Jan. 3. 1852.] 



NOTES AND QUERIES. 



that shall be a seasonable one, namely, of the 

 similarity between the old Flemish carols, and 

 those with which, at this happy season, the nights 

 were whilom blest here in Old England. 



Hoifman von Fallersleben, in the second part 

 of his HorcR BelgiccE, that great storehouse of 

 materials for illustrating the early literature of 

 the Netherlands (and which second part, by the 

 bye, was separately published under the title of 

 Hollandische Volkslieder), after showing that the 

 sacred songs of the Low Countries are, like our 

 own, separable into Christmas carols, Easter 

 hymns, songs in praise of the Virgin, and songs 

 of Christian doctrine, proceeds to characterise the 

 former in terras in which one might well describe 

 many of those which were formerly most popular 

 in our country. " The carols," he remarks, " are 

 especially deserving of our attention. In them is 

 most clearly shown the child-like religious spirit of 

 the olden times, when men were not content merely 

 to relate in the simple ballad form the story of 

 Our Saviour's birth as recorded in Holy Scripture, 

 but sought, by the introduction of little touches 

 drawn from social and country life, to make that 

 story more attractive and more instructive, and so 

 to bring it home more directly to the hearts of 

 their pious hearers." How truly applicable these 

 remarks are to many of our own carols, must be 

 obvious to all wlio know Mr. Sandys' valuable 

 Collection; and the following instances, which 

 Hotiinan adduces in support of his views, will, I 

 trust, satisfy your readers that I am right in 

 maintaining the great resemblance between the 

 carols of Old Flanders and those of Old England, 



"Many of the descriptions in these carols," he 

 remarks, "bear a strong resemblance to some of 

 the Bible pictures of the old masters;" and he gives, 

 as an instance, the following simple picture of the 

 Infant Jesus in the bath : 



" ' The mother she made the child a bath, 

 How lovely then therein it sate ; 

 The childling so platched with its hand 

 That the water out of the beaker sprang.' * 



" But sometimes these religious poetical feelings 

 impress themselves so deeply in their subject, 

 that the descriptions verge closely upon the 

 ludicrous : 

 " ' I\Iary did not herself prepare 



With cradle-clothes to her hand there. 

 In which her dear child to wind. 

 Soon as Joseph this did find. 

 His hosen from his legs he drew, 

 Which to this day at Aix they show. 

 And with them those holy clothes did make 

 In which God first man's form did take.' 

 "It is true that we look upon these descriptions 

 with modern eyes, not taking into consideration 



* The version is, of course, as nearly literal as possible. 



that our manners and customs, that our general 

 views, in short, are not at all times in unison with 

 those of the fifteenth century. But even if we 

 are always right in these and similar cases, still 

 we cannot deny that there often lies in these old 

 poems what we, notwithstanding we are in the 

 possession of the most exquisite skill, cannot at all 

 reach, — an infinite naivete, a touching simplicity. 

 Especially rich in this respect are the songs which 

 describe the flight of the Holy Family into Egypt : 



" ' Joseph he did leap and run, 

 Until an ass's foal he won. 

 Whereon he set the maiden mild. 

 And with her that most blessed child.' 



" The whole idyllic life which they led in that 

 country is told to us in a few unpretending traits : 



" ' Joseph he led the ass, 

 The bridle held he ; 

 What found they by the way, 

 But a date tree ? 

 Oh ! ass's foal thou must stand still, 

 To gather dates it is our will, 



So weary are we. 

 The date tree bowed to the earth. 



To Mary's knee ; 

 Mary would fill her lap 



From the date tree. 

 Joseph was an old man. 

 And wearied was he ; 

 Mary, let the date tree bide. 

 We have yet forty miles to ride, 



And late it will be. 

 Let us pray this blessed child 

 Grant us mercle.' 

 " Nay, these simple songs even inform us how 

 the Holy Family laboured for their subsistence in 

 this ' strange countree : ' 



" ' Mary, that maiden dear, 

 Well could she spin ; 

 Joseph as a carpenter, 

 Could his bread win. 

 When Joseph was grown old. 

 That no longer work he could, 



The thread he wound, 

 And Jesus to rich and poor 

 Carried it round.' " 



William J. Thoms 



Family Likenesses. — I believe that a likeness 

 always exists in members of the same family, 

 though it may not ahvai/s be seen, and, even then, 

 not by everybody. I have seen at times a striking 

 likeness in a pretty face to that of a plain one in 

 the same family. 



In one of the Edinburgh Journals (Chambers') 

 a stranger is said to have remarked the likeness 



