[872]. Mannhardt, Baumkultus, in many places; Pfannenschmid, Germ. Erntej., pp. 271 ff., 580 ff. For love-songs and the dance, Uhland, III. 391 ff., and notes, 471, with valuable account of the manner of dancing, and of the leader, the voresingen and the voretanzen.
[873]. See Böhme, Altd. Liederb., p. xxxv.
[874]. ’T Boertje, Coussemaker, pp. 329 f., and ’t Patertje, already quoted.
[875]. Pétition pour des Villageois que l’on empêche de danser. Par Paul-Louis Courier, Vigneron, ... Paris, 1822, addressed to the Chamber of Deputies, asking that the folk of Azai may dance on Sundays “sur le place de leur commune.” Despite the mystification, there is some serious intent behind this fooling.
[876]. In Germany itself: cf. Meyer, Volkskunde, pp. 158, 160, 163.
[877]. Arbeit u. Rhythmus, pp. 103 f.
[878]. See note, end of chapter.
[879]. Grosse, Anf d. Kunst, p. 218; Donovan, Lyre to Muse, pp. 91, 127 ff.; Jacobowski, Anfänge d. Poesie, p. 127. This author’s discussion of circle and straight line, as of women and of men in the dance, and of other formations, is a bit fanciful although interesting and suggestive. See, too, Donovan on the ring of folk (choral) about a centre of interest,—altar or the like. Work quoted, p. 204.
[880]. The development of the dance into different kinds of poetry is foreshadowed by many of the older writers, although the first really comparative treatment of the subject must be assigned to A. W. Schlegel in the lectures at Berlin a century ago. Herder has some valuable remarks on the subject in his early essay Vom Geist der ebräischen Poesie, following, of course, many hints of Lowth. Two hundred years ago, Burette, a really learned writer, drew up his “Mémoire pour servir à l’Histoire de la Danse des Anciens,” published in the Mém., Acad. of Inscript., etc., I. 93 ff., Paris, 1717. Movement and imitation caused the dance, which is “nearly as old as man,” and sprang from joy. Cadence is the mainspring; avoid, he says, Lucian’s prattle about the stars. Wedding, festival, vintage, harvest,—look to these, says Burette, in quite modern spirit, for the origins of the dance. He traces metres to the rhythm of songs sung by the dancers. Another article of this writer investigates ball-playing, often combined with dance and song. Another writer on the dance was John Spencer, D.D., master of Corpus Christi College (1630-1693), the founder of the science of comparative religions; his “Dissertatio de Saltandi Ritu,” is printed in the Thesaurus Antiquitat. Sacrar. complectens selectissima clarissimorum Virorum Opuscula in quibus Veterum Hebraeorum Mores, Leges, etc., illustrantur, Vol. XXXII., Venet., 1767. Spencer studies the dance of the Hebrews, and his references are valuable; he is comparative, and uses dances of modern Turks to illustrate his subject. Hebrews got some of their festal dances from heathen,—the saltationes promiscuas; for erotic dances he thinks to have been early and everywhere. For a man of his date, he concludes very boldly “probabilius est, sacras choreas agendi morem, ex antiquissimo gentium usu primitus oriundum,” and so came to the Hebrews. The festal dances, where Jews bore about branches and sang a choral full of repetitions and with a constant refrain, he compares with pagan affairs of the sort; the pæan is compared with refrains like Hallel and Hosannah. In fine, this is sharp, clear, comparative work, and good reading still. From Joannis Meursi Orchestra sive de Saltationibus Veterum ... Lugd. Batav., 1618, not much is to be learned except a list (alphabetical) of the old dances, with references to the classic passages. Most of the articles are short, but the Pyrrhic Dance has twelve pages. An early essay on dancing, with considerable scope for its time, is inserted in Elyot’s Governour, edited by Croft, London, 1880, from the edition of 1531, I. 202 ff. Elyot seems to be the first Englishman who wrote about the art.