s, the very same.

Both here, and in France, there have been some of these dramatic
pieces in action, by dance, attempted, which have been well
received by the public.

Some years ago, the Dutchess of Maine ordered simphonies to be
composed for the scene of the fourth act of the _Horatii_; in
which the young Horatius kills Camilla. Two dancers, one of each
sex, represented this action at _Sceaux_; and their dance
painted it with all the energy and pathos of which it was
susceptible.

In Italy especially many subjects of a what may be called low
comedy, are very naturally expressed by dancing. In short, there
is hardly any comic action but what they represent upon their
theatres, if not with perfection, at least satisfactorily. And
certainly the dance in action has the same superiority over
sheer unmeaning dancing, that a fine history-piece has over
cutting flowers in paper. In the last there is little more
required than mechanical nicety, and, at the best, it affords no
great pretention to merit. But it is only for genius to order,
distribute and compose, in the other. A Raphael is allowed to
take place in the Temple of Fame, by a Virgil; and the art of
dancing is capable of having its Raphaels too. Pilades, and
Bathillus were painters, and great ones, in their way.
Picturesque composition is not less the duty of a composer of
dances, than of a painter.

Among the antients, that _Protheus_, of whom fabulous history
records such wonders, was only one of their dancers, who, by the
rapidity of his steps, by the strength of his expression, and by
the employment of the theatrical deceptions, seemed at every
instant, to change his form. The celebrated _Empusa_ was a
female dancer, whose agility was so prodigious that she appeared
and vanished like a spirit.

But it was at Rome that the Pantomime art received its highest
improvement. Pilades born in Cilicia, and Bathillus of
Alexandria, where the two most surprising geniuses, who, under
the reigns of Augustus Caesar, displayed their talents in their
utmost lustre. The first invented the solemn, grave and pathetic
dances. The compositions of Bathillus were in the lively, gay,
and sprightly stile.

Bathillus had been the slave of Mecenas, who had given him his
freedom in favor of his talents. Having seen Pilades in Cilicia,
he engaged him to come to Rome, where he had disposed Mecenas in
his favor, who, becoming the declared protector of both,
procured to them the en