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Show THE COMPOSITION OF BALLETS. 207 CHAPTER XX. ON T H E DIFFERENT KINDS OF BALLETS. " Sua cuique proposita lex, suus decor est; nee comcedia in Cothur-nos assurgit, nee contraTragoedia socco ingreditur."-QUINTILIAN. OF the Ballet there are three kinds:-the serious, the melo-dramatic or demi-caractere, and the comic. T he serious Ballet embraces the following subjects:-the tragic, the historic, the romantic, the mythologic, the fabulous, and the sacred23. The melo-dramatic Ballet is of a mixed description ; certain passages in history, some romantic subjects, marvellous, oriental, allegoric, pastoral, and anacreontic tales are admissible to this class, provided they be of a cast neither too serious nor too comic. Subjects of a triumphant, national, bourgeois, satirical, trifling, burlesque, heroic, comic, or tragi-comic nature, are peculiar to the comic Ballet. The Divertissement, or Fete, is that theatrical spectacle in which dancing alone is the constituent part. The action of the piece, indeed, excludes this exhibition, as not belonging to it; notwithstanding which, however, it not only represents the celebration of some public or private event, but serves to render homage to some illustrious characters, or to revive, in a solemn |