Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/118

Rh 106 P U N P U N this it is urged that Acerra, the supposed residence of Puccio d'Aniello and the traditional source of the char- acter, is in the neighbourhood of Aversa, the old Atella ; and reference is also made to a bronze statue of Maccus, discovered at Rome in 1727, an engraving of which has been preserved in Ficoroni's Le Masckere Sceniche e le Figure Comiche cCAntichi Romani. But the resemblance of the statue to the puppet is scarcely to be termed a striking one, and the large nose and deformed figure are somewhat hazardous ground on which to base a theory, especially in view of the fact that such points of likeness as there are in it to the northern Punch -are not to be found in the Neapolitan Pulcinella. It is possible that some relic of the old Ludi Osci, transmitted through the Vice of the mystery plays, is to be found in the character; but any direct descent from the Maccus of the Atellante seems precluded by the fact that, while there are traces of the gradual development of the northern Punch from the Neapolitan Pulcinella, the latter with its grey hat, white smock and trousers, masked face, and undistorted body is widely different from its alleged prototype. It seems necessary, therefore, to regard the Pulcinella as in large part a distinct creation of comparatively modern date. Prior to the 17th century there is no indication in the Italian burlesque poets of the existence of Pulcinella, though Riccoboni places the creation of the part before 1600. Andrea Perrucci (1699) and Gimma assert with some show of authority that Silvio Fiorillo, a comedian named after his principal part Captain Matamoros (the Italian Miles Gloriosus), invented the Neapolitan Pulcinella. It was afterwards improved by Andrea Calcese, surnamed Ciuccio, who died of the plague in 1656, and who, accord- ing to Gimma, imitated in the character the peasants of Acerra. This would place the origin of the Italian Pulcin- ella somewhere about the commencement of the 17th century, the original character appearing to have been that of a country clown, hook-nosed, shrill-voiced, cowardly, boastful, and often stupid, yet given at. times to knavish tricks and shrewd sayings. In thorough accordance with this date, we find that the earliest known appearance of Polichinelle in France is at the commencement of the reign of Louis XIV., in the show of the puppet-playing dentist Jean Brioche. It might have been expected that the shrewder and wittier side of the character would most com- mend itself to the French mind, and there is good reason to believe that the Polichinelle of Brioche^ was neither a blunderer nor a fool. The puppet was almost immediately seized upon as the medium of political satire of the kind exemplified in the Letter of Polichinelle to Cardinal Mazarin (1649), and it is described in the Combat de Cyrano de Bergerac as a "petit Esope de bois, remuant, tournant, virant, dansant, riant, parlant, petant " and as " cet hetero- clite marmouset, disons mieux, ce drolifique bossu." In this there appear signs of transformation, whether the im- portation to France took place before or after the alleged improvements of Calcese. The hunchback had been long associated in France with wit and laughter, and there are, therefore, some grounds for Magnin's theory that the northern Punch is of French origin, a Gallic type under an Italian name, though there does not seem to be suffi- cient reason for adopting his suggestion that Polichinelle was a burlesque portrait of Bearnais. The date of its in- troduction into England has been disputed, Payne Collier being of opinion that Punch and King William came together, a second theory suggesting an earlier origin with the Huguenot refugees. In view of its popularity in France prior to the Restoration, however, it would be strange if its migration had been so long delayed, and it is more than probable that it crossed the Channel in the wake of the Royalists. Apart from the general references by Pepys (1662) and by Evelyn (1667) to an Italian puppet-show at Covent Garden, the former makes men- tion (1669) of some poor people who called their fat child Punch, " that word being become a word of common use for all that is thick and short." An allusion to " Punch- inellos " is also to be found in Butler's satire on English imitation of the French, and Aubrey speaks of " a Punch- inello holding a dial" as one of the ornaments of Sir Samuel Lely's house at Whitehall. But, though the puppet did not travel in the train of William of Orange, allusions to it become far more frequent after the Revolution of 1688, and the skill of the Dutch in their treatment of puppet mechanism may have enhanced its attractiveness. In 1703 it was introduced at Bartholomew Fair into a puppet play of the creation of the world; in 1709 (Tatler, No. 16) it was to be found in a representation of the Deluge, though in a different part from that of the Momus Polichinelle of ~PirorisArlequin-Deucalion(l72'2); and in 1710 (Spectator, No. 14) it is mentioned as a leading figure in Powell's puppet-show at Covent Garden. The alleged satire on Robert Walpole, entitled A Second Tale of a Tub, or the History of Robert Poivel, the Puppet- Showman (1715), furnishes some details of Punch performances, and has an interesting frontispiece representing Powell with Punch and his wife. The Judy (or Joan, as she appears to have been sometimes called) is not of a specially grotesque order, but the Punch is easily recognizable in all but the features, which are of the normal puppet type. Other allusions are to be found in Gay's Shepherds Week Saturday (1714) and Swift's Dialogue between Mad Mnlli- nix and Timothy (1728). The older Punchinello was far less restricted in his actions and circumstances than his modern successor. He fought with allegorical figures representing want and weariness as well as with his wife and with the police, was on intimate terms with the patriarchs and the seven champions of Christendom, sat on the lap of the queen of Sheba, had kings and dukes for his companions, and cheated the Inquisition as well as the common hangman. Powell seems to have introduced a trained pig which danced a minuet with Punch, and the French have occasionally employed a cat in place of the dog Toby, whose origin is somewhat uncertain. A typical version of the modern play, with illustrations, was published by Payne Collier and Cruikshank in 1828. (R. M. w.) PUNCTUATION. See PALEOGRAPHY, vol. xviii. p. 163. PUNJAB, 1 the most northern province of British India. Geographically the region called by this name is the tri- angular tract of country of which the Indus and the Sutlej (Satlaj) to their confluence form two of the sides, the third being the lower Himalaya hills between these two rivers. The British province now includes a large extent of country outside these boundaries, on all three sides beyond the Indus to the range of hills running parallel to it on the west ; beyond the Sutlej eastward to the Jumna (Jamna) and southward to a distance of 60 miles below Delhi ; within the hills, a large highland tract on the east and another on the west, with the Kashmir and Chamba terri- tories between. The British province stretches north and south from 35 10' N. lat. at the head of the hill district of Hazara to 27 40' at the south end of the Gurgaon dis- trict, and east and west from 69 36' E. long, on the Dera Ghazl Khan and Sind frontier to 78 55' on the Jumna. The length of the central line of communication across the province from Delhi to Peshawar by rail is 645 miles. The name Punjab signifies " [country of] five rivers," Riv 1 Panjab, according to received modern spelling ; but, as in other cases of important and familiar names, the old form is commonly retained.