Young—William Gager's Defence of Academic Stage . 631 
and the lawe vsethe the worde Pronunciandi , for agendi causd ., 
I knowe not yet, whether in a generall acceptation of the latter, I 
might not vse the wordes indifferently, bothe in my verse, and in 
my Title, but as Horrace, and Persius doe bitterly scoffe also at 
Recitatores, and the lawe in the generalyty of the terme, noteth 
also with infamye, them, qui pronunciandi, that is properly, 
recitandi causa , in Scenam prodeunt; so the Vniuersitye woulde 
have thought it a more absurde thinge, to have hearde me, or 
any other, openly readinge my Vlysses to them, then to have seene 
it acted, as it was. 
Ffmally, bothe you, and I agree, that relaxation from studyes is 
necessary in a good scholler, bothe for bodye, and mynde. and 
yet did I not conclude, as you make me, that therfor all recreations 
are honest 1 , for I never thought any suche thinge. but as my simple 
assertion, that there is a needfull tyme for sportes, dothe not ther¬ 
for prove the lawfullnes of owre Playes, which before I presumed 
to be lawfull; so your incomparable, and harde comparisons, doe 
lesse argue their vnlawfullnes. and heere amonge other vnfitt 
recreations, besyde Playes, you vse many wordes agaynst dansinge, 
thoughe it be but as it weare by the waye. all which place dothe 
touche vs no neerer, then I have shewed before, for myn owne 
parte, I never dansed, nor ever coulde, and yet I can not denye, 
but I love to see honest dansinge. to omytt Homeds iudgment 
therof, 2 an excellent observer of decorum in all thinges; that learned 
Knight Sir Thomas Eliote amonge other thinges that he wrytethe 
in a booke of his, which I have seene, in the prayse of dansinge, I 
remember, comparethe the man treadinge the measures, to <jp. 61> 
Fortitude , and the woman on his hande, to Temperance .and to 
speake my mynde playnly, and I trust withowte offence, I thinke 
(all circumstances observed, which I ame not nowe to sett downe, 
because the state of this question is not principally in hande) 
dansinge may be most honestly vsed of the meaner sorte, and most 
honorablye of the greatest, as I have often seene it donne, me 
thought, with that honor, regarde, reverence, modesty, cumlynes, 
and honest delyte, the number of the footinge marvyluslye well 
expressinge, answeringe, and as it weare actinge the measure and 
1 Time of recreation is necessarie, I graunt: and thinke as necessarie for 
scholers that are scholers in deede, I meane, good students, as it is for any. 
Yet in my opinion it were not fit for them [p. 23] to play at stoole ball among 
wenches; nor at Mum-chance or Maw with idle loose companions, nor at 
trunkes in Guile-hals, nor to danse about Maypoles, nor to rifle in alehouses, 
nor to carowse in tavernes, nor to steale deere, nor to robbe orchardes. Though, 
who can deny, but they may doe these thinges, yea worse, even those S. 
Paul meant by chambering and wantonnes, and that in the most heinous 
degree, euen of incest, if your generall speech concerning recreation be not 
better limited? [ Overthrow , pp. 22-23.] 
2 Gager’s side-note: Odyss. 0 
