nd author, among other works, of a valuable
history of the Theatre-Italien. Riccoboni took the young lovers' parts and
the name of Lelio. The rest of the cast[56] was as follows: Joseph
Baletti, called Mario, second lover; Thomasso Vicentini, called Thomassin,
who took the roles of Harlequin; Alborghetti, as Pantalon; Matterazzi, the
doctor; Bissoni, as Scapin; and Giacoppo, as Scaramouche;[57] with Helene
Baletti, sister of Joseph Baletti and wife of Louis Riccoboni, who, under
the name of Flaminia, for thirty-six years was to take the roles of
_premiere amoureuse_, of _soubrette_, and the _travestis_; Silvia, who
later married Joseph Baletti, and performed for forty-two years the roles
of second _amoureuse_; and Violette, the charming soubrette, with one or
two others of less consequence.[58] The characters are those of the old
_commedia dell'arte_. However, written plays had now begun to take the
place of the improvisation of the earlier Italian comedy.

Not long after the reestablishment of the Theatre-Italien at Paris, and,
in fact, as early as the first of June of that same year, we find them
housed in the Hotel de Bourgogne, rue Mauconseil, over the principal door
of which, after the death of the Regent in 1723, was engraved the
following inscription: _Hotel des comediens italiens ordinaires du Roi,
entretenus par Sa Majeste, retablis a Paris en 1716_. In 1762 it lost its
individuality, and became merged into the Opera-Comique, but that was some
years after the last play of Marivaux had been staged, and does not
concern us here.

The Theatre, or rather Theatres de la Foire, for there were two that were
particularly noteworthy, that of Saint-Germain and that of Saint-Laurent,
had had a more humble, though scarcely less early, origin than either of
the other theatres just mentioned, for, as early as the year 1595, an
ambulant troupe had played at the former of these two fairs. For many
years their performances consisted largely of juggling, tumbling, tight-
rope walking, and the like, interspersed perhaps with dialogues, which, in
time, came to occupy the principal part. The characters were largely
borrowed from the Italian _commedia dell'arte_. Extreme license of
expression characterized these plays. Music often accompanied them. In
fact the Theatre de la Foire was the germ that later developed into the
Opera-Comique. Harrassed not only by the Theatre-Francais and the Theatre-
Italien, but also by the Opera itself