Could
he be aught else?"
"I could play lovers a deal better," said the rustic cherub.
"That is the delusion proper to Pierrot," said Pantaloon,
contemptuously. "This heavy, beetle-browed ruffian, who has grown
old in sin, and whose appetite increases with his years, is
Polichinelle. Each one, as you perceive, is designed by Nature
for the part he plays. This nimble, freckled jackanapes is
Harlequin; not your spangled Harlequin into which modern degeneracy
has debased that first-born of Momus, but the genuine original zany
of the Commedia, ragged and patched, an impudent, cowardly,
blackguardly clown."
"Each one of us, as you perceive," said Harlequin, mimicking the
leader of the troupe, "is designed by Nature for the part he plays."
"Physically, my friend, physically only, else we should not have so
much trouble in teaching this beautiful Leandre to become a lover.
Then we have Pasquariel here, who is sometimes an apothecary,
sometimes a notary, sometimes a lackey - an amiable, accommodating
fellow. He is also an excellent cook, being a child of Italy, that
land of gluttons.
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