Lullay, Mine Liking, My Dere Sone, Mine Sweting
For Christmas
Words: English Traditional from the Sloane Ms. 2593, British Library, London
Versions on this
site:
Lullay, Myn Lykyng (Richard
Greene)
Lullay My Liking -
Version 1
Lullay My Liking
- Version 2
Lullay, Mine Liking (Modern, From Rickert)
I
Saw A Fair Maiden (Richard Terry, with music)
Music: Not Stated
Source: E. K. Chambers and F. Sidgwick, eds., Early English Lyrics (London: A. H. Bullen, 1907), #LXIX, p. 131.
Lullay, mine liking, my dere sone, mine sweting,
Lullay, my dere herte, mine owen dere derling !
I saw a fair maiden
Sitten and singe,
Sche lulled a litel child,
A swete lording.
That eche lord is that
That made alle thinge ;
Of alle lordes he is lord,
Of alle kinges king. 10
There was mekel melody
At that childes berthe ;
Alle tho wern in hevene bliss
They made mekel merthe.
Aungele bright they song that
night, 15
And seiden to that child,
' Blessed be thou, and so be sche
That is bothe meke and mild.'
Prey we now to that child,
And to his moder dere, 20
Graunt hem his blessing
That now maken chere.
Note:
7. eche, eternal.
Note to #LXIX, p. 49.
Sloane 2593. Printed Archiv, cvii. 49; Wright, W.C., 94.
Extended Citations:
Archiv, cvii. 49;
Bernhard Fehr, "Weitere Beiträge zur englischen Lyrik des 15. und 16.
Jahrhunderts," in Alois Brandl and Adolf Tobler, eds., Archiv fur das Studium
der Neueren Sprachen und Litteraturen. CVII Band / Volume 107. (Braunschweig:
George Westermann, 1901), 32a, "lullay myn lyking my dere sone my swytyng," p.
49. The article contains excerpts from Sloane 2593, Sloane 1212, Sloane 3501,
Harley 541, Harley 367, & Harley 7578.
Wright, W.C., 94.
Thomas Wright, ed.,
Songs and Carols from a Manuscript in the British Museum of the
Fifteenth Century (Warton Club, 1842),
I saw a fayr mayden
syttng and synge, p. 94. (Texts from Sloane
2593).
Editor's Note.
This very sweet lullaby is among the oldest of the lullabies to the infant Christ, and is found only in the Sloane Ms. 2593. It has been interpreted by numerous artists, and has been the subject of several musical settings. It is sometimes found with variants of the title "I Saw A Fair Maiden."
The text from Fehr's article:
32 a:
lullay myn lyking my dere sone my swytyng
lullay my dere harte my owyn dere derlyng
I saw a fayr maydyn syttyn and synge
she lullyd a lytyl chyld, a swete lordyng 4
lullay
ŝat eche lord is ŝat ŝat made alle ŝinge
of alle lordis he is lord of alle Kynges Kyng
ŝer was mekyl melody at ŝat chyldes berthe32b
alle ŝo wern in heuene blys ŝei made mekŝe 8
Angel bryζt ŝei song ŝat nyζt and seydyn to ŝat chyld
Blyssid be ŝou and so be sche ŝat is boŝe meke and myld
Prey we now to ŝat chylde and to his moder dere
Grawnt hem his blyssyng ŝat now makyn chere. 12
Sloane 2593.
Sloane 2593. Paper, 5 3/4 x 4 1/2. Songs and carols, seventy-four in number, of
which three are in Latin, and the rest in English. Mainly religious or moral,
but some trivial and satirical. Wright considered it to be the song-book of a
minstrel (cf. Eng. Poet. e. 1) ; the last folio bears the name Johannes Bardel'
or Bradel,' written in the same hand as the rest of the MS. Wright traces one
poem to 1362-9, but probably this and others were traditional when written down
; he dates the handwriting temp. Henry VI. According to Bradley-Stratmann, the
MS. was written in Warwickshire at the beginning of the XV cent. Variants of
some poems appear in Eng. Poet. e. i. Extracts in Ritson (1790), Wright, Carols
(1836), and S.L.P., Rel. Ant., and Fehr in Archiv, cvii. 48; Edited complete by
Wright for the Warton Club in 1856 ; and by B. Fehr in Archiv, cix. 33 ; who
does not print poems extracted as above, but is ignorant of the Warton Club
print. Source: Notes, pp. 303-304.
Extended Citations:
Extracts in:
- Ritson (1790);
Joseph Ritson, ed., Ancient Songs, from the time of King Henry the Third to the Revolution. (London: J. Johnson, 1790), p. nnn. "Advertisement in 1829 edition says that this edition was printed in 1787, dated 1790, and published 1792." - [Ritson] (1829);
Joseph Ritson. ed., Ancient Songs and Ballads, from the reign of King Henry the Second to the Revolution. 2 Vols. (London: For Payne and Foss by Thomas Davison, 1829). - Hazlitt-Ritson.
Joseph Ritson, ed., Ancient Songs and Ballads From the Reign of King Henry the Second to the Revolution. Third Edition, revised W. Carew Hazlitt. (London: Reeves and Turner, 1877). -
Wright, Carols (1836).
Thomas Wright, ed., Songs and Carols Printed From A Manuscript in the Sloane Collection in the British Museum Preface signed Thomas Wright. (London: William Pickering, 1836). [Text, twenty pieces only, from Sloane 2593.] - Wright, S.L.P.
Thomas Wright, ed., Specimens of Lyric Poetry, composed in England in the reign of Edward the First (Percy Society, 1842). [Texts from Harl. 2253.] - Wright, Rel. Ant.
Thomas Wright and James Orchard Halliwell, eds., Reliquiĉ Antiquĉ. Scraps from Ancient Manuscripts, illustrating chiefly Early English Literature and the English Laguage. Vol. 2 of 2 vols. (1841, 1843). -
Fehr in Archiv, cvii. 48;
Bernhard Fehr, "Weitere Beiträge zur englischen Lyrik des 15. und 16. Jahrhunderts," in Alois Brandl and Adolf Tobler, eds., Archiv für das Studium der Neueren Sprachen und Litteraturen. CVII Band / Volume 107. (Braunschweig: George Westermann, 1901), p. 48. With excerpts from Sloane 2593, Sloane 1212, Sloane 3501, Harley 541, Harley 367, & Harley 7578.
Edited complete by:
- Wright for the Warton Club in 1856 ;
Thomas Wright, ed., Songs and Carols from a Manuscript in the British Museum of the Fifteenth Century (Warton Club, 1842). (Texts from Sloane 2593); -
B. Fehr in Archiv, cix. 33; who does not print poems extracted as above, but is ignorant of the Warton Club print.
Bernhard Fehr, "Die Lieder der Hs. Sloane 2593," in Alois Brandl and Adolf Tobler, eds., Archiv für das Studium der neueren Sprachen und Litteraturen. Band CIX. (Braunschweig: George Westermann, 1902), pp. 33-72.
If you would like to help support Hymns and Carols of Christmas, please click on the button below and make a donation.
Related Hymns and Carols