uld make
Borde."

Tabarin, however, was a veritable and inimitable clown, and his name has
figured in French literature both as a proper and a common noun almost
from the day that he and his partner, Mondor, set up their booth on the
Pont Neuf. They began their sale of ointments and liniments in Paris
about the year 1618, attracting custom by their absurd dialogues in the
vein of the circus-clown and ring-master of to-day. Occasionally they
left the city to try their luck in the provinces, but during most of
their career they were to be found on the bridge near the entrance to
the Place Dauphine. Tabarin retired from the business about 1630, but
his partner continued at the old stand with a new clown, who must have
been either less witty or more obscene than Tabarin, for in 1634 Mondor
was abated as a nuisance by the authorities.

Tabarin was blessed with a wife and daughter: his wife's name was
Francisquine; his daughter married the celebrated buffoon Gaultier
Garguille. The story goes that when he left Mondor he bought a small
country-place near Paris, where he passed his latter days comfortably on
his earnings. There are two traditions current as to the manner of his
death: according to one, he was killed by some noblemen in a hunting
quarrel; according to the other, he died from the effects of heavy
drinking for a wager. He is said to have styled himself Tabarin because
he usually appeared in a little tabard, called in Italian _tabarrino_,
but his true name and his nationality are alike unknown.

Tabarin's pleasantries, as jotted down by members of his audiences, have
been given to the world at divers times in various forms, and have
latterly been collected and published in a body with those of his less
successful rival Grattelard; but very few of them are suited to
nineteenth-century taste, and most of them are gross to the last degree.
Some of the presentable ones are here given, and may serve as specimens
of his manner, though they will scarcely account for his reputation:

_Tab._ Who are the politest people in the world, master?

_Mon._ I've travelled in Spain, Italy and Germany, and I assure you that
the French nation is by all odds the most courteous. They are the only
people in the world that kiss and compliment, and above all take off
hats.

_Tab._ Take off hats! If that's courtesy I don't want any of it.

_Mon._ Taking off hats, Tabarin, is an ancient custom originating among
the Romans. It is done