Good-night, good-night, the day is done; Rock, rock the cradle, little one; The lamp is low, and low the sun, Good-night! Good-night, good-night, the Christmas bough Bends to the rocking wind, and thou To mother’s ditty noddest now, Good-night! Good-night, good-night, the holy day Bring baby sweets, and sweets alway! Rock, rock–then, tiptoe, steal away, […]

(Written by John of Hildesheim in the Fourteenth Century.) A CHRISTMAS TALE FROM AN OLD ENGLISH CHRONICLE. A modern version of an old English Chronicle. Here followeth the manner and form of seeking and offering; and also of the burying and translations of the three Holy and Worshipful Kings of Cologne: Jaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar. […]

I. The shutters of a little spur of warehouses which breaks out into mountainous stores and open valleys of streets around the corner, but which itself overlooks no fairer view than a narrow, muddy alley of a thoroughfare scarcely broad enough to admit two drays abreast, and, by actual measurement,–taken with persistent diligence by the […]

You have never heard of Alcala? Well, it is a little village nestling between the Spanish hills, a league from great Madrid. There is a ring of stone houses, each with its white-walled patio and grated windows; each with its balcony, whence now and then a laughing face looks down upon the traveller. There is […]

I. Long ago, in Brittany, under the government of St. Gildas the Wise, seventh abbot of Ruiz, there lived a young tenant of the abbey who was blind in the right eye and lame in the left leg. His name was Sylvestre Ker, and his mother, Josserande Ker, was the widow of Martin Ker, in […]

“My dear,” said Mr. Grapewine, over the dinner-table, about a fortnight before Christmas,–“how many days to Christmas?” Mrs. Grapewine counted on her fingers; looked a little uncertain up towards the ceiling, and at last applied to the calendar on the wall behind her, exclaiming, when she had mentally calculated the time,– “Week and six days; […]

O you merry, merry Souls, Christmas is a-coming, We shall have flowing bowls, Dancing, piping, drumming. Delicate minced pies To feast every virgin, Capon and goose likewise, Brawn and a dish of sturgeon. Then, for your Christmas box, Sweet plum-cakes and money, Delicate Holland smocks, Kisses sweet as honey. Hey for the Christmas ball, Where […]

FIRST PART. All hail to the days that merit more praise Than all the rest of the year, And welcome the nights that double delights As well for the poor as the peer! Good fortune attend each merry-man’s friend, That doth but the best that he may; Forgetting old wrongs, with carols and songs, To […]

Thrice holy ring, afar and wide, The merry bells this Christmas-tide; Afar and wide, through hushed snow, From ivied minster-portico, Sweet anthems swell to tell the tale Of that young babe the shepherds hail Sitting amid their nibbling flocks What time the Hallelujah shocks The drowsy earth, and Cherubim Break through the heaven with harp […]

IN GERMANY. Three weeks before the day whereon was born the Lord of grace, And on the Thursday, boys and girls do run in every place, And bounce and beat at every door, with blows and lusty snaps, And cry the advent of the Lord, not born as yet, perhaps: And wishing to the neighbors […]

Come follow, follow me, Those that good fellows be, Into the buttery Our manhood for to try; The master keeps a bounteous house, And gives leave freely to carouse. Then wherefore should we fear, Seeing here is store of cheer? It shows but cowardice At this time to be nice. Then boldly draw your blades […]

Mark well my heavy, doleful tale, For Twelfth-day now is come, And now I must no longer sing, And say no words but mum; For I perforce must take my leave Of all my dainty cheer, Plum-porridge, roast-beef, and minced-pies, My strong ale and my beer. Kind-hearted Christmas, now adieu, For I with thee must […]

In Bethlehem, that noble place, As by the Prophet said it was, Of the Virgin Mary, filled with grace. Salvator mundi natus est. Be we merry in this feast, In quo Salvator natus est. On Christmas night an Angel told The shepherds watching by their fold, In Bethlehem, full nigh the wold, “Salvator mundi natus […]

The first Nowell the Angel did say Was to three poor Shepherds in the fields as they lay; In fields where they lay keeping their sheep, In a cold winter’s night that was so deep. Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Nowell, Born is the King of Israel. They looked up and saw a Star Shining in the […]

With merry glee and solace This second day of Christmas Now comes in bravely to my master’s house, Where plenty of good cheer I see, With that which most contenteth me, As brawn and bacon, powdered beef, and souse. For the love of Stephen, That blessed saint of heaven, Which stoned was for Jesus Christ […]

In honor of Saint John we thus Do keep good Christmas cheer; And he that comes to dine with us, I think he need not spare. The butcher he hath killed good beef, The caterer brings it in; But Christmas pies are still the chief, If that I durst begin. Our bacon-hogs are full and […]

This endris night[I] I saw a sight, A star as bright as day; And ever among A maiden sung, Lullay, by by, lullay. This lovely lady sat and sang, and to her child she said,– “My son, my brother, my father dear, why liest thou thus in hayd?[J] My sweet bird, Thus it is betide […]

Nowell, nowell, nowell, nowell, Who ys there that syngith so, nowell, nowell, nowell? I am here, syre Christmasse! Well come, my lord syre Christmasse, Welcome to us all, bothe more and lesse, Come nere, nowell! Dieu vous garde, beau syre, tydinges you bryng: A mayd hath born a chylde full yong, The weche causeth yew […]

God rest you merry, gentlemen, Let nothing you dismay, For Jesus Christ our Saviour Was born upon this day To save us all from Satan’s power When we were gone astray. O tidings of comfort and joy, For Jesus Christ our Saviour was born on Christmas day. In Bethlehem in Jewry This blessed babe was […]

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 we […]