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    Dec. 6\ itisg ¦ * THi^ 3E^Lblislia*s^ Ci...

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  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

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    . . _ . . _ . _ — T —N — ^ Is Christmas ...

    z == - " \ ; r And + then . ' \ : , they say , no spirit ^ dares stir abroad : l ¦ - 'I ? i ; The ^^ v ^»|» ^^ < nights w ^»^ mh ^ r *^ . V ^ V ^ pV ^ are VWV ^^ wholesome « V ^ P *»»^^ ' » ~ fci _ r ^ pvF . 4 *^ 1 ^* ^^ F V : then V 4 ^^ W ^ ^ no Jp ^ fc ^^ p p ^ lanets ^ V ^ H ^ M ^^ - ^^ *^^ mr strike ^^ ^ — ^ pp ~^ r , w

    Nq fairy takes , nor witch hath power " to charm , So hallowed and so gracious is the time . Milton comes next with the solemn music of his ' Ode on' the Morning of ( ptrist ' g

    Nativity > : — ' - The See how star- from led wizards far upon haste ' the with eastern odours Toad sweet 1

    ^^™ ^—^™ ^ pr » # ^* ^ p ^ B- « V » ^ ~^ pt * ^ p ^»> T " » 4 > Mi Wfc ^¦ yPfc . k ^ ' ^ b « Vh V ^ PV " ^^ ^ r ^ pp' » w *•> ^* Bb ^ p > ^ p- ' .- P » ^^ ^ p * w ^ pw - ^ pp »^ — - - ^^ - ^ p ^ - ^ -- ^ Oh I run ; prevent ^^^ them with thy humble ode , And lay it lowly at his blessed feet ; Have thou the honour first thy Lord to greet

    ^ p ^^^ pip » ^ vw w ^ p ^ ^* * p »*^ p * ^ k ^ K »^ b " ^ p * ¦ pb ^^ p > ^ pp * ' JbiM ^^ r ^ p > ^ b ^ ppp * ^^ " » * 4 B ^ k ^ h ^ pfr ri - « pr ^^ ^ pfe-p » B y jp * ipb ^ p * ^ p * " . p ^ ^^^ ™^ " ^^ ^^ pm ^ m - ^^ ^^ p ^ r , v And join thy voice unto the Angel Quire , 5 From out his secret altar touched with -hallowed fire .

    It was not in too presumptuous a spirit that our great poet essayed to join the Angel Quire . Such lofty and mysterious strains as are to be found in this Ode are not unworthy to be

    ranked after the harmonies of heaven . , i in his Old * Tho Five mas Hundred Tusser is Pointes not among of Good the poets Husbandrie . He is ' onl tnere y a prosaic are rhymer homel at his allusions besfy but to

    many y Christmas whichwe would not miser : — At Christmas we banket , the rich with the poore ,

    Who then ( but the miser ) but openeth his doore ? ; At Christmas of Christ many carols we sing , And give many gifts to the joy of that King .

    Robert Herrick left no season of the year untouched—the Spring with its daffodils , the summer with its roses , autumn with its harvest-home , and . winter with its feasting . Among

    his ' Charms and Ceremonies ^ we read the following for Christmas : — Come bring with U noise

    My . merry merry bojys The Christmas log to the firing ; While good dameshe

    Bids \ ye my all be free , , And drink to your heart's desiriiig .

    In the pages of saintly Herbert vre find , among others , the following lines for Christmas : — O " ^ ^ Thou ^ mmm ^^ ^^ ^ " *^ , V whose w w ^^^^ - ^ i ^ T ^ r ^ m ^ g f ^ % lorious ¦ ^^ ^^ ^^ " ^ ^^ w ^ . f , « yet » ^^ ^^ contracted ^»^ ^^ - " ¦ - ^» ^^ *^ ^^^» ^ 1 *^ ™— ^ i ^ ™ ^ li ^^ ^ B ^ g H ^ K ht ¦ ' ' ^^ , «

    Wrapt in night ' s mantle , stole into a manger ; Since my dark soul and brutish is thy right , To Man of all beasts be not Thou a stranger :

    A Furnish better . an lod d g deck ing than my soul a rac that k or Thou grave mayst . m have / —

    Side by side with Herbert ' s / Temple , ' I find the 'Sacred Poems and Ejaculations' of Henry Vaughanthe Siluristand there I read the following under the title of ' The

    True Christmas ' , : — , Then leave your open house and noise ,

    To welcome Him with holy joys , And the poor shepherds' watchfulness , Whom light and hymns from heaven did bless .

    What What you \ rnn abound abound with wifch ' cast nast abroad abroad To those that want , and ease your loade . Who empties thus will bring more in ;

    But riot is both loss and sin . Dreas finely what comes not in sight , . And thus you keep your Christmas right 1

    j Our modern writers , as we might expect , are not so deeply imbued witfi , the spirit of < * 'iinstmas hristmaa as as are are their their elder elder brethren bretnren , but but there tnere are are yet vet among amoner them tnem many manv volumes volumes wnicn which JL I

    always take down from their ; shelves and , dip into at this time . Although Charles Lamb has no < flsay specificall 4 LJt XTAJi Christmas AM % f there «/^^ is # one on * New * Year *' s Hve' which AAjb \/«* always suits 7 AAA mood

    ^ J * " * » - ^^ # m ^ JL « Jl VCW y W upon lA |/^ TMMiJm , * , « . a «< f PS ^ , y A » A > ^^ * , ^^^ AA ^^ ^^*« -- » ^^ w » .. ^^ WJ ^ P ^ * i ^ V •** - » W tWA T » ^^ mj " ^ ***** vp * my V lA « VV \« . f ' «» it is the folio wing passage : * Of all sounds of all bells , —( bells , the music nighest border-• 'i £ upon heaven ) most solemn and touching is the peal which rings out the Old Year . I

    , iiave uover - * 'w been iv near ^/ V ' A Jl diffused ^ it - *«* AlU without -mSf » - # ^ J % / over Vf V a gathering the wjLJfc *^ past |^« . W K - ^«/ up twelvemonth U If VAI of ^» my ^»*» ' % ^ * mind A vaa ; y all to . «¦&& a I ^ m . hav - concentration «* i > wf e ^^ done ¦ s rm- % * -, mj *^ r or vr » of suffere KPiAMfcVA all the d « , * performed ET images <^^*» * JUfcWfci that , * X or ^ A .

    ^ takes ^ glected a personal - —in that colou regretted r ; nor was time it . a I poetical begin fli to ght know in a its contemporary worth , as , when when a , person he exclaimed dies ; - — It

    I saw the skirts of the departing Year . ' , The ' contemporary' to whom Lamb alludea ^ was Coleridge , and I like to read from hie I ^ ges th (^ . « Virgi » VCradle-fl [ ymn '—

    Sleeps sweet babe I my cares beguiling , * " \

    Dec. 6\ Itisg ¦ * Thi^ 3e^Lblislia*S^ Ci...

    Dec . 6 \ itisg ¦ * THi ^ 3 E ^ Lblislia * s ^ Circular * * ;| ¦¦¦ ¦

• Citation
  • Publishers’ Circular (1880-1890), Dec. 6, 1889, page 1541, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/pc/issues/tec_06121889/page/7/