Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 23rd January 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 90, Untitled Article

Page 90
Page 18
18 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (1)
    • ^ ^fr " |* ^ fjj <,+** Vv4j ^ J$\\,\A + «
  • Text (4)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      In the East , court fools were an . ancient institution . ; probably they originated m that quarter of the < world . It was < B * halul who wore the cap and belle / or Jiarouu Alraschid , and-who , when the caliph made htm governor of call the bears , wolves , foxes , apes , and asses in the realm , / replied , " -It is too much for me ; I am not ambitious enough to desire to rule all your highness ' s subjects . " He was in his way the antetype of Ghieot , the hero in -two of tlhe Dumas novels . Bat he was eclipsed by Ebn Oaz , who was ordered hy Haroun 'to make some-excuse which should be more offensive than the -crime it was to extenuate , ' -and who obeyed in that peculiar manner which onoved all Asia and many generations to laughter . We will leave the story , . howeverin Dr . Doran ' s chapteronly adding that . he is right in asserting the

      , , claims of the East to be regarded as the birthplace of almost every deeply ludicrous incident recorded in the literature of the West . First , dark Indian rfaces smiled at them ; then they brought many beams into Greek and Roman eyes , next they reappeared under a hundred various disguises in Europe , and now whatever lias escaped the dull compilers of jocular manuals falls into the hand of the farce writer . But the official fool was also known in the New World , at the court of Montezuma , who rejoiced in his collection of human monsters , albinos , cripples , dwarfs , simpletons , and ¦* other freaks and caprices of nature ; ' but this potentate was < no rival to Jrim of Monomotapa , the peer of the Emperor Gallienus , who never stirred abroad with less than five hundred fools in his train .

      Shafcspeare presented many examples of the . gentry who , like the dogs -in 4 he court kennel , were governed by whips and rods , instruments with which , as we have seen , Catherine de Medici sometimes disgraced the lady jesters of her time . They were not allowed , either in the King ' s palace or in great ibousebolda , to pass a certain limit in iihe licence of their jokes or zsongs . William the Conqueror kept a famous fool from Bayeux , and another surnarned JBerdic who amassed prodigious opulence , and became •* the lord of three towns and five carucates of land . ' Rufus was a fool 4 o his own professional jester ; Matilda , wife of Henry I ., loved a melo--dioas joeuilator . Lbngchamp , the Picard prelate , chancellor of William the First , who was so proud that he sealed public acts with his own

      -signet seal , instead of the great seal of England , had a retinue of fools who Trere also flatterers . The sort of joking affected by King John was illustrated when he caused Geoffrey , Archdeacon of Norwich , to be clothed in -a ponderous sacerdotal cape of lead and left to die of famine ; but Piculph , his jester , was a merry fellow , and received a landed estate and something like a title of nobility . Master Henry * ornament *» f the court of Henry HI ., was declared in a Cornish satire to have * the legs of a goat , the thighs of a sparrow , the sides of a iioar , a hare ' s mouth , a dog's mose , the 4 eeth and cheeks of a mule , a calf ' s fiice , a bull ' s . head , and the complexion of . a Moor . " Fools prospered &i all times at the court of Erance , the ¦ earliest mentioned by Flogel being Jean , attached to the train of Charles tfhe Simple : — _ _ . - ... ' remarked to himhe

      This good fellow ' * influence was so great , that Charies once , rthought they had better change places . As Jean did not Jook well pleased at the . proposal , Charles asked him if he were not content at the idea of being a king . ¦ " Oh , content enough , " was the reply ; " but 1 should be exceedingly ashamed at Jhaving such a fool . " It was this fool who once tried his master ' s nerve , by rushing into his room one morning , with the exclamation , " Oh , Sire , such news . ' four thousand men have risen in the city . " " What ! " cried the startled King ; ¦ " with what intention nave they risen ? " " Well , " said Jean , placing his finger on his nose , " probably with the intention of lying down again at bedtime . " The " King of the Ribalds " was the terror of the salaried fool , for he < was Rod in -waiting , and sometimes gratified the pToud ladies of the court by flogging impertinent pages . The pages themselves , however , were permitted great licence , as when they tortured poor Oaillette : —

