Thus Polichinelle has pursued his incredible career until we find him to-day with a devoted wife La Mère Gigogne and many well known if less popular fellows, such as Pierrot, and Harlequin, to say nothing of his many delightful and successful offspring. There is Lafleur the Polichinelle of Picardy, favorite of Amiens, a handsome peasant fellow always pleasant spoken even when beating up the policeman. Jacques is a little buffoon who entertains the public of Lille in his modest basement theatre. There in _Joseph sold by his Brothers_, or _Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves_ he performs the principal parts (“la comédie pour un sou”). Most prominent of the progeny of Polichinelle is Guignol. Indeed he somewhat over-shadows his sire. Although he has established himself so thoroughly in Paris, Guignol first came from Lyons. His creator was the modest but expert marionettist, Laurent Mourguet. It is he who is reported to have said to the friends weeping at his deathbed, “I shall never make you cry as much as I have made you laugh.” Guignol originated in a picturesque but humble cellar show. Although he has now moved into new and finer quarters, he remains a modest workman simply dressed, perpetually harried by his landlord and always with insufficient funds to pay his rent. He has a wife, long suffering _Madelon_, and a wild and wicked son _Guillaume_ and along with them one finds _Gnaffron_, _Gringellet_, _Bobine_, _Bambochnette_, _le Gendarme_, _le Médecin_, _le Propriétaire_, _le Juge_, all these and many others. In the Gardens of the Luxembourg, on the Champs Élysées or elsewhere in Paris, one may come upon these little actors merrily performing on small stages erected for them, and with an audience of spellbound children and nursemaids sitting before the castellet. Most celebrated of these Parisian theatres is that of the _Vrai Guignol_ in the Champs Élysées. M. Anatole, the founder of it, was the first who undertook to expand the repertoire of Guignol and to introduce pieces of adventure whose very names delight one: _The Brigands of the Black Forest_, _The Enchanted Village_, _Mother Michel and her Cat_, _The Temptation of St. Anthony_, and many more. Unfortunately for M. Anatole there was no copyright law for puppet plays and when a rival showman wanted to give a new play he merely went to see Anatole’s performance and then reproduced it. But Anatole himself deserves his reputation. He was an artist with prodigious ingenuity: he wrote his own pieces, he could give twenty distinct voices in one show as well as manipulate the dolls. He himself carved the puppets’ heads while his wife made the costumes.