A HISTORY OF PANTOMIME

by

R. J. BROADBENT

Author of "STAGE WHISPERS, " etc. 

LONDON:

TO

WILLIAM WADE, ESQUIRE. 

This book is dedicated as a small token of theAuthor's esteem and regard. 

R. J. B. 

PREFACE. 

One of the most important factors in the making of Theatrical Historyhas been that of Pantomime, yet in many of the published works dealingwith the History of the Stage it has, with the exception of a passingreference here and there, been much neglected. 

It is with a view of conveying to the reading public some little, and, perhaps, new information about this ancient form of entertainment that Iam tempted to issue this History of Pantomime in the hope and beliefthat it may not only prove interesting, but also instructive, to alllovers of the Stage. 

R. J. B. 

Liverpool, December, 1901. 

CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER I. 

Origin of Pantomime

CHAPTER II. 

Origin of Tragedy and Comedy--Mythology--The meaning ofthe word Pantomime--The origin of Harlequin, Columbine, Clown, and Pantaloon--Grecian Mythology--TransformationScenes--The rise of Grecian Tragedy and Comedy--TheSatirical Drama

CHAPTER III. 

The origin of the Indian Drama--Aryan Mythology--Clownand Columbine--Origin of the Chinese Drama--Inceptionof the Japanese Drama--The Siamese Drama--Dramaticperformances of the South Sea Islanders, Peruvians, Aztecs, Zulus, and Fijis--The Egyptian Drama

CHAPTER IV. 

"Dancing, " _i. E. _ Pantomime--Grecian Dancing and PantomimicScenes--Aristotle--Homer--Dances common toboth Greeks and Romans

CHAPTER V. 

Thespis--The Progress of Tragedy and Comedy--Aeschylus--TheEpopée--Homer--Sophocles--Euripides--GrecianMimes--The First Athenian Theatre--Sceneryand Effects

CHAPTER VI. 

Roman Theatres--Description--"Deadheads"--Pantomimein Italy--Livius Andronicus--_Fabulae Atellanae_--ExtemporalComedy--Origin of the Masque, Opera, andVaudeville--Origin of the term Histrionic--Etruscans--Popularityof Pantomime in Italy--Pantomimists banishedby Trajan--Nero as a Mime--Pylades and Bathyllus--Subjectschosen for the Roman Pantomimes--The Ballet--The_Mimi_ and _Pantomimi_--_Archimimus_--Vespasian--Harlequin--"Mr. Punch"--Zany, how the word originated--AncientMasks--Lucian, Cassiodorus, and Demetriusin praise of Pantomime--A celebrated _Mima_--Pantomimesdenounced by early writers--The purity of theEnglish stage contrasted with that of the Grecian andRoman--Female parts on the Grecian and Roman stages--Theprincipal Roman _Mimas_--The origin of the Clownof the early English Drama

CHAPTER VII. 

Introduction of the Roman Pantomimic Art into Britain--FirstEnglish reference to the word Pantomime--Thefall of the Roman Empire--The sacred play--CornishAmphitheatres--Pantomimical and Lyrical elements inthe sacrifice of the Mass--Christian banishment of the_Mimis_--Penalties imposed by the Church--St. Anthonyon Harlequin and Punch--Vandenhoff--what we owe tothe _Mimis_

CHAPTER VIII. 

Pantomime in the English Mystery or Miracle Plays andPageants--A retrospect of the Early Drama--Mysterieson Biblical events--Chester, Coventry, York, and TowneleyMystery Plays--Plays in Churches--Traces of theMystery Play in England in the Nineteenth Century--MysteryPlays on the Continent--The Chester series ofPlays--The Devil or Clown and the _Exodiarii_ and_Emboliariae_ of the Ancient Mimes

CHAPTER IX. 

The Clown or Fool of the early English Drama--Moralities--TheInterlude--The rise of English Tragedy andComedy--"Dumb Shews" in the Old Plays--Playssuppressed by Elizabeth--A retrospect

CHAPTER X. 

The Italian Masque--The Masque in England--Firstappearance in this country of Harlequin--Joe Haines asHarlequin--Marlowe's "Faustus"--A Curious Play--TheItalian Harlequin--Colley Cibber, Penkethman--Shakespeare'sBurlesques of the Masque--Decline of the Masque

CHAPTER XI. 

Italian Pantomime--Riccoboni--Broom's "Antipodes"--Gherardi--ExtemporalComedies--Salvator Rosa--Impromptu Acting

CHAPTER XII. 

Pantomimical Characters--Neapolitan Pantomime--TheHarlequin Family--The Original Characters in theItalian Pantomimes--Celebrated Harlequins--Italianand French Harlequins--A French view of the EnglishClown--Pierrots' origin--Pantaloon, how the name hasbeen derived--Columbine--Marionette and Puppet Shows

CHAPTER XIII. 

Italian Scenarios and English "Platts"--Pantaloon--Tarleton, the Clown--Extemporal Comedy--The PoetMilton--Ben Jonson--The Commonwealth--"A Reignof Dramatic Terror"--Robert Cox and his "Humours"and "Drolleries"--The Restoration

CHAPTER XIV. 

Introduction of Pantomimes to the English Stage--Weaver's"History of the Mimes and Pantomimes"--Weaver'sPantomimes--The prejudice against Pantomimes--Booth'scounsel

CHAPTER XV. 

John Rich and his Pantomimes--Rich's Miming--Garrick, Walpole, Foote--Anecdotes of Rich--Pope--The danceof internals in "Harlequin Sorcerer"--Drury Lane--ColleyCibber--Henry Fielding, the Novelist--ContemporaryWriters' opinion of Pantomime--Woodward, theHarlequin--The meaning of the word Actor--Harlequins--"Dr. Faustus, " a description--WilliamRufus Chetwood--Accidents--Vandermere, the Harlequin--"Orpheusand Eurydice" at Covent Garden--Adescription--Sam. Hoole, the machinist--Prejudiceagainst Pantomime--Mrs. Oldfield--Robert Wilks--Macklin--Riotat Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre--Death of Rich

CHAPTER XVI. 

Joseph Grimaldi

CHAPTER XVII. 

Plots of the old form of Pantomimes--A description of"Harlequin and the Ogress; or the SleepingBeauty of the Wood, " produced at Covent Garden--Grimaldi, _Père et Fils_--Tom Ellar, the Harlequin, andBarnes, the Pantaloon--An account of the first productionof the "House that Jack built, " at Covent Garden--Spectaculardisplay--Antiquity and Origin of somePantomimic devices--Devoto, Angelo, and French, theScenic Artists--Transparencies--Beverley--TransformationScenes

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Pantomimic Families--Giuseppe Grimaldi--James Byrne, the Harlequin and Inventor of the modern Harlequin'sdress--Joseph Grimaldi, Junior--The Bologna Family--TomEllar--The Ridgways--The Bradburys--TheMontgomerys--The Paynes--The Marshalls--Charlesand Richard Stilt--Richard Flexmore--Tom Gray--ThePaulos--Dubois--Arthur and Charles Leclerq--"Jimmy"Barnes--Famous Pantaloons--Miss Farren--Mrs. Siddons--Columbines--Notable Actors in Pantomime

CHAPTER XIX. 

Popular Pantomime subjects--Poor Pantomime Librettos--Pantomimesubjects of our progenitors--The variousversions of "Aladdin"--"The Babes in the Wood"--"BlueBeard"--"Beauty and the Beast"--"Cinderella"--"DickWhittington"--"The House that Jack Built"--"Jackthe Giant Killer"--"Jack and the Beanstalk"--"RedRiding-Hood"--"The Sleeping Beauty in theWood"--Unlucky subjects--"Ali Baba and the FortyThieves"--"The Fair One with Golden Locks"--Thesource of "Sindbad the Sailor" and "Robinson Crusoe"

CHAPTER XX. 

Pantomime in America

CHAPTER XXI. 

Pantomimes made more attractive--The Restrictive Policyof the Patent Houses--"Mother Goose" and "GeorgeBarnwell" at Covent Garden--Lively Audiences--"JaneShore"--"Harlequin Pat and Harlequin Bat"--"Thefirst speaking opening"--Extravagence in Extravaganzas--Thedoom of the old form of Pantomime--Itsrevival in a new form--A piece of pure Pantomime--Presentday Mimetic Art--"_L'Enfant Prodigue_"--Aretrospect--The old with the new, and conclusion

CHAPTER I. 

Origin of Pantomime. 

From the beginning of all time there has been implanted in the humanbreast the Dramatic instinct full of life and of vigour, and findingundoubtedly its outlet, in the early days of civilization, if not in theDramatic Art then in the poetry of motion with that necessary and alwaysessential concomitant of both--Pantomime. Indeed, of the TerpsichoreanArt, it has been truly observed "That deprived of the imitativeprinciple (_i. E. _, Pantomime), the strength, the mute expression, itbecomes nothing but a series of cadenced steps, interesting merely as agraceful exercise. " Equally so in every way does it apply to theDramatic Art, which minus its acting, its gestures--in a word, itsPantomime--we have nothing but, to quote Hamlet, "Words, words, words. "

In observing "That all the world's a stage, and the men and women merelyplayers, " Shakespeare doubtless included in the generic term "players, "Pantomimists as well: Inasmuch as this, that when, and wherever acharacter is portrayed, or represented, be it in real life or on thestage--"Nature's looking-glass, " and the world in miniature--the wordsthat the individual or the character speaks, are accompanied withgesture and motion, or, in other words, Pantomime, when "The action issuited to the word, the word to the action. "

To trace the original origin of Pantomime, or Mimicry, we must go toNature herself where we can find this practised by her from thebeginning of all time as freely, and as fully, as ever it was, or everwill be, upon the stages of our theatres. What better evidence, orinstances, of this can we have than in those studies of her handiwork?as the larger species of caterpillars, when, by stretching themselvesout in imitation of, and to make their foes think that they are snakes;tigers and lions choosing a background in keeping with, and in imitationof, the colours of their bodies, in order to seize their unwary prey;and for the same purpose crocodiles imitating a rotting log; the greentint of the lizard's skin for the sake of concealment; the playfulimitativeness of the mocking bird; the hysterical laugh of the hyaena;the gaudy colours of tropical snakes imitated by others, besides manyother examples of Mimicry, in such as butterflies of the species_Danaidae_ and _Acraediae_, the _Heliconidiae_ of tropical America; andhornets, wasps, ants, and bees. All this, it may be urged, is onlyinstinct. True; but is it not also Mimicry--the Pantomime of Nature, and, though, of course, of a different kind, and for very differentobjects, is, nevertheless, of a kind of instinctive Pantomime or Mimicrywhich each and every one of us possesses in greater or lesser degrees, and as much as we do the Dramatic instinct. 

The very name Pantomime itself signifies Nature as Pan was amongst theAncients, the allegorical god of Nature, the shepherd of Arcadia, andwith _Mimos_, meaning an imitator, we have, in the combination of thesetwo words, "an imitator of Nature, " and from whence we derive the originof our word Pantomime. 

Dryden says:--

 "Pan taught to join with wax unequal reeds; Pan loves the shepherds and the flocks he feeds. "

"Pan, " says Servius, "is a rustic god, formed in similitude of Nature, whence he is called Pan, _i. E. _, All: for he has horns in similitude ofthe rays of the sun and the horns of the moon; his face is as ruddy asthe imitation of the aether; he has a spotted fawn skin on his breast inlikeness of the stars; his lower parts are shaggy on account of thetrees, shrubs, and wild beasts; he has goat's feet to denote thestability of the earth; he has a pipe of seven reeds on account of theharmony of the heavens, in which there are seven sounds; he has a crook, that is a curved staff, on account of the year, which runs back onitself _because he is the god of all Nature_. "

Bernardin de St. Pierre observes of Pantomime, "That it was the firstlanguage of man; it is known to all nations; and is so natural and soexpressive that the children of white parents learn it rapidly when theysee it used by the negroes. "

Of the Pantomimic language--a universal language and common to the wholeworld from time immemorial--Charles Darwin says in his "Descent of Man, "that "The intellectual and social faculties of man could hardly havebeen inferior in any extreme degree to those now possessed by thelowest savage; otherwise primeval man could not have been so eminentlysuccessful in the struggle for life as proved by his early and widediffusion. From the fundamental differences between certain languagessome philologists have inferred that, when man first became widelydiffused, he was not a speaking animal; but it may be suspected thatlanguages, far less perfect than any now spoken, _aided by gestures_, might have been used, and yet have left no traces on subsequent and morehighly-developed tongues. "

With the progress of, and also as an aid to, civilization how could thetraveller or the trader, not only in the beginning of time, but alsonow, when occasion demands, in their intercourse with foreign nations(unless, of course, they know the language) make themselves understood, or be able to trade, unless they were or are able to use that "dumbsilent language"--Pantomime? Civilization undoubtedly owes much of itsprogress to it, and, also the world at large, to this only and alwaysuniversal language. To both the deaf, as well as the dumb, itsadvantages have ever been apparent. 

Therefore, from prehistoric times, and from the beginning of the world, we may presume to have had in some form or another, the Pantomimic Art. In the lower stages of humanity, even in our own times, there is, in allprobability, a close similarity to the savagedom of mankind in the earlyAntediluvian period as "This is shown (says Darwin) by the pleasurewhich they all take in dancing, rude music, painting, tattooing, andotherwise decorating themselves--in their mutual comprehension of_gesture language_, and by the same inarticulate cries, when they areexcited by various emotions. " It naturally follows that even if therewas only dancing, there must necessarily, as a form of entertainment, have also been Pantomime. Again, all savage tribes have a war-dance ofsome description, in which in fighting costume they invariably gothrough, in Pantomimic form, the respective movements of the Challenge, the Conflict, the Pursuit, and the Defeat, whilst other members of thetribe, both men and women, give additional stimulus to theserepresentations by a rude form of music. 

The Ostyak tribe of Northern Asia give us a specimen of the rudeimitative dances of early civilization in a Pantomimic exhibition of theChase; the gambols and habits of the wolf and other wild beasts. ThePantomimic dances of the Kamchadales are in imitation of birds, dogs, and bears; and the Damaras represent, by four of the tribe stooping downwith their heads together, and uttering harsh cries, the movements ofoxen, and of sheep. The Australian Bushmen Mimic the leaping of calves, the antics of the baboon, and the buzzing of swarms of bees. PrimitivePantomimic dancing is practised amongst the South Sea Islanders, andother races, and just as it was, presumably, at the beginning of theworld. 

Having briefly traced the origin of Pantomime, and the source ofdancing, let us, in order to further amplify my subject, look at alsofor a moment the origin of music, in the time of prehistoric man. 

From Nature also do we derive this art, as "The sighing of the windpassing over a bed of reeds is Nature's first suggestion of breath, " andof music. The clapping of hands and the stamping of feet is man's firstelement in the making of music, which developed itself into theformation of drums, bells, and cymbals, and the evolution of the sameprimary principle. 

It has been argued, and also ridiculously pretended, that in theAntediluvian period mankind only lived in caves with the hairy mammoth, the cave bear, the rhinoceros, and the hyaena, in a state of barbaroussavagery; and that only since the Deluge have the Arts been known andcities built on this terrestrial sphere of ours. Could anything be morefallacious?

We know, from the Bible, that the first man was created about sixthousand years ago, and some sixteen hundred and fifty-six yearsafterwards the inhabitants of the world, with the exception of Noah andhis family, consisting of eight souls all told, were destroyed by theflood. Noah and his family, we can take it, were of the same race ofmankind then on the earth, of the same descent and of the same flesh andblood (as we all are) of our common father and mother, Adam and Eve; yetwe are not told that Noah (he was six hundred years old when he wentinto the Ark) and his family were savages. In the 4th chapter, 21stverse of Genesis, of Jubal-Cain, we learn that "He was the father of allsuch as handle the harp and organ"; and in the following verse, Tubal-Cain is described as "An instructor of every artificer in brassand iron. "

We learn, also, that magnificent statues were made in Egypt some sixthousand years ago; and that mention is made of a statue of KingCephren, said to have been chiselled about this period, and many learnedmen also affirm that letters were known to the inhabitants of theAntediluvian world. All this, however, hardly looks like the work of abarbarous race, and points to an acquaintance with the Arts, at any rateof Music and Sculpture, and that of the artificers and workers in brassand iron. 

To follow, for my subject, this reasoning a little further, if there wasmusic (which, doubtless, there was) there must also have been dancing, and, if dancing, there must, in the Antediluvian age, as a form ofentertainment, have also been Pantomime. On the other hand, evensupposing that man, at this period, was nothing else but a completesavage, the words of Darwin, that I have quoted on a previous page, conclusively proves, I think (on a common-sense like basis), of theexistence of dancing, a rude form of music, and, of course, Pantomime atthis epoch. 

Ingersoll's doctrine was that "The distance from savagery to Shakespearemust be measured not by hundreds, but by millions, of years. "

Finally, why, and for what reason, should the Lord God, in Hisall-seeing goodness and mercy, punish the inhabitants of theAntediluvian world if they were only poor unenlightened savages? Was itnot because they were idolaters and worshippers of idols, "And thatevery imagination of the thoughts of his (man's) heart was only evilcontinually, " as the sixth chapter and fifth verse of Genesis tells us?This then being so, we know also that in every ancient form of religiondancing was one of the acts of worship, and if dancing, there must aspreviously stated, have also been Pantomime. 

CHAPTER II. 

Origin of Tragedy and Comedy--Mythology--The meaning of the wordPantomime--The origin of Harlequin, Columbine, Clown, andPantaloon--Grecian Mythology--Transformation Scenes--The rise of GrecianTragedy and Comedy--The Satirical Drama. 

In the year 2347 B. C. , in Chapter 9, verse 20, in Genesis, there occurs:"And Noah began to be a husbandman, and he planted a vineyard. " This isone of the first acts that Noah did after the Deluge, and it is, ashistory tells us, from the rites and ceremonies in celebration of thecultivation of the vine, that we owe the origin of Tragedy and Comedy. 

After the Deluge God placed His bow in the heavens as His covenant withman that the world should no more be accursed; and in the first ages ofthis world's history, Noah and his descendants celebrated theirdeliverance from the Ark, the return of the seasons, and the promise ofplenty in their several religious rites and ceremonies. The children ofShem had in general Asia as their portion; Japhet had Europe; and Ham, Africa. 

Soon, however, religion began to lose its purity, and it then began todegenerate very fast. Men began to repair to the tops of mountains, lonely caves and grottoes, where they thought resided their gods. Tohonour them they erected altars and performed their vows. Amongst theAncients their Mythology went no further than the epoch of the Deluge, and in honour of which, and also of the Ark, they erected many templescalled Aren, Theba, Argus (from whence was probably derived the Argo ofthe Argonauts, and the sacred ship of Osiris), Cibotus, Toleus, andBaris. 

The symbol by which the Mythologists represented the Ark was an immenseegg. This was supposed to have been produced by Ether and Chaos, at thebidding of Time, the one ethereal being who created the universe. By Nox(Night) the egg was hatched, which, being opened into two parts, fromthe upper part was formed heaven, and the lower earth. 

In the sacred rites of Osiris, Isis, and the Dionysia of Bacchus, theArk or Ship was introduced. The Dove, by many nations, in theircelebrations, was looked upon as a special emblem of peace andgood-will. Theba, in Egypt, was originally one of the temples dedicatedto the Ark. Both priests and sooth-sayers were styled Ionah or Doves. ToDodona, in Epirus, was brought this and the first Grecian oracle all therites and history of the Thebans. The priestesses of this temple wereknown in the Latin as _Columbae_. It is from this word that we derivethe name Columbine, which means, in the Italian, "little dove. " Homeralludes to the priestesses as doves, and that they administered to Zeuth(Noah). Nonnus speaks of Cadmus, and others of Orpheus, as introducinginto Greece the rites of Dionysus or Bacchus. 

The Ancients, mentions Kennedy in his work on "Mythology, " have highlyreverenced Noah, and designated him as Noa, Noos, Nous, Nus, Nusas, Nusus (in India), Thoth, Hermes, Mercury, Osiris, Prometheus, Deucalion, Atlas, Deus, Zeus, and Dios. Dios was one of the most ancientterms for Noah, and whence was derived Deus--Nusus compounded of Diosand Nusos, which gives us Dionysus, the Bacchus of the Greeks, and thechief god of the heathen world. Bacchus was, properly speaking, Cush(the son of Ham, and grandson of Noah), though both Dionysus and Bacchusare, by ancient writers, frequently confounded with one another. 

The resting of the Ark upon Mount Baris, Minyas, the Ararat of Moses inArmenia, the dispersal of the flood, the multiplication of the familiesof the earth, and the migration from the plains of Shinar of thedescendants of the sons of Chus or Cush (as it is sometimes written), and called Chushites or Cushites, to different parts of the world, beingjoined by other nations, particularly those of the descendants of Ham, one of the sons of Noah. They were the first apostates from the truth, but being great in worldly wisdom and knowledge they were thought to be, and looked upon as a superior class of beings. Ham they looked upon as adivinity, and under the name of Ammon they worshipped him as the Sun, and Chus likewise as Apollo, a name which was also bestowed by theAncients upon Noah. The worship of the sun in all probability originatedthe eastern position in our churches. 

Another of the ancient deities worshipped by the Ammonians was Meed, orMeet, the Cybele of the Phrygians, the nurse of Dionysus, and the Soulof the World. 

Nimrod, the "mighty hunter" (who possessed the regions of Babylonia andChaldee), and one of the sons of Cush, was the builder of that seminaryof idolatory the City and Tower of Bel, and erected in honour of the godBel, and another name for the sun. Upon the confusion of tongues whenhitherto "The whole earth was of one language, and of one speech, " itcame to be known as Babylon, "The City of Confusion. " Homer introducesOrion (Nimrod) as a giant and a hunter in the shades below, and theauthor of the "Pascal Chronicles" mentions that Nimrod taught theAssyrians or Babylonians to worship fire. The priests of Ammon, namedPetor or Pator, used to dance round a large fire, which they affected intheir dancing to describe. Probably from this the Dervish dances allover the East may be traced to this source. 

Kennedy observes, of the confusion of tongues at Babel, that it was onlya labial failure, so that the people could not articulate. It was not anaberration in words or language, but a failure and incapacity in labialutterance. Epiphanius says that Babel, or Babylon, was the first citybuilt after the flood. 

The Cushites were a large and numerous body, and after their dispersionfrom Babylon they were scattered "Abroad upon the face of the earth. "They were the same people who imparted their rites and religiousservices into Egypt, as far as the Indus and the Ganges, and stillfurther into Japan and China. From this event is to be discovered thefable of the flight of the Grecian god Bacchus, the fabulous wanderingsof Osiris, and the same god under another name, of the Egyptians. Wherever Dionysus, Osiris, or Bacchus went, the Ancients say that hetaught the cultivation of the soil, and the planting of the vine. Dionysus, Bacchus, or Osiris, as I have shown in a preceding page, wereonly other designations for Noah. 

Of the Hindu heathen deity, Vishnu, Father Boushet mentions an Indiantradition, concerning a flood which covered the whole earth, when Vishnumade a raft, and, being turned into a fish, steered it with his tail. Vishnu, like Dagon, was represented under the figure of a man and fish. 

Strangely enough, the regions said to have been traversed by Dionysus, Osiris, or Bacchus were, at different times, passed through by theposterity of Ham, and in many of them they took up their residence. Inhis journeyings the chief attendants of Osiris, or Bacchus, were Pan, Anabis, Macedo, the Muses, the Satyrs, and Bacchic women were all in hisretinue. The people of India claim him as their own, and maintain thathe was born at Nusa in their country. Arrian speaks of the Nuseans asbeing the attendants of Dionysus. In all traditions Dionysus appears asthe representative of some power of Nature. 

The first who reduced Mythology to a kind of system were, in allprobability, the Egyptians. Egypt was ever the land of graven images, and under the veil of Allegory and Mythology the priests concealedreligion from the eyes of the vulgar. In the beginning, brute animalsand certain vegetables were represented as the visible symbols of thedeities to which they were consecrated. Hence Jupiter Ammon wasrepresented under the figure of a Ram; Apis under a Cow; Osiris of aBull; Mercury or Thol of an Ibis; Diana or Babastis of a Cat; and Pan ofa Goat. From these sources are derived the fabulous transformation ofthe gods celebrated in Egyptian Mythology, and afterwards imported intoGreece and Italy to serve as the subjects of the Grecian and RomanPantomimes. 

Pantomime as we now know the term, means, not only the Art of acting indumb show, but also that of a spectacle or Christmas entertainment. (Imay add in parenthesis, that in the early part of the last century--thenineteenth--the dictionaries only refer to Pantomime as meaning theformer of the above two definitions, and not the latter. )

Pan, regarded as the symbol of the universe, was also the god of flocks, pastures, and shepherds in classic Mythology, and the guardian of bees, hunting and fishing in his Kingdom of Arcadia. His form, like theSatyrs, both supposed to have been the offsprings of Mercury, was thatof a man combined with a goat, having horns and feet like the latteranimal. 

_Mimos_ (Gr. ), as I have stated in the beginning, means an "imitator, "or a "mimic, " and from which word we have the derivation of the words"mimicry, " "mimetic, " and the like. 

Pan was the traditional inventor of the Pandean pipes, and also fromhis name we derive many words that are in our language, such as "panic"(Pan used to delight in suddenly surprising the shepherds whilst tendingtheir flocks), and the other attributes of this noun, including thatrecently coined term of the Americans, "panicy. "

Pan is said to have been the son of Mercury, or even Mercury himself, and others say that he was the son of Zeus. Mercury and Zeus, it will beremembered in Mythology, were only names for Noah. Pan is unnoticed byHomer. 

A heathen deity of Italy, Lupercus, the guardian of their flocks andpastures, has also been identified with Pan, and in whose honour annualrural festivals, known as Lupercalia, were observed. 

The Lupercalian festivals were held on the 15th of the Kalends of March. The priests, Luperci, used to dance naked through the streets as part ofthe ceremonies attached to the festival. 

Mention has been made by Dr. Clarke, in his "Travels, " Vol. IV. , thatHarlequin is the god Mercury, with his short sword _herpe_, or his rod, the _caduceus_ (which has been likened to the sceptre of Judah), torender himself invisible, and to transport himself from one end of theearth to the other, and that the covering on his head, the winged cap, was the _petasus_. Apropos of this, the following lines in the tenthOde, of the first book of Horace, will probably occur to the reader:

 "Mercury! Atlas' smooth-tongued boy, whose will First trained to speed our wildest earliest race, And gave their rough hewn forms with supple skill The gymnast's grace. 

 "'Tis thine the unbodied spirits of the blessed, To guide to bliss, and with thy _golden rod_ To rule the shades; above, below, caressed By every god. "

Mercury, as we have seen, was among the Ancients, only another name forNoah. "Indeed, " says Dr. Clarke, "some of the representations of Mercuryupon ancient vases are actually taken from the scenic exhibitions of theGrecian theatre; and that these exhibitions were also the prototypeswhereon D'Hancarville shows Mercury, Momus, and Psyche delineated as wesee Harlequin, Columbine, and Clown on our stages. The old man(Pantaloon), is Charon (the ferryman of hell). The Clown is Momus, thebuffoon of heaven, the god of raillery and wit, and whose large gapingmouth is in imitation of the ancient masks. "

Amongst the Aryans, Medians, Egyptians, Chaldeans, Babylonians, andother nations (including our own, as did not Lilly predict the executionof Charles I. , the plague, the great fire of London, and other events)was astrology practised. The Egyptians peopled the constellation of theZodiac (the first open book for mankind to read), with Genii, and one ofthe twelve Zodiacal signs was Aries (the Ram). The ram is of the samespecies as the goat, and the god Pan was the Goat god, as we know. Theastrologers, in their divinations and rulings of the planets placed thevarious parts of the body under a planetary influence. The head and facewere assigned to the house of Aries, and therefore the face notably forthe Pantomimic Art was placed by the ancient astrologers under theinfluence of this particular planet. 

The heathen worship of Pan was not only known in Arcadia, but alsothroughout Greece, although it did not reach Athens until afterMarathon. 

Of Pan's death Plutarch tells the story that in the reign of Tiberius, one Thamus, a pilot, visiting the islands of Paxae, was told of thisgod's death. When he reached Palodes he told the news, whereupon loudand great lamentations were heard, as of Nature herself expressing hergrief. The epoch of the story coincides with the enactment of that grim, and the world's greatest tragedy on the hill of Golgotha, and the end, and the beginning of a new world. Rabelais, Milton, Schiller, and alsoMrs. Browning, have allusions to this story of Plutarch's. 

The ambitious family of the Titans (the bones of the "giants on theearth" before the Deluge, gave rise to the stories of the Titans foundin caves), and their scions and coadjutors Jupiter, Juno, Mars, Mercury, Apollo, Diana, Bacchus, Minerva, or Pallas, Ceres, Proserpine, Pluto, and Neptune furnish by far the greatest part of the Mythology of Greece. Tradition says that they left Phoenicia about the time of Moses tosettle in Crete, and from thence they made their way into Greece, whichwas supposed at that time to be inhabited by a race of savages. The artsand inventions were communicated to the natives, and the blessings ofcivilization in process of time inspired the inhabitants withadmiration. They, therefore, relinquished worshipping the luminary andheavenly bodies, and transferred their devotion to their benefactors. Then into existence sprang the most inconsistent and irreconcilablefictions. The deified mortals, with their foibles and frailities, weretransmitted to posterity in the most glorious manner possible, and henceaccordingly, in both the Odyssey and the Iliad of Homer, we have astrange and heterogeneous mixture of what is not only mighty in heroes, but also that which is equally mean. 

In the Grecian Mythology the labours of Hercules, the expedition ofOsiris, the wanderings and transformation of Io, the fable of theconflagration of Phaeton, the rage of Proserpine, the wanderings ofCeres, the Eleusinian Mysteries, the Orgia, or sacred rites of Bacchus, in fine, the ground work of Grecian Mythology is to be traced to theEast, from where also all our nursery tales, and also our popularPantomime subjects; (which is the subject of another chapter) perhaps, with the exception of our own "Robinson Crusoe, " originated. 

The nine Muses called Pierides in Grecian Mythology were the daughtersof Jupiter and Mnemosyne (Memory), supposed to preside over the liberalArts and the sciences. They were Calliope (Heroic Poetry), Clio Euterpe(Music), Erato (Love Poetry), Melpomene (Tragedy), Polyhymnia (Muse ofSinging and Rhetoric), Terpsichore (Dancing), Thalia (Comedy), andUrania (Astronomy). Mount Parnassus, Mount Helicon, and the fountains ofCastalia and Aganippe were the sacred places of the Muses. 

The Eleusinian Mysteries are of a period that may be likened to the 7thcentury B. C. , and at these Mysteries as many as 30, 000 persons, in thetime of Herodotus, assembled to witness them. The attributes of theseGrecian Mysteries, like those of the Egyptians, consisted ofprocessions, sacrificial offerings, purifications, dances, and all thatthe Mimetic and the other Arts could convey; add to this the variouscoloured lights, and the fairy-like grandeur of the whole, we havesomething that may be likened to the Transformation, and otherfairy-like scenes of English Pantomimes and Extravaganzas. 

At the Orgia, or sacred rites of Bacchus, the customary sacrifice to beoffered, because it fed on vines, was the goat. The vine, ivy, laurel, asphodel, the dolphin, lynx, tiger, and ass were all sacred to Bacchus. The acceptable sacrifice to Venus was a dove; Jupiter, a bull; an ox offive years old, ram or boar pig to Neptune; and Diana, a stag. At theinception of the Bacchanalian festivals in Greece, the tragic song ofthe Goat, a sacred hymn was sung, and from which rude beginning sprangthe Tragedy and Comedy of Greece. The Greeks place every event ashappening in their country, and it is not surprising that they claim forthemselves the inception of Tragedy and Comedy, which they undoubtedlywere the originators of in Greece, but the religious festivals ofDionysus, Osiris, and Bacchus, to which we are supposed to owe theinception of Tragedy and Comedy, were known long before the Greeks knewthem. (Dionysus was the patron and protector of theatres. ) "The purportof the song was that Bacchus imparted his secret of the cultivation ofvines to a petty prince in Attica, named Icarius, who happened one dayto espy a goat brouzing upon his plantations, immediately seized, andoffered it up as a sacrifice to his divine benefactor; the peasantsassembled round their master, assisted in the ceremony, and expressedtheir joy and gratitude in music, songs, dances, and Pantomime on theoccasion; the sacrifice grew into a festival, and the festival into anannual solemnity, attended most probably every year with additionalcircumstances, when the countrymen flocked together in crowds, and sangin rustic strains the praises of their favourite deity. "

Amongst the reported followers of these Bacchanalian festivals werethose fabulous race of grotesque sylvan beings, previously referred to, known as the Satyrs. They were of a sturdy frame, in features they hadbroad snub noses, and appeared in rough skins of animals with largepointed ears, heavy knots on their foreheads, and a small tail. Theelder Satyrs were known as Sileni. The younger were more pleasing andnot so grotesque or repulsive in appearance as the elder Satyrs. To theSatyrs can be traced the variegated dress of the modern Harlequin, as inancient Greek history mention is made of the performers enacting Satyrsbeing sometimes habited in a tiger's skin of various colours, whichencircled the performer's body tightly, and who carried a wooden sword, wore a white hat, and a brown mask. According to Servius (as we haveseen) Pan had also a bright spotted dress "in likeness of the stars. "

From these rustic festivals originated the Satyr, or Satirical Drama, asdid its Italian prototype, the _Fabulae Atellanae_ or, _Laudi Osci_. These rural sacrifices became, in process of time, a solemn fast, andassumed all the pomp and splendour of a religious ceremony; poets wereemployed by the magistrate to compose hymns, or songs, for the occasion;such was the rudeness and simplicity of the age that their bardscontended for a prize, which, as Horace intimates, was scarce worthcontending for, being no more than a goat or skin of wine, which wasgiven to the happy poet who acquitted himself best in the task assignedhim. 

