Those who complained--I speak of the few whose critical faculties had not been paralysed by M. NIJINSKI--that in _L'Apres-midi d'un Faune_ the limitations of plastic Art (necessarily confined to stationary forms) were forced upon an art that primarily deals with motion, will have little of the same fault to find in _Daphnis et Chloe._ Here there is no fixed or formal posing, if we except the attitude adopted (after a preliminary and irrelevant twiddle) by certain Nymphs to indicate, appropriately enough, their grief over the inanimate form of _Daphnis_. The dances in which, to the mutual suspicion of the lovers, _Chloe_ was circled by the men and _Daphnis_ by the maidens, were a pure delight. There was one movement, when heads were tossed back and then brought swiftly forward over hollowed breasts and lifted knees that had in it an exquisite fleeting beauty. But memory holds best the grace of the simpler and more elemental movements, the airy swing and poise of feet and limbs in straight flight, linked hands outstretched. In the _pas seul_ competition M. ADOLPH BOLM as _Darkon_ did some astonishing feats which made the performance of M. FOKINE as _Daphnis_ seem relatively tame and conventional; and if I, instead of _Chloe_, had been the judge I should have awarded the palm to the former. I am sure that _Chloe_ was prejudiced, though certainly _Darkon_ was a very rude and hirsute shepherd, and had none of _Daphnis'_ pretty ways. The dancing of the brigands was in excellent contrast with the methods of the pastoral Greeks. I will not, like the programme, distinguish them as "Brigands with Lances," "Brigands with Bows" and "Young Brigands." To me they were all alike very perfect examples of the profession; though I admit that the flight of their spears was not always as deadly as it should have been, and that one of the arrows refused to go off the string and had to be thrown by hand into the wings. It is not easy at a first performance to take in everything with both eye and ear, and I shall excuse myself from attempting to do justice to M. RAVEL'S music. But I was free (the curtain being down) to listen to one long orchestral passage which followed the capture of _Chloe_. It was of the nature of a dirge, and it seemed to me to suggest very cleverly the sorrows of a poultry-yard. I suppose _Chloe_ must have been in the habit of feeding them and they missed her.