"I do not know whether it be worth while to tell what followed, for it
was very ridiculous; but I shall venture at it, for as it is not foreign
to this matter, so some good use may be made of it. There was a Jester
standing by, that counterfeited the fool so naturally that he seemed to
be really one; the jests which he offered were so cold and dull that we
laughed more at him than at them, yet sometimes he said, as it were by
chance, things that were not unpleasant, so as to justify the old
proverb, 'That he who throws the dice often, will sometimes have a lucky
hit.' When one of the company had said that I had taken care of the
thieves, and the Cardinal had taken care of the vagabonds, so that there
remained nothing but that some public provision might be made for the
poor whom sickness or old age had disabled from labour, 'Leave that to
me,' said the Fool, 'and I shall take care of them, for there is no sort
of people whose sight I abhor more, having been so often vexed with them
and with their sad complaints; but as dolefully soever as they have told
their tale, they could never prevail so far as to draw one penny from me;
for either I had no mind to give them anything, or, when I had a mind to
do it, I had nothing to give them; and they now know me so well that they
will not lose their labour, but let me pass without giving me any
trouble, because they hope for nothing--no more, in faith, than if I were
a priest; but I would have a law made for sending all these beggars to
monasteries, the men to the Benedictines, to be made lay-brothers, and
the women to be nuns.' The Cardinal smiled, and approved of it in jest,
but the rest liked it in earnest. There was a divine present, who,
though he was a grave morose man, yet he was so pleased with this
reflection that was made on the priests and the monks that he began to
play with the Fool, and said to him, 'This will not deliver you from all
beggars, except you take care of us Friars.' 'That is done already,'
answered the Fool, 'for the Cardinal has provided for you by what he
proposed for restraining vagabonds and setting them to work, for I know