1799] 
antiquity. A bifhop or archbifhop of 
fools was elected inthe cathedrals, and con- 
fecrated with numberlefs buffooneries ; 
in which {pirit he folemnly beftowed his 
benediGion on the people; and, in 
churches that depended on the holy fee, 
a pope of fools was chofen, with buriefque 
ornaments and ceremonies, in imitation 
of the real pope. Qn thefe occafions the 
clergy affifted at divine fervice, in mal- 
querade and pantomime dreffes; {ome 
with caricature mafques, others with 
daubed faces, to excite terror or laughter. 
Mafs being over, they ran, leaped, danced, 
tumbled, and ftripped themlelves almott 
naked; after which they were wheeled 
about the ftreets in barrows, and indulg- 
ed in all the whims that imagination 
could fuggeft; fome aéting the buffoon, 
others drefling like women, or affuming 
the moft monftrous forms. They even 
fang ob{cene as well as fatirical fengs, and 
played at dice on the altar, while the prieft 
was celebrating mafs ; and fo highly were 
their follies and antics in vogue, that thofe 
who wifhed to difcountenance thefe prac- 
tices were regarded as worthy of excom- 
munication. They fometimes thaved their 
chief, in honour of whom the feaft was 
fuppofed to be made; and vicars gam- 
boled before him, fome holding lanterns, 
with ridiculous and even obfcene figures 
and imagery, and playing on fites, drums, 
tongs, poker, &c. Sometimes they led 
an afs in proceffion, ornamented with a 
prieft’s cope, and finging, ‘‘ Ho, ho, good 
Sir Afs,”’ &c. from a rubric compoted for 
the purpofe. Thefe feftivals were not 
only held on the continent, but moit pro- 
bably in England; for, about the year 
¥530, in an inventory of the church of 
York, a {mali mitre and a ring for the 
bifhop of fools, are among the items. This 
feftival was accufed of &eing heathenith 
and idolatrous by the Sorbonne, in 1444; 
to which its apologifts replied, ‘* that 
their anceftors, who were grave and reve- 
rend men, had always kept that feaft, and 
could they have better examples ? Befide,”’ 
faid they, “ the folly, which is natural to 
us, and feems to be born witit.us, is difli- 
pated by this exhilarating anni! recrea 
tion. Wine barrels would burft, if they did 
not give them vent holes ; and man is but 
an il!-hooped barrel, which the potent wine 
of wifdom would certainly crack, if it 
were to ferment in uninterrupted devotion : 
we muft therefore, occafionally, give it 
air, that it may not be fpilt, loit, and 
profitlefs.”” Sometimes. when the mock 
bifhop had been drefied in his pontificals, 
followed by his almoner with a cope ever 
a 
Feaft of Fools. 
445. 
his fhoulders, and a pillow on his head, 
inftead of a honnet, he went and feated 
himfelf in the epifcopal chair, aflitted at 
divine fervice and received the cuftomary 
honours. The fervice over, the almoner 
called aloud, ** Sélete, filete, fjilentium ba- 
bete : to which the chorus replied, ** Dea 
gratias.”” The bifhop of fools, after hav- 
ine pronounced the adjutorium, &c. gave 
his benediftion ; which was immediately 
followed by mock indulgences, thus dif- 
tributed, with afflumed gravity, by his 
almoner. 
“¢ In behalf of the lord bifhop, may God 
grant you the liver difeafe, with a bafket full 
of pardons, fcurf on your fkin, and an itch- 
ing beard! His lordfhip further beftews on 
you the teoth ache in all plenty, and to his 
other bounties, adds the gift of a red tail.” 
We further learn that they had four 
forts of dances ; the dance of the deacons, 
the dance of the priefts, the:dance of thé 
clerks, and the dance of the f{ubdeacons. 
They fung too, what they called the profe 
of the als, or the profe of the fools. 
They had likewife the profe of the ox. 
The profe of the afs ftill exilts: it was 
funs by a double choir; that, at inter- 
vals, and by way of fymphony, imitated 
the braying of an afs. 
At the teaft of innocents, which was a 
kind ot branch. or imitation ef the feat of 
fools, the Francifcan Friars, at Antibes, 
ufed to be guilty of every kind of extrava- 
gance, and abfurdity. The jay-brothers 
afflumed the power and the functions of 
the initiated; and the profciled friars per- 
formed their menial offices. The former 
clothed themfelves in the facerdotal ha- 
bits, but all in rags, if they could find 
them fo, and turned infide out; holding 
books the wrong fide upward, and pre- 
tending to read them with large {peétacles, 
that inftead of glafs, were of orange peel. 
They fang neither hymns, pfalms, nor 
mafies, but muttered certain confuled 
founds, and occafionally fent forth the 
moft difcordant howlings, accompanied 
with every kind of grinning and contor- 
tion. 
Mere Folle, Mother Folly, or Mother 
Madcap, was the title of a facetious foci- 
ety; which is anciently {uppofed to have 
taken its rife from the above feaft of 
fools. It was meft celebrated at Dijon : 
a country famous for its vineyards ; and 
its antics were performed in carnival 
time: when perfons of quality, dif- 
guifed like bacchanals, mounted on carts, 
and fung fongs, fatirizing the manners 
and follies of thofe times. The members 
of the fociety wore fantaftic drefles, of 
STEN, | 
