I E S 
only amufement, The focial intercourfe, and elegant di- 
verfions, which fo happily employ both fexes in this re- 
-fined age, were then utterly unknown ; inltead of the en¬ 
tertainments of the ftage, which we now enjoy in its al- 
molt perfect Hate, the myfteries and moralities, of which 
fome fpecimens are preferved in old writers, were the only 
theatrical fpe£tacles exhibited from Richard the .Second’s 
days till the reign of queen Elizabeth. But nature will 
infilt upon her rights in fome ffiape or other; and mirth 
is fo congenial to man, that it mult have a vent. A far- 
cailic or perhaps a harmlefs jell, from one equal to ano¬ 
ther, in the rough days of feudal fyftem, would, in all 
likelihood, have brought about ferious confequences, and 
perhaps have ended in a Angle combat. But kings could 
not live in their palaces, nor great barons in their caftles, 
without fome inftrument to excite their merriment. They 
had no wits, indeed, to flatter them, but they had, what 
men even of the moll refined underftandings love better, 
a fool to laugh at. A fellow drefled in a patched coat, 
guarded with yellow, was hired, at a certain falary, to di¬ 
vert the great man and his guefts. All now was fafe ; for 
nobody could pretend to be angry at the farcaltic gibes, 
or faucy petulances, of a party-coloured hireling; one, 
too, who was hirnfelf the butt of the company. The fool 
treated all alike; the mailer and his guefts were equally 
the objefts of his fatirical mirth ; and no doubt a keen¬ 
witted fellow would fometimes revenge the difgrace of his 
situation on his betters, by uttering a fevere reproach and 
home-truth under the cover of a joke, which no one durft 
relent, without being expofed to the derifion of the com¬ 
pany. The efteem in which thefe party-coloured gentry 
were held, even fo late as the time of Henry VIII. is 
Ihown by the behaviour of cardinal Wolfey on the fol¬ 
lowing occafion. After the cardinal’s difgrace, he re¬ 
ceived occafionally from the king fome marks of favour. 
. Once his royal mailer fent him a ring, which he conceived 
to be a certain evidence of returning friendlhip and pro¬ 
tection. “ To manifell his gratitude,” fays the hillorian, 
41 he fent to the king, as the moll valuable of all gifts, 
liis fool Patch, whom he had cherilhed as one relerve of 
liappinefs, or at.lead amufement, in his misfortunes.” 
Nicholas III. marquis of Elle and Ferrara, had at his 
court a man of this defcription, called Gonelli, who be¬ 
came very famous by his facetious humours. The fol¬ 
lowing anecdote is related as an inllance of his ready wit. 
Being one day attending the marquis at dinner, a ques¬ 
tion was llarted, which was the moll numerous profeffion 
in Ferrara ? The company feemed divided in their opinions, 
upon which the marquis alked Gonelli what he thought. 
My lord,” faid the jefter, “ you may be well allured 
that phyficians eompole the moll numerous body in this 
city." “Thou art a blockhead,” anfwered the marquis, 
,*‘and quite ignorant of what paffes in this place ; for, to 
my certain knowledge, there are not more than three or 
four phyficians in it.” Gonelli remained fo pofitive in his 
opinion, that he provoked the prince to aniwer a confi- 
derable wager, which he propofed on the matter- The 
next morning he appeared at court with his head wrapped 
in a woollen night-cap, and a folded handkerchief put 
over his cheek and mouth, as one who fuffered greatly 
from the tooth-ach. All the courtiers alked him what he 
ailed, and every one prefcribed a remedy for him ; Go¬ 
ndii took care to write down the names of all the pre¬ 
tended phyficians, and their different remedies. The mar¬ 
quis hirnfelf pitied him on account of the pain he feemed 
to be in, and advifed him to do fo and fo; Gonelli 
thanked him, and faid he would go home immediately, 
and do as he prefcribed. The next day he returned, as if 
cured, to pay his court to the marquis, and told him he 
had won his wager, at the fame time prefenting him with 
a large lift of all thole who had pointed out remedies for 
his tooth-ach. The marquis, taking the lift, and leeing 
his own name at the head of it, could not help laughing, 
and, allowing that phyficians were the moll numerous 
Vol.-X.JNo- 715- 
J E $ ■ *85 
profefliari in Ferrara, and every where elfe, he ordered 
him to he paid the wager. 
