 Her dancing is just a succession of ephemeral masterpieces, which one longs to fix for ever; and Ida's mother has conceived in her thoughts everything which her child expresses by her movements...I have seen Ida, while still a child, represent Althaea about to burn the torch on which the life of her son Meleager depends; she expressed, without a word, the grief, the mental strife, the terrible resolution of a mother.No doubt her animated looks served to make us understand what was passing in her heart, but the art of varying her gestures, and draping herself artistically in the purple mantle which she wore, produced at least as much effect as her countenance.