while in the metamorphosis of the scene, a certain
sort of wit to the eye, "mechanic wit," as it has been termed, has
originated; as when a surgeon's shop is turned into a laundry, with the
inscription "Mangling done here;" or counsellors at the bar changed into
fish-women.

Every one 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 their costume,
sent over from his native place. The shrill squeak of the tin whistle
had the same comic effect on him as the notes of the _Ranz des Vaches_
have in awakening the tenderness of domestic emotions in the wandering
Swiss--the national genius is dramatic. Lady Wortley Montagu, when she
resided at a villa near Brescia, was applied to by the villagers for
leave to erect a theatre in her saloon: they had been accustomed to turn
the stables into a playhouse every carnival. She complied, and, as she
tells us, was "surprised at the beauty of their scenes, though painted
by a country painter. The performance was yet more surprising, the
actors being all peasants; but the Italians have so natural a genius for
comedy, they acted as well as if they had been brought up to nothing
else, particularly the _Arlequino_, who far surpassed any of our
English, though only the tailor of our village, and I am assured never
saw a play in any other