Cecilia Mary Caddell: Collected Lyrics
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Public-domain lyrics

The Angelus Bells

Cecilia Mary Caddell

“The Angelus Bells” as printed in A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853).

Cecilia Mary Caddell: Collected Lyrics Text 9 1853 · historical text
Public domainHymnSacred song
Complete public-domain lyrics

This text comes from A First Series of Hymns and Songs, a historical songbook transcribed on Wikisource and reproduced from the pinned revision linked below.

Verse 1

3. The Angelus Bells.

(A Song for Three Children.)

Verse 2

Hail, Mary! now the sun is up:

All things around look glad and bright,

And heatherbell and buttercup

Shake off the dewdrops of the night.

The lambs are frisking in the fields,

The lark is singing in the sky;

And man his wakening tribute yields

To thee and thy sweet Son on high.

Verse 3

Hail, Mary! midway in the sky

The noontide sun its lustre sheds;

The field-flowers almost seem to die,

So low they hang their drooping heads.

The lambs have sought the woodland shade,

The lark has ceas'd his note of glee;

And pausing in the furrow'd glade,

The ploughman lifts his hat to thee.

Verse 4

Hail, Mary! now the sun is far

Adown his western path of light;

The flowers, beneath the evening star,

Drink up the dewdrops of the night.

The lambs are by their mothers laid,

The lark is brooding o'er its nest;

And when the evening prayer is made,

E'en busy man will be at rest.

Credits

Written by Cecilia Mary Caddell

Words by Cecilia Mary Caddell. Historical text published in A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853); public domain. No claim to a modern recording or arrangement.

Source & text edition

A First Series of Hymns and Songs (1853), “The Angelus Bells”

Every text in this 1853 collection is by Henry Formby (1816-1884), who died more than 140 years ago, so the text is in the public domain worldwide; the edition carries a Wikisource PD-old determination.

How to read this historical text and its source

Read the source on Wikisource

View copyright evidence · Transcription terms (CC BY-SA 4.0)

Retrieved 2026-10-26. Line spacing and section labels are adapted for reading. The displayed text follows the linked edition. Editorial notes and abstract artwork are by 52lyrics.
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