      The court pages , say the "biographers , could do as they pleased with Caillette , and on one occasion they nailed him by the ear to a beam . The poor fool thought he was condemned to remain there for life . On being discovered by some police author ity , he was questioned ; but he only replied that he did not know who had fixed 3 rim there . The pages were confronted with him , but each declared in turn , " 1 had ^ nothing to do with it , " and each time , Oaillette added , " And I Jiad nothing to do with * t either . " The alleged offence was , that the fool had cut off a . page ' s oiguillettes . and Attached them to his person in the guise of a tuiL Another Caillette was 'jester against Jais wiiV'of noble . mien , tall ,

      graceful , and a man of genius ^—The'Count de Saint-Vallier was sentenced to death for alleged complicity in the itratson of the-Constable against his country . Coillette exerted himself with unexaunpled vigour to procure the release of his old ipotron , for he had obtained from Diane a promise that she would reward him for succeeding in the rescue of -her futher > from a terrible death , by kissing him in the presence of the whole court of France . It was into that presence that ho proudly brought , at last , tho pardon which his jprayera , and still more his ingenuity , had wrested from the King ; but at that . moment poison waa slaying Win , and it waa only aa * he dying fool drew his last breath that Diane stooped to kiss him , and thereby gave awootnesa to bitter death .

      J ± e 'died in a condition of ecstasy . The celebrated Triboulet was a mionster . Bruaquet was a master of indecency , and the brutality of his jests was the delight of the Hdtel de -Cluny , when the Guises / revelled there ; of the Rnssiwi court fools u majority were idiots in the service of savages . Concerning the German and Spanish ibole , Dr . Doran has chapters of the imost . admirable gossip , from Italy he typing ' s an unecdoteof Albointa fool ;—XUa tfool ' a name , or nickname , waa Fagotto . Ho w « b short , iat , and bald , ; and the -was . the challenger -of Bertoldo . When tins King * coetlaU to his request , and ¦ ordered the duel of the two . fools < to take place , ho remarked to Fagotti , " Now , pro-M » ea ^ gbu 4 ; , taJteJifi ^ iiomo showi . "

      Fagotto replied with a pompous boaat , und then turning on hia rival , assailed him with a species of amenities like those that unod to paaa between carnival fools on the PariB Boulovurdu , and boforo which every decent person fled . From this contest Bertoldo issued triumphant ; but the King again taxed his -wit by ordering him to "demonstrate In what way ,, aa ho hud ussertod , the daylight waa whiter than mills , « nd stimulated him to success by promising him the buubinudoif ho failed . j&ertoluo la oaid to ihave proved hia < asaurtiou iby a aimplo prooee * . Moving auceas « . Teryvwhexo , ho . entered the King ' s bedchamber at night , and closing all the blinds , placed a pail of milk lu tho middle of tho arooin . Alboin i&alns . In 'the &urK

      overthrew the pail , and then calling lustily for daylight , Bertoldo let the same in upon him , with the remark , that if the milk had been clearer than daylight , he would have seen the former without the aid of the latter . Whereupon Alboin rubbed his shins , shook his head , and supposed his philosophy was wrong . Quotations might be multiplied from this attractive and anecdotical -volume ; but that readers will send for Dr . Doran's last work is so much a matter of course that it only remains for us to pronounce the History of Court Fools the best of his productions .

      Untitled Article

      PUBLICATIONS AND REPUBLICATIONS . Tjhe seventh volume of Mr . Peter Cunningham ' s edition of 2 he Letters of Horace Walpole has this week been published by Mr . Bentley . The portraits are those of Madame Du Defland , the Duchess de Choiseul , the Duchess of Kingston , the Young Pretender , und the Duchess of Albany . Several of the Tetters , hitherto inedited , are very characteristic of Walpole ' s epistolary style . In the Illustrated Library , Mr . Bolm has published The Odysse of Homer , translated by Alexander Pope , to which are added the Battle of the Frogs and Mice , by Parnell , and the Hymns , by Chapman and others , with the entire

      series of Flaxinan's wonderful and exquisite designs . I he llev . J . S . Watson contributes to this remarkable volume a number of ' Observations and Brief Notes . Flaxman was the one artist who fittingly illustrated the poems of Homer . To the Scientific Library two additions have been made . The one is the second volume of Dr . Carpenter ' s Zoology , revised by Mr . Dallas , with a copious index ; the other a first volume of An Index of Dales , comprehending the principal events in the history of the world to the present period , by Mr . J . Willoughby Rosse . It serves as an index to the enlarged edition of Blair's chronological tables , and is likely to be of use to the historical student , as well as for general reference .

