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Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
ESSAYS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH HISTORY AND CLASSICAL LEARNING .
. No . I . . . . " " . ON" THE PANTOMIMES OF THE ANCIENTS . A S this branch of the representations on the theatres' of the An : ¦ *¦
^ " cients is often mentioned , without a just idea being affixed to it or any other idea than what is vulgarly taken from a species of compositions , whicli are sometimes exhibited after the play on our theatres here , and go by the name of Pantomime Entertainments ; if may not be an unpleasant task to investigate the true grounds and nature of this diversion , which once made so great a figure in the theatrical
sphere of action . Monsieur Cahusac , a celebrated French writer , has treated the subject of the Ancient Mimes with great learning ; and it is from him that a great part of the historical facts are collected , which will be Iiere produced . That prodigious perfection , to which the ancients carried the pantomime art , appeared so extraordinary to the celebrated Abbot Dti Bos , that , not being able to contradict the authorities which establish the truth of it , he was tempted to consider- the art of dancing in those
times as something wholly different from what is at present under ^ stood by dancing . The Chevalier Ramsay places it , also , among the lost arts . Both , no doubt , grounding their opinion on that deficiency of execution , on the modern theatres , compared with what is-hicontestibly transmitted to us , by history , of the excellence of the ancient pantomimes . To the frequenters of our modern theatres it sound more than
may strange , it may appear incredible , that on the theatre of Athens , the dance of the Eumenides , or Furies , had so expressive a character , as to strike the spectators with irresistible terror . The Areopagus itself shuddered with horror and affri ght ; men , grown old in the profession of arms , trembled ; the multitude ran out ; women with child miscarried ; people imagined they saw in earnest those barbarous deities ;
commissioned with the vengeance of heaven , pursue and punish the crimes of the earth . * This passage of history is furnished hy the same authors who tell us , that Sophocles was a ' genius ; that nothing could withstand the eloquence of Demosthenes ; that Themistocles was a hero ; that Socrates was the wisest of men ; and it was in the time of the most famous of the Greeks , that even upon those highly
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
ESSAYS ON SUBJECTS CONNECTED WITH HISTORY AND CLASSICAL LEARNING .
. No . I . . . . " " . ON" THE PANTOMIMES OF THE ANCIENTS . A S this branch of the representations on the theatres' of the An : ¦ *¦
^ " cients is often mentioned , without a just idea being affixed to it or any other idea than what is vulgarly taken from a species of compositions , whicli are sometimes exhibited after the play on our theatres here , and go by the name of Pantomime Entertainments ; if may not be an unpleasant task to investigate the true grounds and nature of this diversion , which once made so great a figure in the theatrical
sphere of action . Monsieur Cahusac , a celebrated French writer , has treated the subject of the Ancient Mimes with great learning ; and it is from him that a great part of the historical facts are collected , which will be Iiere produced . That prodigious perfection , to which the ancients carried the pantomime art , appeared so extraordinary to the celebrated Abbot Dti Bos , that , not being able to contradict the authorities which establish the truth of it , he was tempted to consider- the art of dancing in those
times as something wholly different from what is at present under ^ stood by dancing . The Chevalier Ramsay places it , also , among the lost arts . Both , no doubt , grounding their opinion on that deficiency of execution , on the modern theatres , compared with what is-hicontestibly transmitted to us , by history , of the excellence of the ancient pantomimes . To the frequenters of our modern theatres it sound more than
may strange , it may appear incredible , that on the theatre of Athens , the dance of the Eumenides , or Furies , had so expressive a character , as to strike the spectators with irresistible terror . The Areopagus itself shuddered with horror and affri ght ; men , grown old in the profession of arms , trembled ; the multitude ran out ; women with child miscarried ; people imagined they saw in earnest those barbarous deities ;
commissioned with the vengeance of heaven , pursue and punish the crimes of the earth . * This passage of history is furnished hy the same authors who tell us , that Sophocles was a ' genius ; that nothing could withstand the eloquence of Demosthenes ; that Themistocles was a hero ; that Socrates was the wisest of men ; and it was in the time of the most famous of the Greeks , that even upon those highly