- 
_too much of the ballet: matters be his 
DANCE, 
of Flora, at the i are of May, was more pk chayiada ce- 
lebrate than any other Pagan feftival ; 
mo 
adorned wit 
around which our peafants = domeftics dance, are remains 
of the Pagan celebration of fpring 
Domeftic feftivity on sceaten of the marriage of a child, 
the anniverfany of a parent’s birth, the arrival of nee and 
refpeGed ftrangers, checquered the monotony of ancient 
fimplicity of manners. 
Socrates 
tiful and accomplifhed Afpafia; and Cato, with all his ri- 
gour and feverity of manners, difdained not, at upwards of 
60, occalignally to a ’- he aa sala in his youth, 
3 there are few amu however ocent in the 
pas ee while in the hands of Gena pret and de- 
ers of focicty, that do not degenerate into licer- 
tioufnefs aiee imitated by the vulgar; fo dar neMg amon 
the ales were hired oc- 
d’its mania, dancing 
c occafions of mirth eee joy; there were 
fone dances at the interment of great perfonages. And 
the Spartans advanced to the enemy in a military ftep, that 
was called the Phrygian dance. 
After dancing had been incorporated in the drama of 
Athens, it became neceffary for the ballet-mafter, accord- 
Lucian, to be poffeffed of univerfal knowledge. 
fitions. Rhetor! likewife required to enable h 
Xp and move paffions, painting to delineate atti- 
tudes, and foulpeare t “ a his figures. ¢ ought to 
equal to Apelles, not inferior to Phidias. All time 
ould be prefent to his mind, but he ought moft profound 
ftudy the tions of the foul, in order to paint its 
operations by t eae’ of the body. His concep- 
fhould be eafy and natural, his mind elie He ear 
cient hiftory, or rather fable, ey 
the moft magnificent compofition 
He muft, therefore, inform himfelf of every important 
event that has happened in the world, from its rifing out of 
chaos to the prefent time. 
Lucian wie born under Trajan, and furvived Marcus 
i ‘¢ Lucian,”? adds M. Cahufac, ‘did not dis ip 
Rome all 
pe eee of ballets were there, 
o€ts, muficians and actors; whereas in our time, 
dom a mufician, the mufician never a poet, 
and the actor neither one nor the other.” 
{n the time of Auguitus, the two great actors and matters 
ef declamation, Rofcius and /Efop, were forgotten, and 
their talents Li ar by thofe of the two great mafters of 
pantomime, Pylades and Bathyllus. But this was not ef- 
feéted by mere dancing 3 fkeps, movements, attitudes and 
: there refulted from 
Geftures alone applied the iweetnefs of voice, chen oe y 
of difcourfe, and the oc of poetry. Hance partem, 
&c. Caffiodorus Var. i. 2 
himfelf learned late in life to dance of the beau - 
As literature and all the arts partook of the declenfion éf 
the Roman empire, dancing and pantomime could not ef- 
Tr 
mind was fo totally negleGted, as to convert into a defert and 
a wildernefs its molt polifhed and fertile provinces. 
e the arts in al till 
d. Poe 
had made great fees towards ae 
ction before dramatic 
mufic ard dancing had awakened any public intereft. Danc- 
ing made no part Mof the firit Italian operas; but yu the fe- 
cond fpecies of melo-drama in Italy, authors tried to unite 
all the enone of mufic and poetry with the wonders of 
machinery ; and foon — the opera was embellifhed with 
ballets bionaaes fabule and poetiques. ; 
There were ballets poeiaass allegoriquer, botiffons, at 
the court of Turin, to’ celebrate the nuptials of illuftrious 
perfonag 
In Hehe balls, ye toa and ballets, after the ac 
cident which happened to Henry IT., in 1559 fupplied ae 
place of stout tilts, ny tournam 
ufac, in his * ine té Hitovque de Ja Danfe,”’ is 
mitalcen in (peaking of th era, when ays, 
to . 82.) & Ce f oe etoit fans danfe ;” for it 
eae in the fcor > printed i hat the aie 
oo, t 
e fame time, lice tho 
French ftage in the operas of Lulli. But in the 
operas it was certainly the intention of their legiflators, es 
favour poetry, and conftitute her miftrefs of the feait; and 
it was a long time ere mufic abfolutely took the lead. Danc- 
ing ftept into importance only during the laft century; but 
rarely in that preceding it. 
There were oie aes dances in the firft oratorio at Rome: 
Dell’ anima e corpo, 
cella, Int 
dance. If without, the 
its parts, vocal and inftrumental; but, if a dance i 
ferred, a verfe beginning thus: Chioftri altifimi, e felt i is 
b edately and reverentialiy 
a8 
ry) 
-o 
— 9 
the ga metimes the cour 
ant feo which will do very eal in the es 
r. D’Avenant’s meer atic operas, in 1671, all fet 
off a the molt cxvenfive decorations cr eee ad habits, 
and with the bet voic - and dan 
ryden’s defini of a is a fiction, repres 
fe com by vocal ae inftramental acu, “adorned with {cenes, 
machines, and danc 
ee 1697, Tealian intermezzi, or interludes and m 
cal entertainments of finging and dancing, were oe 
at York Buildings. 
Little mention is made of dancing in the firft Italian 
operas performed in Engiand. At the end of Handel’s 
was a dance to the melody of the coro finale, 
1715. No ballet-mafter, dance, or dancers, are mentioned 
after the dramatis A die of any one pp fet by Handel; 
poetry, compofition and finging, a complete orcheftra, 
feem to have asked the ptblics. suboue doubling the 
expence 
