It is said that under Charles VI a Genoese acrobat, on the occasion of the arrival of the Queen of France, carried in each hand an illuminated torch while descending a rope stretched from the summit of the towers of Notre Dame to a house on the Pont au Change. According to Guyot-Daubes, a similar performance was seen in London in 1547. In this instance the rope was attached to the highest pinnacle of St. Paul's Cathedral. Under Louis XII an acrobat named Georges Menustre, during a passage of the King through Macon, executed several performances on a rope stretched from the grand tower of the Chateau and the clock of the Jacobins, at a height of 156 feet. A similar performance was given at Milan before the French Ambassadors, and at Venice under the Doges and the Senate on each St. Mark's Day, rope-walkers performed at high altitudes. In 1649 a man attempted to traverse the Seine on a rope placed between the Tour de Nesles and the Tour du Grand-Prevost. The performance, however, was interrupted by the fall of the mountebank into the Seine. At subsequent fairs in France other acrobats have appeared. At the commencement of this century there was a person named Madame Saqui who astonished the public with her nimbleness and extraordinary skill in rope walking. Her specialty was military maneuvers. On a cord 20meters from the ground she executed all sorts of military pantomimes without assistance, shooting off pistols, rockets, and various colored fires. Napoleon awarded her the title of the first acrobat of France. She gave a performance as late as 1861at the Hippodrome of Paris.
In 1814 there was a woman called "La Malaga," who, in the presence of the allied sovereigns at Versailles, made an ascension on a rope 200 feet above the Swiss Lake.
In the present generation probably the most famous of all the equilibrists was Blondin. This person, whose real name was Emile Gravelet, acquired a universal reputation; about 1860 he traversed the Niagara Falls on a cable at an elevation of nearly 200 feet. Blondin introduced many novelties in his performances.
Sometimes he would carry a man over on his shoulders; again he would eat a meal while on his wire; cook and eat an omelet, using a table and ordinary cooking utensils, all of which he kept balanced. In France Blondin was almost the patron saint of the rope-walkers; and at the present day the performers imitate his feats, but never with the same grace and perfection.
In 1882 an acrobat bearing the natural name of Arsens Blondin traversed one river after another in France on a wire stretched at high altitudes. With the aid of a balancing-rod he walked the rope blindfolded; with baskets on his feet; sometimes he wheeled persons over in a wheelbarrow. He was a man of about thirty, short, but wonderfully muscled and extremely supple.
It is said that a negro equilibrist named Malcom several times traversed the Meuse at Sedan on a wire at about a height of 100feet. Once while attempting this feat, with his hands and feet shackled with iron chains, allowing little movement, the support on one side fell, after the cable had parted, and landed on the spectators, killing a young girl and wounding many others. Malcom was precipitated into the river, but with wonderful presence of mind and remarkable strength he broke his bands and swam to the shore, none the worse for his high fall; he immediately helped in attention to his wounded spectators. A close inspection of all the exhibitionists of this class will show that they are of superior physique and calm courage. They only acquire their ability after long gymnastic exercise, as well as actual practice on the rope. Most of these persons used means of balancing themselves, generally a long and heavy pole; but some used nothing but their outstretched arms. In 1895, at the Royal Aquarium in London, there was an individual who slowly mounted a long wire reaching to the top of this huge structure, and, after having made the ascent, without the aid of any means of balancing but his arms, slid the whole length of the wire, landing with enormous velocity into an outstretched net.
The equilibrists mentioned thus far have invariably used a tightly stretched rope or wire; but there are a number of persons who perform feats, of course not of such magnitude, on a slack wire, in which they have to defy not only the force of gravity, but the to-and-fro motion of the cable as well. It is particularly with the Oriental performers that we see this exhibition. Some use open parasols, which, with their Chinese or Japanese costumes, render the performance more picturesque; while others seem to do equally well without such adjuncts. There have been performers of this class who play with sharp daggers while maintaining themselves on thin and swinging wires.
Another class of equilibrists are those who maintain the upright position resting on their heads with their feet in the air. At the Hippodrome in Paris some years since there was a man who remained in this position seven minutes and ate a meal during the interval. There were two clowns at the Cirque Franconi who duplicated this feat, and the program called their dinner "Un dejouner en tete-a-tete." Some other persons perform wonderful feats of a similar nature on an oscillating trapeze, and many similar performances have been witnessed by the spectators of our large circuses.
The "human pyramids" are interesting, combining, as they do, wonderful power of maintaining equilibrium with agility and strength. The rapidity with which they are formed and are tumbled to pieces is marvelous they sometimes include as many as 16persons men, women, and children.