“If I wished to classify the nature and value of M. Delsarte’s labors in relation to what has been spoken or written up to this time on the art of singing or acting, I should say that the numerous precepts which have been formulated on dramatic art have had hardly any object other than the manner in which each character ought to be conceived.  Ingenious and multiplied observations have been employed to bring forth the delicacies of the part and its unpcrceived features.  The intellectual strength of the actor or vocalist has been directed to the author’s conception.  He has been told to be pathetic here, menacing there; here to assume a slight tinge of irony transpiercing apparent politeness, or, again, to make his gesture a seeming contradiction of his words.  Such an analysis of the poet’s work is certainly imperative, but how far from adequate!  And what an immense distance there is from the intelligence which comprehends to the gesture which translates, from the song which moves to the inflection which interprets!  It is with the new purpose which M. Delsarte has embraced that, without neglecting an understanding of the author, he says to the actor:  ’This is what you must express.  Now, how will you do it?  What will you do with your arms, with your head, with your voice?  Do you know the laws of your organization?  Do you know how to go to work to be pathetic, dignified, comic, or familiar, to represent the clemency of Augustus or the drunkenness of a coachman?’ In a word, he teaches the vocalist or actor the laws of this language, of this eloquence which nature places in our eyes, in our gestures, in the suppressed or expansive tones of our voice, in the accent of speech.  He teaches the actor, or, to speak more properly, the man, to know himself, to manage artistically that inimitable instrument which is man himself, all of whose parts contribute to a harmonious unity.  Hence, aware of the gravity of such an assertion, I do not hesitate to proclaim here that I believe M. Delsarte’s work will remain among the fundamental bases; I believe that his labors are destined to give a solid foundation to theatric art, to elevate and to ennoble it; I believe that there is no actor, no singer, however eminent, who cannot derive from the acquirements and luminous studies of M. Delsarte, positive germs of development and progress.  I believe that whoever makes the external interpretation of the sentiments of the human soul his business and profession, whether painter, sculptor, orator, or actor, that all men of taste who support them will applaud this attempt to create the science of expressive man; a science from which antiquity seems to have lifted the veil, and what appears willing to revive in our days, in the hands of a man worthy by his patient and conscientious efforts to discover some of its most precious secrets.”

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Delsarte has sought neither fame nor wealth.  He could easily have secured both by remaining on the stage as an actor, after he had lost his power as a vocalist.  He preferred to surrender himself in comparative retirement to the study of science and art, and the instruction of those who sought his aid in mastering the principles of the latter.  To the needy this instruction was imparted gratuitously, and more than one successful actress has been raised from penury to fortune by the benevolence of her teacher.