God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen

God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen is an English traditional Christmas carol. It is also known as Tidings of Comfort and Joy, and by variant incipits as Come All You Worthy Gentlemen; God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen; God Rest Ye, Merry Christians; or God Rest You Merry People All.  It is one of the oldest extant carols, dated to the 16th century or earlier.  The earliest known printed edition of the carol is in a broadsheet dated to c. 1760.   The traditional English melody is in the minor mode; the earliest printed edition of the melody appears to be in a parody, in the 1829 Facetiae of William Hone. It had been traditional and associated with the carol since at least the mid-18th century, when it was recorded by James Nares under the title “The old Christmas Carol”. The carol is referred to in Charles Dickens’ 1843 A Christmas Carol: “… at the first sound of ‘God bless you, merry gentlemen! May nothing you dismay!’, Scrooge seized the ruler with such energy of action that the singer fled in terror, leaving the keyhole to the fog and even more congenial frost.” This carol also is featured in the second movement of the 1927 Carol Symphony by Victor Hely-Hutchinson