Tarlton's News out of purgatory (1590) : a modern-spelling edition ...

that she refused to be associated with him in public. On
37
another, ! How Tarlton gave away his dinner 1 (p.18), she was
'displeased with him, and thinking to crosse him, she gave away
halfe his meat [they were dining at the time] unto a poor
begger ... ! . She seems to have been unfaithful to him according
to a jest entitled 'How Tarlton was deceived by his wife in
London' (p.17), in which he asks her to answer a question
without lying, and for not lying he will give her a gold crown.
The question is 'Am I a cuckold or no, Kate? 1 , to which she
does not reply, and thereby wins the crown because silence does
not constitute a lie. Elsewhere ('Tarlton's answere to a boy
in a rime', p.19) Tarlton is accused of being a cuckold by a
boy,
Woe worth thee Tarlton
That ever thou wast borne;
Thy wife hath made thee cuckold
And thou must weare the home.
Tarlton caps this verse with another one. William Vaughan
cites another incident in which Tarlton again answers the
accusation with a verse:
What and if she hath? Am I a whit the worse?
She keeps me like a Gentleman with mony in my Purse., 7
It is doubtful whether these jests are at all reliable, they
should probably be treated as a convention similar to the
'mother-in-law' jokes popular today.
In spite of his popularity as a clown, both on and off
the stage, Tarlton seems to have been quick to anger, and of
uncertain temper. Various of the jests demonstrate his
annoyance at being made to look a fool, for instance, 'Tarlton
deceived by a country wench' (p.38). It would appear that he