ng ye very flower of ye
Euphuists herself. But behold, these be they yt, having a specialty, and
admiring it in themselves, be jealous when a neighbor doth essaye it,
nor can abide it in them long. Wherefore 'twas observable yt ye quene
waxed uncontent; and in time labor'd grandiose speeche out of ye mouth
of Lady Alice, who manifestly did mightily pride herself thereon, did
quite exhauste ye quene's endurance, who listened till ye gaudy speeche
was done, then lifted up her brows, and with vaste irony, mincing saith
'O shit!' Whereat they alle did laffe, but not ye Lady Alice, yt olde
foolish bitche.

Now was Sr. Walter minded of a tale he once did hear ye ingenious
Margrette of Navarre relate, about a maid, which being like to suffer
rape by an olde archbishoppe, did smartly contrive a device to save her
maidenhedde, and said to him, First, my lord, I prithee, take out thy
holy tool and piss before me; which doing, lo his member felle, and
would not rise again.

FOOTNOTES To Frivolity

The historical consistency of 1601 indicates that Twain must have given
the subject considerable thought. The author was careful to speak only
of men who conceivably might have been in the Virgin Queen's closet and
engaged in discourse with her.

THE CHARACTERS

At this time (1601) Queen Elizabeth was 68 years old. She speaks of
having talked to "old Rabelais" in her youth. This might have been
possible as Rabelais died in 1552, when the Queen was 19 years old.

Among those in the party were Shakespeare, at that time 37 years old;
Ben Jonson, 27; and Sir Walter Raleigh, 49. Beaumont at the time was 17,
not 16. He was admitted as a member of the Inner Temple in 1600, and
his first translations, those from Ovid, were first published in 1602.
Therefore, if one were holding strictly to the year date, neither by age
nor by fame would Beaumont have been eligible to attend such a gathering
of august personages in the year 1601; but the point is unimportant.

THE ELIZABETHAN WRITERS

In the Conversation Shakespeare speaks of Montaigne's Essays. These were
first published in 1580 and successive editions were issued in the
years following, the third volume being published in 1588. "In England
Montaigne was early popular. It was long supposed that the autograph of
Shakespeare in a copy of Florio's translation showed his study of
the Essays. The autograph has been disputed, but divers passages, and
especially one in The Tempest,