se _secret_ turns of Nature in the mind;
Without this part in vain would be the whole,
And but a _body_ all without a soul?

A few words more just to lay further stress on the importance of
Pantomime, and then to return to our History. Take any part in any play,
strip from it in its enactment the whole of its gesture language, could
we realise that the actor appearing in it was portraying nature for us?
Replace the Pantomime so essential to the part, and the character
becomes--or rather should become if properly played--a creature of flesh
and blood the same as ourselves. Pantomime, on the other hand, does not
require words to be spoken to express its meaning, as it is quite
expressible without.

A contemporary account of the production of the Pantomime "Harlequin Dr.
Faustus," at Drury Lane Theatre, forms interesting reading, in addition
to providing a contrast with present-day Pantomime.

Every action is executed to different agreeable music, so adapted that
it properly expresses what is going forward; in the machinery there is
something so highly surprising that words cannot give a full idea of it.
The effects described seem to be marvellous, considering the state of
theatrical mechanism. A devil riding on a fiery dragon rides swiftly
across the stage. Two country men and women enter to be told their
fortunes, when Dr. Faustus waves his wand, and four pictures turn out of
the scenes opposite, representing a judge and a soldier, a dressed lady,
and a lady in riding habit; the scene changes to the outside of a
handsome house, when the louting men, running in, place their backs
against the door. The front of the house turns, and at the same instant
the machine turns, a supper ready dressed rises up. The countrymen's
wives remain with the Doctor, who (afterwards) goes out. He beckons the
table, and it follows him. Punch, Scaramouch, and Pierrot are next met
by the Doctor, who invites them into a banquet. The table ascends into
the air. He waves his wand, and asses' ears appear at the sides of their
heads. A usurer lending money to Dr. Faustus demands a limb as
security, and cuts off the Doctor's leg, several legs appear on the
scene, and the Doctor strikes a woman's leg with his wand, which
immediately flies from the rest, and fixes to the Doctor's stump, who
dances with it ridiculously. The next scene opens, disclosing the
Doctor's study. He enters affrighted, and the clock strikes one; the
figures of Time an