learns nothing
by head; he looks on the subject for a moment before he comes forward on
the stage, and entirely depends upon his imagination for the rest. The
actor who is accustomed merely to recite what he has been taught is so
completely occupied by his memory, that he appears to stand, as it were,
unconnected either with the audience or his companions; he is so
impatient to deliver himself of the burthen he is carrying that he
trembles like a schoolboy, or is as senseless as an echo, _and could
never speak if others had not spoken before_. Such a tutored actor among
us would be like a paralytic arm to a body: an unserviceable member,
only fatiguing the healthy action of the sound parts."

CHAPTER XII.

Pantomimical Characters--Neapolitan Pantomime--The Harlequin Family--The
Original Characters in the Italian Pantomimes--Celebrated
Harlequins--Italian and French Harlequins--A French view of the English
Clown--Pierrots' origin--Pantaloon, how the name has been
derived--Columbine--Marionette and Puppet Shows.

After having shown what the _Lazzi_ and Extemporal Comedies were like,
let us now turn to the Pantomimical characters associated with their
representations.

Every one, observes Mr. Isaac Disraeli, of this grotesque family were
the creatures of national genius, chosen by the people for themselves.
Italy, both ancient and modern, exhibits a gesticulating people of
comedians, and the same comic genius characterised the nation through
all its revolutions, as well as the individual through all his fortunes.
The lower classes still betray their aptitude in that vivid humour,
where the action is suited to the word--silent gestures sometimes
expressing whole sentences. They can tell a story, and even raise the
passions, without opening their lips. No nation in modern Europe
possesses so keen a relish for the burlesque, insomuch as to show a
class of unrivalled poems, which are distinguished by the very title;
and perhaps there never was an Italian in a foreign country, however
deep in trouble, but would drop all remembrance of his sorrows, should
one of his countrymen present himself with the paraphernalia of Punch at
the corner of a street. I was acquainted with an Italian, a philosopher
and a man of fortune, residing in this country, who found so lively a
pleasure in performing Punchinello's little comedy, that, for this
purpose, with considerable expense and curiosity, he had his wooden
company, in all t