says that, while tending his father's swine, a servant of
Robert, Earl of Leicester, passing by was so pleased with his _happy
unhappy_ answers that he took him to court. But Tarlton's humour was
often that of the common fool, and depended generally upon action, look,
and voice. His face was in this respect his fortune, for he had a flat
nose and squinting eyes. Nash mentions that on one occasion he "peept
out his head," probably with a grimace, at the audience, which caused a
burst of laughter, and led one of the justices, who did not understand
the fun, to beat the people on the bare pates, inasmuch as they, "being
farmers and hinds, had dared to laugh at the Queen's men." He was
celebrated for his jigs, _i.e._ extempore songs accompanied with tabor
and pipe, and sometimes with dancing.

Fuller says he had great influence with Elizabeth, and could "undumpish"
her at pleasure. Her favourites were wont to go to him to prepare their
access to her, and "he told the Queen more of her faults than most of
her chaplains, and cured her melancholy better than all her physicians."

Bohun says that, "at supper she would divert herself with her friends
and attendants, and if they made no answer she would put them upon mirth
and pleasant discourse with great civility. She would then also admit
Tarlton, a famous comedian and pleasant talker, and other men to divert
her with stories of the town, and the common jests or accidents, but so
that they kept within the bounds of modesty." Tarlton, on one occasion,
cast reflections upon Leicester; and said of Raleigh, "the knave
commands the Queen," at which she was so much offended that she forbade
any of her jesters to approach her table.

The jests of Scogan, or rather those attributed to him, were very
popular in Elizabeth's time. This man was court-fool to Henry VII., and
is said to have been "of pleasant wit and bent to merrie devices." He
was fond of practical jokes, and often attacked the clergy. Elizabeth
seems to have had a natural gift of humour, and we read of many of her
witty sayings. On one occasion, upon an archbishop finding fault with
some of her actions, and quoting Scripture to prove she had acted more
as a politician than a Christian. "I see, my lord," she replied, "that
you have read the scriptures, but not the book of Kings." She was so
well acquainted with proverbs, that on being presented with a collection
of English aphorisms, and told by the author that it contai