In the “Miller’s Tale,” Chaucer mentions dancing among the accomplishments5 of the parish clerk, along with blood letting and the drawing of legal documents:
A merry child he was so God me save,
Wel coud he leten blood and clippe and shave,
And make a chartre of land, and a quitance,
In twenty maners could he trip and dance,
After the scole of Oxenforde tho
And with his legges casten to and fro2
Milton, the greatest of the Puritans — intellectual ancestry7 of the modern degenerate8 Prudes — had a wholesome9 love of the dance, and nowhere is his pen so joyous10 as in its description in the well known passage from “Comus” which, should it occur to my memory while delivering a funeral oration11, I am sure I could not forbear to quote, albeit12 this, our present argument, is but little furthered by its context
Meanwhile welcome joy and feast
Midnight shout and revelry
Tipsy dance and jollity
Braid your locks with rosy13 twine14
Dropping odors dropping wine
Rigor15 now is gone to bed
And advice with scrupulous16 head
Strict age and sour severity
With their grave saws in slumber17 lie
We that are of purer fire
Imitate the starry18 quire
Who in their nightly watching spheres
Lead in swift round the months and years
The sounds and seas with all their finny drove
And on the tawny19 sands and shelves
Trip the pert fairies and the dapper elves
If Milton was not himself a good dancer — and as to that point my memory is unstored with instance or authority — it will at least be conceded that he was an admirable reporter, with his heart in the business. Somewhat to lessen20 the force of the objection that he puts the foregoing lines into a not very respectable mouth, on a not altogether reputable occasion, I append the following passage from the same poem, supposed to be spoken by the good spirit who had brought a lady and her two brothers through many perils21, restoring them to their parents:
Noble lord and lady bright
I have brought ye new delight
Here behold22 so goodly grown
Three fair branches of your own
Heaven hath timely tried their youth
Their faith their patience and their truth
And sent them here through hard assays23
With a crown of deathless praise
To triumph in victorious24 dance
O’er sensual folly25 and intemperance26
The lines on dancing — lines which themselves dance — in “L’Allegro,” are too familiar, I dare not permit myself the enjoyment27 of quotation28.
Lord Herbert of Cherbury, one of the most finished gentlemen of his time, otherwise laments29 in his autobiography30 that he had never learned to dance because that accomplishment6 “doth fashion the body, and gives one a good presence and address in all companies since it disposeth the limbs to a kind of souplesse (as the French call it) and agility31 insomuch as they seem to have the use of their legs, arms, and bodies more than many others who, standing32 stiff and stark33 in their postures34, seem as if they were taken in their joints35, or had not the perfect use of their members.” Altogether, a very grave objection to dancing in the opinion of those who discountenance it, and I take great credit for candor36 in presenting his lordship’s indictment37.
In the following pertinent38 passage from Lemontey I do not remember the opinion he quotes from Locke, but his own is sufficiently39 to the point:
The dance is for young women what the chase is for young men: a protecting school of wisdom — a preservative40 of the growing passions. The celebrated41 Locke who made virtue42 the sole end of education, expressly recommends teaching children to dance as early as they are able to learn. Dancing carries within itself an eminently43 cooling quality and all over the world the tempests of the heart await to break forth44 the repose45 of the limbs.
In “The Traveller,” Goldsmith says:
Alike all ages dames46 of ancient days
Have led their children through the mirthful maze47
And the gay grandsire skilled in gestic lore48
Has frisked beneath the burden of three score.
To the Prudes, in all soberness — Is it likely, considering the stubborn conservatism of age, that these dames, well seasoned in the habit, will leave it off directly, or the impenitent49 old grandsire abate50 one jot51 or tittle of his friskiness52 in the near future? Is it a reasonable hope? Is the outlook from the watch towers of Philistia an encouraging one?
