{"id":71033,"date":"2014-05-09T10:43:39","date_gmt":"2014-05-09T14:43:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=71033"},"modified":"2014-05-09T10:48:55","modified_gmt":"2014-05-09T14:48:55","slug":"acrobats-and-mountebanks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/09\/acrobats-and-mountebanks\/","title":{"rendered":"<i>Acrobats and Mountebanks<\/i>"},"content":{"rendered":"<script>\/* <![CDATA[ *\/ portfolio_slideshow.slideshows[787] = {\"timeout\":\"4000\",\"autoplay\":\"false\",\"trans\":\"fade\",\"loop\":\"true\",\"speed\":\"400\",\"nowrap\":\"true\"}; \/* ]]> *\/<\/script><div id=\"slideshow-wrapper787\" class=\"slideshow-wrapper clearfix portfolio-slideshow-centered\">\n<div id=\"slideshow-nav787\" class=\"slideshow-nav\">\n\t<a class=\"pause\" style=\"display:none\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\">Pause<\/a>\n\t<a class=\"play\" href=\"javascript:void(0);\">Play<\/a>\n\t<a class=\"restart\" style=\"display:none\" href=\"javascript: void(0);\">Play<\/a>\n\t<a class=\"slideshow-prev\" href=\"javascript: void(0);\">Prev<\/a>\n\t<span class=\"sep\">|<\/span>\n\t<a class=\"slideshow-next\" href=\"javascript: void(0);\">Next<\/a>\n\t<span class=\"slideshow-info787 slideshow-info\"><\/span>\n<\/div><!-- .slideshow-nav -->\n<div id=\"portfolio-slideshow787\" class=\"portfolio-slideshow\" style=\"\">\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-next slideshow-content \">\n\t\t<a class=\"slideshow-next\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"psp-active\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/i143.jpg\" src=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/i143.jpg\" height=\"600\" width=\"600\" alt=\"Slide 1\"><\/a>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-next slideshow-content not-first\">\n\t\t<a class=\"slideshow-next\" 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class=\"psp-active\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/i042.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" height=\"453\" width=\"340\" alt=\"Slide 4\"><\/a>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-next slideshow-content not-first\">\n\t\t<a class=\"slideshow-next\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"psp-active\" data-img=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/i073.jpg\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAIAAAAAAAP\/\/\/yH5BAEAAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAIBRAA7\" height=\"500\" width=\"250\" alt=\"Slide 5\"><\/a>\t\t<\/div>\n\n\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-next slideshow-content not-first\">\n\t\t<a class=\"slideshow-next\" href=\"javascript:void(0)\" ><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"psp-active\" 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class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n\n\t\n\t\t\t<p class=\"slideshow-caption\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n\t\n\t\t\t<div class=\"slideshow-description\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\n<\/div><\/div><!--#slideshow-wrapper-->\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">This week, Project Gutenberg made available <em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/45587\/45587-h\/45587-h.htm\">Acrobats and Mountebanks<\/a><\/em>, an 1890 book that explores the circuses, fairs, carnivals, and hippodromes of nineteenth-century France. Written by Hugues Le Roux and Jules Garnier, and translated from the French by A. P. Morton, the book features 233 illustrations of clowns, trainers, tamers, equestrians, equilibrists, acrobats, gymnasts, contortionists, fortune-tellers, dwarves, elephants, carousels, Ferris wheels, and all the trappings of classic mountebankery. It\u2019s worth perusing for the drawings, a selection of which are presented above\u2014but it\u2019s also, after more than a century, still an astonishingly funny read, full of sharp observations and acerbic asides. Here, for instance, is a passage on dwarves:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">No one should wonder at the fact that many people are more interested in the abnormal than in the beautiful. But this trait being once recognised, the dwarf is more wonderful than the giant; man is such a complicated machine, that in watching these microscopic creatures who gesticulate and speak like ourselves, we feel something of the same astonishment that would strike us if we found the seconds marked by a miniature watch which we could only see through a magnifying glass. For this reason the dwarf show is one of the most popular booths in the fair.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Every one knows that there are two kinds of dwarfs\u2014those who are naturally dwarfs, and those who, as children, were at first of average size and growth, but whose development was abruptly checked. In their case the limbs which no longer grew, were yet capable of enlargement. As a rule the head is enormous. Monsieur Fran\u00e7ois, from the Cirque Franconi\u2014the partner of Billy Hayden the clown, the tiny circus rider\u2014is a typical specimen of this class of dwarfs, who are called <em>nou\u00e9s<\/em> to distinguish them from the perfect miniature of humanity. They are physically deformed, but in all other respects they resemble other men. Fran\u00e7ois, for instance, is very intelligent. I shall always remember our first interview two years ago in Erminia Chelli\u2019s box at the Cirque d\u2019Et\u00e9.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cHow old are you, Monsieur Fran\u00e7ois?\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cTwenty.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cI am older than you are, M. Fran\u00e7ois; yet, as you know, I am not celebrated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">M. Fran\u00e7ois shook his head \u2026 \u201cYou see not every one can be a dwarf.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And on entering a lion\u2019s cage:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I, who now address you, have entered a black-maned lion\u2019s cage quite recently. Oh! do not exclaim at my heroism \u2026When the beast, who at first grumbled a little, was sitting up and seemed composed again, my companion called to me:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cCome in, now!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">I went in cautiously at the back, taking two steps forward, so that I might still be nearer to the door than to the lion. I must own that the desert king did not honour me by even turning his head. He was talking to his tamer. The two gentlemen left me standing, and I looked rather like a bootmaker waiting for orders from a nobleman.