There are some curious burdens or refrains to some of the French noëls; one will be seen in the selection given, “Turelurelu, patapatan;” but these words are intended to represent the sounds of the flute and tambour. They often introduce in their old songs “Lurelure,” or something similar; indeed “Leire la, Leire lanleire,” is very ancient, as also is “Dondon,” another refrain. “Mironton,” “Biribi,” and “Turlututu,” are other terms, of which the explanation must be left to wordy antiquaries. The English refrains, however, seem equally as inexplicable as the French; unless we suppose, with some learned expositor, that the well-known “Down derry down” has reference to the oak, and is derived from the Druid, “Hob y deri danno;” but then how are we to account for “Hey troly loly lo,” and “Dumble dum deary,” &c.? In the Elizabethan age, “Hey, nonny, nonny” was somewhat a favourite, though there were some strange burdens also at this time, that would make us fancy that the celebrated Tarleton and Kemp must occasionally have improvised any clinking nonsense that entered their heads, which was afterwards printed with the songs. [Illustration] CHAPTER XI. SEVERAL of the circumstances referred to in the carols, may also be found in the early mysteries, and are probably handed down from them, or from some legend common to both. Some, indeed, may have been derived from the Apocryphal New Testament, as from the birth of Mary, the Protevangelion, and the infancy. The tradition, for instance, of Joseph being an old man, is derived from both sources; in the Coventry Mysteries he complains of his age in many passages. “....I am so agyd and so olde, Yt both my leggys gyn to folde, I am ny almost lame.” In the cherry-tree carol, and in the Dutch date-tree carol, he is described as an old man, and weary. This cherry-tree carol, of which there are two or three varieties, one of which is printed in the following collection, appears to have been of the fifteenth century, if not older; as, in Hoffman’s specimens of Dutch carols of that age, there is one very similar, merely substituting a date for a cherry tree, the date perhaps having been considered more oriental. The following is the translation given in ‘Notes and Queries.’ “Joseph he led the ass, The bridle held he; What found they by the way, But a date tree? Oh! ass’s foal, thou must stand still, To gather dates it is our will, So weary are we. The date tree bowed to the earth, To Mary’s knee; Mary would fill her lap From the date tree. Joseph was an old man, And wearied was he. Mary, let the date tree bide, We have yet forty miles to ride, And late it will be. Let us pray this Blessed Child Grant us mercie.”