merry-andrews

Montmorency; why, while regular dramas are forbidden to be performed during a week sacred to edification, merry-andrews are permitted to offend even the least delicate ears with their ribaldry.

A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

Monkeys are more like merry-andrews than a regularly governed people; they do not appear associated under fixed and fundamental laws, like the species previously noticed.

A Philosophical Dictionary 2007

"Columbians," on their last visit, were hastily laid aside to escape the scoff of the rabble, who jeered them as adventurers and merry-andrews.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 31, May, 1860 Various

"We laughed much at the Holsteiner peasantry, the women being dressed like devils, and men like merry-andrews."

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 533, February 11, 1832 Various

He was in a sedan-chair, accompanied by a number of merry-andrews and dwarfs.

The Story of Versailles Francis Loring Payne

However formidable the uproar, however deafening the babel of merry-andrews, it cannot carry beyond a certain limit; it grows faint and dies away.

The Simple Life Charles Wagner

The mountebanks and merry-andrews appeared more dexterous and more humorous.

Travels through the South of France and the Interior of Provinces of Provence and Languedoc in the Years 1807 and 1808 Lt-Col. Pinkney

Here we see merry-andrews, monkeys, queens and emperors, sinking in one general confusion; and, that the crash may appear the greater, the stand beneath is humorously supposed to consist of earthenware and china.

The Works of William Hogarth: In a Series of Engravings With Descriptions, and a Comment on Their Moral Tendency John Trusler

There was a good deal of merriment to divert our attention, for there were clowns and merry-andrews passing along the highroad, with singlestick players, Punch and Judy shows, and other public amusers.

The Reminiscences Of Sir Henry Hawkins Brampton, Henry H 1904

Falaise, who had come to the ball in lancer uniforms worthy of the merry-andrews at the opera balls, to pester him with their petitions.

Memoirs (Vieux Souvenirs) of the Prince de Joinville Prince De Joinville 1859