410 POPULAR SONGS. 



League, and this carol, doubly remarkable with regard to the sentiments it 

 contains and the way in which they are expressed, is in reality a popular song 

 at once political and religious, and in which staunch Catholics deplore the 

 evil of their time. The three couplets subjoined will give the reader an idea 

 of the general tone of this pathetic lay : 



" Nous te requerons, a mains jointes, 

 Vouloir ou'ir nos griefvcs plaintes, 



Nous, pauvres pastoureaux ; 

 De toutes parts on nous saccage, 

 On nous detruit, on nous ravage, 

 Et brebis et agneaux. 



Le soklat, tous los jours, sans cesse, 

 En nos casettes nous oppresse, 



Pille et emporte tout : 

 II nous compresse, il nous r:m9onne ; 

 A son depart, souvent nous donne 



Encore un meschant coup. 



Quo si bientost tu n'y prends garde, 

 Nous mettant sous ta sauvcgarde, 



Helas ! o'est fait de noua. 

 Oste-nous done de ces miseres, 

 Fais cesser nos civiles guerres, 



Te prions a genoux ! " 



The Christmas carol soon assumed a different shape, and, ceasing to be 

 even a religious song, was made to contain allusions to the current events of 

 the day, allusions replete with epigrams and sarcasms. It became in some 

 cases impertinent, indelicate, and blasphemous, though more generally it was 

 but the arch expression of popular good-humour. The appended couplet 

 gives a fair idea of the carol of the sixteenth century : 



" Messire Jean Guillot, 

 Cure de Saint-Denis, 

 Apporte plein un pot 

 Du Tin of son logis. 

 Prestres et escolliers, 

 Toute icelle nuictee, 

 Se sont mis a sauter, 



Chanter 

 Tit, re, mi, fa, sol, la, 



Jala, 

 A gorge desployee." 



