that are crept into the worlde by stealth, and holde possession by subtill invasion. In another place, describing the performers at a fictitious banquet in Terralbon [Eng land], he says, 'Some transformed themselves to roges, other to ruftians, some other to clownes, a fourth to fooles... the roges were ready, the ruffians were rude, theyr clownes cladde as well with country condition, as in ruffe russet; theyr fooles as fonde as might be,' &c. The latter passage is interesting because the clown is properly distinguished from the fool, as he always should have been. "It may be the means of affording a clearer view of the present subject, if something like a classifica tion of the different sort of fools and clowns be given. The following is therefore offered as a substitute for a better. "1. The general domestic fool, often, but as it should seem improperly, termed a clown. He was 1. a mere natural, or idiot. 2. Silly by nature, yet cunning and sarcastical. 3. Artificial. Puttenham, speak ing of the latter, says, "A buffoune or counterfet foole, to here him speake wisely which is like himselfe, it is no sport at all; but for such a counterfait to talke and looke foolishly it maketh us laugh, because it is no part of his naturall. All these officiated occasionally as menial ser fool, whose office was to assist at public entertainments and in pageants. To this class belong perhaps the Lord Mayor's state fool, and those employed by the companies of trades, &c. “V. Tavern fools. These seem to have been retained to amuse the customers. We learn from one of Ben Jonson's plays, that they exhibited with a Jew's harp, mounted on a joint-stool; and in another of them he has preserved the name of such a character: they were sometimes qualified to sing after the Italian manner. Fools were also employed in the common brothels. "VI. The fool of the ancient the-. atrical mysteries and moralities. He was, more properly speaking, the Vice, a singular character, that would afford sufficient matter for much better dissertations than those of Warburton or Upton. Being generally dressed in a fool's habit, he appears to have been gradually and undistinguishably blended with the domestic fool; yet he was certainly a buffoon of a different sort. was always a bitter enemy to the Devil, and a part of his employment consisted in teazing and tormenting the poor fiend on every occasion. He ceased to be in fashion at the end of the sixteenth century. He VII The fool in the old dumb shows exhibited at fairs, and perhaps at inns, in which he was generally engaged in a struggle with Death; a fact that seems alluded to more than once in Shakspeare's plays. It is possible that some casual vestiges of this species of entertainment might have suggested the modern English pantomines. VIII. The fool in the Whitsunales and Morris dance, 4 IX The mountebank's fool, or merry Andrew. There may be others introduced into our old dramas of an indefinite and irregular kind, and not reducible to any of the above classes; but to exemplify these or many of the above by a specific reference to authorities, is not within the scope of the present essay. It is hoped that what has been just stated may contribute to assist the readers of old plays in forming some judgment of their own whenever the necessity shall arise. "A general investigation of that most singular and eccentric character, the real dunestic fool, would occupy more spice than could here have been spared. It would indeed extend to a length that few will conceive; but should the same Jaudable spirit of curiosity respecting the manners of former times which at present constitutes much of the Camusement of an enlightened public, continue to maintain its influence, encouragement would not be want ing to resume the subject more at large. In the mean time it may be sutficient to remark, that the practice of retaining fools can be traced in very remote times, throughout almost all civilized, and even among some barbarous nations, It prevailed from the palace to the brothel. The pope had his fool, and the bawd ber's; and ladies entertained them of both sexes. With respect to the antiquity of this custom in our own country, there is reason to suppose that it existed even during the period of our Saxon history; but we are quite certain of the fact in the reign of William the Conqueror. An almost contemporary historian, Maitre Wace, has left us a curious account of the preservation of William's life when he was only Duke of Normandy, by his fool Goles. Mention is made in Domesday of Berdic joculator regis; and although this term was unquestionably applied L in numerous instances to denote a minstrel, much evidence might be adduced to show that on this occasion it signified a buffoon. Latin terms were used by the middle-age wri ters so licentiously, and with such extreme carelessness, that in many cases it is difficult to obtain a precise idea of their meaning. Thus the jesters and minstrels were indefinitely expressed by the words jorniator, scurra, mimus, ministrallus, xa, a practice that may admit of justification when we consider that in early times the minstrel and butcon characters were sometimes united in one person. It must be allowed, however, that