From such small beginnings Tragedy and Comedy took their rise; and like(as the best writers on these subjects tell us) every other productionof human art, extremely contemptible; that wide and deep stream, whichflows with such strength and rapidity through cultivated Greece, tookits rise from a small and inconsiderable fountain, which hides itself inthe recesses of antiquity, and is almost buried in oblivion; the namealone remains to give us some light into its original nature, and toinform us, that Tragedy and Comedy, like every other species of poetry, owe their birth to Religion. 

Appropriately does Horace observe:--

 "Nor was the flute at first with silver bound, Nor rivalled emulous the trumpet's sound; Few were its notes, its forms were simply plain, Yet not unuseful was its feeble strain, To aid the chorus, and their songs to raise, Filling the little theatre with ease, To which a thin and pious audience came Of frugal manners, and unsullied fame. "

CHAPTER III. 

The origin of the Indian Drama--Aryan Mythology--Clown andColumbine--Origin of the Chinese Drama--Inception of the JapaneseDrama--The Siamese Drama--Dramatic performances of the South SeaIslanders, Peruvians, Aztecs, Zulus, and Fijis--The Egyptian Drama. 

Of the Indian Drama we learn that the union of music, song, dance, andPantomime took place centuries ago B. C. , at the festivals of the nativegods, to which was afterwards added dialogue, and long before theadvent, out of which it grew, of the native drama itself. 

The progenitors of the Indo-European race, the Aryans--in Sanscritmeaning Agriculturists--who crossed the Indus from Amoo, where theydwelt near the Oxus, some two thousand years before Christ, were theoriginal ancestors and people of India. 

The Aryan race (Hindus and Persians only speak of themselves as Aryans)laid the foundation of the Grecian and Roman Mythology, the dark andmore sombre legends of the Scandinavian and the Teuton; and all derivedfrom the various names grouped round the Sun god, which in the lighterthemes the Aryans associated with the rising and the setting of the sun, in all its heavenly glory, and with the sombre legends the coming of thewinter, and marking the difference between lightness and darkness. 

In India the origin of dramatic entertainments has been attributed tothe sage Bharata (meaning an actor), who received, it is said, acommunication from the god Brahma to introduce them, as the latter hadreceived his knowledge of them from the Vedas. Bharata was also said tobe the "Father of dramatic criticism. " Pantomimic scenes derived fromthe heathen Mythology of Vishnu--a collection of poems and hymns on theAryan religion--are even now in India occasionally enacted by the Jatrasof the Bengalis and the Rasas of the provinces in the west, and, just astheir forefathers did ages and ages ago. An episode from the history ofthe god Vishnu, in relation to his marriage with Laxmi, was a favouritesubject for the early Indian Drama. Of Vedic Mythology Professor MaxMüller observes that in it "There are no genealogies, no settledmarriages between gods and goddesses. The father is sometimes the son, the brother, the husband, and she who in one hymn is the mother, is inanother the wife. As the conceptions of the poet vary so varies thenature of these gods. "

The Hindoo dramatic writer, Babhavñti--the IndianShakespeare--introduced with success in one of his dramas, like in our"Hamlet, " "a play within a play, " and much in a similar way as our earlydramatists used in their plays, the "dumb shows. "

Between the native Tragedy and Comedy, as in China, there was nodefinite distinction, and, although both contained some of the best andnoblest sentiments, yet the racial philosophy of caste enters greatlyinto the construction of each. 

In the Hindoo Mythology we have prototypes of the gods of the Egyptian, Grecian, and Roman Mythologies. The god Vishnu, who, in Aryan Mythology, is the wind and "Traverses the heavens in three strides, " is thegreatest of all heathen deities. His dwelling-place was "The aerialmountains, where the many horned and swiftly moving cattle abide. " InGrecian Mythology Hermes or Mercury took on some of the characteristicsof Vishnu. 

In the Eleusinian Mysteries of the Greeks, the signs and symbols thatmarked the worship of Vishnu by the Aryans, are apparent; and in theBritish Museum the scenes of the vases of the Hamilton collection agreeclosely with the Sacti rites of Hindustan. 

After having briefly noticed and introduced Vishnu or Hermes to thenotice of the reader, we will now take another of the Aryandeities--See-Va, the Wine god. This myth was the Dionysus, or Bacchus, of the Greeks, and the expedition of this "immortal" through the worldto instruct mankind in agriculture, is likened as well as the godhimself by the Egyptians to their deity Osiris--the god of the Nile. Theworship of See-Va, Bacchus, or Osiris extended over Asia Minor, Greece, and Italy. 

The visit and advent of the Wine or Pleasure god Bacchus to India, withhis accompanying train of sylvan and rural deities, and nymphs, issupposed to have conquered the Hindoos, and taught them civilization, besides the cultivation of the vine. Strange to relate that whenAlexander and his army reached the present Cabul they found ivy andwild vines (both sacred to Bacchus) growing in abundance, and they weremet by processions dressed in parti-coloured dresses, playing on drumslike the Bacchic festivals of Greece and Lower Asia of that time. 

Female parts were acted by women, but it was not a general custom; andthe Clown of the piece was always a Brahma, or if not, at any rate apupil of Brahma. 

Also among the minor characters was the _Vita_, "the accomplishedcompanion, " a part sometimes played by men and sometimes by women. Probably in this in the latter instance we have the origin of theColumbine and Soubrette part in after years of the European stage as theterm "accomplished companion, " would equally apply to both. It is only asurmise, yet history as we know is continually repeating itself--even inSoubrette parts, and in more senses than one. 

Of scenic displays that it possessed there was little or none, thoughthe exits and entrances to the stage had probably some device to denotethem. What they possessed in the way of properties it is more thanuseless to speculate, as, whatever could be said, could only beconjectural. In dressing their parts propriety in costume, and inadhering to the habits of the Indian Drama, seems to have been observedwith some show of consistency. 

The Chinese Drama also arose from the Hindoo developing itself as timerolled on from Pantomimes and ballets. A very ancient Pantomime is saidto have been symbolical of the conquest of China by Wou Wang. Otherswere on subjects of the Harvest, War, and Peace; whilst many were onlyof an obscure nature. With the rise and progress of the native dramaabout five hundred years before Christ Pantomimes fell into disrepute. 

It is interesting to note that one of the penal codes of the CelestialEmpire was, that those who wrote plays with vicious, or immoraltendencies, should stay in "purgatory" as long as their plays wereperformed. This precept was all right in theory, but in practice it wasmore honoured in the breach than in the observance, as amongst the wholeof the Celestial dramatic writers only one in about ten thousand seemsto have conformed to this rule. 

The dramatic writers of China duly observed the question of rank andpriority, and just as much as the native Hindoo writers observed that ofthe various phases of caste. 

Plays were divided into acts and scenes, and occasionally were prefixedby a prologue. Performances took sometimes a single day, and favouriteplays oftentimes longer. 

The Japanese type of drama seems to have originally evolved itself fromthat of the Chinese, though its singing, dancing, historical, andPantomimical displays are, of course, purely native. 

A native of Japan, though of Chinese descent, Hadu Kawatsa, at theclose of the 6th century (A. D. ) gave dramatic entertainments in Japan. The Japanese claim for the Pantomimical dance Sambâso as a preventativeof earthquakes and volcanic eruptions; and this dance, it is said, thatwithin recent years, is used as a prelude to dramatic entertainments. 

Isono Zenji is thought to have been the originator of the JapaneseDrama, but her performances were more those of the _Mima_--dancing andposturing. 

In the seventeenth century Saruwaka Kanzaburô introduced the dramaproper into Japan by the erection, in 1624, of a theatre, and nearlyfifty years later than the first permanent theatre that was erected(1576) in England. 

Popular historical subjects were chosen for the plays, though the namesof the characters were transformed. Fancy plays, operas, ballets, whichin the latter women appeared, became also very popular. 

Within sight of the closing years of the last century (the nineteenth), Japanese actors were more or less under a ban when the same was happilyremoved. 

Siam was content with the Indian style of dramatic and Pantomimicentertainments. Theatrical performances were also slightly known--thoughno regular type of drama is known--amongst the South Sea Islanders, thePeruvians, the Aztecs, the Zulus, and the Fijis, the two last namedhaving a similar version of our popular Pantomime subject, "Jack and theBeanstalk. "

The Egyptians possessed no regular type of drama, yet in both the Booksof Job and Ruth the dramatic element is strongly marked. At the rusticfestivals of the native gods, as in Greece and Italy, there was, however, the dramatic elements of the union of song, dance, andPantomime, and we are told that the priests not only studied music, butalso taught the art to others. Again in the rites of the dead theMysteries of the sepulture over the transmigration of souls, thedramatic element entered largely into these mystic rites andcelebrations. Amongst the Pagan Greeks, as I have previously stated, andthe Romans, we learn of similar celebrations, carried out with greatpomp and ceremony, such as the apotheosis of the soul departing from itsearthly to its heavenly abode. 

CHAPTER IV. 

"Dancing, " _i. E. _ Pantomime--Grecian Dancing and PantomimicScenes--Aristotle--Homer--Dances common to both Greeks and Romans. 

In tracing the History of Pantomime it becomes a matter of considerabledifficulty, and, as Baron, in his _Lettres sur la Danse_, observes thatwhen the word Dancing occurs in an old author, that it should always betranslated by "gesticulation, " "declamation, " or "Pantomime. " When weread that an actress "danced" her part well in the tragedy of Medea, that a carver cut up food dancing, that Heligobalus and Caligula"danced" a discourse for an audience of state, we are to understand thatthey--actress, carver, and emperor--declaimed, gesticulated, madethemselves understood in a language without words. Acting is alsooftentimes confounded with dancing, and it is, therefore, manifestlyimpossible to distinguish now one from the other. 

"The Greeks, " mentions Butteux, applied the term "Dancing" to allmeasured movements, even to military marching. They danced anywhere andeverywhere; and we are told that both their limbs and bodies spoke. 

Cybele was supposed by the Greeks to have taught dancing on Mount Ida tothe Corybantes, and they also say that it was in their country thatApollo revealed the Terpsichorean Art, and that of Music and Poetry. 

After all this, it is not very surprising that they make claim for theinnovation of Pantomime. This, of course, we know is different, as wehave seen that, from time immemorial Pantomimic scenes and dances havebeen represented. Cassiodorus attributes its institution to Philistion;Athenaens assigns it to Rhodamanthus, or to Palamedes. 

With the Greeks, Pantomimes became very popular, and they weredistinguished by various names. Before they began their Tragedies theGreeks used to give a Pantomimic display. The principal Pantomimistswere known as _Ethologues_, meaning painters of manners. One of the mostcelebrated of these Mimes was Sophron of Syracuse. In depicting theconduct of man so faithfully, the Pantomimes of the Greek Mimes servedto teach and inculcate useful moral lessons. The moral philosophy of theMime, Sophron, was so pure that Plato kept a book of his poems under hispillow when on his death-bed. Besides these Moralities, as they weretermed, there were, in addition, light pieces of a farcical kind, in theportrayal of which the Mimes were equally as successful as in the otherspecies. 

The dancing of the Greeks was an actual language, in which allsentiments and passages were interpreted. By the aid of theTerpsichorean Art, Professor Desrat says, "That the Greeks, a nation ofheroes, trained themselves in the art of hand-to-hand combat. "

"Dancing, " says another writer, "and imitative acting in the lowerstages of civilization are identical, and in the sacred dances ofancient Greece we may trace the whole Dramatic Art of the modern world. The Spartans practised dancing as a gymnastic exercise, and made itcompulsory upon all children from the age of five. "

And we are also told that religious processions went with song and dance(and, of course, Pantomime), to the Egyptian temples; the Cretan chorussang hymns to the Greek gods; David danced in procession before the Arkof the Covenant; and that we are to "Praise the Lord with the sound ofthe trumpet, praise Him with the psaltery and the harp; praise Him withthe timbrel and the _dance_. "

Aristotle speaks of Mimetic dances three hundred years before theAugustan era. He also says that dancers want neither poetry or music, asby the assistance of measure and cadence only they can imitate humanmanners, actions, and passions. 

Again, "Homer, describing the employment of the Delian priestesses, orNuns, of the order of St. Apollo of Delos, that they were great adeptsin the Art of Mimicry, and that part of the entertainment which theyafforded to the numerous people of different nations; who formed theircongregations was, as the poet expresses it, from their _being skilledto imitate the voices and the pulsation or measure of all nations, andso exactly was their song adapted that every man would think he himselfwas singing_. "

Homer also mentions a dance invented for Ariadne. In the midst of thedancers, there were two dancers who sang the adventures of Daedalus, supplementing their singing by gestures, and explaining in Pantomime thesubject of the whole performance. 

The Pyrrhic dance of the Greeks was a sort of military Pantomime. TheGreeks had several kinds of Pyrrhic dances, the names of which variedwith the character of the performance. 

 The Hyplomachia imitated a fight with shields. The Skiamachia was a battle with shadows, The Monomachia was an imitation of single combat. 

Some of the Mimetic dances common to both Greeks and Romans were TheLoves of Adonis and Venus, the Exploits of Ajax, the Adventures ofApollo, the Rape of Ganymede, the Loves of Jupiter and Danae, the Birthof Jupiter, Hector, the Rape of Europa, the Labours of Hercules, Hercules Mad, the Graces, Saturn devouring his Children, the Cybele inhonour of Cybele, the Cyclops, the Sorrows of Niobe, the Tragic End ofSemele, the Wars of the Titans, the Judgment of Paris, Daphne pursued byApollo, the Bucolic Dance, and the Dance of Flowers. 

CHAPTER V. 

Thespis--The Progress of Tragedy and Comedy--Aeschylus--TheEpopée--Homer--Sophocles--Euripides--Grecian Mimes--The First AthenianTheatre--Scenery and Effects. 

When Thespis first pointed out the tragic path, and when (as Horacetells us in his Odes) that "The inventor of the Art carried his vagrantplayers on a cart, " by his introduction of a new personage, who relievedthe chorus, or troop of singers, by reciting some part of a well-knownhistory, or fable, which gave time for the chorus to rest. All that theactors repeated between the songs of the chorus was called an episode, or additional part, consisting often of different adventures, which hadno connexion with each other. Thus Pantomime, the song, and the dance, which were at first the only performances, became gradually andinsensibly a necessary and ornamental part of the drama. 

From this time, the actor, or reciter, was more attended to than thechorus; however, his part was executed, and it had the powerful charmsof novelty to recommend it, and quickly obscured the lustre of thechorus, whose songs were now of a different nature, insomuch that theoriginal subject of them, the praise of Bacchus, was by degrees eitherslightly mentioned, or totally passed over and forgotten; the priests, who we may suppose for a long time presided over the whole, were alarmedat so open a contempt of the deity, and unanimously exclaimed, that thiswas nothing to Bacchus; the contempt grew into a kind of proverbialsaying, and as such is handed down to us. 

From the origin of Tragedy and Comedy, and to the days of Thespis, andfrom this time to that of Aeschylus, all is doubt, conjecture, andobscurity; neither Aristotle, nor any other ancient writer, gives us theleast insight into the state and progress of the Greek Drama; the namesof a few, and but a few, tragedians, during this dark period, are handeddown to us; such were Epigenes, the Sicyonion, and Pratinas, who wrotefifty-two plays, thirty-two of which are said to be satirical. AfterThespis, came his scholar Phrynicus, who wrote nine tragedies; for oneof which, we are told, he was fined fifty drachmas, because he had madeit (an odd reason) too deep, and too affecting; there was another, alsonamed Phrynicus, author of two tragedies: to these must be addedAlcaeus, Phormus, and Choeritas, together with Cephisodorus, anAthenian, who wrote the "Amazon, " and Apollophanes, supposed to havebeen the author of a tragedy named "Daulis, " though Suidas is of anotheropinion. Tragedy had, during the lives of these writers, probably madebut a slow progress, and received but very little culture andimprovement; when at length the great Aeschylus arose, who, from thisrude and undigested chaos, created as it were a new world in the systemof letters. 

Poets, and perhaps epic poets, there might have been before Homer (thelatter, who, in all probability, lived within fifty years of the Fall ofTroy--1250 B. C. ). Dramatic writers there certainly were before Aeschylusthe former notwithstanding, we may, with the utmost propriety, style theinventor and father of heroic poetry, and the latter of the ancientdrama, which, before his time, does not appear to have had anyparticular form but that of Pantomime, song, and the union of song anddance. _Aeschylus first introduced dialogue_, that most essential partof tragedy, and by the addition of the second personage, threw the wholefable into action, and restored the chorus to its ancient dignity. 

Aeschylus having, like a tender parent, endowed his darling child withevery mental accomplishment, seemed resolved that no external ornamentsshould be wanting to render her universally amiable; he clothed her, therefore, in the most splendid habit, and bestowed upon her everythingthat Art could produce, to heighten and improve her charms. Aeschylus, who being himself author, actor, and manager, took upon him the wholeconduct of the drama, and did not neglect any part of it; he improvedthe scenery and decorations, brought his actors into a well constructedtheatre, raised his heroes on the _cothurnus_, or buskin, invented themasks, and introduced splendid habits with long trains, that gave an airof majesty and dignity to the performers. 

From the time when Tragedy began to assume a regular form, we find herclosely following the steps of epic poetry; all the parts of _epopée_, or heroic poem, may be traced in tragedy, though, as Aristotle observes, all the parts of tragedy are not to be found in the _epopée_; whence thepartisans of the stage with some reason conclude, that perfection in theformer is more difficult to be attained than in the latter. Withoutentering into a dispute, we may venture, however, to say that from Homerthe tragedians drew the plan, construction, and conduct of their fables, and not unfrequently, the fable itself; to him they applied forpropriety of manners, character, sentiment, and diction. 

From this era then, we are to consider Tragedy as an elegant and noblestructure, built according to the rules of art, symmetry, andproportion; whose every part was in itself fair, firm, and compact--andat the same time contributed to the beauty, utility, and duration of thewhole edifice. 

Sophocles and Euripides carefully studied the plan laid down byAeschylus, and by their superior genius and judgment, improved it in ashort time to its highest state of perfection, from which it graduallydeclined to the rise of the Roman Drama. 

Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides were the three great tragic poets;and from the works of these three illustrious writers, and from themalone, we must draw all our knowledge of the ancient Greek Tragedy. 

Comedy, like Tragedy, owes its origin to the union of music, song, dance, and Pantomime; Tragedy to the dithyrambick, and Comedy to thephallica; and each of them (emulating Pantomime), began to formthemselves into dramatic imitations; each studied to adopt a measuresuited to their purpose:--Tragedy, the more lofty, chose the tetrameter;and comedy, which aimed at familiarity, the iambic. But, as the style oftragedy improved, Nature herself, says Aristotle, directed the writersto abandon the capering tetrameter, and to embrace that measure whichwas most accommodated to the purposes of dialogue; whence the iambicbecame the common measure of both Tragedy and Comedy. 

Sophocles brought on a third actor, which number was not exceeded in theGreek tragedies during the same scene. Horace alludes to this, "_necquarta loqui persona laboret_, " (Let not a fourth person strive tospeak): but it was not observed in comedy. Players of second parts wereobliged to speak so low as not to drown the voice of the chief actor. Tyrants were always played by subalterns. The women were only dancers(and Pantomimists). Female parts were performed by eunuchs. 

On the Grecian stage, those performers who devoted themselves entirelyto the Art of Miming originally came from Sicily and southern Italy, though the exact period is difficult to determine with any degree ofcertainty. 

The figures of tragic or comic actors were known by the long and straitsleeves which they wore. The servants in comedy, below the dress withstrait sleeves, had a short cassock with half-sleeves. That thecharacters might be distinguished (a difficulty in this respect arisingfrom the size of the theatres) parasites carried a short truncheon; therural deities, shepherds, and peasants, the crook; heralds andambassadors, the _caduceus_; kings, a long, straight sceptre; heroes, aclub, etc. The tunic of tragic actors descended to the heels, and wascalled _palla_. They generally carried a long staff or an erect sceptre. They who represented old men, leaned upon a long and crooked staff. 

The first Greek theatre at Athens (says Fosbroke, in his "Antiquities, ")was a temporary structure of boards, removed after the performances wereclosed. This fashion continued till the erection of the theatre ofBacchus, at Athens, which served as a model for the others. The Greektheatre was no more than a concave sweep, scooped out of the hollow sideof a hill, generally facing the sea. The sweep was filled with seats, rising above each other, and ascended by staircases, placed like the_radii_ of a circle. This semi-circular form was adopted not merely forconvenience of vision, but for an aid to the sound. This range forspectators was called the _coilon_ or hollow. The area below was the_conistra_, or pit. There was no superstructure for a gallery, butaround the rim of the building were porticos, by which the spectatorsentered, and whither they could retire, if it rained. The portico justabout the highest corridor, or lobby, was denominated the _cercys_, andused by the women. Where is now the orchestra, was a platform, calledby that name; and here, among the Greeks, were stationed the musicians;chorus and Mimes; among the Romans, the Emperor, Senate, and otherpersons of quality. Seven feet above the orchestra, and eleven above the_conistra_, or pit, was the front stage, or proscenium, upon which stoodan altar to Apollo. Here the principal actors performed, and the site ofthe altar was devoted to the dances (of the Mimes) and songs of thechorus. The part called the _scena_ was in line with the ornamentalcolumns, upon the sides of the stage. 

The ancient scenery at first consisted of mere boughs, but afterwards oftapestry, not painted canvas. The Greek stage consisted of three parts, the _scena_, across the theatre, upon the line of the curtain in ourtheatres; the proscenium, where the actors performed; and thepost-scenium, the part behind the house, before-mentioned. To form partsof the scenes there were prisms of framework, turning upon pivots, uponeach face of which was strained a distinct picture, one for tragedy, consisting of large buildings, with columns, statues, and othercorresponding ornaments; a second face, with houses, windows, andbalconies, for comedy; a third applied to farce, with cottages, grottoes, and rural scenes. There were the _scenae versatiles_ ofServius. Besides these, there were _scenae ductiles_, which drewbackwards and forwards, and opened a view of the house, which was builtupon the stage, and contained apartments for machinery, or retirementfor the actors. As to the patterns of the scenes, in comedy, the mostconsiderable building was in the centre; that on the right side was alittle less elevated, and that on the left generally represented an inn. In the satirical pieces they had always a cave in the middle, a wretchedcabin on the right, and on the left an old ruined temple, or somelandscape. In these representations perspective was observed forVitruvius remarks (C. 8) that the rules of it were invented andpractised from the time of Aeschylus, by a painter named Agararchus, whohas even left a treatise upon it. After the downfall of the RomanEmpire, these decorations of the stage were neglected, till Peruzzi, aSiennese, who died in 1536, revived them. 

There were three entries in front, and two on the sides; the middleentry (termed the Royal door) was always that of the principal actor;thus, in tragedy, it was commonly the gate of a palace. Those on theright and left were destined to the second-part players, and the twoothers, on the sides, one to people from the country, the other to thosefrom the harbour, or any public place. 

Pollux informs us, that there were trap-doors for ghosts, furies, andthe infernal deities. Some under the doors, on one side, introduced therural deities, and on the other the marine. The ascents or descents weremanaged by cords, wheels, and counter-weights. Of these machines nonewere more common than those which descended from heaven in the end ofthe play, in which the gods came to extricate the poet in the_denouement_. The kinds were chiefly three; some conveyed the performeracross the theatre in the air; by others, the gods descended on thestage; and a third contrivance, elevated, or supported in the air, persons who seemed to fly, from which accidents often happened. (It isfrom this that the well-known phrase "_Deus ex machina_" has itsorigin. ) As the ancient theatres were larger than ours, and unroofed, there was no wheel-work aloft, but the performer was elevated by a sortof crane, of which the beam was above the stage; and turning uponitself, whilst the counter-weight made the actor descend or ascend, caused him to describe curves, jointly composed of the circular motionof the crane, and the vertical ascent. The _anapesmata_ were cords forthe sudden appearance of furies, when fastened to the lowest steps; andto the ascension of rivers, when attached to the stage. The_ceraunoscopium_ was a kind of moveable tower, whence Jupiter dartedlightning, supposed to be the Greek fire, as in Ajax Oielus. The machinefor thunder (_bronton_) was a brazen vase, concealed under the stage, inwhich they rolled stones. Festus calls it the Claudian thunder, fromClaudius Pulcher, the inventor. The most dreadful machines were, however, the _pegmata_ (a general term also for all the machines), whichfirst consisted of scaffolds in stories, &c. These first exhibitedcriminals fighting at the top, and then, dropping to pieces, precipitated them to the lower story, to be torn to pieces by wildbeasts. Sometimes they were for vomiting flames, &c. The _theologium_was a place more elevated than the stage, where the gods stood andspoke, and the machines which held them rested. 

The seats of the spectators were divided into stories, each containingseven rows of seats, with two passages (_praecinctiones_) around themabove and below. Small staircases divided the seats into sections, called _cunei_, and ended in a gate at the top, which communicated withpassages (the _vomitoriae_) for admission. 

CHAPTER VI. 

Roman Theatres--Description--"Deadheads"--Pantomime in Italy--LiviusAndronicus--_Fabulae Atellanae_--Extemporal Comedy--Origin of theMasque, Opera, and Vaudeville--Origin of the termHistrionic--Etruscans--Popularity of Pantomime in Italy--Pantomimistsbanished by Trajan--Nero as a Mime--Pylades and Bathyllus--Subjectschosen for the Roman Pantomimes--The Ballet--The _Mimi_ and_Pantomimi_--_Archimimus_--Vespasian--Harlequin--"Mr. Punch"--Zany, howthe word originated--Ancient Masks--Lucian, Cassiodorus, and Demetriusin praise of Pantomime--A celebrated _Mima_--Pantomimes denounced byearly writers--The purity of the English stage contrasted with that ofthe Grecian and Roman--Female parts on the Grecian and Roman stages--Theprincipal Roman _Mimas_--The origin of the Clown of the early EnglishDrama. 

The Roman theatres (continues Fosbroke) were of a similar D form. Twolofty arched doorways entered into the pit. In front of the stage, whichwas very shallow, was a pew-like orchestra. The proscenium was verynarrow, and instead of a drop scene was the _elisium_, a house, narrow, with a kind of bow window front in the centre, and a door on each side:for Pollux says that a house with two stories formed part of the stage, whence old women and panders used to look down and peep about them. Within the house were apartments. Around the back of the stage was a_porticus_. At Herculaneum, on a balustrade which divided the orchestrafrom the stage, was found a row of statues, and on each side of the_pulpitum_, an equestrian figure. Below the theatre (great and small)was a large square constructed, says Vitruvius, for the reception of theaudience in bad weather. It consisted of Doric columns, around an openarea, forming an ample portico for this purpose, whilst under it werearranged _cellae_, or apartments, amongst which were a soap manufactory, oil mill, corn mill, and prison. An inner _logia_ was connected with asuite of apartments. There was also an _exedra_, or recess. 

Among the Romans, theatrical approbation was signified by an artificialmusical kind of noise, made by the audience to express satisfaction. There were three species of applause denominated from the differentnoises made in them, viz. : _Bombus_, _Imbrius_, and _Testae_. 

First, a confused din, made either by the hands or mouth. The second andthird, by beating on a sort of sounding vessel placed in the theatresfor that purpose. Persons were instructed to give applause withskill--and there were even masters who professed to teach the art. Theproficients in this way let themselves out for hire to the poets, actors, &c. , and were so disposed as to support a loud applause. Thesethey called _Laudicena_. At the end of the play, a loud peal of applausewas expected, and even asked of the audience either by the chorus or bythe person who spoke last. The formula was "_Spectatore Claudite_, " or"_Valete et Plaudite_. " The applauders were divided into _Chori_, anddisposed in theatres opposite to each other, like the choristers incathedrals, so that there was a kind of concert of applause. The freeadmission tickets were small ivory death's heads, and specimens of theseare to be seen in the Museum of Naples. From this custom, it is stated, that we derive our word "Deadhead, " as denoting one who has a freeentrance to places of amusement. 

With the dawn of the Roman Empire, Pantomime, in Italy, is firstauthentically mentioned. The Emperor Augustus always displayed greatfavour to the Art, and even by some writers he has been credited withbeing the originator of Pantomime. This, of course, as we have seen, isimpossible, and to use a familiar and trite saying, the Pantomimic Artis "as old as the hills" themselves. Again, Bathyllus and Pylades (bothfreed slaves, the former born in Cilicia, and the latter came fromAlexandria), and Hylas, the principal exponents of Pantomime during thereign of Augustus, have also been credited with the honour oforiginating Pantomime. 

The early Roman entertainments only consisted of the military and sacreddances, and the scenes in the circus. With the advent of the arts ofGreece the austerity hitherto practised by the Romans, which had arisen, says Duray, "Much more from poverty than conviction, " for "Two or threegenerations had sufficed to change a city which had only known meagrefestivities and rustic delights into the home of revelry and pleasure. "

With the Romans, in their Pantomimic entertainments, the whole gamut ofthe emotions were gone through. 

When the Greek drama was brought into Rome by Livius Andronicus, the_Fabulae Atellanae_, or _Laudi Osci_--derived from the town of Atella, in Campania, between Capua and Naples--was still employed to furnish theInterludes, and just in a similar way as the _Satyra_ ExtemporalInterludes supplied the Grecian stage. None of these Atellan Farceshave been committed to us, but Cicero, in a letter to his friendPapyrius Paetus, speaks of them as the "More delicate burlesque of theold Atellan Farces. " From them also, we derive the Extemporal Comedy, or_Comedia del' Arte_ of Italy (afterwards to be noted), with itscharacters, Harlequin, Clown, Pierrot, and the like, associated withEnglish and Italian Pantomime, and the progenitor also of all thoselight forms of entertainment known as the Masque, the Opera, and theVaudeville. On English dramatic literature the Italian ExtemporalComedies and their Pantomimical characters have also had a considerableamount of influence. 

Livy mentions that actors were sent for (_circa_ 364 B. C. ) from Etruria, who, without verses or any action expressive of verses, danced notungracefully, after the Tuscan manner to the flute. In process of timethe Roman youth began to imitate these dancers intermixing raillery withunpolished verses, their gestures corresponding with the sense of thewords. Thus were these plays received at Rome, and being improved andrefined by frequent performance the Roman actors acquired the name of_Histriones_, from the Etruscan _Hister_, meaning a dancer or a stageplayer. (From this we obtain our words histrion and histrionic). Buttheir dialogue did not consist of unpremeditated and coarse jests insuch rude verses as were used by the _Fescennini_, but of satires, accompanied with music set to the flute, recited with suitable gestures. After satires, which had afforded the people subject of coarse mirthand laughter, were, by this regulation, reduced to form and acting, bydegrees became an art, the Roman youth left it to players by profession, and began, as formerly, to act farces at the end of their regularpieces. These dramas were called _Exodia_, and were generally woven withthe _Atellanae_ Comedies. These were borrowed from the Osci, and werealways acted by the Roman youth. Tacitus speaks of _Atellanae_ Comedieswritten in the spirit and language of the Osci having been acted in histime. 

It is thought that the Etruscans possessed histories, poems, and dramas, and, if these, then certainly they knew the Pantomimic Art, out ofwhich, in all probability, their dramatic entertainments grew. To theEtruscans the Romans owe their early civilization. 

The Etruscan era is supposed to have commenced about 1044 B. C. , and weare told that the Etruscans shared with the Greeks, and the Phoenicians, the maritime supremacy of the Mediterranean. In the sepulchral chambersof the Necropolis of Tarquinii, which extends for many miles, there areseveral scenes painted in the archaic style by the Etruscans, representing the Chase, the Circus, and Dancing Girls. 

Soon after its innovation among the Romans, Pantomime spread all overItaly and the provinces. So attractive did it become in Rome, and sopopular, that Tiberius issued a decree forbidding the knights and noblesto frequent their houses of entertainment, or to be seen walking in thestreets with them. Trajan also oppressed and banished the Pantomimists. Under Caligula, however, they were received with great favour, andAurelius made them priests of Apollo. Nero, who carried everything tothe extremity of foolishness, was not content in patronising thePantomimes, but must needs assist, and appear himself, as a _Mimi_. Hereagain, in Nero, another claimant as the author of Pantomime has been putforward. 

