which Mrs. Phillips could only partially remember, is from a version noted several years ago at East Harptree, Somerset. In another variant which I collected in Kent this stanza runs as follows:—
In yonder garden green doth grow,
As green as any leek;
Our Lord our God He waters us
with His heavenly dew so sweet.
Other versions with tunes are printed in The Folk-Song Society's Journal, Sussex Songs, English County Songs, Shropshire Folk-Lore, Songs of the West, and Carols New and Old (Bramley and Stainer); with words only, in Sandys's Christmas Carols, etc., and on broadsides by Evans, Thompson and others.
No. 6. GOD BLESS YOU, MERRY GENTLEMEN.
Sung by Mr. Tom Ison, at Ely.
Mr. Ison told me that he used to sing this carol, in company with other singers, at Christmas time.
In Warwickshire the carol singers would sometimes sing a single stanza of this carol by way of farewell at the conclusion of their programme, as follows:—
God bless you, merry gentlemen, as you sit by the fire,
And pity us poor travellers that trudges through the mire;
God bless your friends, your kindred, that lives both far and near;
God send you a happy Christmas and a bright New Year.
Mr. Ison could only remember the words of the first stanza. The remaining lines in the text are from a version sung to me by another Ely singer, Mr. Robert Feast, and are printed without emendation.
The carol is, of course, well known. The tune, however, usually given in the carol books, is in the æolian, not dorian mode. The air is a favourite one with English folk-singers and is often used in Wassail songs (see Folk-Songs from Somerset, No. 129). A very beautiful mixolydian variant was sung to me by a Warwickshire singer.
It will be seen that the more usual "God rest you merry, gentlemen" is rendered in the Cambridgeshire version "God bless you, merry gentlemen", where "merry" is an adjective qualifying "gentlemen". The old expression "God rest you merry" has, apparently, become obsolete.
For other versions of the words see Sandys's Christmas Carols and broadsides by Russell, Bloomer, Thompson and others.
No. 7. THE HOLLY AND THE IVY.
Sung by Mrs. Mary Clayton, at Chipping Campden.
I have supplemented Mrs. Clayton's words with those of another set recited to me by the late Mrs. Wyatt of East Harptree, Somerset. The only alteration that I have made is in the second stanza, substituting in place of the
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