NOTES AND QUERIES. 



[2»d S. No 105., Jan. 2. '58. 



Asinus egregius 

 Asinorum dominus. 

 Chorus. Hez, Sire, &c. 



• " Saltu viueit hinnulos, 

 Damas et capreolos, 

 Super dromedarios 

 Velox Midianeos. 



Chorus. Hez, Sire, &c. 



"Aurum de Arabia, 

 Thus et myrrham de Saba, 

 Tulit in Ecclesia, 

 Virtus asinaria. 



Chorus. Hez, Sire, &c. 



'' Dum trahit vehicula, 

 MultS, cum sarcinul^, > 



Illius mandibula 

 Dura terit pabula. 



Chorus. Hez, Sire, &c. 



"Cum aristis hordeum 

 Comedit et carduum, 

 Triticum h palefi, 

 Segregat in area. 



Chorus. Hez, Sire, &c. 



"Amen, dicas, Asine! 



(^Hic genuflectebatur.) 

 Jam satur de gramine : 

 Amen, Amen itera — 

 Aspernare Vetera ! 



" Chorus. 



"Hez-va! hez-va! hez-va-hez! 

 Bialx sire Asnes car allez. 

 Belle bouche car chantez," ' 



(Translation.') 



" In the eastern regions 

 Chanced an Ass to be. 

 Beautiful and bravest. 

 Fittest loads to bear. 



He-hawn, sire Ass, you sing — 



Fine mouth you grin — 



Hay enough you'll have, 



Oats enow to plant. 



" Slow in foot was he 

 Lest there was a stick 

 And a goad to prick him 

 In his lazj' buttocks. 

 He-hawn, &c. 



" He was raised in Sichem, 

 Pastured under Reuben, 

 Found his way o'er Jordan, 

 Trotted into Bethl'hem. 

 He-hawn, &c. 



" Here he is with big ears — 

 Primitive clod-hopper — 

 Ass as big as ever — 

 Lord of all the asses. 

 He-hawn, &c. 



" Mules he beats at jumping, 

 Bucks and goats the same — 

 Swifter than the Midian 

 Dromedary 's he. 

 He-hawn, &c. 



" Gold of rich Arabia, 

 Incense, myrrh of Saba — 

 All, the Church now offers 

 To an Ass's virtue. 

 He-hawn, &c. 



" Whilst he drags his wagon, 

 Plentifull}' piled on — 

 Then his jaws are grinding 

 Hard food for digestion. 

 He-hawn, &c. 



" Wheat and barley loves he, 

 Thistle too he savours, 

 Wheat from chaiF well knows he, 

 Browsing in the barn-yard. 

 He-hawn, Sec. 



" Now saj' Amen, Ass ! 



fHere they fell on their knees.'\ 

 clover — 

 Amen ! Amen ever I 

 And away with fodder I 



" Chorus. 

 "He-hawn! He-hawn! He-hawn-he! 

 Beautiful sire Ass — for you can trot — 

 Beautiful muzzle is yours to sing."-* 



Laughable as this hymn may appear, the re- 

 flective reader will not fail to discover in it a very 

 high allegorical import. The evil was — as in all 

 the ceremonies of the ancient church — that such 

 import was far above the comprehension of the 

 people. On the other hand, the Chorus (which 

 is in French, the vernacular,) is of the grossest 

 possible description — appealing directly to the 

 vulgar object of the senses. Thus the people 

 merely understood that which gave the ceremonial 

 the same significance as that of any pagan rite or 

 sacrifice. Such matters should be viewed simply 

 as errors of human nature — not the result of 

 cunning, seeking to deceive. The history of the 

 Reformation seems to prove that the ancient 

 Church deceived herself far more than the people. 



Similar pageants took place at Autun. There 

 the ass was covered with a cloth of gold, the cor- 

 ners of which were held — as a privilege — by 

 four of the chief canons of the church. Indeed, 

 as Du Cange observes, the more ridiculous the 

 ceremony appeared, the more it conciliated the 

 religious observance of the people. Such is 

 human nature. If age after age we be destined 

 to change our notions, Posterity will laugh at us 

 as much as we laugh at our predecessors in the 

 remotest antiquity — in the lowest depths of bar- 

 barism — a thousand years hence from the present 

 Year of Grace ! The homely proverb about the 

 Kettle and the Tea-pot is constantly suggested at 

 every stage of man's development — moral and 

 intellectual as well as physical. 



The bishops endeavoured in vain to put down 

 these pageants : they were too deeply rooted in 

 the popular mind. At length the secular arm 

 interfered, and they were suppressed by law. 



Andrew Steinmetz. 



* Hez-va — He-hawn. There seems to be a difference 

 between the bray of the French and the English donkey : 

 but if the reader will try both articulations he will find 

 that they coincide very nearly. 