"So great (observes Gaston Vuillier, in his 'History of Dancing, ') wasthe admiration for Pylades and Bathyllus that the theatrical supportersclothed themselves in different liveries, and broils in the publicstreets were of frequent occurrence. " "The rivalries of Pylades andBathyllus, " says De Laulnaye, "occupied the Romans as much as thegravest affairs of state. Every citizen was a Bathyllian or a Pyladian. "Augustus reproved Pylades on one occasion for his quarrels withBathyllus. The Mime retorted, "It is well for you that the people areengrossed by our disputes; their attention is thus diverted from youractions. " A bold retort, but it shows how important these Mimes were. The banishment of Pylades brought about an insurrection, and the Emperorhad to recall him. 

Cassius attributes the disgrace of Pylades to the intrigues ofBathyllus, Suetonius to his effrontery; for on one occasion, when actingHercules, annoyed by the criticism of the spectators, he tore off hismask, and shouted to them: "Fools, I am acting a madman. " They thoughthis gestures too extravagant. Another time he shot off arrows amongstthe spectators. Amongst other privileges extended by the EmperorAugustus to the _Mimis_ was being exempt from magisterial control andimmunity from military serving. 

The subjects chosen for the Roman Pantomimes, like those of the Grecianmysteries, from which they doubtless were borrowed, were of aMythological description, and they were of such a nature that theaudience could follow them easily, even if they were not alreadypreviously acquainted with them. Between the Roman Pantomime, and theWestern _ballet d'action_, there is hardly any difference. The Romansalways liked to see their stages well peopled; and to help in the actionof their Pantomimes, a chorus accompanied with music, formed part of theentertainment. The _Mimis and Mimas_, like the ballet of the presentday, provided the dances in addition to their Pantomimic Art of posingand posturing. 

Mr. Isaac Disraeli, in his work, "Curiosities of Literature, " edited bythe late Earl of Beaconsfield, thus distinguishes between the _Mimi_ andthe _Pantomimi_ of the Ancients. The _Mimi_ were an impudent race ofbuffoons who excelled in mimicry, and like our domestic fools, wereadmitted into convivial parties to entertain the guests. Their powersenabled them to perform a more extraordinary office; for they appear tohave been introduced into funerals to mimic the person, and even thelanguage of the deceased. Suetonius describes an _archimimus_accompanying the funeral of Vespasian. This _archimimus_ performed hispart admirably, not only representing the person, but imitating, according to custom, _ut est mos_, the manners and language of theliving Emperor. He contrived a happy stroke at the prevailing foible ofVespasian, when he enquired the cost of all this funeral pomp--"Tenmillion of sesterces!" On this he observed that if they would give himbut a hundred thousand they might throw his body into the Tiber. 

The _Pantomimi_ were quite of a different class. They were tragicactors, and usually mute; they combined the arts of gesture, music, anddances of the most impressive character. Their silent language has oftendrawn tears by the pathetic emotions they excited; "Their very nodspeaks, their hands talk, and their fingers have a voice, " says one oftheir admirers. 

These Pantomimists seem to have been held in great honour. The tragicand the comic masks were among the ornaments of the sepulchral monumentsof an _Archmime_ and a _Pantomimi_. Montfaucon conjectures that theyformed a select fraternity. 

The parti-coloured hero (Harlequin), with every part of his dress, hasbeen drawn out of the greatest wardrobe of antiquity; he was a RomanMime. Harlequin is described with his shaven head (_rasis capitibus_);his sooty face (_fuligine faciem abducti_); his flat unshod feet, (_planipedes_), and his patched coat of many colours, (_Mimicentunculo_). Even _Pulcinello_, whom we familiarly call "Punch, " mayreceive, like other personages of no great importance, all his dignityfrom antiquity; one of his Roman ancestors having appeared to anantiquary's visionary eye in a bronze statue; more than one eruditedissertation authenticates the family likeness; the nose long, prominentand hooked; the staring goggle eyes; the hump at his back, and at hisbreast; in a word, all the character which so strongly marks the Punchrace, as distinctly as whole dynasties have been featured by theAustrian lip and the Bourbon nose. 

The genealogy of the whole family is confirmed by the general term whichincludes them all: in English, Zany; in Italian, _Zanni_; in the Latin, _Sannio_; and a passage in "Cicero _De Oratore_, " paints Harlequin andhis brother gesticulators after the life; the perpetual trembling motionof their limbs, their ludicrous and flexible gestures, and all themimicry of their faces: "_Quid enim potest tam ridiculum quam Sannioesse? Qui ore vultu, imitandis motibus, voce, denique corpore rideturipso. _" Lib II. , Sect. 51. ("For what has more of the ludicrous thanSannio? Who, with his mouth, his face, imitating every motion with hisvoice, and, indeed, with all his body, provokes laughter. ")

The Latin Sannio was changed by the Italians into (as Ainsworthexplains) Zanni, as, in words like Smyrna and Sambuco, they change thes into z, which gives Zmyrna and Zambuco, and hence we derive our wordZany. The word is, however, originally obtained from the Greek _Sannos_(observes Quadrio), from whence the Latins derived their _Sannio_. 

From the size of the ancient theatres it was not possible to notice thevisage of the actors, and this was one, but not the only reason, whymasks were adopted. The Ancients did not like a character to beattempted, to which a proper appropriation was not annexed, and thesemasks were so contrived, that the profile on one side exhibited chagrin, and on the other serenity, or whatever other passion was most required. The actor thus, according to the part he was playing, presented the sideof the mask best suited to the passage which he was reciting. The largemouths of these masks were presumed to have contained some bronzeinstrument suited to assist the voice, upon the principle of thespeaking trumpet; for the mask was wider, and the recitation in tragedymuch louder than in comedy, so that the voice might be heard all overthe theatre. The masks of the dancers were of regular features. 

By some it has been contended that these masks covered both the head andthe shoulders under the supposed idea that when the head was thusenlarged it would throw the whole body into symmetry when raised uponstilts. It has, also, been argued that the masks for some of thecharacters were made of gold-beaters skin, or some transparent substancejust covering the face so that the facial muscles could be seen throughit, and the eyes, mouth, and ears being left uncovered. These masks, however, delineated very carefully the features of the character thatwere to be represented. Something not unlike the huge Pantomime masks ofa hideous and frightful shape that we sometimes see in our present dayPantomimes must have appeared, especially those that covered the headand shoulders of the _Mimis_ in the days of the Romans. Those that werejust of the size of the face in all probability were fantastic andpicturesque; and the third and remaining species of mask made of atransparent substance could hardly have been very effective. 

Mr. Wright tells us, in his book on the Chester Mystery plays (whichwork I shall again refer to later on), that masks were used in theMystery series of plays acted in England during the thirteenth andfourteenth centuries. 

Julius Pollux is still more ample in his account of theatrical masksused in Tragedy, Satyr, and Comedy. Niobe weeping, Medea furious, Ajaxastonished, and Hercules enraged. In Comedy, the slave, the parasite, the clown, the captain, the old woman, the harlot, the austere old man, the debauched young man, the prodigal, the prudent young woman, thematron, and the father of a family, were all constantly characterised byparticular masks. 

Lucian and the other writers of the Augustan era, have handed down to ussufficient information to show how Pantomime in Rome was so highlythought of. Cassiodorous, speaking of them, says:--"Men whose eloquenthands had a tongue, as it were, on the tip of each finger--men who spokewhile they were silent, and knew how to make a recital without openingtheir mouths--men, in short, whom Polyhymnia had formed in order to showthat there was no necessity for articulation in order to convey ourthoughts. " Demetrius, a cynic philosopher, laughed at the Romans forpermitting so strange an entertainment; but having been, with muchdifficulty, prevailed upon to be present at the representation of one ofthem, he was confounded with wonder. The story represented was that ofMars and Venus, the whole performed by a single actor, who described thefable in _dumb show_. At length the philosopher, wrought up to thehighest pitch of admiration, exclaimed, "That the actor _had no occasionfor a tongue, he spoke so well with his hands_. "

Of one Pontus, who had come on a visit to Nero, we are told that he waspresent at a performance, in the course of which a favourite Mime gave arepresentation of the Labours of Hercules. The Mime's gestures were soprecise that he could follow the action without the slightesthesitation. Being struck by the performance, on taking leave he beggedNero to give him the actor, explaining that there was a barbarous tribeadjoining his dominions, whose language no one could learn, and thatPantomime could express his intentions to them so faithfully by gesturesthat they would at once understand. 

The dress of the performers of Pantomime was made to reveal, and not toconceal, their figures. After the second century women began to act intheir representations, and even down to the sixth century we find themassociating themselves with Pantomime, and mention is made of acelebrated _Mima_, who was ultimately raised to the imperial throne. Through the lewdness of the _Mimis_ and _mimas_ in Pantomime, theirdress, or rather lack of dress, Pantomimes were denounced, not only bythe early Christian writers, but also by some of the Pagan writers, likeJuvenal, as being very prejudicial to morality. 

It has, however, always been a favourite topic of the Prynne's, theJeremy Collier's and the Dr. Style's, and such like opponents of thetheatre, to contrast the English stage with the purity of the Grecianand Roman Theatres. Now, without stopping to enquire whether this hasany particular connection with the subject of their dissertations, orwhether it is not in fact quite irrelevant to the question, it isimpossible not to remark the crass ignorance which these assertionsdisplay of the manners and customs of the theatres of either the Greeksor the Romans. Without wearying the reader by entering into a longdiscussion upon the subject, it will be sufficient to recall certainpassages in Aristophanes, Xenophon, Plautus, and Terence to induce themto hesitate in assenting to such vague assertions of the purity ofeither the Grecian or Roman dramatic writers. William Prynne, theEnglish Puritan writer, in his violent attack on the stage in the"_Histrio-Mastix_" or "Players Scourge"--which book, by the way, forsome unfavourable comments therein on the Queen of Charles I. , and theladies of her Court, for attending theatrical representations, wasdebarred his rooms (he was a barrister), by the Court of Star Chamber, sentenced to be imprisoned for life, fined £5, 000, committed to theTower, placed in the pillory, both ears cut off, and his book burnt bythe common hangman; yet after undergoing all these pains and penalties, he published a _recantation of all that he had previously written in his"Histrio-Mastix_"--says "It seems that the Grecian actors did now andthen to refresh the spectators, bring a kind of cisterne on the stage, wherein naked women did swim and bathe themselves between the acts andscenes; which wicked, impudent, and execrable practice the holy fatherChrysostom doth sharpely and excellently declaime against. "

Xenophon mentions the tale of "Bacchus and Ariadne, " Pantomimicallyplayed, and Martial tells us he saw the whole story of "Pasiphae, "minutely represented on the stage of the _Mimis_, and Plautus, in hisepilogue to "Casina, " has--

 "Nunc vos aequim est, manibus meritis, Meritam mercedem dare. Qui faxit, clam uxorem, ducat scortum Semper quod volet. Verum qui non manibus clare, quantum Potent, plauserit, Ei, pro scorto, supponetur hircus unctus nantea. "

On the Roman stage female parts were represented in tragedy by men, isascertained (says Malone) by one of Cicero's letters to Atticus, and bya passage in Horace. Horace mentions, however, a female performer calledArbuscula, but as we find from his own authority men personated women onthe Roman stage, she was probably an _Emboliariae_. Servius calls her a_Mima_, or one who danced in the Pantomimic dances, and which seems moreprobable, as she is mentioned by Cicero, who says the part of Andromachewas played by a male performer on the very day Arbuscula also performed. 

The principal Roman _Mimas_ were:--Arbuscula, Thymele, Licilia, Dionysia, Cytheris, Valeria, and Cloppia. 

In the satirical interludes of the Grecian stage, and the _FabulaeAtellanae_ of the Roman theatres, the _Exodiarii_ and _Emboliariae_ ofthe Mimes, were the remote progenitors (says Malone) of the Vice orDevil, and the Clown of our English Mystery plays, the latter series ofplays being the origin of the drama of this country. The exactconformity between our Clown and the _Exodiarii_ and _Emboliariae_ ofthe Roman stage is ascertained by that passage in Pliny--"_Lucceia Mimacentum annis in scena pronuntiavit. Galeria, Copiola, Emboliariae, reducta est in scenam: annum certissimum quartum agens_, " is thustranslated by an English author, Philemon Holland, "Lucceia, a commonVice in a play, followed the stage, and acted thereupon 100 yeeres. Suchanother Vice that _plaied the foole, and made sporte between whiles ininterludes_, named Galeria Copiola, was brought to act upon the stagewhen she was in the 104th yeere of her age. " We shall, in anotherchapter, return to the Vice, or Clown. 

CHAPTER VII. 

Introduction of the Roman Pantomimic Art into Britain--First Englishreference to the word Pantomime--The fall of the Roman Empire--Thesacred play--Cornish Amphitheatres--Pantomimical and Lyrical elements inthe sacrifice of the Mass--Christian banishment of the_Mimis_--Penalties imposed by the Church--St. Anthony on Harlequin andPunch--Vandenhoff--what we owe to the _Mimis_. 

With the advent of Julius Caesar and the conquest of Britain by theRomans, about the year 52 B. C. , we have, in all probability, the firstintroduction of the Roman Pantomimic Art into this country. Inasmuch aswe have it upon the authority of history that Caesar travelled with hisMimes, and it is, therefore, not improbable that they came into Britainwith him. England, then, during the occupancy of the Romans, must haveknown the Dramatic Art, or else (as Dibdin observes) Pacuvius, Accius, and Livius Andronicus were ignorant of it. Martial tells us that it did, and so does Boadicea, so that we have not only Roman authorities for it, but also British. 

The word "Pantomime" could not, I may say here, have been Anglicisedearlier than sometime during the seventeenth century. Dr. Johnson'searliest example is from "Hudibras"--

 "Not that I think those _Pantomimes_, Who vary action with the times, Are less ingenious in their art Than those who duly act one part. "

Bacon and Ben Jonson use the Latin _Pantomimi_--"Here be certain_Pantomimi_ that will represent the voices of players. " Again in the"Masque of Love's Triumph, " etc. , 1630, "After the manner of the old_Pantomimi_ they dance over a distracted Comedy of Love. "

The fall of the Roman Empire and the progress of Christianity in Europesounded the death knell of Paganism and its attributes, of whichPantomime was deemed to be one, owing to the bad odour in which thisform of entertainment had got to during the last days of the Empire. Notwithstanding this the church was only too glad to avail itself ofPantomime as a vehicle to portray before the world at large, and inorder to turn attention to the great moral truths to be deduced from thedeath of Him on Calvary Hill. These exhibitions of religious subjects, in the form of _tableaux vivants_, took place in the churches, and, having regard to the sacred edifices in which they were given, theywere, especially in the beginning, I conjecture, performed in dumb show, without any dialogue. Afterwards dialogue was introduced, and they beganto be, not only held in the churches, but also in the church-yards, thestreets, and in booths. 

It is true the sacred play was not a new institution, as one is said tobe mentioned about the time of the Fall of Jerusalem. In Cornwall, playswere given in the ancient times in the open air, after the fashion ofthe Roman Amphitheatre, with the dialogue in the Cymric tongue. Pantomimical performances might also have been given in those open-airtheatres by the Romans. 

Perhaps no better example of the early Sacred Drama I can give, andwhich is still with us, and performed daily, is the sacrifice of theMass in all Roman Catholic Churches throughout the length and breadth ofthe world. In the Mass we have a dramatic action _pantomimically_presented, in part aided by lyrical and epical elements. I will not, however, pursue this portion of my subject further, save than to addthat at the Catholic Churches' festivals, especially during Holy Week orPassion Week, what I have mentioned of the Mass becomes at these timesmarked in even a greater degree. 

With the decline and fall of the Roman Empire, the _Mimis_ becamewanderers on the face of the earth, only appearing at festivals and thelike, when they were wanted, and returning to their haunts asmysteriously as they came. 

In the fourth century A. D. They were excluded from the benefit of therites of the Church, and even those who visited their entertainments, instead of churches, on the Sundays and holidays, were excommunicated. The Theodosian creed provided that the actors were not to have thesacraments administered to them save when death was imminent, and thenonly that, in case of recovery, their calling should be renounced. 

In the second century one of the Fathers of the Church wrote a specialtreatise against plays (_Tertulian De Spectaculis_), in which he asksthose who will not renounce them "Whether the God of truth, who hatesall falsehood, can be willing to receive into His kingdom those whosefeatures and hair, whose age and sex, whose sighs and laughter, love andanger, are all feigned. He promises them a tragedy of their own when, inthe day of Judgment, they shall be consigned to everlasting suffering. "

However, the church was not always against the stage, even in thoseearly times, as St. Thomas Aquinas says that "The office of the playeras being serviceable for the enlivenment of men, and as not beingblameworthy if the player leads an upright life. " Both Saints ThomasAquinas and Anthony supported the stage, the latter only stipulatingthat the character of Harlequin should not be represented by aclergyman, nor that Punch should be exhibited in church. 

It is one of the most remarkable things that, despite the bitterness, hostility, and deadly enmity that has been levelled at the stage, andits players termed "Rogues and Vagabonds" from time immemorial, how ithas lived through it all. In connection with this how the lines of thatgreat actor, Vandenhoff, occurs to me, a few of which, with the reader'spermission, I subjoin. 

 "The drama's now a great established fact, That can't be blink'd, ignored how'er attack'd By vain abuse or angry prejudice; The time's gone by when _playing was a vice_; When bigots mark'd the actor with a ban, (Tho' saintly crowds to hear his accents ran), Denied him sacred rite and hallowed grave-- Filching from God the soul he made to save-- And, for the pleasure which his life had giv'n On earth, refused him dead, a place in heav'n. No! wiser days bring gentler feelings in, And 'Nature's touches makes the whole world kin'. "

By degrees the _Mimis_, or mummers, with their fellows, spreadthemselves all over Europe. The humbler of the craft, in fact it mightbe said of them all, as Othello's occupation had (for them) long sincebeen gone, strolled from castle to castle, from village to town, andearning their livelihood as best they could. To these wanderingBohemians we owe such traditions of the drama that survived with theminto succeeding ages; and to them also we are indebted for keeping aliveby inculcating unto others the Art of _Pantomimus_, when in the heydayof its popularity in the Roman Empire. 

CHAPTER VIII. 

Pantomime in the English Mystery or Miracle Plays and Pageants--Aretrospect of the Early Drama--Mysteries on Biblical events--Chester, Coventry, York, and Towneley Mystery Plays--Plays in Churches--Traces ofthe Mystery Play in England in the Nineteenth Century--Mystery Plays onthe Continent--The Chester series of Plays--The Devil or Clown and the_Exodiarii_ and _Emboliariae_ of the Ancient Mimes. 

It is presumed that, not only were the early sacred plays acted indumb-show, but that the Miracle or Mysteries of Religion series ofplays--which grew out of the sacred play--also the Pageants in thebeginning, and for long afterwards were acted in this wise. Percy, inhis "Reliques of Ancient English Poetry, " also takes this view. Hesays:--"They were (the Mysteries) probably a kind of _dumb show_, intermingled, it may be, with a few short speeches, at length they grewinto regular scenes of connected dialogues, formally divided into actsand scenes. " Colley Cibber has: "It has been conjectured that the actorsof the Mysteries of Religion were _mummers_, a word signifying one whomakes and disguises himself to play the fool _without speaking_. Theywere dressed in an antic manner, _dancing, mimicking_, and _showingpostures_. " Mr. Wright also observes (in his work on the Mystery Playsof Chester, published by the Shakespearean Society) that the "_chiefeffect seems to have been caused by the dumb show_. "

Before dealing with the Mysteries, and as perhaps a kind of retrospect, let us have a look what Wharton has to say of the early drama. "Trade, "he says (in the early centuries) "was carried on by means of fairs, whichlasted several days. Charlemagne established many great marts of thissort in France, as did William the Conqueror and his Norman successorsin England. The merchants, who frequented these fairs in numerouscaravans and companies, employed every art to draw the people together. They were, therefore, accompanied by jugglers, minstrels, and buffoons(_i. E. _, Pantomimists), who were no less interested in giving theirattendance and exercising their skill on these occasions. Few largetowns existed, no public spectacles or popular amusements wereestablished; and as the sedentary pleasures of domestic life and privatesociety were yet unknown, the fair time was the season for diversion. Inproportion as the shows were attended and encouraged, they began to beset off with new decorations and improvements; and the arts ofbuffoonery being rendered still more attractive by extending theircircle of exhibition, acquired an importance in the eyes of the people. By degrees the Clergy, observing that the entertainments of dancing, music, and mimicry exhibited at these annual celebrations made thepeople less religious by promoting idleness and a love of festivity, proscribed these sports and excommunicated the performers. "

Mystery plays were afterwards divided into three classes, though thegeneric term Mysteries, meaning all three, is generally used. In theMysteries, Biblical events were principally used; Miracle plays wereobtained from the legends of the saints; and the last, Moralities, allegorical stories of a moral character not essentially taken from theBible, or from the legends of the saints, comprised the third heading. The Mysteries were for several centuries known on the Continent beforethey were performed in England. The earliest Mystery play known to havebeen acted in England was at Dunstable about the year 1110. It wasprobably in Latin, and composed by a Norman monk. 

It is a peculiarity of the English Mystery plays that they were combinedinto a series of plays on the Old and New Testament; and in which thewhole course of Divine Providence, from the Creation to the Day ofJudgment, is set before the spectator. Four noted groups of plays werethe Chester, the Towneley, Coventry, and York Mystery plays. The Chesterplays began on Whit Monday, and, continued till the following Wednesday. Permission to perform them, in the beginning of their institution, hadtwice to be asked of the Pope. They consisted of 24 plays, and werealmost annually performed till 1577. Before the suppression of themonasteries the Grey Friars at Coventry were celebrated for theirexhibitions of the Mystery plays usually on _Corpus Christi_. TheTowneley, or Woodkirk group of plays were acted at Woodkirk, about fourmiles from Wakefield, and they are of a style that may be likened to thetimes of Henry VI. , or Edward IV. Until the Mystery play fell intodisuse, the trading companies and guilds seem principally to havemaintained them. The mixture of secular with ecclesiastical playershelped to change the characters of the English plays and to provokecensure, which began to be levelled at them from the beginning of thethirteenth century. 

The practise of performing plays in sacred edifices in England, had notceased in 1542, when Bishop Bonner prohibited them in his diocese. However, so late as 1572, it appears that Interludes were occasionallyperformed in Churches. 

Collier speaks of a kind of Mystery, or Miracle play, exhibited in thelast century, with the characters of Herod, Beelzebub, and others. In1838 Sandy mentions of having seen the play of "St. George and theDragon, " presented in the Northern and Western parts of the Kingdom, orrather Queendom, as Victoria had just ascended the throne. I myselfremember quite well, within a couple of decades ago, what was probablyat the time a remnant of the old Mystery play presented in a rural partof Lancashire by men in a fantastic garb, and termed by the countryfolk, "Paste-eggers. " They generally appeared about Good Friday and onto Easter; and their performance consisted of a mixture of music (?), songs, and sometimes not over choice language. This custom does not nowexist where I write of, but it may do--though I very much doubt--in somerural parts. On the Continent, as at Oberammergau, Mystery plays arestill enacted. 

The following account of the Chester Mysteries may be of interest, andappears (says Warton) in the Harleian Catalogue. M. S. Harl. 2013, etc. Exhibited at Chester in the year 1327 at the expense of the differenttrading companies of that city. "The Fall of Lucifer, " by the tanners;"The Creation, " by the drapers; "The Deluge, " by the dyers; "Abraham, Melchizedeck and Lot, " by the barbers; "Moses, Balak and Balaam, " by thecappers; "The Salutation and the Nativity, " by the wrights (carpenters);"The Shepherds feeding the Flocks by Night, " by the painters andglaziers; "The Three Kings, " by the vintners; "The oblation of the ThreeKings, " by the mercers; "The Killing of the Holy Innocents, " by thegoldsmiths; "The Purification, " by the blacksmiths; "The Temptations, "by the butchers; "The Blindmen and Lazarus, " by the glovers; "Jesus andthe Lepers, " by the cowesarys; "Christ's Passion, " by the bowyers, fletchers and ironmongers; "Descent into Hell, " by the cooks andinn-keepers; "Resurrection, " by the skinners; "Ascension, " by thetaylors; "The Election of St. Matthias, " "Sending of the Holy Ghost, "etc. , by the fishmongers; "Anti-christ, " by the clothiers; and "The Dayof Judgment, " by the websters (weavers). The reader will perhaps smileat some of these combinations. This is the substance and order of theformer part of the play. God enters, creating the world, he breatheslife into Adam, leads him into Paradise, and opens his side whilesleeping. Adam and Eve appear _naked_, and _not ashamed_; and the oldSerpent enters, lamenting his fall. He converses with Eve. She eats partof the forbidden fruit, and gives part to Adam. They propose, accordingto the stage directions, to make themselves, _subligacula a folisquibus tegamus pudenda_, cover their nakedness with leaves and conversewith God. God's curse. The Serpent exits, hissing. They are driven fromParadise by four angels, and the Cherubim with a flaming sword. Adamappears digging the ground, and Eve spinning. Their children, Cain andAbel, enter, the former kills his brother. Adam's lamentation. Cain isbanished, etc. , etc. 

Adam and Eve, in the "altogether, " so to speak, were acted like this aslate as the sixteenth century. In a play called "The Travails of theThree English Brothers, " acted in 1607, there occurs this:--

"Many idle toyes, but the old play _that Adam and Eve acted in bareaction under the figge tree draws most of the gentlemen_. "

An Account of the Proclamation of the Mystery plays, acted in "Ye Cityeon ye Dee, " may prove of interest, and the copy of which I subjoin istaken from the Harleian M. S. No. 2013. 

"The proclamation for Whitsone playes made by Wm. Newell, Clarke of thePendice, 24 Hen. 8. Wm. Snead 2nd yere Maior. "

"For as much as auld tyme, not only for the augmentation and increese ofthe holy and catholick faith of our Saviour Jesu Christ, and to exortthe mindes of comon people to good devotion and holsome doctrinethereof, but also for the comonwelth and prosperity of this citty, aplay and declaration of divers storyes of Bible beginning with theCreation and fall of Lucifer, and ending with the generall Judgment ofthe world, to be declared and played in Whitsonne weeke, was devised andmade by one Sir Henry Frances, sometyme moonck of this monastreydisolved, who obtayning and gat of Clemant, then Bushop of Rome, a 1000dayes of pardon, and of the Bushop of Chester at that tyme 40 dayes ofpardon, graunted from thensforth to every person resorting, in peaceablemanner with good devotion, to heare and see the sayd playes, from timeto time as oft as they shall be played within the said citty (and thatevery person or persons disturbing the sayd playes in the maner wise tobe acused by the authority of the sayd pope Clemant's bulls, untill suchtyme as he or they be absolved thereof) which playes were devised to thehonor of God by John Arnway, then maior of this citty of Chester, hisbrethren and whole cominalty thereof, to be brought forth, declared, andplayed, at the cost and charges of the craftesman and occupations of thesayd citty, which hitherto have from tyme to tyme used and performed thesame accordingly. 

"Wherefore Mr. Maior, in the King's name, stratly chargeth andcommandeth that every person and persons of what estate, degree, orcondition so ever he or they be resorting to the sayd playes, do usethemselves peaciblie, without making any assault, affray, or otherdisturbance, whereby the same playes shall be disturbed, and that nomanner of person or persons, whiche so ever he or they be, do use orwear any unlawfull weapons within the precinct of the sayd citty duringthe tyme of the sayd playes (not only upon payn of cursing by authorityof the sayd Pope Clemant's bulls but also) upon payn of imprisonment oftheir bodyes, and making fine to the King at Mr. Maior's pleasure. "

Archdeacon Rogers, who died in 1595, and saw the Whitsuntide playsperformed at Chester in the preceding year, gives the following accountof the mode of exhibition:--

"The time of the yeare they were played was on Monday, Tuesday, andWenseday in Whitson weake. The maner of these playes weare every companyhad his pagiant, or parte, which pagiants weare a high scafolde with 2rowmes, a higher and a lower, upon 4 wheeles. In the lower theyapparelled themselves, and in the higher rowme they played, being allopen on the tope, that all behoulders might heare and see them. Theplaces where they played them was in every streete. They begane first atthe abay gates, and when the first pagiante was played, it was wheeledto the high crosse before the mayor, and soe to every streete; and soeevery streete had a pagiant playinge before them at one time, till allthe pagiantes for the daye appoynted weare played, and when one pagiantwas neere ended, word was broughte from streete to streete that soe theymighte come in place thereof exceedinge orderlye, and all the streeteshave their pagiantes afore them all at one time playeinge togeather; tose which playes was greate resorte, and also scafoldes and stages madein the streetes in those places where they determined to playe theirpagiantes. "

Strutt has the following description of the Mystery plays:--"In theearly dawn of literature, and when the sacred Mysteries were the onlytheatrical performances, what is now called the stage did then consistof three several platforms or stages, raised one above another; on theuppermost sat the _Pater Caelestis_, surrounded with his angels; on thesecond appeared the holy saints and glorified men; and the last andlowest were occupied by mere men who had not passed through this life tothe regions of eternity. On one side of this lowest platform was theresemblance of a dark pitchy cavern, from whence issued appearance offire and flames; and when it was necessary the audience were treatedwith hideous yellings and noises, as imitations of the howlings andcries of the wretched souls tormented by the relentless demons. Fromthis yawning cave the devils themselves constantly ascended, to delightand instruct the spectators; to delight because they were usually thegreatest jesters and buffoons that then appeared; and to instruct forthat they treated the wretched mortals who were delivered to them withthe utmost cruelty, warning thereby all men carefully to avoid thefalling into the clutches of such hardened and relentless spirits. "

It is interesting to note that Hell was imitated by a whale's open jaws, behind which a fire was lighted, in such a way, however, so as not toinjure the "damned, " who had to pass into its gaping mouth. Theperformer who impersonated God had not only his face but also the hairof his wig gilded. Christ was dressed in a long sheep's skin. The Devil, or Vice (the _Exodiarii_ and _Emboliariae_ of the ancient _Mimis_), waseasily recognisable by his horns and his tail, whilst his beard was of abright red colour, to indicate the flames of the region in which hedwelt. Judas also wore a wig of a fiery hue, and, after being hung, hadsometimes to do the "cock crowing, " as some old accounts of the YorkMysteries show. 

It appears to have been customary for the Devil to appear before theaudience with a cry of "Ho! ho! ho!" somewhat similar to theejaculations of the Pantomime Clown in after years. (See _GammerGurton's Needle_, Act II. , Sc. 3, and "The Devil is an Ass, " by BenJonson, Act I. , Sc. 1. ) The following passage occurs in "Wily Beguiled, "1606. "Tush! feare not the dodge; I'll rather put on my flashing rednose, and my flaming face, and come wrapped in a calfe's skin, and cry'Ho! ho! ho!'" Again, "I'll put me on my great carnation nose, and wrapme in a rousing calf's-skin suit, and come like some hob-goblin, or someDevil ascended from the grisly pit of hell, and like a scarebabe makehim take to his legs; I'll play the Devil, I warrant ye. "

CHAPTER IX. 

The Clown or Fool of the early English Drama--Moralities--TheInterlude--The rise of English Tragedy and Comedy--"Dumb Shews" in theOld Plays--Plays suppressed by Elizabeth--A retrospect. 

In the sixth chapter of this work, in quoting Malone, I have mentionedthat the _Exodiarii_ and _Emboliariae_ of the _Mimis_ were the remoteprogenitors of the Clown of the Mystery Plays of this country. Now letus see what were the duties the Clown fulfilled in the old plays of thiscountry, and also briefly of the others who were known under the genericname of Clown or fool. 

In the early drama the Clown was a personage of no mean importance andwhose duty was to preserve the stage from vacancy by amusing theaudience with extemporary buffoonery, and also at the end of theperformance. And, as Heywood, in his "History of Women" (1624), says "Byhis mimic gestures to breed in the less capable mirth and laughter. " Onthese occasions, it was usual to descant, in a humourous style, onvarious subjects proposed to him by the spectators; but they were morecommonly entertained with what was termed a jig: this was a ludicrouscomposition in rhyme, sung by the Clown, accompanied by his pipe andtabor. In these jigs there were sometimes more actors than one, and themost unbounded license of tongue was allowed; the pith of the matterbeing usually some scurrilous exposure of persons among, or well knownto the audience. Here again history repeats itself in this once more, and in imitation of the satirical interludes of the Grecian stage andthe _Atellans_ and _Mimis_ of the Roman theatres. 

The practice of putting the fools and Clowns in requisition between theacts and scenes (observes Francis Douce), and after the play wasfinished, to amuse the spectators with their tricks, may be traced tothe Greek and Roman theatres; and their usages being preserved in themiddle ages, wherever the Roman influence had spread, it would not, ofcourse, be peculiar to England. The records of the French theatredemonstrate this fact; in the "Mystery of Saint Barbara, " we find thisstage direction:--_Pausa. Vadunt, et stultus loquitur. _ (A pause. Theyquit the stage, and the fool speaks). And in this way he is frequentlybrought on between the scenes. 

