since I saw you last, that, I fear me, will never out of my bones; I shall not fear fly-blowing."

He indicates no learning, and his philosophy is superficial. Of this he is apparently conscious, for in Act three, Scene two, he says: "There's but five upon this isle; we are three of them; if the other two be brained like us, the state totters."

As to his courage, it is best described by himself: "Was there ever man a coward, that hath drunk so much sack as I to-day?"

Taken in its entirety, I cannot but regard the character of Trinculo as the least interesting of the court jesters that Shakespeare has given us; a character type that was still in existence when the poet lived and wrote, examples of which he must have seen at Kenilworth, at the court of Elizabeth, and later at that of James I, in London. The species, however, was rapidly becoming extinct; printing began to develop, knowledge to be more general, and literature to be appreciated; entertainment was found in the printed publications of wit and humor, rather than from

the lips of the jester, and the quality of the latter began to deteriorate from the witty retainer of the court, to the coarse buffoon whose jests appealed to the low and the ignorant, rather than to the cultivated and intelligent.

It was at this period of deterioration that Shakespeare wrote "The Tempest," and possibly his conception of Trinculo may be based upon the conditions that then existed, and the character made to present his own view of the coarseness of expression and the poverty of wit exhibited by the professional fools of his time.

That Shakespeare was alive to the current events of the period in which he wrote is illustrated by a passage spoken by Trinculo in his first scene.

A number of American Indians had been brought from the newly established colony of Virginia to London; the novelty of their color, appearance and dress attracted great attention, and caused considerable excitement and curiosity. One of the Indians succumbed to the rigors of the

English climate, and died, the corpse being subsequently placed on public exhibition, many persons paying a substantial fee to look at it.

When Trinculo sees the apparently dead body of Caliban lying upon the ground, and does not know whether it is "a man or a fish," but from its foul odor believes it to be the latter, the poet satirizes the prevailing sensation, in the words of the fool: "A strange fish! Were I in England now (as I once was) and had but this fish painted, not a holiday fool there but would give a piece of silver; there would this monster make a man; any strange beast there makes a man.

When

they will not give a doit to relieve a lame beggar, they will lay out ten to see a dead Indian."

FESTE

IN

TWELFTH NIGHT

"I am indeed not her fool, but her corrupter of

words"

N the list of the characters in "Twelfth

IN

Night," the fool is not given a name. He is coupled with Fabian, as "Clown," and together they are called "Servants to Olivia," but in Act 2, Scene 4 of the play, he is spoken of by Curio, a gentleman attending on the Duke, as “Feste,” and is described as "the jester, a fool that the Lady Olivia's father took much delight in." He is a combination of jester and minstrel, and is a member of the household of the Countess Olivia, a wealthy noblewoman of Illyria.

Feste is not of the gentle disposition of Yorick, nor of the mental fiber of Touchstone; his wit has neither the spontaneous humor we can imagine in

the former, nor the sententious wisdom we find in the latter; it is at times labored, frequently forced, and seldom free from obvious effort. It is professional foolery, rather than intuitive fun.

He is o' the world, worldly; his conversation is coarse, even for the period, and many of his jests are vulgar.

His retorts are neither keen nor incisive; they have the brutality of the cudgel, rather than the point of the rapier.

He trusts more to "good fooling" than to ready wit, and many of his sallies are but thinly disguised impudence; yet it must be admitted that at times he makes some telling points, and delivers some very clever epigrams.

He is shrewd and thrifty if not covetous; he does not scruple to accept money, even from strangers, nor does he hesitate broadly to suggest liberality to those patrons who are tardy with their bounty.

Disguised as Sir Topaz he quotes Latin aptly and accurately; he shows familiarity with Gre