Harlequin
Harlequin names 2 different subjects across the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. Each is set out below.
Harlequin har'le-kin or kwin
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
har'le-kin or kwin, the leading character in a pantomime or other comic performance. The word is of doubtful origin, but is probably from the old French Hellequin, the name of a demon figuring in certain medieval legends. Harlequin or Arlecchino was a popular figure in improvised Italian comedy during the fifteenth century. He seems to have united extravagant buffoonery with great bodily agility, somewhat after the manner of the modern clown. He wore a coat of many gay colors, and appeared with shaven head, masked face, and bare feet. He carried a sword of lath. With characteristic variations, Harlequin appeared on the French stage. The German Hanswurst and the Dutch Pickelhering were influenced by this character from the Italian stage. By the middle of the sixteenth century the character had lost some of its coarser characteristics. Later it was confined to the ballet, and finally disappeared from the regular stage. Harlequin had, however, become popular in the English Christmas pantomime. This species of entertainment was often called a harlequinade and consisted of two parts, an introduction and the dumb show or pantomime. In this, four characters were the important performers,--Harlequin and Columbine, who are lovers, Clown and Pantaloon. Clown is a comic villain who attempts the capture of Columbine, aided by Pantaloon, a silly old man,--the butt of all the other performers. Columbine is a well trained dancer, whose beauty of face and costume are special features of the play. Harlequin, however, is the most important character. He is dressed in a tight costume of bright colors covered with spangles, and carries a magic wand with which he foils all the knavish tricks of the Clown, to whom he is supposed to be invisible. Fairies appear in the pantomime and sometimes other characters. All ends merrily. The harlequinade was introduced to the British stage in 1702 by a Shrewsbury dancing master.
Harlequin in the various characters to which that name has been given
Aiton's Encyclopedia (1910)
in the various characters to which that name has been given, may seem to have offered little to an ambitious actor. Nevertheless, lasting reputations have been made by more than one skillful actor in this role. The names of John Rich, Woodward, O'Brien, and Grimaldi among Englishmen, and of the famous French Carlin, will be remembered as having devoted real genius to the presentment of the character of Harlequin.
What Has Changed in the Last Century
Aiton's in 1910 could still describe the harlequinade as a living part of the English Christmas pantomime, with Harlequin "the most important character." Within a generation it was gone: the harlequinade shrank to a brief tacked-on afterpiece and had effectively vanished from British pantomime by the mid-twentieth century, leaving Clown, Pantaloon and Columbine behind while the show itself survives as a thriving Christmas fixture built on fairy tales, dames and celebrity casting. Harlequin's diamond-patched costume now lives mainly outside the theatre " as a rugby club, a romance-novel imprint founded in 1949, and, since 1992, the Batman villain Harley Quinn. The account's own history holds up well: the derivation from the demon Hellequin is still the standard guess, and Arlecchino is again performed seriously through the twentieth-century revival of commedia dell'arte technique in physical-theatre training.
Written for this edition, 2026.