I. The Joculator.--II. His different Denominations and
extraordinary Deceptions.--III. His Performances ascribed
to Magic.--IV. Asiatic Jugglers.--V. Remarkable Story from
Froissart.--VI. Tricks of the Jugglers ascribed to the Agency of
the Devil; but more reasonably accounted for.--VII. John Rykell,
a celebrated Tregetour.--VIII. Their various Performances.--IX.
Privileges of the Joculators at Paris.--The King's Joculator an
Officer of Rank.--X. The great Disrepute of modern Jugglers.
I.--THE JOCULATOR.
The joculator, or the jugglour of the Normans, was frequently included
under the collective appellation of minstrel. His profession originally
was very comprehensive, and included the practice of all the arts
attributed to the minstrel; and some of the jugglers were excellent
tumblers. Joinville, in the Life of St. Louis and Charpentier, quotes
an old author, who speaks of a joculator, qui sciebat tombare.[654]
He was called a gleeman in the Saxon era, and answers to the juggler
of the more modern times. In the fourteenth century, he was also
denominated a tregetour, or tragetour, at which time, he appears to
have been separated from the musical poets, who exercised the first
branches of the gleeman's art, and are more generally considered as
minstrels.
II.--DIFFERENT DENOMINATIONS OF THE JOCULATOR, AND HIS EXTRAORDINARY
DECEPTIONS.
The name of tregetours was chiefly, if not entirely, appropriated
to those artists who, by sleight of hand, with the assistance of
machinery of various kinds, deceived the eyes of the spectators, and
produced such illusions as were usually supposed to be the effect
of enchantment; for which reason they were frequently ranked with
magicians, sorcerers, and witches; and, indeed, the feats they
performed, according to the descriptions given of them, abundantly
prove that they were no contemptible practitioners in the arts of
deception. Chaucer, who, no doubt, had frequently an opportunity of
seeing the tricks exhibited by the tregetours in his time, says, "There
I sawe playenge jogelours, magyciens, trageteours, phetonysses,
charmeresses, olde witches, and sorceresses," &c.[655] He speaks of
them in a style that may well excite astonishment: "There are," says
he, "sciences by which men can delude the eye with divers appearances,
such as the subtil tregetours perform at feasts. In a large hall they
will produce water with boats rowed up and down upon it." In the
library of Sir Hans Sloane, at the British Museum, is a MS.[656] which
contains "an experiment to make the appearance of a flode of water
to come into a house." The directions are, to steep a thread in the
liquor produced from snakes' eggs bruised, and to hang it up over a
basin of water in the place where the trick is to be performed. The
tregetours, no doubt, had recourse to a surer method. Chaucer goes on
to say, "Sometimes they will bring in the similitude of a grim lion,
or make flowers spring up as in a meadow; sometimes they cause a vine
to flourish, bearing white and red grapes; or show a castle built with
stone; and when they please, they cause the whole to disappear." He
then speaks of "a learned clerk," who, for the amusement of his friend,
showed to him "forests full of wild deer, where he saw an hundred of
them slain, some with hounds and some with arrows; the hunting being
finished, a company of falconers appeared upon the banks of a fair
river, where the birds pursued the herons, and slew them. He then
saw knights justing upon a plain;" and, by way of conclusion, "the
resemblance of his beloved lady dancing; which occasioned him to dance
also." But, when "the maister that this magike wrought thought fit,
he clapped his hands together, and all was gone in an instante."[657]
Again, in another part of his works, the same poet says,
There saw I Coll Tregetour,
Upon a table of sycamour,
Play an uncouthe thynge to tell;
I sawe hym cary a wynde-mell
Under a walnote shale.[658]
III.--THE JOCULATORS' PERFORMANCES ASCRIBED TO MAGIC.
Chaucer attributes these illusions to the practice of natural magic.
Thus the Squire, in his Tale, says,
An appearance made by some magyke,
As jogglours playen at their festes grete.
And again, in the third book of the House of Fame,
And clerkes eke which conne well
All this magyke naturell.
