g of the same kind has been
done in Brittany.{15} The _Noel_ has attracted by its aesthetic charm
even poets who are anything but devout; Theophile Gautier, for instance,
wrote a graceful Christmas carol, "Le ciel est noir, la terre est
blanche."

On a general view of the vernacular Christmas poetry of France it must be
admitted that the devotional note is not very strong; there is indeed a
formal reverence, a courtly homage, paid to the Infant Saviour, and the
miraculous in the Gospel story is taken for granted; but there is little
sense of awe and mystery. In harmony with the realistic instincts of the
nation, everything is dramatically, very humanly conceived; at times,
indeed, the personages of the Nativity scenes quite lose their sacred
character, and the treatment degenerates into grossness. At its best,
however, the French _Noel_ has a gaiety and a grace, joined to a genuine,
if not very deep, piety, that are extremely charming. Reading these
rustic songs, we are carried in imagination to French countrysides; we
think of the long walk through the snow to the Midnight Mass, the
cheerful _reveillon_ spread on the |65| return, the family gathered
round the hearth, feasting on wine and chestnuts and _boudins_, and
singing in traditional strains the joys of _Noel_.

* * * * *

Across the Pyrenees, in Spain, the late sixteenth and early seventeenth
centuries saw a great output of Christmas verse. Among the chief writers
were Juan Lopez de Ubeda, Francisco de Ocana, and Jose de
Valdivielso.{16} Their _villancicos_ remind one of the paintings of
Murillo; they have the same facility, the same tender and graceful
sentiment, without much depth. They lack the homely flavour, the
quaintness that make the French and German folk-carols so delightful;
they have not the rustic tang, and yet they charm by their simplicity and
sweetness.

Here are a few stanzas by Ocana:--

"Dentro de un pobre pesebre
y cobijado con heno
yace Jesus Nazareno.

En el heno yace echado
el hijo de Dios eterno,
para librar del infierno
al hombre que hubo criado,
y por matar el pecado
el heno tiene por bueno
nuestro Jesus Nazareno.

Esta entre dos animales
que le calientan del frio,
quien remedia nuestros males
con su grande poderio:
es su reino y senorio
el mundo y el cielo sereno,
y agora duerme en el heno.

Tiene por bueno sufr