With this court jest, I too will withdraw, leaving my puppets to be dealt with according as my readers may have found them more or less awkwardly handled by their showman. If the latter has amused or instructed the public audience, whose generous indulgence he has so often had to gratefully acknowledge, his aim has been accomplished. He has not pretended to instruct, but has simply brought together materials for instructors, and for _con_structors of future histories of a class which, in some shape or other, has existed from the legendary days of Momus down to those of contemporary Christian patriarchs in Asia, of whose households the buffoon is still sometimes a member. To effect this, demanded only a little industry;--small merit in a country where industry is the recognized duty of every citizen, and the only merit claimed by the author of these essays towards the History of Court and Household Fools. THE END. JOHN EDWARD TAYLOR, PRINTER, LITTLE QUEEN STREET, LINCOLN’S INN FIELDS. DR. DORAN’S POPULAR WORKS. MONARCHS RETIRED FROM BUSINESS. _Second Edition_, 2 Vols., with Illustrations, 21_s._ “Emphatically a book that will please all classes.”--_Gentleman’s Magazine._ LIVES OF THE QUEENS OF ENGLAND UNDER THE HOUSE OF HANOVER. 2 Vols., post 8vo, New Edition, with Portraits, 21_s._ “Indicates the wealth and variety of the Author’s collections, and the electric readiness with which they are put to use.”--_Athenæum._ KNIGHTS AND THEIR DAYS. _Second Thousand_, post 8vo, 10_s._ 6_d._ “Satirical, anecdotical, quizzical--full of most wise conceits and ridiculous stories--a book of knights of the stage and knights of the thimble--of mock knights and smock knights--of royal knights and knights of the road,--it is very laughable and very provoking. There is only one word to be said about it--_read_ it.”--_Athenæum._ HABITS AND MEN; WITH REMNANTS OF RECORDS TOUCHING THE MAKERS OF BOTH. _Third Edition_, post 8vo, 7_s._ 6_d._ “Never was a book written more after the model of an after-dinner conversation, where the feast has been partaken by three or four gentlemen full of anecdote. That such a book is easy reading follows from its very nature. Nearly every page contains something amusing. Dr. Doran’s book is not only amusing, but full of strange information that every one would like to possess. It is the note-book of an intelligent, educated, and studious man, enabling the reader by skimming over pages to obtain, almost without a thought, an amount of knowledge for which the author has ransacked libraries.”--_Times._ TABLE TRAITS AND SOMETHING ON THEM. _Second Edition_, crown 8vo, 6_s._