Meaning, I suppose, an artful combination of different powers of nature
in a manner not generally understood; and therefore he makes the Devil
say to the Sompner in the Friar's Tale, "I can take any shape that
pleases me; of a man, of an ape, or of an angel; and it is no wonder,
a lousy juggler can deceive you; and I can assure you my skill is
superior to his." I need not say, that a greater latitude was assigned
to what the poet calls natural magic in his days, than will be granted
in the present time.
IV.--ASIATIC JUGGLERS.
Sir John Mandevile, who wrote about the same period as Chaucer, speaks
thus of a similar exhibition performed before the Great Chan: "And
then comen jogulours, and enchauntours, that doen many marvaylles;"
for they make, says he, the appearance of the sun and the moon in the
air; and then they make the night so dark, that nothing can be seen;
and again they restore the day-light, with the sun shining brightly;
then they "bringen-in daunces, of the fairest damsels of the world, and
the richest arrayed," afterwards they make other damsels to come in,
bringing cups of gold, full of the milk of divers animals, and give
drink to the lords and ladies; and then "they make knyghts jousten in
armes fulle lustily," who run together, and in the encounter break
their spears so rudely, that the splinters fly all about the hall.[659]
They also bring in a hunting of the hart and of the boar, with hounds
running at them open-mouthed; and many other things they do by the
craft of their enchantments, that are "marvellous to see." In another
part he says, "And be it done by craft, or by nicromancy, I wot
not."[660]
V.--REMARKABLE STORY FROM FROISSART.
The foregoing passages bring to my recollection a curious piece of
history related by Froissart, which extends the practice of these
deceptions far beyond the knowledge of the modern jugglers. When,
says that author, the duke of Anjou and the earl of Savoy were lying
with their army before the city of Naples, there was "an enchaunter, a
conning man in nigromancy, in the Marches of Naples." This man promised
to the duke of Anjou, that he would put him in possession of the castle
of Leufe, at that time besieged by him. The duke was desirous of
knowing by what means this could be effected; and the magician said, "I
shall, by enchauntment, make the ayre so thicke, that they within the
castell will think there is a great brydge over the sea, large enough
for ten men a-breast to come to them; and when they see this brydge,
they will readily yeilde themselves to your mercy, least they should
be taken perforce." And may not my men, said the duke, pass over this
bridge in reality? To this question the juggler artfully replied, "I
dare not, syr, assure you that; for, if any one of the men that passeth
on the brydge shall make the sign of the cross upon him, all shall go
to noughte, and they that be upon it shall fall into the sea." The earl
of Savoy was not present at this conference; but being afterwards made
acquainted with it, he said to the duke, "I know well it is the same
enchaunter, by whom the queene of Naples and syr Othes of Bresugeth
were taken in this castle; for he caused, by his crafte, the sea to
seeme so high, that they within were sore abashed, and wend all to
have died;[661] but no confidence," continued he, "ought to be placed
in a fellow of this kind, who has already betrayed the queen for hire;
and now, for the sake of another reward, is willing to give up the man
whose bounty he has received." The earl then commanded the enchanter to
be brought before him; when he boasted that, by the power of his art,
he had caused the castle to be delivered to sir Charles de la Paye,
who was then in possession of it; and concluded his speech with these
words: "Syr, I am the man of the world that syr Charles reputeth most,
and is most in fear of." "By my fayth," replied the earl of Savoy, "ye
say well; and I will that syr Charles shall know that he hath great
wrong to feare you: but I shall assure hym of you, for ye shal never
do more enchauntments to deceyve hym, nor yet any other." So saying,
he ordered him to be beheaded; and the sentence was instantly put into
execution before the door of the earl's tent. "Thus," adds our author,
"ended the mayster enchantour: and so he was payed hys wages according
to his desertes."[662]
VI.--TRICKS OF THE JUGGLERS ASCRIBED TO INFERNAL AGENCY; BUT MORE
REASONABLY ACCOUNTED FOR.
