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Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
cessively represented the amours of Mars and Venus , the Sun discovering them to the jealous husband of the goddess , the snares which he sets for his faithless spouse and her formidable gallant , the quick effect of the treacherous net , which , while it completes the revenge of Vulcan , only publishes his shame , the confusion of Venus , the rage of Mars , the arch mirth of the gods , who came to enjoy the sight . The whole audience gave to the excellence of the
performance its due applause ; but the cynic , out of himself , could not help crying out , in a transport of delight , " No ! this is not a representation ; it is the very thing itself . " Much about the same time a dancer represented the labours of Hercules . He retraced in so true a manner all the different situations of that herothat a King of Pontusthen at Romeand who had never
, , , seen such a sight before , easily followed the thread of the action , and , charmed with it , asked with great earnestness of the emperor , that he would let him have with him that extraordinary dancer , who had made such an impression upon him . " Do not , " says he to Nero , " be surprised at my request . I have for borderers upon my
kingdom some barbarian nations , whose language none of my people can understand , nor will they learn ours . Such a man as this dancer would be an . admirable interpreter between us . " In the state of pantomime in our days , the actors , and even the composers , aspire to little more than the mechanical part of their art ; and , indeed , they hardly know any thing beyond that , and cannot , of cqiirsecultivate what they have no conception of .
, When M . Gahusac wrote , he observed that this was sufficient for the spectators , who required nothing more from the actor than a brilliant execution of steps ; and this is , in fact , true of the greater number now . But , 'lately , the taste for dances of action , animated with meaning , and conveying the idea of some fable or subject , has begun to gain ground . People are less tired with a dance , in which
the understanding is exercised , without the fatigue of perplexity , than b y merely seeing a succession of lively jumps , and motions , however well executed ; which , - in point of merit , bear no more proportion to that of a well-composed dance , than a tiresome repetition of vignettes , of head-pieces , and tail-pieces , would do to the gravings of historical pieces after a Raphael , a Michael Angelo , or a Corregio .
Louis Xii. King Of France.
LOUIS XII . KING OF FRANCE .
HPHIS father of his people was told , that the players of Paris had - " - the insolence to take him off upon the theatre , as an avaricious man , who drank out of a vessel full of pieces of gold , without being able to quench his thirst . ' Buffoons , ' said he coolly , ' think they have the privilege to turn every one into ridicule . I am not more perfect than the rest of mankind . The idea is fair enough .. I very readily forgive them : and , after all , ' added he , ' 1 had rather that my people laughed at my parsimony , than that they wept at my prodigality .
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Essays On Subjects Connected With History And Classical Learning.
cessively represented the amours of Mars and Venus , the Sun discovering them to the jealous husband of the goddess , the snares which he sets for his faithless spouse and her formidable gallant , the quick effect of the treacherous net , which , while it completes the revenge of Vulcan , only publishes his shame , the confusion of Venus , the rage of Mars , the arch mirth of the gods , who came to enjoy the sight . The whole audience gave to the excellence of the
performance its due applause ; but the cynic , out of himself , could not help crying out , in a transport of delight , " No ! this is not a representation ; it is the very thing itself . " Much about the same time a dancer represented the labours of Hercules . He retraced in so true a manner all the different situations of that herothat a King of Pontusthen at Romeand who had never
, , , seen such a sight before , easily followed the thread of the action , and , charmed with it , asked with great earnestness of the emperor , that he would let him have with him that extraordinary dancer , who had made such an impression upon him . " Do not , " says he to Nero , " be surprised at my request . I have for borderers upon my
kingdom some barbarian nations , whose language none of my people can understand , nor will they learn ours . Such a man as this dancer would be an . admirable interpreter between us . " In the state of pantomime in our days , the actors , and even the composers , aspire to little more than the mechanical part of their art ; and , indeed , they hardly know any thing beyond that , and cannot , of cqiirsecultivate what they have no conception of .
, When M . Gahusac wrote , he observed that this was sufficient for the spectators , who required nothing more from the actor than a brilliant execution of steps ; and this is , in fact , true of the greater number now . But , 'lately , the taste for dances of action , animated with meaning , and conveying the idea of some fable or subject , has begun to gain ground . People are less tired with a dance , in which
the understanding is exercised , without the fatigue of perplexity , than b y merely seeing a succession of lively jumps , and motions , however well executed ; which , - in point of merit , bear no more proportion to that of a well-composed dance , than a tiresome repetition of vignettes , of head-pieces , and tail-pieces , would do to the gravings of historical pieces after a Raphael , a Michael Angelo , or a Corregio .
Louis Xii. King Of France.
LOUIS XII . KING OF FRANCE .
HPHIS father of his people was told , that the players of Paris had - " - the insolence to take him off upon the theatre , as an avaricious man , who drank out of a vessel full of pieces of gold , without being able to quench his thirst . ' Buffoons , ' said he coolly , ' think they have the privilege to turn every one into ridicule . I am not more perfect than the rest of mankind . The idea is fair enough .. I very readily forgive them : and , after all , ' added he , ' 1 had rather that my people laughed at my parsimony , than that they wept at my prodigality .