documentum
Novo cedat ritui.
Suppleat fides complementum,
Sensuum defectui." {125}

In the procession of Corpus Christi in Seville, which is the most
celebrated one in all Spain, and which attracts an immense concourse of
people from all parts of the province, the moving temple is preceded by a
troop of chorister boys, called _los seises_. These boys are dressed up
with much elegance in the picturesque Spanish costume of the fifteenth
century, and, in the progress of the procession, they dance with large
castanets to the sound of an ancient kind of music, much admired by those
able to form a judgment on such matters. This custom had its origin in
the will of a devotee, who left a considerable sum of money to be so
employed, under a condition that the custom should terminate when the
dresses he had ordered for the boys should be worn out; but the canons
invented a very ingenious plan, by which the custom has been perpetuated.
When one of these dresses begins to fail at any particular part, they
order that part alone, the sleeve for example, to be replaced, so that
all these vestments have gone through innumerable transformations from
the foundation of the custom down to the present time. It is related
that a certain pope, having been informed of such a custom, and seeing in
it a profanation of the sacred ceremonies, attempted to suppress it, and
reprehended the canons for their want of discretion. These canons,
however, begged his holiness to suspend his judgment until he should
behold with his own eyes what had so much offended him; and with that
object one of the canons went to Rome, taking the boys with him. The
pope at first most positively refused the sought-for condescension; but
at last he yielded to the canon's entreaties, and the exhibition took
place in presence of the whole conclave of cardinals, presided over by
the head of the Roman Catholic Church. The sacred dance made so great an
impression on that respectable company, and so excited the admiration of
the august personages who witnessed it, that the pope changed his
opinion, and sanctioned the practice which before he had condemned. {127}

In the rear of this ambulant temple goes the archbishop, the bishop, or
principal ecclesiastical personage of the diocese, under an awning or
canopy, supported by silver rods, and carried by eight of the chief
citizens, and then come the civil authorities, with the functionaries of
the tribunal