233 London Pkilosnp/'iical Society. 



masks adapted for it ; and if a variety of passions were in- 

 cluded in the same character, the actor had either different 

 masses, or a diflerent passion painted on each side, which 

 was displayed alternately in profile to the spectators. Tlie 

 delicate representations of the mind expressed in the phy- 

 siognomy were therefore entirely forsaken by the ancients ; 

 but it was a loss whicii thev could not appreciate, as the . 

 extent of their theatres would have rendered such represen- 

 tations impalpable to the sight. 



After remarking on the acoustic properties of the an- 

 cient masks, and the violent gesticulations of the Roman 

 actors, Mr. R. asserted, that a taste for gesture began, and 

 at last a total contempt of every thing but show conipleted, 

 the degradation of the Roman stage, the decline of which 

 may be dated, as well as of every species of literature, from 

 the establishment of legal tyranny by Augustus. The de- 

 cline of that empire led the lecturer, by easy transition, to 

 fhe state of the drama during the dark ages, to its subse- 

 quent revival in Italy, Germany, France, and England, and 

 its latter purification. The improvisatori of Italy were the 

 first revivers of the stage. These performances, which 

 were characterized by little but buffoonery, were succeeded 

 by religious reprcEentatiouo ; and the «e>'<.' birth as well as 

 ihQ.Jirst birth of the drama was marked not only by the 

 same features, but by the same name, — that of mysteries. 

 It is curious to remark, that the English stage resembled for 

 some time the Eleusinian representations : lor it personified 

 the virtues, the vices, and the moral propensities, as well 

 as the sainted demigods of the new religion. Nor, much 

 as we may doubt the annistment resulting from it, can we 

 suffer severity to conquer our feelings of indulgence, when 

 we recollect that it produced the l-'aradise Lost of Milton 

 (originally a dramatic mystery), and most probably suggested 

 the Fairy O'.ieen of Sjisjriscr. Metastasio in Italy was the 

 ereat chaiTTpion of the ancient stage, and the n)ysterie.'v 

 yielded to the purer taste of his tragedies. Operas, said the 

 learned lectu-er, are the peculiar invciuion of the Italians, 

 and they owe their birth and their success to the harmony 

 and music of their language. Disagreeing with Addison, 

 therefore, in his general severity against the opera, he yet 

 was of opinion that in this country it was an exotic, fostered 

 and kept alive bv a ridiculous fashion, where the taste, the 

 language, and the manners of the ^people were in every 

 respect unpropitious. 



From Italy Mr. R. passed to Germany ; and after re- 

 rhurking the singular fact, that the drama of that country 



was 



