in 
Literature 
and Art. 
29 
and gargoyls of Roman buildings, to which were often given the form of 
grotefque malks, rnonfrrous faces, with great mouths wide open, and 
other figures, like thofe of the gargoyls of the mediaeval architects. 
While the comic maik was ufed generally in the burlefque entertain- 
ments, it allb became difiinctive of particular characters. One of thefe 
was the jmnio, or buifoon, whofe name was derived from the Greek word 
miwog, "a fool," and who was employed in performing burlefque dances, 
making grimaces, and in other acts calculated to excite the mirth of the 
fpectator. A reprefentation of the famzio is given in our cut N0. I7, 
Tile Roman Sannia, or Bujban. 
copied from one of the engravings in the "DiH'ertatio de Larvis Scenicis," 
by the Italian antiquary Ficoroni, who took it from an engraved gem. 
The fannio holds in his hand what is fuppofed to be a brafs rod, and he has 
probably