A Garland of Christmas Carols; Ancient and Modern. Including Some Never Before Given in Any Collection (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1861 Excerpt: ...O listen, now; O not to you Our pipes make sport to shorten weary night, But voices most divine Make blissful harmony--Voices that seem to shine; For what else clears the sky? Tunes can we hear, but not the singers see; The tune's divine, and so the singers be. Lo, how the firmament Within an azure fold The flock of stars hath pent, That we might them behold. Yet from their beams proceedeth not this light, Nor can their crystals such reflection give. What then doth make the element so bright? The heavens are come down upon earth to live. But hearken to the song, Glory to glory's King, And peace all men among, These choristers do sing. Angels they are, as also Shepherds, He Whom in our fear we do admire to see. " Let not amazement blind Your souls," said he, " annoy: To you and all mankind My message bringeth joy. For lo, the world's great Shepherd now is born, A blessed babe, an Infant full of power: After long night, up-risen is the morn, Renovvning Bethlehem in the Saviour. Sprung is the perfect day, By prophets seen afar, Sprung is the perfect May, Which Winter cannot mar." In David's city doth this Sun appear, Clouded in flesh, yet Shepherds sit we here. CHRISTMAS TIDE. this song of Shakespeare, although a mere scrap, breathes a delightful spirit of fancy blended with religious feeling. It is to be regretted that the poet of all time has only left us a few fragments relating to our subject. OME say thatever 'gainst that season comes, Wherein our Saviour's birth is celebrated, The bird of dawning singeth all nightlong: And then, they say, no spirit dares stir abroad; The nights are wholesome; then no planets strike, No fairy takes, nor witch hath power to charm, So hallowed, and so gracious is the time. the following Carol, or Hymn, w...