by Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832 - 1914)
Christmas knows a merry, merry place
Language: English
CHORUS Christmas knows a merry, merry place, Where he goes with fondest face, Brightest eye, brightest hair: Tell the Mermaid where is that one place -- Where? RALEIGH ’Tis by Devon’s glorious halls, Whence, dear Ben, I come again: Bright with golden roofs and walls -- El Dorado’s rare domain -- Seem those halls when sunlight launches Shafts of gold through leafless branches, When the winter’s feathery mantle blanches Field and farm and lane. CHORUS Christmas knows a merry, merry place, Where he goes with fondest face, Brightest eye, brightest hair: Tell the Mermaid where is that one place -- Where? DRAYTON ’Tis where Avon’s wood-sprites weave Through the boughs a lace of rime, While the bells of Christmas Eve Fling for Will the Stratford-chime O’er the river-flags embossed Rich with flowery runes of frost -- O’er the meads where snowy tufts are tossed -- Strains of olden time. CHORUS Christmas knows a merry, merry place, Where he goes with fondest face, Brightest eye, brightest hair: Tell the Mermaid where is that one place Where? “MR. W. H.” ’Tis, methinks, on any ground Where our Shakespeare’s feet are set. There smiles Christmas, holly-crowned With his blithest coronet. Friendship’s face he loveth well: ’Tis a countenance whose spell Sheds a balm o’er every mead and dell Where we used to fret. CHORUS Christmas knows a merry, merry place, Where he goes with fondest face, Brightest eye, brightest hair: Tell the Mermaid where is that one place -- Where? HEYWOOD More than all the pictures, Ben, Winter weaves by wood or stream, Christmas loves our London, when Rise thy clouds of wassail-steam -- Clouds like these, that, curling, take Forms of faces gone, and wake Many a lay from lips we loved, and make London like a dream. CHORUS Christmas knows a merry, merry place, Where he goes with fondest face, Brightest eye, brightest hair: Tell the Mermaid where is that one place -- Where? BEN JONSON Love’s old songs shall never die, Yet the new shall suffer proof; Love’s old drink of Yule brew I, Wassail for new love’s behoof: Drink the drink I brew, and sing Till the berried branches swing, Till our song make all the Mermaid ring -- Yea, from rush to roof. FINALE Christmas loves this merry, merry place: -- Christmas saith with fondest face, Brightest eye, brightest hair, “Ben! the drink tastes rare of sack and mace; Rare!”
About the headline (FAQ)
Confirmed with Charles Dudley Warner, et al. Library of World’s Best Literature, New York: Warner Library Co., 1917.
Authorship:
- by Theodore Watts-Dunton (1832 - 1914), "Wassail Chorus", appears in The Coming of Love and Other Poems [author's text checked 1 time against a primary source]
Musical settings (art songs, Lieder, mélodies, (etc.), choral pieces, and other vocal works set to this text), listed by composer (not necessarily exhaustive):
- by Ivor (Bertie) Gurney (1890 - 1937), "Wassail Chorus at the Mermaid Tavern", 1925 [ voice and piano ] [sung text not yet checked]
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]
This text was added to the website: 2022-01-18
Line count: 81
Word count: 391