Now, Now, The Mirth Comes - The Hymns and Carols of Christmas

“Now, Now The Mirth Comes”
The Jews, they did disdain thee;
But we will entertain thee
With glories to await here,
Upon thy princely state here,
And more for love than pity:
From year to year
We'll make thee, here,
A free-born of our city.
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol, Sung To The King 10 In The Presence At Whitehall
Note: This poem occurs in that section of Hesperides titled His Noble Numbers.
Source: Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto &
Windus, 1914), pp. 230-1.
Chorus.
What
sweeter music can we bring,
Than a carol, for to sing
The birth of this our heavenly King?
Awake the voice! Awake the string!
Heart, ear, and eye, and everything,
Awake! the while the active finger
Runs divisions with the singer.
From the flourish they come to the song.
1. Dark and dull night, fly hence away,
And give the honour to this day,
That sees December turn'd to May.
10. Charles I.
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