The Catholic World Volume Ii Part 55

"'The truth, man, thou hast spoken, Of it thou mayst be sure.

For I most lose my precious blood For thee and thousands more.

"'If any one should come this way, And inquire for me alone.

Tell them that Jesus pa.s.sed by, As thou thy seed did sow.'"

King Herod comes afterward with his train, and furiously asks of the husbandman whether our Saviour has pa.s.sed by; the husbandman replies that

"'Jesus pa.s.sed by this way When my seed was sown.

"But now I have it reapen, And some laid on my wain.

Ready to fetch and carry Into my barn again.'"

Herod, supposing that it must be "full three quarters of a year since the seed was sown," turned back, and "further he proceeded into the Holy Land." A ma.n.u.script of the fifteenth century, preserved in the British Museum, contains a representation of the flight into Egypt, in which the above legend is introduced. The city of Bethlehem stands in the background, and on the right, in the distance, a field of corn and a reaper, who is in conversation with a soldier by his side. A curious Scotch tradition states that when Herod and his soldiers made their inquiry of the husbandman, "a little black beetle lifted up his head, and exclaimed, _The Son of Man pa.s.sed here last night_." Black beetles are probably not more popular here than in Scotland, but Highlanders, whenever they find the dastardly insect, kill it, repeating the words, "_Beetle, beetle, last night_."

"The Holy Well" is a very favorite carol with the broadside printers; I have seen it side by side with a very lively "legendary" production, "Flyaway Carol:"

"There good old Wesley, and a throng Of saints and martyrs too, Unite and praise their Saviour's name.

And there I long to goo.

Fly away! Fly away!

While yet it's called to-day!"

The Magi or three Kings of Cologne form the subject of many an old carol. The names of these "famous men" are supposed to have been, Kasper or Gaspar, King of Tarsus, young and beardless; Melchior, King of Nubia, old, with long beard and grey hair; and Balthazar, King of Saba, a negro. Their offerings were, as is well known, symbolical; to use the words of the Anglo-Saxon Hymnary, translated by the recorder of Sarum:

"Incense to G.o.d, and myrrh to grace his tomb, For tribute to their King, a golden store; One they revere, three with three offerings come, And three adore."

From an old commentary on the gospel of St. Matthew, we gather some curious matter relating to the history of the Three Wise Men. A certain nation dwelling close to the ocean, in the extreme east, possessed a writing, inscribed with the name of Seth, concerning the star which was to appear:

{354}

"Twelve of the more learned men of that country * * * has disposed themselves to watch for that star; and when any of them died, his son or one of his kindred * * was appointed in his place. These, therefore, year by year, after the thres.h.i.+ng out of the corn, ascended into a certain high mountain, called _Mons victorialis_, having in it a certain cave in the rock, most grateful and pleasant, with fountains and choice trees, into which, ascending and bathing themselves, they prayed and praised G.o.d in silence three days. And thus they did, generation after generation, watching ever, lest peradventure that star of beat.i.tude should arise upon themselves, until it appeared descending on the mountain, having within itself, as it were, the form of a man-child, and above it the similitude of a cross; and it spake to them, and taught them, and commanded them that they should go into Judaea. And journeying thither for the s.p.a.ce of two years, neither food nor drink failed in their vessels."

Other old accounts state that their journey occupied twelve days only: "they took neither rest nor refreshment; it seemed to them indeed as one day; the nearer they approached to Christ's dwelling, the brighter the star shone." [Footnote 51]

[Footnote 51: Early Christian Legends.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Drawing described below. ]

There appears to have been no decided opinion or tradition as to the form of the star; it is shown thus by Albert Durer, in an old book which I have by me of 1519: it is drawn with eight points, the lowest one being much longer than the others; in another book, 1596, I find it represented as a star of six points; in some old pictures it is shown as a sort of comet, and it is described to have been "as an eagle flying and beating the air with his wings," having within the form and likeness of the Holy Child.

In "Dives and Pauper," printed in 1496, we gather the following account of it:

"_Dives_. What manner of star was it then?

"_Pauper_. Some clerks tell that it was an angel in the likeness of a star, for the kings had no knowledge of angels, but took all heed to the star. Some say that it was the same child that lay in the ox-stall which appeared to the kings in the likeness of a star, and so drew them and led them to himself in Bethlehem."

