A History of Pantomime | Page 4

Bible, that the first man was created about six

thousand years ago, and some sixteen hundred and fifty-six years
afterwards the inhabitants of the world, with the exception of Noah and
his family, consisting of eight souls all told, were destroyed by the
flood. Noah and his family, we can take it, were of the same race of
mankind then on the earth, of the same descent and of the same flesh
and blood (as we all are) of our common father and mother, Adam and
Eve; yet we are not told that Noah (he was six hundred years old when
he went into the Ark) and his family were savages. In the 4th chapter,
21st verse of Genesis, of Jubal-Cain, we learn that "He was the father
of all such as handle the harp and organ"; and in the following verse,
Tubal-Cain is described as "An instructor of every artificer in brass and
iron."
We learn, also, that magnificent statues were made in Egypt some six
thousand years ago; and that mention is made of a statue of King
Cephren, said to have been chiselled about this period, and many
learned men also affirm that letters were known to the inhabitants of
the Antediluvian world. All this, however, hardly looks like the work of
a barbarous race, and points to an acquaintance with the Arts, at any
rate of Music and Sculpture, and that of the artificers and workers in
brass and iron.
To follow, for my subject, this reasoning a little further, if there was
music (which, doubtless, there was) there must also have been dancing,
and, if dancing, there must, in the Antediluvian age, as a form of
entertainment, have also been Pantomime. On the other hand, even
supposing that man, at this period, was nothing else but a complete
savage, the words of Darwin, that I have quoted on a previous page,
conclusively proves, I think (on a common-sense like basis), of the
existence of dancing, a rude form of music, and, of course, Pantomime
at this epoch.
Ingersoll's doctrine was that "The distance from savagery to
Shakespeare must be measured not by hundreds, but by millions, of
years."
Finally, why, and for what reason, should the Lord God, in His
all-seeing goodness and mercy, punish the inhabitants of the

Antediluvian world if they were only poor unenlightened savages? Was
it not because they were idolaters and worshippers of idols, "And that
every imagination of the thoughts of his (man's) heart was only evil
continually," as the sixth chapter and fifth verse of Genesis tells us?
This then being so, we know also that in every ancient form of religion
dancing was one of the acts of worship, and if dancing, there must as
previously stated, have also been Pantomime.

CHAPTER II.
Origin of Tragedy and Comedy--Mythology--The meaning of the word
Pantomime--The origin of Harlequin, Columbine, Clown, and
Pantaloon--Grecian Mythology--Transformation Scenes--The rise of
Grecian Tragedy and Comedy--The Satirical Drama.
In the year 2347 B.C., in
Chapter 9
, verse 20, in Genesis, there occurs: "And Noah began to be a
husbandman, and he planted a vineyard." This is one of the first acts
that Noah did after the Deluge, and it is, as history tells us, from the
rites and ceremonies in celebration of the cultivation of the vine, that
we owe the origin of Tragedy and Comedy.
After the Deluge God placed His bow in the heavens as His covenant
with man that the world should no more be accursed; and in the first
ages of this world's history, Noah and his descendants celebrated their
deliverance from the Ark, the return of the seasons, and the promise of
plenty in their several religious rites and ceremonies. The children of
Shem had in general Asia as their portion; Japhet had Europe; and Ham,
Africa.
Soon, however, religion began to lose its purity, and it then began to
degenerate very fast. Men began to repair to the tops of mountains,
lonely caves and grottoes, where they thought resided their gods. To
honour them they erected altars and performed their vows. Amongst the
Ancients their Mythology went no further than the epoch of the Deluge,

and in honour of which, and also of the Ark, they erected many temples
called Aren, Theba, Argus (from whence was probably derived the
Argo of the Argonauts, and the sacred ship of Osiris), Cibotus, Toleus,
and Baris.
The symbol by which the Mythologists represented the Ark was an
immense egg. This was supposed to have been produced by Ether and
Chaos, at the bidding of Time, the one ethereal being who created the
universe. By Nox (Night) the egg was hatched, which, being opened
into two parts, from the upper part was formed heaven, and the lower
earth.
In the sacred rites of Osiris,