There is a much earlier example given by Sir Frederic Madden in the "Reliquæ Antiquæ."
The word Nowell, or Noël, which occurs very frequently in old carols, is by many supposed (and with good reason) to be derived from natalis, the birthday of our blessed Lord. This word was used as a cry of joy, and was "sung at Angers during the eight days preceding Christmas." The Portuguese, Irish, and Welsh terms for Christmas evidently come from this source. But on the other hand, Nowell is very frequently used in the sense of news or tidings, and as has been elsewhere stated, was a "joyful exclamation not absolutely confined to Christmas." The following lines, from "Ane compendious booke of Godly and Spiritual Sangs," seem to strengthen this interpretation:—
I come from Hevin to tell
The best Nowellis that ever befell:
To you this tythings trew I bring.
And again in a fifteenth century carol:—
Gabryell of hygh degree,
Came down from the Trenyte,
To Nazareth in Galilee,
Came down from the TrenWith Nova.
Christmas Evergreens, the Holly and the Ivy, form the subject of many an old carol. The Holly Carol, most popular and familiar to us, details at length the various symbolical references this favoured evergreen bears to the Incarnation of our LORD, e.g.:—
The holly bears a berry
As red as any blood,
And Mary bore sweet Jesus Christ
To do poor sinners good.
The holly bears a prickle
As sharp as any thorn,
And Mary bore sweet Jesu Christ
On Christmas Day in the morn.
The editor of "Christmas with the Poets" remarks:—"Several carols relating to the holly and the ivy convey the idea that these two favourite Christmas evergreens had each their partizans, who espoused their several causes as warmly as they supported the claims of tho rival houses of York and Lancaster, whose struggle for pre-eminence was waging at the time these carols were at the height of their popularity."
I give an ancient holly and ivy carol from Mr. Wright's second book of carols:—
Holly and Ivy made a great party,
Who would have the mastery
In lands where they go.
Then spake Holly, I am fierce and jolly,
I will have the mastery
In lands where they go.
Then spake Ivy, I am loud and proud,
And I will have the mastery
In lands where they go.
Then spake Holly, and set him down on his knee,
I pray thee, gentle Ivy,
Assay me no villany
In lands where we go.
One of the carols frequently printed on the cheap broadsides is that of Dives and Lazarus:—
As it fell out upon a day,
Rich Dives made a feast,
And he invited all his friends
And gentry of the best.
Then Lazarus laid him down and wept,
And down at Dives' door,
Some meat, some drink, brother Dives,
Bestow upon the poor.
Thou art none of my brother Lazarus,
That is begging at my gate,
No meat, no drink will I give thee,
For Jesus Christ His sake.
***
Then Dives sent out his hungry dogs
To worry poor Lazarus away:
They had not power to bite one bit,
But licked his sores away.
Now it fell out upon a day,
Lazarus sickened and died,
There came two angels down from Heaven
Thereto his soul to guide.
***
As it fell out upon a day,
Dives sickened and died,
There came two serpents out of hell,
Thereto his soul to guide.
Rise up, rise up, brother Dives,
And come along with me,
There is a place prepared in hell,
From which thou canst not flee.
Another species of carol is that for bringing in the wassel. This term, derived from the Saxon, and signifying "Be in health," occurs in the early Anglo-Norman-French carol preserved in the British Museum, and translated by Mr. Douce. The wassel was introduced with considerable state originally upon Twelfth Night, but in course of time New Year's Eve came in for a share of these festivities; and later still, the bowl was carried round from house to house by young damsels with songs, the bearers being repaid for their trouble by some gratuity. The most common of wassel songs is that given in Brand's "Antiquities":—
Wassail! wassail! all over the town,
Our toast it is white, our ale it is brown;
Our bowl it is made of a maplin tree,
We be good fellows all—I drink to thee.
Here's to Dobbin, and to his right ear,
God send to our master a happy new year:
A happy new year as e'er he did see—
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.
Here's to Smiler, and to her right eye,
God send our mistress a good Christmas pie;
As good Christmas pie as e'er I did see—
With my wassailing bowl I drink to thee.