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1 antiquity | |
n.古老;高龄;古物,古迹 | |
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2 condemned | |
adj. 被责难的, 被宣告有罪的 动词condemn的过去式和过去分词 | |
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3 Christian | |
adj.基督教徒的;n.基督教徒 | |
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4 makers | |
n.制造者,制造商(maker的复数形式) | |
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5 accomplishments | |
n.造诣;完成( accomplishment的名词复数 );技能;成绩;成就 | |
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6 accomplishment | |
n.完成,成就,(pl.)造诣,技能 | |
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7 ancestry | |
n.祖先,家世 | |
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8 degenerate | |
v.退步,堕落;adj.退步的,堕落的;n.堕落者 | |
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9 wholesome | |
adj.适合;卫生的;有益健康的;显示身心健康的 | |
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10 joyous | |
adj.充满快乐的;令人高兴的 | |
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11 oration | |
n.演说,致辞,叙述法 | |
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12 albeit | |
conj.即使;纵使;虽然 | |
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13 rosy | |
adj.美好的,乐观的,玫瑰色的 | |
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14 twine | |
v.搓,织,编饰;(使)缠绕 | |
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15 rigor | |
n.严酷,严格,严厉 | |
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16 scrupulous | |
adj.审慎的,小心翼翼的,完全的,纯粹的 | |
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17 slumber | |
n.睡眠,沉睡状态 | |
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18 starry | |
adj.星光照耀的, 闪亮的 | |
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19 tawny | |
adj.茶色的,黄褐色的;n.黄褐色 | |
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20 lessen | |
vt.减少,减轻;缩小 | |
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21 perils | |
极大危险( peril的名词复数 ); 危险的事(或环境) | |
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22 behold | |
v.看,注视,看到 | |
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23 assays | |
n.化验( assay的名词复数 );试验;尝试;试金 | |
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24 victorious | |
adj.胜利的,得胜的 | |
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25 folly | |
n.愚笨,愚蠢,蠢事,蠢行,傻话 | |
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26 intemperance | |
n.放纵 | |
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27 enjoyment | |
n.乐趣;享有;享用 | |
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28 quotation | |
n.引文,引语,语录;报价,牌价,行情 | |
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29 laments | |
n.悲恸,哀歌,挽歌( lament的名词复数 )v.(为…)哀悼,痛哭,悲伤( lament的第三人称单数 ) | |
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30 autobiography | |
n.自传 | |
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31 agility | |
n.敏捷,活泼 | |
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32 standing | |
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的 | |
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33 stark | |
adj.荒凉的;严酷的;完全的;adv.完全地 | |
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34 postures | |
姿势( posture的名词复数 ); 看法; 态度; 立场 | |
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35 joints | |
接头( joint的名词复数 ); 关节; 公共场所(尤指价格低廉的饮食和娱乐场所) (非正式); 一块烤肉 (英式英语) | |
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36 candor | |
n.坦白,率真 | |
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37 indictment | |
n.起诉;诉状 | |
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38 pertinent | |
adj.恰当的;贴切的;中肯的;有关的;相干的 | |
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39 sufficiently | |
adv.足够地,充分地 | |
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40 preservative | |
n.防腐剂;防腐料;保护料;预防药 | |
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41 celebrated | |
adj.有名的,声誉卓著的 | |
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42 virtue | |
n.德行,美德;贞操;优点;功效,效力 | |
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43 eminently | |
adv.突出地;显著地;不寻常地 | |
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44 forth | |
adv.向前;向外,往外 | |
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45 repose | |
v.(使)休息;n.安息 | |
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46 dames | |
n.(在英国)夫人(一种封号),夫人(爵士妻子的称号)( dame的名词复数 );女人 | |
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47 maze | |
n.迷宫,八阵图,混乱,迷惑 | |
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48 lore | |
n.传说;学问,经验,知识 | |
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49 impenitent | |
adj.不悔悟的,顽固的 | |
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50 abate | |
vi.(风势,疼痛等)减弱,减轻,减退 | |
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51 jot | |
n.少量;vi.草草记下;vt.匆匆写下 | |
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52 friskiness | |
n.活泼,闹着玩 | |
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