are lascivious and Pagan dances, 'tis the abuse
that causeth such inconvenience, and I do not well therefore to condemn,
speak against, or "innocently to accuse the best and pleasantest thing (so
[5154]Lucian calls it) that belongs to mortal men." You misinterpret, I
condemn it not; I hold it notwithstanding an honest disport, a lawful
recreation, if it be opportune, moderately and soberly used: I am of
Plutarch's mind, [5155]"that which respects pleasure alone, honest
recreation, or bodily exercise, ought not to be rejected and contemned:" I
subscribe to [5156]Lucian, "'tis an elegant thing, which cheereth up the
mind, exerciseth the body, delights the spectators, which teacheth many
comely gestures, equally affecting the ears, eyes, and soul itself."
Sallust discommends singing and dancing in Sempronia, not that she did sing
or dance, but that she did it in excess, 'tis the abuse of it; and
Gregory's refusal doth not simply condemn it, but in some folks. Many will
not allow men and women to dance together, because it is a provocation to
lust: they may as well, with Lycurgus and Mahomet, cut down all vines,
forbid the drinking of wine, for that it makes some men drunk.

[5157] "Nihil prodest quod non laedere posset idem;
Igne quid utilius?"------

I say of this as of all other honest recreations, they are like fire, good
and bad, and I see no such inconvenience, but that they may so dance, if it
be done at due times, and by fit persons: and conclude with Wolfungus
[5158]Hider, and most of our modern divines: _Si decorae, graves,
verecundae, plena luce bonorum virorum et matronarum honestarum, tempestive
fiant, probari possunt, et debent_. "There is a time to mourn, a time to
dance," Eccles. iii. 4. Let them take their pleasures then, and as [5159]
he said of old, "young men and maids flourishing in their age, fair and
lovely to behold, well attired, and of comely carriage, dancing a Greek
galliard, and as their dance required, kept their time, now turning, now
tracing, now apart now altogether, now a courtesy then a caper," &c., and
it was a pleasant sight to see those pretty knots, and swimming figures.
The sun and moon (some say) dance about the earth, the three upper planets
about the sun as their centre, now stationary, now direct, now retrograde,
now in apogee, then in perigee, now swift then slow, occidental, oriental,
they turn round, jump and trace, [Symbol: Mars] and [Symbol: Mercury] about
the sun wi