It is quite obvious that the terms Clown and fool were used, thoughimproperly, perhaps, as synonymous by our old dramatists. Their confusedintroduction might render this doubtful to one who had not wellconsidered the matter. The fool of our early plays denoted a mere idiotor natural, or else a witty hireling retained to make sport for hismasters. The Clown was a character of more variety; sometimes he was amere rustic; and, often, no more than a shrewd domestic. There areinstances in which any low character in a play served to amuse with hiscoarse sallies, and thus became the Clown of the piece. In fact, thefool of the drama was a kind of heterogeneous being, copied in part fromreal life, but highly coloured in order to produce effect. This opinionderives force from what is put into the mouth of Hamlet, when headmonishes those who perform the Clowns, to speak no more than is setdown for them. Indeed, Shakespeare himself cannot be absolved from theimputation of making mere caricatures of his merry Andrews, unless wesuppose, what is very probable, that his compositions have been muchinterpolated with the extemporaneous jokes of the players. To thisfolly, allusions are made in a clever satire, entitled, "PasquilsMad-cappe, throwne at the Corruptions of these Times, " 1626, quarto. 

 "Tell country players, that old paltry jests Pronounced in a painted motley coate, Filles all the world so full of cuckoo nests, That nightingales can scarcely sing a note. Oh! bid them turn their minds to better meanings; Fields are ill sowne that give no better gleanings. "

Sir Philip Sidney reprobates the custom of introducing fools on thestage; and declares that the plays of his time were neither righttragedies nor right comedies, for the authors mingled kings and Clowns, "not, " says he, "because the matter so carrieth it, but thrust in theClowne by head and shoulders to play a part in majestical matters, withneither decencie nor discretion; so as neither the admiration andcommisseration, nor the right sportfulnesse, is by their mongrelltragie-comedie obtained. " Rankin, a puritan, contemporary withShakespeare, wrote a most bitter attack on plays and players, whom hecalls monsters; "And whie monsters?" says he, "because under colour ofhumanitie they present nothing but prodigious vanitie; these are welswithout water, dead branches fit for fuell, cockle amongst corne, unwholesome weedes amongst sweete hearbes; and, finallie, feends thatare crept into the worlde by stealth, and hold possession by subtillinvasion. " In another place, he says, "some transformed themselves torogues, others to ruffians, some others to Clownes, a fourth to fools;the rogues were ready, the ruffians were rude, theyr Clownes cladde aswell with country condition, as in ruffe russet; theyr fooles as fond asmight be. "

To give a clear view of our subject, something of the different sorts offools may be thus classed:

1. --The _general domestic fool_, termed often, but _improperly_, a_Clown_; described by Puttenham as "a buffoune, or counterfett foole. "

2. --The _Clown_, who was a mere country booby, or a witty rustic. 

3. --The _female fool_, who was generally an idiot. 

4. --The _city or corporation fool_, an assistant in publicentertainments. 

5. --The _tavern fool_, retained to amuse the customers. 

6. --The _fool of the ancient Mysteries and Moralities_, otherwise the_Vice_. 

7. --The _fool in the old dumb shows_, often alluded to by Shakespeare. 

8. --The _fool in the Whitsun ales and morris dance_. 

9. --The _mountebank's fool, or merry Andrew_. 

There may be others in our ancient dramas, of an irregular kind, notreducible to any of these classes; but to exemplify them is not withinthe scope of this essay: what has been stated may assist the readers ofold plays to judge for themselves when they meet with such characters. 

The practice of retaining fools can be distinctly traced from theremotest times. They were to be found alike in the palace and thebrothel; the Pope had his fool, and the bawd hers; they excited themirth of kings and beggars; the hovel of the villain and the castle ofthe baron were alike exhilarated by their jokes. With respect to theantiquity of this custom in England, it appears to have existed evenduring the period of our Saxon history, but we are certain of the factin the reign of William the Conqueror. Maitre Wace, an historian of thattime, has an account of the preservation of William's life, when Duke ofNormandy, by his fool, _Goles_; and, in Domesday book, mention is madeof _Berdin joculator regis_; and though this term sometimes denoted aminstrel, evidence might be adduced to prove, that in this instance itsignified a buffoon. 

The entertainment, fools were expected to afford, may be collected ingreat variety from our old plays, especially from those of Shakespeare;but, perhaps, a good idea may be formed of their general conduct from apassage in a curious tract by Lodge, entitled, "Wit's Miserie, " 1599, quarto: "Immoderate and disordinate joy became incorporate in the bodieof a jeaster; this fellow in person is comely, in apparell courtly, butin behaviour a very ape, and no man; his studie is to coin bitterjeasts, or to shew antique motions, or to sing baudie sonnets andballads; give him a little wine in his head, he is continually flearingand making of mouthes; he laughs intemperately at every little occasion, and dances about the house, leaps over tables, outskips men's heads, trips up his companions' heeles, burns sack with a candle, and hath allthe feats of a lord of misrule in the countrie: feed him in his humour, you shall have his heart; in mere kindness he will hug you in his armes, kisse you on the cheeke, and rapping out an horrible oath, crie 'God'ssoule, Tum, I love you, you knowe my poore heart, come to my chamber fora pipe of tobacco, there lives not a man in this world that I morehonor. ' In these ceremonies you shall know his courting, and it is aspeciall mark of him at table, he sits and makes faces: keep not thisfellow company, for in jingling with him, your wardropes shall bewasted, your credits crackt, your crownes consumed, and time (the mostprecious riches of the world) utterly lost. "

With regard to the fool's business on the stage, it was nearly the sameas in reality, with this difference, that the wit was more highlyseasoned. In Middleton's "Mayor of Quinborough, " a company of actors, with a Clown, make their appearance, and the following dialogueensues:--

1st Cheater. This is our Clown, sir. 

Simon. Fye, fye, your company Must fall upon him and beat him; he's too fair i'faith, To make the people laugh. 

1st Cheater. Not as he may be dress'd, sir. 

Simon. Faith, dress him how you will. I'll give him That gift, he will never look half scurvily enough. Oh! the Clowns that I have seen in my time, The very peeping out of one of them would have Made a young heir laugh, though his father lay a-dying; A man undone in law the day before, (The saddest case that can be) might for his second Have burst himself with laughing, and ended all His miseries. Here was a merry world, my masters! Some talk of things of state, of puling stuff; There's nothing in a play like to a Clown, If he have the grace to hit on it, that's the thing indeed. Away then, shift; Clown, to thy motley crupper. 

In the _praeludium_ to Goffe's "Careless Shepherdess, " 1656, quarto, there is a panegyric on them, and some concern is shown for the fool'sabsence in the play itself, while it is stated that "The motley coat wasbanished with trunk-hose. " Yet in Charles II. 's reign, some efforts weremade to restore the character. In the tragedy of "Thorney Abbey, or theLondon Maid, " 1662, 12mo. , the prologue is delivered by a fool, who usesthese words:--"The poet's a fool who made the tragedy, to tell a storyof a king and a court, and leave a fool out on't, when in Pacey's, andSommer's, and Patche's, and Archer's times, my venerable predecessours, a fool was alwaies the principal verb. " Shadwell's play of "The WomanCaptain, " 1680, is perhaps the last in which a regular fool isintroduced; and even there, his master is made to say that the characterwas exploded on the stage. In real life, as was formerly stated, theprofessed fool was to be met with at a much later period, but the customhas long been obsolete. 

What I have said of the Mysteries of Religion plays will, I hope, besufficient to show the reader how they were associated with Pantomime. The Moralities, founded on the Mysteries, were the means used toinculcate, by the aid of a slight plot, religious truths withoutdirectly using scriptural or legendary subjects. Malone says ofthem:--"I am unable to ascertain when the first Morality appeared, butincline to think not sooner than the reign of Edward IV. (about 1460). The public pageants of the reign of his predecessor were uncommonlysplendid, and being then _first_ enlivened by the introduction of_speaking_ allegorical personages, properly and characteristicallyhabited, naturally led the way to these personifications, by whichMoralities were _distinguished from_ the simple religious dramas calledMysteries. "

The Interlude, that was the progenitor of English Comedy, next arrived. The origin of the Interlude is credited to John Heywood. 

It is interesting to note that a play, entitled, "Gammer Gurton'sNeedle, " is credited with being our first English Comedy, though itshumour and wit, it is stated, is of a low and sordid kind. Others makeclaim for the comedy, "Ralph Roister Doister. "

Tragedy and Comedy now began to raise their heads, yet they could not, for some time, do more than bluster and quibble. There is an excellentcriticism on them by that distinguished statesman, poet, scholar, andbrave soldier, Sir Philip Sydney. "Some of their pieces were only '_dumbshews_, ' some with choruses, and some they explained by anInterlocutor, " says an old writer on the subject. The mention ofPantomime in connection with tragedy, and as an example how Pantomimewas requisitioned in Shakespeare's time, is shown in the Second Scene ofAct III. Of "Hamlet, " wherein the "dumb shew" is given by the players. 

The true drama, however, received birth and perfection from the creativegeniuses of Shakespeare, Beaumont and Fletcher, Jonson, and others. Though the stage no sooner began to talk than it grew scurrilous, andplays were thought "Dangerous to Religion, the State, Honesty, andManners, and also for Infection, in Time of Sickness. " Wherefore theywere afterwards for some time suppressed. But upon application to theQueen and Council they were again tolerated under the followingrestrictions: "That no Plays be acted on Sundays at all, nor on anyother Holidays till after Evening Prayer. That no playing be in the_Dark_, nor continue and such Time, but the Auditors may return to theirDwellings in London before Sunset, or at least before it be _Dark_. " Theforegoing is from Stow, and this Act was made in the reign of Elizabeth. The Virgin Queen does not seem to have cared much about this enactment, as we find that on Sunday, the 24th September, 1592, she and her Courtattended a play at Oxford. 

As Tragedy and Comedy progressed on the English stage, Pantomime, as faras it was associated with the dumb shows in the early English drama, became, little by little, a thing of the past. 

We have seen, and traced, from the Creation of this planet, and throughsucceeding ages, how Pantomime has always flourished; we have seen alsohow the Interlude gave way to the Comedy; we will now see how this loveof light entertainment formulated in this country by the Interlude, and, about the same time, by the Italian Masque Comedy, the progenitor ofPantomime (referring to the whole as a spectacle), and the forerunner inFrance, also of that other form of light entertainment known as theFrench Vaudeville, cultivated by Le Sage and other French writers ofnote. 

To go to the bed-rock for our facts, and for the innovation of all this, it is necessary in thought, and perhaps as well in spirit, to journey toItaly. 

CHAPTER X. 

The Italian Masque--The Masque in England--First appearance in thiscountry of Harlequin--Joe Haines as Harlequin--Marlowe's "Faustus"--ACurious Play--The Italian Harlequin--Colley Cibber, Penkethman--Shakespeare's Burlesques of the Masque--Decline of theMasque. 

In Italy the Masque entertainment long held sway, and was a light formof amusement, consisting of Pantomime, music, singing, and dancing, andan adaptation of the _Fabulae Atellanae_ of ancient Italy. Theperformers wore masks, also high-heeled shoes, fitted with brass or ironheels, which jingled as they danced. This ancient custom to present-daystage dancers will doubtless be of interest. Masks, like on the stagesof the Greeks and the Romans, were used, hence the title Mask, orMasque, as it is sometimes written both ways. In the days of Elizabeththe custom was also practised in the Elizabethean Masque. The Masqueradeand the Masked ball, or _Bal-Masque_, are survivals of this ancientcustom. 

Crossing the Alps, if the reader will accompany me, the Italian MasqueComedy we find was already known in France in the fifteenth century. Inthe days of Mary de Medici ballets were introduced, and by the time ofLouis XIV. "Opera" (_i. E. _, the Masque) was in full swing in the earlypart of this reign. On the Spanish stage ballets, with allegoricalcharacters, were known in the sixteenth century; and, in fact, throughout Europe about this age, and some time previously thisimprovised form of Italian Comedy, and the several characters in it, belonging to the family of Harlequin, had long been familiar subjects. 

Returning to England after our little holiday, the Masque in thefifteenth and sixteenth centuries had become very popular. Thearchitect, Inigo Jones, being frequently employed to furnish thedecorations with all the magnificence of his invention. At the Courts ofElizabeth, James I. , Charles I. , and up to the time when all plays weretotally suppressed, was it the rage. At the Restoration the Masque wasrevived again, and here, borrowing the name from the continent, it iscalled "Opera. " In proof of this, in Dryden's work, "Albion andAlbanius, " 1685, "Opera" is defined as a "poetical tale or picturerepresented by vocal and instrumental music, and endowed with machinesand dances. "

The dramatic poet and author, Ben Jonson, collaborated with Inigo Jones, the architect, in devising these Masque plays, Jonson supplying thewords, and Jones the scenic effects, the latter being very gorgeous, consisting of "landscapes, mountains, and clouds, which opened todisplay heathen deities illuminated by variegated coloured lights. " Overthese Masques or "Operatic" entertainments Jonson and Jones quarrelled, as the former's grievance was that he received no more for hislibrettos than Jones did for his scenic devices. Ben Jonson thereuponwrote satires upon Inigo Jones, and in one of his squibs appears thesatirical line, "Painting and Carpentry are the Soul of Masque. " Is notthis applicable to many of our present-day Pantomimes, which, as I havejust stated in the previous chapter, the Masque was one of the originalprogenitors?

Inigo Jones and Jonson first collaborated in the "Masque of Blackness, "performed at Whitehall on Twelfth Night, 1603. In our money this Masquecost some £10, 000. Jones and Jonson's quarrel originated because thepoet had, in the "Masque of Chloridia, " performed in 1630, prefixed hisown name before that of Jones. In consequence of this "rare old Ben" wasdeprived--through Jones' influence--of employment at Court. 

Gifford, in his "Memoirs of Ben Jonson, " says that "In poetry, painting, architecture, they (the Masques) have not since been equalled. "

"The Masque, " continues Gifford, "as it attained its highest degree ofexcellence, admitted of dialogue, singing and dancing; these were notindependent of one another, but combined by the introduction of someingenious fable into an harmonious whole. When the plan was formed, theaid of the sister-arts was called in; for the essence of the Masque waspomp and glory. Movable scenery of the most costly and splendid kind waslavished on the Masque; the most celebrated masters were employed onthe songs and dances; and all that the kingdom afforded of vocal andinstrumental excellence was employed to embellish the exhibition. Thus, magnificently constructed, was composed, as Lord Bacon says, forprinces, and by princes it was played. Of these Masques, the skill withwhich their ornaments were designed, and the inexpressible grace withwhich they were executed appear to have left a vivid impression on themind of Jonson. His genius awakens at once, and all his faculties attuneto sprightliness and pleasure. He makes his appearance like his ownDelight, accompanied with Grace, Love, Harmony, Revel, Sport, andLaughter. "

In the Masques the Pantomimic dances of the Masquers were known asmotions:--

 "In curious knot and mazes so The Spring at first was taught to go; And Zephyr, when he came to woo His Flora had his _motions_ too; And thus did Venus learn to lead The Idalian brawls, and so to tread, As if the wind, not she did walk, Nor press'd a flower, nor bow'd a stalk. "

Before the arrival of the Italian Masque in England, the Harlequinfamily were unknown, and, doubtless, Harlequin's first appearance inthis country was in consonance with the Masque itself. 

Heywood, in a tract, published in 1609, entitled, "_Troia Britannica_, "mentions "Zanyes, Pantaloons, Harlakeans, in which the French, butespecially the Italians, have been excellent as known in this country. "

The earliest record I can find of a Harlequin performing in this countryis in the Masque given before Charles I. And his Court on the Sundayevening following Twelfth Night, 1637. An account of this Masque, aswell as other information dealing with the Masque entertainments, willbe found in my volume, "Stage Whispers, " and in the article ontheatrical scenery. 

In a comedy, written by Ravenscroft, after the Italian manner, JoeHaines, in 1667, donned the motley jacket of Harlequin, and which, inall probability, was the first appearance of Harlequin on the Englishboards, though not in England, as stated above. In a farce of theaudacious Mrs. Aphra Behn's, produced twenty years afterwards, Harlequinand Scaramouch were two of the characters. Mrs. Behn died April 16, 1689, and was buried in the cloisters of Westminster Abbey. To Marlowe's"Faustus, " Mountfort added comic scenes to the tragedy, introducingHarlequin and Scaramouch. A Harlequin, Pantaloon, Columbine, and Clownappeared in a curious piece in 1697, entitled, "Novelty; or Every Act aPlay. " The first act consisted of a pastoral Drama, the second of aComedy, the third a Masque, the fourth a Tragedy, and the fifth act aFarce. 

In Italy the fame of Harlequin was at its zenith at the close of theseventeenth century. In this country in 1687 a Harlequin (Penkethman)appeared in a farce called "The Emperor of the Moon" without a mask. Colley Cibber says of this performance "That when he (Penkethman) firstplayed Harlequin in 'The Emperor of the Moon' several gentlemen (whoinadvertently judged by the rules of nature) fancied that a great dealof the drollery, and spirit of his grimace was lost by his wearing thatuseless, unmeaning mask, therefore insisted that the next time of hisacting that part he should play without it. Their desire was accordinglycomplied with, but alas! in vain--Penkethman was no more Harlequin. Hishumour was quite disconcerted. "

In "The Tempest, " Shakespeare introduces a Masque, and also in his"Midsummer Nights' Dream, " the play of "Pyramus and Thisbe, " performedby the Clowns, is in burlesque of the Masque plays. 

In both these two plays of the bard's, and in connection with the Masqueplays, we see, from the stage directions in them, how Pantomime formedpart of their effective representation. 

In out heroding-herod in the way of splendour, showy dresses andexpensive machinery, the Masque soon fell into decay; and, as Ben Jonsonstates, "The glory of all these solemnities had perished like a blaze, and gone out in the beholder's eyes; so short-lived are the bodies ofall things in comparison with their souls. "

CHAPTER XI. 

Italian Pantomime--Riccoboni--Broom's "Antipodes"--Gherardi--ExtemporalComedies--Salvator Rosa--Impromptu Acting. 

Pantomime in Italy had two distinct features, one a species ofbuffoonery, termed _Lazzi_, and the other Extemporal or ImprovisedComedies. 

"_Lazzi_, " mentions Riccoboni, in his "_Histoire du Theâtre Italien_, "is a term corrupted from the old Tuscan _Lacci_, which signifies a knot, or something that connects. (Both the _Lazzi_ and the ExtemporalComedies were all derived from the one original source, that of theSatirical drama of the Greeks, and perpetuated in the _FabulaeAtellanae_ or _Laudi Osci_ of Italy. )

Riccoboni continues: "These pleasantries, called _Lazzi_, are certainactions by which the performer breaks into the scene, to paint to theeye his emotions of panic or jocularity; but as such gestures areforeign to the business going on, the nicety of the art consists in notinterrupting the scene, and connecting the _Lazzi_ with it; thus to tiethe whole together. "

_Lazzi_ is what we might term "bye play, " which, by gesture and action, could not detract, but rather added to the effectiveness of the scene inprogress. 

In Broom's "Antipodes, " which was performed at the Salisbury CourtTheatre, London, in 1638, a _by-play_, as he calls it, is represented inthis comedy--"A word (explains Malone) for the application of which weare indebted to this writer, there being no other term in our languagethat I know of, which so properly expresses that species of Interludewhich we find in our poet's 'Hamlet, ' and other pieces. "

Riccoboni, in describing some _Lazzi_, says that Harlequin and Scapinbeing in a famished condition, Scapin, in order to bring their youngmistress out, asks Harlequin to groan. Scapin explains to her thereason, and while they are talking, Harlequin is performing his _Lazzi_. This consists of eating an imaginary hatful of cherries, and throwingthe stones at Scapin; or catching imaginary flies, and chopping offtheir wings. 

"_Lazzi_, " we are told, "although they seem to interrupt the progress ofthe action, yet in cutting it they slide back into it, and connect ortie the whole. "

When Riccoboni and his company first appeared in France, though beingunable to speak nothing but Italian, their audiences, though not beingable to understand the _words_, yet the performers were suchpast-masters in the Mimetic Art that their representations were just asintelligible and as expressive as if they had been with words. 

Gherardi, in his treatise, "_Theâtre Italien_, " speaks of a Scaramouch, who, waiting for his master, Harlequin, seats and plays on the guitar. Suddenly, by Pasquariel, he is thrown into a fright. "It was then, " saysGherardi, "that incomparable model of our most eminent actors displayedthe miracles of his art; that art which paints the passions in the face, throws them into every gesture, and through a whole scene of frightsupon frights, conveys the most powerful expression of ludicrous terror. This man moved all hearts by the simplicity of nature, more than skilfulorators can with all the charms of persuasive rhetoric. "

The Extemporal Comedies were all improvised, the actors underwent norehearsal, and, as the name denotes, everything was impromptu. TheScenario, or plot, had just simply the scenes and the characters setforth, and it was then hung in a conspicuous place on the stage; andjust in a similar way as the gas or lime light "plots" are affixed inpresent day theatres, though the Scenarios were not as elaborate as whatsome of our gas or limelight "plots" are. 

Before going on the stage, the Mimes just inspected the Scenario of the_Comedia Del' Arte_, and for the dialogue and action everything dependedsolely upon their Pantomimic genius. 

Disraeli mentions that men of great genius had a passion for performingin these Extemporal Comedies, and, amongst others, the great painter, Salvator Rosa. A favourite character of Rosa's was that of Formica, aClown of Calabria. Passeri, in his life of Rosa, tells the followinganecdote:--

One summer, Salvator Rosa joined a company of young persons, who werecuriously addicted to the making of _Comedie all' Improviso_. In themidst of a vineyard they raised a rustic stage, under the direction ofone Mussi, who enjoyed some literary reputation, particularly for hissermons preached in Lent. 

Their second Comedy was numerously attended, and I went among the rest. I sat on the same bench by good fortune with Cavalier Bernini, Romanelli, and Guido, all well-known persons. Salvator Rosa, who hadalready made himself a favourite with the Roman people, under thecharacter of Formica, opened with a prologue in company with otheractors. He proposed for relieving themselves of the extreme heats and_ennui_ that they should make a Comedy, and all agreed. Formica (Rosa)then spoke (in the satirical Venetian dialect) these exact words, whichMr. Disraeli translates as follows:--"I will not, however, that weshould make a Comedy like certain persons who cut clothes, and put themon this man's back, and on that man's back; for at last the time comeswhich shows how much faster went the cut of the shears than the pen ofthe poet; nor will we have entering on the scene, couriers, brandysellers, and goatherds, and there stare shy and blockish, which I thinkworthy the senseless invention of an ass. "

Passeri continues: "At this time Bernini had made a Comedy in theCarnival very pungent and biting; and that summer he had one ofCastelli's performed in the suburbs, where, to represent the dawn ofday, appeared on the stage water-carriers, couriers, and goat-herds, going about--all which is contrary to rule, which allows of no characterwho is not concerned in the dialogue to mix with the groups. At thesewords of the Formica, I, who well knew his meaning, instantly glanced myeye at Bernini, to observe his movements; but he, with an artificialcarelessness, showed that this 'cut of the shears' did not touch him;and he made no apparent show of being hurt. But Castelli, who was alsonear, tossing his head and smiling in bitterness, showed clearly that hewas hit. "

In concluding, Mr. Disraeli observes that: "This Italian story, toldwith all the poignant relish of these vivacious natives, to whom such astinging incident was an important event, also shows the personalfreedoms taken on these occasions by a man of genius, entirely in thespirit of the ancient Roman _Atellanae_ or the Grecian _Satyra_. "

Of Extemporal Comedies, Riccoboni mentions that: "This kind of spectacleis peculiar to Italy; one cannot deny that it has graces perfectly itsown, and which _written Comedy can never exhibit_. This impromptu modeof acting furnishes opportunities for a perpetual change in theperformance, so that the same Scenario repeated still appears a new one:thus one Comedy may become twenty Comedies. _An actor of thisdescription, always supposing an actor of genius, is more vividlyaffected than one who has coldly got his part by rote. But figure, memory, voice, and even sensibility, are not sufficient for the actorall' improvista; he must be in the habit of cultivating the imagination, pouring forth the flow of expression, and prompt in those flashes whichinstantly vibrate in the plaudits of an audience. _"

Again, Gherardi: "Anyone may learn a part by rote, and do something bad, or indifferent, on another theatre. With us the affair is quiteotherwise; and when an Italian actor dies, it is with infinitedifficulty that we can supply his place. An Italian actor learns nothingby head; he looks on the subject for a moment before he comes forward onthe stage, and entirely depends upon his imagination for the rest. Theactor who is accustomed merely to recite what he has been taught is socompletely occupied by his memory, that he appears to stand, as it were, unconnected either with the audience or his companions; he is soimpatient to deliver himself of the burthen he is carrying that hetrembles like a schoolboy, or is as senseless as an echo, _and couldnever speak if others had not spoken before_. Such a tutored actor amongus would be like a paralytic arm to a body: an unserviceable member, only fatiguing the healthy action of the sound parts. "

CHAPTER XII. 

Pantomimical Characters--Neapolitan Pantomime--The Harlequin Family--TheOriginal Characters in the Italian Pantomimes--CelebratedHarlequins--Italian and French Harlequins--A French view of the EnglishClown--Pierrots' origin--Pantaloon, how the name has beenderived--Columbine--Marionette and Puppet Shows. 

After having shown what the _Lazzi_ and Extemporal Comedies were like, let us now turn to the Pantomimical characters associated with theirrepresentations. 

Every one, observes Mr. Isaac Disraeli, of this grotesque family werethe creatures of national genius, chosen by the people for themselves. Italy, both ancient and modern, exhibits a gesticulating people ofcomedians, and the same comic genius characterised the nation throughall its revolutions, as well as the individual through all his fortunes. The lower classes still betray their aptitude in that vivid humour, where the action is suited to the word--silent gestures sometimesexpressing whole sentences. They can tell a story, and even raise thepassions, without opening their lips. No nation in modern Europepossesses so keen a relish for the burlesque, insomuch as to show aclass of unrivalled poems, which are distinguished by the very title;and perhaps there never was an Italian in a foreign country, howeverdeep in trouble, but would drop all remembrance of his sorrows, shouldone of his countrymen present himself with the paraphernalia of Punch atthe corner of a street. I was acquainted with an Italian, a philosopherand a man of fortune, residing in this country, who found so lively apleasure in performing Punchinello's little comedy, that, for thispurpose, with considerable expense and curiosity, he had his woodencompany, in all their costume, sent over from his native place. Theshrill squeak of the tin whistle had the same comic effect on him as thenotes of the _Ranz des Vaches_ have in awakening the tenderness ofdomestic emotions in the wandering Swiss--the national genius isdramatic. Lady Wortley Montagu when she resided at a villa near Brescia, was applied to by the villagers for leave to erect a theatre in hersaloon: they had been accustomed to turn the stables into a playhouseevery Carnival. She complied, and, as she tells us, was "Surprised atthe beauty of their scenes, though painted by a country painter. Theperformance was yet more surprising, the actors being all peasants; butthe Italians have so natural a genius for comedy, they acted as well asif they had been brought up to nothing else, particularly the Arlechino, who far surpassed any of our English, though only the tailor of ourvillage, and I am assured never saw a play in any other place. " Italy isthe mother, and the nurse, of the whole Harlequin race. 

Hence it is that no scholars in Europe but the most learned Italians, smit by the national genius, could have devoted their vigils to narratethe evolutions of Pantomime, to compile the annals of Harlequin, tounroll the genealogy of Punch, and to discover even the most secretanecdotes of the obscurer branches of that grotesque family, amidsttheir changeful fortunes, during a period of two thousand years. Nor isthis all; princes have ranked them among the Rosciuses; and Harlequinsand Scaramouches have been ennobled. Even Harlequins themselves havewritten elaborate treatises on the almost insurmountable difficulties oftheir art. I despair to convey the sympathy they have inspired me withto my reader; but every _Tramontane_ genius must be informed, that ofwhat he has never seen, he must rest content to be told. 

Of the ancient Italian troop we have retained three or four of thecharacters, while their origin has nearly escaped our recollection; butof the burlesque comedy, the extempore dialogue, the humorous fable, andits peculiar species of comic acting, all has vanished. 

Many of the popular pastimes of the Romans unquestionably survived theirdominion, for the people will amuse themselves, though their masters maybe conquered; and tradition has never proved more faithful than inpreserving popular sports. Many of the games of our children were playedby Roman boys; the mountebanks, with the dancers and tumblers on theirmoveable stages, still in our fairs, are Roman; the disorders of the_Bacchanalia_, Italy appears to imitate in her Carnivals. Among theseRoman diversions certain comic characters have been transmitted to us, along with some of their characteristics, and their dresses. Thespeaking Pantomimes and Extemporal Comedies which have delighted theItalians for many centuries, are from this ancient source. 

Rich, in his "Companion to the Latin Dictionary, " has an excellentillustration of this passage:--"This Art was of very great antiquity, and much practiced by the Greeks and Romans, both on the stage and inthe tribune, induced by their habit of addressing large assemblies inthe open air, where it would have been impossible for the majority tocomprehend what was said without the assistance of some conventionalsigns, which enabled the speaker to address himself to the eye, as wellas the ear of the audience. These were chiefly made by certain positionsof the hands and fingers, the meaning of which was universallyrecognised and familiar to all classes, and the practice itself reducedto a regular system, as it remains at the present time amongst thepopulace of Naples, who will carry on a long conversation betweenthemselves by mere gesticulation, and without pronouncing a word. " Thatmany of these signs are similar to those used by the Ancients, is provedby the same author, who copies from an antique vase a scene which heexplains by the action of the hands of the figures, adding, "A commonlazzaroni, when shown one of these compositions, will at once explainthe purport of the action, which a scholar with all his learning cannotdivine. " The gesture to signify love, employed by the Ancients andmodern Neapolitans, was joining the tips of the thumb and forefinger ofthe left hand; an imputation or asseveration by holding forth the righthand; a denial by raising the same hand, extending the fingers. Inmediaeval works of art, a particular attitude of the fingers is adoptedto exhibit malicious hate: it is done by crossing the forefinger of eachhand, and is generally seen in figures of Herod or Judas Iscariot. 

Down to the fifteenth century there is not much known of the family ofHarlequin, with the exception, perhaps, that the name Zany became morewidely distributed into such as Drolls, Clowns, Pantaloons, Punches, Scaramouches, and the like. In the Italian Comedy, of purely nativegrowth, the original characters were Pantaloon, a Venetian Merchant;Dottore, a Bolognese physician; Spavento, a Neapolitan braggart;Pulcinello, a wag of Apalia; Giangurgoto and Corviello, two Clowns ofCala-simpleton; and Arlechino, a blundering servant of Bergamo. 

The latter The Harlequin of the Italian theatre, has passed through, mentions Mr. Disraeli, all the vicissitudes of fortune. At first (as wehave seen) he was a true representative of the ancient Mime; but, duringthe fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, he degenerated into a booby anda gourmand, the perpetual butt for a sharp-witted fellow, his companion, Brighella, the knife and the whetstone. Harlequin, however, under thereforming hand of Goldoni, became, in after years, a child of nature, and the delight of his country; and he has commemorated the historicalcharacter of the great Harlequin Sacchi. It may serve the reader tocorrect his notions of one, from the absurd pretender with us who hasusurped the title. "Sacchi possessed a lively and brilliant imagination. While other Harlequins merely repeated themselves, Sacchi, who alwaysadhered to the essence of the play, contrived to give an air offreshness to the piece by his new sallies and unexpected repartees. Hiscomic traits and his jests were neither taken from the language of thelower orders, nor that of the comedians. He levied contributions oncomic authors, on poets, orators, and philosophers; and in hisimpromptus they often discovered the thoughts of Seneca, Cicero, orMontaigne. He possessed the art of appropriating the remains of thesegreat men to himself, and allying them to the simplicity of theblockhead; so that the same proposition which was admired in a seriousauthor, became highly ridiculous in the mouth of this excellent actor. "In France Harlequin was improved into a wit, and even converted into amoralist; he is the graceful hero of Florian's charming compositions, which please even in the closet. "This imaginary being, invented by theItalians, and adopted by the French, " says the ingenious Goldoni, "hasthe exclusive right of uniting _naiveté_ with _finesse_, and no one eversurpassed Florian in the delineation of this amphibious character. Hehas even contrived to impart sentiment, passion, and morality to hispieces. " Harlequin must be modelled as a national character, thecreature of manners; and thus the history of such a Harlequin might bethat of the age and of the people, whose genius he ought to represent. 

The history of a people is often detected in their popular amusements;one of these Italian Pantomimic characters shows this. They had a_Capitan_, who probably originated in the _Miles gloriosus_ of Plautus;a brother, at least, of our Ancient Pistol and Bobadil. The ludicrousnames of this military poltroon were Spavento (Horrid fright), Spezza-fer (Shiver-spear), and a tremendous recreant was CaptainSpavento de Val inferno. When Charles V. Entered Italy, a SpanishCaptain was introduced; a dreadful man he was too, if we are to befrightened by names: Sangre e Fuego! and Matamoro! His business was todeal in Spanish rhodomontades, to kick out the native Italian Capitan, in compliment to the Spaniards, and then to take a quiet caning fromHarlequin, in compliment to themselves. When the Spaniards lost theirinfluence in Italy, the Spanish Captain was turned into Scaramouch, whostill wore the Spanish dress, and was perpetually in a panic. TheItalians could only avenge themselves on the Spaniards in Pantomime! Onthe same principle the gown of Pantaloon over his red waistcoat andbreeches, commemorates a circumstance in Venetian history expressive ofthe popular feeling. 

