Y 
288 AN HISTORICAL SKETCH OF FRENCH LITERATURE. 
tuate this universal hospitality ; and the motto, “To give is nobler 
than to receive,” frequently occurs in their poetry. Deude de 
Prades says, “It is truly pleasant to benefit the good, to honour 
Jongleurs, to love good company, and to give before one is asked.”* 
On the appearance of the Troubadours in southern France the Jong- 
leurs appear to have attached themselves to that body; their princi- 
pal occupation was to recite the treuves of the Troubadours, which 
they accompanied with instrumental music. 
The number of instruments a knowledge of which was necessary 
for the expert Jongleur, is almost incredible. Giraud de Calanson, a 
Jongleur, or rather self-elected Troubadour, in a sivvente, which has 
been translated in his usual happy style by Burney,+ numbers up- 
wards of ten; the harp, the guitar, and the wiel/e, which was played 
with a bow, and appears to have been very similar to the violin of the 
present day, were, however, most in use. Besides the compositions 
of the Troubadours, the Jongleur was expected to recite the metrical 
romances and tales which the vicissitudes of the times rendered so 
numerous. He was also required, during the intervals of the songs, to 
amuse his auditors with a thousand ridiculous feats. Giraud de Ca- 
lanson, in his sirvente, says that the Jongleur must be able to “ throw 
and catch little balls on the points of knives; that he must imitate the 
songs of birds, exhibit attacks of castles, leap through hoops, and show 
the performances of tamed monkeys.” Thus prepared by the advice 
and example of one of the most illustrious of their body, the Jongleurs 
pursued the most grovelling and degrading occupations, and soon 
became the mere buffoons and laughing-stocks of an ignorant multi- 
tude. Though debased in profession, they appear to have greatly 
increased in numbers, as we find that, at the end of the reign of Philip 
Augustus, they formed corporate bodies in nearly all the towns in 
France, had certain privileges allowed them,{ and had chiefs over 
* < Joios soi eu et ai mestier, 
De far plazer a bona gen, 
D’onrar joglars, d’amar joven 
De dar enans qu’om no mi quier.” 
\ 
( Parnasse Occitanien, p. 86). The Dauphin d’Auvergne, who was also bishop 
of Clermont, a man of immense wealth, appears to have carried his hospita- 
lity to such an extent as to sacrifice nearly the whole of his fortune. “E 
per larguesa soa perdet la meitat e plus de tot lo sieu comtat.”—-Raynouard, 
Choix des Poesies des Troub. vol. v, p. 124. 
+ Hist. of Music, vol. ii, p. 270. 
+ Their principal privilege appears to have been their exemption from 
