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And with true love and brotherhood
Each other now embrace,

This holy tide of Christmas

All others doth deface.

O tidings, &c.1

I With regard to the text of this Carol I may remark that nearly every town in England, at each succeeding Christmas, supplies us with variations. The above appeared the most genuine.

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A VIRGIN MOST PURE.

[THIS Carol exhibits traces of antiquity, but nothing certain regarding its history can be learnt. It has enjoyed great popularity for many years, being found on nearly all single collections of Carols. Throughout the West it is a great favourite. A different version from that given below occurs on an old broadside printed at Birmingham in my possession. The first verse begins :

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"A virgin unspotted the prophets foretold,

Should bring forth a Saviour which now we behold,
To be our Redeemer from death, hell, and sin,

Which Adam's transgression involved us in."]

VIRGIN most pure, as the Prophets do

tell,

Hath brought forth a Babe, as it hath

befell,

To be our Redeemer from death, hell, and sin,

Which by Adam's transgression hath wrapt us all in.

Rejoice and be you merry, set sorrow aside,

Christ Jesus our Saviour was born on this tide.

THE WORCESTERSHIRE CAROL.

[I CANNOT find this Carol in any printed collection that I have examined. Hone does not mention it in his extensive list. It occurs on an old broadsheet printed at Birmingham in my collection. Apart from its exceeding grandiloquence it will be found to contain many quaint touches, and pleasing lines. The date is apparently sometime during the last century.]

OW grand and how bright,

M

That wonderful night,

When angels to Bethlehem

They burst forth like fires,

They struck their gold lyres,

came,

And mingled their sound with the flame.

The shepherds were amazed,

The pretty lambs gazed,

At darkness thus turned into light,

No voice was there heard,

From man, beast, or bird,

So sudden and solemn the sight.

And then when the sound

Re-echoed around,

The hills and the dales all awoke,

The moon and the stars

Stopt their fiery ears,

And listened while Gabriel spoke :

"I bring you," said he,

"From the glorious tree,

A message both gladsome and good,

The Saviour is come

To the world as his home,

But he lies in a manger of wood."

At mention of this,

The source of all bliss,

The angels sang loudly and long,

They soared to the sky,

Beyond mortal eye,

But left us the words of their song:

F

"All glory to God,

Who laid by his rod,

To smile on the world through his Son,

And peace be on earth,

For this wonderful birth

Most wonderful conquests has won.

"And good will to man,

Though his life's but a span,
And his soul all sinful and vile."

Then pray, Christians, pray,
And let Christmas Day

Have a tear as well as a smile.

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