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Show THE COMPOSITION OF BALLETS. 167 almost always perfect in his conceptions: " Since tragedy" says he, " is an imitation of the noblest qualities to be found amongst men, we should follow the example of those good painters who give a true likeness, but at the same time beautified; thus a poet, who would describe an angry and outrageous man, or any similar kind of character, should exhibit what it is possible passion might do, rather than what it has in reality done." - Poet. Chap. XV. These excellent precepts ought to be engraved on the memory of every writer who composes for the theatre. " If the arts are indeed imitators of nature, the imitation should be excuted in a wise and enlightened style, not performed like a servile copy: every trait should be preserved, but it should be described with all the improvement of which it is susceptible. In short, it should be an imitation that exhibits nature, not as she really is, but, such as the mind conceives she might be. H o w did Zeuxis proceed when he wished to paint a perfect beauty ? Did he produce the portrait of some beautiful individual ? N o ; he assembled the peculiar beauties of certain persons; he then formed in his own imagination a portrait in which all these separate perfections were united; and this imaginary portrait was the prototype or model of a picture, which was not true to nature except in its separated parts. This is a precedent for artists of every description; a path in which they should walk; a path, indeed, which all the great masters, without exception, have continued to follow." This m a y b e termed imitating beautiful nature; to do which is the business of poetry, music, dancing, painting, and sculpture; and which, says L e Batteux, does not prevent truth and reality from being the ground work of the Arts. il * |
