Young—Officmm Pastorum. 
311 
Yersus: Multiplicabitur ei us imperium et pacis non erit finis. 
Illi vero qui retro eeant ante aetarei ueniant et cum 
ALIIS SIMUL cum ORIRI DECORE DICART I 
Gloria tibi, Xpiste, 
Gloria tibi, Sanc^e, 
Gloria tibi, Domine, 
quia uenisti omne gen?/s liberare. 
Omnes gaudentes, dicite eia. 
<col. 2> Puer natus est. 
Gloria Patri. Euouae. 
Ecce agnus Dei, 
Ecce qui tollit peccata mundi, 
quem Ysaias propheta predixit. 
Puer natus est. 1 
In tbis case tbe part sung iuxia altare is not a mere introductory 
trope, but tbe Introit itself, troped as it is, throughout. 
Returning, then, to Quem quce/ritis in prcesepe as we find it 
sung at the altar, we may conclude tbis section of our investiga¬ 
tion by observing that, although this particular text 2 indicates 
an attempt at dramatic mise en scene , neither this text nor any 
other shown above represents true drama, for in none have we 
evidence of genuine impersonation. 
II. 
Having stopped short of true drama while it remained at¬ 
tached to the Introit of the Magna Missa of Christmas, the 
trope Quem quceritis in prcesepe found lodgement, and event¬ 
ually a true dramatic development, at the end of the office of 
Matins. To make clear, therefore, the new associations of the 
familiar trope, one had best survey, in broad outline, the struc¬ 
ture of Christmas Matins. 
Passing over the introductory formulae, we may say that 
Christmas matins consists, substantially, of three liturgical 
groups called Nocturns. The Hocturn contains three psalms, 
1 Followed immediately by the rubric: Alia in Kirieleyson TropL 
2 Printed above from Oxford, Bibl. Bodl., MS. Douce 222, fol. 6 l 