The characters of the Italian Pantomime became so numerous, that everydramatic subject was easily furnished with the necessary personages ofcomedy. That loquacious pedant, the Dottore, was taken from the lawyersand the physicians, babbling false Latin in the dialect of learnedBologna. Scapin was a livery servant, who spoke the dialect of Bergamo, a province proverbially abounding with rank intriguing knaves, who, like the slaves in Plautus and Terence, were always on the watch tofurther any wickedness; while Calabria furnished the booby Giangurgellowith his grotesque nose. Molière, it has been ascertained, discovered inthe Italian theatre at Paris his "_Medecin malgre Lui_, " his"_Etourdi_, " his "_L'Avare_, " and his "_Scapin_. " Milan offered a pimpin Brighella; Florence, an ape of fashion in Gelsomino. These and otherPantomimic characters, and some ludicrous ones, as the Tartaglia, aspectacled dotard, a stammerer, and usually in a passion, had beengradually introduced by the inventive powers of an actor of genius, tocall forth his own peculiar talents. 

The Pantomimes, or, as they have been described, the continualMasquerades, of Ruzzante, with all these diversified personages, talkingand acting, formed, in truth, a burlesque comedy. Some of the finestgeniuses of Italy became the votaries of Harlequin; and the ItalianPantomime may be said to form a school of its own. The invention ofRuzzante was one capable of perpetual novelty. Many of these actors havebeen chronicled either for the invention of some comic character, or fortheir true imitation of nature in performing some favourite one. One, already immortalised by having lost his real name in that of CaptainMatamoros, by whose inimitable humours he became the most popular man inItaly, invented the Neapolitan Pullicinello; while another, by deeperstudy, added new graces to another burlesque rival. One Constantiniinvented the character of Mezetin, as the Narcissus of Pantomime. Heacted without a mask, to charm by the beautiful play of his countenance, and display the graces of his figure; the floating drapery of hisfanciful dress could be arranged by the changeable humour of the wearer. Crowds followed him in the streets, and a King of Poland ennobled him. The Wit and Harlequin Dominic sometimes dined at the table of LouisXIV. --Tiberio Florillo, who invented the character of Scaramouch, hadbeen the amusing companion of the boyhood of Louis XIV. ; and from himMolière learnt much, as appears by the verses under his portrait:--

 Cet illustre comédien De son art traça la carrière: II fut le maître de Molière, Et la Nature fut le sien. 

The last lines of an epitaph on one of these Pantomimic actors may beapplied to many of them during their flourishing period:--

 Toute sa vie il a fait rire; Il a fait pleurer a sa mort. 

Several of these admirable actors were literary men, who have written ontheir art, and shown that it was one. The Harlequin Cecchini composedthe most ancient treatise on this subject, and was ennobled by theEmperor Matthias; and Nicholas Barbieri, for his excellent acting calledthe Beltrame, a Milanese simpleton, in his treatise on comedy, tells usthat he was honoured by the conversation of Louis XIII. , and rewardedwith fortune. 

A sketch of Harlequin's original part is worth recording. "He is amixture of wit, simplicity, ignorance, and grace, he is a half made upman, a great child with gleams of reason and intelligence, and all hismistakes and blunders have something arch about them. The true mode ofrepresenting him is to give him suppleness, agility, the playfulness ofa kitten with a certain coarseness of exterior, which renders hisactions more absurd. His part is that of a faithful valet; greedy;always in love; always in trouble, either on his own or his master'saccount; afflicted and consoled as easily as a child, and whose grief isas amusing as his joy. "

His costume consisted of a jacket fastened in front with loose ribbons, and pantaloons of wide dimensions, patched with various coloured piecesof cloth sewn on in any fashion. His beard was worn straight, and of ablack colour; on his face he had a half black mask and in his belt ofuntanned leather he carried a wooden sword. 

In Italy there were many varieties of Harlequin, the most notable beingTrivelin, and Truffaldin. The dress of the former, instead of thepatches symmetrically arranged, had triangular patches along the seams, and suns and moons only for patches. He wore the soft hat and hare'sfoot, but did not carry the wooden sword. The hare's foot denotingspeed, has in all probability its origin in the winged cap of the godMercury. 

Truffaldin is a species of Harlequin, who first appeared about 1530. Herepresented (_truffa_, the villain) a sneaking kind of knave, and in themiddle of the seventeenth century this character was very popular. 

In France, about 1660, Cardinal Mazarin invited one Joseph DominiqueBiancolelli, to come to Paris to give entertainments. Shortly after hisarrival Biancolelli gave quite a new reading to the character ofArlechino, as he made him not only a wit and punster, but also a bit ofa philosopher. Biancolelli's improvements did not end here, as he turnedhis attention to the dress of Arlechino, which was now made of finer andbetter quality, whilst the parti-coloured patches were made moreartistic and attractive. On the death of Lolatelli, who, in hislifetime, had played a kind of Arlechino part, Biancolelli succeededhim, and soon sprang into prominence, and acquired a great artisticreputation. Whilst dancing before Louis XV. Biancolelli contracted acold, which set up inflammation of the lungs, causing his death. Hiscompanions, at the theatre in which he performed, to mark the sense oftheir great grief, closed the theatre for a month. Biancolelli died in1688. 

As Arlechino, Biancolelli was succeeded by his son, Pierre, who playedunder the name of Dominique. 

A Tuscan, named Gherardi, who had obtained celebrity as a singer, wasthe next successful French Harlequin. In consequence of a fall Gherardimet his death, in the year 1700. 

Nearly a couple of decades afterwards, in 1716, Thomassin made hisappearance as Harlequin, in pieces written for him by Marivaux, such as"_Le Prince Travesti_, " "_La Surprise de l'Amour_, " and in which heappeared with great success. So daring were Thomassin's tricks, and insuch popularity was he held, that, fearful of losing their favouritelike Gherardi, he was obliged to discontinue them. 

Another competitor now arose to take the crown from Thomassin, and inthe person of one Carlo Bertinazzi, commonly called Carlin. Our actor, Garrick, was an admirer of this famous Mime. Of Carlin, M. Sandspeaks:--"Like most clever buffoons, he had a very melancholydisposition, and, as with Dominique, his gaiety was what the Englishterm humour. It belonged to his mind, and not to his temperament. "Carlin also wrote a book entitled, "_Les Metamorphosis d'Arlequin_. " In1783 Carlin died, and his place in the favour of the public was filledby Galinetti. 

The French view of the English Clown is interesting: "The English clown(whose nearest representative on the French stage is Pierrot) is an oddand fantastical being. The Florentine Stentorella alone resembles him inhis jests and tricks. His strange dress seems to have been taken fromthe American Indians. It consists of a white, red, yellow, and green network, ornamented with diamond-shaped pieces of stuff of various colours. His face is floured, and streaked with paint a deep carmine; theforehead is prolonged to the top of the head, which is covered with ared wig, from the centre of which a little stiff tail points to the sky. His manners are no less singular than his costume. He is not dumb, likeour Pierrot, but, on the contrary, he sustains an animated and wittyconversation; he is also an acrobat, and very expert in feats ofstrength. "

M. Blandelaire gives a more poetical description: "The English Pierrotis not a person as pale as the moon, mysterious as silent, straight andlong, like the gallows to whom we have been accustomed in Deburean. TheEnglish Pierrot enters like the tempest, and tumbles like a parcel; hislaugh resembles joyous thunder. He is short and fat; his face is flouredand streaked with paint; he has a great patch of red on each cheek; hismouth is enlarged by prolongation of the lips by means of two red bands, so that when he laughs his mouth appears to open from ear to ear. "

The Pierrots--not only in France, but on the Continent generally--tookall the characteristics of the Zanys, Bertoldo, Paggliaccio, Gros, Giullaume, Pedrolino, Gilles, Corviello, and Peppe Nappa, of the ItalianComedy, and all owing at least their original conception to the theatresof the Greeks, and the Romans. On the Italian stage there was not aprincipal Clown like in England, the foremost place being occupied byArlechino. The four principal masked characters of the Italian _Comediadel' Arte_ in Venice consisted of Tartaglia (a stammerer), Truffildino, Brighella (a representative of orators and public personages), andPantaloon (a native of Venice). The name of Pantaloon is derived from_planta-leone_ (_plante-lion_--he planted the lion). The probablemeaning of it in this particular is that the Venetian merchants, it issaid, in boasting of their conquests set up their standard--the Venetianstandard being the lion of St. Mark--on various islands in theMediterranean, and from which they were nicknamed, it is said, "plantlion. " A more probable derivation of the word is that the ancient patronsaint of Venice is San Pantaleone. St. Pantaleone's day is July 27. Hewas martyred A. D. 303. In "Childe Harold, " Lord Byron, in Canto IV. , stanza 14, has that "The Venetian name of Pantaleone is her veryby-word. "

Pantaloon has been, at various times, husband, father, and widower. Sometimes he is rich, then poor, and occasionally a spendthrift. Thedress that he wore consisted of tight red breeches, rather short, a longblack robe, red stockings and waistcoat, a little woollen skull-cap andslippers. 

When the Venetian republic lost Negropont mourning generally wasadopted, and Pantaloon adopted it with the rest, and on the Continentmourning has, I believe, formed a component part of Pantaloon's dressever since. 

In 1750 Darbes, in Italy, was one of the best Pantaloons. Darbes, onone occasion, ventured to play this character in one of Goldonicharacters, without a mask, and which, we are told, was a failure. Asimilar attempt was made on the English stage, which I have previouslyreferred to. 

Mention has been previously made of females appearing on the stageduring the Grecian and Roman periods. From this, however, there arose onthe Italian stage, in after years, the _Servetta_ or _Fantesca_, a kindof waiting maid, or "accomplished companion" part, and called later, inFrance, _Soubrette_, and the origin of which, in all probability, can betraced to the _Mimas_ of _Pantomimus_. 

In the sixteenth century mention is made of a troupe of performers knownas _Amorosos_ or _Innamortos_, appearing in Italy. Those who onlyappeared in the female parts were known as Colombina, Oliva, Fianetta, Pasquella, and Nespella. Columbina's part, the "accomplished companion, "like the _Vita_ of the Indian Drama, was sometimes that of mistress, andsometimes that of maid. Up to 1560 women were unknown on the Italianstage. In England just one hundred years later. 

Three generations of the family of Biancolelli, the Harlequin, grandmother, grand-daughter, and great grand-daughter appeared asColumbines in France. The most talented was Catherine, the daughter ofDominique, and she made her _debut_ in 1683, in "_Arlequin Protée_, "with great success. 

About 1695, Columbine appeared in a parti-coloured gown like a femaleHarlequin, and in the piece "_Le Retour de la foie de Besons_, " acted atthe Comedie Italiene. As the innovation was much liked, the part ofColumbine came to be dressed like the Harlequin. The Columbine dressedin short muslin skirts is a creation of modern times. In the FrenchComedies Columbine was often Harlequin's wife, but she never had thepowers of a magical wand. 

In the old form of Pantomime there were many other personages in thesedumb shows which we never had in the English Pantomimes. To note a fewof them:--The Captain, a bragging swash-buckler; the Apothecary, ahalf-starved individual with a red nose; and a female _soubrette_, whoacted for her mistress, Columbine, similar duties as what Clownperformed as valet for his master. The Doctor brought at first on thestage in 1560, was supposed to be a lawyer or a physician. From 1560 hisdress was that of a professor's, a short, black tunic, stockings, and ablack mask covering the forehead and nose. Another, Façanappa, had along parrot nose, surmounted by a pair of green spectacles, a flat hat, with a broad brim, a waistcoat covered with tinsel, and a long whitecoat with large pockets. Like the Clown of our early English plays, andlike his ancestors, the _Atellans_ and _Mimes_, he had the privilege ofmaking allusions from the stage, in what, I suppose, were something likethe Interludes. Il Barone is another variety. He was a Sicilian lord, deceived by his daughter, and also duped by his valets. "_Il Barone_"was a favourite subject for another form of "Miming, " that of thewooden figures called Marionettes. 

Marionette entertainments were known both to the Greeks and the Romans. The adventures of "_Don Juan_" and "_Don Giovanni_, " of the ItalianOpera, in all probability sprang originally from the adventures of Punchin the puppet shows. 

Puppet shows introduced into France (_temp. _ Charles IX. ) from Italy, where they were and are still known as _Fantoccini_, by Marion--hencetheir name--and then into this country, are mentioned by Shakespeare, Pepys, Jonson, Swift, and the Essayists. 

Puppet shows, in this country, were formerly known as "Motions. "Shakespeare's Antolycus frequented fairs and the like, and he alsocomposed a "Motion" of "The Prodigal Son. " Mystery plays were alsorepresented by puppets. 

In England, especially at Bartholomew Fair, they were always verypopular, and the chief survivor of this form of "dumb show" is "Mr. Punch" of our streets, whose ancient history I have briefly mentioned inanother chapter, but not that of "Mrs. Punch, " on whose history I amunable--however so brief--to throw any light. 

Let us now, dear reader, return to England, and trace in this countrysomething more of the History of Pantomime, and for which we will nowopen another chapter. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Italian Scenarios and English "Platts"--Pantaloon--Tarleton, theClown--Extemporal Comedy--The Poet Milton--Ben Jonson--TheCommonwealth--"A Reign of Dramatic Terror"--Robert Cox and his "Humours"and "Drolleries"--The Restoration. 

It has been thought that our dramatic poet, Massinger, drew upon theItalian Comedy for the humour of some of his plays. That there was someform of intercourse between the English and Italian stage is shown bythe discovery of one of the Italian Scenarios, or "Platts, " as we knowthem, at Dulwich College, which discovery Steevens describes as "amysterious fragment of ancient stage direction, and of a species ofdramatic entertainment which no memorial is preserved in any annals ofthe English stage. " The "Platt, " written in a large hand, "Andcontaining directions, was thought to have been affixed near theprompter's stand, and it has even an oblong hole in its centre to admitof being suspended on a wooden peg (Disraeli). On it, and in a familiarway, appear the names of the players, such as: Pigg, White and Black, Dick and Sam, Little Will Barne, Jack Gregory, and the Red-facedfellow. "

A "Platt" of the "Seven Deadly Sinnes, " supposed to have been written byDick Tarleton, the famous Clown, is preserved, I believe, in DulwichCollege. It consists of a pasteboard fifteen inches high, and nine inbreadth, and on it is written, in two columns, the following:--

"A tent being placed on the stage for Henry the Sixth; he in it asleep. To him the lieutenant, and a pursuivant (R. Cowley, Jo. Duke), and onewarder (R. Pallant). To them Pride, Gluttony, Wrath, and Covetousness atone door; at another door Envy, Sloth, and Lechery. The three put backthe four, and so _exeunt_. 

"Henry awaking, enter a keeper (J. Sinclair), to him a servant (T. Belt), to him Lidgate and the keeper. _Exit_, then enter again--then Envypasseth over the stage. Lidgate speaks. "

These "Platts" were, in all probability, one of the first written formsof Pantomimic entertainments known in England, and borrowed, asmentioned, from the Scenarios of the Italians. That form of homeamusement well-known in family circles, "Acting Charades, " may belikened to them. 

To get all the information that we can obtain of the "Platts, " I am sureI cannot do better than quote the words of Mr. Isaac Disraeli, wellassured that they will be more acceptable than any I can make. 

Some of these "Platts" are on solemn subjects, like the tragicPantomimes; and in some appear "Pantaloon, and his man Peascod, with_spectacles_. " Steevens observes, that he met with no earlier example ofthe appearance of Pantaloon, as a specific character on our stage; andthat this direction concerning "the spectacles" cannot fail to remindthe reader of a celebrated passage in "As you like it. " (Scene 6, ActII. ). 

 ... "The sixth age shifts Into the lean and slippered pantaloon; With spectacles on nose, and pouch on side; His youthful hose well saved, a world too wide For his shrunk shank; and his big manly voice, Turning again toward childish treble, pipes And whistles in his sound. "

Perhaps, he adds, Shakespeare alludes to this personage, as habited inhis own time. The old age of Pantaloon is marked by his leanness, andhis spectacles and his slippers. He always runs after Harlequin, butcannot catch him; as he runs in slippers and without spectacles, isliable to pass him by without seeing him. Can we doubt that thisPantaloon had come from the Italian theatre, after what we have alreadysaid? Does not this confirm the conjecture, that there existed anintercourse between the Italian theatre and our own? Further, Tarleton, the comedian, celebrated for his "Extemporal wit, " was the writer orinventor of one of these "Platts. " Stow records of one of our actorsthat "he had a quick, delicate, refined _Extemporal wit_. " And Howes, the continuator of Stow's Chronicles of another, that "he had awondrous, plentiful, pleasant, _Extemporal_ wit. "

Praiseworthy reference is also made of Tarleton in "Kinde-Hart'sDream, " 4to. , published in 1592. In 1611 a book was published entitled"Tarleton's Jeasts. " Tarleton was so celebrated in his time that hisportrait was hung out as a sign for alehouses. "To sit with Tarleton onan ale-post's signe, " observes Bishop Hall in his satires. Oldys, in hisM. S. Notes, mentions that "There is an alehouse sign of a tabor and pipeman, with the name of Tarleton under it, in the borough of Southwark, and it was taken from the print before the old 4to. Book of 'Tarleton'sJeasts;' and Lord Oxford had a portrait of him with his tabor and pipe, which was probably taken from the pamphlet called 'Tarleton's Jeasts, 'on the title page of which there is a wooden plate of Tarleton, at fulllength in his Clown's dress, playing on his pipe with one hand, andbeating his drum with the other. "

These actors then (continues Mr. Disraeli), who were in the habit ofexercising their impromptus, resembled those who performed in theunwritten comedies of the Italians. Gabriel Harvey, the Aristarchus ofthe day, compliments Tarleton for having brought forward a _new speciesof dramatic exhibition_. If this compliment paid to Tarleton merelyalludes to his dexterity at _extemporaneous wit_ in the character of the_Clown_, as my friend Mr. Douce thinks, this would be sufficient to showthat he was attempting to introduce on our stage the Extemporal Comedyof the Italians, which Gabriel Harvey distinguishes as "a new species. "As for these "Platts, " which I shall not venture to call "Scenarios, "they surprise by their bareness, conveying no notion of the pieceitself, though quite sufficient for the actors. They consist of mereexits and entrances of the actors, and often the real names of theactors are familiarly mixed with those of the _dramatis personae_. Steevens has justly observed, however, on these skeletons, that although"The drift of these dramatic pieces cannot be collected from the mereoutlines before us, yet we must not charge them with absurdity. Even thescenes of Shakespeare would have worn as unpromising an aspect, hadtheir skeletons only been discovered. " The printed _Scenarios_ of theItalian theatre were not more intelligible; exhibiting only the _hints_for scenes. 

Thus, I think, we have sufficient evidence of an intercourse subsistingbetween the English and Italian theatres, not hitherto suspected; and Ifind an allusion to these Italian Pantomimes, by the great town-wit TomNash, in his "Pierce Pennilesse, " which shows that he was wellacquainted with their nature. He, indeed, exults over them, observingthat our plays are "honourable and full of gallant resolution, notconsisting, like theirs, of Pantaloon, a Zany, and a w---e (alluding tothe women actors of the Italian stage); but of emperors, kings, andprinces. " My conviction is still confirmed, when I find that StephenGosson wrote the comedy of "Captain Mario;" it has not been printed, but"Captain Mario" is one of the Italian characters. 

Even at a later period, the influence of these performances reached thegreatest name in the English Parnassus. One of the great actors andauthors of these pieces, who published eighteen of these irregularproductions, was Andreini, whose name must have the honour of beingassociated with Milton's, for it was his comedy or opera which threw thefirst spark of the "Paradise Lost" into the soul of the epic poet--acircumstance which will hardly be questioned by those who have examinedthe different schemes and allegorical personages of the first projecteddrama of "Paradise Lost": nor was Andreini, as well as many others ofthis race of Italian dramatists, inferior poets. The Adamo of Andreiniwas a personage sufficiently original and poetical to serve as the modelof the Adam of Milton. The youthful English poet, at its representation, carried it away in his mind. Wit, indeed, is a great traveller; and thusalso the "Empiric" of Massinger might have reached us from the BologneseDottore. 

The late Mr. Hole, the ingenious writer on the "Arabian Nights, "observed to me that Molière, it must be presumed, never read Fletcher'splays, yet his "_Bourgeois Gentilhomme_, " and the other's "NobleGentleman, " bear in some instances a great resemblance. Both may havebeen drawn from the same Italian source of comedy which I have hereindicated. 

Many years after this article was written, appeared "The History ofEnglish Dramatic Poetry, " by Mr. Collier. That very laboriousinvestigator has an article on "Extemporal Plays and Plots, " iii. , 393. The nature of these "Platts" or "Plots, " he observes, "Our theatricalantiquaries have not explained. " The truth is that they never suspectedtheir origin in the Italian "Scenarios. " My conjectures are amplyconfirmed by Mr. Collier's notices of the intercourse of our playerswith the Italian actors. Whetstone's Heptameron, in 1582, mentions "Thecomedians of Ravenna, who are not _tied to any written device_. " InKyd's Spanish Tragedy the Extemporal Art is described:--

 The Italian tragedians were so sharp of wit, That in one hour of meditation They would perform anything in action. 

These Extemporal plays were witnessed much nearer than in Italy--at the_Theâtre des Italiens_ at Paris--for one of the characters replies:--

 I have seen the like, In Paris, among the French tragedians. 

Ben Jonson has mentioned the Italian "Extemporal Plays, " in his "Case isAltered"; and an Italian _commediante_ and his company were in London in1578, who probably let our players into many a secret. 

Evil times, with the advent of the Commonwealth, soon fell upon ourtheatres, and when they, as well as plays, were suppressed by order ofthe Puritan Parliament, some of the actors followed the Royalist cause(we do not hear of any taking the side of the Parliament), and losttheir lives fighting for the king. Others attempted to enact plays insecret, but these performances more often than not, caused the actorsincarceration in some prison. At Holland House, in Kensington, many ofthese secret performances, by the aid of bribery, took place. To givetimely warning of the performances Mr. Wright, in his "_HistoriaHistronica_, " mentions that "Alexander Goff, the woman-actor, was thejackal to give notice of time and place to the lovers of the drama. "

All this however, could not, and would not, keep the spirit of the dramaalive. The theatres were, we know, totally suppressed, "so there mightbe no more plaies acted. " Play-goers there were, as I have shown, butthey never knew when, in witnessing a performance, they might be seizedby the military, to be fined or imprisoned, or perhaps both. A morelengthy reign of "Dramatic Terror" than what we had at this period, would, in all probability, have left us little or no trace of the Dramaof this country. But a saviour was at hand, and that was Pantomime. 

Pantomime, as previously stated, kept alive for ages, after the downfallof the Roman Empire, the Dramatic Art, and during the Commonwealth ofthis country, it practically did the same for us. 

Owing to the exigences of the times, one Robert Cox, an actor ofconsiderable genius, after the fashion of the Extemporal Comedies ofItaly, invented a series of dramatic exhibitions at the Red Bull Theatre(where the first English actress made her appearance December 8, 1660)and elsewhere, under the guise of rope-dancing, a number of comic scenesfrom Shakespeare, Shirley, Marston, Beaumont, and Fletcher, and others. Cox's exhibitions, known as "Humours" or "Drolleries, " were collected byMarsh, and reprinted (1672) by Francis Kirkman, the author andbook-seller. This collection is entitled "The Wits, or Sport upon Sport, in select pieces of Drollery, digested into scenes by way of dialogue. Together with variety of Humours of several nations fitted for thepleasure and content of all persons, either in Court, City, Country, orCamp. "

Of these "Humours" Kirkman observes, "As meanly as you may now think ofthese Drolls, they were then acted by the best comedians; and, I maysay, by some that then exceeded all now living; the incomparable RobertCox, who was not only the principal actor, but also the contriver andauthor of most of these farces. How I have heard him cried up for hisJohn Swabber, and Simpleton the Smith; in which he being to appear witha large piece of bread and butter, I have frequently known several ofthe female spectators and auditors to long for it; and once thatwell-known natural, Jack Adams of Clerkenwell, seeing him with bread andbutter on the stage, and knowing him, cried out, 'Cuz! Cuz! give mesome!' to the great pleasure of the audience. And so naturally did heact the smith's part, that being at a fair in a country town, and thatfarce being presented the only master-smith of the town came to him, saying, 'Well, although your father speaks so ill of you, yet when thefair is done, if you will come and work with me, I will give you twelvepence a week more than I give any other journeyman. ' Thus was he takenfor a smith bred, that was, indeed, as much of any trade. "

With the death of the Lord Protector, Cromwell, "The merry rattle ofMonk's drums coming up the Gray's Inn Road, welcomed by thousands ofdusty spectators, " the return of Charles II. , 1660, and though Charleswas more a lover of the stage than of the drama, the theatre againrecovered its credit, and to vigorously flourish once more. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

Introduction of Pantomimes to the English Stage--Weaver's "History ofthe Mimes and Pantomimes"--Weaver's Pantomimes--The prejudice againstPantomimes--Booth's counsel. 

The year 1702 marks the appearance of the first Pantomime introduced tothe English stage, written by John Weaver, a friend of Addison andSteele's, and entitled "Tavern Bilkers. " It was produced at Drury Lane. 

The author was by profession a dancing-master; his name is not to befound in any biographical dictionary, yet, it is evident that the"little dapper, cheerful man" had brains in his head as well as talentin his heels. 

John Weaver was the son of a Mr. Weaver, whom the Duke of Ormond, theChancellor of Oxford, licensed in 1676 to exercise the profession of adancing-master within the university. The date of his birth is unknown, but we first hear of him as stage-managing the production of his ownPantomime at Drury Lane, 1702, an entertainment which he described asone of "dancing, action, and motion. " The latter would appear to havebeen a failure, as in his "History of the Mimes and Pantomimes, "published in 1728, Weaver states that his next attempt on similar linesdid not take place until many years afterwards--not until the year 1716, in fact. In 1716 Weaver was back in London producing two burlesquePantomimes, "The Loves of Mars and Venus, " and "Perseus and Andromeda. "At Drury Lane, in the following year, "Orpheus and Eurydice, " and"Harlequin Turn'd Judge, " was produced, and "Cupid and Bacchus" in 1719. Weaver also wrote many treatises on dancing, some of which were highlycommended by Steele. 

Another Pantomime of Weaver's was "The Judgment of Paris"--dateuncertain--performed by the author's pupils "in the great room over theMarket-house, " Shrewsbury--in which town he had taken up hisresidence--in the year 1750. John Weaver died September 28th, 1760, andwas buried at St. Chads, Shrewsbury. 

The mention above of "Perseus and Andromeda" calls to mind that therewere several pieces of this name. One of them was severely commented onin "The Grub-Street Journal" of April 8, 1731. Its title was:--"Perseusand Andromeda; or the Flying Lovers, in five Interludes, three seriousand two comic. The serious composed by Monsieur Roger, the comic by JohnWeaver, dancing-masters. "

It is only just to assign to Weaver the entire credit of being the firstto introduce Pantomimes on the English stage, though the author'soriginal bent was "scenical dancing, " or ballet dancing, byrepresentations of historical incidents with graceful motion. In his"History of Pantomimes" the author is careful to distinguish betweenthose entertainments where "Grin and grimace usurp the passions andaffections of the mind, " and those where "A nice address and managementof the passions take up the thoughts of the performer. " "Spectators, "says Weaver, in 1730, or thereabouts, "are now so pandering away theirapplause on interpolations of pseudo-players, merry Andrews, tumblers, and rope dancers; and are but rarely touched with, or encourage anatural player or just Pantomime. "

It was, however, left to John Rich to place Pantomime on a firm footing. Before dealing with Rich and his Pantomimes, which I shall treat of inthe next chapter, it is appropriate here to note how Pantomimesgenerally came to be introduced on the English stage. 

Colley Cibber mentions:--About this time the patentee (Rich) having verynear finished his house in Lincoln's Inn Fields, began to think offorming a new company; and, in the meantime, found it necessary to applyfor leave to employ them. By the weak defence he had always made againstthe several attacks upon his interests, and former Government of thetheatre (Drury Lane), it might be a question, if his house had beenready, in the Queen's (Anne) time, whether he would then have had thespirit to ask, or interest enough to obtain leave to use it; but in thefollowing reign, as it did not appear he had done anything to forfeitthe right of his patent, he prevailed with Mr. Craggs, the younger, tolay his case before the king, which he did in so effectual a manner that(as Mr. Craggs himself told me) his Majesty was pleased to say upon it, "That he remembered when he had been in England before, in KingCharles's time, there had been two theatres in London; and as the patentseemed to be a lawful grant, he saw no reason why two play-houses mightnot be continued. "

The suspension of the patent being thus taken off, the younger multitudeseemed to call aloud for two play-houses! Many desired another, from thecommon notion, that two would always create emulation, in the actors. Others too were as eager for them, from the natural ill-will thatfollows the fortunate or prosperous in any undertaking. Of this lowmalevolence we had, now and then, remarkable instances; we had beenforced to dismiss an audience of a hundred and fifty pounds, from adisturbance spirited up, by obscure people, who never gave any betterreason for it than that it was their fancy to support the idle complaintof one rival actress against another, in their several pretensions tothe chief part in a new tragedy. But as this tumult seemed only to bethe wantonness of English liberty, I shall not presume to lay anyfurther censure upon it. 

Now, notwithstanding this public desire of re-establishing two houses;and though I have allowed the former actors greatly our superiors; andthe managers I am speaking of not to have been without their privateerrors, yet under all these disadvantages, it is certain, the stage, fortwenty years before this time, had never been in so flourishing acondition. 

But, in what I have said, I would not be understood to be an advocatefor two play-houses; for we shall soon find that two sets of actors, tolerated in the same place, have constantly ended in the corruption ofthe theatre; of which the auxiliary entertainments, that have sobarbarously supplied the defects of weak action, have, for some yearspast, been a flagrant instance; it may not, therefore, be here improperto shew how our childish Pantomimes first came to take so gross apossession of the stage. 

I have upon several occasions, already observed, that when one companyis too hard for another, the lower in reputation has always been forcedto exhibit fine newfangled foppery, to draw the multitude after them; ofthese expedients, singing and dancing had formerly been most effectual;but, at the time I am speaking of, our English music had been sodiscountenanced since the taste of Italian Operas prevailed, that it wasto no purpose to pretend to it. Dancing, therefore, was now the onlyweight, in the opposite scale, and as the new theatre sometimes foundtheir account in it, it could not be safe for us wholly to neglect it. 

Cibber's antagonistical views towards Pantomime were shared, as weshall see, by a good many others. 

Booth, however, a greater actor than Cibber, and a tragedian to boot, took a more business-like view of the proceedings, thinking thin housesthe greatest indignity the stage could suffer. "Men of taste andjudgment (said he) must necessarily form but a small proportion of thespectators at a theatre, and if a greater number of people were enticedto sit out a play because a Pantomime was tacked to it, the Pantomimedid good service to all concerned. Besides, if people of position andtaste could, if so minded, leave before the nonsense commenced--anopportunity they do not seem to have embraced since Booth reminded theopponents of Pantomime how Italian opera had drawn the nobility andgentry away from the play-houses, as appeared by the melancholytestimony of their receipts, until Pantomime came to the rescue when pitand gallery were better filled, and the boxes too put on a noblerappearance. "

CHAPTER XV. 

John Rich and his Pantomimes--Rich's Miming---Garrick, Walpole, Foote--Anecdotes of Rich--Pope--The dance of infernals in "HarlequinSorcerer"--Drury Lane--Colley Cibber--Henry Fielding, theNovelist--Contemporary Writers' opinion of Pantomime--Woodward, theHarlequin--The meaning of the word Actor--Harlequins--"Dr. Faustus, " adescription--William Rufus Chetwood--Accidents--Vandermere, theHarlequin--"Orpheus and Eurydice" at Covent Garden--A description--Sam. Hoole, the machinist--Prejudice against Pantomime--Mrs. Oldfield--RobertWilks--Macklin--Riot at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre--Death of Rich. 

It was in 1717 that Rich devised this new form of entertainment, thoughit was not till 1724, when "The Necromancer, or History of Dr. Faustus"was produced by Rich, which took the town by storm, that Pantomimebecame such a rage. It has been stated that what induced Rich to turnhis attention to Pantomime was the bringing over of a German, namedSwartz, who had two performing dogs that could dance. They were engagedat £10 a night; and brought full houses. However, be this as it may, inthe "Daily Courant, " of December 20, 1717, we find him, advertising forhis "Italian Mimic Scenes"--as he, for long enough, so termed hisPantomimes--as follows:--

 "Harlequin Executed: a new Italian Mimic Scene between a Scaramouch, a Harlequin, a Country Farmer, his Wife, and others. "

Of Rich and his early Pantomimes, Davies observes:--

John Rich was the son of Christopher Rich, formerly patentee of DruryLane Theatre, and he imbibed from his father a _dislike of people withwhom he was obliged to live and converse_. His father wished to acquirewealth by French dancers and Italian singers, than by the united skillof the most accomplished comedians. The son inherited the same taste, and when he came into the patent, with his brother Christopher, of DruryLane, and after having ineffectually tried his talent for acting in thepart of the Earl of Essex, and other important characters, he appliedhimself to the study of Pantomimical representations at Lincoln's InnFields Theatre. To retrieve the credit of his theatre Rich created aspecies of dramatic composition unknown to this, and, I believe, to anyother country, which he called Pantomime. It consisted of two parts, oneserious, the other comic; by the help of gay scenes, fine habits, granddances, appropriate music, and other decorations, he exhibited a storyfrom "Ovid's Metamorphosis, " or some other fabulous history. Between thepauses of the acts he interwove a comic fable, consisting chiefly of thecourtship of Harlequin and Columbine, with a variety of surprisingadventures and tricks, which were produced by the magic wand ofHarlequin; such as the sudden transformation of palaces and temples tohuts and cottages; of men and women into wheelbarrows and joint stools;of trees turned to houses; colonnades to beds of tulips; and mechanics'hops into serpents and ostriches. 

