The other does not yield in extravagance. "This festival was called the _Feast of Asses_, and was celebrated at Beauvais. They chose a young woman, the handsomest in the town; they made her ride on an ass richly harnessed, and placed in her arms a pretty infant.[14] In this state, followed by the bishop and clergy, she marched in procession from the cathedral to the church of St. Stephen's; entered into the sanctuary; placed herself near the altar, and the mass began; whatever the choir sung was terminated by this charming burthen, _Hihan, hihan_! Their prose, half Latin and half French, explained the fine qualities of the animal. Every strophe finished by this delightful invitation:-- Hez, sire Ane, ça chantez, Belle bouche rechignez, Vous aurés du foin assez, Et de l'avoine si plantez. They at length exhorted him, in making a devout genuflexion, to forget his ancient food, for the purpose of repeating without ceasing, _Amen, Amen_. The priest, instead of _Ite missa est_, sung three times, _Hihan, hihan, hihan_! and the people three times answered, _Hihan, hihan, hihan_! to imitate the braying of that grave animal.[15] What shall we think of this imbecile mixture of superstition and farce? This _ass_ was perhaps typical of the _ass_ which Jesus rode! The children of Israel worshipped a golden ass, and Balaam made another speak. How fortunate then was _James Naylor_, who desirous of entering Bristol on an _ass_, Hume informs us--it is indeed but a piece of cold pleasantry--that all Bristol could not afford him _one_! At the time when all these follies were practised, they would not suffer men to play at _chess_! Velly says, "A statute of Eudes de Sully prohibits clergymen not only from playing at chess, but even from having a chess-board in their house." Who could believe, that while half the ceremonies of religion consisted in the grossest buffoonery, a prince preferred death rather than cure himself by a remedy which offended his chastity! Louis VIII. being dangerously ill, the physicians consulted, and agreed to place near the monarch while he slept a young and beautiful lady, who, when he awoke, should inform him of the motive which had conducted her to him. Louis answered, "No, my girl, I prefer dying rather than to save my life by a _mortal sin_!" And, in fact, the good king died! He would not be prescribed for out of the whole Pharmacopoeia of Love!