ed Marionettes.

Marionette entertainments were known both to the Greeks and the Romans.
The adventures of "_Don Juan_" and "_Don Giovanni_," of the Italian
Opera, in all probability sprang originally from the adventures of Punch
in the puppet shows.

Puppet shows introduced into France (_temp._ Charles IX.) from Italy,
where they were and are still known as _Fantoccini_, by Marion--hence
their name--and then into this country, are mentioned by Shakespeare,
Pepys, Jonson, Swift, and the Essayists.

Puppet shows, in this country, were formerly known as "Motions."
Shakespeare's Antolycus frequented fairs and the like, and he also
composed a "Motion" of "The Prodigal Son." Mystery plays were also
represented by puppets.

In England, especially at Bartholomew Fair, they were always very
popular, and the chief survivor of this form of "dumb show" is "Mr.
Punch" of our streets, whose ancient history I have briefly mentioned in
another chapter, but not that of "Mrs. Punch," on whose history I am
unable--however so brief--to throw any light.

Let us now, dear reader, return to England, and trace in this country
something more of the History of Pantomime, and for which we will now
open another chapter.

CHAPTER XIII.

Italian Scenarios and English "Platts"--Pantaloon--Tarleton, the
Clown--Extemporal Comedy--The Poet Milton--Ben Jonson--The
Commonwealth--"A Reign of Dramatic Terror"--Robert Cox and his "Humours"
and "Drolleries"--The Restoration.

It has been thought that our dramatic poet, Massinger, drew upon the
Italian Comedy for the humour of some of his plays. That there was some
form of intercourse between the English and Italian stage is shown by
the discovery of one of the Italian Scenarios, or "Platts," as we know
them, at Dulwich College, which discovery Steevens describes as "a
mysterious fragment of ancient stage direction, and of a species of
dramatic entertainment which no memorial is preserved in any annals of
the English stage." The "Platt," written in a large hand, "And
containing directions, was thought to have been affixed near the
prompter's stand, and it has even an oblong hole in its centre to admit
of being suspended on a wooden peg (Disraeli). On it, and in a familiar
way, appear the names of the players, such as: Pigg, White and Black,
Dick and Sam, Little Will Barne, Jack Gregory, and the Red-faced
fellow."

A "Platt" of the "Seven Deadly Sinnes," supposed to have been written by
Di