In good set terms, and yet a motley fool.
. . . . . .
O that I were a fool!
I am ambitious for a motley coat.”
The Prologue to Henry VIII. (l. 15) alludes to the dress of the buffoons that were often introduced into the plays of the time,—
“a fellow
In a long motley coat, guarded with yellow.”
The fool in King Lear (act i. sc. 4, 1. 93, vol. viii. p. 280) seems to have been dressed according to Whitney’s pattern, for, on giving his cap to Kent, he says,—
“Sirrah, you were best take my coxcomb.
Kent. Why, fool?