Once in Royal David’s City is a Christmas carol originally written as poem by Miss Cecil Frances Alexander. The carol was first published in 1848 in Miss Cecil Humphreys’ hymnbook Hymns for little Children. A year later, the English organist Henry John Gauntlett discovered the poem and set it to music. Miss Cecil married the Anglican clergyman William Alexander in 1848 and upon her husband’s consecration, became a bishop’s wife in 1867. She is also remembered for her hymn All Things Bright and Beautiful.

The carol Come, All Ye Shepherds is a translation of Czech carol Nesem Vám Noviny, and its words describe the adoration of the shepherds.

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