 nothing can be more
trivial, forced, unnatural and antick, than this superfluous mummery. Not that I
would exclude from the representation the graces of action, without which the
choicest sentiments, cloathed in the most exquisite expression, would appear
unanimated and insipid; but these are as different from this ridiculous
burlesque, as is the demeanor of a Tully in the rostrum, from the tricks of a
Jack-pudding on a mountebank's stage: and for the truth of what I alledge, I
appeal to the observation of any person who has considered the elegance of
attitude and propriety of gesture, as they are universally acknowledged in the
real characters of life. Indeed I have known a Gascon, whose limbs were as
eloquent as his tongue: he never mentioned the word sleep without reclining his
head upon his hand; when he had occasion to talk of an horse, he always started
up and trotted across the room, except when he was so situated that he could not
stir without incommoding the company, and in that case he contented himself with
neighing aloud: if a dog happened to be the subject of his conversation, he
wagged his tail, and grinned in a most significant manner; and one day he
expressed his desire of going backwards with such natural imitation of his
purpose, that every body in the room firmly believed he had actually overshot
himself, and fortified their nostrils accordingly. Yet no man ever looked upon
this virtuoso to be the standard of propriety in point of speaking and
deportment. For my own part, I confess the player in question would, by dint of
these qualifications, make a very good figure in the character of Pantaloon's
lacquey, in the entertainment of Perseus and Andromeda, and perhaps might
acquire some reputation, by turning the Revenge into a pantomime; in which
cause, I would advise him to come upon the stage, provided with an handful of
flour, in order to besmear his face, when he pronounces pale and aghast, etc.
and methinks he ought to illustrate the adder with an hideous hiss. But let us
now come to the other situation, in which this modern Æsopus is supposed to
distinguish himself so much, I mean that same eclaircissement comprehended in
Know then 'twas -- I. His manner, I own, may be altered since I was present at
the representation of that performance; but certain I am, when I beheld him in
that critical conjuncture, his behaviour appeared to me so uncouth, that I
really imagined he was visited by some epileptic distemper; for he stood
tottering and gasping for the space of two minutes, like a
