Who wrote the words for "Masters in This Hall" around 1860?

William Morris wrote the words for “Masters in This Hall” around 1860. The English poet and designer supplied new lyrics for an older French dance tune rather than composing the melody himself.

Morris was about 26 and working as an apprentice in the architectural office of G. E. Street when he wrote the text. The carol was included in Edmund Sedding’s 1860 collection Nine Antient and Goodly Carols for the Merry Tide of Christmas, helping establish the song in print.

The tune has a much older and more secular history. It is associated with French composer Marin Marais and his 1706 opera Alcyone, where it appeared as a sailors’ march. It was also published in a contemporary dance collection as “La Matelotte.”

The carol tells of a poor narrator following shepherds to Bethlehem and seeing the infant Christ. Its refrain—about the poor being raised and the proud cast down—echoes the Magnificat. Morris’s original text had twelve verses, although modern performances usually omit many of them.