Hallowe’en to Candlemas 
Weep any, fear any ? 
Take His faithful word ! 
Moan any, strive any ? 
Breaking Satan’s bands? 
Watch and pray, hope and trust, 
Ye are in God’s hands. 
There is a delightful book, called a “ Garland of Christmas 
Carols,” by Joshua Sylvester, published over fifty years ago, 
wherein, among other quaint carols, is the following, called 
“ Nay, Ivy, Nay,” dating from the time of Henry VI. : 
Nay, Ivy, nay, it shall not be, I wis, 
Let Holly have the mastery as the manner is. 
Holly standeth in the hall fair to behold, 
Ivy stands without the door ; she is full sore a-cold. 
Nay, Ivy, nay, &c. 
Holly and his merry men they dance now and they sing, 
Ivy and her maidens they weep, and their hands wring, 
Nay, &c. 
Ivy hath a lybe, she caught it with the cold, 
So may they all have, that do with Ivy hold. 
Nay, &c. 
Holly he hath berries, as red as any rose, 
The foresters, the hunters, keep them from the does, 
Nay, &c. 
Ivy she hath berries as black as any sloe, 
There come the owls and eat them as they go. 
Nay, &c. 
While Holly he hath birds a full fair flock, 
The Nightingale, the Poppinjay, the gentle Laverock. 
Nay, &c. 
Good Ivy say to us what birds hast thou, 
None but the Owlet, that cries “ How ! how ! ” 
Nay, &c. 
I think the bird here meant by a popinjay must be a 
peacock, which was a familiar object in the gardens of the 
great. In Scotland it was sometimes called “ papejay ” or 
“papingo.” Chambers, in his curious book, “Traditions of 
Edinburgh,” alludes to Lady Marie Stuart’s “ Household 
Book,” wherein (with reference to the early part of the 
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