o which was
subsequently added that of the arquebusiers, outlived political
revolutions, and are still extant, especially in the northern provinces of
France.

[Illustration: Fig. 178.--The Spring-board.--Fac-simile of a Woodcut in
"Exercises in Leaping and Vaulting," by A. Tuccaro: 4to (Paris, 1599).]

At all times and in all countries the games of chance were the most
popular, although they were forbidden both by ecclesiastical and royal
authority. New laws were continually being enacted against them, and
especially against those in which dice were used, though with little
avail. "Dice shall not be made in the kingdom," says the law of 1256; and
"those who are discovered using them, and frequenting taverns and bad
places, will be looked upon as suspicions characters." A law of 1291
repeats, "That games with dice be forbidden." Nevertheless, though these
prohibitions were frequently renewed, people continued to disregard them
and to lose much money at such games. The law of 1396 is aimed
particularly against loaded dice, which must have been contemporary with
the origin of dice themselves, for no games ever gave rise to a greater
amount of roguery than those of this description. They were, however,
publicly sold in spite of all the laws to the contrary; for, in the "Dit
du Mercier," the dealer offers his merchandise thus:--

"J'ay dez de plus, j'ay dez de moins,
De Paris, de Chartres, de Rains."

("I have heavy dice, I have light dice,
From Paris, from Chartres, and from Rains.")

It has been said that the game of dice was at first called the _game of
God_, because the regulation of lottery was one of God's prerogatives; but
this derivation is purely imaginary. What appears more likely is, that
dice were first forbidden by the Church, and then by the civil
authorities, on account of the fearful oaths which were so apt to be
uttered by those players who had a run of ill luck. Nothing was commoner
than for people to ruin themselves at this game. The poems of troubadours
are full of imprecations against the fatal chance of dice; many
troubadours, such as Guillaume Magret and Gaucelm Faydit, lost their
fortunes at it, and their lives in consequence. Rutebeuf exclaims, in one
of his satires, "Dice rob me of all my clothes, dice kill me, dice watch
me, dice track me, dice attack me, and dice defy me." The blasphemies of
the gamblers did not always remain unpunished. "Philip Augustus," says
Bigord, in his Latin