"The face is certainly the best index of the mind, and the passions as forcibly expressed by the features as by the words and gesture of the performer."
— Francklin, Thomas (1721-1784); Lucian (b.c. 125, d. after 180)
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Printed for T. Cadell
Date
1780
Metaphor
"The face is certainly the best index of the mind, and the passions as forcibly expressed by the features as by the words and gesture of the performer."
Metaphor in Context
† A mask,] The mask, used in the Greek theatre, was a kind of casque, or helmet, which covered the whole head, representing not only the face, but the beard, hair, ears, and even, in the women's masks, all the ornaments of the coif, or cap; the most perfect and durable were of wood, which were generally copied by the most eminent artists, from the busts or statues of the principal persons represented, and consequently conveyed the most exact resemblance of them. This gave the actor an opportunity of playing several different parts in the same piece, without being discovered; in so extensive an area as the Greek theatre, it might be necessary, by these large and frightful masks, to exaggerate the features; but at the same time we must remember, that by all these exaggerations the natural expression of the eyes and countenance must be entirely lost. After all, indeed, that can be said in favour of the ancient masks, it is scarce defensible. The face is certainly the best index of the mind, and the passions as forcibly expressed by the features as by the words and gesture of the performer; for my own part, I prefer the English to the Athenian stage, in this as well as in many other particulars; though I will promise to join the [Greek Letters], and vote for the restoration of the ancient mask, whenever they can shew me one that can represent the happy features of Quin, in Falstaff; or give us an idea of a frantic Lear, like the look and face of the inimitable Garrick. See the Dissertation on Tragedy, prefixed to my translation of Sophocles.
(p. 17n)
(p. 17n)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1780, 1781). See also Select Dialogues (1785). Translations of select dialogues date from 1634.
Text from The Works of Lucian, from the Greek, by Thomas Francklin, D. D. Some Time Greek Professor in the University of Cambridge. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1780). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Text from The Works of Lucian, from the Greek, by Thomas Francklin, D. D. Some Time Greek Professor in the University of Cambridge. (London: Printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, 1780). <Link to ESTC><Link to Google Books>
Date of Entry
11/15/2013
