Upon the French stage the minor assistants of the scene are comprehensively described as _les choristes_. In this way the pedigree of the "super" gains something of nobility, and may, perhaps, be traced back to the chorus of the antique drama, a body charged with most momentous duties, with symbolic mysteries of dance and song, removed from the perils and catastrophes of the play, yet required in regard to these to guide and interpret the sympathies of the spectators. In its modern application, however, this generic term has its subdivisions, and includes _les choristes_ proper, who boast musical attainments, and are obedient to the rule of a _chef d'attaque_, or head chorister; _les accessoires_, performers permitted speech of a brief kind, who can be entrusted upon occasion with such simple functions as opening a door, placing a chair, or delivering a letter, and who correspond in many respects with our actors of utility; _les figurants_, the subordinate dancers led by a _coryphée_; and lastly, _les comparses_, who closely resemble our supernumeraries, and are engaged in more or less numbers, according to the exigencies of there presentation. Of these aids to performance _les comparses_ only enjoy no regular salaries, are not formally enrolled among the permanent members of the establishment, but are paid simply for appearing--seventy-five centimes for the night, and fifty centimes for each rehearsal--or upon some such modest scale of remuneration. This classification would appear to afford opportunities to ambition. Here are steps in the ladder, and merit should be able to ascend. It is understood, however, that as a rule _les comparses_ do not rise. They are the serfs of the stage, who never obtain manumission. They are as conscripts, from whose knapsacks the field-marshal's _bâton_ is almost invariably omitted. They become veterans, but their length of service receives no favourable recognition. _Comparses_ they live, and _comparses_ they die, or disappear, not apparently discontented with their doom, however. Meantime the _figurant_ cherishes sanguine hopes that he may one day rise to a prominent position in the ballet, or that he may become an _accessoire_; and the _accessoire_ looks forward fervently to ranking in the future among the regular actors or _artistes_ of the theatre, with the right of entering its _grand foyer_, or superior green-room. Until then he must confine himself and his aspirations to the _petit foyer_ set apart for the use of players of his class.