mythology! We read with equal astonishment and novelty, that the
prototypes of the modern pantomime are in the Pagan mysteries; that
_Harlequin_ is _Mercury_, with his short sword called _herpe_, or his
rod the _caduceus_, to render himself invisible, and to transport
himself from one end of the earth to the other; that the covering on his
head was his _petasus_, or winged cap; that _Columbine_ is _Pysche_, or
the _Soul_; the _Old Man_ in our pantomimes is _Charon_; the _Clown_ is
_Momus_, the buffoon of heaven, whose large gaping mouth is an imitation
of the ancient masks. The subject of an ancient vase engraven in the
volume represents Harlequin, Columbine, and the Clown, as we see them on
the English stage. The dreams of the learned are amusing when we are not
put to sleep. Dr. Clarke's Travels, vol. iv. p. 459. The Italian
antiquaries never entertained any doubt of this remote origin. It may,
however, be reasonably doubted. The chief appendage of the Vice or
buffoon of the ancient moralities was a _gilt wooden sword_, and this
also belonged to the old Clown or Fool, not only in England but abroad.
"The wooden sword directly connects Harlequin with the ancient Vice and
more modern Fool," says the author of the letter-press to Cruikshank's
_Punch_, apparently with the justest derivation.]

[Footnote 37: This statue, which is imagined to have thrown so much
light on the genealogy of Punch, was discovered in 1727, and is engraved
in Ficoroni's amusing work on _Maschere sceniche e le figure coniche
d'antichi Romani_, p. 48. It is that of a Mime called _Maccus_ by the
Romans; the name indicates a simpleton. But the origin of the more
modern name has occasioned a little difference, whether it be derived
from the _nose_ or its _squeak_. The learned Quadrio would draw the name
_Pullicinello_ from _Pulliceno_, which Spartianus uses for _il pullo
gallinaceo_ (I suppose this to be the turkey-cock) because Punch's
hooked nose resembles its _beak_. But Baretti, in that strange book the
"Tolondron," gives a derivation admirably descriptive of the peculiar
squeaking nasal sound. He says, "_Punchinello_, or Punch, as you well
know, speaks with a squeaking voice that seems to come out at his nose,
because the fellow who in a puppet-show manages the puppet called
Punchinello, or Punch, as the English folks abbreviate it, speaks with a
tin whistle in his mouth, which makes him emit that comical kind of
voice. But the English word _Punc