simplicity of
expression and clearness of narrative. Her second effort was a poetical
rendering of many of AEsop's fables, done either as a favour or a
tribute of love for her protector. This was followed by a translation of
the Purgatory of St. Patrick in Ireland, taken from the Latin.

Few of the glee-maidens were so richly gifted or so highly placed as
Marie. Most of them travelled about, either alone or in the company of
glee-men, and were content with more ordinary compositions. At times
they were accompanied by dancing bears, who went through their figures
with the maidens, while the glee-men played, and tripped a fantastic
toe, if not exactly a light one.

The existence of the Jongleurs gradually undermined that of the
Troubadours, as the former grew more and more proficient. In the
thirteenth century we find Guirant Riquier, often called the last of the
Troubadours, requesting King Alfonso X. of Castile to make a definite
classification of Jongleurs, and title the best, thus preventing the
indiscriminate mixing of high and low musicians in the public mind. The
king made some effort to do so, but met with little success, for the
whole institution was gradually decaying. A more tragic fate awaited the
Troubadours of Provence, the home of the art. Espousing the cause of the
Albigenses, they used their wit with such telling effect that they
brought down upon themselves the deadly hatred of the Papists; and in
the short but bloody war that followed, they were almost wholly
exterminated in the cruel slaughter caused by the forces of religious
intolerance. Don Pedro of Aragon, who came to aid his brother
Troubadours, met with defeat and death, and after his loss the victors
started on a career of cruelty, torture, and indiscriminate murder. The
castles of the minstrel knights, once the home of beauty and song, were
razed to the ground, and the Troubadours were blotted from the page of
history.

CHAPTER III.

WIVES OF THE COMPOSERS

Among the women who have influenced music without actually creating it,
none have had greater chances to use their power than the wives of the
famous composers. Often they have been endowed with no inconsiderable
musical genius themselves, but have sacrificed their claim to renown
upon the altar of domestic duty. Sometimes, in rare instances, they have
had the ability to perform the double task of caring for the household
and continuing their own musical labours. Their story is