It is a most remarkable fact that the Pantomimes that Rich brought out, all of them could be written down as successes. In the exhibition of hisPantomimes, Mr. Rich always displayed the greatest taste. He had alsoacquired a considerable reputation as a performer of the motley herounder the name of "Lun Junr, " as he was so designated on the bills atthat time, and he was the first performer who rendered the character ofHarlequin at all intelligible in this country. To others he taught theart of silent, but expressive, action, the interpreter of the mind. Feeling was pre-eminent in his Miming; and he used to render the sceneof a separation with Columbine as graphic as it was affecting. Excellentwere his "statue scenes" and his "catching the butterfly;" so also werehis other dumb show performances. 

Of Rich, Garrick wrote:--

 "When Lun appeared with matchless art and whim, He gave the power of speech to every limb; Though masked and mute conveyed his quick intent, And told in frolic's gestures all he meant. "

Rich, however, erred in thinking himself a better actor than aPantomimist; and, in fact, he thought himself a finer actor than thegreat Garrick himself. "You should see _me_ play Richard!" was afavourite cry of his. 

In 1782, after seeing the Pantomime of "Robinson Crusoe, " Walpole said, "How unlike the Pantomimes of Rich, which were full of wit, andcoherent, and carried on by a story. "

As I have shown above, Rich had, like many other people, his ownparticular little idiosyncrasies, and when in the season 1746-7 henetted nearly £9, 000 from his Pantomimes, to the chagrin of Garrick andQuin, he was very angry and much annoyed because he, as Harlequin, hadcontributed little or nothing. Another mannerism of his was to despisethe regular drama on these occasions, and he has been known to look atthe packed audience through a small hole in the curtain, and thenejaculate, "Ah! you are there, you fools, are you? Much good may it doyou!"

Rich used to address everyone as "Mister. " On one occasion Foote, beingincensed at being so addressed, asked Rich why he did not call him byhis name. "Don't be angry, " says Rich, "I sometimes forget my own name. ""I know, " replied Foote, "that you can't write your own name, but Iwonder you should forget it. "

The first of Rich's successes was "Harlequin Sorcerer. " On itsproduction Pope wrote:--

 "Behold a sober sorcerer rise Swift to whose wand a winged volume flies; All sudden, gorgon's hiss and dragon's glare, And ten horned fiends and giants rush to war. Hell rises, heaven descends, and dance on earth, Gods, imps and monsters, music, rage and mirth, A fire, a jig, a battle, and a ball, Till one wide conflagration swallows all; Thence a new world to nature's laws unknown, Breaks out refulgent with a heaven its own; Another Cynthia her new journey runs, And other planets circle after suns. The forests dance, the rivers upwards rise, Whales sport in woods, and dolphins in the skies; At last, to give the whole creation grace, Lo! one vast egg produces human race. "

Of Harlequin, in "Harlequin Sorcerer, " being hatched from an egg by therays of the sun. This has been called a master-piece of Rich's Miming"From the first chipping of the egg (says Jackson) his receiving ofmotion, his feeling of the ground, his standing upright, to his quickHarlequin trip round the empty shell, through the whole progression, every limb had its tongue, and every motion a voice. "

As probably occurring in "Harlequin Sorcerer, " there is an amusingincident. The belief in the possibility of a supernatural appearance onthe stage existed (says an old writer) about the beginning of theeighteenth century. A dance of infernals having to be exhibited, theywere represented in dresses of black and red, with fiery eyes and snakylocks, and garnished with every pendage of horror. They were twelve innumber. In the middle of their performance, while intent upon the figurein which they had been completely practised, an actor of some humour, who had been accommodated with a spare dress, appeared among them. Hewas, if possible, more terrific than the rest, and seemed to thebeholders as designed by the conductor for the principal fiend. Hisfellow furies took the alarm; they knew he did not belong to them, andthey judged him an infernal in earnest. Their fears were excited, ageneral panic ensued, and the whole group fled different ways; some totheir dressing-rooms, and others, through the streets, to their ownhomes, in order to avoid the destruction which they believed to becoming upon them, for the profane mockery they had been guilty of. Theodd devil was _non inventus_. He took himself invisibly away, throughfears of another kind. He was, however, seen by many, in imagination, tofly through the roof of the house, and they fancied themselves almostsuffocated by the stench he had left behind. The confusion of theaudience is scarcely to be described. They retired to their families, informing them of this supposed appearance of the devil, with many ofhis additional frolics in the exploit. So thoroughly was its realitybelieved that every official assurance which could be made the followingday did not entirely counteract the idea. The explanation was given byRich himself, in the presence of his friend Bencraft, the contriver, andperhaps the actor of the scheme, which he designed only as an innocentaffair, to confuse the dancers, without adverting to the seriousconsequences which succeeded. 

I have met with another author, who, in giving an account of thistransaction, places it as a much earlier period, and says it was duringthe performance of "Dr. Faustus, " and that when the devil took flight hecarried away with him the roof of the theatre. This story may bealluded to in a very curious work, entitled, "The Blacke Booke" (aproper depository), "London, printed in black letter, by T. C. ForJeffery Chorlton, 1604. " "The light burning serjant Lucifer" says ofone, running away through fear of fire at a brothel, "Hee had a head ofhayre like one of my divells in 'Doctor Faustus, ' when the olde theatrecrakt and frighted the audience. "

Emulating Rich, Drury Lane then followed with "Mars and Venus, " of whichColley Cibber says: Was formed into something more than motion withoutmeaning into a connected presentation of dances in character, whereinthe passions were so happily expressed, and the whole story sointelligibly told by a mute narration of gesture only, that eventhinking spectators allowed it to be both a pleasing and a rationalentertainment; though, at the same time, from our distrust of itsreception we durst not venture to decorate it with any extraordinaryexpense of scenes or habits; but upon the success of this attempt it wasrightly concluded that if a visible expense in both were added tosomething of the same nature, it could not fail of drawing the townproportionately after it. 

From this original hint there (but every way unequal to it) sprang forththat succession of monstrous medlies, that have so long infested thestage, and which arose upon one another alternately, at both houses, outvying in expense, like contending bribes on both sides at anelection, to secure a majority of the multitude. 

If I am asked (after condemning these fooleries myself) how I came toassent or continue my share of expense to them? I have no better excusefor my error, than confessing it. I did it against my conscience, andhad not virtue enough to starve by opposing a multitude that would havebeen too hard for me. 

("The Drama's laws the Drama's patrons give, " has always been an axiomof the stage; and worthy Colley Cibber, notwithstanding his antagonism, and the rivalry of Rich, had too good a knowledge of this truism not todo otherwise but follow the popular voice. )

Notwithstanding then (Cibber continues) this, our compliance with thevulgar taste, we generally made use of these Pantomimes, but as crutchesto our weakest plays. Nor were we so lost to all sense of what wasvaluable, as to dishonor our best authors in such bad company. We stillhad a due respect to several select plays, that were able to be theirown support; and in which we found constant account, without paintingand patching them out.... It is a reproach to a sensible people to letfolly so quickly govern their pleasures. 

Henry Fielding, the novelist, was one of Harlequin's assailants. "Thecomic part of the English Pantomimes, " he says, "being duller thananything before shown on the stage could only be set off by thesuperlative dulness of the serious portion, in which the gods andgoddesses were so insufferably tedious, that Harlequin was always arelief from still worse company. " Eager for theatrical reform, the"Weekly Miscellany" of 1732, said that plays were not intended fortradesmen, and denounced Pantomimes as infamous. 

Another competitor, who entered the lists against Rich, was Thormond, adancing-master, and at Drury Lane Theatre he produced "Dr. Faustus, " in1733. Speaking of this Pantomime, Pasquin mentions that "An account isvery honestly published, to save people the trouble of going to see it. "

In a Pantomime produced at Drury Lane in the following year, there wereMacklin, Theo. Cibber (who ultimately lost his life by shipwreck in theIrish Sea, in company with a troupe of Pantomimists), Mrs. Clive, andMrs. Cibber. At the performance it was announced that the money paidwould be returned to anyone who went out before the overture; but no oneavailed themselves of the concession. Commenting on the occurrence, acontemporary writer observes:--"Happy is it that we live in an age oftaste, when the dumb eloquence and natural wit and humour of Harlequinare justly preferred to the whining of Tragedy, or the vulgarity ofComedy. "

Garrick, at Drury Lane, finding his audience with no heart for tragedy, and that they must have Pantomime, very wisely said, "If you won't cometo 'Lear' and 'Hamlet, ' I must give you Harlequin. " And Harlequin hedid give them, in the person of Woodward, one of the best of Harlequinsthat ever trod the stage. A contemporary print of the time, representsWoodward being weighed in one scale, with all the great actors of theday in the other, and Woodward makes them all kick the beam. 

To satirise the prevailing fashion, Garrick penned the following:--

 They in the drama find no joys, But doat on mimicry and toys; Thus, when a dance is on my bill, Nobility my boxes fill; Or send three days before the time To crowd a new-made Pantomime. 

Garrick's success, however, was, I am of opinion, undoubtedly owing tohis being such a clever Pantomimist. "We saw him, " says Grimm, "play thedagger scene in 'Macbeth' in a room in his ordinary dress, without anystage illusion; and, as he followed with his eyes the air-drawn dagger, he became so grand that the assembly broke into a cry of generaladmiration. Who would believe that this same man, a moment after, counterfeited, with equal perfection, a pastry cook's boy, who, carryinga tray of tartlets on his head, and gaping about him at the corner ofthe street, lets his tray fall, and, at first stupified by the accident, bursts at last into a fit of crying?"

All our great actors have been good Mimics, and herein, doubtless, liesthe secret of their success. The mere intonation of words unaccompaniedby a strict knowledge of "that dumb, silent language, " Pantomime, isonly _parroting_. Herein, therefore, lies the true imitativeness of theactor, and _the natural form of acting_. The word actor "Is a name onlygiven to the persons in a dramatic work, _because they ought to be incontinual action during the performance of it_. " It does not mean thatthe actor is to stand still, and to be in action only with his tonguewhen speaking his "lines. " No! he bears the honoured name of actor, andhe should bring the full power of gesture language--Pantomime--that hehas at his control into play in order to be convincing in the characterthat, for the time being, he is. 

Action (mentions Betterton, in his "History of the English Stage, "1741), can never be in its perfection but on the stage. Action, indeed, has a natural excellence in it superior to all other qualities; actionis motion, and motion is the support of nature, which without it wouldsink into the sluggish mass of chaos. Life is motion, and when thatceases, the human body so beautiful, nay so divine, when enlivened bymotion, becomes a dead and putrid corpse, from which all turn theireyes. The eye is caught by anything in motion, but passes over thesluggish and motionless things as not the pleasing object of its view. 

The natural power of motion, or action, is the reason that theattention of the audience is fixed by any irregular, or even fantasticaction, on the stage, of the most indifferent player; and supine anddrowsy when the best actor speaks without the addition of action. Thestage ought to be the seat of passion in its various kinds, and, therefore, the actors ought to be thoroughly acquainted with the wholenature of the affections, and habits of the mind, or else they willnever be able to express them justly in their looks and gestures, aswell as in the tone of their voice and manner of utterance. They mustknow them in their various mixtures, as they are differently blendedtogether in the different characters they represent; and then thatexcellent rule in the "Essay on Poetry" will be of equal use to the poetand player:--

 Who must look within to find These _secret_ turns of Nature in the mind; Without this part in vain would be the whole, And but a _body_ all without a soul?

A few words more just to lay further stress on the importance ofPantomime, and then to return to our History. Take any part in any play, strip from it in its enactment the whole of its gesture language, couldwe realise that the actor appearing in it was portraying nature for us?Replace the Pantomime so essential to the part, and the characterbecomes--or rather should become if properly played--a creature of fleshand blood the same as ourselves. Pantomime, on the other hand, does notrequire words to be spoken to express its meaning, as it is quiteexpressible without. 

A contemporary account of the production of the Pantomime "Harlequin Dr. Faustus, " at Drury Lane Theatre, forms interesting reading, in additionto providing a contrast with present-day Pantomime. 

Every action is executed to different agreeable music, so adapted thatit properly expresses what is going forward; in the machinery there issomething so highly surprising that words cannot give a full idea of it. The effects described seem to be marvellous, considering the state oftheatrical mechanism. A devil riding on a fiery dragon rides swiftlyacross the stage. Two country men and women enter to be told theirfortunes, when Dr. Faustus waves his wand, and four pictures turn out ofthe scenes opposite, representing a judge and a soldier, a dressed lady, and a lady in riding habit; the scene changes to the outside of ahandsome house, when the louting men, running in, place their backsagainst the door. The front of the house turns, and at the same instantthe machine turns, a supper ready dressed rises up. The countrymen'swives remain with the Doctor, who (afterwards) goes out. He beckons thetable, and it follows him. Punch, Scaramouch, and Pierrot are next metby the Doctor, who invites them into a banquet. The table ascends intothe air. He waves his wand, and asses' ears appear at the sides of theirheads. A usurer lending money to Dr. Faustus demands a limb assecurity, and cuts off the Doctor's leg, several legs appear on thescene, and the Doctor strikes a woman's leg with his wand, whichimmediately flies from the rest, and fixes to the Doctor's stump, whodances with it ridiculously. The next scene opens, disclosing theDoctor's study. He enters affrighted, and the clock strikes one; thefigures of Time and Death appear. Several devils enter and tear him inpieces, some sink, some fly out, each bearing a limb of him. The last, which is the grand scene, is the most magnificent that ever appeared onthe English stage--all the gods and goddesses discovered with theapotheosis of Diana, ascending into the air. 

The tricks that formed part and parcel of the Pantomimes, in causingsurprise and wonderment, placed Harlequin, for his extraordinary feats, in the first rank of magicians. Oftentimes, however, they were the causeof many accidents. 

Chetwood--William Rufus Chetwood--who had, in the eighteenth century, abookseller's shop in Covent Garden, and was, for twenty years, prompterfor Drury Lane, a writer of four plays, and a volume of sketches of theactors whom he had met, says:--"A tumbler at the Haymarket beat thebreath out of his body by an accident, and which raised such vociferousapplause that lasted the poor man's life, for he never breathed more. Indeed, his wife had this comfort, when the truth was known, pitysucceeded to the roar of applause. Another accident occurred in thePantomime of 'Dr. Faustus' (previously referred to), at Lincoln's InnFields Theatre, where a machine in the working threw the mock Pierrotdown headlong with such force that the poor man broke a plank on thestage with his fall, and expired; another was sorely maimed that he didnot survive many days; and a third, one of the softer sex, broke herthigh. "

Vandermere, the Harlequin, one of the most agile that ever trod thestage, on one occasion, in the pursuit by the Clown, leaped through awindow on to the stage, a full thirteen feet. Performing at the Dublintheatre one night, having a prodigious leap to make, the persons behindthe scenes not being ready to receive him in the customary blanket, hefell upon the stage and was badly bruised. This accident occasioned himto take a solemn oath that he would never take another leap upon thestage; nor did he violate his oath, for when he afterwards playedHarlequin another actor of his size, and of considerable activity wasequipped with the parti-coloured habit, and when a leap was necessaryVandermere passed off on one side of the stage as Dawson--Vandermere'sunderstudy--entered at the other, and undertook it. 

How little do we know of the tragic ending of these poor unhappyPantomimists' lives. Their names even have not been handed down to us, and they, like probably many more with whose quips and quiddities wehave laughed at with infinite zest, have long since gone "to that bournefrom whence no traveller returns, " and perhaps, "unwept, unhonoured, andunsung. "

On February 12, 1739, Rich produced, at Covent Garden (opened inDecember 1732, with Congreve's "Way of the World"), "Orpheus andEurydice. " On the mounting something like £2, 000 were spent. 

Rich devised the scenario and comic scenes. Lewis Theobald wrote thelibretto, and George Lambert--founder of the Beefsteak Club--painted thescenery. Hippisley played Clown, Manager Rich was the Harlequin, andSignor Grimaldi, father of the celebrated Mime, to be noted further on, was the Pantaloon. This is the first instance of a member of theGrimaldi family (says Mr. W. J. Lawrence) appearing in English Pantomime. 

The following was the argument and the curious arrangement of thescenes:--Interlude I. --Rhodope, Queen of Thrace, practising art magic, makes love to Orpheus. He rejects her love. She is enraged. A serpentappears who receives Rhodope's commands, and these ended, glides off thestage. Here the comic part begins. In the Opera (as practically it was)a scene takes place between Orpheus and Eurydice. Eurydice's heel ispierced by the serpent, behind the scenes. She dies on the stage--afterwhich the comic part is continued. Interlude II. Scene: Hell. Pluto andOrpheus enter. Orpheus prevails on Pluto to restore Eurydice to him. Ascalox tells Orpheus that Eurydice shall follow him, but that if heshould look back at her before they shall have passed the bounds ofHell, she will die again. Orpheus turns back to look for Eurydice, Fiends carry her away. After this the comic part is resumed. InterludeIII. --Orpheus again rejects Rhodope's solicitations. Departs. The scenedraws, and discovers Orpheus slain. Several Baccants enter in atriumphant manner. They bring in the lyre and chaplet of Orpheus. Rhodope stabs herself. The piece concludes with the remainder of thecomic part. 

"'The Scots Magazine' for March, 1740, says:--'Orpheus and Eurydice'draws the whole town to Covent Garden, whether for the Opera itself (thewords of which are miserable stuff) or for the Pantomimical Interlude, with which it is intermixed, I cannot determine. The music is prettygood, and the tricks are not foolisher than usual, and some have saidthat they have more meaning than most that have preceded them. Theperformance is grand as to the scenery. What pleases everybody is aregular growth of trees, represented more like nature than what has yetbeen seen upon the stage, and the representation of a serpent so livelyas to frighten half the ladies who see it. It is, indeed, curious in itskind, being wholly a piece of machinery, that enters, performs itsexercise of head, body, and tail in a most surprising manner, and makesbehind the curtain with a velocity scarcely credible. It is about a footand a half in circumference of the thickest part, and far exceeds theformer custom of stuffing a bag into such likeness. It is believed tohave cost more than £200; and when the multitude of wings, springs, etc. , whereof it consists, are considered, the charge will not appearextravagant. The whole Royal family have been to see this performance;and, from what can be judged, everybody else will see it before the endof the season, the house being every day full at 3 o'clock, thoughseldom empty till after eleven. "

Sam Hoole--father of the translator of Tasso and Ariosto--was Rich'schief machinist at this period, and the inventor of this famous serpent. He had, according to Cumberland, a shop where he sold mechanical toys. Having a large stock of serpent toys left on his hands he became aruined and bankrupt man. 

"Orpheus and Eurydice" was revived by Rich in 1747, and again in 1755;when it ran 31 nights. In 1768 it was reproduced by his successors atCovent Garden. In October, 1787, it was again put in the bill, and thistime by Royal Command, it was said. 

Of the number of Pantomimes brought out by Rich I shall not dilate on, and those that I have referred to will, doubtless, show what all these"plays without words" were like. 

During the summer season of 1761, at Drury Lane, Murphy and Footeendeavoured

 "From Pantomime to free the stage And combat all the ministers of the age, "

by ridiculing the popular amusement in having the character of Harlequinhung in full view of the audience in a play entitled "The Wishes. " Whenthe catastrophe was at hand Murphy whispered to Cumberland: "If theydon't damn this, they deserve to be damned themselves!" No sooner werethe words uttered than a turbulent mob in the pit broke out, and quicklyput an end to the dire fatality with which Pantomime and its hero, Harlequin, were threatened. 

Christopher Rich gave the first engagement to the afterwards celebratedactress, Mrs. Oldfield, and, previously, a similar kindness to RobertWilks, about the year 1690, at the salary of fifteen shillings a week, with two shillings and sixpence deducted for teaching him to dance. Another famous performer, Macklin, was also introduced to the stage bythis family. 

At the Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, in 1721, there was a memorableriot, caused by some drunken aristocratic beaux, owing to an allegedinsult, which one of their number was supposed to have received. Thebeau referred to, a noble Earl, had crossed the stage whilst Macbeth andhis lady were upon it, in order to speak to a companion who was lollingin the wings. Rich told the noble Earl that for his indecorum he wouldnot be allowed behind the scenes again, which so incensed the latterthat he gave Manager Rich a smart slap on the face, which Rich returned. Swords then were drawn, and between the actors and the beaux a freefight ensued, which ended in the former driving the latter out of thetheatre. The rioters, however, again obtained access, and rushing intothe boxes, cut down the hangings, besides doing other damage, when, ledby Quin and a number of constables, several of the beaux were captured, and taken before the magistrates. The end of it all was that the matterwas compromised; but, in order to prevent a recurrence of suchdisorderly scenes, a guard should attend the performances. The custom ofhaving the military in attendance at our theatres--which the aboveaffray was the primary cause--was in vogue for over a hundred yearsafter this event. 

Rich lived to see Pantomimes firmly established at Drury Lane and CoventGarden. Drury Lane did, for a few years, discard it in favour ofspectacle, but ultimately found it advisable to return to Pantomime. 

At the beginning of the 'sixties of the eighteenth century--1761--diedthe father of Harlequins in England, and also--as he has been called--ofEnglish Pantomimes, and there is, I believe, a costly tomb erected tohis memory in Hillingdon Church-yard, Middlesex. 

Rich left Covent Garden Theatre to his son-in-law, Beard, the vocalist, with the not unpleasant restriction, however, that the property shouldbe sold when £60, 000 was bid for it, and for which sum it ultimatelypassed into the hands of Harris, Colman, and their partners. 

CHAPTER XVI. 

Joseph Grimaldi. 

The year 1778 marks an epoch in the History of Pantomime, as just overthree-quarters of a century before marked another epoch, theintroduction of Pantomimes to the English stage. On December 18th, 1778, was born Joseph Grimaldi--afterwards the Prince of Clowns, and the sonof Giuseppe Grimaldi ("Iron Legs"). Joe's first appearance was atSadler's Wells on April 16, Easter Monday, 1781, he not being quitethree years old. Dickens, in the "Memoirs of Grimaldi, " has given usfrom the Clown's own diary, which Grimaldi kept close up to the time ofhis death, on May, 31st, 1837, a full and true account of the life ofthis remarkably clever Pantomimist. To add to what Dickens has writtenof "Only a Clown" (which doubtless the reader is already acquaintedwith) would only be like painting the lily; and, perhaps, I cannot dobetter in honouring his memory than by quoting the words of Mr. Harleyat the annual dinner of the Drury Lane Fund, spoken in the Junefollowing Grimaldi's death:--"Yet, shall delicacy suffer no violence inadducing one example, for death has hushed his cock-crowing cachination, and uproarious merriment. The mortal Jupiter of practical Joke, theMichael Angelo of buffoonery, who, if he was _Grim-all-day_, was sure tomake you chuckle at night. "

A contemporary writer of Grimaldi's days thus eulogises the Prince ofClowns:--

As a Clown, Mr. Grimaldi is perfectly unrivalled. Other performers ofthe part may be droll in their generation; but, which of them can for amoment compete with the Covent Garden hero in acute observation upon thefoibles and absurdities of society, and his happy talent of holding themup to ridicule. He is the finest practical satyrist that ever existed. He does not, like many Clowns, content himself with raising ahorse-laugh by contortions and grimaces, but tickles the fancy, andexcites the risibility of an audience by devices as varied as they areingenious. "He uses his folly as a stalking-horse, under cover of whichhe shoots his wit;" and fully deserves the encomium bestowed upon him byKemble, who, it is said, pronounced him to be "the best low comedianupon the stage. "

There are few things, we think, more delightful than a Pantomime--thatis, a _good_ Pantomime, such as is usually produced at Covent Garden. Weknow there are a set of solemn pompous mortals about town, who expressmuch dignified horror at the absurdities of these things, and declaimvery fluently, in good set terms, upon the necessity of their abolition. Such fellows as these are ever your dullest of blockheads. Conscious oftheir lack of ideas, they think to earn the reputation of men ofsterling sense, by inveighing continually against what _they_ deem to befrivolity; while they only expose more clearly to all observers the sadvacuum which exists in their _pericraniums_. Far, far from us be suchdullards, and such opinions; and let us continue to laugh heartily atour Pantomimes, undisturbed by their tedious harangues; "Do they think, because they are _wise_, there shall be no more cakes and ale?" The manwho refuses to smile at the humours of Grimaldi is made of badmaterials--_hic niger est_--let no such man be trusted!

Can there possibly be a more captivating sight than that which thetheatre presents nightly, of hundreds of beautiful children all happyand laughing, "as if a master-spring constrained them all;" and filledwith delight, unalloyed and unbounded, at the performance of one man?And shall that man go without his due meed of praise? Never be it said!No, Joey! When we forget thee, may our right hand forget its cunning! Weowe thee much for the delight thou hast already afforded us; and relyupon thee, with confident expectation, for many a future hour of gayforgetfulness. Well do we remember, in our boyish dreams of bliss, howprominent a feature thou didst stand amongst the anticipated enjoymentsof Christmas; how the thoughts of home, of kindred, and release fromschool, were rendered ten-fold more delightful by the idea of thy motleygarb and mirth-inspiring voice, which ever formed the greatest enjoymentour holidays afforded. Heaven be praised, we still are children in somerespects, for we still feel gladdened by thy gambols, as heartily as wedid years ago, when we made our periodical escape from the terrors ofour old pedagogue's frown, and went with Aunt Bridget ("Happier thanourselves the while") to banquet upon the Pantomimic treat provided forus. "All wisdom is folly, " says the philosopher; but we often incline tothink the converse of the proposition correct, when we see thee put thyantic disposition on, and set the audience in a roar by the magic of thypowers. 

It is thought by many persons that Grimaldi is seen to greater advantageon the small stage of Sadler's Wells, than on the more capacious one ofCovent Garden; but, this is an opinion with which we cannot coincide. Healways appears to us more at his ease at the latter house; to come forthexulting in his power, and exclaiming, "Ay, marry, here my soul hathelbow-room. " His engagement there has certainly been a lucrativespeculation for the proprietors. "Mother Goose, " we believe, drew moremoney than any other piece which has been produced during the presentcentury; and no Pantomime since brought forward at Covent Garden hasbeen unsuccessful; which is mainly to be attributed to his inimitableperformance of Clown. It is scarcely possible for language to do justiceto his unequalled powers of gesture and expression. Do our readersrecollect a Pantomime some years ago, in which he was introduced begginga tart from a pieman? The simple expression, "May I?" with the look andaction which accompanied it, are impressed upon our recollection, asforming one of the finest pieces of acting we ever witnessed. Indeed, let the subject be what it may, it never fails to become highly amusingin the hands of Grimaldi; whether it is to rob a pieman, or open anoyster, imitate a chimney-sweep, or a dandy, grasp a red-hot poker, ordevour a pudding, take snuff, sneeze, make love, mimic a tragedian, cheat his master, pick a pocket, beat a watchman, or nurse a child, itis all performed in so admirably humorous and extravagantly natural amanner, that spectators of the most saturnine disposition areirresistibly moved to laughter. 

Mr. Grimaldi also possesses great merit in Pantomimic performances of adifferent character, which all are aware of, who have ever seen him inthe melodrama, called "Perouse, " and other pieces of the samedescription. 

We cannot better terminate this article, than with a poetical tribute tohis powers, addressed to him by one of the authors of "Horace inLondon, " who appears to have had a true relish of his subject:--

 Facetious Mime! thou enemy of gloom, Grandson of Momus, blithe and debonair, Who, aping Pan, with an inverted broom, Can'st brush the cobwebs from the brows of care. 

 Our gallery gods immortalize thy song; Thy Newgate thefts impart ecstatic pleasure; Thou bid'st a Jew's harp charm a Christian throng, A Gothic salt-box teem with attic treasure. 

 When Harlequin, entangled in thy clue, By magic seeks to dissipate the strife, Thy furtive fingers snatch his faulchion too; The luckless wizard loses wand and wife. 

 The fabled egg from thee obtains its gold; Thou sett'st the mind from critic bondage loose, Where male and female cacklers, young and old, Birds of a feather, hail the sacred Goose. 

 Even pious souls, from Bunyan's durance free, At Sadler's Wells applaud thy agile wit, Forget old Care while they remember thee, "Laugh the heart's laugh, " and haunt the jovial pit. 

 Long may'st thou guard the prize thy humour won, Long hold thy court in Pantomimic state, And, to the equipoise of English fun, Exalt the lowly, and bring down the great. 

Again we are told "That his Pantomime was such that you could fancy hewould have been the Pulcinello of the Italians, the Harlequin of theFrench, that he could have returned a smart repartee from Carlin. Hismotions, eccentric as they were, were evidently not a mere lesson fromthe gymnasium; there was a will and mind overflowing with, nay livingupon fun, real fun. He was so extravagantly natural, that the mostsaturnine looker-on acknowledged his sway; and neither the wise, theproud, or the fair, the young nor the old, were ashamed to laugh tilltears coursed down their cheeks at Joe and his comicalities. "

Grimaldi used sometimes to play in two different Pantomimes at twodifferent theatres, when he would have to go through some twenty scenes. 

Unlike the painting of the face with a few patches adopted by themodern Clown, Grimaldi used to give one the idea of a greedy boy, whohad covered himself with jam in robbing from a cupboard. Grimaldidressed the part like a Clown should be dressed. His trousers were largeand baggy, and were fastened to his jacket, and round his neck he wore aschoolboy's frill--part of the dress, in all probability, borrowed fromthe Spanish Captain and the French Pierrot. 

At Drury Lane on Friday, June 27, 1828, he took his farewell benefit. The following being the bill:--

Mr. Grimaldi's Farewell Benefit, On Friday, June 27th, 1828, will be performedJONATHAN IN ENGLAND, after whichA MUSICAL MELANGE, To be succeeded byTHE ADOPTED CHILD, and concluded byHARLEQUIN HOAX, In which Mr. Grimaldi will act Clown in one scene, sing a song, and speak hisFAREWELL ADDRESS. 

With the reader's permisson, I will give, from his "Memoirs, " theaddress he spoke:--

"Ladies and Gentlemen:--In putting off the Clown's garment, allow me todrop also the Clown's taciturnity, and address you in a few partingsentences. I entered early on this course of life, and leave itprematurely. Eight-and-forty years only have passed over my head--but Iam going as fast down the hill of life as that older Joe--John Anderson. Like vaulting ambition, I have overleaped myself, and pay the penalty inan advanced old age. If I have now any aptitude for tumbling it isthrough bodily infirmity, for I am worse on my feet than I used to be onmy head. It is four years since I jumped my last jump--filched my lastoyster--boiled my last sausage--and set in for retirement. Not quite sowell provided for, I must acknowledge, as in the days of my Clownship, for then, I dare say, some of you remember, I used to have a fowl in onepocket and sauce for it in the other. 

"To-night has seen me assume the motley for a short time--it clung to myskin as I took it off, and the old cap and bells rang mournfully as Iquitted them for ever. 

"With the same respectful feelings as ever do I find myself in yourpresence--in the presence of my last audience--this kindly assemblage sohappily contradicting the adage that a favourite has no friends. For thebenvolence that brought you hither--accept, ladies and gentlemen, mywarmest and most grateful thanks, and believe, that of one and all, Joseph Grimaldi takes a double leave, with a farewell on his lips, and atear in his eyes. 

"Farewell! That you and yours may ever enjoy that greatest earthlygood--health, is the sincere wish of your faithful and obliged servant. God bless you all!"

Poor Joe was buried in the burying-ground of St. James' Chapel, onPentonville Hill, and in a grave next to his friend, Charles Dibdin. Maythe earth lie lightly over him!

CHAPTER XVII. 

Plots of the old form of Pantomimes--A description of "Harlequin and theOgress; or the Sleeping Beauty of the Wood, " produced at CoventGarden--Grimaldi, _Père et Fils_--Tom Ellar, the Harlequin, and Barnes, the Pantaloon--An account of the first production of the "House thatJack built, " at Covent Garden--Spectacular display--Antiquity and Originof some Pantomimic devices--Devoto, Angelo, and French, the ScenicArtists--Transparencies--Beverley--Transformation Scenes. 

Of the plots of the old form of Pantomime and what these entertainmentswere generally like, graphically, does Planché describe them. 

