M. Etienne Arago, writing some years since upon _les choristes_, calls
attention to the important services rendered to the stage by its mute
performers, and demands their wider recognition. He ventures to hold
that as much talent is necessary to constitute a tolerable _figurant_
as to make a good actor. He describes the _figurant_ as a multiform
actor, a dramatic chameleon, compelled by the special nature of his
occupation, or rather by its lack of special nature, to appear young
or old, crooked or straight, noble or base-born, savage or civilised,
according to the good pleasure of the dramatist. "Thus, when Tancred
declaims, _'Toi, superbe Orbassan, c'est toi que je defie!'_ and
flings his gauntlet upon the stage, Orbassan has but to wave his hand
and an attendant advances boldly, stoops, picks up the gage of
battle, and resumes his former position. That is thought to be a very
simple duty. But to accomplish it without provoking the mirth of the
audience is _le sublime du metier--le triomphe de l'art!_"
The emotions of an author who for the first time sees himself in
print, have often been descanted upon.
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