CAROLS.

Observe how the chimneys
Do smoke all about,

The cooks are providing

For dinner, no doubt;

But those on whose tables

No victuals appear,

O may they keep Lent

All the rest of the year!

With holly and ivy

So green and so gay;

We deck up our houses

As fresh as the day,

With bays and rosemary.

And laurel complete,

And every one now

Is a king in conceit.

CAROL.

(From "Poor Robin's Almanack," 1700.)

Now that the time is come wherein
Our Saviour Christ was born,

The larders full of beef and pork,
And garners filled with corn;

As God hath plenty to thee sent,
Take comfort of thy labours,

And let it never thee repent

To feast thy needy neighbours.

1.

With mutton, veal, beef, pig, and pork
Well furnish every board,
Plum-pudding, furmity, and what

Thy stock will then afford.

No niggard of the liquor be,
Let it go round thy table,
People may freely drink, but not

So long as they are able;

THE OLD CAP, OR TIME'S ALTERATION.

Good customs they may be abused,

Which makes rich men so slack us,

This feast is to relieve the poor,

And not to drunken Bacchus.

Thus if thou doest, 't will credit raise thee,

God will thee bless, and neighbours praise thee.

The burthen of the following excellent old ballad is that lament, common in all ages, for the days that have passed away. Looking back on bygone times, the imagination, charmed with the novelty which surrounds every minute circumstance, exalts even the worst features into matter for admiration. We very much question the amount of happiness enjoyed by the people generally, when every nobleman usurped the power of a petty sovereign, and had a crew of lusty men at his command to do his individual bidding. This state of things could certainly not have tended to promote the public peace in those highly prized "days of yore, when the old cap was new."

Which by their coats were known,
Of tawny, red, or blue,

With crests on their sleeves shown,

When this old cap was new.

Now pride hath banished all,
Unto our land's reproach,

When he whose means are small

Maintains both horse and coach;

Instead of an hundred men,

The coach allows but two:

This was not thought on then,

When this old cap was new.

Good hospitality

Was cherished then of many; Now poor men starve and die,

And are not helped by any;

For charity waxeth cold,

And love is found in few:

This was not in time of old,

When this old cap was new.

Wherever you travelled then,

You might meet on the way

Brave knights and gentlemen,

Clad in their country grey,

That courteous would appear,

And kindly welcome you :

No puritans then were,

When this old cap was new.

THE OLD CAP, OR TIME'S ALTERATION.

Our ladies, in those days,

In civil habit went;

Broad-cloth was then worth praise,
And gave the best content;
French fashions then were scorned;

Fond fangles then none knew;

Then modesty women adorned,

When this old cap was new.

The holly tree was polled

At Christmas for each hall;

There was fire to curb the cold,

And meat for great and small:

The neighbours were friendly bidden,
And all had welcome true;

The

poor from the gates were not chidden,

When this old cap was new.

Black jacks to every man

Were filled with wine and beer;

No pewter pot nor can

Did in those days appear.

Good cheer in a nobleman's house

Was counted a seemly show;

We wanted no brawn nor souse,
When this old cap was new.

We took not such delight

In cups of silver fine;

None under degree of a knight

In plate drunk beer or wine.