Pantomime as Pantalone; and "zanni" (servants) such as Arlecchino, Colombina, Scaramouche and Pierrot. Italian masque performances in the 17th century sometimes included the Harlequin character. In the 17th century, adaptations of the commedia characters became familiar in English entertainments. From these, the standard English harlequinade developed, depicting the eloping lovers Harlequin and Columbine, pursued by the girl's father Pantaloon and his comic servants Clown and Pierrot. In English versions, by the 18th century, Harlequin became the central figure and romantic lead. The basic plot of the harlequinade remained essentially the same for more than 150 years, except that a bumbling policeman
Pierrot of Pierrot "loquitur": "Although this pantomime of life is passing fine,/Who would be happy must not marry Columbine".) Another pocket of North-American sympathy with the Decadence—one manifestation of what the Latin world called "modernismo"—could be found in the progressive literary scene of Mexico, its parent country, Spain, having been long conversant with the "commedia dell'arte". In 1897, , another Decadent who, at the age of twenty-two, died even more tragically young than Peters, embarked on a series of Pierrot-themed short stories—"Pierrot Enamored of Glory" (1897), "Pierrot and His Cats" (1898), "The Nuptials of Pierrot" (1899), "Pierrot's Gesture" (1899), "The Caprices