in an etymological point of view, the term joculator iş much better adapted to the jester than the minstrel. "The accounts of the household expenses of our sovereigns contain many payments and rewards to fools both foreign and domestic, the motives for which do not appear, but might perhaps have been some witty speech or comic action that had pleased the donors. Sonie of these payments are annual gifts at Christmas. Dr. Fuller, speaking of the court jester, whom he says some count a necessary evil, remarks, in his usual quaint manner, that it is an office which none. but he that hath wit can perform, and none but he that wants it will perform. A great many names of these buffoon, have been preserved; and sufficient materials remain to furnish a separate biography of them, which might afford even more amusement than can be found in the lives of many of their. betters. They continued an appurtenance to the English court to a late period. Muckle John, the fool of Charles the First, and the successor of Archee. Armstrong, is perhaps the last regular personage of the kind. The national troubles that that produced the downfall of regal power, and the puritanical manners that ensued, at once determined the existence of an office that had so long maintained its ground at court; and when Charles the Second resumed the throne, it was probably deemed a matter of no moment to - restore it. The common stories that relate to Killigrew as jester to Charles, rest on no sufficient authority; and although he might have contributed to amuse the witty monarch with his jokes, it is certain that he had no regular appointment to such an office. Mr. Granger has justly observed, that the wit of the buffoons became the highest recommendation of a courtier in the time of Charles the Second. "The discontinuance of the court fool had a considerable influence on the manners of private life; and we learn from one of Shadwell's -plays, that it was then out of fashion for great men to keep fools.' But the practice was by no means abolished; it maintained its ground in this country so late as the beginning of the last century; and we have an epitaph, written by Dean Swift, on Dicky Pearce the Earl of Suffolk's fool, who was buried in Berkley church-yard, June 18, 1728. This person was an idiot. Lord Chancellor Talbot kept a Welsh jester named Rees Pengelding. He was a very shrewd fellow, and rented a farm of his master. Being distrained on for his rent by an oppressive steward, who had been a tailor and bore him a grudge, the surly fellow said to him on this occasion: I'll fit you sirrah.' Then,' replied Rees, it will be the first time in your life that you ever fitted any one.' Another Welshman, called Will the taborer, was retained in a similar capacity, about the beginning of the last century, by Sir Edward Stradling, of St. Donat's castle, in Glamorganshire. He is said to have been a very witty fellow, and a man of strong intellects. Lord Bussy Mansel, of Margam, had likewise in his service one Robin Rush, an idiot by nature, but who often said very witty things. There are people now alive in Wales, or lately were, who well remembered him. "The sort of entertainment that fools were expected to afford, may be collected in great variety from our old plays, and particularly from those of Shakspeare; but perhaps no better idea can be formed of their general mode of conduct than from the following passage in a singular tract by Lodge, entitled Wit's Miserie, 1599, 4to. Immoderate and disordinate joy became incorporate in the bodie of a jeaster; this fellow in person is comely, in apparell courtly, but in behaviour a very ape, and no man; his studie is to coine bitter jeasts, or to shew antique motions, or to sing baudie sonnets and ballads: give him a little wine in his head, he is continually filcaring and making of mouthes: he laughs intemperately at every little occasion, and dances about the house, leaps over tables, outskips mens' heads, trips up his companion's heeles, burns sack with a candle, and hath all the feats of a lord of misrule in the countrie: feed him in his humour, you shall have his heart, in meere kindness he will hug you in his armes, kisse you on the cheeke, and rapping out an horrible oth, crie God's soule Tum, I love you, you know my poore heart, come to my chamber for a pipe of tobacco, there lives not a man in this world that I more honor. In these ceremonies you shall know his courting, and it is a speciall mark of him at the table, he sits and makes faces: keep not this fellow company, for in jugling with him, your wardropes shall be wasted, your credits crakt, your crownes consumed, and time (the most precious riches of the world) utterly lost. This is the picture of a real hireling or artificial fool. mocks me in your presence :* Selden has remarked, on a similar occasion, that a gallant man is above ill words, and has left us a story of the forbearance of the old lord Salisbury, whom he calls a great wise man, towards Stone, a celebrated fool in the reign of James the First. Fools, however, did not always escape with impunity; they were liable to, and often experienced, very severe domestic castigation. Whipping was the punishment generally inflicted. On