The story so far…
Week 21: Angels
Anthony joins the Cromwell household as a jester. He has no teeth and does impressions of the king, of Chapuys, ‘and anyone else you can name.’ But not Cromwell, who has nothing to imitate.
Week 22: The Black Book (Part 1)
What is the border between truth and lies? Cromwell conducts an inquiry into what happened to Anthony’s teeth. Everyone has heard a different story.
Week 23: The Black Book (Part 2)
When Anthony hears about Sexton being banished from court, he is sad: ‘One jester does not like to hear of the downfall of another; especially, Anthony says, when his only vice is foresight.’
Week 25: Master of Phantoms (Part 1/5)
St George’s Day. ‘In the hall at Austin Friars, Anthony has hung from the ceiling beams a beast with green scales, a rolling eye and a lolling tongue; it looks lascivious, and reminds him of something, but he can’t remember what.’
Week 28: Master of Phantoms (Part 4/5)
Anthony on the trial: ‘I hear that your new comedy was very well-received. And everybody laughed except the dying.’
Week 36: Augmentation
Anthony requests bells for his coat: ‘I may be the saddest jester born.’ Cromwell tells him to speak to Thomas Avery and get it put on the account.
Week 37: The Five Wounds
On the news that the dauphin is dead:
Anthony walks through Austin Friars, ringing his new silver bells and crying, ‘God be thanked, one Frenchman less!’ The sound fades behind closed doors, up staircases, through distant galleries. ‘One less, who cares how?’ The sound echoes: who-who, an owl's cry: how-how, the hound's call.
Week 44: Corpus Christi (Part 1/2)
At the gate Anthony is sitting with the porters. He is a melancholy sight, his hollow chest, his bowed head, his spindly legs stuck out in front of him. 'Anthony, I thought you were in Stepney.' To Wyatt he says, unneccesarily, 'This is my fool.' Anthony is wearing his working suit of stripes and patches. Wyatt passes him with a glance, and as the fool raises an arm in salutation, his silver bells chime.