Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1883-04-13
THE STAGE BUFFOON.
The Origin OF the Eccentric Pcr.onnr

|
The Origin OF the Eccentric Pcr.onnr,
The April AHaniic is enriched bv
, paper from Elizabeth Robins giving th
genesis of the stage buffoon II appear
: by this genealogical account that he is
descendant of the devil. In the medieva
mysteries and miracle plays we have TN
beginning Of the modern drama, and il
them Satan was the Jester and the mos
conspicuous character. The grotesqut
demon with horns and clovcn feet VIII,
grinned from cathedral walls, and thu
carved gargoyles that spouted water from
the roofs, represented the same miscliev
ous "God's apes that were made familiar
to the people by the sacred plays whicl
often took place IN the churches them.
selves. Singularly enough, it was in the
ages when Satan was most feared that he
was most travestied and caricatured. A
curious survival of this feeling is found
III Spain, the most devout of all Catholic
countries, where to-day the comic demon
is retained in thelpassion play although he
Is omitted at Oberammergau. In Ger
many the devil was 30 popular as Jester
that III mystery of the fifteenth century
as many as eight were introduced in n
single performance. Hans Sachs retain
cd the devil in his sacred plays, aud there
Is extant bill of painter who was en-
ployed at the playhouse in the Dutch
town OF Alkmaar, giving such items as
these: Imprin'is, made for the clerks n
hell item, the pavilion Of Satan item
two pairs of devils breeches item, a
shield for Christian knight item, have
painted the devils whenever they played !:
item, some arrows and other small mat
ters.
Even after the clown took the devils
place on the English stage, there were
some regrets for the old favorite Ben
Jonson makes one of his characters ex-
claim "My husband, Timothy Tattle-
God rest his poor soul was wont to say,
there was no play without fool and a
devil int; he was for the devil still, God
bless him ! The devil for his money. he
would say. / would fam see the devil.
The sight Of one devil thrashing another
was considered irresistibly Imaginable.
and the mere mention of the flames of
hell made the demon-jesters "readic to
burste with laughter.
In the plays called the "moralites.
which succeeded the miracle PLAYS, hav-
ing the vices and virtues personified by
way of actors. Vice itself took the place
OF the devil and was teased and badgered
by evil. This is supposed to be the orig
IN OF the scene in the puppet show in
which Punch makes off with the devil.
The custom of associating iollity and
laughter with Satan led to the still more
remarkable habit of associating them
with Death, and in dances, satires and
pictures Death became the favorite Jester.
Such was the origin of the DonSc Nacd-
Ora which has come down to us in many
paintings and engravings under the uame
of tho Dance of Death.
After the disappearance of the sacred
plays and the moralities the revIyiug
drama demanded n merryman for the
stage, and the clown was invented. He
sui survives i'll the circus and NJ "Brud-
der Bones" i'll the minstrel shows. In
Spain the role fell upon Glacioso, face
tlous and familiar servant, whose special
junction was "to swear in manner that
would have satisfied Panurge in his
wrath against Tronillogau. In England
the words of Hamlet to the players show
that the license to the merrymcn was al
ready in Shakespeare time being cur
tailed Let those that play your clowns
speak no more than is set down for them. "
ln Germany MS early as 1885 Duke Al
bert Of Prussia forbade by decree the APP
pearance of ''stage devils, fools and other
masks" while in France
tragedy and comedy were completely
separated, and only in tho latter was the
bntfoon allowed to appear. In Italy the
old Zany and the Mines, which had sur
vived us favorite carnival characters,
We're IN the l4th century introduced upon
the comic stage, and new varieties of
testers soon appeared. Every theater had
Its Capitano Spavento-a bloodthirsty
coward-or its Bobadil. Tho Neapoll-
tans invented Tartaglia, who amused peo-
pie by being fat and stupid, and Pantal-
wholly a lion'-took his place as
n ludicrous pletender.
Two of the Italian testers Pulcinello
and Harlequin have been pretty well
in Europe and America, in
puppet shows and pantomimes. The for
ner Is the well known Punch, husband of
Judy and godfather of the literary peri
odical that bears his name. "In Ger |
many Punch is often replaced by the na-
llonal buiioon Hanswurst, or Jackpud- |
'iing, to whom part was given in the old !
popular version Of Faust"
Harlequin was at first stupid and
valet, but in England he be-
came more important character than |
Columbinc or Pantaloon In later times |
the clown has overshadowed all three,
and MS "the last survival of 'goodlie !
and merrie companie, he has combined |
IN his one person almost all the traits of
his predecessors.