pleaded guilty to the charge of having as a manager
produced very costly ballets and spectacles. At the same time he
condemned the taste of the vulgar, avowed himself as really on the
side of truth and justice, and compared himself to Henry IV. of France
changing his religion in compliance with the wishes of his people!

Hitherto the ballets had dealt exclusively with mythological subjects,
and nothing of the Italian element comprised in modern pantomime had
been apparent in our stage performances. It is probable that even upon
their first introduction to our theatre the real significance of the
characters of ancient Italian comedy was never wholly comprehended by
the audience. Few could have then cared to learn that types of
national or provincial peculiarity, representatives of Venice,
Bologna, Naples, and Bergamo, respectively, were intended by the
characters of Pantaloon, the Doctor, Scapin, and Harlequin. Yet, in
the first instance, the old Italian comedy was brought upon the
English stage with some regard for its original integrity, and the
characters were personated by regular actors rather than by mimes. So
far back as 1687 Mrs. Behn's three-act farce of "The Emperor of the
Moon" was produced, and in this appeared the characters of Harlequin
and Scaramouch, who play off many tricks and antics, while there are
parts in the play corresponding with the pantaloon, the lover, and the
columbine of more modern pantomime. But at this date, and for some
years, harlequin was not merely the sentimentalist, attitudiniser, and
dancer he has since become. He was true to his Italian origin, and
very much the kind of harlequin encountered on his native soil and
described by Addison: "Harlequin's part is made up of blunders and
absurdities; he is to mistake one name for another, to forget his
errands, and to run his head against every post that appears in his
way." Marmontel describing, however, the harlequin of the French
stage, writes: "His character is a mixture of ignorance, simplicity,
cleverness, stupidity, and grace; he is a kind of sketch of a man, a
tall child, yet with gleams of reason and wit, and all whose mistakes
and follies have something arch about them. The true mode of
representing him is to give him suppleness, agility, the playfulness
of a kitten, with a certain grossness of appearance, which renders his
conduct more absurd; his part is that of a patient, faithful valet,
always in love, always in hot water, e