Side by side with this poem of Yillon we ought to cite one of a later period—­“La Legende de Maitre Faifeu,” versified by Charles Boudigne.  This Faifeu was a kind of Villon of Anjou, who excelled in all kinds of rascality, and who might possibly have taught it even to the gipsies themselves.  The character of Panurge, in the “Pantagruel,” is no other than the type of Faifeu, immortalised by the genius of Rabelais.  We must also mention one of the pamphlets of Guillaume Bouchet, written towards the end of the sixteenth century, which gives a very amusing account of thieves of every description, and also “L’Histoire Generale des Larrons,” in which are related numerous wonderful tales of murders, robberies, and other atrocities, which made our admiring ancestors well acquainted with the heroes of the Greve and of Montfaucon.  It must not be supposed that in those days the life of a robber who pursued his occupation with any degree of industry and skill was unattended with danger, for the most harmless cut-purses were hung without mercy whenever they were caught; the fear, however, of this fate did not prevent the Enfants de la Matte from performing wonders.

Brantome relates that King Charles IX. had the curiosity to wish to “know how the cut-purses performed their arts with so much skill and dexterity,” and begged Captain La Chambre to introduce to him, on the occasion of a banquet and a ball, the cleverest cut-purses, giving them full liberty to exhibit their skill.  The captain went to the Cours des Miracles and fetched ten of the most expert of these thieves, whom he presented to the King.  Charles, “after the dinner and the ball had taken place, wished to see all the plunder, and found that they had absolutely earned three thousand ecus, either in money from purses, or in precious stones, pearls, or other jewels; some of the guests even lost their cloaks, at which the King thought he should die of laughter.”  The King allowed them to keep what they had thus earned at the expense of his guests; but he forbad them “to continue this sort of life,” under penalty of being hung, and he had them enrolled in the army, in order to recompense them for their clever feats.  We may safely assert that they made but indifferent soldiers.

[Illustration:  Fig. 384.—­The Exhibitor of strange Animals (Twelfth Century Manuscript, Royal Library of Brussels).]

Ceremonials.

Origin of Modern Ceremonial.—­Uncertainty of French Ceremonial up to the End of the Sixteenth Century.—­Consecration of the Kings of France.—­Coronation of the Emperors of Germany.—­Consecration of the Doges of Venice.—­Marriage of the Doge with the Sea.—­State Entries of Sovereigns.—­An Account of the Entry of Isabel of Bavaria into Paris.—­Seats of Justice.—­Visits of Ceremony between Persons of rank.—­Mourning.—­Social Courtesies.—­Popular Demonstrations and National Commemorations.—­New Year’s Day.—­Local Festivals.—­Vins d’Honneur.—­Processions of Trades.