* * * * * Whan Wat to Bedlem cum was, He swet, he had gone faster than a pace; He found Jesu in a simpell place, Betwen an ox and an asse. Ut hoy! For in his pipe he made so much joy. 'Jesu, I offer to thee here my pipe, My skirt, my tar-box, and my scripe; Home to my felowes now will I skipe, And also look unto my shepe.' Ut hoy! For in his pipe he made so much joy."{34} |51| But to others again, especially the lullabies, the hardness of the Nativity, the shadow of the coming Passion, give a deep note of sorrow and pathos; there is the thought of the sword that shall pierce Mary's bosom:-- "This endris night I saw a sight, A maid a cradell kepe, And ever she song and seid among 'Lullay, my child, and slepe.' 'I may not slepe, but I may wepe, I am so wo begone; Slepe I wold, but I am colde And clothes have I none. * * * * * 'Adam's gilt this man had spilt; That sin greveth me sore. Man, for thee here shall I be Thirty winter and more. * * * * * 'Here shall I be hanged on a tree, And die as it is skill. That I have bought lesse will I nought; It is my fader's will.'"{35} The lullabies are quite the most delightful, as they are the most human, of the carols. Here is an exquisitely musical verse from one of 1530:-- "In a dream late as I lay, Methought I heard a maiden say And speak these words so mild: 'My little son, with thee I play, And come,' she sang, 'by, lullaby.' Thus rocked she her child. _By-by, lullaby, by-by, lullaby,_ _Rocked I my child._ _By-by, by-by, by-by, lullaby,_ _Rocked I my child._"{36} |52| |53| |54| |55| CHAPTER III CHRISTMAS POETRY (II) The French _Noel_--Latin Hymnody in Eighteenth-century France--Spanish Christmas Verse--Traditional Carols of Many Countries--Christmas Poetry in Protestant Germany--Post-Reformation Verse in England--Modern English Carols. [Illustration: THE ADORATION OF THE SHEPHERDS. _By Fouquet._ (Musee Conde, Chantilly.)] The Reformation marks a change in the character of Christmas poetry in England and the larger part of Germany, and, instead of following its development under Protestantism, it will be well to break off and turn awhile to countries where Catholic tradition remained unbroken. We shall come back later to Post-Reformation England and Protestant Germany.