Shakespeares Christmas Gift to Queen Bess | Page 6

Oberon, Titania, and their elfin train.
The cloud parts, and Puck steps forth to speak the epilogue:--
"If we shadows have offended Think but this, and all is mended. That
you have but slumber'd here While these visions did appear."
The Christmas play is over, but not over the Christmas fun. Lords and
ladies are but human, and have devised a "stately dance," in which they
themselves participate until nearly sunrise, the Queen herself joining at
times, and never so happy as when assured of her "wondrous majesty
and grace."
Did they--did any one--at this Christmas play of three hundred years
ago feel the full charm and glory of this immortal creation of the poet?
Did its lines ring in their ears the next day, and the next, and the next?
Did they foresee how its rhythm would dance down the ages and abide
in these present days, and in this present speech of ours?
But this is something that I, your truthful reporter, cannot answer

[Illustration: A Dance of the Sixteenth Century
"A fortnight hold we this solemnity. In nightly revels and new jollity." ]
.

III.
An Old-Time Christmas Carol.
Sung to the Queen in the Presence at Whitehall MDXCVI.
I sing of a maiden That is makeless.[1] King of all kings To her son she
ches.[2] He came al so still There his mother was, As dew in April That
falleth on the grass. He came al so still To his mother's bower, As dew
in April That falleth on the flower. He came al so still There his mother
lay, As dew in April That falleth on the spray. Mother and maiden Was
never none but she; Well may such a lady God's mother be.
[1] Matchless.
[2] Chose.
Ye End.
[Illustration: Decorative Emblem]

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