the other hand they appear to have been sometimes used with great tenderness. This is very feelingly exemplified in the conduct of Lear. Stafford, in his Guide of Honour, 1634, 18mo, tells us, that he had knowne a great and com. petently wise man who would much respect any man that was good to his foole. An opportunity here presents itself of explaining the eld proverb five pounds; you've bled As the profession of these hirelings required a considerable degree of skill and dexterity to amuse their employers, so it would in some instances fail of success, and the want of the above talents would excite considerable disgust and dissatisfaction. Cardinal Perron being one day in company with the Duke of Mantua, the latter, speaking of his fool, said that he was un magro buffone & non haver spirito. The car dinal remarked that nevertheless he had wit. Why so?, demanded the duke; Because, replied the other, he lives by a trade which he does not understand. The lia fool, which, adverting to the berties allowed them were necessarily very "great; but this was not always a protection to them. Every one knows the disgracefully severe conduct of archbishop Laud to poor Archee. The Duke d'Espernon, though a man of great haughtiness of spirit, conducted himself on a similar occasion with much more discretion. His Gascon accent was a constant subject of raillery on the part of Maret, the fool of Louis XHI., whose great talent lay in mimicry. Cardinal Richelieu, who took upon him to give the duke some pointed admonitions, ordered him, among other things, to endeavour to get rid of his provincial tones, at the same time counterfeiting his speech, and sarcastically intreating him not to take his advice in bad part. But why should 1, replied the duke, when I bear as much every day from the king's fool who usual privilege or allowance belonging to this character, seems to demand a forfeit from whoever had infringed it by inflicting an improper and unlawful chastisement, This exposition derives support from a passage in Ben Jonson's For, and also contributes to its illustration. "In the second act there is a song describing a fool, in which it is said that he speaks truth free "from slaughter. This has been with some ingenuity supposed to mean free from hurting any one. The other construction may perhaps be thought as plausible.co "With respect to his office on the stage, we may suppose it would be nearly the same as in reality; the difference might be that his wit was more highly seasoned. Mr. Malone has already cited a very curious passage on this subject from the play of The Careless Shepherdens, 1656. In Middleton's Mayor of Quinborough, a company of actors with a clown make their appearance, and the following dialogue ensues : FIRST CHEATER.' "This is our clown, Sir. * SIMON. Fye, fye, your company In some instances the plays themselves assist by peculiar references that leave but little doubt; but this is not the case in general. It is to be lamented that our artists did not appropriate more of their labours to the representation of theatrical subjects, and the fortunate discovery of Must fall upon him and beat him; he's a single ancient painting of this kind too fair, i' faith To make the people laugh. FIRST CHEATER. Not as he may be dressed, Sir. would be of more importance than a volume of conjectural dissertations. As it may be presumed that former theatrical managers exhibited with fidelity on the stage the manners of their own times, a reference to the materials which remain to illustrate the dress of the real fools, may supply the defect before alluded to. "It may be collected both from the plays themselves, and from vari➡ ous other authorities, that the costume of the domestic fool in Shakspeare's time was of two sorts. In the first of these the coat was motley or parti-coloured, and attached to the body by a girdle, with bells at the skirts and elbows, though not always. The breeches and hose close, and sometimes each leg of a different colour. A hood resem bling a monk's cowl, which, at a very early period, it was certainly designed to imitate, covered the head entirely, and fell down over part of the breast and shoulders. It was "Away then, shift, clown to thy motley sometimes decorated with asses' ears crupper.' "Whoever is desirous of obtain ing general and accurate informa tion concerning the great variety of dresses that belong to some of the characters in question at different periods, must study ancient prints and paintings, and especially the miniatures that embellish manuscripts. These will afford sufficient specimens; but the difficulty of as certaining how the theatrical fools and clowns of Shakspeare's time were always habited, is insuperable. or else, terminated in the neck and head of a cock, a fashion as old as the fourteenth century. It often had the comb or crest only of the animal, whence the term cockscomb or corcomb was afterwards used to denote any silly upstart. This foolusually carried in his hand an official sceptre or bauble, which was a short stick ornamented at the end with the figure of a fool's head, or some times with that of a doll or puppet. To this instrument there was frequently annexed an inflated skin er. bladder, |