at the head of the establishment, a vast deal has in this way been
accomplished for mere external show.

The great Russian theatre of St. Petersburg has served for a model,
and accordingly nothing has really been improved except that part of
the performance which is farthest removed from genuine art, namely
the ballet. That fact is that out of Paris the ballet is nowhere
so splendid as in the great theater at Warsaw, not even at St.
Petersburg, for the reason that the Russian is inferior to the Pole in
physical beauty and grace. Heretofore the corps of the St. Petersburg
ballet has twice been composed of Poles, but this arrangement has been
abandoned as derogatory to the national honor. The sensual attractions
of the ballet render it the most important thing in the theater. A
great school for dancers has been established, where pupils may be
found from three to eighteen years old. It is painful to see the
little creatures, hardly weaned from their mothers' breasts--twisted
and tortured for the purposes of so doubtful an occupation as dancing.
The school contains about two hundred pupils, all of whom occasionally
appear together on the boards, in the ballet of Charis and Flora, for
instance, when they receive a trifling compensation. For the rest the
whole ballet corps are bound to daily practice.

The taste of the Russians has made prominent in the ballet exactly
those peculiarities which are least to its credit. It must be
pronounced exaggerated and lascivious. Aside from these faults, which
may be overlooked as the custom of the country, we must admit that the
dancing is uncommonly good.

The greater the care of the management for the ballet, the more
injurious is its treatment of the drama. This is melancholy for the