• THE low Ebb to which Dancing is now fallen, is altogether owing to this Silence. The Art is efteem'd only as an amufing Trifle; it lies altogether uncultivated, and is unhappily fallen under the Imputation of il literate and mechanick: And as Terence, in one of his Prologues, complains of the Rope-dancers drawing all ⚫ the Spectators from his Play, fo may we well fay, that Capering and Tumbling is now preferred to, and fupplies the Place of juft and regular Dancing on our Theatres. It is therefore, in my Opinion, high time that fome one 'fhould come to its affiftance, and relieve it from the many grofs and growing Errors that have crept into it, ⚫ and over-caft its real Beauties; and to fet Dancing in • its true light, would fhew the Ufefulnefs and Elegancy of it, with the Pleasure and Inftruction produc'd from it; and alfo lay down fome fundamental Rules, that ⚫ might fo tend to the Improvement of its Profeffors, and • Information of the Spectators, that the firft might be ⚫ the better enabled to perform, and the latter render'd more capable of judging, what is (if there be any thing) valuable in this Art.

TO encourage therefore fome ingenious Pen capable of fo generous an Undertaking, and in fome measure to relieve Dancing from the Difadvantages it at present lies under, I, who teach to dance, have attempted a fmall Treatife as an Effay towards an Hiftory of Dancing; in ⚫ which I have inquired into its Antiquity, Original, and Ufe, and fhewn what Efteem the Ancients had for it: I have likewise confidered the Nature and Perfection of all • its several Parts, and how beneficial and delightful it is, ⚫ both as a Qualification and an Exercise; and endeavoured ⚫ to answer all Objections that have been maliciously rais'd against it. I have proceeded to give an Account of the particular Dances of the Greeks and Romans, whether religious, warlike, or civil; and taken particular notice of ⚫ that Part of Dancing relating to the ancient Stage, and in ⚫ which the Pantomimes had fo great a fhare: Nor have I ⚫ been wanting in giving an hiftorical Account of some particular Masters excellent in that iurprifing Art. After which, I have advanced fome Obfervations on the modern Dancing, both as to the Stage, and that Part of it, ⚫ foabfolutely neceffary for the Qualification of Gentlemen

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6

and

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and Ladies; and have concluded with fome fhort Re'marks on the Origin and Progress of the Character by ⚫ which Dances are writ down, and communicated to one Master from another. If some great Genius after this ⚫ would arife, and advance this Art to that Perfection it feems capable of receiving, what might not be expected from it? For if we confider the Origin of Arts and ⚫ Sciences, we shall find that some of them took rise from Beginnings fo mean and unpromifing, that it is very wonderful to think that ever fuch furprizing Structures fhould have been raised upon fuch ordinary Foundations. But what cannot a great Genius effect? Who would have thought that the clangorous Noife of a Smith's Hammers fhould have given the first rise to Mufick? Yet Macrobius in his fecond Book relates, that Pythagoras, in paffing by a Smith's Shop, found that the Sounds proceeding from the Hammers were either more grave or acute, according to the different Weights of the Hammers. The Philofopher, to improve this Hint, fufpends different Weights by Strings of the fame Bignefs, and found in like manner that the Sounds answered to the Weights. This being difcover'd, he finds out thofe Numbers which produc'd Sounds that were Confonants: As, that two Strings of the fame Substance and Tenfion, the one being double the Length of the other, give that Interval which is called Diapafon, or an Eighth; the fame was alfo effected from two Strings of the fame Length and Size, the one having four times the Tenfion of the other. By thefe Steps, from fo mean a Beginning, did this great Man reduce, what was only before Noife, to one of the moft delightful Sciences, by marrying it to the Mathematicks, and by that means caufed it to be one of the moft abftract and demonftrative of Sciences. Who knows therefore but Motion, whether Decorous or Reprefentative, may not (as it feems highly probable it may) be taken into confideration by fome Perfon capable of reducing it into a regular Science, tho' not fo demonstrative as that proceed ng from Sounds, yet fufficient to entitle it to a Place among the magnify'd Arts.

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NOW, Mr. SPECTATOR, as you have declared your felf Vifitor of Dancing-Schools, and this being an • Undertaking which more immediately refpects them, I

think my felf indifpenfably obliged, before I proceed to the Publication of this my Effay, to ask your Advice; and hold it abfolutely neceffary to have your Approbation; and in order to recommend my Treatife to the Perufal of the Parents of fuch as learn to dance, as ⚫ well as to the young Ladies, to whom, as Vifitor, you ought to be Guardian.

Refpicere exemplar vitæ morumque jubebo
Doctum imitatorem, & veras hinc ducere voces.

