In English harlequinade, his character was more romantic (but fickle). He dresses in elaborate, colourful costume, and is portrayed as acrobatic. His high spirits and wit work to save him from the scrapes he gets himself into. It is easy to see Bob as Harlequin. He dresses in eye-catching finery ‘pantaloons and boots of the newest make; yards and yards of muslin wound round his neck, … two fancy waistcoats, … and coat-buttons like circular shaving glasses.’ He struts around in his new uniform to impress Anne; and, just like Harlequin, he is susceptible to falling in love with any available young woman when he's away from Anne. A strong tradition of the harlequinade was Harlequin's great ‘Leap’. Bob's huge leap into an apple tree to escape the press-gang, ‘his figure flying like a raven’s across the sky’, is typical of this. His subsequent escape through a trap-door in the mill is as theatrical a piece of acrobatics as any found in Commedia dell'arte. That pursuit of Anne and Bob by the press-gang, incidentally, is closely based on one of the theatrical rituals of the Italian comedy: ‘The Chase’. In this, Columbine and her lover were typically hotly pursued by authority. Anne Garland – Columbine: Columbine is a pretty young woman who has caught the eye of Harlequin. Sometimes she is the female equivalent of Harlequin, dressed in similar costume. In the original Commedia dell'arte, she was either Pantaloon's daughter or servant. In the English harlequinade, she is always Pantaloon's daughter or ward. Her role usually centres on her romantic relationship with Harlequin. Anne Garland is a typical Columbine, demure but playful, vascillating between the brothers John and Bob Loveday. Her prettiness is counterpointed with her strength of character: ‘beneath all that was charming and simple… there lurked a real firmness, unperceived at first, as the speck of colour lurks unperceived in the heart of the palest parsley flower’; and her playfulness is evident throughout the text. Squire Derriman – Pantaloon: In Commedia dell'arte, Pantaloon was a greedy merchant obsessed with money and master of Columbine. Despite his cunning, he is often duped by Harlequin. In the English harlequinade, Pantaloon became the elderly father of Columbine, jealously guarding his daughter from suitors. He tries to keep the lovers apart, but is always outwitted by the young hero. Squire Derriman, likewise, is guileful, neurotic, old and wizened. Although he is not