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theatre. He may be graceful, but he will be simple; he may be energetic, but he will not affect gestures too strongly significant, much less attempt surprise by attitudes. All his gestures will be regulated by manly decorum suitable to his own true situation, which the orator does not change as the actor must; they will be suitable to the just expression of his sentiments, and to the character of his hearers; of all which he is never to lose sight; nor allow himself to be betrayed into any violent extremes, unbecoming his own place and his objects, or failing in proper respect to those, whom he is called upon only to instruct or to persuade.

CHAPTER XXI.

OF THE SIGNIFICANCY OF GESTURE.

Merely articulate language without gesture or modulation of tones would be very imperfect-The universality of the natural signs-Opinion of Lord Kaims as to their necessity-Natural and instituted gestures according to the Abbé Du Bos-Mr. Engel's division of gestures into classes-The significancy of gesture has principally employed the attention of the ancient writers upon gesture—And also of the moderns, as Buffon, Du Bos, Sheridan, Walker-Examples of significant gestures -Division of them into four classes-Examples of complex significant gestures from Engel-Examples from a great actress-Gestures of this kind the proper objects of the painter's imitation, but not of the orator's-The less shewy gestures suit him best-Collections of gestures as proposed by Sulzer would be of little use to the orator-Some advantages of the present system.

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CHAPTER XXI.

Of the Significancy of Gesture.

LANGUAGE, which is so much the boast of rational beings, and has been assumed by the father of poetry as the distinguishing characteristic of men,' derives all its significancy from compact only. And if men were limited in the expression of their wants and desires to the power of language alone, their communication would also be extremely limited; and a man could not, without danger of every inconvenience, venture beyond the confines of his own tribe, or the narrow local prevalence of his own dialect. . And whilst the animals of the same species, of the north and south, and of the cast and west, if brought together would readily associate; men, under the same circumstances, if they had no other means of communicating their thoughts except language, would long remain strangers to the sentiments of each other, even in a greater degree, than they are now to what passes in the minds of some brutes. But all bountiful nature is not such a niggard of her gifts to man, nor leaves in her wisdom her principal work subject to such a defect. She has not abandoned man to the mere resources of his own devices on his most important concerns, but has furnished him with such external signs as indicate universally to his own

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species his most pressing wants, and his most interesting feelings. And so expressive are these external signs, that all nature may be figuratively said to understand them, and they are actually capable, by a little instruction, to be made the means of communication between him and many of the most valuable animals which he domesticates for his service. These external

2 The external expressions of passion form a language understood by all, by the young as well as the old, by the ignorant as well as the learned. Elements of Criticism.

3 Mutorumque silens positura imitabitur actus. Dufresnoy. Learn action from the dumb, the dumb shall teach

How happiest to supply the want of speech.

In the note on this passage Sir Joshua Reynolds says,

Mason's Translation.

"Gesture is a language we are born with, and is the most natural way of expressing our"selves: painting may be said therefore in this respect to have the superiority over "poetry.

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"Fresnoy, however, certainly means here persons either born dumb or who are become so from accident or violence, and the translator has therefore rendered his meaning "justly: but persons who are born dumb are commonly deaf also, and their gestures are "usually extravagant and forced, &c."

Sir Joshua was too nice an observer to admit that graceful action could be learned from the dumb; but does not seem to have enquired into the precise reason, nor to have stated exactly what kind of gestures are proper for the imitation of the painter. The gestures of the dumb being almost entirely artificial, and used for the purpose of communicating their ideas in the speediest manner possible, can have little grace to serve as a model for the painter.

The natural gestures, which express the feelings or affections of the mind, are on the contrary often highly graceful; particularly when they are too powerful to submit to any restraint. Then the expressions even of the uncultivated are graceful, and worthy to be observed as a model by the painter or the tragedian. The swelling torrent which breaks all bounds, and sweeps every thing before it, is always a grand object.

The man to solitude accustom'd long
Perceives, in ev'ry thing that lives, a tongue;
Not animals alone, but shrubs and trees,
Have speech for him, and understood with ease;
After long drought, when rains abundant fall,
He hears the herbs and flow'rs rejoicing all;
Knows what the freshness of their hue implies,
How glad they catch the largeness of the skies;

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