Poet Lore (Volume 9) (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE CONTEST OF THE IVY AND THE HOLLY. NAY, ivy, nay, It shall not be, i-wis; Let holly have the mastery As the manner is. Holly stand in the hall, Fair to behold; Ivy stand without the door She is full sore a-cold. Nay, ivy, nay, etc. Holly and his merry men, They dancen and they sing; Ivy and her maidens, They weepen and they wring. Nay, ivy, nay, etc. Ivy hath a kybe,1 She caught it with a cold; So mot they all have ae,2 That with ivy hold. Nay, ivy, nay, etc. Holly hath berries As red as any rose, The foster8 [and] the hunters Keep them from the doe [s] Nay, ivy, nay, etc. Ivy hath berries, As black as any sloe; There come the owl And eat him as she go. Nay, ivy nay, etc. 1 chilblain. a each severally. forester. Holly hath birdes, A full, fair flock, The nightingale, the popinjay, The gentle laverock. Nay, ivy, nay, etc. Good ivy, What birdes hast thou ? None but the howlet That krey,1 " how, how." Nay, ivy, nay, It shall not be, i-wis; Let holly have the mastery As the manner is. A CHRISTMAS CAROL Sung To The King In The Presence At Whitehall. Chorus. ? 7HAT sweeter music can we bring, V V Than a carol, for to sing The birth of this our heavenly King ? Awake the voice ! awake the string, Heart, ear, and eye, and everything Awake! the while the active finger Runs divisions with the singer. From the flourish they come to the song. Dark and dull night fly hence away, And give the honour to this day, That sees December turn'd to May. If we may ask the reason, say The %vhy and wherefore all things here Seem like the spring-time of the year ? Why does the chilling winter's morn Smile like a field beset with corn ? Or smell like to a mead new-shorn, Thus on the sudden ...