3

For to worship God with,

this happy New Year.
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew,
the water and the wine;
The seven bright gold wires
and the bugles that do shine.

Sing reign of Fair Maid,
with gold upon her toe,-
Open you the West Door,
and turn the Old Year go.

Sing reign of Fair Maid

with gold upon her chin,-
Open you the East Door,

and let the New Year in.
Sing levy dew, sing levy dew,
the water and the wine;
The seven bright gold wires
and the bugles they do shine.

HEY! NOW THE DAY DAWNS

"HAY, nou the day dauis; The jolie Cok crauis; Nou shroudis the shauis,

Throu Natur anone. The thissell-cok cryis On louers wha lyis, Nou skaillis the skyis;

The nicht is neir gone. "The feildis ouerflouis With gowans that grouis, Quhair lilies lyk lou is,

Als rid as the rone. The turtill that true is, With nots that reneuis, Hir pairtie perseuis;

The nicht is neir gone.

HEY! now the day dawns;
The jolly Cock crows;
Thick-leaved the green shaws,
Through Nature anon.

The thistle-cock cries
On lovers who lies,
All cloudless the skies;

The night is near gone.
The fields overflow
With daisies a-blow,
And lilies like fire shine,

And red is the rowan.
The wood-dove that true is
Her crooling reneweth,
And her sweet mate pur-
sueth;

The night is near gone.

'Tis the voice of a sluggard; I heard him complain— "You have waked me too soon; I must slumber again;" As the door on its hinges, so he on his bed,

Turns his sides, and his shoulders, and his heavy head.

"A little more sleep, and a little more slumber❞—
Thus he wastes half his days, and his hours without number;
And when he gets up, he sits folding his hands,
Or walks about saunt'ring, or trifling he stands.

I passed by his garden, and saw the wild brier
The thorn and the thistle grow broader and higher;
The clothes that hang on him are turning to rags;
And his money still wastes till he starves or he begs.

I made him a visit, still hoping to find

That he took better care for improving his mind;
He told me his dreams, talked of eating and drinking,
But he scarce reads his Bible, and never loves thinking.

Said I then to my heart: "Here's a lesson for me;
That man's but a picture of what I might be;
But thanks to my friends for their care in my breeding,
Who taught me betimes to love working and reading."
ISAAC WATTS

1 Hedgehogs

5

HARK, HARK, THE LARK

HEARKE, hearke, the Larke at Heaven's gate sings,

And Phoebus 'gins arise,

His Steeds to water at those Springs

On chaliced Flowres that lyes:
And winking Mary-buds begin

To ope their Golden eyes:
With every thing that pretty is,
My Lady sweet, arise:

Arise, arise!

6

WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE

THE LARK NOW LEAVES HIS
WATERY NEST

THE lark now leaves his watery nest,
And climbing shakes his dewy wings;
He takes your window for the East,

And to implore your light, he sings:
Awake, awake! the morn will never rise
Till she can dress her beauty at your eyes.

The merchant bows unto the seaman's star,
The ploughman from the sun his season takes;
But still the lover wonders what they are

Who look for day before his mistress wakes:
Awake, awake! break through your veils of lawn;
Then draw your curtains, and begin the dawn!
SIR WILLIAM DAVENANT

7

EARLY MORN

WHEN I did wake this morn from sleep,
It seemed I heard birds in a dream;

Then I arose to take the air

The lovely air that made birds scream;

Just as a green hill launched the ship

Of gold, to take its first clear dip.

And it began its journey then,

As I came forth to take the air;
The timid Stars had vanished quite,
The Moon was dying with a stare;
Horses, and kine, and sheep were seen
As still as pictures, in fields green.

It seemed as though I had surprised
And trespassed in a golden world

That should have passed while men still slept!
The joyful birds, the ship of gold,

The horses, kine and sheep did seem

As they would vanish for a dream.

WILLIAM H. DAVIES

8

GOOD-MORROW

PACK, clouds, away, and welcome day!
With night we banish sorrow.
Sweet air, blow soft, mount, lark, aloft
To give my Love good morrow.
Wings from the wind to please her mind,
Notes from the lark I'll borrow:
Bird, prune thy wing, nightingale, sing,
To give my Love good morrow!
To give my Love good morrow
Notes from them all I'll borrow.

Wake from thy nest, robin redbreast!
Sing, birds, in every furrow,
And from each bill let music shrill
Give my fair Love good morrow!
Blackbird and thrush in every bush,
Stare, linnet, and cock-sparrow,
You pretty elves, amongst yourselves
Sing my fair Love good morrow!
To give my Love good morrow
Sing, birds, in every furrow!

1

THOMAS HEYWOOD

1 Starling

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THE QUESTION

I DREAMED that, as I wandered by the way,
Bare Winter suddenly was changed to Spring,
And gentle odours led my steps astray,

Mixed with a sound of waters murmuring
Along a shelving bank of turf, which lay

Under a copse, and hardly dared to fling

Its green arms round the bosom of the stream,
But kissed it and then fled, as thou mightest in dream.

There grew pied wind-flowers and violets,

Daisies, those pearled Arcturi of the earth,

The constellated flower that never sets;

Faint oxlips; tender blue-bells, at whose birth
The sod scarce heaved; and that tall flower that wets-
Like a child, half in tenderness and mirth-

Its mother's face with heaven's collected tears,
When the low wind, its playmate's voice, it hears.

And in the warm hedge grew lush eglantine,

Green cowbind and the moonlight-coloured May
And cherry-blossoms, and white cups, whose wine
Was the bright dew, yet drained not by the day;
And wild roses, and ivy serpentine

With its dark buds and leaves, wandering astray;
And flowers azure, black, and streaked with gold,
Fairer than any wakened eyes behold.

And nearer to the river's trembling edge

There grew broad flag-flowers, purple prankt with

white

And starry river-buds among the sedge,

And floating water-lilies, broad and bright,

Which lit the oak that overhung the hedge

With moonlight beams of their own watery light;

And bulrushes, and reeds of such deep green

As soothed the dazzled eye with sober sheen.

Methought that of these visionary flowers