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SIGNS OF THE SEASON. |
127 |
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The sylke and sandell, thee to eis, Are hay and sempill sweiling clais, Quhairin thow gloiris, greitest king, As thow in heuin were in thy ring.
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O my deir hert, zoung Jesus sweit, Prepare thy creddill in my spreit, And I sail rock thee in my hert, And neuer mair from thee depart."
The Star-song, in his collection, is, if our memory mislead us not, Herrick's, and taken from his " Noble Numbers." It begins :—
" Tell us, thou cleere and heavenly tongue, Where is the babe but lately sprung ? Lies he the lillie-banks among ?
Or say, if this new Birth of our's Sleep, laid within some ark of flowers, Spangled with deaw-light; thou canst cleere All doubts, and manifest the where.
Declare to us, bright star, if we shall seek Him in the morning's blushing cheek, Or search the beds of spices through, To find him out ?"
The second part of Sandys's collection contains an imperfect version of a carol, of which we find a full and corrected copy in Mr. Hone's " Ancient Mysteries,"—formed by that author's collation of various copies, printed in different places. The beautiful verses which we quote are from Hone's version, and are wanting in that of Sandys. The ballad begins by elevating the Virgin Mary to a temporal rank, which must rest upon that particular authority, and is, probably, a new fact for our readers:—
" Joseph was an old man, And an old man was he, And he married Mary Queen of Galilee;"—
which, for a carpenter, was certainly a distinguished alliance. It goes on to describe Joseph and his bride walking in a garden,— |
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