The Greatest of Mediæval Hymns [pp. 28-40]

28 THE GREATEST OF MEDJ~vAL HYMNS. [Oct.
russet coats, kersey slops or breeches, party-colored hose, piked
shoes, and other tomfooleries of the age.* Present experience,
he regretted to say, proved that many of the younger clergy, to
say nothing of the older, were prone to follow many of the frivolities of fashion; and it was reasonable to suppose that, had
such a thing been possible in the middle ages, the ceremonials
and {processions which had formed themes for the painter, the
poet, and the novelist would have constituted subjects for the
ridicule of all ages. The bishop with kersey slops, the dean
with russet coat, and the parochial clergy with party-colored
hose would be a sight which the severest Puritan would be -~
scarcely prepared to view with any spiritual edification.
__ THE CHAIR insisted on a return to the pending measure.
TO BE CONTINUED.
THE GREATEST OF MEDI~VAL HYThINS.
"Quantum flevi -in hymnis et canticis tuis, suave sonatis;ecciesi~ tu~ vocibus commotis
acriter!... Eliquabatur veritas tua in cor me urn. "-ST. AUGUSTINE, Coefissiones, ix. 6.
THE thirteenth century, when compared with the ages which
had preceded it since the dawn of the Christian era, was one
of unusual brilliancy and activity. It was a century fruitful in
great men and great events, and although angry contests between the secular powers and the Holy See menaced the social
and civil order, yet it was a period favorable to advancement in
every sphere of human endeavor. It was the century of great
popes who wrought lasting benefits for religion and society, and,
whether in power or in exile, in wealth or in poverty, always exhibited an heroic faith in the commission to which their divine
office had called them. _The Rock of Peter was the adamantine
foundation upon which they built, whether their work was for
time or for eternity. Upon it they rested their hopes, secure in
the promises of Him whose vicars they were. The thirteenth
was in fact the formative century of the middle ages, during
which was laid the broad and enduring basis of a later civilization. M. Ozanam thus characterizes it as a tentative rather than
a progressive period:
~poque plus doue'e d'inspiration que de mesure, plus prompte a' concevoir de grandes pensees que perseverante a' les soutenir, qui commenc~a
~Vide Planche' on British costumes.