and on the stage.+ No young women were
allowed to be present at the _commedia del arte_ in the first times of
the principate at Florence. Masi[2129] says that this was true in
general of all Italy. Later they were addressed in the prologue, which
became customary, and so they must have been present. Popular opinion
still held that they ought to stay at home, as of old. They were never
on the stage. De Julleville says[2130] that women in France in the
Middle Ages were present at the freest farces. In the middle of the
sixteenth century, in Italy, wandering players began to employ women for
female parts. The Italian comedians, when they went to Paris, continued
this custom there.[2131] Philip II of Spain forbade women on the
stage.[2132] French actresses appeared at London in 1629; they were
allowed in 1659.[2133] Innocent XI, in 1676, forbade the employment of
women on the stage.[2134]

+666. The "commedia del arte."+ In Italy the _commedia del arte_ was the
continuation or revival of the _mimus_. The speeches were impromptu; the
characters and roles were stereotyped. The action and speeches must have
grown by the contributions of talented men who played the parts from
generation to generation. The characters have become traditional and
universal.[2135] Such were Maccus (later Polichinella) of Naples,
Manducus or the French Croquemitaine, Bucco, a half-stupid,
half-sarcastic buffoon, Pappus (the later Venetian Pantalon) the fussy
old man, and Casnar, the French Cassandre. Scaramucca or Fracassa was
added to satirize the Spanish soldier. He was recognized as the Miles
Gloriosus of Plautus.[2136] The Spanish trooper was a boastful coward.
He called himself the son of the earthquake and lightning, cousin of
death, or friend of Beelzebub.[2137] At the marriage of Alphonso d'Este
comedies of Plautus were acted for effect and conventional pretense, but
they were considered tiresome, and interludes of pantomime, ballet,
clown tricks, peasant farce, mythology, and fireworks were introduced to
furnish entertainment.[2138]

+667. Jest books. Italian comedy at Paris.+ In the sixteenth century the
theater became entirely secular, and amusement and religion were
separated as a consequence of the general movement of the Renaissance.
In the Middle Ages serious men collected jests and published jest books,
which were collections of the jokes made by the _mimus_, just as modern
jests have been made by negro minstrels, circus clowns, an