Make we mery in hall and boure
For The Circumcision
De Circumci~ione domini
Source: Edward Bliss Reed, ed., Christmas Carols Printed in the 16th Century Including Kele's Christmas Carolles Newly Inprynted. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1932).
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In a Middle English font: Make we mery in hall and boure
To encrea~e our ioy and bly~~e,
Chri~tus natus e~t nobis
Make we mery in hall and boure
And this gloryous lady honor we
That to vs hath borne our ~auyour
Home ~ine femine
To encrea~e. &c.
For as the ~onne that ~hyneth bryght
Perceth no glas that we may ~e
So conceyued ~he Je~u full of myght
Cum virginitatis honore
To encrea~e. &c.
I~ay prophecyed longe beforne
How this Emanuel borne ~holde be
To ~aue his people that were forlorne
Dux exurget regere
We were all in great dy~tre~~e
Tyll this lorde dyd make vs free
Wherof this fe~te beryth wytnes
Uenit nos redimere
To encrea~e. &c.
A token of loue he fyr~t now ~hewed
That he on vs wolde haue pytye
Whan he for vs was crucyfed
Ut declaratur hodie.
To encrea~e. &c.
Mo~t gloryous lady we the pray
That bereth the crowne of cha~tyte
Brynge vs to the bly~~e that la~teth aye
Feliciter congaudere
To encrea~e. &c.
Finis.
Editor's Note:
This is one of the carols that were first printed by Richard Kele, Christmas Carolles Newly Inprynted (circa 1550), reprinted in Philip Bliss, Biographical Miscellanies (1813), and included in Edward Bliss Reed, Christmas Carols of the 16th Century, Including Kele's Christmas Carolles Newly Inprynted (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1932).
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