of a place is suggested, a village whose people are famous for their
stinginess offers cider that is half rain-water; elsewhere the
inhabitants are so given to law-suits that they can hardly find time to
go to Bethlehem.

Such _Noels_ with their vivid local colour, are valuable pictures of the
manners of their time. They are, unfortunately, too long for quotation
here, but any reader who cares to follow up the subject will find some
interesting specimens in a little collection of French carols that can be
bought for ten _centimes_.{9} They are of various dates; some probably
were written as late as the eighteenth century. In that century, and
indeed in the seventeenth, the best Christmas verses are those of a
provincial and rustic character, and especially those in _patois_; the
more cultivated poets, with their formal classicism, can ill enter into
the spirit of the festival. Of the learned writers the best is a woman,
Francoise Paschal, of Lyons (b. about 1610); in spite of her Latinity she
shows a real feeling for her subjects. Some of her _Noels_ are dialogues
between the sacred personages; one presents |62| Joseph and Mary as
weary wayfarers seeking shelter at all the inns of Bethlehem and
everywhere refused by host or hostess:--

"_Saint Joseph._

Voyons la _Rose-Rouge_.
Madame de ceans,
Auriez-vous quelque bouge
Pour de petites gens?

_L'Hotesse._

Vous n'avez pas la mine
D'avoir de grands tresors;
Voyez chez ma voisine,
Car, quant a moi, je dors.

_Saint Joseph._

Monsieur des _Trois-Couronnes_,
Avez-vous logement,
Chez vous pour trois personnes,
Quelque trou seulement.

_L'Hote._

Vous perdez votre peine,
Vous venez un peu tard,
Ma maison est fort pleine,
Allez quelqu'autre part."{10}

The most remarkable of the _patois Noelistes_ of the seventeenth century
are the Provencal Saboly and the Burgundian La Monnoye, the one kindly
and tender, the other witty and sarcastic. Here is one of Saboly's
Provencal _Noels_:--

"Quand la miejonue sounavo,
Ai sauta dou liech au sou;
Ai vist un bel ange que cantavo
Milo fes pu dous qu'un roussignou.

Lei mastin dou vesinage
Se soun toutes atroupa; |63|
N'avien jamai vist aqueu visage
Se soun tout-d'un-cop mes a japa.

Lei pastre dessus la paio
Dourmien coume de soucas;
Quand an aussi lou bru dei sounaio
Au