The Lupercalian festivals were held on the 15th of the Kalends of March.
The priests, Luperci, used to dance naked through the streets as part of
the ceremonies attached to the festival.

Mention has been made by Dr. Clarke, in his "Travels," Vol. IV., that
Harlequin is the god Mercury, with his short sword _herpe_, or his rod,
the _caduceus_ (which has been likened to the sceptre of Judah), to
render himself invisible, and to transport himself from one end of the
earth to the other, and that the covering on his head, the winged cap,
was the _petasus_. Apropos of this, the following lines in the tenth
Ode, of the first book of Horace, will probably occur to the reader:

"Mercury! Atlas' smooth-tongued boy, whose will
First trained to speed our wildest earliest race,
And gave their rough hewn forms with supple skill
The gymnast's grace.

"'Tis thine the unbodied spirits of the blessed,
To guide to bliss, and with thy _golden rod_
To rule the shades; above, below, caressed
By every god."

Mercury, as we have seen, was among the Ancients, only another name for
Noah. "Indeed," says Dr. Clarke, "some of the representations of Mercury
upon ancient vases are actually taken from the scenic exhibitions of the
Grecian theatre; and that these exhibitions were also the prototypes
whereon D'Hancarville shows Mercury, Momus, and Psyche delineated as we
see Harlequin, Columbine, and Clown on our stages. The old man
(Pantaloon), is Charon (the ferryman of hell). The Clown is Momus, the
buffoon of heaven, the god of raillery and wit, and whose large gaping