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On leaving the council he met his court-fool Triboulet, whom he found writing in his tablets, called Fools' Diary, the name of Charles V., "A bigger fool than I," said he, "if he comes passing through France." "What wilt thou say, if I let him pass?" said the king. "I will rub out his name and put yours in its place."
"The Prince of Plassenburg has a Princess," I said, "who is often upon her travels?" It was an innocent remark, and, so far as I could see, not one in itself highly humorous. But it broke up the gravity of these red-haired northern bears as if it had been the latest gay sally of the court-fool.
He was as jet-black as a negro from tropical Africa, and his head seemed to rest on his stomach, for he had no chest. He was a dwarf and humpback; his name was Hamilcar, and he was Attila's court-fool. In those days the court-fool was generally not a wit, but a naive blockhead, who believed all that was said, and was therefore a butt for jests.
Even Uncle Martin, the privileged court-fool, when the flight ultimately of Perez gave general satisfaction, though not to the implacable Philip, exclaimed openly "Sire, who is this Antonio Perez, whose escape and deliverance have filled every one with delight? He cannot, then, have been guilty; rejoice, therefore, like other people."
But there was a whimsical and fantastic strain in his character, which led him often to conjoin the functions of court-fool with those of court poet: "he was the most foolish man in the world" says his biographer. His "foolishness" also induced him to fall in love with every woman he met, and to believe that his personal attractions made him invincible.
It purports to contain the autobiography of Will Sommers, the vicomte's jester, afterward court-fool to Henry VIII. The Episode Called The Castle of Content I Glimpse the Castle "And so, dearie," she ended, "you may seize the revenues of Allonby with unwashed hands." I said, "Why have you done this?" I was half-frightened by the sudden whirl of Dame Fortune's wheel.
Or take, as another instance, the pretended madman Edgar, the court-fool, and the rugged old king going grandly mad, sheltered in one hut, and lapped in the roar of a thunderstorm.
He may have been the court-fool of Ferrara; and his genius, the spiritual essence of the man, may have inclined him to laugh at all things. That at least is the value he now has for us.
Our interpreter described him as the royal Master of the Ceremonies; but it afterwards appeared, that though not apparently belonging to the Yens, but to the smaller race, he held several other offices in conjunction with this those of cook and chamberlain, for example: his talent, however, seemed most to incline to that of court-fool or harlequin.
Fifteen were seized and burned at this time, to the great joy of the country; but, alas! these truly princely and Christian measures little helped among the godless race, for evil seemed still to strengthen in the land, and many wonderful signs appeared, one of which I would not set down here, as it was only seen by the court-fool, but that events confirmed it.
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