OLD, OLDER, OLDEST

It was good to meet up with an old friend today and to see her family too. We always leave feeling thoroughly pampered and well fed and today was no exception. It was good to catch up with all the family news as it is a while since we met and we left promising not to leave it so long before we go again!

My blip today is our friend's dog, a Miniature German Schnauzer called Samson - a very playful and photogenic dog!

When we had visited our friend a couple of years ago, a friend of hers who is a specialist on antiquarian theology books and Bibles had been there and he visited again this evening just before we left.

We chatted for a while and then he asked if we would like to see some of the old Bibles he had purchased. Of course, we said we would be delighted so we saw and held a beautiful Bible dating back to 1629 with the most exquisite markings in gold leaf on the cover and the page edges and he also showed us a Book of Common Prayer and Bible, dating back to 1570.

Then we were privileged to see a silver plated communion flagon made in 1819 used by Baptists in Pembroke and a Scottish silver communion cup from Edinburgh made in 1705.

I happened to mention that I did calligraphy and also that when I had worked in a solicitors' office, I loved looking at old deeds, so we were then treated to the sight of a beautiful Deed written at the end of the Civil War and dated November 1659 complete with large seal.

What wonderful treasures and amazing to think that they were read and used so many hundreds of years ago.

In view of the above, I thought a very old carol would fit in well - God Rest You Merry, Gentlemen.

This is thought to have originated in London in the 16th or 17th centuries and the most familiar melody dates back to the 1650s when it appeared in a book of dancing tunes. The comma is placed after the "merry" in the first line because the song is enjoining the gentlemen (possibly meaning the shepherds abiding in the fields) to be merry because of Christ's birthday. It is not telling "merry gentlemen" to rest!