COR-MASS, the name of a grand procession, said to have been established at Dunkirk during the dominion of Charles V. and renewed on St John's day, the 24th of June. After the celebration of high mass, the procession, consisting of the several tradesmen of the town, begins. Each person has a burning taper of wax in his hand; and after each company comes a pageant, followed by the patron-saint, usually of solid silver, richly wrought and adorned. The companies are followed by music; and after the musicians, the friars in the habits of their order, the secular priests,
VOL. VI. Part II.
and then the abbot magnificently adorned, and preceded by the host. Machines likewise of various fantastical forms and devices, and as variously accoutred, form a part of the show on this occasion; which is described as one of the most superb and magnificent in the world, by an eye-witness, in 1755.