Our learned monarch James I. was perfectly convinced that these,
and other inferior feats exhibited by the tregetours, could only be
performed by the agency of the Devil, "who," says he, "will learne
them many juglarie tricks, at cardes and dice, to deceive men's senses
thereby, and such innumerable false practiques, which are proved by
over-many in this age."[663] It is not, however, very easy to reconcile
with common sense the knowledge the king pretended to have had of the
intercourse between Satan and his scholars the conjurers; unless his
majesty had been, what nobody, I trust, suspects him to have been,
one of the fraternity. But, notwithstanding the high authority of a
crowned head in favour of Beelzebub, it is the opinion of some modern
writers, that the tricks of the jugglers may be accounted for upon much
more reasonable, as well as more natural, principles. These artists
were greatly encouraged in the middle ages; they travelled in large
companies, and carried with them, no doubt, such machinery as was
necessary for the performance of their deceptions; and we are all well
aware, that very surprising things may be exhibited through the medium
of a proper apparatus, and with the assistance of expert confederates.
A magic lanthorn will produce appearances almost as wonderful as some
of those described by sir John Mandevile, to persons totally ignorant
of the existence and nature of such a machine. The principles of
natural philosophy were very little known in those dark ages; and, for
that reason, the spectators were more readily deceived. In our own
times we have had several exhibitions that excited much astonishment;
such as an image of wax, suspended by a ribband in the middle of a
large room, which answered questions in various languages; an automaton
chess-player, that few professors of the game could beat;[664] and men
ascending the air without the assistance of wings: yet these phenomena
are considered as puerile, now the secrets upon which their performance
depends have been divulged. But, returning to the tregetour, we shall
find that he often performed his feats upon a scaffold erected for that
purpose; and probably, says a late ingenious writer,[665] received
his name from the trebuchet, or trap-door, because he frequently made
use of such insidious machines in the displayment of his operations.
Chaucer has told us, that Coll the tregetour exhibited upon a table;
and other authors speak of "juggling upon the boardes," which clearly
indicates the use of a stage or temporary scaffold. Now, let us
only add the machinery proper for the occasion, and all the wonders
specified in the foregoing passages may be reduced to mere pantomimical
deceptions, assisted by slight of hand, and the whole readily accounted
for without any reference to supernatural agency.
VII.--JOHN RYKELL, A CELEBRATED TREGETOUR.
In the fourteenth century, the tregetours seem to have been in the
zenith of their glory; from that period they gradually declined in
the popular esteem; their performances were more confined, and of
course became less consequential. Lidgate, in one of his poems,[666]
introduces Death speaking to a famous tregetour belonging to the court
of king Henry V. in this manner:
Maister John Rykell, sometime tregitour
Of noble Henry kinge of Englonde,
And of France the mighty conqueror;
For all the sleightes, and turnyng of thyne bonde,
Thou must come nere this dance, I understonde;
Nought may avail all thy conclusions,
For Dethe shortly, nother on see nor land,
Is not desceyved by no illusions.[667]
To this summons the sorrowful juggler replies:
What may availe mankynde naturale?
Not any crafte schevid[668] by apparance,
Or course of steres above celestial[669],
Or of heavens all the influence,
Ageynst Deth to stonde at defence.
Lygarde-de-mayne[670] now helpith me right noughte:
Farewell, my craft and all such sapience;
For Deth hath mo masteries[671] than I have wroughte.
In "The Disobedient Child," an old morality, or interlude, written by
Thomas Ingeland in the reign of queen Elizabeth, a servant, describing
the sports at his master's wedding, says,
What juggling was there upon the boardes!
What thrusting of knyves through many a nose!
What bearynge of formes! what holdinge of swordes!
What puttynge of botkyns throughe legge and hose![672]
These tricks approximate nearly to those of the modern jugglers, who
have knives so constructed, that, when they are applied to the legs,
the arms, and other parts of the human figure, they have the appearance
of being thrust through them; the bearing of the forms, or seats, I
suppose, was the balancing of them; and the holding of swords, the
flourishing them about in the sword-dance; which the reader will find
described in the succeeding chapter.
