--
The following are dance references from Roger Ascham's
The
Scholemaster, 1570. The
sections on dance are quoted from the Renascence Editions
text edited by Judy Boss in 1998. The dotted lines
indicate a different section of the text. The italics
are as in the original text, but I have bolded dance
terms for convenience. (link
to full text.) -- E. F. Winerock
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From
Book I:
Yet,
some will say, that children of nature, loue pastime,
and mislike learning: bicause, in their kinde, the
one is easie and pleasant, the other hard and werisom:
which is an opinion not so trewe, as some men weene:
For, the matter lieth not so much in the disposition
of them that be yong, as in the order & maner of
bringing vp, by them that be old, nor yet in the difference
of learnyng and pastime. For, beate a child, if he
daunce not well, & cherish him, though he
learne not well, ye shall haue him, vnwilling to go
to daunce, & glad to go to his booke. Knocke
him alwaies, when he draweth his shaft ill, and fauor
him againe, though he faut at his booke, ye shall haue
hym verie loth to be in the field, and verie willing
to be in the schole.
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After
salutation, and dewtie done, with som other taulke,
I asked hir, whie she wold leese soch pastime in the
Parke? smiling she answered me: I wisse, all their
sporte in the Parke is but a shadoe to that pleasure,
that I find in Plato: Alas good folke, they
neuer felt, what trewe pleasure ment. And howe came
you Madame, quoth I, to this deepe knowledge of pleasure,
and what did chieflie allure you vnto it: seinge, not
many women, but verie fewe men haue atteined thereunto.
I will tell you, quoth she, and tell you a troth, which
perchance ye will meruell at. One of the greatest benefites,
that euer God gaue me, is, that he sent me so sharpe
and seuere Parentes, and so ientle a scholemaster.
For when I am in presence either of father or mother,
whether I speake, kepe silence, sit, stand, or go,
eate, drinke, be merie, or sad, be sowyng, plaiyng,
dauncing, or doing anie thing els, I must do
it, as it were, in soch weight, mesure, and number,
euen so perfitelie, as God made the world, or else
I am so sharplie taunted, so cruellie threatened, yea
presentlie some tymes, with pinches, nippes, and bobbes,
and other waies, which I will not name, for the honor
I beare them, so without measure misordered, that I
thinke my selfe in hell, till tyme cum, that I must
go to M. Elmer, who teacheth me so ientlie,
so pleasantlie, with soch faire allurementes to learning,
that I thinke all the tyme nothing, whiles I am with
him. And when I am called from him, I fall on weeping,
because, what soeuer I do els, but learning, is ful
of grief, trouble, feare, and whole misliking vnto
me: And thus my booke, hath bene so moch my pleasure,
& bringeth dayly to me more pleasure & more,
that in respect of it, all other pleasures, in very
deede, be but trifles and troubles vnto me. I remember
this talke gladly, both bicause it is so worthy of
memorie, & bicause also, it was the last talke
that euer I had, and the last tyme, that euer I saw
that noble and worthie Ladie.
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And
it maie be a great wonder, but a greater shame, to
vs Christian men, to vnderstand, what a heithen writer,
Isocrates, doth leaue in memorie of writing,
concerning the care, that the noble Citie of Athens
had, to bring vp their yougthe, in honest companie,
and vertuous discipline, whose taulke in Greke, is,
to this effect, in Englishe.
"The
Citie, was not more carefull, to see their Children
"well taughte, than to see their yong men well
"gouerned: which they brought to passe, not so
"much by common lawe, as by priuate discipline.
"For, they had more regard, that their yougthe,
by good order
"shold not offend, than how, by lawe, they might
be punished:
"And if offense were committed, there was, neither
waie to
"hide it, neither hope of pardon for it. Good
natures, were
"not so moche openlie praised as they were secretlie
marked,
"and watchfullie regarded, lest they should lease
the goodnes
"they had. Therefore in scholes of singing and
dauncing, and
"other honest exercises, gouernours were appointed,
more
"diligent to ouersee their good maners, than their
masters were,
"to teach them anie learning. It was som shame
to a yong
"man, to be seene in the open market: and if for
businesse, he
"passed throughe it, he did it, with a meruelous
modestie, and
"bashefull facion. To eate, or drinke in a Tauerne,
was not
onelie a shame, but also punishable, in a yong man.
To
"contrarie, or to stand in termes with an old
man, was more
"heinous, than in som place, to rebuke and scolde
with his
"owne father: with manie other mo good orders,
and faire
disciplines, which I referre to their reading, that
haue lust
to looke vpon the description of such a worthie common
welthe.
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And,
I do not meene, by all this my taulke, that yong Ientlemen,
should alwaies be poring on a booke, and by vsing good
studies, shold lease honest pleasure, and haunt no
good pastime, I meene nothing lesse: For it is well
knowne, that I both like and loue, and haue alwaies,
and do yet still vse, all exercises and pastimes, that
be fitte for my nature and habilitie. And beside naturall
disposition, in iudgement also, I was neuer, either
Stoick in doctrine, or Anabaptist in Religion, to mislike
a merie, pleasant, and plaifull nature, if no outrage
be committed, against lawe, mesure, and good order.
Therefore,
I wold wishe, that, beside some good time, fitlie appointed,
and constantlie kepte, to encrease by readinge, the
knowledge of the tonges and learning, yong ientlemen
shold vse, and delite in all Courtelie exercises, and
Ientlemanlike pastimes. And good cause whie: For the
self same noble Citie of Athenes, iustlie commended
of me before, did wiselie and vpon great consideration,
appoint, the Muses, Apollo, and Pallas,
to be patrones of learninge to their yougthe. For the
Muses, besides learning, were also Ladies of dauncinge,
mirthe and ministrelsie: Apollo, was god of
shooting, and Author of cunning playing vpon Instrumentes:
Pallas also was Laidie mistres in warres. Wherbie
was nothing else ment, but that learninge shold be
alwaise mingled, with honest mirthe, and cumlie exercises:
and that warre also shold be gouerned by learning,
and moderated by wisdom, as did well appeare in those
Capitaines of Athenes named by me before, and
also in Scipio & Cæsar, the
two Diamondes of Rome.
And
Pallas, was no more feared, in weering Ægida,
than she was praised, for chosing Oliva: whereby
shineth the glory of learning, which thus, was Gouernour
& