But her Majesty was fond of jests herself, and there is the familiar impromptu couplet she made on the names of the four knights of the county of Nottingham:-- “Gervase the gentle, Stanhope the stout, Markham the lion, and Sutton the lout.” And it has generally been supposed that the subjoined rebus on Sir Walter Raleigh’s name was her composition:-- “The bane of the stomach, and the word of disgrace, Is the name of the gentleman with the bold face.” James I. was fond of buffoonery, and according to Sir Anthony Weldon was very witty, and had “as many ready jests as any man living, at which he would not smile himself, but deliver them in a grave and serious manner.” A little work entitled “Witty Observations of King James” is preserved in the British Museum, and another one, “The Witty Aphorisms of King James,” has often been quoted as a specimen of his Majesty’s talent in this style of literature. But Walpole was far from complimentary when he wrote of James: “A prince, who thought puns and quibbles the perfection of eloquence, would have been charmed with the monkeys of Hemskirk and the drunken boors of Ostade.” Asking the Lord-Keeper Bacon one day what he thought of the French ambassador, he answered that he was a tall and proper man. “Ay,” replied James, “but what think you of his headpiece? Is he a proper man for an ambassador?” “Sir,” said Bacon, “tall men are like high houses, wherein commonly the uppermost rooms are worst furnished.” James, however, did not escape being ridiculed by the wits of the period. A lampoon containing some impudent reflections upon the Court caused him some indignation, but when he came to the two concluding lines he smiled:-- “God bless the King, the Queen, the Prince, the peers, And grant the author long may wear his ears!” “By my faith, and so he shall for me,” said his Majesty; “for though he be an impudent, he is a witty and pleasant rogue.” James was fond of retorting on others when occasion offered. When one of the Lumleys, for instance, was boasting of his ancestry, “Stop, man,” he cried, “you need say no more: now I know that Adam’s name was Lumley.” Again, one day when a certain courtier, on his death-bed, was full of penitent remorse for having cheated his Majesty, “Tell him,” he said, “to be of good courage, for I freely and lovingly forgive him.” And he added, “I wonder much that all my officers do not go mad with the like thoughts, for certainly they have as great cause as this poor man hath.”