ef
from this fear which had been oppressing Christendom, that even
the church reflected it in such strange rites as the _Feast
of Asses_ (January 14th), which was a burlesque of the Mass.

In this travesty of the Mass a young girl, dressed to
represent the Virgin, riding on an ass and carrying a child
in her arms, was conducted to the church door. Upon being
admitted and riding up the aisle to the altar, the girl
tethered the ass to the railing and sat on the steps until
the service was finished. The _Credo_, _Gloria_, etc., all
ended with a "hee-haw," and at the conclusion of the service
the officiating priest brayed three times, and was answered by
the congregation. The mixing of the vernacular with Latin in
this service is the first instance of the use of any language
but Latin in church music.

This quasi-symbolical pantomime gave rise in time to the
mediaeval Passion Plays, or Mysteries, as they were called. That
these travesties of the Mass took different forms in various
countries is very evident when we remember the description
of the "Abbot of Unreason," in Scott's "Abbot." In England,
among other absurdities such as the "Pope of Fools," the "Ball
Dance," etc., they also had the festival of the "Boy Bishop,"
in which, between the sixth and twenty-eighth of December,
a boy was made to perform all the functions of a bishop.

It would seem that all this has but little bearing upon
the development of music. As a matter of fact it was a most
potent factor in it, for music was essentially and exclusively
a church property. By permitting the people to secularize
the church rites at certain seasons, it was inevitable that
church music would also become common property for a time,
with this difference, however, that the common people could
carry the tunes away with them, and the music would be the only
thing remaining as a recollection of the carnival. Indeed, the
prevalence of popular songs soon became such that writers of
church music began to use them instead of their being derived
from church music, as was originally the case. This continued to
such an extent that almost up to 1550 a mass was known by the
name of the popular song it was based upon, as, for instance,
the mass of the "Man in Armour," by Josquin des Pres, and those
entitled "_Je prends conge_" and "_Je veult cent mille ecus_."

Now we know that the _tempus perfectum_ was _par excellence_
[9/8] and [3/4] time. It was natural therefore that these