
assuring him that he had an infinite veneration for the British learning, genius
and taste, which were so justly distinguished in the world of letters; and that
notwithstanding the severity of his criticism, he thought the theatre of London
much better supplied with actors than that of Paris. The young gentleman thanked
him for his polite condescension, at which Pallet exulted, saying with a shake
of the head, »I believe so too, Monsieur;« and the physician, impatient of the
dispute in which he had bore no share, observed with a supercilious air, that
the modern stage was altogether beneath the notice of one who had an idea of
ancient magnificence and execution; that plays ought to be exhibited at the
expence of the state, as those of Sophocles were by the Athenians, and that
proper judges should be appointed for receiving or rejecting all such
performances as are offered to the public.
    He then described the theatre at Rome, which contained eighty thousand
spectators, gave them a learned disquisition into the nature of the Persona, or
mask, worn by the Roman actors, which, he said, was a machine that covered the
whole head, furnished on the inside with a brazen concavity, that, by
reverberating the sound as it issued from the mouth, raised the voice, so as to
render it audible to such an extended audience. He explained the difference
between the Saltator and Declamator, one of whom acted, while the other
rehearsed the part; and from thence took occasion to mention the perfection of
their pantomimes, who were so amazingly distinct in the exercise of their art,
that a certain prince of Pontus being at the court of Nero, and seeing one of
them represent a story, begged him of the emperor, in order to employ him as an
interpreter among barbarous nations, whose language he did not understand. Nay,
divers cynic philosophers, who had condemned this entertainment unseen, when
they chanced to be eye-witnesses of their admirable dexterity, expressed their
sorrow for having so long debarred themselves of such rational enjoyment.
    He dissented, however, from the opinion of Peregrine, who, as a proof of
their excellence, had advanced, that some of the English actors fancied
themselves the very thing they represented, and recounted a story from Lucian,
of a certain celebrated pantomime, who in acting the part of Ajax in his frenzy,
was transported into a real fit of delirium, during which he tore to pieces the
cloaths of that actor who stalked before him, beating the stage with iron shoes,
in order to increase the noise, snatched an instrument from one of the
musicians
