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Show THE COMPOSITION OF BALLETS. 161 pieces, and it ought to be the same in Ballets a"Action. It is admirable in Ines, M4rope, Iphigenie, Zayre, and Romeo and Juliet. Imitate in this particular the celebrated Voltaire. Where is the writer who has treated on the passions in a more masterly manner, and with more philosophic knowledge, than this extraordinary man ? H e is the most pathetic of tragic poets. H e moves, inflames, and transports us ! What an endless variety of pictures does he display! H e is as much a painter as a poet; all is great and true in his productions. He has beheld nature with the eye of a Titian, and he has described her with all the depth and energy peculiar to that divine artist. The dramatic art was advanced by Voltaire to its highest perfection. In the plots of his pieces there is more life, and in his characters there is more variety, than in those of any writer who preceded him. He is also more diversified in the choice of his subjects, and has exhibited more novelty in his representation. This philosophic poet understood better than any of his rivals how to instruct, at the same time that he delighted and interested the spectators. From whatever age or nation he took his subject, he had always a moral end in view which tended to our improvement: at once to delight and instruct, is the first axiom of dramatic writers. W e may remark with men of learning that-the beautiful in sculpture, in poetry, in painting, and in dancing, is not the geometrical beauty of proportion, but it is expression, and that vividly portrayed. The general action and progress of theatrical exhibitions arrest our attention, when accompanied by interest; then it is they stir and agitate the passions, and oblige us to take a part with the characters of the piece. The art of taking possession of the minds and affection of an audience constitutes the |