Robert Mortimer Wheeler

“ This would place the origin of the Italian Pulcinella somewhere about the commencement of the 17th century, the original character appearing to have been that of a country clown, hook-nosed, shrill-voiced, cowardly, boastful and often stupid, yet given at times to knavish tricks and shrewd sayings. In thorough accordance with this date, we find that the earliest known appearance of Polichinelle in France is at the beginning of the reign of Louis XIV., in the show of the puppet-playing dentist Jean Brioché. ”

“ He fought with allegorical figures representing want and weariness as well as with his wife and with the police, was on intimate terms with the patriarchs and the seven champions of Christendom, sat on the lap of the queen of Sheba, had kings and dukes for his companions, and cheated the Inquisition as well as the common hangman. ”

“ But the resemblance of the statue to the puppet is scarcely to be termed a striking one, and the large nose and deformed figure are somewhat hazardous ground on which to base a theory—especially in view of the fact that such points of likeness as there are in it to the northern Punch are not to be found in the Neapolitan Pulcinella. ”