iring papacy is
represented as summoning to her bedside cardinals, bishops,
and other members of the clergy, to witness her last
struggles. In another the Sorbonne is held up to ridicule, in
company with all the mediaeval doctors of theology. In a third
the poet more seriously combats the belief in purgatory as
unscriptural. But it is the mass that bears the brunt of
attack. The Host figures under the designation, current in the
literature of the sixteenth century,[264] of _Le Dieu de
Pate_, or _Le Dieu de Farine_. The pompous and complicated
ceremonial, with its repetitions devoid of meaning for the
illiterate spectator, is, on the whole, the favorite object of
satire. In strict accordance with the spirit of the rough
controversy of the times, little mercy is shown to religious
antagonists. There is a good specimen of this style of
treatment in an interesting song dating from about 1564,
entitled "Noel nouveau de la description ou forme et maniere
de dire la Messe, sur ce chant: Hari, bouriquet." Of the
fifteen stanzas of which it is composed, two or three may
serve as samples. The preliminary service over, the priest
comes to the consecration of the wafer:

Un morceau de paste
Il fait adorer;
Le rompt de sa patte
Pour le devorer,
Le gourmand qu'il est.
Hari, hari l'asne, le gourmand qu'il est,
Hari bouriquet!

Le Dieu qu'il faict faire,
La bouche le prend;
Le coeur le digere,
Le ventre le rend,
Au fond du retrait!
Hari, hari l'asne, au fond du retrait,
Hari bouriquet!

Le peuple regarde
L'yvrongne pinter
Qui pourtant n'a garde
De luy presenter
A boire un seul traict.
Hari, hari l'asne, a boire un seul traict,
Hari bouriquet!

Acheve et despouille
Tous ses drapeaux blancs,
En sa bourse fouille
Et y met six blancs.
C'est de peur du frais.
Hari, hari l'asne, c'est de peur du frais,
Hari bouriquet!

A somewhat older song (written before 1555) purports to be the
dirge of the Mass uttered by itself--_Desolation de la Messe
expirant en chantant_. The Mass in perplexity knows not how to
beg