Tolstoy's rough banter recalls Rousseau's sarcasm about an opera of
Rameau's. In the _Nouvelle Heloise_, he rails in a similar fashion
against the sadly fantastic performances at the theatre. It was, even
then, a question of monsters, "of dragons animated by a blockhead of a
Savoyard, who had not enough spirit for the beast."
"They assured me that they had a tremendous lot of machinery to
make all this movement, and they offered several times to show it
to me; but I felt no curiosity about little effects achieved by
great efforts.... The sky is represented by some blue rags
suspended from sticks and cords, like a laundry display.... The
chariots of the gods and goddesses are made of four joists in a
frame, suspended by a thick rope, as a swing might be. Then a plank
is stuck across the joists, and on this is seated a god. In front
of him hangs a piece of daubed cloth, which serves as a cloud upon
which his splendid chariot may rest.... The theatre is furnished
with little square trap-doors which, opening as occasion requires,
show that the demons can be let loose from the cellars.
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