ither on his master's or his own
account, troubled and consoled as easily as a child, and whose grief
is as entertaining as his joy."

It will be observed that the character thus described more nearly
resembles the modern clown than the modern harlequin, and the early
harlequins of the English stage were therefore naturally played by the
low comedians of the time. The harlequin of Mrs. Behn's farce was
personated by an actor named Jevon, who was followed in the part by
Pinkethman, a comedian much commended by Steele in "The Tatler."
Pinkethman was found so amusing in his motley coat, and what Cibber
calls "that useless unmeaning mask of a black cat," that certain of
his admirers fancied that much of the drollery and spirit of his
grimace must be lost by the concealment of his face. Yielding to their
request, therefore, he played one night without his mask. But the
result was disappointing. "Pinkethman," it is recorded, "could not
take to himself the shame of the character without being concealed; he
was no more harlequin; his humour was quite disconcerted; his
conscience could not with the same effrontery declare against nature
without the cover of that unchanging face. Without that armour his
courage could not come up to the bold strokes that were necessary to
get the better of common-sense."

Early in the eighteenth century the characters of the Italian comedy
were introduced into ballets. Harlequin ceased to speak, and assumed
by degrees a more romantic, a less comic air, and the peculiarities of
modern pantomime were gradually approached. Rich, the manager of the
theatre in Lincoln's Inn Fields and afterwards of Covent Garden--the
"immortal Rich" of "The Dunciad"--became famous for his pantomimes,
and under the name of Lun acquired great distinction as a harlequin.
Pope handles severely the taste of the town in regard to pantomimes,
and the excessive expenditure incurred on account of them. "Persons of
the first quality in England" were accused of attending at these
representations twenty and thirty times in a season. The line "Lo! one
vast egg produces human race," had reference to the trick, introduced
by Rich, of hatching harlequin out of a large egg. This was regarded
as a masterpiece of dumb show, and is described in glowing terms by a
contemporary writer. "From the first clipping of the egg, his
receiving motion, his feeling the ground, his standing upright, to his
quick harlequin trip round the empty shell,