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Show ON PANTOMIME. 123 every class of actors, as by it they may learn to give gracefulness to their actions and gestures. The study of oblique lines is also of much utility in varying their gestures, and in making their attitudes and motions appear more picturesque. By a knowledge of drawing, their performance will present many attractions of the most pleasing kind, and when united to that of dancing, afford them powerful means to attain perfection. These two arts enable the actor to be light, nimble, and flexible; all his motions will be easy, graceful, and executed with taste; his attitudes and gestures will be elegant and natural. Music, also, is of equal service, and will contribute in no small degree to the attainment of excellence. By the study of music, he makes himself capable of following more exactly the rhythm of the tune, and occasions his performance to accord more happily with the measure and cadence of the notes. To these requisite accomplishments, let him finally add an expressive countenance, always in strict unison with the subject he represents, and thus complete the theatrical illusion. It is very advisable for an actor to study history and poetry; from them he will reap much profit. They enlighten his mind, enlarge his views, and give him true notions of taste. They afford him the first lessons towards a knowledge of nature, the human heart in its full extent, and the real character of those personages he will be frequently called upon to represent. W e may see, from what has been said, that the modern pantomimic actor does not require all those qualifications which constituted the art of the ancient, who was obliged to be at once perfect in pantomime, dancing, and composition. These arts have, in our days, been carried to a degree of excellence which neither the Greeks nor Romans ever arrived at. This pre-eminence may be ascribed to the |
