



Produced by Julie Barkley, Linda Cantoni, and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net









A righte Merrie Christmasse!!!

The Story of Christ-tide


By John Ashton. Copperplate
Etching of "The
Wassail Song," by Arthur
C. Behrend.


London: published by the Leadenhall
Press, Ltd., 50 Leadenhall Street;
Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent
& Co., Ltd. New York: Charles
Scribner's Sons, 153-157 Fifth Avenue.

The Leadenhall Press Ltd.
London
[1894]


[Transcriber's Notes:

This text contains passages using the Anglo-Saxon thorn (Þ or þ,
equivalent of "th"), which should display properly in most text
viewers. The Anglo-Saxon yogh (equivalent of "y," "i," "g," or "gh")
will display properly only if the user has the proper font, so to
maximize accessibility, the character "3" is used in this e-text to
represent the yogh.

Characters with a macron are preceded by an equal sign and enclosed in
square brackets, e.g., [=a].

Superscripted characters are preceded by a carat and enclosed in curly
brackets, e.g., y^{t}.]


[Illustration: The Wassail Song]




TO THE READER


     I do not craue
     mo thankes to haue,
     than geuen to me
     all ready be;
     but this is all,
     to such as shall
       peruse this booke.
     That, for my sake,
     they gently take
     what ere they finde
     against their minde,
     when he