Athenæus, a second-century Greek critic, declared: “Ballet is an imitation of things said and sung,” and Lucian, that--“It is by the gesture, movements and cadences that this imitation or representation is made up, as the song is made up by the inflections of the voice.” This is a happy illustration. Inflections might well be described as “gestures” _of the voice_. Menestrier (who, besides writing an exceedingly entertaining history of Ballet, also wrote extensively on Heraldry, and was author of several solid historical works as well as numerous poems and _libretti_) has said: “Ballet is an imitation like the other arts, and that much has in common with them. The difference is, that while the other arts only imitate certain things, as painting, which expresses the shape, colour, arrangement and disposition of things, Ballet expresses the _movement_ which Painting and Sculpture could not express, and by these movements can represent the nature of things, and those characteristics of the soul which only can find expression by such movements. This imitation is achieved by the movements of the body, which are the interpreters of the passions and of the inmost feelings. And even as the body has various parts composing a whole and making a beautiful harmony, one uses instruments and their accord, to regulate those movements which express the effect of the passions of the soul.” These definitions have decided value, but hardly quite meet the case of modern Ballet. Noverre, Blasis, Gardel, and other of the older _maîtres de ballet_, have told us in several charming books, essays, letters, dialogues and _libretti_, much as to what Ballet can and should be, but yet leave something to seek in the matter of brief yet comprehensive definition. It is with some hesitancy, therefore, that I venture, before talking of its history, to suggest as a simple definition that: “a ballet is _a series of solo and concerted dances with mimetic actions, accompanied by music and scenic accessories, telling a story_.” It is by reason of this definition that I propose to pass somewhat lightly over the early dawn of Ballet, or rather of its earliest elements, the dance and miming; and that I propose to deal more fully with the period _after_ the advent of Louis Quatorze--in France and in England--which saw the development of the _Ballet du Théâtre_. There have, of course, been modern ballets that did not tell a story. But the true Ballet of the theatre should. Such have been the best of those of Noverre, of Blasis, of Perrot, Nuittier, Théophile Gautier, and of later composers of ballet like Taglioni, Manzotti, Coppi, Mme. Lanner, Wilhelm, Curti, Fokine, and, indeed, all the best ballets of later years; and such will the best always be. CHAPTER II EGYPT