who had the superintendence of the heels of the springing generation in that portion of the globe.

In the course of time we beheld many professional artists (English ones) at theatres and other public places, and always felt relieved when they got through their work; and the performance of the Winnebago Indians nearly convinced us that dancing in all nations, whether savage or civilized, was a foolish abomination. The appearance, however, of Hutin, and the French corps de ballet, threw some light upon the subject. The dancers of a nation of dancers were brought to the American shores to expound the mysteries of the Academie de la Musique. The essence, the quintessence of dancing, was what was expected, and had Vestris never appeared, it might still have passed for such. Here, at least, was some approach to an union of grace and agility; while the boldness and novelty of the spectacle threw the audience into a state of most undignified surprise. They did not know exactly what to make of it, but took it for granted that it must be superlatively fine, and consequently counterfeited an exuberance of admiration; but when, in the pas seul of "I've been roaming," Hutin came bounding like a stag from the top to the bottom of the stage in about three springs, the connoisseurs in the pit were really

amazed; they looked into each other's faces for information, but not finding any, grinned a smile of approbation; and many were heard to give utterance to the oracular exclamation of ፡፡ no mistake!" a term by which no small portion of the inhabitants of this city intimate their sense of excellence in any shape.

But Vestris, the exquisite Vestris appeared, and all that had gone before seemed poor in comparison. With a form cast in nature's happiest mould, and a face to match; with

"Motions graceful as a bird's in air;"

with a step as free as fancy, agile as an antelope, and elastic as a bow, who was to be compared with her? When contrasted with her, the movements of all the rest were sharp and angular. Their performance was a collection of brilliant points-hers one uninterrupted piece of perfection. We did not want to see her dance, only to behold her in motion. She could even do that hardest of all things-violate nature gracefully; for it must be owned that some of her attitudes are such as nature never dreamt of, though this is a fault, perhaps, inseparable from the French school. Of the faults of that school she has less than any of the rest, especially the practice of twirling rapidly round on one foot to

please the vicious taste, and gain the good-for-nothing applause of those whose ignorant wonder is excited by this vulgar and marvelously ungraceful trick. In the slow parts of some of the dances her action is in reality the very " poetry of motion :"-the swell and fall of the summer sea-the waving grace of the rich meadow when the breeze passes gently over it-the peculiar sweep of the branches of the willow, which, even at their largest growth, seem constructed of the most delicate fibres-or, indeed, any thing that is most beautiful in motion, is, at times, not more beautiful than Vestris. And, as the music takes a quicker and bolder measure, with what nerve and confidence she spurns the boards and throws herself in air! When we think of it, we look at the pedestals on which our own trunk is supported, and "inly ruminate" what quantity of cultivation would be necessary to enable them to accomplish such feats!

There is another advantage in seeing Vestris, particularly to persons whose ideas, like our own, are involved in more than Egyptian darkness concerning pirouettes, entrechats, &c. and who might expose their ignorance and get into an awkward dilemma by asserting that Estelle was better than Ravenot, or Ravenot better than Estelle. When Vestris is before them they are safe. They can

lean back at their ease-assume a knowing and intelligent look-nod complacently at the execution of any surprising manœuvre, and indulge in the most sweeping eulogiums without fear of committing themselves; for she is

"such a dancer

Where men have eyes and feelings she must answer."

RICHINGS.

NOTWITHSTANDING the manifold dramatic sins and improprieties of this great man and multifarious actor, he is by no means a disagreeable or unentertaining personage. Some of his efforts are highly amusing; and at all times he at least never fails in securing his own most decided approbation, as is quite evident from the everlasting smile of selfcomplacency which irradiates his very good-looking countenance; and, be it remarked, that in these captious, fault-finding, universal-diffusion-of-knowledge times, when every one who turns over an author or looks at an actor or picture, feels in duty bound to furnish forth his mite of carping criticism, in order to make manifest the preternatural acuteness it has pleased heaven to invest him with, a confirmed habit of self-approval is by no means an uncomfortable quality. It is really a pleasure to any man who delights in witnessing the happiness