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Show ON PANTOMIME. 131 means, a dress of patches of a hundred colours, Anglke a Harlequin's suit. And further it may be remarked, that Vossius, in his Institutes, informs us that, Sanniones Mimum agebant rasis capitibus ; in which words two things are worthy of note; first, that Sanniones and Mimes were both in the same line of profession; and secondly, that Harlequin and Brighella are now called Zanni*, which word is doubtless no other than a corruption of the original term Sannio. Thus then a Mime with his head shaved, his face blackened, and a suit of party-coloured patches, bare-footed or nearly so, and bearing the name of Sannio, according to ancient historians, must have been the worthy ancestor of our magical Harlequin'. Perhaps it may be doubted whether the severe Cato, or the grave Cicero, had witnessed the performance of a Roman harlequinade, but the doubt will soon be removed upon reading the following passage, extracted from his book De Oratore, in which it may be seen he describes a harlequin exactly. Quid enimpotest tarn ridiculum, quam Sannio esse, qui ore, vultu, imitandis motibus, voce, deni-que corpore ridetur ipso! From this it must be concluded that the Sanni or Zanni of modern comedy are derived from the most ancient theatricals even of republican Rome, and thus transmitted down to us. It is not at all improbable that good and legitimate tragedy and comedy, might have been buried amid the barbarism that succeeded the fall of Rome, and with which all Italy was overrun, but the pleasure that unpolished ignorance would take in such gross representation of mimicry as that of the Sanniones, preserved them from oblivion, while nobler amusement was despised and forgotten. It appears, in short, that when the Italian drama was destroyed, those * Zaney. |