heir costume, sent over from his native place. The
shrill squeak of the tin whistle had the same comic effect on him as the
notes of the _Ranz des Vaches_ have in awakening the tenderness of
domestic emotions in the wandering Swiss--the national genius is
dramatic. Lady Wortley Montagu when she resided at a villa near Brescia,
was applied to by the villagers for leave to erect a theatre in her
saloon: they had been accustomed to turn the stables into a playhouse
every Carnival. She complied, and, as she tells us, was "Surprised at
the beauty of their scenes, though painted by a country painter. The
performance was yet more surprising, the actors being all peasants; but
the Italians have so natural a genius for comedy, they acted as well as
if they had been brought up to nothing else, particularly the Arlechino,
who far surpassed any of our English, though only the tailor of our
village, and I am assured never saw a play in any other place." Italy is
the 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 narrate
the evolutions of Pantomime, to compile the annals of Harlequin, to
unroll the genealogy of Punch, and to discover even the most secret
anecdotes of the obscurer branches of that grotesque family, amidst
their changeful fortunes, during a period of two thousand years. Nor is
this all; princes have ranked them among the Rosciuses; and Harlequins
and Scaramouches have been ennobled. Even Harlequins themselves have
written elaborate treatises on the almost insurmountable difficulties of
their art. I despair to convey the sympathy they have inspired me with
to my reader; but every _Tramontane_ genius must be informed, that of
what he has never seen, he must rest content to be told.

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

Many of the popular pastimes of the Romans unquestionably survived their
dominion, for the people will amuse themselves, though their masters may
be conquered; and tradition has never proved more faithful than in
preserving popular sports. Many of the games of our children were played
by Roman boys; the mountebanks, with the dancers and tum