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Show 534 THE CODE OF TERPSICHORE. absurdities were perfectly analogous, and seem to have upheld one another. Clairon was the first w ho strove to banish from the stage this ridiculous mode of costume, by dressing in habits suitable to the characters she played. Le Kain and Chasse" advanced the cause of correct theatrical costume, and Talma brought it to perfection. Garrick, Kemble, and Mrs. Siddons did for the English what Clairon, L e Kain, Chasse, and Talma did for the French stage. Maximilian Gardel was the first who danced on the stage without a mask, and threw off the trammels with which ignorance and prejudice had long enslaved his art; Dauberval and P. Gardel followed in his steps, and adopted a proper and natural costume. It has been conceived by a great number of actors that, in representing heroes, and in fact any characters that had rendered themselves illustrious by their talents, their virtues, or their exploits, it was necessary to strain the voice, and to gesticulate vehemently, in order to give a proper idea of the greatness of the persons they represented. They seemed to imagine that because those persons were above mankind in general, on account of their genius, or their great deeds, they also ought to go beyond them in their manner of acting and speaking. Many performers of pantomime hold a similar outrageous opinion; and it is the imperative duty of the Ballet-master, if he can, to correct such an error in conception, wherever he discovers it. It is impossible that any hero of tradition or history may, by means of exaggerated action, be made known to the spectators. The young mime should beware of imita-tating those artists w ho seem to have modelled themselves upon that ancient actor who played Agamemnon mounted upon stilts, in order to impart an idea of the king of the assembled Kings of Greece; being unable to depict the grandeur of Agamemnon's character otherwise than by |
