I HEAR along our street
Pass the minstrel throngs:
Hark! they play so sweet,
On their hautboys, Christmas songs!
Let us by the fire
Ever higher
Sing them till the night expire!
In December ring,
Every day the chimes;
Loud the gleemen sing,
In the streets, their merry rhymes.
Let us, &c.
Shepherds at the grange,
Where the Babe was born,
Sang with many a change,
Christmas carols until morn.
These good people sang,
Songs devout and sweet,
While the rafters rang,
There they stood with freezing feet.
Let us, &c.
Nuns in frigid cells,
At this holy tide,
For want of something else,
Christmas songs at times have tried.
Let us, &c.
Washerwomen old,
To the sound they beat,
Sing by rivers cold,
With uncovered heads and feet.
Let us, &c.
Who by the fireside stands,
Stamps his feet and sings;
But he who blows his hands,
Not so gay a carol brings.
Let us by the fire
Ever higher
Sing them till the night expire.
A Mock Play.
Act I.—Scene I.
Enter Alexander.—Alexander speaks.
SILENCE, brave gentlemen; if you will give me an eye,
Alexander is my name, I’ll sing the Tragedy;
A ramble here I took, the country for to see,
Three actors here I’ve brought so far from Italy;
The first I do present, he is a noble king,
He’s just come from the wars, good tidings he doth bring;
The next that doth come in, he is a docter good,
Had it not been for him, I’d surely lost my blood:
Old Dives is the next, a miser you may see,
Who, by lending of his gold, is come to poverty.
So, gentlemen, you see four actors will go round;
Stand off a little while, more pastime shall be found.
[Exeunt.