I wish it were possible to give here a quaint ill.u.s.tration of the journey of the Three Wise Men, from a sheet of carols printed in 1820, which forms one of the wood-cuts procured with no little difficulty from the publisher by Mr. Hone, and is but little known.

The history of the Magi is even traced further; after their return to their own country they were baptized by St. Thomas the Apostle, became missionaries with him, and were, it is said by some, martyred.

Their journeyings did not, however, end with their deaths--their bodies were translated to Constantinople, thence to Milan, and afterward to Cologne, where they are still preserved in the cathedral, and their history recorded in a series of frescoes. Their shrine at Cologne was once exceedingly rich and magnificent, but during the excitement of the first French revolution many of the jewels which adorned the monument were sold and replaced by paste or gla.s.s counterfeits. The following description of their tomb I gather from Mr. Fyfe's book on "Christmas:"

"The coffin is stated to have two part.i.tions, the lower having a half, and the upper a whole, roofing. The former compartment contains the bones of the three kings, whose separate heads appear aloft through the aperture in the half-roofing; and on this roofing are inscribed the names _Gaspar, Melchior, Balthazar_, encrusted in rubies. {355} The heads are adorned with crowns weighing six pounds apiece, of gold, diamonds, and pearls. It is a.s.serted (but doubted) that the tomb and its contents are of the value of 240,000."

From the offerings of the three kings arose the practice of Christmas gifts, and the festival of the Epiphany has always been observed in remembrance of their visit to Bethlehem; it has also been the custom from earliest times for our sovereigns to offer the three mystic gifts of gold, myrrh, and incense at the altar on the day of the Epiphany, which custom is still observed at the Chapel Royal, the royal oblations being received by the dean or his deputy in a bag of crimson and gold. The Epiphany is also a "scarlet day" at the universities.

After this long roundabout discourse, I am almost afraid to weary my readers with a second edition of the wanderings of the Wise Men, but I must rely upon their generous forbearance; the accompanying carol is from a ma.n.u.script of the time of King Henry VII.:

"Now is Christmas i-come, Father and Son together in One, Holy Ghost, as Ye be One, In fere-a: G.o.d send us all a good new year-a.

"There came iij kings from Galilee Into Bethlehem that fair city To seek him that ever should be, By right-a, Lord, and King, and Knight-a.

"At they came forth with their offering, They met with Herod that moody king, This tide-a, And this to them he said-a.

"_Her_. Of whence be ye, you kings iij?

"_Mag_. Of the East, as ye may see, To seek him that ever should be, By right-a.

Lord, and King, and Knight-a.

"_Her_. When you at this child have been, Come home again by me, Tell me the sights that you have seen, I pray you, Go no other way-a.

"The Father of heaven an angel down sent, To these iij kings that made present This tide-a.

And this to them he said-a, My Lord hath warned you every one By Herod King you go not home For an you do, he will you slay, And strew-a, And hurt you wonderly-a.

"Forth then went these kings iij Till they came home to their countree.

Glad and blithe they were all iij, Of the sights that they had seen.

By dene-a.

The company was clean-a."

I will conclude with a modern specimen of a legendary carol written by the Rev. Dr. Neale, and published in Novello's s.h.i.+lling collection.

The story of St. Wenceslaus, the good King of Bohemia, is given by Bishop Jeremy Taylor in his "Life of Christ:"

'"One winter night, going to his devotions in a remote church, barefooted in the snow, * * his servant Podavius, who waited on his master's piety, and endeavored to imitate his affections, began to faint through the violence of the snow and cold, till the king commanded him to follow him, and set his feet in the same footsteps which his feet should mark for him; the servant did so, and either fancied a cure, or found one, for he followed his prince, helped forward with shame and zeal to his imitation, and by the forming footsteps for him in the snow."

"Good King Wenceslaus look'd out.

On the Feast of Stephen; When the snow lay round about.

Deep and crisp and even: Brightly shone the moon that night, Though the frost was cruel, When a poor man came in sight, Gath'ring winter fuel.

"'Hither, page, and stand by me.

While thou know'st it telling, Yonder peasant who is he?

Where and what his dwelling?

"'Sire, he lives a good league hence Underneath the mountain; Right against the forest fence, By Saint Agnes' fountain.'

"'Bring me flesh and bring me wine.

Bring me pine logs. .h.i.ther; Thou and I will see him dine, When we bear them thither.'

Page and monarch forth they went.

Forth they went together: Through the rude wind's wild lament, And the bitter weather.