Ady,
which we have had confirmed from the mouth of some courtiers, that
both saw and knew him, and is this:--It hath been (saith he) credibly
reported, that there was a man in the court of King James his days,
that could act this imposture so lively, that he could call the King
by name, and cause the King to look round about him, wondering who it
was that called him, whereas he that called him stood before him in
his presence, with his face towards him. But after this imposture was
known, the King, in his merriment, would sometimes take occasionally
this impostor to make sport upon some of his courtiers, as, for
instance:--
"There was a knight belonging to the court, whom the King caused to
come before him in his private room, (where no man was but the King,
and this knight and the impostor,) and feigned some occasion of
serious discourse with the knight; but when the King began to speak
and the knight bending his attention to the King, suddenly there came
a voice as out of another room, calling the knight by name, 'Sir John,
Sir John; come away, Sir John;' at which the knight began to frown
that any man should be unmannerly as to molest the King and him; and
still listening to the King's discourse, the voice came again, 'Sir
John, Sir John; come away and drink off your sack.' At that Sir John
began to swell with anger, and looked into the next room to see who it
was that dared to call him so importunately, and could not find out
who it was, and having chid with whomsoever he found, he returned
again to the King.
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