71.
"As the victorious twinnes of Laeda and Ioue,
That taught the Spartans dauncing on the sands,
Of swift Eurotas, daunce in heauen aboue,
Knit and vnited with eternall hands,
Among the starres their double image stands,
Where both are carried with an equall pace,
Together iumping in their turning race."
[271] "Or, as it is oftener called, passa mezzo, from passer to walk, and mezzo the middle or half; a slow dance, little differing from the action of walking. As a Galliard consists of five paces or bars in the first strain, and is therefore called a Cinque pace; the passa mezzo, which is a diminutive of the Galliard, is just half that number, and from that peculiarity takes its name."—Sir John Hawkins's "History of Music," iv. 386. [Compare Dyce's second edition of Shakespeare, iii. 412.]
[272] i.e., St Leger's round. "Sellinger's round was an old country dance, and was not quite out of knowledge in the last century. Morley mentions it in his Introduction, p. 118, and Taylor the Water Poet, in his tract, entitled, 'The World runs on Wheels;' and it is printed in a 'Collection of Country Dances,' published by John Playford in 1679."—Sir John Hawkins's "History of Music," iii. 288, where the notes are engraved.
[273] See Plinii "Nat. Hist.," lib. v. c. 9.
[274] The author certainly in writing this beautiful passage had Spenser ("Faerie Queene," b. ii. c. 12) in his mind.
"The joyous birds shrouded in cheerful shade," &c.
—Collier.
[275] Alluding to the fish called the Sole, and the musical note Sol.—Pegge.
[276] See note [235].