Mime, but afterwards degenerated into a booby and a gourmand,
the perpetual butt for a sharp-witted fellow, his companion, called
Brighella; the knife and the whetstone. Harlequin, under the reforming
hand of Goldoni, became a child of nature, 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."[42] 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."[43] 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 he ought to represent.

The history of a people is often detected in their popular amusements;
one of these Italian pantomimic characters shows this. They had a
_Capitan_, who probably originated in the _Miles gloriosus_ of Plautus;
a brother, at least, of our Ancient Pistol and Bobadil. The ludicrous
names of this military poltroon were _Spavento_ (Horrid fright),
_Spezza-fer_ (Shiver-spear), and a tremendous recreant was Captain
_Spavento de Val inferno_. When Charles V. entered Italy, a Spanis