_b_ 137 f. _deschaunt, countre note, and orgon, and smale brekynge._ The elaboration of the Church services in mediaeval times was accompanied by a corresponding enrichment of the music. To the plain chant additional parts were joined, sung in harmony either above or below the plain chant. _Descant_ usually means the addition of a part above, _organ_ and _countre-note_ (= counterpoint) the addition of parts either above or below. All these could be composed note for note with the plain chant. But _smale brekyng_ represents a further complication, whereby the single note in the plain chant was represented by two or more notes in the accompanying parts. _b_ 140 f. The abuse is referred to in _Piers Plowman_: _Persones and parsheprests pleynede to the bisshop That hure parshens ben poore sitthe the pestelence tyme, To haue licence and leue in Londone to dwelle, And synge ther for symonye, for seluer ys swete._ _Prologue_ ll. 81-4. and by Chaucer in his description of the Parson: _He sette nat his benefice to hyre, And leet his sheepe encombred in the myre, And ran to Londoun, unto Seint Poules, To seken hym a chaunterie for soules._ _Prologue_ ll. 507-10. _b_ 183. _Ordynalle of Salisbury._ An 'ordinal' is a book showing the order of church services and ceremonies. In mediaeval times there was considerable divergence in the usage of different churches. But after the Conquest, and more especially in the thirteenth century, there was developed at Salisbury Cathedral an elaborate order and form of service which spread to most of the English churches of any pretensions. This was called 'Sarum' or 'Salisbury' use. _b_ 209. _þei demen it dedly synne a prest to fulfille_, &c. For this construction, cp. Chaucer, _Prologue_ 502 _No wonder is a lewed man to ruste_; Shakespeare, _Two Gentlemen of Verona_, V. iv. 108 f. _It is the lesser blot... Women to change their shapes_, &c. The same construction, where we now insert _for_, is seen in _Gawayne_ (v. 352-3) _hit were a wynne huge... a leude, þat couþe, to luf hom wel_, &c. _b_ 221-3. 'They say that a priest may be excused from saying mass, to be the substance of which God gave Himself, provided that he hears one.' _b_ 228 f. _newe costy portos, antifeners, graielis, and alle oþere bokis._ _Portos_, French _porte hors_, represents Latin _portiforium_, a breviary convenient for 'carrying out of doors'. The _antifener_ contained the antiphons, responses, &c., necessary for the musical service of the canonical hours. The _graiel_, or _gradual_, was so called from the gradual responses, sung at the steps of the altar, or while the deacon ascended the steps of the pulpit: but the book actually contained all the choral service of the Mass.