From being applied to music, this word was easily transferred to dancing; thus in the old play of Lusty Juventus (described in preliminary note to book 2, No. 1 in this volume), Juventus says:
"By the masse I would fayne go daunce a fitte."
And from being used as a part or division in a ballad, poem, &c. it is applied by Bale to a section or chapter in a book (though I believe in a sense of ridicule or sarcasm), for thus he intitles two chapters of his English Votaryes, part 2nd, viz. fol. 49, "The fyrst fytt of Anselme with Kynge Wyllyam Rufus;" fol. 50, "An other Fytt of Anselme with kynge Wyllyam Rufus."
FOOTNOTES:
[571] In the Editor's folio MS. it is £500.
[572] See an essay on the word fit at the end of the second part.
[573] So the folio MS.
[574] The battle of Evesham was fought on August 4, 1265.
[575] [This stanza is not in the ordinary versions.]