How different (he says) were the Christmas Pantomimes of my youngerdays. A pretty story--a nursery tale--dramatically told, in which "thecourse of true love never did run smooth, " formed the opening; thecharacters being a cross-grained old father, with a pretty daughter, whohad two suitors--one a poor young fellow, whom she preferred, the othera wealthy fop, whose pretensions were, of course, favoured by thefather. There was also a body servant of some sort in the old man'sestablishment. At the moment when the young lady was about to beforcibly married to the fop she despised, or, on the point of elopingwith the youth of her choice, the good fairy made her appearance, and, changing the refractory pair into Harlequin and Columbine, the oldcurmudgeon into Pantaloon, and the body servant into Clown: the twolatter in company with the rejected "lover, " as he was called, commencedthe pursuit of the happy pair, and the "comic business" consisted of adozen or more cleverly constructed scenes, in which all the tricks andchanges had a meaning, and were introduced as contrivances to favour theescape of Harlequin and Columbine, when too closely followed by theirenemies. There was as regular a plot as might be found in a melodrama. An interest in the chase which increased the admiration of the ingenuityand the enjoyment of the fun of the tricks, by which the runawaysescaped capture, till the inevitable "dark scene" came, a cavern or aforest, in which they were overtaken, seized, and the magic wand, whichhad so uniformly aided them, snatched from the grasp of the despairingHarlequin, and flourished in triumph by the Clown. Again at the criticalmoment the protecting fairy appeared, and, exacting the consent of thefather to the marriage of the devoted couple, transported the wholeparty to what was really a grand last scene, which everybody did waitfor. There was some congruity, some dramatic construction, in suchPantomimes; and then the acting. For it was acting, and first-rateacting. 

To give the reader a further insight into the old form of ChristmasPantomimes, I cull the following from "The Drama, " a contemporarymagazine of the period (1822):--

In compliance with the long-established custom of gratifying the holidayvisitors of the theatres with Pantomimic representations at this seasonof year, a new piece of that description was produced at this theatre(Covent Garden) last night, December 26th, 1822, under the title of"Harlequin and the Ogress; or the Sleeping Beauty of the Wood. " Theintroductory story is taken from the well-known tale of "The SleepingBeauty, " in "Mother Bunch's Fairy Tales, " which had before been"melodramatised, " but had not hitherto been taken for the groundwork ofa Harlequinade. 

The piece opens in one of the fabled grand caverns under the Pyramids ofEgypt, in which the three fatal sisters of Mother Bunch's Mythology areseen spinning and winding a ball of golden thread, the fastening ofwhich to the wrist of the Sleeping Beauty is intended to add anothercentury to the duration of her life, and of the power which the Ogress, or Fairy, has exercised over her, and her possessions, for the precedinghundred years. The ball having been completed, with the due quantum ofmagic incantation in such cases prescribed, is consigned to the care ofGrim Gribber, the porter of the castle, with directions to attach it tothe wrist of the lady in the chamber of sleep, whither he accordinglyproceeds for that purpose; but overcome by the soporific influences ofthe atmosphere of that enchanted place, he falls into a deep sleep erehis task is accomplished. The Prince Azoff, with his Squire Abnab, straying from a hunting party into the enchanted cedar grove, encountersthe Fairy Blue-bell, protector of the Sleeping Beauty, who imparts tothe Prince the story of her enchantment, furnishes him with a magicflower to protect him from the influence of the Ogress, and instructshim in the means of releasing the Beauty at the expiration of the termof her first enchanted sleep, which is then drawing to a close. In theamazement which seizes the Prince on finding himself in the chamber ofsleep, at the splendour of everything around him, and the sight of theSleeping Beauty with her surrounding train of attendants, whosefaculties are all enchained in the same preternatural slumber, he letsfall the magic flower, and becomes thereby subject to the power of theOgress, from which he is, however, rescued on the instant by theprotecting interference of the Fairy Blue-bell. But in punishment of hisneglect, he is condemned to wander for a time in search of happinesswith the now-awakened Beauty, pursued by the relentless Ogress and herservant, Grim Gribber. The whole of the persons engaged in the scene nowundergo the prescriptive Pantomimic changes, and the ordinary successionof Harlequinade adventures, tricks, and transformations ensue. 

Our old favourites, the Grimaldis, father and son, Mr. Ellar asHarlequin, and Mr. Barnes as Pantaloon, were hailed, on theirappearance, with the warmth of greeting to which their excellence intheir several parts fully entitles them, and displayed their wonteddrollery, gracefulness, and agility: and Miss Brissak, who, for thefirst time, appeared as Columbine, acquitted herself with tolerablecredit, and was very well received. 

The scenery in general was marked with that characteristic beauty andhighly-finished excellence, which have long distinguished theproductions of this theatre: and the panoramic series of views of theRiver Thames, from Greenwich to the Nore, on the passage of the Royalflotilla for Scotland, and its arrival in Leith Roads, probably surpasseverything of the kind before exhibited. There are several divertingtricks and ingenious changes. Grimaldi's equipment of a patent safetycoach at Brighton, in particular was highly amusing. The machinery, which is, in many instances, of a most complicated description, workedremarkably well for a first night's exhibition; and the whole went offwith a degree of _eclat_, which must have been exceedingly gratifying tothe managers, as auguring the probability of such a lengthened run forthe piece as may amply recompense the pains and expense which have beenso lavishly bestowed in its preparation. The house was filled in everypart, and the announcement of the Pantomime's repetition was receivedwith the most clamorous approbation, undisturbed by a single dissentientvoice. 

The first production of "The House that Jack Built, " at Covent Garden, on December 26, 1824, also reads interestingly:--

The Pantomime is before us, and we should ill-repay the pleasure itafforded us, if we did not acknowledge and make public its excellence. The name implies the source from which it is taken, and we had, therefore, the supreme pleasure of renewing our friendship with thosevery old acquaintances, the "Priest all shaven and shorn, the maiden allforlorn, the cow with the crumpled horn, the dog that worried the cat, that killed the rat, that eat up the malt, that lay in the House thatJack built. " This, of course, gave us, as it appeared to do many others, great pleasure, "For should auld acquaintance be forgot, and neverbrought to mind. " Mr. Farley, however, who supports (like an Atlas) allthe weight of bringing forward these annual pieces of fun and foolery, and who appears to be as learned in the mystic lore of "hoaryantiquity, " as he is in the mysteries of all the wonders of the tricks, changes, and mechanism of the Pantomimic world, has let us this timeinto a secret, which will doubtless cause much erudite argument, andpros and cons from various sage antiquarians for months to come, in thatinvaluable work of old Sylvanus Urban, 'yclept the "Gentlemen'sMagazine. " As the play-bills on which this important piece ofinformation is to be found, will doubtless be bought up by all themystogogii of the Metropolis, and shortly become scarce, we shall takethe liberty of inserting it in our imperishable pages, for the benefit, not only of posterity, but for those of our own day, who are infectedwith the building mania, and who, we think, ought to make Mr. Farleysome very valuable present to mark their sense of the obligation theyare under to him, in consequence of the benefit which must accrue tothem from it. It appears from this fragment in what manner Jack becamepossessed of his house, and which it never before occurred to us, toenquire. Thus then the mystery is elucidated by Mr. Farley. 

Jack's Wager;

"By virtue of one of our forest charters, if a man do build a dwellingupon common land, from sun-set to sun-rise, and enclose a piece ofground, wherein there shall be a tree growing, a beast feeding, a firekindled, and provision in the pot, such dwelling shall be freely held bythe builder, anything to the contrary, nevertheless, notwithstanding. "Forest Laws. 

Accordingly Jack, in the opening scene, is represented just beforenightfall, as completing his dwelling, by putting on the chimney pot asthe finishing stroke; he then claims his bride, Rosebud, from herfather, Gaffer Gandy, who refuses his consent, having determined onbestowing her hand on one Squire Sap. Jack, in despair, repairs to PoorRobin, the village astrologer, who is intently observing an eclipse ofthe moon (which, by-the-bye, is most excellently managed), and relateshis griefs. The old man cheers his drooping spirits, by casting hisnativity and finding by his observations, that Jack's stars are of themost benign influence, and that all his wishes shall be fulfilled. Themarriage of the maiden all forlorn with the Squire is on the point ofbeing completed, when Venus (one of whose doves had been preserved byJack) dispatches Cupid to the assistance of the despairing lovers, bythe magic of whose powerful wand the usual Pantomimic changes areeffected in a trice--Jack becomes Harlequin; Rosebud, Columbine;Gaffer, Pantaloon; the Squire, the Lover; and the Priest, the Clown. Mirth, revelry, fun, frolic, and joviality are now the order of the day, and the scene changes to a view of Hyde Park and the Serpentine River ona frosty morning in January: in which is represented, with admirableeffect, a display of patent skating. An oil cloth is spread upon thestage, a group comprised of various laughable characters are assembledon it, and skate about with as much rapidity, and precisely as though itwere a sheet of ice. The adroit skill of old stagers on the slipperysurface, with the clumsy awkwardness and terror of novices in the art, are well represented. A prodigious fat man makes his appearance; when arace is called for, he, of course, tries his prowess, when the icecracking beneath the heavy weight assembled on it gives way with a heavycrash, and "Fatty" is consigned to a watery bed. Assistance isimmediately tendered, when, by Harlequin's power, a lean and shrivelledspirit of the deep rises from below to the great alarm of the beholders, and whose limbs continue to expand till his head touches the clouds. Thewhole of the scene is one of the most laughable and best managed in thePantomime. Kew Gardens, on a May-day morning, is also a very pleasingscene, in which some pretty Morris dancing is introduced. The Barber'sshop, in which shaving by steam is hit off, is excellent in its way, butnot so well understood in its details, as to make it equally effectivein representation. Vauxhall Bridge, and the Gardens which succeeds it, are also charmingly painted by the Grieves, and from hence the Clownand Pantaloon take an "Aeronautic excursion" to Paris. This is arevolving scene--the balloon ascends--and the English landscapegradually recedes from the view--the gradual approach of night--therising of the moon--the passing of the balloon through heavy clouds--andthe return of day, are beautifully represented; the sea covered withships, is seen in distant perspective with the French coast; abird's-eye view of Paris follows, and the balloon safely descends in thegardens of the Tuileries. The adjoining palace, mansions, and gardensbeing brilliantly illuminated, give the scene a most splendid andpicturesque effect. A variety of other scenes, but far too numerous tomention individually, deserve the highest applause, particularly thevillage of Bow, Leadenhall Market, with a change to an illuminated civicfeast in the Guildhall; Burlington Arcade at night, and the village ofGanderclue by sunrise. The Temple of Iris, formed of the "radiantpanoply of the heavenly arch, " by Grieve, is most brilliant. 

The advent of Pantomime, early in the eighteenth century, gave a specialfillip to spectacular display, as they were all announced to be set offwith "new scenery, decorations, and flyings. "

Some of the stage devices of Pantomime are of considerable antiquity;as, for instance, the basket-work hobby-horses, that figured as far backas the old English Morris dances, to be revived in the French ballet ofthe seventeenth century, and, in after years, in English Pantomime. 

The Pantomime donkey is at least, we are told, 200 years old. In"_Arlequin Mercure Galant_, " produced in Paris in 1682, by the ItalianComedians, Harlequin made his entrance on a moke's back--and themerriment afterwards being greatly enhanced when Master "Neddy, " withPan seated on its back, suddenly came in two, to the consternation ofthe beholders. To the Italian Pantomime Comedians we owe many of ourstage devices and tricks. The statue scene in "Frivolity, " played by theMessrs. Leopolds, was introduced by the Italians in "_Arlequin Lingeredu Palais_, " when this piece was performed at Paris in 1682. Again, thedevice of cutting a hole in a portrait for an eaves-dropper's head to beinserted, was used in "_Columbine Avocat_" as far back as 1685. 

In "_Arlequin Lingere du Palais_, " played at the Hotel de Bourgogne inOctober, 1682, there was represented two stalls--an underclothier's anda confectioner's. Harlequin dressed half like a man and half like awoman, with a mask on each side of his face to match presides in thisdual capacity at both stalls. Pasquariel, who comes to buy, is utterlybewildered, and is made the target of both jests and missiles ofmonsieur of the confectioners, and mademoiselle of the adjoining stall. Possibly the shop scenes in our English Harlequinades may haveoriginated from this. A similar idea to the above was given in O'Keefe'sPantomime of "Harlequin Teague; or the Giants' Causeway, " performed atthe Haymarket in 1782. Charles Bannister appeared in this Pantomime andsang a duet as a giant with two heads, one side representing a gentlemanof quality, and the other a hunting squire. Mrs. German Reed, about1855, appeared representing two old women, between whom an imaginaryconversation was held, Mrs. Reed turning first one side of her face tothe audience, and then the other. Fred Maccabe, in his "Essence ofFaust, " had also a similar allusion, and by many "transformationdancers" was it used. The antiquity of many other devices could benoted, but I must desist, yet I cannot help remarking that even here wehave more exemplifications of history repeating itself. 

Scenical representations and mechanical devices in Italy had long beenmade a fine art, and an English traveller and critic observes that ourpainting compared to theirs is only daubing. I find among theirdecorations statues of marble, alabaster, palaces, colonnades, galleries, and sketches of architecture; pieces of perspective thatdeceive the judgment as well as the eye; prospects of a prodigiousextent in spaces not thirty feet deep. As for their machines I can'tthink it in the power of human wit to carry their inventions further. In1697, I saw at Venice an elephant discovered on the stage, when, in aninstant, an army was seen in its place; the soldiers, having by thedisposition of their shields, given so true a representation of it as ifit had been a real elephant. 

In Rome, at the Theatre Capranio, in 1698, there was a ghost of a womansurrounded by guards. This phantom, extending her arms and unfolding herclothes, was, with one motion, transformed into a perfect palace, withits front, its wings, body, and courtyard. The guards, striking theirhalberds on the stage, were immediately turned into so many waterworks, cascades, and trees, that formed a charming garden before the palace. Atthe same theatre, in the opera "_Nerone Infante_, " the interior of hellwas shown. Here part of the stage opened, and discovered a sceneunderneath, representing several caves, full of infernal spirits, thatflew about, discharging fire and smoke, on another side the river ofLethe and Charon's boat. Upon this landing a prodigious monsterappeared, whose mouth opening to the great horror of the spectators, covered the front wings of the remaining part of the stage. Within hisjaws was discovered a throne of fire, and a multitude of monstroussnakes, on which Pluto sat. After this the great monster, expanding hiswings, began to move very slowly towards the audience. Under his bodyappeared a great multitude of devils, who formed themselves into aballet, and plunged, one after the other, into the opening of the floor. The great monster was in an instant transformed into an innumerablemultitude of broad white butterflies, which flew all into the pit, andso low that some often touched the hats of several of the spectators, and at last they disappeared. During this circumstance, whichsufficiently employed the eyes of the spectators, the stage wasrefitted, and the scene changed into a beautiful garden, with which thethird act began. 

The scene painter, Devoto, painted the scenery and decorations for theGoodman's Fields Theatre, where, it is interesting to note, DavidGarrick made his first _London_ appearance in 1741. His first appearanceon any stage had been made at Ipswich on Tuesday, 21st July, in the sameyear, under the name of Lyddall. Garrick, during his time, introducedmany novelties in the way of scenery and transparencies, acting on thesuggestions of Signor Seivandoni, the scenic artist at the Opera-house, and the fencing master, Dominico Angelo. These transparencies became thetalk of London, and it has been known for several plays to have beenwritten so as to introduce them. The first transparent scene is said tohave been the "Enchanted Wood, " introduced in "Harlequin's Invasion, " atDrury Lane, the painter being one French, the scenic artist of thetheatre. 

Beverley, the scene painter for Madame Vestris, half a century ago, brought fairy, or Pantomime, scenes to great perfection. Leopold Wagner, speaking of them, says:--"We have it upon the authority of Mr. Planchéthat these were almost entirely due to the skilled efforts and successesof Mr. William Beverley, who, in the nature of Extravaganza, soimpressed the public with his fine talents as an artist upon theatricalcanvas, that gorgeous scenes became quite the rage, and how, year afteryear, Mr. Beverley's powers were taxed to the utmost to outdo hisformer triumphs, and how the most costly materials and complicatedmachinery were annually put into requisition until the managers began tosuffer. "

Speaking of the production on the 26th December, 1849, of "The Island ofJewels, " Planché says, "The novel, and yet exceedingly simple, fallingof the leaves of a palm tree, which discovered six fairies, supporting acoronet of jewels, produced such an effect as I scarcely remember havingwitnessed on any similar occasion up to that period. The last scenebecame the first in the estimation of the management. The mostcomplicated machinery, the most costly materials were annually put intorequisition, until their bacon was so buttered that it was impossible tosave it. Nothing was considered brilliant but the _last_ scene. Dutchmetal was in the ascendant. It was no longer even painting, it wasupholstery. Mrs. Charles Mathews herself informed me that she had paidbetween £60 and £70 for gold tissue for the dresses of theSupernumeraries alone. " I wonder what Mrs. Mathews would say if shecould now visit this terrestrial sphere of ours?

All this love of spectacular display soon began to supersede the goodold-fashioned Christmas Pantomimes. 

In his work, "Behind the Scenes, " Mr. Fitzgerald very graphicallydescribes the Transformation scene of later days, and now becomingnearly as obsolete as the Harlequinade. All will recall in someelaborate transformation scene how quietly and gradually it is evoked. First the gauzes lift slowly one behind the other--perhaps the mostpleasing of all scenic effects--giving glimpses of the Realms of Blissseen beyond in a tantalising fashion. Then is revealed a kind of halfglorified country, clouds and banks evidently concealing much. Always asort of pathetic, and, at the same time, exultant strain rises, and isrepeated as the changes go on; now we hear the faint tinkle--signal tothose aloft on the "bridges" to open more glories. Now some of the banksbegin to part slowly, showing realms of light with a few divinebeings--fairies--rising slowly here and there. More breaks beyond, andmore fairies rising with a pyramid of these ladies beginning to mountslowly in the centre. Thus it goes on, the lights streaming on full inevery colour and from every quarter in the richest effulgence. In someof the more daring efforts the _femmes suspendues_ seem to float in theair or rest on the frail support of sprays or branches of trees. While, finally, at the back of all the most glorious paradise of all will open, revealing the pure empyrean itself, and some fair spirit aloft in acloud among the stars; the apex of all. Then all motion ceases; the workis complete; the fumes of crimson, red, and blue fire begin to rise atthe wings; the music bursts into a crash of exultation; and, possibly tothe general disenchantment, a burly man, in a black frock coat, stepsout from the side and bows awkwardly. Then, to a shrill whistle, thefirst scene of the Harlequinade closes in, and shuts out the brilliantvision. 

CHAPTER XVIII. 

Pantomimic Families--Giuseppe Grimaldi--James Byrne, the Harlequin andInventor of the modern Harlequin's dress--Joseph Grimaldi, Junior--TheBologna Family--Tom Ellar--The Ridgways--The Bradburys--TheMontgomerys---The Paynes--The Marshalls--Charles and RichardStilt--Richard Flexmore--Tom Gray--The Paulos--Dubois--Arthur andCharles Leclerq--"Jimmy" Barnes--Famous Pantaloons--Miss Farren--Mrs. Siddons--Columbines--Notable Actors in Pantomime. 

In the histrionic profession the genius of hereditary is shown over andover again; and no more so than in Pantomimic families. For, if blessedwith a numerous progeny, the sons became--the eldest, of course, couldonly, as the place of honour, be Clown--the others, Harlequins, Pantaloons; the daughters, Columbines; and, perhaps, Harlequinas. 

In the last chapter but one I have referred to Grimaldi's father, Giuseppe Grimaldi, "Iron Legs, " and now let us recall something more ofthe sire of so worthy a son. 

As a dancer--as his father was before him--and Pantomimist, GiuseppeGrimaldi, before coming to England, had appeared at the fairs of Franceand Italy. In 1758 Giuseppe made his first appearance on the stage ofDrury Lane, under Garrick's management, in a new Pantomime dance, entitled, "The Millers. "

For some thirty years afterwards the Signor continued to be a member ofthe Drury Lane _corps de ballet_, and appearing as Clown, Harlequin, andPantaloon. 

In 1764, Giuseppe played Harlequin in a Clown-less Pantomime at Sadler'sWells, and in the Drury Lane Pantomime of the same year, though therewere Harlequin, Pantaloon, and Columbine in it, there was no Clown. Drury Lane was then only open in the winter, and Sadler's Wells in thesummer months. 

A notable Harlequin was Mr. James Byrne, the ballet-master. "Mr. Byrne, "says Grimaldi, in his "Memoirs, " "was the best Harlequin on the boards, and never has been excelled, or even equalled, since that period. "

Mr. Byrne came of a well-known dancing family, and to him we owe theintroduction of the tight-fitting dress worn by Harlequin. Until theproduction of the Pantomime of "Harlequin Amulet, or the Magic of Mona, "at Drury Lane Theatre, written by Mr. Powell, produced at Christmas, 1799, by Mr. Byrne, and which ran until Easter, 1800--it had been theloose jacket and trousers of the ancient Mimes. It had also beenconsidered indispensable that Harlequin should be continuallyattitudinising in the five different positions of Admiration, Flirtation, Thought, Defiance, and Determination; and continuallypassing from one to the other without pausing. Byrne, for newerattitudes, abolished these postures, but long afterwards the old form ofposing was, and is still, retained by the exponents of Harlequin. 

In this Pantomime, Byrne, as Harlequin, appeared in a white silkclose-fitting shape, fitting without a wrinkle, and into which thevariegated colours of time-honoured memory were woven, and covered withspangles, presenting a very bright appearance. 

Mr. Byrne, also gave the character of Harlequin an entirely new reading. The colours of Harlequin's dress had every one a significance, asfollows:--Red, temper; blue, love; yellow, jealousy; brown or mauve, constancy. When Harlequin wore his mask down he was supposed to beinvisible. On his mask he had two bumps, denoting knowledge on the onehand, and thought on the other, whilst in his cap he wore a hare's foot, and a worked device on his shoes, indicating flight and speed. Can wenot from the bumps of knowledge and the hare's foot trace thecharacteristics of the god Mercury, which, as previously stated, was theprototype of Harlequin. With the bat, or magic sword, the gift from thefairies to him, Harlequin was supposed to be invulnerable, and if helost his sword he would fall into the power of the Clown. 

Byrne's innovation was not resisted, and it was well received, and eversince this memorable occasion, the character of Harlequin has, for themost part, been dressed as Byrne dressed it. The significance of thepresent-day variegated colours of Harlequin's costume are somewhatdifferent to the above, and denote: red, fire; blue, water; yellow, air;and black, earth. These--the four elements--are typical of the regionsgoverned by Mercury. 

Mr. Byrne was at Drury Lane in the time of Garrick. He died December4th, 1845, in the eighty-ninth year of his age. Mrs. Byrne, who was alsoa dancer, pre-deceasing her husband by a few months in herseventy-fourth year. 

Joseph Grimaldi, son of "Old Joe, " made, at twelve years of age, hisfirst appearance at Sadler's Wells in 1814, playing Man Friday to hisfather's Robinson Crusoe. For several years both father and son playedtogether in various Pantomimes; and it was thought that before young Joethere was a brilliant future. This, however, was soon dissipated, as heembarked upon vicious courses, and through a blow on the head receivedin some brawl "He became a wild and furious savage; he was frequentlyattacked with dreadful fits of epilepsy, and continually committedactions which nothing but insanity could prompt. In 1828 he had adecided attack of insanity, and was confined in a strait waistcoat inhis father's house for some time. "

From engagements at Drury Lane, Sadler's Wells, the Pavilion and theSurrey Theatre in turn, he was dismissed, finally "Falling into thelowest state of wretchedness and poverty. His dress had fallen to rags, his feet were thrust into two worn-out slippers, his face was pale withdisease, and squalid with dirt and want, and he was steeped indegradation. " This unhappy life came to a final close in a public-housein Pitt Street, off the Tottenham Court Road. 

Signor Pietro Bologna, a country-man and friend of Giuseppe Grimaldi, Joe Grimaldi's father, brought with him from Genoa his wife, two sonsand a daughter. They were all Mimes, and, in a Pantomime produced in1795, entitled, "The Magic Feast, " Signor Bologna was Clown, and hisson, "Jack" Bologna, was Harlequin; the latter being also Harlequin toGrimaldi's Clown, both at Covent Garden and Sadler's Wells. "Jack"Bologna married a sister of Mary Bristow, Joe Grimaldi's second wife, and the mother of poor young Joe. 

Tom Ellar was another famous Harlequin, first making his appearance atthe Royalty, Goodman's Fields, in 1808. For several seasons he playedHarlequin at Covent Garden. 

Many years ago penny portraits of Mr. Ellar "In his favourite characterof Harlequin, " were published by a Mr. Skelt, or a Mr. Park, of LongLane, Smithfield, and were the delight of those, who, if living now, areold and gray. 

Tom Ellar died April 8, 1842, aged 62. Previous to his death he musthave fallen upon evil days, as Thackeray, in 1840, wrote: "Tom, whocomes bounding home from school, has the doctor's account in his trunk, and his father goes to sleep at the Pantomime to which he takes him. _Pater infelix_, you too, have laughed at Clown, and the magic wand ofspangled Harlequin: what delightful enchantment did it wave round you inthe golden days 'when George the Third was King?' But our Clown lies inhis grave; and our Harlequin Ellar, prince of many of our enchantedislands, was he not at Bow Street the other day, in his dirty, faded, tattered motley--seized as a law breaker for acting at a penny theatre, after having well nigh starved in the streets, where nobody would listento his old guitar? No one gave a shilling to bless him: not one of uswho owe him so much!"

Another Pantomime family were the Ridgways. Tom Ridgway was Clown underMadame Vestris's management at Covent Garden. 

There have been several Bradburys since the time of Grimaldi's greatrival, Robert Bradbury, died July 21, 1831, who wore on his person ninestrong "pads, " in order to go through some extraordinary feats. 

The Montgomerys; the Paynes, Harry and Fred; nor should the name of "OldBilly" Payne be omitted. "Billy" Payne it was, it will be remembered, who, in 1833, helped, from the stage of Covent Garden, the dying EdmundKean. 

Then there were the Marshalls, Harry and Joseph; Charles and RichardStilt; and a very original and amusing Clown, Richard Flexmore, diedAugust 20, 1860, aged 36. Tom Gray, a famous Clown of Covent Garden, died January 28th, 1768, aged upwards of 100 years; the Paulo family ofPantomimists; Dubois, Arthur and Charles Leclerq, Walter Hilyard, andmany, many others. 

In the 'twenties and 'thirties a popular and famous Pantaloon was"Jimmy" Barnes, died September 28th, 1838. Barnes, in the summer of1830, was engaged to play in an English company at Paris, but they hadhardly commenced to perform when the Revolution of July broke out. Someyears afterwards Barnes published in "Bentley's Miscellany, " from hisold original M. S. , an amusing and illustrated account of his wanderings. 

Amongst other Pantaloons there have been--Thomas Blanchard, died August20, 1859, aged 72; William Lynch, died June 29, 1861, aged 78; R. Norman, died September 16, 1858, aged 70; George Tanner, died February8, 1870; and Paulo, a member of Mr. Charles Kean's Company at thePrincess's Theatre, had as Pantaloon appeared in many Pantomimes. It isa notable fact that a good number of our Mimes were long-livers. 

Long before Miss Farren, afterwards Countess of Derby (died April 21, 1829), first charmed a London audience, we hear of her in 1772 atWakefield in one of her first parts--if not her first--that ofColumbine. She could both sing well and dance gracefully. One of theearliest "parts" that even the great Mrs. Siddons (that afterwards was), when a young girl, played, was in connection with Pantomime, as Combesremembered to have seen her "Standing by the side of her father's stage, and knocking a pair of snuffers against a candle-stick to imitate thesound of a wind-mill, during the representation of some Harlequinade. "

In days gone by Madame Leclerq, Carlotta Leclerq, Charles Kean'sColumbine in the seasons of 1850-1-2, E. Dennett, Emma Boleno, diedOctober 18th, 1867, aged 35; Marie Charles, who died from an accident byfire, Pavilion Theatre, January 21, 1864, and others have wonconsiderable fame in the part of Columbine. 

Amongst those who have played Harlequin in days gone by, have been theelder Kean, and the well-known actor, Mr. Wilson Barrett, who, early inhis career, played this part for an extra two shillings and sixpence"thrown in, " to augment his then weekly salary of seventeen shillingsand sixpence; whilst Sir Henry Irving tells us that he also has appearedin Pantomime, in the character of a wicked fairy, named Venoma, in dayssince past, for a small monetary emolument. 

CHAPTER XIX. 

Popular Pantomime subjects--Poor Pantomime Librettos--Pantomime subjectsof our progenitors--The various versions of "Aladdin"--"The Babes in theWood"--"Blue Beard"--"Beauty and the Beast"--"Cinderella"--"DickWhittington"--"The House that Jack Built"--"Jack the GiantKiller"--"Jack and the Beanstalk"--"Red Riding Hood"--"The SleepingBeauty in the Wood"--Unlucky subjects--"Ali Baba and the FortyThieves"--"The Fair One with Golden Locks"--The source of "Sindbad theSailor" and "Robinson Crusoe. "

It may be of interest in this History of Pantomime to note the origin ofsome of our most popular present day Pantomime subjects, besides showingmany of our present day Pantomime libretto writers that in suchwell-known themes as "Aladdin, " "Cinderella, " and others, there is noneed to cast their stories pretty much in the same groove, year afteryear, when by drawing on the fairy-lore of the East much that is new andoriginal, for present-day English Pantomimes, is waiting the attentionof their skill and ingenuity. 

Though the stories of popular English Pantomimes are practically thesame each year (why I do not know), yet, not content with this, in manyof our large cities and towns we frequently see the same Pantomime titlenot only "billed" at one theatre, but perhaps at several others. Thisclashing and clashing year after year with one another's titles (I saynothing about the "plots, " as these, in many instances, only consist ofa half-penny worth of author to an intolerable deal of music-hall gag), cannot but, I have long been of opinion, adversely affect the box-officereceipts, unless, of course, the Pantomime-goer makes a point of "doingthe round, " so to speak, which, however, is not generally the case. 

As Pantomime writers in the early days there were Thomas Dibdin, son ofCharles Dibdin, the writer of nautical ballads, Pocock and Sheridan. Dibdin was one of the best of Pantomime librettists, and from the years1771 to 1841 his prolific pen, as a writer of Pantomimes, was neveridle, as from it came some thirty-three Pantomimes, and all successes. Amongst other literary luminaries, in after years, as writers ofPantomime Extravaganzas, there were J. R. Planché, E. L. Blanchard, W. Brough, Mark Lemon, H. J. Byron, Wilton Jones, and John Francis McArdle. 

History always repeats itself we know, and poor Pantomime books were notunknown as far back as half a century ago, as the subjoined parody onthe "Burial of Sir John Moore, " by the late Albert Smith plainlyshows:--

 Not a laugh was heard, not a topical joke, As its corse to oblivion we hurried; Not a paper a word in its favour spoke On the Pantomime going to be buried. 

 We buried it after the Boxing Night, The folks from the galleries turning; For 'twas plain it would scarcely pay for the light Of the star in the last act burning. 

 No useless play-bill put forth a puff, How splendid the public had found it, But it lay like a piece that had been called "stuff, " With a very wet blanket around it. 

After this digression for one brief moment more, let us take a passingglance at some of the Pantomime subjects which our progenitors delightedin. They had not the continual ringing of the changes on half-a-dozenPantomime subjects, as we have at present, but revelled in suchattractions as "Harlequin Don Quixote, " "The Triumph of Mirth, orHarlequin's Wedding, " "The Enchanted Wood or Harlequin's Vagaries, ""Hurly Burly, or the Fairy of the Wells, " "Blue Beard, Black Beard, andGrey Beard, " and many others. However, to return. 

