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

“Now, Now The Mirth Comes”
7. Next, may your duck and teeming hen
Both to the cocks-tread say, Amen;
And for their two eggs render ten.
8. Last, may your harrows, shares, and ploughes,
Your stacks, your stocks, your sweetest mowes,
All prosper by your virgin-vowes.
9. Alas! we blesse, but see none here
That brings us either ale or beere;
In a drie-house all things are neere.
10. Let's leave a longer time to wait,
Where rust and cobwebs bind the gate;
And all life here with needy fate;
11. Where chimneys do for ever weepe,
For want of warmth, and stomachs keepe
With noise the servants eyes from sleep.
12. It is in vain to sing, or stay
Our free feet here, but we'l away;
Yet to the lares this we'l say;
13. The time will come, when you'l be sad,
And reckon this for fortune bad,
T'ave lost the good ye might have had.
Sandys' Note:
This [is] from Herrick's Poems, 2 vols. Edinb. 1823. Herrick was born in 1591,
and the first edition of the "Hesperides" was published in 1648.
William Henry Husk notes:
"Was-haile," and "Drink-heil" were the usual phrases of quaffing amongst the
Anglo-Saxons, and were equivalent to the modern expressions "Good health," and "I
drink to you." The custom of young women going about on New-year's Eve from
house to house with a wassail bowl containing a composition of ale, nutmeg, sugar,
toast, and roasted crab apples (sometimes called Lambs-wool) prevailed for ages. The
bearers presented the bowl to the inmates of the houses where they called, sang some
verses, and received in return a small gratuity.
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