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, either on his master’s or his own account, troubled and consoled as easily as a child, and whose grief is as entertaining as his joy.”

It will be observed that the character thus described more nearly resembles the modern clown than the modern harlequin, and the early harlequins of the English stage were therefore naturally played by the low comedians of the time.  The harlequin of Mrs. Behn’s farce was personated by an actor named Jevon, who was followed in the part by Pinkethman, a comedian much commended by Steele in “The Tatler.”  Pinkethman was found so amusing in his motley coat, and what Cibber calls “that useless unmeaning mask of a black cat,” that certain of his admirers fancied that much of the drollery and spirit of his grimace must be lost by the concealment of his face.  Yielding to their request, therefore, he played one