50|
In tempest and fury,
Your angry noise hush;
Move gently, move gently,
Restrain your wild sweep;
Hold your branches at rest,
My babe is asleep.

My babe all divine,
With earth's sorrows oppressed,
Seeks in slumber an instant
His grievings to rest;
He slumbers, he slumbers,
O, hush, then, and keep
Your branches all still,
My babe is asleep!"{43}

* * * * *

Apart from such modern revivals of the Christmas drama as Mr. Laurence
Housman's "Bethlehem," Miss Buckton's "Eager Heart," Mrs. Percy Dearmer's
"The Soul of the World," and similar experiments in Germany and France, a
genuine tradition has lingered on in some parts of Europe into modern
times. We have already noticed some French and German instances; to these
may be added a few from other countries.

In Naples there is no Christmas without the "Cantata dei pastori"; it is
looked forward to no less than the Midnight Mass. Two or three theatres
compete for the public favour in the performance of this play in rude
verse. It begins with Adam and Eve and ends with the birth of Jesus and
the adoration of the shepherds. Many devils are brought on the stage,
their arms and legs laden with brass chains that rattle horribly. Awful
are their names, Lucifero, Satanasso, Belfegor, Belzebu, &c. They not
only tempt Adam and Eve, but annoy the Virgin and St. Joseph, until an
angel comes and frightens them away. Two non-Biblical figures are
introduced, Razzullo and Sarchiapone, who are tempted by devils and aided
by angels.{44} In Sicily too the Christmas play still lingers under the
name of _Pastorale_.{45}

|151| A nineteenth-century Spanish survival of the "Stella" is
described in Fernan Caballero's sketch, "La Noche de Navidad."{46} At
the foot of the altar of the village church, according to this account,
images of the Virgin and St. Joseph were placed, with the Holy Child
between them, lying on straw. On either side knelt a small boy dressed as
an angel. Solemnly there entered the church a number of men attired as
shepherds, bearing their offerings to the Child; afterwards they danced
with slow and dignified movements before the altar. The shepherds were
followed by the richest men of the village dressed as the Magi Kings,
mounted on horseback, and followed by their train. Before them went a
shining star. On reaching the church they dismounted; the first,
represe