JAMES I. AND HIS JESTER. 



321 



humour ; and then the match was 

 laid aside, some assuring him a great 

 fortune was comming towards him. 

 Then one gave him his place of cup- 

 bearer, that he might be in the 

 king's eye; another sent to his 

 mercer and taylor to put good 

 cloathes on him ; a third, to his 

 sempster for curious linneu; and all 

 as prefacive insinuations to obtaiue 

 office upon his future rise: then 

 others tooke upon them to be his 

 bravoes, to undertake his quarrels 

 upon affronts put on him by Somer- 

 set's faction: so all hands helped to 

 the piecing up this new favourite. 



" Then begun the King to eat 

 abroad, who formerly used to eat in 

 his bed-chamber, or if by chance 

 supped in his bed-chamber, after 

 supper would come forth to see 

 pastimes and fooleries; in which 

 Sir Ed. Zouch, Sir George Goring, 

 and Sir John Finit were the chiefe 

 and master fools; and surely this 

 fooling got them more than any 

 others' wisdome farre above them 

 in desert. Zouch his part was to 

 sing lewd songs, and tell lewd, 

 tales; Fin it's, to compose these 

 songs. Then was a set of fidlers 

 brought to court on purpose for this 

 fooling ; and Goring was master of 

 the game for fooleries, sometimes 

 presenting David Dromau, and 

 Archee Armstrong the King's foole, 

 on the back of the other fools, to 

 tilt one at Another till they fell to- 

 gether by the eares; sometimes the 

 property was presented by them in 

 aiitick dances. But Sir John Mil- 

 liccut (who was never known before) 

 was commended for notable fool- 

 ing, and so was he indeed tin; best 

 extemporary foole of them all: with 

 this jollity was this favourite 

 ushered in." (Court ofKing James, 

 by Sir A. W. 12mo. London, 1651, 

 p. 82.) 



Archie became the victim of the 

 ruthless bigot, Laud. When news 

 arrived from Scotland of the bad re- 

 ception which the King's proclama- 



tion respecting the Book of Common 

 Prayer had met with there, Archi- 

 bald, the King's fool, happening to 

 meet the Archbishop of Canterbury, 

 who was going to the council-table, 

 said to his grace, " Wha's feule now ? 

 doth not your grace hear the news 

 from Striveling about the Liturgy ?' 

 But the poor jester soon learned 

 that Laud was not a person whom 

 even his jester's coat and privileged 

 folly permitted him to tamper with. 

 The primate of all England imme- 

 diately laid his complaint before 

 the council. How far it was at- 

 tended to, the following order of 

 council, issued the very same day 

 on which the offence was committed, 

 will show. " At Whitehall, the 1 1th 

 of March, 1637. It is this day or 

 dered by his Majesty, with the 

 advice of the board, Archibald 

 Armestrong, the King's fool, for 

 certain scandalous words of a high 

 nature spoken by him against the 

 Lord Archbishop of Canterbury his 

 grace, and proved to be uttered by 

 him by two witnesses, shall have his 

 coat pulled over his head, and be 

 discharged of the King's service 

 and banished the court ; for which 

 the lord chamberlain of the King's 

 household is prayed and required 

 to give order to be executed." And 

 immediately the same was put in 

 execution !* In a pamphlet print- 

 ed in 1641, entitled Archy's Dream^ 

 the following reason is given for 

 Archy's banishment from court. 

 A certain nobleman asking him 

 what he would do with his hand 

 some daughters, he replied lie knew 

 very well what to do with them, l>ut, 

 he had sons whom he knew not well 

 what, tn do with; ho would gladly 

 make scholars of thorn, but that ho 



* Ruslmorth, pnrt ii. vol. i., pp. 470, 

 471- Wolwood's Memoirs, p. '21*. 



f "Archy's Dream, sometime Jester 

 to his Majestic; but exiled the court by 

 Cantorburic's malice: with a relation 

 for whom an oddo chair stood void iu 

 . London, 1641." 