M

Hor.

when we

Y Friend Sir ROGER DE COVERLEY, laft met together at the Club, told me that he had a great mind to fee the new Tragedy with me, affuring me at the same time, that he had not been at a Play these twenty Years. The last I faw, faid Sir ROGER, was the Committee, which I should not have gone to neither, had not I been told before-hand that it was a good Church-ofEngland Comedy. He then proceeded to inquire of me who this diftreffed Mother was; and upon hearing that she was Hector's Widow, he told me that her Husband was a brave Man, and that when he was a School-boy he had read his Life at the End of the Dictionary. My Friend asked me, in the next place, if there would not be fome danger in coming home late, in cafe the Mohocks fhould be abroad. I affure you, fays he, I thought I had fallen into their Hands last night; for I obferved two or three lufty black Men that follow'd me half way up Fleetfreet, and mended their pace behind me, in proportion as I put on to get away from them You must know, continu'd the Knight with a Smile, I fancied they had a mind to hunt me; for I remember an honeft Gentleman in my Neigh

bourhood,

bourhood, who was ferved fuch a trick in King Charles the Second's time, for which reason he has not ventured himself in Town ever fince. I might have shown them very good Sport, had this been their Defign; for as I am an old Fox-hunter, I fhould have turn'd and dodg'd, and have play'd them a thousand Tricks they had never seen in their Lives before. Sir ROGER added, that if these Gentlemen had any fuch Intention, they did not fucceed very well in it: for I threw them out, fays he, at the End of Norfolk-freet, where I doubled the Corner and got fhelter in my Lodgings before they could imagine what was become of me. However, fays the Knight, if Captain SENTRY will make one with us to-morrow night, and if you will both of you call upon me about four o' Clock, that we may be at the Houfe before it is full, I will have my own Coach in readiness to attend you, for John tells me he has got the ForeWheels mended.

THE Captain, who did not fail to meet me there at the appointed Hour, bid Sir ROGER fear nothing, for that he had put on the fame Sword which he made use of at the Battle of Steenkirk. Sir ROGER's Servants, and among the reft my old Friend the Butler, had, I found, provided themselves with good Oaken Plants, to attend their Mafter upon this occafion. When we had placed him in his Coach, with my felf at his Left-Hand, the Cap tain before him, and his Butler at the Head of his Footmen in the Rear, we convoy'd him in fafety to the Playhouse, where after having marched up the Entry in good order, the Captain and I went in with him, and feated him betwixt us in the Pit. As foon as the Houfe was full, and the Candles lighted, my old Friend ftood up and looked about him with that Pleasure, which a Mind feasoned with Humanity naturally feels in its felf, at the fight of a Multitude of People who seem pleafed with one another, and partake of the fame common Entertainment. I could not but fancy to my felf, as the old Man ftood up in the middle of the Pit, that he made a very proper Center to a tragick Audience. Upon the entring of Pyrrhus, the Knight told me that he did not believe the King of France himielf had a better Strut. I was indeed very attentive to my old Friend's Remarks, because I looked upon them

as a Piece of natural Criticism, and was well pleafed to hear him at the Conclufion of almost every Scene, telling me that he could not imagine how the Play would end. One while he appeared much concerned for Andromache; and a little while after as much for Hermione ; and was extremely puzzled to think what would become of Pyrrhus.

WHEN Sir ROGER faw Andromache's obftinate Refufal to her Lover's Importunities, he whifper'd me in the Ear, that he was fure she would never have him ; to which he added, with a more than ordinary Vehemence, you can't imagine, Sir, what 'tis to have to do with a Widow. Upon Pyrrhus his threatning afterwards to leave her, the Knight fhook his Head, and muttered to himself, Ay, do if you can. This Part dwelt fo much upon my Friend's Imagination, that at the clofe of the Third Act, as I was thinking of fomething elfe, he whispered in my Ear, These Widows, Sir, are the moft perverse Creatures in the World. But pray, fays he, you that are a Critick, is this Play according to your Dramatick Rules, as you call them? Should your People in Tragedy always talk to be understood? Why, there is not a fingle Sentence in this Play that I do not know the Meaning of.

THE Fourth A&t very luckily begun before I had time to give the old Gentleman an Aniwer: Well, fays the Knight, fitting down with great Satisfaction, I fuppofe we are now to fee Hector's Ghoft. He then renew'd his Attention, and, from time to time, fell a praifing the Widow. He made, indeed, a little Mistake as to one of her Pages, whom at his first entering he took for Afyanax ;; but he quickly fet himself right in that Particular, though, at the fame time, he owned he should have been very glad to have seen the little Boy, who, fays he, muft needs be a very fine Child by the Account that is given of him. Upon Hermione's going off with a Menace to Pyrrhus, the Audience gave a loud Clap; to which Sir ROGER added, On my Word, a notable young Baggage!

AS there was a very remarkable Silence and Stilnefs in the Audience during the whole Action, it was natural for them to take the Opportunity of thefe Intervals between the Acts, to exprefs their Opinion of the Players, and of their respective Parts. Sir ROGER hearing a Cluster of

them