with his dramatic situations. Nor is this the worst : some 
of them will not deign to walk on the stage; they must appear 
surrounded by clouds, or descend from the top of a palace stair- 
case, in order to give their entrance due effect. Let an air be 
sung in ever so tender or so furious a passage, the actor must 
needs bow his thanks for the applause it draws down. In Semi- 
ramis, the other night, the spectre of Ninus paid his  to the 
pit with an obsequiousness quite neutralizing the wordnetfear his costume 
should have created. In Italy, the theatre is looked on merely as 
a rendezvous, where you need listen to nothing but the songs and 
the ballet. I may well say they listen to the ballet, for they are 
never quiet till after its commencement ; in itself it is the chef- 
d'oeuvre of bad  ; I know not what there is to amuse in your 
ballet beyond its absurdity. I have seen Gengis Khan, clothed 
in ermine and magnanimity, give up his crown to the child of his 
conquered rival, and lift him into the air upon his foot, a new way 
of raising a monarch to the throne ; I have seen the self- 
of Curtius, in three acts, full of divertissements. The hero,