about 150 years ago, the names of several well known carols occur, as, ‘When Jesus Christ was twelve years old,’ ‘Joseph an aged man truly,’ ‘Jury came to Jerusalem,’ ‘Angel Gabriel,’ ‘Christus natus est,’ &c. There is also a small collection printed, about the same time, by William Thackery, at the Angel, in Duck Lane. The carol, ‘Christians awake, salute the happy morn,’ is said to have been written by Mr. Greatorex, the father of the late organist, about a century since, and it is stated that Mr. Webbe, the composer, set one. The late Mr. Hone, in his work on Mysteries, 1823,—where, as well as in his ‘Every Day Book,’ ‘Year Book,’ and ‘Table Book,’ much interesting information may be found relating to Christmas customs—gives a list of eighty-nine recent carols, and mentions one by Francis Hoffman, in 1729, with the curious title of ‘A Christmas Carol on Pekoe Tea’; or, a Sacred Carol, which like tea that is perfectly good and fine, will be most useful and grateful all the year round, from Christmas to Christmas, for ever; humbly addressed to Queen Caroline, and the princess Carolina, and all the Royal Family.’ Perhaps, if this could be seen, it might turn out to be a tea-dealer’s puff, for even now with all our worldly experience, we are occasionally taken in to read a puff from its innocent and unassuming appearance. There have been frequent publications of carols, from time to time, for use, according to the demand, partly in broadsides and partly in the nature of chap publications, and in a popular form down to the present time, which need not, and indeed cannot, be enumerated; and the account given of the old collected publications is not presumed to be perfect.
In 1822 the late Mr. Davies Gilbert published twelve favourite western carols, with the tunes, and in 1823 a second edition, containing twenty, with a few old ballads, &c. In 1833, the author of the present work published a collection of eighty carols, ancient and modern, with seventeen tunes; and a copy of the Christmas play of St. George and the Dragon, with an introduction relating to Christmas customs, the essential part of which has been embodied in these pages. Mr. Parker, in 1838, printed sixteen original carols, of a devout nature, with tunes adapted; and Mr. Chappell introduced some carols in his collection of National English Airs.
In 1847 Mr. Sharpe published eleven Christmas carols, with good illustrations; and in the same year, Dr. Rimbault, a great musical antiquary, edited, in a tasteful form, five old carols, with six tunes. In 1841, as before mentioned, Mr. Wright edited a collection of forty-nine old Christmas carols, for the Percy Society; and in 1847, songs and carols for the same Society; they are seventy-six in number, of which about half may be considered carols; there was an illustrated collection by Mr. Cundell, in 1846, and there are probably others which have not come to my knowledge.
Mr. Hervey, in 1836, published the ‘Book of Christmas,’ containing a good deal of information in a pleasing style, with illustrations; and two years since a very elegant work was edited by Mr. H. Vizetelly, called ‘Christmas with the Poets,’ being a selection of poetical pieces, including some carols from the thirteenth century to the present time, forming an interesting collection, embellished with fine woodcuts.
Besides the several broadside carols, and printed collections in town and country, before referred to, there have been various collections of Welsh carols; several are among the Myvyrian MSS., belonging to the Cymmrodorion: No. 14, written about the year 1640, contains thirty-two; and No. 15, of about the same date, has two. The Lffyr Carolan, or ‘Book of Carols,’ fourth edition, Shrewsbury, 1740, comprises sixty-six carols for Christmas, and five summer carols; and Blodeugerdd Cymric, or the ‘Anthology of Wales,’ Shrewsbury, 1779, contains forty-eight Christmas carols, nine summer carols, three May carols, one winter carol, one nightingale carol, and a carol to Cupid, which might interest my readers, if I could translate it.
The carols printed in the following pages, are taken from a collection of several hundred English, including the broadside publications for the last thirty years; and French, including several editions in the patois. Some of the English, according to reputation, have been known in Cornwall for nearly three hundred years past, and these, with others, have been obtained from old manuscript copies now in my possession, or oral tradition from the singers themselves, and the tunes have been procured in the same way, though I am indebted to my friend, Mr. Wm. Chappell, for the harmonies.
I have selected, out of several versions of the western Christmas play of ‘St. George and the Dragon,’ that which seemed best adapted for the purpose. Specimens have been printed in Hone’s ‘Every Day Book,’ the ‘Gentleman’s Magazine,’ and the ‘Popular Rhymes’ of Mr. Halliwell, who has applied his store of reading to the illustration of our poetical literature. There is a version also in that dialect with some description, in Jan Trenoodle’s ‘Specimens of Cornish Provincial Dialect,’ a small work for which I am answerable, and therefore, perhaps, ought not to refer to it, but I know no other of the sort.