PUNCH (abbreviation of Punchinello, from Fr. Polichinelle, from It. poleinello, clown, buf foon, puppet, diminutive of poleino, !pueblo, child, young chicken, from pm//us, young chicken, young of any animal). The chief personage in the popular comic drama of Punch and Judy, per formed by means of puppets. See PUPPET.
The history of the play in which Punch figures is hardly less obscure than that of its desig nation. The invention of the piece is ascribed to an Italian comedian, Silvio Fiorello, about ROO, but it was later modified by Andrea Cal cese, and very likely it is in substance much older. The personality of Punch has even been traced back to the simpleton Maccus of the an cient Atellan farces, though with little (Aller proof than its resemblance to a small bronze figure of the latter, discovered near Naples in 1727. The form of the play, as w+• know it, seems to be largely of French development, since our Punch is in several respects quite different from the character as he has survived in the vicinity of Naples. Having found its way to England in the seventeenth century, the exhibi tion became very popular there. Its popularity
seems to have reached its height in the time of Queen Anne, and Addison has given in the Spec tator a criticism of one of the performances. The scenes, as now given by strolling Punch and Judy shows, are much shortened from those originally performed, in which allusions to events of the time were sometimes interpolated. The minor variations of the acted version are infinite. Jeremy Collier called Punch the Don Juan of the people. A similar character is said to exist in the puppet shows of India and elsewhere in the Orient. In Paris, Punch, who is a great favorite of the children on afternoons in the Champs Elysiles, is called Guigno/ (q.v.). This name properly belongs to a puppet character of Lyons, invented about the end of the eighteenth century. quite local and figuring in several mimic• comedies. When brought to Paris, the title was applied to the original Polichinelle. Consult works cited under PUPPET; also Collier, Punch, and Judy, with Punch's Real history (3(1 ed., London, 1844), illustrated by Cruikchank.