e wandering troops acted small comedies, taken from incidents of
the times. Sometimes, too, the instrumentalists formed an orchestra, and
dancing commenced. It may be here remarked that dancing at this epoch
consisted of a number of persons forming large circles, and turning to the
time of the music or the rhythm of the song. At least the dances of the
nobles are thus represented in the MSS. of the Middle Ages. To these
amusements were added games of calculation and chance, the fashion for
which had much increased, and particularly such games as backgammon,
draughts, and chess, to which certain knights devoted all their leisure.

From the reign of Philip Augustus, a remarkable change seems to have taken
place in the private life of kings, princes, and nobles. Although his
domains and revenues had always been on the increase, this monarch never
displayed, in ordinary circumstances at least, much magnificence. The
accounts of his private expenses for the years 1202 and 1203 have been
preserved, which enable us to discover some curious details bearing
witness to the extreme simplicity of the court at that period. The
household of the King or royal family was still very small: one
chancellor, one chaplain, a squire, a butler, a few Knights of the Temple,
and some sergeants-at-arms were the only officers of the palace. The king
and princes of his household only changed apparel three times during the
year.

[Illustration: Fig. 49.--King David playing on the Lyre, surrounded by
four Musicians.--Costumes of the Thirteenth Century (from a Miniature in a
Manuscript Psalter in the Imperial Library, Paris).]

The children of the King slept in sheets of serge, and their nurses were
dressed in gowns of dark-coloured woollen stuff, called _brunette_. The
royal cloak, which was of scarlet, was jewelled, but the King only wore it
on great ceremonies. At the same time enormous expenses were incurred for
implements of war, arrows, helmets with visors, chariots, and for the
men-at-arms whom the King kept in his pay.

Louis IX. personally kept up almost similar habits. The Sire de Joinville
tells us in his "Chronicles," that the holy King on his return from his
first crusade, in order to repair the damage done to his treasury by the
failure of this expedition, would no longer wear costly furs nor robes of
scarlet, and contented himself with common stuffs trimmed with hare-skin.
He nevertheless did not diminish the officers of his househol