Addison, Joseph: Remarks on several parts of Italy: &c. in the years 1701, 1702, 1703 (London: Tonson, 1718)

have taken, had they not found a Place
in it for these Buffoons. All Four of
them appear in Masks that are made
like the old Roman Per (once, as I shall
have occasion to observe in another
Place. The French and Italians have
probably derived this Cuftom of shew-
ing some of their Characters in Masks,
from the Greek and Roman Theater. The
old Vatican Ferencs has at the Head of
every Scene the Figures of all the Per-
sons that are concerned in it, with the
particular Disguisesin which they aCted;
and I remember to haveseenin the Vil-
la Mattheio an Antick Statue mask’d,
which was perhaps designed for Gnatho
in the Eunuch, for it agrees exactly
with the Figure he makes in the Vati-
can Manuscript. One would wonder
indeed how so Polite a People, as the
ancient Romans and Athenians, should
not look on these borrowed Faces as un-
natural. They might do very well for
a Cyclops, or a Satyr, that can have no
Resemblance in Human Features; but
for a Flatterer, a Miser, or the like Cha-
racters, which abound in our own Spe-
cies, nothing is more ridiculous than to
represent their Looks by a painted Vi-
zard. In Persons of this Nature the
Turns and Motions of the Face are of-


•;n as agreeable:
•odd we suppoli
| Il never so natt
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\-ith the Variety
"tint to every sir
k proper onsom
hiiy to sg:.■;
indeed are genera
Entry of a Disgui
cold even with tl
oothe Stage in a
Since I
forbear mentionir
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aamonPeople o
a a pre.
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Hewd,.
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