APPENDIX, NO I. 4|() 
Bacchus, at his return, introduced them into Egypt : and 
this alone is sufficient to estabhsh their antiquity ; for even 
longhefore him, the Eg7jptians had their famous emble- 
matic and pantomimic dance, in which, by chosen steps and 
expressive figures, they represented according to the sound 
of characteristic airs, the evolutions of the planets, and the 
harmony of their movements. Concerning this dance, you 
may consult both Plato and Lucian ; for both speak of it 
as of a divine invention. 
*' From the Egyptians, this sacred dancing passed among 
all other nations ; and the Jews themselves were not exempt 
from the contagion. The sacrilegious dance before the 
golden calf too well proves, that if the priests of Osiris 
had taken originally from the Jews many of their ceremonies, 
in progress of time the Chosen People, in leaving Egypt, 
recollected and adopted many of the prevarications of their 
antient masters. 
" The sacred pages record many instances of sacred 
dancing; and the most celebrated, though perhaps not the 
most antient, is the solemn action of grace paid by the 
whole of Israel immediately after the passage of the Red 
Sea: — 'And JV/iz/cm the Prophetess, the sister of Aaron, 
took a timbrel in her hand ; and all the women went out 
after her with timbrels and dances.' Indeed, these instru- 
ments of music so easily collected, these Choruses so imme- 
diately arranged, and the facility with which the whole was 
executed, presupposes a knowledge and habit of these 
exercises much anterior to the present occasion ; and, 
consequentlv, must prove the antiquity of their origin. 
" Indeed, among the Jews, many were the festivals in 
which dancing formed a most prominent feature. From 
the description we have of the three Temples of Jerusalem, 
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