Sentence:  This court <WSD>fool</WSD> could say bright things on occasion, but his main use to the ladies and lords of the palace was to serve as victim to practical jokes, cruel, coarse, and vulgar enough to be appreciated perhaps in the Bowery. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  A jester; a person whose role was to entertain a sovereign and the court (or lower personages).