ost casually introduced in works upon dancing, ancient games and
customs, and such like.

Even the origin of the name Morris and the true source of the dance are
not to be traced with absolute certainty. Most authorities accept, or
assert, that the dance is Moorish in origin: some again bring evidence to
show that the English Morris (or Morrice) owed nothing whatever to the
Moors. Still, the weight of testimony must be held to show Morocco as the
fount and origin, no matter if the genius of our own folk--so very far
removed from anything native to Africa--has, in the process of the
centuries, altered it until it bears, in spirit, little resemblance to
the parent stock.

If the spirit has been Anglicised, the steps remain. Tabourot, for
instance, a very quaint and interesting writer on dancing, tells us that
when he was a youth--that would be early in the 16th century--it was the
custom in good society for a boy to come into the hall after supper with
his face blackened, his forehead bound with white or yellow taffeta, and
bells tied to his legs. He then proceeded to dance the Morisco the length
of the hall, forth and back, to the great amusement of the company. So
says Tabourot, long dead; and to-day we learn that, in most winters, a
side of Morris-men dances at White Ladies Aston, one-and-a-half mile from
Spetchley, Worcester. They blacken their faces and have for music
accordion, triangle, and tambourine: their flute-player died recently.
Tabourot suggests that the bells might have been borrowed from the
_crotali_ of the ancients in the Pyrrhic dance. He then describes the
more modern Morris dance, which was performed by striking the ground with
the fore part of the feet; but as this proved fatiguing the work was
given to the heels, the toes being kept firm, whereby the bells jingled
more effectively. He adds that this method in turn was modified, as it
tended to bring on gouty complaints.

We are given by the same writer a notation of the Morisco, or Morisque,
music, steps, and description: this shows as nearly as possible the steps
of the Morris as we have seen it danced in England to-day.

Again, Engel, in a passage to us of extraordinary interest, gives in
modern notation "... one of the tunes headed La Morisque, probably the
oldest tune of the famous Morris dance still extant. As it is interesting
from having been printed in the year 1550, when most likely it was
already an old tune, it shall be inserted here