————They threw yfere
Ther mouthes, so that, through ther play,
It semed as they kyste alway.—Chaucer's translation.
A dance, the merit of which, if I mistake not, consisted in the agility and adroitness of the performer, has been noticed already, and is represented by the engraving No. 51; [739] and likewise in No. 59, [740] where a woman is dancing, and eluding the pursuit of a bear made angry by the scourge of his master. The various situations of the actress and the disappointment of the animal excited, no doubt, the mirth as well as the applause of the spectators.
Many of the ancient dances were of a jocular kind, and sometimes executed by one person: we have, for instance, an account of a man who danced upon a table before king Edward II. The particulars of the dance are not specified; but it is said, that his majesty laughed very heartily at the performance: "Et lui fist tres grandement rire." [741] It probably consisted of quaint attitudes and ridiculous gesticulations. The king, however, was so delighted, that he gave a reward of fifty shillings to the dancer, which was a great sum in those days. A few years ago, [742] there was a fellow that used to frequent the different public-houses in the metropolis, who, mounting a table, would stand upon his head with his feet towards the ceiling, and make all the different steps of a hornpipe upon it for the diversion of the company. His method of performing was to place a porter-pot upon the table, raised high enough for his feet to touch the ceiling, when his head was upon the pot. I have been told that many publicans would not permit him to come into their houses, because he had damaged their ceiling, and in some places danced part of it down. An exhibition nearly as ridiculous is here represented from a MS. in the Royal Library.
63. Remarkable Dance.—XIII. Century.
Here we perceive a girl dancing upon the shoulders of the joculator, who at the same time is playing upon the bagpipes, and appears to be in the action of walking forwards. [743]