built on the lines of a miracle-play.
_Science et Asnerye_ is a very lively satire representing the superior
chances which the followers of _Asnerye_--ignorance--have of obtaining
benefices and posts of honour and profit as compared with those of
learning. _Mundus, caro, daemonia_, again tells its own tale. _Les
Blasphemateurs_, which is very well spoken of, but has not been
reprinted, rests on the popular legend upon which _Don Juan_ is also
based. In short, unless a complete catalogue were given, there is no
means of fully describing the numerous works of this class.

[Sidenote: Soties.]

The Sotie is a class of much more idiosyncrasy. Although we have very
few Soties (not at present more than a dozen accessible to the student),
although the contents of this class are as a rule duller even than those
of the moralities, and infinitely inferior in attraction to those of the
farces, yet the Sotie has the merit of possessing a much more distinct
and peculiar form. It is essentially political comedy, and it has the
peculiarity of being played by stock personages, like an Italian comedy
of the early kind. The Sotie, at least in its purely political form,
was, as might be expected, not very long lived. Its most celebrated
author was Gringore, and his Sotie, which forms part of _Le Jeu du
Prince des Sots et Mere Sotte_, is still the typical example of the
kind. Besides these two characters (who represent, roughly speaking, the
temporal and spiritual powers), we have in this piece, Sotte Commune,
the common people; Sotte Fiance, false confidence; Sotte Occasion, who
explains herself; and a good many other allegorical personages, such as
the Seigneur de Gayete, etc. These pieces, however, are for the most
part so entirely occasional that their chief literary interest lies in
their curious stock personages. It should, however, be observed that of
the few Soties which we possess by no means all correspond to this
description, some of them being indistinguishable from moralities. A
curious detail is that the various pieces we have been mentioning were
sometimes, in representation, combined after the fashion of a regular
tetralogy. First came a monologue or _cry_ containing a kind of
proclamation. This was followed by the Sotie itself; then followed the
morality, and lastly a farce. The work of Gringore, just noticed, forms
part of such a tetralogy.

[Sidenote: Profane Mysteries.]

The profane mysteries may be briefly despatche