original character, are, no doubt, copied from drawings of an earlier date. A German antiquary of the last century, Henry Berger, published in a quarto volume a series of such illustrations from a manuscript of Terence in the library of the Vatican at Rome, from which two examples are selected, as showing the usual style of Roman comic acting, and the use of the mask. The first (No. 13) is the opening scene in the _Andria_. On the right, two servants have brought provisions, and on the left appear Simo, the master of the household, and his freedman, Sosia, who seems to be entrusted with the charge of his domestic affairs. Simo tells his servants to go away with the provisions, while he beckons Sosia to confer with him in private:-- Si. _Vos istæc intro auferte; abite. Sosia, Adesdum; paucis te volo._ So. _Dictum puta Nempe ut curentur recte hæc._ Si. _Imo aliud_. Terent. Andr., Actus i., Scena 1. When we compare these words with the picture, we cannot but feel that in the latter there is an unnecessary degree of energy put into the _pose_ of the figures; which is perhaps less the case in the other (No. 14), an illustration of the sixth scene of the fifth act of the _Adelphi_ of Terence. It represents the meeting of Geta, a rather talkative and conceited servant, and Demea, a countryfied and churlish old man, his acquaintance, and of course superior. To Geta's salutation, Demea asks churlishly, as not at first knowing him, "Who are you?" but when he finds that it is Geta, he changes suddenly to an almost fawning tone:-- G. ... _Sed eccum Demeam. Salvus fies._ D. _Oh, qui vocare?_ G. _Geta._ D. _Geta, hominem maximi Pretii esse te hodie judicavi animo mei._ [9] It is said to have received its Latin name from this circumstance, _persona, a personando_. See Aulus Gellius, Noct. Att., lib. v. c. 7. [Illustration: _No. 15. Comic Scene from Pompeii._] That these representations are truthful, the scenes in the wall-paintings of Pompeii leave us no room to doubt. One of these is produced in our cut No. 15, which is no doubt taken from a comedy now lost, and we are ignorant whom the characters are intended to represent. The _pose_ given to the two comic figures, compared with the example given from Berger, would lead us to suppose that this over-energetic action was considered as part of the character of comic acting. [Illustration: _No. 16. Cupids at Play._]