The works seem to have had only the name of the hero in common.

Their stories bear no likeness to those of "La Femme de Tabarin" or "Pagliacci." The Spanish play, "Drama Nuevo," by Estebanez, was adapted for performance in English by Mr.W.D.
Howells under the title "Yorick's Love." The translation was made for Mr.Lawrence Barrett and was never published in book form.

If it had the denouement suggested in Leoncavallo's letter to Sonzogno, the fact has escaped the memory of Mr.Howells, who, in answer to a letter of inquiry which I sent him, wrote: "So far as I can remember there was no likeness between 'Yorick's Love' and 'Pagliacci.' But when I made my version I had not seen or heard 'Pagliacci.'" The title of Leoncavallo's opera is "Pagliacci," not "I Pagliacci" as it frequently appears in books and newspapers.

When the opera was brought out in the vernacular, Mr.Frederick E.Weatherly, who made the English adaptation, called the play and the character assumed by Canio in the comedy "Punchinello." This evoked an interesting comment from Mr.Hale: "'Pagliacci' is the plural of Pagliaccio, which does not mean and never did mean Punchinello.

What is a Pagliaccio?
A type long known to the Italians, and familiar to the French as Paillasse.