The Boare is dead

Words and Music: Traditional English
(From "The Christmas Prince," London, 1607)

Source: Thomas Wright, Specimens of Old Christmas Carols Selected from Manuscripts and Printed Books (London: The Percy Society, 1841), pp. 62-63.

Compare:
The Boare Is Dead (Sandys, 1833)
The Boar Is Dead (Husk, 1868, with extensive notes)

See generally: The Boar's Head Carols

Carol, on bringing the Boar's Head, used before the Christmas Prince, at St. John the Baptist's College, Oxford, Christmas 1607

The Boare is dead,
Loe, heare is his head:
    What man could have done more
Then his head of to strike,
Meleager like,
    And bringe it as I doe before?

He livinge spoyled
Where good men toyled,
    Which made kinde Ceres sorrye;
But now, dead and drawne,
Is very good brawne,
    And we have brought it for ye.

Then sett downe the swineyard,
The foe to the vineyard,
    Lett Bacchus crowne his fall;
Lett this boares-head and mustard
Stand for pigg, goose, and custard,
    And so you are welcome all.

Sheet Music from William Wallace Fyfe, Christmas: It's Customs And Carols (London: James Blackwood, 1863), pp. 177-178.
MIDI / Noteworthy Composer / PDF

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