Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-03
THE ONLY WOMAN
JESTER
By Penn Steele

that history makes record of only one
woman who ever filled the position of
Court Jester, less honorably styled royal
| fool" This woman was known only as
Jane. Her paternal name, her paternity,
her place of birth, are all alike forgotten.
Her very jests are buried in her tomb
wherever that may be. DR.. Doran in
his History of Court Fools" ignores
her. Yet Doran might have learned
something about her had he studied Sir
Frederick Madden's published transcript
of the expenses of the Princess Mary,
afterward Queen Mary e. Bloody Mary y
of England.
Miss Strickland, who went to this
authority, informs us that ''several
items are charged for necessaries provided
for Jane the Fool, a functionary who is
first named in the autumn accounts of
1887. Jane the Fool was sometimes
exalted on horseback, as her mistress
paid for the food of horse kept for her
use. Payments for shoes and stockings,
linen, darnask gowns, and charges for
| shaving Jane Fools head frequently
occur in the diary of expenses
Further light on the subject of this
mysterious jester is thrown by a recent
writer in The Athenaum." He has
found staccato references to Jane in the
accounts of Sir Edward Wa1degrave,
Keeper of the Great Wardrobe to Queen
Mary. Thus the story of her garments
furnishes the sole trace to this the only
daughter of Eve who ever took up the
trade of jester.
The first item in Waldegrave's accounts
wherein her name appears is that of
April 27, 1887, the year of Queen Mary's
accession to the English throne:
Item, for thre yerdes of black satten geun
to Mr.. Herte, being Jane our Fooles Valantyne,
all of our Great Guardrobe.
The man alluded to as James valentine
was probably one of the sons of Sir Per-
cival Hart, who are recorded as then per-
forming before the Queen at court in a
device of their own. This fact seems to
suggest that Jane mingled with the other
courtiers on a somewhat equal footing.
| The valentine custom at that time was
! to place ballots containing the names of
| young people of both sexes into proper
receptacles, from which everyone drew
| his or her valentine. Each youth or
maid therefore had two partners; but it
was the male choice that governed unless
otherwise agreed to by the parties con-
cerned. In any event the maid received
a present from the youth who had drawn
her name, and gave present to the youth
whose name she had drawn.
1t is not at all unlikely that the Princess
Mary, who. despite the unpleasant nick
name which she subsequently earned,
was naturally of kind and charitable
heart, extended her protection to Jane
when she was left as young girl under
some peculiar need of help, and after
ward appointed her to the office of Court
| Jester. With her modest nature, the
Queen would naturally prefer that her
decorous household should be amused
by humorist of her own sex rather than
by such robust testers as awakened roars
of laughter at her fathers court.
The very fact that none of James
witticisms have descended to us makes
it more than probable that her sayings
were neither broad nor brilliant and that
she was rather one who warmed and
| 1,, ~,