iii. _Bourges._—[Bo.]—The first verse with the music and variants in the later verses are given by A. Gachet d’Artigny, _Nouveaux Mémoires_ (1756), vii. 77, from a copy of a book given to Bourges cathedral by a canon named Jean Pastoris. Part of the Bourges music is also given by Millin, _loc. cit._ I print the fullest version from Ducange, italicizing the lines not found elsewhere, and giving all variants, except of spelling, for the rest. Outside Beauvais, Sens, and Bourges the only localized allusion to the prose that I have found is the Autun order of 1411 (vol. i. p. 312) ‘nec dicatur cantilena quae dici solebat super dictum asinum.’ It is not in the Puy _officium_ for the Circumcision, which, though in a MS. of 1553, represents a ceremony as old as 1327 (U. Chevalier, _Prosolarium Ecclesiae Aniciensis_, 1894). The _officium_ is full of _conductus_ and _farsumina_, and the _clericuli_ at second Vespers _tripudiant firmiter_. The _sanctum Praepucium_ was a relic at Puy. The following passage is from Theoph. Raynaudus, _Iudicium de puerorum symphoniacorum processione in festo SS. Innocentium_ (_Opera Omnia_, 1665, xv. 209): ‘Legi prosam quandam _de asino_ e Metropolitanae cuiusdam Ecclesiae rituali exscriptam; quae super sacrum concinebatur in die S. Stephani, et dicebatur _prosa fatuorum_, qua nihil insulsius aut asino convenientius. Similis prosa _de bove_, quae canebatur in die S. Ioannis, intercidisse dicitur, haud magno sane dispendio. Itaque hae prosae erant particulae festi fatuorum, occoepti a die S. Stephani.’ I have never come across the ‘Prose of the Ox,’ or any notice of it which appears to be independent of Raynaud’s.] I. Orientis partibus Adventavit Asinus, Pulcher et fortissimus, Sarcinis aptissimus. 4 _Hez, Sire Asnes, car chantez,_ _Belle bouche rechignez,_ _Vous aurez du foin assez_ _Et de l’avoine a plantez._ 8 II. _Lentus erat pedibus,_ _Nisi foret baculus,_ _Et eum in clunibus_ _Pungeret aculeus._ 12 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._ III. Hic in collibus Sichen Iam nutritus sub Ruben, Transiit per Iordanem, Saliit in Bethleem. 20 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._ IV. _Ecce magnis auribus_ _Subiugalis filius_ _Asinus egregius_ _Asinorum dominus._ 28 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._ V. Saltu vincit hinnulos, Dammas et capreolos, Super dromedarios Velox Madianeos. 36 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._ VI. Aurum de Arabia, Thus et myrrham de Saba Tulit in Ecclesia Virtus Asinaria. 44 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._ VII. Dum trahit vehicula, Multa cum sarcinula, Illius mandibula Dura terit pabula. 52 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._ VIII. Cum aristis hordeum Comedit et carduum: Triticum e palea Segregat in area. 60 _Hez, Sire Asnes, etc._ IX.