HARLEQUIN, CLOWN, PANTALOON', and COL'EMnIN•, the four chief personages in the modern Christmas pantomime. This species of play is divided into two parts—the one, the introduction, or opening; the other, the harleqninade. Both divisions of this kind of play, but particularly the opening, were wont to be acted in dumb-show, and at one time the same performers used to play all through the piece; the idea of which was a story of love, interspersed with grotesque elements. At a certain stage of the plot-, a fairy was employed to transform the tyrant and his abettor into Clown and Pantaloon, and the lovers into Harlequin and Columbine; and the motley quartette wgte sent away for a period on a tour or chase, the termination of which took place at the will of the good fairy. During this chase, the object of the Clown ought to be the capture of Columbine; but Harlequin, who is provided by the fairy with a magic sword, the loss of wide]] renders him helpless, is usually able to thwart all his designs, and protect his mistress. A symbolical meaning may, no doubt, be found at the bottom of such repre sentations, at least in many of their parts; but as. in their modern form, they are a jumble of fragments from older scenic entertainments, anything like a consistent schema is not to be looked for. As to the characters, the prototypes of the Clown and Harle quin may be traced back to the Roman Atellante (q.v.). The arlechino (Fr. arleguin) of the early Italian dramatic entertainments was a satirist and practical jester of a similar type to the modern English Clown. As civilization advanced, the character gradually
became more refined, then was confined to the ballet, and at last disappeared front the regular stage. He still figures in the improvised plays of the Italians. In English pan tomimes, the Clown is the prime mover in the •'comic business;" and there are often two, the "talking" Clown, and the "tumbling" Clown, who acts chiefly as an acrobat, The Clown is also a never-failing adjunct in circus entertainments. Pantaloon is usually represented as a very senile old man, the butt of the Clown, and the alder and abettor of that person's comic villainy. This personage is knocked about and well cuffed by every one; lie generally, therefore, wears a stuffed dress, in order to protect himself from accident. Columbine, the lover of Harlequin, has nothing to do all through the piece but to dress well, look pretty. and dance her The character of Columbine is usually represented by a well-trained dancer. Harlequin wears a tight dress sewn over with spangles.
The persons engaged in these occupations require to be trained to it from infancy. To make a good Clown or Harlequin (in the continental and original sense of the word) requires decided genius; and though the role may seem the lowest in the dramatic art, lasting European reputations have been obtained in it, as by the English clown. Grimaldi, and the famous French Carlin (1713-83).