In French{1} there is little or no Christmas poetry, religious in character, before the fifteenth century; the earlier carols that have come down to us are songs rather of feasting and worldly rejoicing than of sacred things. The true _Noel_ begins to appear in fifteenth-century manuscripts, but it was not till the following century that it attained its fullest vogue and was spread all over the country by the printing presses. Such _Noels_ seem to have been written by clerks or recognized poets, either for old airs or for specially composed music. "To a great extent," says Mr. Gregory Smith, "they anticipate the spirit which stimulated the Reformers to turn the popular and often obscene songs into good and godly ballads."{2} Some of the early _Noels_ are not unlike the English carols of the period, and are often half in Latin, half in French. Here are a few such "macaronic" verses:-- "Celebrons la naissance _Nostri Salvatoris_, |56| Qui fait la complaisance _Dei sui Patris_. Cet enfant tout aimable, _In nocte media_, Est ne dans une etable, _De casta Maria_. * * * * * Mille esprits angeliques, _Juncti pastoribus_, Chantent dans leur musique, _Puer vobis natus_, Au Dieu par qui nous sommes, _Gloria in excelsis_, Et la paix soit aux hommes _Bonae voluntatis_. * * * * * Qu'on ne soit insensible! _Adeamus omnes_ A Dieu rendu passible, _Propter nos mortales_, Et tous, de compagnie, _Deprecemur eum_ Qu'a la fin de la vie, _Det regnum beatum_."{3} The sixteenth century is the most interesting _Noel_ period; we find then a conflict of tendencies, a conflict between Gallic realism and broad humour and the love of refined language due to the study of the ancient classics. There are many anonymous pieces of this time, but three important _Noelistes_ stand out by name: Lucas le Moigne, Cure of Saint Georges, Puy-la-Garde, near Poitiers; Jean Daniel, called "Maitre Mitou," a priest-organist at Nantes; and Nicholas Denisot of Le Mans, whose _Noels_ appeared posthumously under the pseudonym of "Comte d'Alsinoys." Lucas le Moigne represents the _esprit gaulois_, the spirit that is often called "Rabelaisian," though it is only one side of the genius of Rabelais. The good Cure was a contemporary of |57| the author of "Pantagruel." His "Chansons de Noels nouvaulx" was published in 1520, and contains carols in very varied styles, some naive and pious, others hardly quotable at the present day. One of his best-known pieces is a dialogue between the Virgin and the singers of the carol: Mary is asked and answers questions about the wondrous happenings of her life. Here are four verses about the Nativity:--