plot would be represented, and, of course, the same dialogue would be sufficient, as far as it would be remembered. No doubt, the dramas consisted of "gross buffooneries," because the actors were buffone; but there was room for the display of ready talent; and if a few of the pieces had been left upon record, we should most likely have found that they had something else to recommend them besides the coarseness of their jokes, delivered in the dialect of Italy peculiar to each of the characters.[1]
- ↑ The actors, whether representing the Neapolitan "Pulcinella," the Calabrian "Giangurgolo," or the Milanese "Beltrame," preserved the dialect of their respective countries. The Spanish Captain spoke a language compounded of Italian and Spanish. Of the dialect employed by Punch, and by the country people of Acerra, (of whom he was originally supposed to be one,) we have a specimen in a three-act comedy, called "Puncinella finto Dottore," which was acted at Rome during the Carnival of 1728. A very short extract will suffice, as the language is sometimes scarcely intelligible to a native. Flamineo, a young lover, is endeavouring to persuade his servant, Pulcinella, to assume the dress and appearance of Doctor Farfallone, his rival, in order to impose upon the father of the lady.
Flam. E possibile, che non ti dia l'animo di dire queste quattro parole?
Pul. Ne diraggio cinquanta, bene mio, mà se tu struppei do discurso.
Flam. E come dirai?
Pul. Diraggio cà songo venuto dalla Cierra per nzorarme.
Flam. E ti chiami?
Pul. Purcenella.
Flam. O stordito! ed ecco atterrata tutta la machina.
Pul. E peche?
Flam. E perche tu hai du dire che sei il Dottore, venuto da Bologna, e ti chiami Farfallone.
Pul. E ca non buoglio rinega lo pajeso mio, e poi chillo nome de Farfantone non c'aggio genio nente, cà fete no tantillo di galera, &c.
"Il Travaglia," by Andrea Calmo, printed at Venice in 1557, also professes to be di varie lingue adornata. Riccoboni informs us that Scaramouche, Harlequin, and other characters, threw off their provincialism on occasion, and tous declament des vers en bon Romain.
