Chapter Fons et Origo to Foot of F by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

of Henri III. and IV. (1553-1591); Longely, of Louis XIII.; and Angeli, of Louis XIV., last of the titled fools of France.
   (h) Klaus Narr, jester of Frederick the Wise, elector of Prussia.
   (i) Yorick, in the Court of Denmark, referred to by Shakespeare in Hamlet, v. 1.
   (2) Not attached to the court:
   (a) Patrick Bonny, jester of the regent Morton; John Heywood, in the reign of Henry VII., dramatist, died 1505; Dickie Pearce, fool of the Earl of Suffolk, whose epitaph Swift wrote.
   (b) Kunz von der Rosen, private jester to the Emperor Maximilian I.
   (c) Gonnella the Italian (q.v.).
   (d) Le Glorieux, the jester of Charles le Hardi, of Burgundy.
   (e) Patche, Cardinal Wolsey's jester, whom he transferred to Henry VIII. as a most acceptable gift.
   (f) Patison, licensed jester to Sir Thomas More. Introduced by Hans Holbein in his picture of the chancellor.
   (3) Men worthy of the motley:
   (a) Andrew Borde, physician to Henry VIII., usually called Merry Andrew (1500- 1549).
   (b) Gen. Kyaw, a Saxon officer, famous for his blunt jests.
   (c) Jacob Paul, Baron Gundling, who was laden with titles in ridicule by Frederick William I. of Prussia.
   (d) Seigni Jean (Old John), so called to distinguish him from Johan "fol de Madame," of whom Marot speaks in his epitaphs. Seigni Jean lived about a century before Caillette.
   (e) Richard Tarlton, a famous clown in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. He died 1588.
   (f) Caillette "flourished" about 1494. In the frontispiece of the "Ship of Fools," printed 1497, there is a picture both of Seigni Jean and also of Caillette.
   Feast of Fools. A kind of Saturnalia popular in the Middle Ages. Its chief object was to honour the ass on which our Lord made His triumphant entry into Jerusalem. This ridiculous mummery was held on the day of circumcision (January 1). The office of the day was first chanted in travesty; then, a procession being formed, all sorts of absurdities, both of dress, manner, and instrumentation, were indulged in. An ass formed an essential feature, and from time to time the whole procession imitated the braying of this animal, especially in the place of "Amen."

Fool's Bolt A fool's bolt is soon shot (Henry V., iii. 7). Simpletons cannot wait for the fit and proper time, but waste their resources in random endeavours; a fool and his money are soon parted. The allusion is to the British bowmen in battle; the good soldier shot with a purpose, but the foolish soldier at random. (See Prov. xxix. 11.)

Fool's Paradise Unlawful pleasure, illicit love, vain hopes. Thus, in Romeo and Juliet, the Nurse says to Romeo, "If ye should lead her [Juliet] into a fool's paradise, it were a gross ... behaviour." The old schoolmen said there were three places where persons not good enough for paradise were admitted: (1) The limbus patrum, for those good men who had died before the death of the Redeemer; (2) The limbus infantum or paradise of unbaptised infants; and (3) The limbus fatuorum or paradise of idiots and others who were non compos mentis. (See Limbo.)

Foolscap A corruption of the Italian foglio-capo (folio-sized sheet). The error must have been very ancient, as the water-mark of this sort of paper from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century was a fool's head, with cap and bells.

Foot (Greek, pod'; Latin, ped'; French, pied; Dutch, voet; Saxon, fot. Foot and pedal are variants of the same word.)
   Best foot foremost. Use all possible dispatch. To "set on foot" is to set agoing. If you have various powers of motion, set your best foremost.

"Nay, but make haste; the better foot before."
Shakespeare: King John, iv. 2.

   I have not yet got my foot in. I am not yet familiar and easy with the work. The allusion is to the preliminary exercises in the great Roman foot-race. While the signal was waited for, the candidates made essays of jumping, running, and posturing, to excite a suitable warmth and make their limbs supple. This was "getting their foot in" for the race. (See Hand.)
   I have the measure or length of his foot. I know the exact calibre of his mind. The allusion is to the Pythagorean admeasurement of Hercules by the length of his foot. (See Ex Pede.)
   To light on one's feet. To escape a threatened danger. It is said that cats thrown from a height always light on their feet.
   To put down your foot on [a matter]. Peremptorily to forbid it.
   To show the cloven foot. To betray an evil intention. The devil is represented with a cloven foot.
   Turn away thy foot from the Sabbath (Isa. 1viii. 13). Abstain from working and doing your own pleasure on that day. The allusion is to the law which prohibited a Jew from walking on a Sabbath more than a mile. He was to turn away his foot from the road and street.
   Withdraw thy foot from thy neighbour's house, lest he get weary of thee, and so hate thee. Never outstay your welcome.
   With one foot in the grave. In a dying state.
   You have put your