JESTING, J, The afl of talking in order to raife 
mirth. Eph. v. 4, 
JESTINGLY, o.dv. In a jelling manner. 
JE'SU, the name of a man. 1 Efd. 
JE'SU, [from Jpfus.] Jefus. Wejley. 
JESUA'TI, /. in church hiftory, an order of monks. 
JE'SUI, [Heb. an equal.] A man’s name. 
J-ES'UTT, f. [from Jefus.] In church hiftory, one of the 
order of Jefus ; a member of a numerous and powerful 
fociety in the Roman church, famous for equivocation, and 
For attachment to the intereft of the pope. 
The celebrated fociety or order of the Jefuits took its 
rife from mere chance. Ignatus Loyola, a ■Spanifti offi¬ 
cer, wounded at the liege of Pampeluna, anno 1521, was 
brought into the town, and confined to his bed by his 
wounds. To amufe his mind, books were furniffied him ; 
amongll others, the Lives of the Saints. This book had 
fuch an eft'eft upon the ardent imagination of Loyola, 
long fince turned to gallantry of a romantic kind, that he 
relolved to dedicate hirnfelf to the fervice of God, and to 
become a knight of the Holy Virgin Mary. Heated with 
his projefl, and affociating hirnfelf with three or four 
more perfons as vifionary yet more prudent and politic 
than hirnfelf, he formed that fociety, which, according to 
Montefquieu, would entirely have governed the world, 
had it taken place before Luther and Calvin diftinguilhed 
themfelves. They poffeffed indeed, particularly in latter 
times, two wonderful powers over the minds of mankind; 
the education of the nobility, and the direction of the 
confciences of fovereigns; and their inftitutions are looked 
upon as models of political fagacity. With thefe, how¬ 
ever, the founder had nothing to do, who appears to have 
been a weak and honeft entl.ufiaft, who thought that 
he was doing honour to God, and good to mankind, 
when he formed the inllitution. The fpirit of intrigue 
and of enterprife, which was objected to the order, was 
certainly not that of their founder: if his youth had its 
defefls and irregularities, his age was a model of piety 
and reflgnation. 
The plan which this fanatic formed of its conftitution 
and laws was fuggefted, as he gave out, and as his fol¬ 
lowers (till teach, by the immediate infpiration of heaven. 
But, notwithstanding this high pretention, his defign met 
at firft with violent oppofition. The pope, to whom 
Loyola applied for the fanftion of his authority to confirm 
the inllitution, referred his petition to a committee of 
cardinals. They reprefented the eftabliftiment to be un- 
neceffary as well as dangerous, and Paul refuled to grant 
his approbation of it. At laft, Loyola removed all his 
fcruples by an offer which it was impoffible for any pope 
to refill. He propofed, that befides the three vows of po¬ 
verty, of challity, and of ntonaftic obedience, which are 
common to all the orders of regulars, the members of his 
fociety lliould take a fourth vow of obedience to the pope, 
binding themfelves .to go whitherloever he ffiould com¬ 
mand for the fervice of religion, and without requiring 
any thing from the holy fee for their fupport. At a time 
when the papal authority had received l'uch a fliock by 
the revolt of fo many nations from the Romilh church ; 
at a time when every part of the popilh fyftem was attacked 
with fo much violence and fuccels ; the acquifition of a 
body of men, thus peculiarly devoted to the fee of Rome, 
and whom it might fet in oppofition to all its enemies, 
was an objefl of the higheft confequence. Paul, inftantly 
perceiving this, confirmed the inllitution of the Jefuits 
by his bull, anno 1540 ; granted the moll ample privileges 
to the members of the fociety ; and appointed Loyola to 
be the firft general of the order. The event.fully juftified 
Paul’s difcernment, in expelling fuch beneficial confe¬ 
quences to the fee of Rome from this inftitution. In lefs 
than half a century, the fociety obtained eftabliffiments in 
every country that adhered to the Roman-catholic church ; 
9 O ju 
