harvest home, corresponding to our Thanksgiving and Christmas. All these
occasions were enlivened with songs and tales. The Christmas carol and
story are famous in England's annals. Scott says:


"All hail'd with uncontroll'd delight
And general voice the happy night,
That to the cottage as the crown,
Brought tidings of salvation down.
'Twas Christmas broached the mightiest ale
'Twas Christmas told the merriest tale;
A Christmas gambol oft could cheer
The poor man's heart through half the year."



[Footnote 3: Ritson and Bishop Percy speak of different ages: one
describing the rise and the other the decline of minstrelsy.]

[Footnote 4: The song makes Arthur record his own death.]

[Footnote 5: 7th vol. Child's British Poets.]

[Footnote 6: Childs British Poets, I: 139 and 149.]

* * * * *