At The Beginning Of The Meat

Words and Music: English Traditional

Compare: At The Begynnyng Of The Mete (Wright, 1847)

Source: William Henry Husk, Songs of the Nativity (London: John Camden Hotten, 1868)

Version Three of Seven From Husk
See generally Boar's Head Carols

Po, po, po, po,
[I] love brawn and so do mo.

1. At the beginning of the meat
Of a boar's head ye shall eat,
And in the mustard ye shall wet
    And ye shall singen¹ ere ye go.

2. Welcome be ye that be here,
And ye shall have right good cheer,
And also a right good fare,
    And ye shall singen ere ye go.

3. Welcome be ye every one,
For ye shall sing right anon;
Hie ye fast that ye had done,
    And ye shall singen ere ye go.

Note:

1. The old form of the plural. Return

Husk's Note:

This is from the manuscript of the fifteenth century which was edited ... in 1847, for the Percy Society by Mr. Thomas Wright. [At The Begynnyng Of The Mete (Wright, 1847)]

Also found in Edith Rickert, Ancient English Christmas Carols: 1400-1700 (London: Chatto & Windus, 1914), p. 257.

Rickert gives the following for line 2, verse 3:

“For ye shall singen with sithe anon”

She states that “sithe” means “after.”

Also found in Christmas In Art And Song: A Collection of Songs, Carols and Descriptive Poems, Relating To The Festival of Christmas (New York: The Arundel Printing and Publishing Co., 1879), which omits the burden.

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