80.

'And therefore now the Thracian Orpheus lire And Hercules him selfe are stellified ;3

'And in high heau'n amidst the starry quire, 'Dauncing their parts continually doe slide; So on the Zodiake Ganimed doth ride,

6 And so is Hebe with the Muses nine

'For pleasing Ioue with dauncing, made diuine.

81.

'Wherefore was Proteus sayd himselfe to change 'Into a streame, a lyon, and a tree;

'And many other formes fantastique, strange,
'As in his fickle thought he wisht to be?
'But that he daunc'd with such facilitie,
'As like a lyon he could pace with pride,
'Ply like a plant, and like a riuer slide.

82.

'And how was Caneus 4 made at first a man,

'And then a woman, then a man againe,

....

'et juvenis quondam, nunc femina, Cænis, Rursus et in veterem fato revoluta figuram.' He is mentioned again in Homer, Iliad 1. 264. G.

'But in a daunce? which when he first began
'Hee the man's part in measure did sustaine :
'But when he chang'd into a second straine,
'He daunc'd the woman's part another space,
'And then return'd into his former place.

'Hence sprang the fable of Tiresias,

'That he the pleasure of both sexes tryde;
'For in a daunce he man and woman was
'By often chaunge of place from side to side;
'But for the woman easily did slide

See č 203-4

'And smoothly swim with cunning hidden art, 'He tooke more pleasure in a woman's part.

84.

'So to a fish Venus herselfe did change,5

'And swimming through the soft and yeelding waue,

'With gentle motions did so smoothly range,

As none might see where she the water draue;

But this plaine truth that falsèd fable gaue,

6 That she did daunce with slyding easines, 'Plyant and quick in wandring passages.

5 Met. 111., 320, &c., &c. G.

N

85.

'And merry Bacchus practis'd dauncing to[o],
' And to the Lydian numbers, rounds did make :
'The like he did in th' Easterne India doo,

' And taught them all when Phœbus did awake,

' And when at night he did his coach forsake :

To honor heaun, and heau'ns great roling eye

'With turning daunces, and with melodie.

86.

'Thus they who first did found a Common-weale,

'And they who first Religion did ordaine,

6

By dauncing, first the peoples hearts did steale:

'Of whom we now a thousand tales doe faine; 'Yet doe we now their perfect rules retaine

6

'And vse them stil in such deuises new,

'As in the World, long since their withering, grew.

87.

'For after townes and kingdomes founded were,

Betweene greate States arose well-ordered War;

'Wherein most perfect measure doth appeare,

'Whether their well-set rankes respected are 'In quadrant forme or semicircular:

6 Cf. L'Allegro Lap me in soft Lydian airs.' (1 136.) G. 7 Qu: couch? G.

6

Or else the march, when all the troups aduance,

'And to the drum, in gallant order daunce,

88.

'And after Warrs, when white-wing'd Victory

6

Is with a glorious tryumph beautified,

'And euery one doth Io lo cry,

'Whiles all in gold the conquerour doth ride; 'The solemne pompe that fils the Citty wide 'Obserues such ranke and measure euerywhere, 'As if they altogether dauncing were.

89.

'The like iust order mourners doe obserue,

' (But with vnlike affection and atire)

'When some great man that nobly did deserue,

' And whom his friends impatiently desire,

'Is brought with honour to his latest fire:

8

'The dead corps too in that sad daunce is mou'd 'As if both dead and liuing, dauncing lou'd.

90.

'A diuers cause, but like solemnitie

'Vnto the Temple leads the bashfull bride :

'Which blusheth like the Indian iuory

8 Incremation. G.

6

6

'Which is with dip of Tyrian purple died;

A golden troope doth passe on euery side,

Of flourishing young men and virgins gay, 'Which keepe faire measure all the flowry way.

91.

'And not alone the generall multitude,

'But those choise Nestors which in councell graue
'Of citties, and of kingdomes doe conclude,
'Most comly order in their sessions haue;
'Wherefore the wise Thessalians euer gaue

'The name of leader of their Countrie's daunce
'To him that had their Countrie's gouernance.

92.

And those great masters of their liberall arts,

In all their seurall Schooles doe Dauncing teach:

'For humble Grammer first doth set the parts

'Of congruent and well-according speach;

'Which Rethorike, whose state the clouds doth reach,

'And heau'nly Poetry, doe forward lead,

'And diuers measures diuersly doe tread.

93.

6

For Rhetorick, clothing speech in rich aray

'In looser numbers teacheth her to range,

With twenty tropes, and turnings euery way,