COURT FOOL. From very ancient times there existed a class of persons whose business it was to while away the time of the noble and the wealthy, particularly at table, by jests and witty sayings. The custom is so old that it is mentioned in the great Sanskrit epic RamUyana (q.v.). Plutarch speaks of a jester owned by the King of Persia. Philip of Macedon, Attila. Harun-al-Raschid, and even Montezuma employed them. Only with the Middle Ages,. however, did the office of court fool become a regular and in dispensable function. At the end of the four teenth century the fashion developed rapidly. Queens, dauphins, dukes, and wealthy barons all maintained their fools. The symbols of such a personage were: the shaven head; the fool's cap of gay colors with ass's ears and cock's comb; the fool's sceptre, which was variously formed; the bells, which were mostly attached to the cap, but in some cases to other parts of the dress; and a large collar. The rest of the costume was regulated by the taste of the master. Of these professional fools, some obtained an historical reputation, as Triboulet, jester of King Francis I., of France, and his successor, Brusquet; Klaus Darr, at the Court of the Elector Frederick the Wise of Prussia, and Scogan, court fool to Edward IV. of England. The kings and regents of Scot land had their jesters; and the sarcastic sayings of some of these privileged personages—such as those of Patric Bonny, jester to the Regent Mor ton—are still remembered. English court jesters died out with the Stuarts, one of the last of the race being the famous Archie Armstrong. Besides the regular fools recognized and dressed as such, there was a higher class, called merry counselors, generally men of talent, who availed themselves of the privilege of free speech to ridicule the follies and vices of their contem poraries. Of these, Kunz von der Rosen, jester
to the Emperor Maximilian T.; John Heywood, a prolific dramatic poet and epigrammatist at the Court of Henry V111.; and Angely. a French courtier, were particularly distinguished for talent and wit. In all times there have existed at courts persons who, without becoming jesters by profession, were allowed the privilege of castigating the company by their witty and satirical attacks, or who served as an object for the wit of others. Among these were the Saxon general Kyaw, celebrated for his blunt jests; and the learned Jacob Paul. Baron Gnndling. whom Frederick William I. of Prussia. to show his contempt for science and the artificial Court system, loaded with titles. Often imbecile or weak-minded persons were kept for the enter tainment of the company. The custom survived long in Russia, where Peter the Great had so many fools that he divided them into distinct classes, and kept them with him wherever he went. As late as the nineteenth century the Czar of Russia kept a jester at court, and in France just before the Revolution Marie An• toinette had her fool. Consult: Nick, Die Hof and Vo/ksnarren (Stuttgart, 1861) ; Gesehichte der homischen Litteratur (Leipzig, 1784) ; and Doran, History of Court Fools (Lon don, 1858).