Of the Pantomime subjects, whose origin we are going to enquire into, let us first commence with "Aladdin. "

According to the many versions of this popular story in Europe and Asia, it would seem that its origin originally was of Buddhist extraction. Inour common English version of "Aladdin, " in "The Arabian Nights, " whichwas taken from Galland's French version, it is doubtless an Easternpicture. It does not occur, however, in any known Arabian text (saysMr. Clouston, in "Popular Tales, " and to whose work I am indebted formuch of the information for this chapter) of "The Thousand and OneNights" (_Elf Laila wa Laila_), although the chief incidents are foundin many Asiatic fictions, and it had become orally current in Greece andItaly before it was published by Galland. A popular Italian version, which presents a close analogy to the familiar story of "Aladdin"(properly "_Alá-u-d-Din_, " signifying "Exaltation of the Faith") isgiven by Miss M. H. Busk, in her "Folklore of Rome, " under the title of"How Cajusse was married. "

A good natured looking old man one day knocks at the door of a poortailor out of work; his son, opening the door, is told by the old manthat he is his uncle, and he gives him half a piastre to buy a gooddinner. When the tailor comes home--he was absent at the time--he issurprised to hear the old man claim him as a brother, but finding him sorich he does not dispute the matter. After the old man had lived sometime with the tailor and his family, literally defraying all thehousehold expenses, he finds it necessary to depart, and with thetailor's consent takes the boy Cajusse with him, in order that he maylearn some useful business. But no sooner do they get outside the townthan he tells Cajusse that it is all a dodge. "I'm not your uncle, " hesays, "I want a strong, daring boy to do something I am too old to do. I'm a wizard--don't attempt to escape for you can't. " Cajusse, not a bitfrightened, asks him what it is he wants him to do; and the wizardraises a flat stone from the ground, and orders him to go down, andafter he gets to the bottom of the cave to proceed until he comes to abeautiful garden, where he will see a fierce dog keeping watch. "Here'sbread for him. Don't look back when you hear sounds behind you. On ashelf you will see an old lantern; take it down, and bring it to me. " Sosaying the wizard gave Cajusse a ring, in case anything awkward shouldhappen to him after he had got the lantern, when he had only to rub thering, and wish for deliverance. Cajusse finds precious stones hanginglike frost from the trees in the garden underground, and he fills hispocket with them. Returning to the entrance of the cave, he refuses togive up the lantern till he has been drawn out; so the wizard thinkingmerely to frighten him replaces the stone. Cajusse finding himself thusentrapped rubs the ring, when instantly the Slave of the Ring appears, and the youth at once orders the table to be laid for dinner. He thencalls for his mother and father, and they all have an unusually goodmeal. Some time afterwards, Cajusse had returned home, the town wasilluminated, one day in honour of the marriage of the Sultan's daughterto the Vizier's son. He sends his mother to the palace with a basket ofjewels, and, to demand the Sultan's daughter in marriage. The Sultan isastounded at the purity of the gems, and says he will give his answer ina month. At the end of the same week the Grand Vizier's son is marriedto the Princess. Cajusse rubs his lantern and says "Go to-night and takethe daughter of the Sultan and lay her on a poor pallet in ourouthouse. " This is done, and Cajusse begins to talk to her, but she isfar too frightened to answer. The Sultan learns of his daughter'swhereabouts, and does not know what to make of the strange business. Theson of the Vizier complains to his father that his wife disappears everynight, and comes back just before dawn. Cajusse now sends his mother tothe Sultan with three more baskets full of jewels, and the Sultan tellsher he may come and see him at the palace. Having received this message, Cajusse rubs the lantern, gets a dress of gold and silver, a richlycaparisoned horse, four pages with rich dresses to ride behind them, andone to go before, distributing money to the people. Cajusse is nextmarried to the Princess, and they live together in a most magnificentpalace with great happiness. By-and-bye the old wizard hears of this, and resolves to obtain the lantern by hook or by crook. Disguisinghimself as a pedlar he comes to the palace calling out the familiar "Newlamps for old. " By this means he obtains the precious lamp, andimmediately transports the palace and the princess to an island in thehigh seas. Cajusse, by the aid of the magic ring, quickly follows, tofind his princess a prisoner in the power of the wizard. He then givesher this advice: "Make a feast to-night; say you'll marry the old wizardif he'll tell you what thing would be fatal to him, and you will guardhim against it. " The princess gets from the magician the fatal secret. "One must go into a far distant forest, " he says "Where there is a beastcalled the hydra, and cut off his seven heads. If the middle head issplit open a leveret will jump out and run off. If the leveret is splitopen, a bird will fly out. If the bird is caught and opened, in its bodyis a precious stone, and should that be placed under my pillow I shalldie. " Cajusse accomplishes all these things, and gives the life-stone tothe princess, together with a bottle of opium. The princess drugs thewizard's wine, and when he had laid his head on his pillow (under whichwas the stone) he gave three terrible yells, turned himself round threetimes, and was dead. After thus ridding themselves of their enemy, Cajusse and his bride lived happy ever afterwards. 

Aladdin's adventure with the magician in the enchanted cave has also itscounterpart in Germany (see Grimms' German Collection). 

Another "Aladdin" version is the tale of Marúf, the last in the Búlákand Calcutta printed Arabic texts of the "Book of Marúf" in "TheThousand and One Nights. " The story is to the effect that Marúf hadgiven out that he was a rich man, under which false pretence he marriesthe Sultan's daughter. The tale he spread about was that he wasexpecting the arrival of a rich caravan, which contained all hisprincely wealth. After they were married, Marúf confesses to his wifethe imposture he has practised on them. She urges him to fly, or hishead would be forfeited, and procures him a disguise to flee thecountry. He does so, and, whilst journeying through a village, he sees aman ploughing in a field, whom he asks for food. Whilst the latter isaway, Marúf continues the ploughing, where the man had left off, andthe ploughshare strikes against something hard in the ground, whichturns out to be an iron ring in a marble slab. He pulls at the ring, andMarúf discovers a small room covered with gold, emeralds, rubies, andother precious stones. He also discovers a coffer of crystal, having alittle box, containing a diamond in its entirety. Desirous of knowingwhat the box further contains, he finds a plain gold ring, with strangetalismanic characters engraved thereon. Placing the ring on his finger, he is suddenly confronted by the Genii of the Ring, who demands to knowwhat are his commands. Marúf desires the Genii to transport all thetreasure to the earth, when mules and servants appear, and carry it tothe city which Marúf had left, much to the chagrin of the Vizier, whodid not like Marúf. Marúf, during a great feast prepared for theoccasion, tells the Sultan how he became possessed of the treasure, whenthe Sultan begs the loan of the ring, which Marúf hands to the Vizier togive him, and which no sooner does he get, than he commands the Genii toconvey Marúf to some desert island, and leave him to die. The Vizieralso serves the Sultan the same way, and then he turns his attention to"Mrs. Marúf, " whom he threatens with death if she refuses to marry him. At a banquet she makes the Vizier drunk, obtains possession of the ring, secures the return of Marúf and the Sultan, and the decapitation of theVizier. 

The "Babes in the Wood" was registered on the books of Stationers' Hallas a ballad as far back as 1595. 

To take another familiar Pantomime subject, "Blue Beard, " this story issaid to have been invented as a satire on our King Henry VIII. There islittle doubt, however, of it originating from a very ancient source; andto afford the reader all the possible information on the subject, awriter in "The Drama, " a magazine of the beginning of the last centuryhas the following, though he does not state his authority for theinformation:--

As this extraordinary personage has long been the theme, not only ofchildren's early study and terror, it will be gratifying to peruse thecharacter of that being who really existed, and who was distinguished inhorror and derision by the strange appellation of "Blue Beard. "

He was the famous Gilles, Marquis de Laval, a Mareschal of France, and aGeneral of uncommon intrepidity, who greatly distinguished himself inthe reigns of Charles VI. And VII. , by his courage, particularly againstthe English, when they invaded France. He rendered such services to hiscountry, which were sufficient to immortalize his name, had he not forever tarnished his glory by the most terrible and cruel murders, blasphemies, and licentiousness of every kind. His revenues wereprincely; but his prodigality was sufficient to render even an Emperor abankrupt. Wherever he went he had in his suite a seraglio, a band ofplayers, a company of musicians, a society of sorcerers and magicians, an almost incredible number of cooks, packs of dogs of various kinds, and above 200 led horses. Mezerai, an author of great repute, says, that he encouraged and maintained men who called themselves sorcerers, to discover hidden treasures, and corrupted young persons of both sexesto attach themselves to him, and afterwards killed them for the sake oftheir blood, which was requisite to form his charms and incantations. These horrid excesses may be believed, when we reflect on the age ofignorance and barbarism in which they were certainly too oftenpractised. He was at length, for a state crime against the Duke ofBrittany, sentenced to be burnt alive in a field at Nantz in 1440, butthe Duke, who was present at his execution, so far mitigated thesentence, that he was first strangled, then burnt, and his ashes buried. Though he was descended from one of the most illustrious families inFrance, he declared, previous to his death, that all his terribleexcesses were owing to his wretched education. 

"Blue Beard" was first dramatised at Paris, in 1746, when "_Barbe Bleu_"was thus announced:--_Pantomime_--_representée par la troupe desComediens Pantomimes, Foir St. Laurent_. It was afterwards dramatised atthe Earl of Barrymore's Theatre, Wargrave, Berks. , and in 1791. Afterthat the subject was produced at Covent Garden Theatre as a Pantomime. 

"Beauty and the Beast, " the latter a white bear, is to be found in"Popular Tales from the Norse, " by Mr. Dasent, and in the collection of"Popular Tales from the German" by the Brothers Grimm. As a ballad thestory of "Beauty and the Beast" is a very old one. 

"Cinderella" is to be found in the language of every European country. In ancient Hindu legends it appears; in tales related by the Greek poetsit is also to be found. 

The story of "Cinderella, " according to the ancient Hindu legends, isthat of the Sun and the Dawn. Cinderella has been likened to Aurora, theSpirit of the Dawn, and the fairy Prince of the legend is the morningSun, ever closely pursuing her to make her his bride. The Hindu legendof the lost slipper is that a wealthy Rajah's beautiful daughter wasborn with a golden necklace, which contained her soul, and, if thenecklace was taken off and worn by someone else, the Princess would die. The Rajah gave her on her birthday a pair of slippers with ornaments ofgold and gems upon them. The princess went out upon a mountain to gatherflowers, and whilst stooping there to pluck the flowers, one of herslippers fell into the forest below. A Prince, who was hunting, pickedup the slipper, and was so charmed with it that he said he would makethe wearer his wife. He made his wish known, but no one came to claimthe slipper; at length word was given to the Prince where to find theRajah's daughter; and shortly afterwards they were married. One of thewives of the Prince, being jealous of the Rajah's daughter, stole thenecklace, put it on her own neck, and then the Rajah's daughter died. The Prince, afterwards, found out the secret of the necklace, and got itback again, and put it on his dead wife's neck, and she came to life, and they lived ever afterwards in the greatest harmony. 

The ancient Grecian version of "Cinderella" is that of the story of abeautiful woman named Rhodope, who, whilst bathing, an eagle flew awaywith one of her slippers to Egypt, and dropped it in the lap of the Kingas he sat at Memphis on the judgment seat. The King was so attracted bythe smallness and beauty of the slipper that he fell in love with thewearer, and afterwards made her his wife. 

In Tuscany, Persia, Norway, Denmark, Russia, the story of "DickWhittington" is well known. In all probability, like many other fairytales, its origin was from a Buddhist source. The English version, thatthe Lord Mayor Whittington was the poor ill-used boy he is representedto have been in the popular tale seems quite impossible, since accordingto Stow (mentions Mr. Clouston) he was the son of Sir RichardWhittington, Knight. The story was current in Europe in the thirteenthcentury. In the chronicle of Albert, Abbot of the Convent of St. Mary ofSlade, written at that period, it is related that there were twocitizens of Venice, one of whom was rich, the other poor. It fortunedthat the rich man went abroad to trade, and the poor man gave him as hisventure two cats, the sale of which, as in our tale of the renowned"Dick Whittington, " procured him great wealth. 

On September 21st, 1668, Pepys makes mention in his diary of going toSouthwark Fair, and of seeing the puppet show of "Whittington, " which hesays "was pretty to see. " A Pantomime on the subject was also given byRich early in the eighteenth century. 

In Tuscany, the "Dick Whittington" story runs that in the fifteenthcentury, a Genoese merchant, who presented two cats to the King, wasrewarded by him with rich presents. 

In Norway, a poor boy, having found a box full of silver money under astone, emptied the box and its contents into a lake--one piece, however, floated, which he kept, believing it to be _good_. His mother, hearingof this, thrust him out of doors; and he eventually obtained employmentin a merchant's house. The merchant, having to make a voyage to foreignparts, he asked each of his servants what he should "venture" for him. The poor boy offered all he had, the silver penny, of which he was stillthe possessor. With this the merchant purchased a cat, and sailed away, but the vessel in which he was in was driven out of her course on to theshores of a strange country. The merchant going ashore went to an inn, and, in a room, he saw the table laid for dinner, with a long rod foreach man who sat at it. When the meat was set on the table, out swarmedthousands of mice, and each one who sat at the table beat them off withhis rod. The cat was brought into service, and sold for a hundreddollars, and soon put an end to the career of the mice. When themerchant had weighed anchor, much to his surprise, he saw the catsitting at the mast head. Again foul weather came on, and again thevessel was driven to another strange country, where the mice were justas numerous as before. The cat was called in, sold this time for twohundred dollars, and away the merchant sailed. No sooner, however, washe at sea, than the cat once more appeared before him. The vessel wasagain driven out of her course to another strange country, over-run withrats this time, when poor pussy was sold a third time, for the sum ofthree hundred dollars. Again the cat made its appearance; and themerchant thinking to do the poor boy out of his money, a dreadful stormarose, which only subsided on the merchant making a vow that the boyshould have every penny. When he arrived home the merchant faithfullykept his promise, gave the boy the six hundred dollars, and the hand ofhis daughter besides. 

A Breton legend of the story of "Dick Whittington" runs that three sonsgo to seek their fortune, the eldest of whom, Yvon, possesses a cat. Thecat again plays an important part. Yvon becomes the friend of the Lordof the Manor, and has gold and diamonds bestowed upon him in galore. 

The Russian version is that a poor little orphan boy buys a cat, whichsome mischievous boys were teasing, for three copecks (about a penny). Taken into the service of a merchant the latter goes to a distantcountry, accompanied by the cat of the orphan boy. Puss making sad workof some rats, which threatened to make an end of the merchant in theinn, which he occupied. He ultimately sold the cat to the landlord for asack full of gold. Returning home, on his way thither, he thought howfoolish it would be to give all the money to the boy. Whereupon adreadful storm arose, and the vessel, in which was the merchant, was indanger of sinking. The merchant, knowing that the storm had arisenthrough his change of purpose, prayed to heaven for forgiveness, whenthe sea became calm, and the vessel arrived safely in port, when themerchant paid over to the orphan boy all the wealth obtained by the saleof the cat. 

In the Persian version, unlike the other legends, the cat is owned by apoor widow, who had been impoverished through her sons, and was leftwith only a cat. The sale of the cat produces great wealth; and thewidow, Kayser, immediately sends for her sons to share hernewly-acquired fortune. What follows is different to the other versionsof these wonderful cat stories. The sons only too eager to share thewealth of their mother, fit out many vessels, and begin to trade largelywith India and Arabia. Thinking that to acquire wealth by commercealone, rather slow work, they turned pirates, and were a source oftrouble and annoyance to the neighbouring states, till about 1230 A. D. , when they were reduced to vassalage under Persian rule. 

"The House that Jack Built" has its prototype in a sacred hymn in theTalmud of the Hebrews. 

"Jack, the Giant Killer" and "Jack and the Beanstalk" are two veryancient themes coming from the North, of the time, it is said, of KingArthur, and of the days when "Giants were upon the earth. " Thewell-known cry of the giants in these legends--

 "Fe, Fi, Fo, Fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman; Be he alive or be he dead, I'll grind his bones to make my bread, "

is also referred to by Shakespeare in "King Lear, " in Act III. , Scene 5, when Edgar sings:--

 "Child Rowland to the dark Tower came; His word was still, fee, foh, and fum, I smell the blood of an Englishman. "

The English version of the story of "Jack the Giant Killer, " must, therefore, be older than the time of Elizabeth. It is also a strange andsignificant fact that amongst the Zulus, and the inhabitants of the FijiIslands, there are similar legends of the story of "Jack and theBeanstalk. "

The story of "Jack and the Beanstalk" is also to be found in old Hindootales, in which the beans denote abundance. The Russians have a story inwhich a bean falls to the ground, and an old man, the Sun, climbs up byit to heaven. "The ogre in the land above the skies, " observes Mr. Baring Gould, "who was once the all-father, possessed three treasures--aharp, which played of itself enchanting music; bags of gold anddiamonds; and a hen which daily laid a golden egg. The harp is thewind, the bags of gold are the clouds dropping the sparkling rain, andthe golden egg laid every day by the red hen is the producing sun. " Thesame idea in "Jack and the Beanstalk" occurs in the fairy legends of theNorth and the East, as well as in Grecian stories. 

In "Jack the Giant Killer, " the gifts given to Jack are found in Tartar, Hindoo, Scandinavian, and German legends. 

Now let us note briefly the origin of "Red Riding Hood" and "TheSleeping Beauty in the Wood. " All the other fairy stories that we knowof are to be found in other countries, and springing originally fromAsia, where they were made ages and ages ago. 

The Wolf in the story of "Red Riding Hood" has been likened to the daysof our own "Bluff King Hal, " owing to the latter's suppression of themonasteries, and Red Riding Hood herself, whom the Wolf subsequentlyeats, with her hood and habit, was supposed to be typical of themonastic orders. 

The Hindoo's version of the "Red Riding Hood" story is a pretty andfanciful one. Their idea was that there was always a great Dragonendeavouring to devour Indra, the Sun god, and to prevent the Sun fromshining upon the earth, Indra ultimately overcomes the Dragon. RedRiding Hood, with her warm habit, is supposed to be the setting suncasting its red and glittering rays as it sinks to rest. The oldGrandmother is Mother Earth; and the Wolf, the Dragon; and when all isdark and still, the Wolf swallows the Grandmother, namely, the Earth;and afterwards, as Night has fallen, the Evening Sun. The Huntsmandenotes the Morning Sun, and he chases away all the dark clouds gatheredduring the night, and by doing so kills the Wolf; recovers the oldGrandmother Earth, and brings to life again, Little Red Riding Hood. Another version (observes Mr. T. Bunce) is that the Wolf is the dark, and dreary winter, that kills the Earth with frost, but when springcomes again it brings the Earth and the Sun back to life. 

In "The Sleeping Beauty in the Wood, " the maiden has been likened to theMorning dawn, and the young Prince, who awakens her, with a kiss, to theSun. 

"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, " in concluding this chapter, I may say, with "The Fair One with Golden Locks, " forms to the superstitious theonly two unlucky Pantomime subjects. 

"Sindbad, the Sailor, " taken from the "Arabian Nights, " has its originin Persian and Arabian tales. 

Of all our Pantomime subjects, "Robinson Crusoe, " seems to be the onlyone we can properly lay claim to as being "of our own make, " so tospeak, and written by Daniel De Foe, and, in the main, from theimagination. De Foe, it has been stated, derived his idea for thisstory from the adventures of one, Alexander Selkirk, a Scotchman, whohad been a castaway on the Island of Juan Fernandez. The first portionof "Robinson Crusoe" appeared in "The Family Instructor, " in 1719, ofwhich De Foe was the founder. It, at once, sprang into popularity, andhas left its author undying fame. De Foe was born about 1660 in theparish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, died 26th April, 1731, and was buriedin Bunhill Fields. 

CHAPTER XX. 

Pantomime in America. 

Pantomime, in America, had not a very long run, it being killed by thefarcical comedy. Mr. E. L. Blanchard supposes that "Mother Goose" was thefirst Pantomime played in America, but this is an error, as it was notuntil 1786, when Garrick's "Harlequin's Invasion, " and R. Pocock's"Robinson Crusoe" were played at the John Street Theatre, New York, thatPantomime made its advent in America. "Mother Goose" was afterwardsplayed, but it did not suit the Yankee's taste. Rich's Harlequin, Gay of"The Beggars Opera, " produced at Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre, and whichit is said made "Rich Gay, and Gay Rich, " also went to America, andwhere, it is said, he became the Chief of an Indian tribe in the FarWest. In the South Sea Bubble Gay held some £20, 000. His friends advisedhim to sell, but he dreamed of greatness and splendour, and refusedtheir counsel. Ultimately, both the profit and the principal was lost, and Gay sunk under the calamity so low that his life became in danger. 

American Pantomimes consisted of a semi-pastoral "opening, " performedalmost entirely in dumb show, and a big trick Harlequinade, and down tothe time of Pantomime's decease in America was it played like this. 

George L. Fox made Pantomime highly popular in America. Born in May of1825, he, as an actor and comedian in Yankee and Irish parts, held hisown in popularity with the great Joseph Jefferson. 

Fox might be properly termed "The Grimaldi of America, " as he was therepresentative Clown of the land of the stars and stripes. His Clown'sparts he dressed like Grimaldi, and with the whitened face and bald headof Pierrot, the French type of Clown. 

The year that "Mother Goose" came to New York saw the introduction of aFrench troupe of Pantomimists, known as the Ravels. In imitation ofthese performers Fox introduced in the 'fifties ballet Pantomimes, andseveral Ravelsque pieces like "The Red Gnome" and "The Schoolmaster"with good results. 

In 1862 Fox was at the Bowery Theatre, and, during his occupation of thesame, he did much to popularise Pantomime. Half a dozen years afterwardswe find him at the Olympic Theatre, New York, where he produced "HumptyDumpty, " which ran 483 nights, and for five years, till 1873, it heldits place, on and off, in the bill. Altogether it was played 943 times. Fox, from this, was known as Humpty Dumpty, and, strangely enough, also, the Americans for long enough afterwards called every Pantomime "HumptyDumpty. "

Fox was a very good mimic, imitating all the Hamlets of the day, besidesbeing a good melodramatic actor. He died October 24th, 1877, atCambridge, Mass. , of softening of the brain. 

Tony Denier, a pupil of the Ravels, and a quondam friend of Fox, nexttook Fox's place in the estimation of the American public. Of Denier, weare told that he arrived in Boston in 1852, with the proverbialhalf-crown in his pocket. He was of French extraction, and descendedfrom one of the best French families. In 1863 he was with P. T. Barnum, and appearing as a one-legged dancer. In 1868, he went into Pantomime, toured "Humpty Dumpty, " and for some twenty years afterwards kept thePantomimic ball merrily rolling until his retirement at Chicago intoprivate life. Denier made Harlequinade tricks a speciality. 

Pantomime in America may be said to have lived about a quarter of acentury; but in the autumn of this year (1901) Pantomime, as we now knowit in this country, made its first appearance at the Broadway Theatre, New York, when last year's Drury Lane annual, "The Sleeping Beauty andthe Beast, " was successfully presented. It is very probable that thisclass of entertainment will become very popular in America. 

CHAPTER XXI. 

Pantomimes made more attractive--The Restrictive Policy of the PatentHouses--"Mother Goose" and "George Barnwell" at Covent Garden--LivelyAudiences--"Jane Shore"--"Harlequin Pat and Harlequin Bat"--"The firstspeaking opening"--Extravagence in Extravaganzas--The doom of the oldform of Pantomime--Its revival in a new form--A piece of purePantomime--Present day Mimetic Art--"_L'Enfant Prodigue_"--Aretrospect--The old with the new, and conclusion. 

Pantomimes, as they grew, were made more and more attractive, "newscenery, decorations, and flyings" were introduced, and with new"flyings, " of course, more accidents. 

The restrictive policy adopted by the Patent theatres--till the repealof their patents (1843)--towards the minor houses, which gave to theformer the sole and only right of performing the "legitimate" was, bythe minor theatres, infringed in many ways. The means adopted was theemployment of Pantomime in the depiction of plays adapted and consideredsuitable for the minor theatres. These were entirely carried on byaction, and when the actor could not express something that had to beexplained, like the names of characters, a scroll, with the necessarydetails inscribed thereon, was unrolled in full view of the audience. These entertainments were very popular at the close of the eighteenthcentury, and they were also the means of providing some first-classPantomimists--as, for instance, Bologna and D'Egville. 

In a couple of volumes by Mr. J. C. Cross, entitled, "Circusiana, " theauthor of many of these old "dumb shows, " the reader can see what theywere like. The scripts of these plays consisted, like our ancient"Platts" and the Italian Scenarios, of principally stage directions. 

John Palmer, the actor who died on the stage of the Theatre Royal, Liverpool--now used for the purpose of a cold storage--after uttering, in the part of "The Stranger, " the words "There is another and a betterworld, " found that, after building his theatre, the Royalty, inWellclose Square, that he was prohibited its use, used to givePantomimic representations, and just in a similar way as what the minortheatres did, as mentioned above. 

It is amusing to note how the titles of some of Shakespeare'sworks--which at one time the Patent theatres had the monopoly--were gotover; "Hamlet" has been known to have been played as "Methinks I see myFather;" "Othello, " as "Is He Jealous?;" "Romeo and Juliet, " as "How toDie for Love;" "The Merchant of Venice, " under "Diamond Cut Diamond, "and so on. Music and dancing also were introduced _ad lib_ into theseperformances. 

The Pantomime of "Mother Goose, " produced at Covent Garden, December 29, 1806, which ran 92 nights, was preceded by "George Barnwell, " andbrought some £20, 000 into the theatre treasury. Strangely enough, forabout thirty years, it was the unvarying rule to play "George Barnwell"at this theatre on a Boxing Night, which, from all accounts, owing tothe liveliness of the gods and goddesses assembled on theseoccasions--the Tragedy was as much a Pantomime as the Pantomime properthat followed. Of these "merry moments" Dibdin recalls that Tragedies, Comedies, and Operas were doomed to suffer all the complicatedcombinations of "Pray ask that gentleman to sit down, " "Take off yourhat?" and the like. "But the moment, " continues Dibdin, "the curtaingoes up (on the Pantomime), if any unfortunate gentleman speaks a wordthey make no reply, _but throw him over directly_. "

Seemingly afterwards, at Pantomime time, "Barnwell" was discarded infavour of "Jane Shore, " as in "The Theatrical Magazine" we find a writerpenning the following:--

A few years since it was the established rule to play "George Barnwell, "by way, we suppose, of a "great moral lesson" to the apprentices ofLondon. In this age of innovation this venerable custom has been brokendown, but the principle seems not wholly to have been abandoned. "JaneShore" has supplanted "Barnwell, " and the anxieties of the age, are, itwould appear, now directed towards the softer sex. Seriously speaking, we consider these Christmas selections as exceedingly absurd. Visitantsat this period of the year frequent the theatre less for the purpose ofseeing the play than the Pantomime, and at both theatres it was thisevening their chief, and almost only, attraction; for the tragedy ofRowe, which is of very little merit, derived but trifling interest oreffect from the performers who personated the prominent characters. Moreover the lessons of the pulpit have unfortunately but too slight aninfluence on those who attend them, and we are rather fearful the moralbenefits to be derived from these stage lectures, to the apprentices andservants of the metropolis, do not countervail the loss of pleasuresustained by those who would be so much better pleased; and, therefore, perhaps, taught by a lively comedy, satirising some of the light vicesor laughable follies of the age. We trust this theatrical nuisance willbe for the future reformed; we can almost excuse the holiday folks forbeing turbulent, when we reflect upon the insult offered to theirunderstandings, in the treatment they receive on these occasions. 

In 1830, at Covent Garden Theatre, Peake introduced into the Pantomimeof "Harlequin Pat, and Harlequin Bat" a "speaking opening. " Pantomime, however, pursued the even tenour of its way until the production at theAdelphi, about 1857, of a Pantomime, with a "burlesque opening, " and"the thin end of the wedge" was provided, written by Mark Lemon. In theHarlequinade, Madame Celeste appeared as Harlequin _à la Watteau_, andMiss Mary Keeley was the Columbine. These Extravaganzas, from the pen ofPlanché, with scenery by Beverley, and all under the management ofVestris, afterwards became quite the rage. 

I have previously referred to the excellence of Beverley's scenes underthe _regime_ of Madame Vestris. Extravagance in Extravaganzas, like "TheBlue Bird, " "Once Upon a Time, " and the like, caused the managers, inthe matter of scenery, to enter into serious competition with oneanother. 

Pantomime, it was thought, was doomed, as its decease at this epochseemed impending. It managed, however, to come again into popularfavour, but in a very different shape. Instead of the usual comicPantomime it was played by two different sets of performers, and havingno connection with one another. The opening scenes, like a soap bubble, began to grow larger and larger, the double plot was abandoned, theTransformation scene became the principal feature, and a longHarlequinade at the _end_. 

In the Pantomime of "Red Riding Hood, " written by F. W. Green, andproduced at Her Majesty's Theatre, during the 'eighties, an effort wasmade to compose and invent a piece of pure Pantomime. The Vokes family, J. T. Powers, and others, appeared in this Pantomime. 

In France and Italy particularly, the Mimetic Art still flourishes; butin this country it is practically a lost Art. One of the best examples, and most successful, we have had in recent years of this ancient formof entertainment in this country was that of "_L'Enfant Prodigue_, "played by Mdlle. Jane May and a French Company of Pantomimists. Thereare, however, several other very brilliant Pantomimists excellent intheir Art, like the Martinetti troupe, the two brothers Renad, and theLeopolds. 

"It is a pity (observes Dickens, in 'The Theatre') that the knowledge ofit (Pantomime) cannot be more extended among our modern actors andactresses, so few of whom understand anything about the effectiveness ofappropriate gesture. A few lessons in the business of Harlequin wouldteach many a young man, for instance, the simple lesson that arms may bemoved with advantage from the shoulder as well as from the elbow; and sowe should get rid of one of the awkwardest, ugliest, and commonest ofmodern stage tricks. And there would be nothing derogatory in the study. Many of our most distinguished actors have graduated in Pantomime. "

Mr. Davenport Adams, writing in "The Theatre, " for January, 1882, on thedecline of Pantomime, says:--

"We may say of present-day Pantomime that the trail of the music-hall isover it all. I admit the extreme ability of certain music-hallcomedians. I object, however, altogether, to the intrusion of suchartists into the domain of Pantomime, and I do so because they, andothers not so able, bring with them, so to speak, an atmosphere which itis sad to see imported into the theatre. They bring with them, not onlytheir songs, which, when offensive in their wording, are sometimes madedoubly dangerous by their tunefulness; not only their dances, which areusually vulgar, when they are not inane, but their style and manner and'gags, ' which are generally the most deplorable of all. The objection tomusic-hall artists on the stage is, not only that they take the breadout of the mouths of 'the profession, ' which is a minor considerationfor the public, but that they have the effect of familiarising generalaudiences, and children especially, with a style and a kind of singing, dancing, and 'business' which, however it may be relished by a certainclass of the population, ought steadily to be confined to its originalhabitat. The managers are, of course, very much to blame, for it is bytheir permission, if not by their desire, that youthful ears are regaledwith 'W'st, w'st, w'st, ' and similar elegant compositions. Such songs asthese would not be tolerated by _paterfamilias_ in his drawing-room, yet, when he takes his children to the Pantomime, they are the mostprominent portion of the entertainment. "

In the last century, Pantomimes, in the form so dear to our forefathers, sometimes twice yearly--at Easter and Christmas--were given. The comicand other scenes were in that true sense of the word humorous and funny. The reason was not far to seek, as they were all played by _actors_. Themusic-hall had not, as far as Pantomime was concerned, made such inroadsas at the present time it has done into the dramatic profession. Clown, to _pater_ and _materfamilias_, and others, was a source of genuineenjoyment; and though they may have passed the sere and yellow leaf ofage, the laughs and hearty merriment of their grand-children gatheredaround them made them think of other days, when they were youngthemselves. Picture them all, dear reader, sitting in the FamilyCircle--now termed the Dress Circle--a happy party with smiling andcontented faces, laughing at some _genuine acting_--Pantomime though itbe--no _double entendre_ songs, and nothing to be ashamed of. 

To the young a visit to the Pantomime was invariably a yearly occurrenceto be joyfully remembered till the next Boxing Day came round again. Dothey, or can they, understand Pantomime in its present form? I very muchdoubt it. 

When towards the close of the 'fifties, and the double plot wasabandoned, the character of Harlequin began to be played by women, theorigin of what is now known as the "principal boy, " and some acrobaticturns, or other speciality business, began to be introduced during thecourse of the Pantomime, which greatly discounted the efforts ofHarlequin and Clown. 

Another competitor that took up the running to the abolition of Clownand his companions, was the music-hall, which began introducingPantomimes and ballets. The first to do this, some years ago, was theCanterbury, other halls soon following suit. 

The managers of the theatres took up arms, with the result that variousdecisions, chiefly averse to the music-halls, were obtained. A decisionof the Court of Common Pleas left the music-halls in a position to giveballets with costume and scenic effects without any such control orprecautions as was exercised in theatres under the Lord Chamberlain'sauthority. The duration of the litigation was all owing to the vaguedefinition "Stageplays in the 6 and 7 Vict. C. 68, " and of "Music, dancing and public entertainments in the Act 25, Geo. II. , c. 30. "

Of present-day Pantomime, with the immense sums spent annually on itsgorgeous spectacular display and costly dresses, there is no necessityfor me here to dilate upon, as it is a subject that is well known to usall. All that is beautiful about it is due principally to the scenicartists and the costumiers. The best parts are, as a general rule, allotted to music-hall "stars, " whose names will draw the most money. And the followers of Thespis have, until the reign of King Pantomime isover, to take oftentimes second-class places in the Pantomimic form ofentertainment of the present day. 

In the old days everyone looked forward to the performances of Clown andhis companions; but little by little their business went, until finallythis has dwindled down to about one or two scenes--which, in some fewinstances is still retained. 

And now to formally "ring down, " and in writing the "tag, " there is, Imay say, with the sound of the prompter's bell, a melancholy ring as thepassing knell of Clown and his merry companions, and the "tag, " as itwere, their epitaph. 

Pantomimes--as our forefathers knew them--have become a thing of thepast, and the survivors, Clown and his comrades, the former whose quipsand quiddities, in childhood's happy days, many of us still lovinglyremember; the wonderment with which we gazed at the magical trickswrought by Harlequin and his wand; the quaint conceits and ambling gaitof Pantaloon; and, last but not least, bewitching Columbine, with whom, most likely as each year came round, in youthful ardour we fell anew inlove's toils, are all rapidly vanishing into the dim and distant past, and to live in the future only in the memory. 

CURTAIN.