timony of one of their poets, they frequently retired from business
loaded with presents, such as riding-horses, carriage-horses, jewels,
cloaks, fur robes, clothing of violet or scarlet cloth, and, above all,
with large sums of money. They loved to recall with pride the heroic
memory of one of their own calling, the brave Norman, Taillefer, who,
before the battle of Hastings, advanced alone on horseback between the two
armies about to commence the engagement, and drew off the attention of the
English by singing them the song of Roland. He then began juggling, and
taking his lance by the hilt, he threw it into the air and caught it by
the point as it fell; then, drawing his sword, he spun it several times
over his head, and caught it in a similar way as it fell. After these
skilful exercises, during which the enemy were gaping in mute
astonishment, he forced his charger through the English ranks, and caused
great havoc before he fell, positively riddled with wounds.

Notwithstanding this noble instance, not to belie the old proverb,
jugglers were never received into the order of knighthood. They were,
after a time, as much abused as they had before been extolled. Their
licentious lives reflected itself in their obscene language. Their
pantomimes, like their songs, showed that they were the votaries of the
lowest vices. The lower orders laughed at their coarseness, and were
amused at their juggleries; but the nobility were disgusted with them, and
they were absolutely excluded from the presence of ladies and girls in the
chateaux and houses of the bourgeoisie. We see in the tale of "Le Jugleor"
that they acquired ill fame everywhere, inasmuch as they were addicted to
every sort of vice. The clergy, and St. Bernard especially, denounced them
and held them up to public contempt. St. Bernard spoke thus of them in one
of his sermons written in the middle of the twelfth century: "A man fond
of jugglers will soon enough possess a wife whose name is Poverty. If it
happens that the tricks of jugglers are forced upon your notice, endeavour
to avoid them, and think of other things. The tricks of jugglers never
please God."

[Illustration: Fig. 172.--Equestrian Performances.--Fac-simile of a Miniature in an
English Manuscript of the Thirteenth Century.]

From this remark we may understand their fall as well as the disrepute in
which they were held at that time, and we are not surprised to find in an
old edition of the "Memoires du