      Mr , Bohn has also published a seventh edition of Sturm s well-known Morning Communions with God ; or , Devotional Meditations for every Day in the Year , translated from the German by Mr . N . Johnstone . Mrs . Gore ' s clever novel , The Banker ' s Wife ; or , Court arid City , which , in 1843 , was dedicated to Sir John Dean Paul , has been re-published under the author ' s revision , by Messrs . Knight and Son . Mrs . Gore makes no allusion to her late banker and trustee further than to justify herself for having cancelled the dedication . Mr . Hodgson sends us another of the Dumas series , Forty-five Guardsmen , in which Diana de Monsoreau , Chicot the Jester , and other of his marvellous characters reappear . ~ A cheap edition of Mr . William Howitt's Boy ' s Adventures in the Wilds of Australia , illustrated by Harvey , has been published by Messrs . Arthur Hall and Co ., and claims attention before school-days recommence .

      The Rev . James White will add to his wide popularity by Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott , a volume of biography just published by Mr . Iloutledge . The ' lives' appear to have been originally constructed us lectures , and are , in style and matter , all that could be desired . The Playground ; or , the Boys' Book of Games , by Mr . George "Forrest , also published by Mr . Routledge , is a volume for scholars out of school-time , and will enable them to make the most of their holidays . Captain Clayton ' s ' Ubique ; ' or , English Country Quarters and' ' Eastern Bivouac , published by Mr . Skeet , may here be mentioned as a brisk and florid narrative of every-day incidents in a soldier ' s life . Captain Clayton might have selected a more attractive and intelligible title for his volume . In The Heirs of the Homestead , by the author of ' Orphan Upton , ' published by Messrs . Heaton and Pewtress—two distinct firms—will be found a well-drawn picture of life in the worsted districts of Yorkshire twenty years ago . There is reality in every touch , and this confers upon the story a very marked character .

      Christian Errors Infidel Arguments , published b y Messrs . Hamilton , Adams , and Co ., is a volume of which it suffices to mention the title . The author distributes his discourse into seven , dialogues , ' suggested by the Burnett Treatises , the Evangelical Alliance Prize Essay , and other Apologetics / Professor Miller hus written for the Scottish Temnerance League a little volume entitled Alcohol , its Place and Power . It is directed against the use of potent liquors . Mr . W . Adam , well known as tho author of * The Gem of the Peak , has published with Messrs . J . and C . Mozley an excellent little manual , First Lessons in Geology , with a special article on the toadstones of Derbyshire , and a glossary , explanatory of geological terms and their derivations , accompanied by sections and a general diagram of the strata .

      Untitled Article

      oq THE LEADE B . [ No . 409 , January 23 , 1858 . !

      Untitled Article

      THE FESTIVAL PERFORMANCES AT HER MAJESTY ' S THE ATE E —MR . KEAN AND THE COURT—A NEW DRAMA AT TltE ADELPHI . We who take more interest in the notes of PiccoiiOMiNl than in the noniinnlions of Palmettcston—who look on unmoved at tho rocking of ihronoa ami tho crashing of dynasties , bat tremble for tho success of our favourite in his or licirfirat' * cMay ~ 6 fi ^ m \ v 'pttr t = ^ great affairs of life ( and we aro by no means a small or uniniluonlial body ) . have had groat excitement during tho past week . All poraon . s mixing in theatrical circles must have heard that tho manner in -which tho ao-callou Festival Portbnnanoea have been got up has croatod a coolness between tho Court and Mr . Charles Khan , tho horotoibro favourilo Mas Lor of tho Revolt ) . Thia ooolnosa has boon ascribed to many cauaoa , anil longwinded stories have boon manufactured by gobemouchca ami circulated

      ^ ^Fr " |* ^ Fjj &Lt;,+** Vv4j ^ J$\\,\A + «

      Cfft Slrte , —*—

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 23, 1858, page 90, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2227/page/18/