E. Cobham Brewer 1810–1897. Dictionary of Phrase and Fable. 1898.
Hymnus Eucharis’ticus.
Sung as the clock strikes 5 a.m. by Magdalen choir on the summit of Wolsey’s Tower (Oxford) on May morning to greet the rising sun. Some say the custom dates from the reign of Henry VIII.; if this overshoots the mark, no one knows for certainty a more exact period.
mus,
