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 20
meters 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 1861
at 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.
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