nd luxurious
life, at last rebelled against the Grand Coesre, and would no longer be
reckoned among his subjects--a step which gave a considerable shock to the
Argotic monarchy.

[Illustration: Fig. 377.--The _Drille_ or _Narquois_.--From painted
Hangings from the Town of Rheims (Fifteenth Century).]

[Illustration: Fig. 378.--Perspective View of Paris in 1607.--Fac-simile
of a Copper-plate by Leonard Gaultier. (Collection of M. Guenebault,
Paris.)]

There was another cause which greatly contributed to diminish the power
as well as the prestige of this eccentric sovereign, and this was, that
the cut-purses, the night-prowlers and wood-thieves, not finding
sufficient means of livelihood in their own department, and seeing that
the Argotiers, on the contrary, were always in a more luxurious position,
tried to amalgamate robbery with mendicity, which raised an outcry amongst
these sections of their community. The archisuppots and the cagoux at
first declined such an alliance, but eventually they were obliged to admit
all, with the exception of the wood-thieves, who were altogether excluded.
In the seventeenth century, therefore, in order to become a thorough
Argotier, it was necessary not only to solicit alms like any mere beggar,
but also to possess the dexterity of the cut-purse and the thief. These
arts were to be learned in the places which served as the habitual
rendezvous of the very dregs of society, and which were generally known as
the _Cours des Miracles_. These houses, or rather resorts, had been so
called, if we are to believe a writer of the early part of the seventeenth
century, "Because rogues ... and others, who have all day been cripples,
maimed, dropsical, and beset with every sort of bodily ailment, come home
at night, carrying under their arms a sirloin of beef, a joint of veal, or
a leg of mutton, not forgetting to hang a bottle of wine to their belt,
and, on entering the court, they throw aside their crutches, resume their
healthy and lusty appearance, and, in imitation of the ancient
Bacchanalian revelries, dance all kinds of dances with their trophies in
their hands, whilst the host is preparing their suppers. Can there be a
greater _miracle_ than is to be seen in this court, where the maimed walk
upright?"

[Illustration: Fig. 379.--_Cour des Miracles_ of Paris. Talebot the
Hunchback, a celebrated Scamp during the Seventeenth Century.--From an old
Engraving in the Collection of Engravings in th