Hi, Ian:

Thanks for that. Will you be publishing your piece on the Mumming Play and its connection (or lack thereof) to the Commedia Dell'Arte? I'd be interested to read it.

Speaking of the Commedia Dell' Arte, do you have any information on the origin of the Harlequin figure? In _Santa Claus: Last of the Wild Men_, Phyllis Seifkert suggests the Harlequin draws upon imagery of the medieval wildman figure (as she claims Santa and Robin Hood also do). Her arguments are not paricularly compelling, though. I wonder if the Harlequin is related in some way to the Saturnalian Lord of Misrule?

And speaking of Punch and Judy, Brewer in his _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable_, mentions but rejects an interesting folk etymology for the name of this puppet play:

"The most popular derivation of Punch and Judy is _Pontius cum Judæis_ (Matt. xxvii. 19), an old mystery play of _Pontius Pilate and the Jews_; but the Italian policinello seems to be from pollice, a thumb (Tom-thumb figures), and our Punch is from paunch."

Cheers, Hester