[Illustration: SINGING THE MAY-DAY CAROL ON MAGDALEN COLLEGE TOWER.]
The arrangement of the ceremony is as follows. At about half-past four o'clock in the morning, the singing boys and men, accompanied by members of Magdalen and different colleges, ascend to the platform of the tower; and the choristers, having put on their surplices, range themselves on the slightly-gabled roof, standing with their faces towards the east. Magdalen bell having tolled five, the choristers sing from their books the Latin hymn, of which the following is a translation:--
"Father and God, we worship Thee, And praise and bless on bended knee: With food Thou'rt to our bodies kind, With heavenly grace dost cheer the mind.
"O, Jesus, only Son of God! Thee we adore, and praise, and laud: Thy love did not disdain the gloom Of a pure Virgin's holy womb.
"Nail'd to the cross, a victim made, On Thee the wrath of God was laid: Our only Saviour, now by Thee Immortal life we hope to see.
"To Thee, Eternal Spirit, rise Unceasing praise, from earth and skies: Thy breath awoke the heavenly Child, And gave Him to His mother mild.
"To Thee, the Triune God, be paid-- To Thee, who our redemption made-- All honour, thanks, and praise divine, For this great mystery of Thine!"
At the close of the hymn, all heads are covered, and the singers hasten to the belfry, whence the bells ring out a joyful peal. The spectators in the road beneath disperse, the boys blowing tin horns, according to ancient custom, to welcome in sweet May; while others ramble into the fields to gather cowslips and field flowers, which they bring into the town. Occasionally the singing on the tower has been heard, with a favourable wind, at two miles' distance. This being a "gaudy day" for the choristers, they have a dinner of roast lamb and plum-pudding in the College-hall at two o'clock. There is a good representation of the ceremony on the tower, carefully engraved by Joseph Lionel Williams, in the _Illustrated London News_, whence the accompanying representation has been reduced.
Dr. Rimbault, whilst making some researches in the library of Christchurch, Oxford, discovered what appeared to him to be the first draft of the above hymn. It has the following note:--"This hymn is sung every day in Magdalen College Hall, Oxon, dinner and supper throughout the year, for the after grace, by the chaplains, clerks, and choristers there. Composed by Benjamin Rogers, Doctor of Musicke of the University of Oxon, 1685." The author of the hymn is unknown.