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 excited, saying, with a shake of
the head, "I believe so, too, Monsieur;" and the physician, impatient
of the dispute in which he had borne no share, observed, with a
supercilious air, that the modern stage was altogether beneath one who
had an idea of ancient magnificence and execution; that plays ought to
be exhibited at the expense 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 national 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 clothes of that actor who stalked before
him, beating the stage with iron shoes,