The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1871-04-20

prehend, to the early theatrical representa-
tions of most countries his business was to
relieve the weightier part of the perform
ance by his ridiculous actions, jests, and
buffooneries. He was unquestionably the
original of the Clown, or Fool, of the old
English drama; and we think that the con-
lecture is at least plausible that he was the
original also of Harlequin and his near rela-
tive, Puleinella. The chief appendage OF the
Vice was a gilt wooden sword, and this also
belonged to the old Clown, or Fool, in all ma
tions. Rabelais, speaking of certain presents
made by PanurRe to the fool Triboullet, says
-'tPanurge, on his arrival, gave him pigs
bladder. well inflated, and resounding by
reason Of the pease that were within it; more
over, wooden sword, well gilt; moreover,
small pouch, made of O shell of tortoise"
Those who consult Mr.. Douces essay on the
"Clowns and Fools of Shakespeare" will find
that the bladder at the end of a stick, the
gilt wooden sword, and the pouch, or budget,
formed part of the equipment of that per-
sonage in England.
The wooden sword directly connect Harle-
quin with the ancient Vice and more modern
Fool, although we have now enjoined him to
silence, and have converted the instrument
with which of old he cudgeled the devil into
q talisman to raise him.
Concluding, then, that Punch is one of the
fanatIia HaTIeQuinG, and that their common
parent was the Vice of the old Moralities, the
question arises to what circumstance he owes
the deformity of his figure, and why his nose,
by its length, is rendered so obtrusive fea-
ture. We can only answer that it pleased his
inventor, Silvio Fiorillo, to make him so; and
perhaps he did it in some degree with view
of rendering him more ridiculous, and to dis
tinguish him more effectually from other cha
racters of not dissimilar habits and propensi-
fiac ~, fba i,,,t, mt. aopoaliao oEr
ing characteristic of Punch is his
amorous inclination and it is
generally supposed that individuals
with the personal defect for which he is re-
markable are peculiarly "given to the femi-
nines." According to Quadrio, in his astoria
dogni Poesia," the name of our hero has re-
lation to the length of his nose; he would
spell it Pullicinello, from PatLIiceao, which
Mr. Disraeh translates ''turkey cock" an
allusion to the beak of that bird. Baretti
has it Pulcinella, because that word in
Italian means hen-chicken, whose cry the
voice of Punch is said to resemble. Pol
icinello, as it has also been written, in it's
etymology from police, ''the thumb, +"
goes upon the mistaken presumption that
his size was always diminutive. The
French Ponche has been fancifully derived
from no less parsonage than Pontius PLATE
of the old Mysteries, whom, in barbarous
lluuSb1 Ul6 OuIloJlhAb WlSu6u 10 dOuS6 anu
ridicule. If we cannot settle the disputed
point, it is very evident that in future in
genuity and learning will be thrown away in
attempting further elucidation.
At what time and in what country Punch
became mere puppet as we'll as living
performer we have no distinct information;
but it is to be inferred, perhaps, that the
transmigration first took place in the land of
his BIRTH and after his popularity had been
fully established. The pleasure derived by
the lower orders from his performances
might lead to the imitation of his manners
and actions in little, in the same way that
the most applauded representations of
the English stage, in the reigns of Eliza
beth and James, were very soon made
the subjects of motions" or puppet- plays
One man could thus, by little ingenuity aud
at very cheap rate, represent half dozen or
more characters, and the delusion was aided
by the peculiar voice given to Punch by arti-
fetal means. Ere long he became the hero
of the exhibitions; and other characters, such
as Harlequin and Scaramou2h, by degrees
sunk into insignifcance.
The dialogue of the plays in which Pulci-
nella originally performed in the early days
of his existence can not now be distinctly as
certained. AS already mentioned, only the
general outlines of the farces performed by
the early itinerant comedians were noted
vised; but it is probable that actors of this
class, accustomed repeatedly to perform to-
gether, would ere long come to perfect un-
derstanding with each other, and the interlo-
cutions thus acquire certain degree of per-
manence, until some change took place in
the company. At different places the same
plot would be represented, and of course the
same dialogue would be sufficient as far as it
could be remembered. No doubt the dramas
consisted of 'gross buffooneries," because
the actors were 6Uf0One; but there was
room for the display of ready talent; and
if few of the pieces had been left upon re-
cord, we should most likely have found that
they had something else to recommend them
besides the coarseness of their jokes, de-
livered in the dialect of Italy peculiar to each
of the characters.
Many distinguished authors who lived
about the opening of the last century were
not ashamed to be known as the writers of
puppet- plays. 1t is well known how popular
this species of entertainment was, and still is,
in Germany; and its dignity will receive a
considerable accession from the fact that the
greatest poet of that country, Goethe, did not
scruple to write one on the sacred story OF
Esther and Ahasuerus. He calls it 'Neue-
roffnetes moralisch- politisches Puppenspiel;
and "Hanns Wurst," or Jack Pudding, is
employed to amuse the spectators between