tailieunhanh - THE MIRROR OF TASTE, AND DRAMATIC CENSOR

IT has been already remarked that at a very early period, considerably more than three thousand years ago, the Chinese and other nations in the east understood the rudiments of the dramatic art. In their crude, anomalous representations they introduced conjurers, slight of hand men and rope dancers, with dogs, birds, monkies, snakes and even mice which were trained to dance, and in their dancing to perform evolutions descriptive of mathematical and astronomical figures. To this day the vestiges of those heterogeneous amusements are discernible all over Indostan: but that which will be regarded by many with surprise, is. | THE MIRROR OF TASTE AND DRAMATIC CENSOR. Vol. I. FEBRUARY 1810. HISTORY OF THE STAGE. CHAPTER II. RISE AND PROGRESS OF THE DRAMA IN GREECE ORIGIN OF TRAGEDY THESPIS YSCIIYLUS THE FATHER OF THE TRAGIC ART HIS ASTONISHING TALENTS HIS DEATH. IT has been already remarked that at a very early period considerably more than three thousand years ago the Chinese and other nations in the east understood the rudiments of the dramatic art. In their crude anomalous representations they introduced conjurers slight of hand men and rope dancers with dogs birds monkies snakes and even mice which were trained to dance and in their dancing to perform evolutions descriptive of mathematical and astronomical figures. To this day the vestiges of those heterogeneous amusements are discernible all over Indostan but that which will be regarded by many with surprise is that in all countries pagan or christian the drama in its origin with the dancings and spectacles attending it have been intermixed with divine worship. The Bramins danced before their god Vishnou and still hold it as an article of faith that Vishnou had himself in the olden time danced on the head of a huge serpent whose 110tail encompassed the world. That very dance which we call a minuet has been proved by an ingenious Frenchman to be the same dance originally performed by the priests in the temple of Apollo and constructed by them to be symbolical of the zodiac every figure described by the heavenly bodies having a correspondent movement in the minuet the diagonal line and the two parallels representing the zodiac generally the twelve steps of which it is composed representing the twelve signs and the twelve months of the year and the bow at the beginning and the end of it a profound obedience to the sun. About the year four hundred after the building of the city of Rome the Romans then smarting under great public calamity in order to appease the anger of heaven instituted theatrical performances as feasts in honour of .