If my readers have but patience to go forward, they will soon find themselves in company with the _Fous du Roi_, at the Court of France, where, for a long period, it was not possible for a fool to appear _without_ his livery; but to which now the following lines are not less applicable than they are to other localities:-- “Why, pray, of late do Europe’s kings No jester in their courts admit? They’ve grown such stately solemn things; To bear a joke, they think not fit. But though each court a jester lacks, To laugh at monarchs to their face, All mankind do behind their backs, Supply the honest jester’s place.” THE COURT FOOLS OF FRANCE. Under the word _Ministrelli_, a term said to belong to “Monk’s Latin,” were anciently comprehended in France, not merely Minstrels, but Buffoons, Mimes, and Jesters generally. They are called in common parlance, says Du Fresne, in his Glossary, “Menestreux or Menestriers,” because they belong to the lower order of officers at court--“quod minoribus aulæ ministris accenserentur.” The same author shows the early identity of the minstrel with the jester, by quoting an ordinance regulating the arrangement of a fishermen’s religious festival held in early times at Toulouse; and which is to this effect. “Also, the fishermen shall be assembled, who ought to be present in the procession on that day with the _ministri_ or _joculatores_; because the aforesaid fishermen are bound to have, on this special occasion, _ministri_ or _joculatores_, in honour of the cross.... And they should lead the procession, with the _ministri_ or _joculatores_ beating the drum, as far as the church of St. Stephen.” From _joculator_, the French obtain their word _jongleur_, and through the latter we have our own term _juggler_. The monks made little distinction between different orders of minstrels, who were usually described by them as minstrels, or jesters; signifying that the officials designated under those names were one and the same. There is little doubt, at all events, of the French jester having ultimately sprung from the profession of the minstrel, when the latter was in its decline. It is perplexing, however, to find that although the minstrel or joculator is continually represented as being something of a musician, yet that Du Fresne, who frequently so describes him, also quotes a law of 1381, wherein we read that this worthy was altogether forbidden from playing on either a stringed or wind instrument: “Nullus ministreys seu jogulator audeat pinsare vel sonare instrumentum cujuscunque generis.” The law was evidently not of universal application, as may be gathered from Aimonius, who, when treating of the miracles of St. Benedict, shows us a buffoon, both singing and playing, in his vocation of bard. His words are: “Tanta vero illis securitas, ut scurram se præcedere facerent, qui musico instrumento res fortiter gestas et priorum bella præcineret, quatenus his acrius incitarentur.”