Words and Music:
Traditional English
(The following modernized form of the foregoing carol,
The bores heed in hande bring I, is
given by Dr. Dibdin, as preserved and used up to a very recent period at Queen's
College, Oxford. Dibdin's Ames, vol. ii. p. 252)
Source: Thomas Wright, Specimens of old Christmas Carols, Selected from Manuscripts and Printed Books (London: The Percy Society, 1841)
See generally: The Boar's Head Carols
1. The boar's head in hand bear I,
Bedeck'd with bays and rosemary;
I pray you, my masters, be merry,
Quot estis in convivio.
Caput Apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino.
2. The boar's head, as I understand,
Is the rarest dish in all this land;
Which thus bedeck'd with a gay garland.
Let us servire cantico.
Caput Apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino.
3. Our steward hath provided this
In honour of the king of bliss;
Which on this day to be served is
In Reginensi Atrio.
Caput Apri defero
Reddens laudes Domino.
Sheet Music from
William Henry Husk, Songs of the Nativity (London: John
Camden Hotten, 1868)
MIDI /
Noteworthy Composer / PDF
Also found in Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), p. 259. Rickert states “As sung at Queen's College, Oxford.”
Also found in A. H. Bullen, A Christmas Garland (London: John C. Nimmo, 1885), p. 171, with the note "A modern version of the previous carol [The Boars Head In Hand Bring I - Early Version].From Dibdin's Typog. Antiq. ii. 252."
