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Parts of the Face, that by turning to the left or right,different Passions were expressed. The Countenancefeem’d, so to speak, to laugh with one Side, and cry withthe other +. The former was in Use in all Comedies, andcommon to all low Characters, such as Valets, Slave-mer-chants, and Parasites. The latter, on the contrary, waspeculiar to Heads of Families, and to the higher Charac-ters ; but these were only made ule of on extraordinaryOccasions, on which it was requisite all at once to changeFaces, as in the unravelling of certain Pieces where thefame Person passes, in the twinkling of an Eye, fromGrief to Joy, or from Joy to Grief. And as, in such Ca-ses, the Actors had nothing to do but to turn about, inorder to change the whole Face of Affairs, we may ven-ture to fay, that this Artifice, far from hurting the Re-presentation, contributed to render the Action more per-fect, and compensated or corrected, in a great measure,that Immobility, or Uniformity and Unchangeablenefswith which Masks are reproached.

It must however be acknowledged, Immobility was thegreatest Fault attending the Use of Masks : And it hadindeed been an unpardonable one, and very justly blam-ed, as destroying the whole Truth and Grace of Action,if the Spectators had been as near to the Actors as we noware. But then Shews being for the People, it was neces-sary that their Theatres should be very capacious; andconsequently a great Part of the Spectators must have been

O 2 very

■f- Pater ille cujus praecipuae partes funt quia interim concitatus, interim le-nis est, altero erecto, altero composite) est supercilio.

Quintil, Inft. Or. L. io.

0 '& ^yfjXWV TOZCfi'OTvii T'JjV oQpCV KVXTSTXTCU Ti jV Poll, L. 4. c. 18.