CAROLS IN PRAISE OF ALE.

Bring us in no brown bread, for that is made of bran;
Nor bring us in no white bread, for that is only grain ;
But bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no beef, for there are many bones;
But bring us in good ale, for that goes down at once;
Then bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no bacon, for that is passing fat;

But bring us in good ale, and give us enough of that;
So bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no mutton, for that is often lean;
Nor bring us in no tripes, for they be seldom clean;
But bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no eggs, for there be many shells;
But bring us in good ale, and give us nothing else ;
Then bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no butter, for therein are many hairs ;
Nor bring us in no pig's flesh, for that will make us boars ;
But bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no puddings, for they 're not over good;
Nor bring us in no venison, for that suits not our blood;
But bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no capon's flesh, for that is often dear;

Nor bring us in no ducks' flesh, for they slobber in the mere ; But bring us in good ale.

Good ale, however, like most other things when taken in excess, is attended by certain inconveniences, as the following song, which forms an appropriate moral to the two preceding ones, will serve to explain.

ALE makes many a man to stick at a brier;
Ale makes many a man to lie in the mire ;
And ale makes many a man to sleep by the fire—
With dole.*

Ale makes many a man to stumble at a stone;
Ale makes many a man to go drunken home;
And ale makes many a man to break his bone—
With dole.

Ale makes many a man to draw his knife;
Ale makes many a man to cause great strife ;
And ale makes many a man to beat his wife-
With dole.

Ale makes many a man to wet his cheeks ;
Ale makes many a man to lie in the streets;
And ale makes many a man to perform strange feats-
With dole.

Ale makes many a man to stumble at the blocks ;†
Ale makes many a man to give his head hard knocks ;
And ale makes many a man to sit in the stocks-

With dole.

Ale makes many a man to reel over the fallows;

Ale makes many a man to swear by God and All-hallows; And ale makes many a man to hang upon the gallows

Grief.

With dole.

+ Probably alluding to the "horse blocks," or "mounting stones," then common in every market-place, and at the door of every ale-house.

Carols in Praise of the Bolly or the Joy.

HE custom of decking houses and churches with evergreens towards the close of the year, appears to be of very ancient date, it being, in fact, one of those remnants of Paganism, which, although forbidden by the councils of the early Christian Church, had obtained too strong a hold on the prejudices of the people to be readily relinquished, as its transmission down to the present day serves to prove. In this country there is no doubt but that the Holly and the Ivy have been the favourite evergreens used for the above purpose; still we are not acquainted with any allusion to their being thus employed prior to the date of the following Carols, which may be considered to belong to the fifteenth century. Stow, in his survey, speaking of the middle of this century, says, "Against the feast of Christmas every man's house, and also the parish churches, were decked with holm (holly), ivy, bays, and whatsoever the season of the year afforded to be green. The conduits and standards in the streets were likewise garnished." It is curious that the Mistletoe, the sacred plant of the Druids, which, as a Christmas evergreen, ranks at the present day of equal importance with the Holly itself, is never alluded to in connection with the Christmas season until the middle of the seventeenth century.

I.

HOLLY and Ivy made a great party,
Who should have the mastery
In lands where they go.

Then spake Holly, "I am fierce and jolly,

I will have the mastery

In lands where we go."

Then spake Ivy, "I am loud and proud,

And I will have the mastery

In lands where we go."

Then spake Holly, and bent him down on his

knee,

"I pray thee, gentle Ivy,

Essay me no villany

In lands where we go."

The above Carol has evidently some connection with the preceding one, and was most likely written and sung in the nature of a reply to it. It is conjectured, from the second stanza, that the Ivy was not used for the internal decoration of the houses of our forefathers, but we think this conclusion has been come to without sufficient reason. Probably the expression, "Ivy stands without the door," is merely in allusion to the custom of the Ivy being used as a vintner's sign.

CAROL IN PRAISE OF THE IVY.

II.

NAY, Ivy, nay, it shall not be, I wis,

Let Holly have the mastery as the manner is.

Holly standeth in the hall fair to behold,

Ivy stands without the door; she is full sore a cold.
Nay, Ivy, nay, &c.

Holly and his merry men, they dance now and they sing; Ivy and her maidens, they weep, and their hands wring. Nay, Ivy, nay, &c.

Ivy hath a lybe,* she caught it with the cold,
So may they all have, that do with Ivy hold.
Nay, Ivy, nay, &c.

Holly he hath berries, as red as any rose,

The foresters, the hunters, keep them from the does.
Nay, Ivy, nay, &c.

Ivy she hath berries as black as any sloe,
There come the owls and eat them as they go.
Nay, Ivy, nay, &c.

Holly he hath birds a full fair flock,

The nightingale, the poppinjay, the gentle laverock.
Nay, Ivy, nay, &c.

Good Ivy, say to us, what birds hast thou,
None but the owlet that cries How! How!
Nay, Ivy, nay, &c.

This word is not explained in any glossary.