REVIEW.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 5228, 24 December 1877, Page 2

REVIEW.

BOOK OP THE CAROLS INTRODUCED INTO “CHRIST* MAS IN OLD ENGLAND,” A LECTURE ENTERTAINMENT BY THE REV. CHARLES CLARK. This neatly printed pamphlet, of which we have received a copy, xeflects great credit upon the taste and industry of the' compiler. The selection is unique in its way, and almost realises the Laureate’s ideal wedding of “ perfect music unto noble words.”

The “Yuletide ditties" are gathered from ail sources, English and foreign, and belsng to all periods, from the times anterior to the in* vention of printing to the present day. The peculiar old-world quaintness of some of the elder specimens is well balanced by’the profound devotional strain of others, while all are suffused with the exultant gladness which is the chief attribute of the season. At the head of the list is the resonant Latin carol, “ Adeste Fideles,” a fine example of the true ecclesiastical chant, whose vitality is testified by the various versions which survive among us. This is admirably matched by a carol entirely modern both in verse and melody, which breathes the spirit of the antique piety in its declaration,

Once again the Holy Night Breathes its blessing tender; Once again the manger light Sheds its gentle splendor. O could tongues by angels taught Speak our exultationIn the Virgin’s Child that brought

All mankind salvation. The oddities of expression indulged in by our forefathers in. what.are called the “ages of faith” receive singxilar . illustration in the quaint legend of “ Joseph and the Angel but the following lines, for pure pathos and simple piety, could hot easily be surpassed ;

He neither shall be clothed In purple nor in pall. But in the fair white linen That usen babies all. He neither shaU be rocked In silver nor In gold ; But in a wooden manger That resteth on the mould. A capital specimen of the Maccaronio carol is given from the Swedish, and the melody runs with a joyous lilt that stirs the blood of the most lymphatic. “The Wise Men of the East” have a. worthy place in “ The First Noel,”, the loveliest specimen of antique French poetry which the list contains ; while for its poetic beauty and devotional fervor tho “ Golden Carol ” well deserves its name. The “Festive" division is well represented; and while the virtues of good cheer are duly celebrated in the curious chant of the “Boar’s Head,” and the thoroughly English verse of the “ Boast Beef of Old England,” those virtues which are other than skin-deep, have their place, and full recognition. Altogether we think this little pamphlet worthy a higher place than that of a merely ephemeral memento of the Christmas season of 1877.