I presume no one will judge of an art by the abuse that may be
made of it.

Of

DANCING

In General.

This is one of the arts, in which, as in all the rest, the study
of nature is especially to be recommended. She is an unerring
guide. She gives that harmony, that power of pleasing to the
productions of those who consult her, which such as neglect her
must never expect. They will furnish nothing but monsters and
discordances; or, at the best, but sometimes lucky hits, without
meaning or connexion.

All the imitative arts acknowledge this principle.

In Poetry, a happy choice of the most proper words for
expressing the sentiments and images drawn from the observation
of nature, constitutes the principal object of the poet.

In Painting, the disposition of the subject, the resemblance
of the coloring to that of the original, in short the greatest
possible adherence to nature, is the merit of that art.

In Music, that expression of the passions which should raise the
same in the hearer, whether of joy, affliction, tenderness, or
pity, can never have its effect without marking and adopting the
respective sounds of each passion as they are furnished by
nature.

In Dancing, the attitudes, gestures, and motions derive also
their principle from nature, whether they caracterise joy, rage,
or affection, in the bodily expression respectively appropriated
to the different affections of the soul. A consideration this,
which clearly proves the mistake of those, who imagine the art
of dancing solely confined to the legs, or even arms; whereas
the expression of it should be pantomimically diffused through
the whole body, the face especially included.

Monsieur Cahusac, in his ingenious treatise on this art, has
very justly observed, that both singing and dancing must have
existed from the primeval times; that is to say, from the first
of the existence of human-kind itself.

"Observe, says he, the tender children, from their entry
into the world, to the moment in which their reason unfolds
itself, and you will see that it is primitive nature
herself, that manifests herself in the sound of their,
voice in the features of their face, in their looks, in
all their motions. Mark their sudden paleness, their quick
contortions, their piercing cries, when their soul is
affected by a sensation of pain. Observe again, their
engaging smile, t