Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and PresentTimbs, John
History
Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and Present
Timbs, John
England -- Social life and customs
"To Thee, Eternal Spirit, rise
Unceasing praise, from earth and skies:
Thy breath awoke the heavenly Child,
And gave Him to His mother mild.
"To Thee, the Triune God, be paid--
To Thee, who our redemption made--
All honour, thanks, and praise divine,
For this great mystery of Thine!"
At the close of the hymn, all heads are covered, and the singers hasten
to the belfry, whence the bells ring out a joyful peal. The spectators
in the road beneath disperse, the boys blowing tin horns, according to
ancient custom, to welcome in sweet May; while others ramble into the
fields to gather cowslips and field flowers, which they bring into the
town. Occasionally the singing on the tower has been heard, with a
favourable wind, at two miles' distance. This being a "gaudy day" for
the choristers, they have a dinner of roast lamb and plum-pudding in the
College-hall at two o'clock. There is a good representation of the
ceremony on the tower, carefully engraved by Joseph Lionel Williams, in
the _Illustrated London News_, whence the accompanying representation
has been reduced.
Dr. Rimbault, whilst making some researches in the library of
Christchurch, Oxford, discovered what appeared to him to be the first
draft of the above hymn. It has the following note:--"This hymn is sung
every day in Magdalen College Hall, Oxon, dinner and supper throughout
the year, for the after grace, by the chaplains, clerks, and choristers
there. Composed by Benjamin Rogers, Doctor of Musicke of the University
of Oxon, 1685." The author of the hymn is unknown.
At Oxford, formerly, boys used to blow cows'-horns and hollow canes all
night, to welcome in May-day; and girls carried about garlands of
flowers, which afterwards they hung upon the churches.
Before we leave the sacred ground whereon this holy May-day ceremony is,
year by year, performed, we present the reader with a very ably-drawn
picture of the locality itself, and its many attractions.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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