Christian Weise
(1642–1702),German dramatist, headmaster of a school at Zittau, where he wrote and produced a number of long plays which were purely academic. The chronicle plays and tragedies of his ...
fool Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)
a fool and his money are soon parted proverbial saying, late 16th century.
a fool at forty is a fool indeed...
fools Quick reference
The Oxford Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (2 ed.)
All Fools' Day a humorous term for 1 April as a day for testing the credulity of others; recorded from the early 18th century, and probably modelled on ...
Fortune
Chance or luck as a power in human affairs, often personified (Fortune) as a goddess; the word comes (in Middle English, via Old French) from Latin Fortuna, the name of a goddess personifying luck or ...
Gotham
Sobriquet of New York City, derived from the jocular reputation of the “wise men” of Gotham, England, noted for their foolish actions. The name was first so used in Irving's Salmagundi (1807–8).
Jakob Ayrer
(1543–1605),early German dramatist, successor to Hans Sachs, and like him a prolific author of Fastnachtsspiele, of which about 60 were published in 1618. Ayrer, who spent most of his ...
Sotie
Topical and satirical play of medieval France, whose best-known author is Pierre Gringore (c.1475–1538). The sotie was not a farce, though the two forms had elements in common, and it ...
Vice
A fool or buffoon introduced into some of the interludes and later Moralities as a figure of evil. The descent of the figure from characters in Mystery Cycles and Morality Plays (such as ‘The Vices’, ...