VIII.--VARIOUS PERFORMANCES OF THE JOCULATORS.
Originally, as we have before observed, the profession of the joculator
included all the arts attributed to the minstrels; and accordingly his
performance was called his minstrelsy in the reign of Edward II., and
even after he had obtained the appellation of a tregetour.[673] We
are well assured, that playing upon the vielle[674] and the harp, and
singing of songs, verses, and poems taken from popular stories;[675]
together with dancing, tumbling, and other feats of agility, formed a
principal part of the joculator's occupation at the commencement of the
thirteenth century; and probably so they might in the days of Chaucer.
Another part of the juggler's profession, and which constituted a
prominent feature in his character, was teaching bears, apes, monkeys,
dogs, and various other animals, to tumble, dance, and counterfeit the
actions of men: but we shall have occasion to enlarge upon this subject
a few pages farther on.
In a book of customs, says St. Foix,[676] made in the reign of Saint
Louis, for the regulation of the duties to be paid upon the little
chatelet at the entrance into Paris, we read, that a merchant, who
brought apes to sell, should pay four deniers; but, if an ape belonged
to a joculator, this man, by causing the animal to dance in the
presence of the toll-man, was privileged to pass duty-free, with all
the apparatus necessary for his performances: hence came the proverb,
"Pay in money; the ape pays in gambols." Another article specifies that
the joculator might escape the payment of the toll by singing a couplet
of a song before the collector of the duty.
Comenius, I take it, has given us a proper view of the juggler's
exhibition, as it was displayed a century and a half back, in a short
chapter entitled Prestigiæ, or Sleights.[677] It consists of four
divertisements, including the joculator's own performances; and the
other three are tumbling and jumping through a hoop; the grotesque
dances of the clown, or mimic, who, it is said, appeared with a mark
upon his face; and dancing upon the tight rope. The print at the head
of his chapter is made agreeably to the English custom, and differs a
little from the original description. In the latter it is said, "The
juggler sheweth sleights out of a purse." In the print there is no
purse represented; but the artist is practising with cups and balls in
the manner they are used at present. The tumbler is walking upon his
hands. The rope-dancing is performed by a woman holding a balancing
pole; and on the same rope a man, probably "clown to the rope," is
represented hanging by one leg with his head downwards. In modern
times, the juggler has united songs and puppet-plays to his show.
IX.--PRIVILEGES OF THE JOCULATORS AT PARIS--THE KING'S JOCULATOR.
The joculator regis, or king's juggler, was anciently an officer of
note in the royal household; and we find, from Domesday Book, that
Berdic, who held that office in the reign of the Conqueror, was a man
of property.[678] In the succeeding century, or soon afterwards, the
title of rex juglatorum, or king of the jugglers, was conferred upon
the chief performer of the company, and the rest, I presume, were under
his control. The king's juggler continued to have an establishment in
the royal household till the time of Henry VIII.;[679] and in his reign
the office and title seem to have been discontinued.
X.--GREAT DISREPUTE OF MODERN JUGGLERS.
The profession of the juggler, with that of the minstrel, had fallen
so low in the public estimation at the close of the reign of queen
Elizabeth, that the performers were ranked, by the moral writers of the
time, not only with "ruffians, blasphemers, thieves, and vagabonds;"
but also with "Heretics, Jews, Pagans, and sorcerers;"[680] and,
indeed, at an earlier period they were treated with but little more
respect, as appears from the following lines in Barclay's Eclogues:
Jugglers and pipers, bourders and flatterers,
Baudes and janglers, and cursed adouteres.[681]
In another passage, he speaks of a disguised juggler, and a vile jester
or bourder;[682] by the word disguised he refers, perhaps, to the
clown, or mimic; who, as Comenius has just informed us, danced
"disguised with a vizard." In more modern times, by way of derision,
the juggler was called a hocus-pocus,[683] a term applicable to a
pick-pocket, or a common cheat; and his performances were denominated
juggling castes.[684]