In this indeed it might be pretended, that there was fomething to ftrike the Mind, and rationally entertain it, every Action depending on the other, and all directed to one End. But to be fond of our modern Dancing is ftill to be Children, and fond of a Rattle, that makes perpetually the very fame Noife. All that could be faid of Ballon, (or any other Dancer of more Reputation) is, that his Motion was easy and graceful, the Figures he threw his Body into, fine, and that he rofe high with Freedom and Strength; or, in fhort, that he was an active Man. But is that, or would indeed the Roman Pantomimes, be a fufficient Ballance for the Lofs of the Drama to any Man of common Senfe?

But before the Depravity of the Roman State, nay, ev'n in Greece, Dancing was efte em'd, and always perform'd in their Plays, eitherTragedies or Comedies, having thofe, which were proper and peculiar to each, and not to be used promifcuously in both nay, we find, that ev❜n the Pantomime Art was in great Perfection, in which Telefis the Dancer was fo great a Mafter, that when he danc'd the feven Captains befieging of Thebes, he fet before the Eyes of the Spectators, by his Gesticulations and Motions all that they perform'd in that Siege.

Nay, Dancing was there in fo much Esteem, that Socrates being reflected on for frequenting too much the Egyptian Performances of that kind, reply'd, that Dancing contain'd all MufiL

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cal Exercifes; and the ancient Poets Thefpis, Cratinus, Phrynicus, &c. were call'd Dancers, not only because they added Dances to their Fables or Plays, but also because they taught to dance. Nay, 'tis certain, that the Art of Daneing was fo much in Efteem in Greece, that Pindar calls Apollo himfelf the Dancer. But then we must remember, that all thefe Dances contain'd not only an extraordinary Exercise for the Body, but an Inftruction to the Mind, both in the Subject reprefented by the Figures in the Art of War, which was taught by the Pyrrhic and other Dances.

For this Reafon I fuppofe, the Poets affign'd Dancing to Children, (except in the more robuft Performances of Warlike Dances) and the Eigures of the Dances always exprefs'd the things, that were fung by the Voice, preferving always in them fomething manly and great, and they were call'd Hyporchemata, as it were, Dances fubfervient to the Voice; and therefore they always condemn'd thofe, whofe Steps and Figures did not exprefs or correfpond to the Voice. 'Tis likewife plain from Lucian, that the Mimes and Pantomimes of his Time exprefs'd in Figures what they fung, whether the Rape of Proferpina, the Loves of Mars and Venus, or any other of the Poetical Fables: For in his Enumeration of the Faults of Dancers, he fays" There "are many, who out of Ignorance (for 'tis im"poffible, that all fhould be knowing) com"mit great Solecifms in Dancing, fuch, I mean,

"whose

"whofe Actions are irregular, and not to the "Tune, as they fay, when the Foot fays one "thing, and the Inftrument another: Others

keep Proportion to the Mufic, but their Prefentments, as I have often feen, are difproportion'd to the right Time. For you shall have "one, who endeavouring to act the Birth of

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Jupiter, and Saturn's eating his Children, "dances the Sufferings of Thyeftes, by reafon "of the Affinity of the Fables. Another being

to act Semele burnt with Lightning, likens "Glauce to her born long after, not enough re"garding the Song, that is fung.

But I fhall call into my Affiftance on this Subject a Manuscript lately left with me by a Friend, better acquainted with thefe Matters, than I can pretend with all my modern Helps to be.

These Dances, fays a certain Author, were in Imitation of those things, which the Words of the Songs exprefs'd. One of them is thus defcrib'd by Xenophon, in his Expedition of Cyrus, as perform'd before them at a Feaft with Seuthes the Thracian.

"After we had (fays he) peform'd our Li"bations to the Gods, and fung the Paana, (that is, in plain English, after we had faid Grace) first, "fome Thracians rofe up, and arm'd danc'd to the "Flute, rifing lightly and high, waving and brandifhing their Swords, till two of them to the Tune dealing Blows to each other,that when "one of them fell artificially down, they all imagining that he was wounded, fhriek'd out "aloud.

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" aloud. Immediately he, who feem'd to have "wounded him, as he lies there fpoils him of "his Arms, and finging the Praifes of Sitaleas, "makes his Exit. The Reft of the Thracians "then take up the fuppos'd dead, (who indeed "had felt no harm) and bear him off. After "this enter'd the Magnefians and the Œnianes, "and perform'd the Dance call'd Semlutes with "their Arms, which is thus.

"A Plough-man with his Arms by his Sides drives in the Oxen and Plough, and fows his Corn, turning every Minute from one fide to "the other, as if he were afraid, or apprehen"five of fome Danger. Prefently a Robber ap"proaches, and the Plough-man handling his " Arms, fights the Robber, (putting himself be"twixt him and his Plough) adapting all the "Motions of his Body to the Notes of the "Flutes; but in the End the Robber vanquishing the Plough-man, binds him, and bears "him off; and fometimes, on the contrary, the Plough-man the Robber.

There were indeed many Kinds of Dancing among the Ancients, which fome, according to Homer, reduce to three; the firft was call'd Cubiftic, which Xenophon and Suidas fay was an Art of Dancing on the Head, whilft they acted various Motions and Gefticulations with their Hands and Legs. The fecond fort was call'd Sphariftic, or the Play at Ball, because they danc'd playing with a Ball, all the while they kept Time to the Mufic. The third kind was

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plainly

plainly call'd Orchefis or Dancing. Plato, in his Book of Laws, divides Dancing into Military, Peaceable or proper for Peace, and the Medium betwixt both. That he call'd Military, which imitated by rifing on high, or falling back, or inclining to any fide, the Affaults of Enemies, their Attacks, Evafions, and Defences, and resembled by various Figures the Darters, or thofe, who fight with clofe Weapons; and Plato was fo fond of this fort of Dance, that he ordains in his Republic, that fome should be paid by the Public to teach it to both Men and Women; believing, that by this alone there would be a very great Help obtain❜d towards the Perfection of military Difcipline. In Confirmation of which we find, that the Lacedemonians receiv'd Dancing among their Exercises as ufeful to War.

It would fwell this Difcourfe too much, to pick all, that the Authors yet extant could furnish on the feveral Heads of these two Divifions of Dancing, that is, of Homer and Plato; I fhall therefore keep wholly to the last of the former, that is, the Orchefis or Simple Dancing, deferring to fpeak of the Cubiftic and Sphariftic till fome other time.

Ariftotle, in the Beginning of his Poetics, having said, that all the Parts and Kinds of Poetry agree in this, that they are all Imitations; he divides Imitations into divers Kinds, or ways of Imitation, as by Harmony, or Verfe, &c. or into Degrees, as better, or like, or worse; or

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