Note to King Lear, 1.4.167-169: For wise men are grown foppish, / And know not how their wits to wear, / Their manners are so apish


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King Lear,
Act 1, Scene 4, line 167
Here the Fool expresses one of Shakespeare's favorite ideas. According to Shakespeare, a foolish fop not only wears strange clothes, he also affects strange attitudes and opinions, which he has aped from some foreigner. See, in The Merchant of Venice, Portia's description of a ridiculous Englishman, Falconbridge:


You know I say nothing to him, for he understands
not me, nor I him: he hath neither Latin, French,
nor Italian, and you will come into the court and
swear that I have a poor pennyworth in the English.
He is a proper man's picture, but, alas, who can
converse with a dumb-show? How oddly he is
suited! I think he bought his doublet in Italy, his
round hose in France, his bonnet in Germany
and his behavior every where.

   Act 1, Scene 2, Lines 68-76