Betweene Launfal and Gauweyn the hende, [891]
And after her ladyes bryght;
To daunce they wente alle yn same,
To see them playe hyt was fayr game,
A lady and a knyght;
They had menstrelles of moche honours,
Fydelers, sytolyrs, and trompetors,
And else hyt were unright.
The poet then tells us, they continued their amusement great part of a summer's day, that is, from the conclusion of dinner to the approach of night.
Dancing was constantly put in practice among the nobility upon days of festivity, and was countenanced by the example of the court. After the coronation dinner of Richard II., the remainder of the day was spent in the manner described by the foregoing poem; for the king, the prelates, the nobles, the knights, and the rest of the company, danced in Westminster Hall to the music of the minstrels. [892] Sir John Hawkins mentions a dance called pavon, from pavo, a peacock, which might have been proper upon such an occasion. "It is," says he, "a grave and majestic dance; the method of dancing it anciently was by gentlemen dressed with caps and swords, by those of the long robe in their gowns, by the peers in their mantles, and by the ladies in gowns with long trains, the motion whereof in dancing resembled that of a peacock." [893] Several of our monarchs are praised for their skill in dancing, and none of them more than Henry VIII., who was peculiarly partial to this fashionable exercise. In his time, and in the reign of his daughter Elizabeth, the English, generally speaking, are said to have been good dancers; and this commendation is not denied to them even by foreign writers. Polydore Virgil praises the English for their skill in dancing, [894] and Hentzner says, "the English excell in danceing." [895]