Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 5.djvu/259

 NOTICE OF A MEDIEVAL MIMIC ENTERTAINMENT. 199 It represents an exlii1)ition precisely similar in its arrange- ment to that of Punch and Judy of modern times ; the small theatre having all the lower part covered with drapery, whilst the upper parts only of the figures appear <above the stage, heing evidently moved by the performer Avithin the theatre, who held them by their legs. The two figures represented in this sketch seem, indeed, to be no other than Punch and Judy, the latter being in the act of remonstrating with her husband, who has evidently an enlarged paunch, and holds a club in his hands, if, indeed, what I take to be the top of the club be not intended for his hunch. It is hardly necessary here to speak of the antiquity of puppet-shows as a means of popular amusement ; the early notices of them have led to the idea that they were figures moved in the manner of the modern street fantoccini, which now seem to be quite gone out of fashion, namely by wires, with which they were suspended, and which were held by a person above their heads, so as to allow their whole figures to be seen. Puppets were originally called in England, — Motions. Warton states that puppet- shows were the most ancient amusement in this country. Horace alludes to the puppets of antiquity, as — " Nervis aliciiis mobile lignum," and the author "De Mundo," translated by Apuleius, says that they moved the eyes, neck, arms, &c., by pulling strings. Such was evidently the plan adopted in the puppets, both religious and secidar, described by Strutt*", Fosbrokes and rioncfi. The latest instance of such puppet plays in England was, I believe, those performed by a company about twenty years ago, at the Argyll Rooms, in Regent street. They were very dexterously put in motion by Avires, by which they were suspended from above the stage, and I recollect one of the best feats was by one which drew a cork, and drank of the contents of a bottle of wine. These were a foreign importa- tion, and the dialogue which accompanied the movements was spoken, behind the scene, in broken English. An. inferior kind of puppets still to be seen are the little dolls dressed up as man and wife, suspended by a string through their waists, one end of which is fastened at the end of a long foot board, and the other to the knee of one '' Sports, book iii. chap. ii. § xvii^xxii. *' Ancient Mysteries, pp. ISP, 22P ; •^ Encyclop. of Antiquities, p. 671. Every-day Book, vol. ii. p. 50(1.