in the Italian comedy, a buffoon, dressed in party-colored cloths; answering much the same purpose as a merry-andrew or jack-pudding in our drolls, on mountebanks stages, &c. We have also introduced the harlequin upon our theatres; and this is one of the standing characters in the modern grotesque or pantomime entertainments.—The term took its rise from a famous Italian comedian who came to Paris under Henry III. and who frequenting the house of M. de Harlay, his companions used to call him Harlequino, q.d. little Harlay; a name which has descended to all those of the same rank and profession.