Of Burchiello we know expressly that he used to heighten the
comic effect by mixing Greek and Slavonic words with the Venetian
dialect. A complete 'Commedia dell' Arte,' or very nearly so, was
represented by Angelo Beolco, known as 'Il Ruzzante' (1502-42), whose
customary masks were Paduan peasants, with the names Menato, Vezzo,
Billora, etc. He studied their dialect when spending the summer at the
villa of his patron Luigi Cornaro (Aloysius Cornelius) at Codevico.
Gradually all the famous local masks made their appearance, whose
remains still delight the Italian populace in our day: Pantalone, the
Doctor, Brighella, Pulcinella, Arlecchino, and the rest. Most of them
are of great antiquity, and possibly are historically connected with
the masks in the old Roman farces; but it was not till the sixteenth
century that several of them were combined in one piece. At the present
time this is less often the case; but every great city still keeps to
its local mask--Naples to the Pulcinella, Florence to the Stentorello,
Milan to its often so admirable Meneghino.
This is indeed scanty compensation for a people which possessed the
power, perhaps to a greater degree than any other, to reflect and
contemplate its own highest qualities in the mirror of the drama. But
this power was destined to be marred for centuries by hostile forces,
for whose predominance the Italians were only in part responsible.
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