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Man is a coward. The lion\u2019s contempt gave me courage. I advanced a step so that I could touch the leg of the beast.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cOh!\u201d I said, \u201chow silky it is!\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">It was not silky at all, it was abominably harsh.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Since then I have reflected upon the feeling which could have induced me to utter this falsehood, and the result of this self-examination is so humiliating that I will confide it to you as a penance. In fact \u201chow silky it is\u201d was prompted by an instinct of base flattery\u2014a courtier\u2019s compliment\u2014the toadyism of a coward who felt himself nearer to the lion than to the door.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">The boldest individuals, who put their heads two or three times a day into the lion\u2019s mouth, have told me that the best way to withdraw it from the gulf is, first of all, not to open the acquaintanceship with this experiment; and, secondly, to perform it with great nerve.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Nerve, that is the great secret of the lion-tamer, the sole cause of his authority over his beasts. When he has studied a subject for some time, endeavouring to master its character\u2014and amongst the higher animals the character is very individual, very accentuated\u2014one morning the man quietly walks into the cage. He must astonish the beast and over-awe him at once. As to the training, it consists\u2014and here I quote the words of an expert in such matters\u2014<em>in commanding the lion to perform the exercises which please him<\/em>; that is to say, to make him execute from fear of the whip those leaps which he would naturally take in his wild state.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">There is one fact which no one would suspect\u2014that it is easier to train an adult lion taken in a snare than an animal born in a menagerie. The lion of the booth is in the same position as sporting dogs which play much with children; they are soon spoilt for work. Pezon possesses five or six lions which he has brought up by hand. As a rule they live with the staff of the menagerie on terms of perfect familiarity, but this frequently leads to tragic accidents.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Lions, even lions in a fair, will devour a man in fine style.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Can I say that the fear of such an accident is ever sufficiently strong to make me pause on the threshold of a menagerie? No. I cherish, and, like me, you also cherish, the hope that some day perhaps we may see a lion-tamer eaten.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">And, maybe most fetchingly, on the appeal of carnival food:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Do you remember, my dear friend, the drive we took outside the shows and bands, one fine Easter-Tuesday, brilliant with sunshine? You dared not leave your brougham, you were so alarmed at the hoarse roar of the crowd, the explosion of crackers, the shrieks of the women in the swings. Still you had one great desire that you would not own to me, half dreading a reproof, a wish evoked by a most appetizing odour which made your nostrils dilate.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">\u201cI am sure you are longing for some fried potatoes,\u201d I cried triumphantly at last.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\">Ah! who would ever forget the glance with which your eyes rewarded me for guessing your fancy!<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/ebooks\/45587\">Read <em>Acrobats and Mountebanks<\/em> here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, Project Gutenberg made available Acrobats and Mountebanks, an 1890 book that explores the circuses, fairs, carnivals, and hippodromes of nineteenth-century France. Written by Hugues Le Roux and Jules Garnier, and translated from the French by A. P. Morton, the book features 233 illustrations of clowns, trainers, tamers, equestrians, equilibrists, acrobats, gymnasts, contortionists, fortune-tellers, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2384],"tags":[13855,13851,13857,865,13858,13853,13854,13856,12985,13852],"class_list":["post-71033","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-look","tag-a-p-morton","tag-acrobats-and-mountebanks","tag-dwarves","tag-france","tag-french-fries","tag-hugues-le-roux","tag-jules-garnier","tag-lions","tag-nineteenth-century","tag-the-circus"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.4 (Yoast SEO v25.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Acrobats and Mountebanks<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Illustrations from an 1890 book that explores the circuses, fairs, carnivals, and hippodromes of nineteenth-century France.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/09\/acrobats-and-mountebanks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Acrobats and Mountebanks by Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"May 9, 2014 \u2013 This week, Project Gutenberg made available Acrobats and Mountebanks, an 1890 book that explores the circuses, fairs, carnivals, and hippodromes of\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/09\/acrobats-and-mountebanks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Paris Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/parisreview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-05-09T14:43:39+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-05-09T14:48:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/tpr-hadada-roundell-logo-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@parisreview\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dan Piepenbring\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/09\/acrobats-and-mountebanks\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/09\/acrobats-and-mountebanks\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Dan Piepenbring\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/6b16ca558fc538230f135c3220dfd3c8\"},\"headline\":\"Acrobats and Mountebanks\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-05-09T14:43:39+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-05-09T14:48:55+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/05\/09\/acrobats-and-mountebanks\/\"},\"wordCount\":1060,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"A. 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