Popular Music Of The Olden Time Vol 1

Ancient Songs, Ballads, & Dance Tunes, Sheet Music & Lyrics - online book

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156                                   ENGLISH SONG AND BALLAD MUSIC.
or twice round it. Then the lady danced to the other end, and remained there dancing, while the gentleman followed; and presenting himself before her, made .some steps, and then turned to the right or left. After that she danced to the other end, and he followed, doing other steps ; and so again, and again. " But now" says he, "in towns they dance it tumultuously, and content themselves with making the five steps and some movements without any design, earing only to be in position on the sixth of the bar" (pourvu qu'ils tombent en cadence). In the four first steps, the left and right foot of the dancer were raised alternately, and on the fifth of the bar he sprang into the air, twisting round, or capering, as best he could. The repose on the sixth note gave more time for a lofty spring.* " Let them take their pleasures," says Burton, in his Anatomy of Melancholy; " young men and maids flourishing in their age, fair and lovely to behold, well attired, and of comely carriage, dancing a Greek Cralliarde, and, as their dance requireth, keep their time, now turning, now tracing, now apart, now altogether, now a curtesie, then a caper, &c, it is a pleasant sight."
The following tune is from The Dancing Master of 1686, called "Joan Sanderson, or The Cushion Dance, an old Round Dance."
m Nares, in his Glossary, refers to Cinque pace, but that of the bar, and the fifth on a long note at the comroence-was a dance in common time: four steps to the four beats ment of the second bar.