OCR Text |
Show CONCLUSION. 541 only respect the altars which have been raised to Thalia and Melpomene in his own country, but also reverence those which have been erected to their honour in other nations,-on the banks of the Thames and the Seine, beyond the Alps, and wherever else homage is done to the Muses. There are schools of actors as well as of authors ; while we cannot help feeling discontented with the cold follower of the classic, and the extravagant votary of the romantic style, we applaud with transport those who are wise enough to be at once classic and imaginative, or romantic without becoming unreasonable. T h e actor should not lose his time in the study of those lengthened, and frequently useless, discussions of such critics as carry their views so far as to lose sight of the principal objects of criticism ; who, when they ought to have been discussing the merit of styles, have disputed upon authors, and when they should have treated upon authors, have merely babbled about style; authors have been thus decried on account of the style which they followed, and a species of composition censured and attacked through writers who adopted it. The author, or the artist, who pleases and interests the judicious and the feeling, must needs be a follower of nature, and, therefore, admirable whatever may be the style or school which he has adopted. The grand aim of the Ballet-master, the mime, and the dancer, should be the embellishment and improvement of the art; to grace it with all the nobleness, the splendour, and beauty of which it is susceptible; to render it worthy of the place it occupies among the other fine arts, and to make them all contribute as much as possible to so laudable- so desirable an object. |