ral of Seville alone
enjoys the privilege, in all the Roman Catholic world, of using the
sky-blue colour on the day whereon is celebrated the Conception of the
Virgin.

On the altar at which mass is said, there ought to be, at least, a
crucifix, two wax lights, and a slab (_ara_) of stone. The cloth which
covers the chalice and the exterior adornment of the altar, called the
_frontal_, must be of the same colour as the ornament of the day.

There are two kinds of mass, high mass and low mass. The first is
generally performed by three priests, viz., the officiating priest, the
subdeacon, who chants the epistle, and the deacon, who chants the gospel.
In the high mass, the choir sings many parts of it, and the organ is
played at times by way of accompaniment, and at other times as a solo,
during the offertory and the canon. On these occasions incense is burned
to perfume the altar, after which the deacon perfumes the officiating
priest; and if persons of authority or distinction are in attendance at
the office of the mass, the acolytes perfume them with the incensories.

The most extraordinary, and, we may justly say, absurd thing in all this
complicated series of practices and ceremonies is, that the whole of them
are performed in a language which the people do not understand, and
consequently they play the part of mere spectators, without having one
single religious idea communicated to the mind, or one devout sentiment
to the heart. The people see nothing more than a man dressed in a
certain manner, moving from one side to another, and from whose lips are
proceeding words which are absolutely void of sense. Hence proceeds that
species of indifference with which the people regard that spectacle, an
indifference which degenerates into profanation and levity. In Spain,
particularly, it is quite common for lovers to converse with each other
during the mass; and the turbulent crowds which rush in towards the
conclusion, the noise, the haste, and, sometimes, the bad expressions
which fall on the ear, in the precincts of the edifice, form a strange
and scandalous contrast to the sacred character with which the church
seems anxious to invest the sacrifice of the mass. The greater number of
those persons who assemble to witness it, particularly the humble
classes, believe they have complied with the obligation they are under to
hear the mass, if even they only _see_ the priest; and so wearisome has
this duty become to t