It cannot, of course, be assumed that every play, say in the fifteenth century, which although probably or certainly written in the vernacular was performed in a church, had a Latin prototype[236]. Many such may have been written and acted for the first time on existing models, when the vernacular drama was already well established. But there are certain feasts where it is possible to trace, on the one hand, the element of mimetic ceremony in the services, and on the other, perhaps, some later representation in the dramatic cycles, and where a Latin text might at any time turn up without causing surprise. With a few notes on some of these this chapter must conclude. A highly dramatic trope for Ascension day, closely resembling the _Quem quaeritis_, has already been quoted from the tropers of Limoges[237]. An _Ordinarium_ of St. Peter’s of Lille directs that, after the respond _Non vos relinquam_, the officiant shall mount a pulpit and thence appear to ascend towards heaven from the top of a mountain[238]. Fifteenth-century _computi_ speak of this or of a more elaborate performance as a _mysterium_, and include amongst other items payments for painting the scars on the hands of the performer[239]. On Whit-Sunday it was the custom at St. Paul’s in London and many other churches, during the singing of the hymn _Veni Creator Spiritus_ at Tierce, to open a hole in the roof and let down symbols of the Pentecost; a dove, a globe of fire, bits of burning tow to represent tongues of fire, a censer, flowers, pieces of flaky pastry[240]. This same hole in the roof sometimes served a similar purpose at a mimetic representation of the Annunciation. The Gospel for the day was recited by two clerks dressed as Mary and the angel, and at the words _Spiritus Sanctus supervenit in te_ a white dove descended from the roof. This can hardly be called a drama, for, with the exception of a short fifteenth-century text from Cividale, only the words of the Gospel itself seem to have been used; but obviously it is on the extreme verge of drama. A curious variant in the date of this ceremony is to be noted. In several Italian examples, of which the earliest dates from 1261, and in one or two from France, it belongs to the feast of the Annunciation proper on March 25[241]. But in later French examples, and apparently also at Lincoln[242], it has been transferred to the Advent season, during which naturally the Annunciation was greatly held in remembrance, and has been attached to the so-called ‘golden’ Mass celebrated ten days before Christmas during the _Quatuor Tempora_[243]. It thus became absorbed into the Christmas dramatic cycle. CHAPTER XX THE SECULARIZATION OF THE PLAYS