[Tarlton's Jests and News out of purgatory] - Anonymous
Tarlton's jests and news out of purgatory was published in 1590 and it would seem to be another in the long line of jest books which were still popular in the 1590's. Tarlton died in 1588 and this publication traded on his name, there is no evidence that he was the author of any of these snippets.

Jest books were collections amusing stories, sometimes risqué many of which were recycled and owed much to the stories from the Italian Renaissance, jests tended to be cut down versions that would not strain the reader too much, they were the equivalent of light entertainment and the jokes and anecdotes might be rolled up together with warnings about tricksters and cony-catchers. Richard Tarlton was a famous stage personality, a comedian and a clown, said to be Queen Elizabeth's favourite clown, he specialised in witty repartee noted for his ability to harangue and amuse play goers in the theatre, he was associated with Queen Elizabeth's men which were the dominant acting troupe of the 1580's. He was evidently a very funny man.

James Orchard Halliwell published the version that I read in 1844 for the Shakespeare society. It contains an account of the life of Richard Tarlton. The Jests are stories either involving Tarlton or tricks and jokes that were associated with him; there are his court witty jests, his sound city jests and his country pretty jests. An example:

Tarltons opinion of Oysters.
CErtaine Noblemen and Ladies of the Court, being eating of Oysters, one of them séeing Tarlton, called him, & asked him if he loued Oysters? No (quoth Tarlton) for they be vngodly meate, vncharitable meat, and vnpro∣fitable meate. Why, quoth the Courtiers; They are vn∣godly, sayes Tarlton, because they are eaten without grace, vncharitable, because they leaue nought but shelles: and vnprofitable, because they must swim in wine.

Tarlton's news out of Purgatory is a little different. The author is sitting dreaming under a tree when he sees the ghost of Tarlton, who gives a brief description of the path into purgatory and then describes some of the people who are trapped there. Each of these have a story associated with their predicament, for example there is a tale explaining why the Vicar of Bergamo is sitting with piece of coal in his mouth. Purgatory is of course part of the catholic religion and so some allowance has to be made for these stories circulating in a protestant country, and it also points to the origin of the stories. Light entertainment 2.5 stars. ( )