A sketch of Harlequin’s original part is worth recording.  “He is a mixture of wit, simplicity, ignorance, and grace, he is a half made up man, a great child with gleams of reason and intelligence, and all his mistakes and blunders 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 coarseness of exterior, which renders his actions more absurd.  His part is that of a faithful valet; greedy; always in love; always in trouble, either on his own or his master’s account; afflicted and consoled as easily as a child, and whose grief is as 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 pieces of cloth sewn on in any fashion.  His beard was worn straight, and of a black colour; on his face he had a half black mask and in his belt of untanned leather he carried a wooden sword.

In Italy there were many varieties of Harlequin, the most notable being Trivelin, and Truffaldin.  The dress of the former, instead of the patches symmetrically arranged, had triangular patches along the seams, and suns and moons only for patches.  He wore the soft hat and hare’s foot, but did not carry the wooden sword.  The hare’s foot denoting speed, has in all probability its origin in the winged cap of the god Mercury.

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

In France, about 1660, Cardinal Mazarin invited one Joseph Dominique Biancolelli, to come to Paris to give entertainments.  Shortly after his arrival Biancolelli gave quite a new reading to the character of Arlechino, as he made him not only a wit and punster, but also a bit of a philosopher.  Biancolelli’s improvements did not end here, as he turned his attention to the dress of Arlechino, which was now made of finer and better quality, whilst the parti-coloured patches were made more artistic and attractive.  On the death of Lolatelli, who, in his lifetime, had played a kind of Arlechino part, Biancolelli succeeded him, and soon sprang into prominence, and acquired a great artistic reputation.  Whilst dancing before Louis XV.  Biancolelli contracted a cold, which set up inflammation of the lungs, causing his death.  His companions, at the theatre in which he performed, to mark the sense of their great grief, closed the theatre for a month.  Biancolelli died in 1688.

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

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

Nearly a couple of decades afterwards, in 1716, Thomassin made his appearance as Harlequin, in pieces written for him by Marivaux, such as “Le Prince Travesti,” “La Surprise de l’Amour,” and in which he appeared with great success.  So daring were Thomassin’s tricks, and in such popularity was he held, that, fearful of losing their favourite like Gherardi, he was obliged to discontinue them.