Originally, also, Punch does not seem to have had a long nose. The exaggerated nose is, however, found on the representative of Punch which flourished in Calabria, and which went by the name of “Giangurgolo” (see Figure [150]).
The French Punch is called Guignol, of which the derivation cannot be directly traced, but Mr. Heppel has made an interesting suggestion that in the name of this character is to be found that of Giangurgolo in a contracted form.
As may have been surmised, we got our Punch and Judy by way of France, but as a human actor Punch himself came direct to England.
Fig. 151.—An ancient bronze statuette with the face and features of Punch (after Ficorroni).
An ancient statuette which is figured by Ficorroni (see Figure [151]) is supposed by antiquarians to represent Punch, and if the individual whom it represents did not go by that name, he must certainly have been one of Punch’s ancestors, for the likeness to our modern hero is exceedingly great. References are made by a number of classical authors to puppet-shows, and these were also known in China as long ago as a thousand years before the Christian era.
Fig. 152.—A fourteenth-century puppet-show (from the MS. of the “Roman d’Alexandre”).