in the Italian comedy, a buffoon, dressed in party-coloured clothes; 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 Harlequin, q. d. little Harlay; a name which has descended to all those of the same rank and profession.