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Show T H E COMPOSITION OF BALLETS. 181 difference is there between the characters of Philip and that of the father of Virginia 17 ; between Rodrigue and Zayre; between Iphigenie and Agrippine! The mind and manners of the inhabitants of Africa are of another nature to those of Europe. The education, manner, behaviour and deportment of a country person, or of a mere bourgeois, are entirely unlike those of a king or a hero. These marks of distinction are termed by Aristotle costume, and he recommends the study of them to every dramatic author:- " Observez, connaissez, imitez la nature." DELILLE. Characters must be shown in contrast. If there appears in your production a Clarissa, her goodness and virtue must be opposed to the villanies of a Lovelace. The conduct of Britannicus heaps hatred upon the part of Nero. The abstinence of'Hyppolitus is properly opposed to the unbridled passion of Phaedra; and, in Fielding's novel, the hatred we entertain for Blifil serves to increase our love for Jones. All dramatic characters must be prominent, every feature must strike us immediately, so as to be easily comprehended. The greater the contrasts, the more plainly does the eye find the peculiar traits. A character, when tranquil and inactive, says little, and exhibits but few peculiarities ; but the same being excited by reproach, immediately, as it were, starts into existence, evincing its own inherent qualities. Ovid, in one of his animated descriptions, presents us with a striking image in proof of this: " Envy is slumbering in her den, immersed in solitude ; her snakes find no object on whom to wreak their ire, and remain in motionless stupor. Minerva suddenly appears, Envy immediately exhibits signs of reviving action and agitation ; the deadly poison in her breast ferments, and livid fire flashes from her eyes. The serpents around her 18 |