al characters were Pantaloon, a Venetian Merchant;
Dottore, a Bolognese physician; Spavento, a Neapolitan braggart;
Pulcinello, a wag of Apalia; Giangurgoto and Corviello, two Clowns of
Cala-simpleton; and Arlechino, a blundering servant of Bergamo.

The latter The Harlequin of the Italian theatre, has passed through,
mentions Mr. Disraeli, all the vicissitudes of fortune. At first (as we
have seen) he was a true representative of the ancient Mime; but, during
the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, he degenerated into a booby and
a gourmand, the perpetual butt for a sharp-witted fellow, his companion,
Brighella, the knife and the whetstone. Harlequin, however, under the
reforming hand of Goldoni, became, in after years, a child of nature,
and the delight of his country; and he has commemorated the historical
character of the great Harlequin Sacchi. It may serve the reader to
correct his notions of one, from the absurd pretender with us who has
usurped the title. "Sacchi possessed a lively and brilliant imagination.
While other Harlequins merely repeated themselves, Sacchi, who always
adhered to the essence of the play, contrived to give an air of
freshness to the piece by his new sallies and unexpected repartees. His
comic traits and his jests were neither taken from the language of the
lower orders, nor that of the comedians. He levied contributions on
comic authors, on poets, orators, and philosophers; and in his
impromptus they often discovered the thoughts of Seneca, Cicero, or
Montaigne. He possessed the art of appropriating the remains of these
great men to himself, and allying them to the simplicity of the
blockhead; so that the same proposition which was admired in a serious
author, became highly ridiculous in the mouth of this excellent actor."
In France Harlequin was improved into a wit, and even converted into a
moralist; he is the graceful hero of Florian's charming compositions,
which please even in the closet. "This imaginary being, invented by the
Italians, and adopted by the French," says the ingenious Goldoni, "has
the exclusive right of uniting _naivete_ with _finesse_, and no one ever
surpassed Florian in the delineation of this amphibious character. He
has even contrived to impart sentiment, passion, and morality to his
pieces." Harlequin must be modelled as a national character, the
creature of manners; and thus the history of such a Harlequin might be
that of the age and of the people, whose genius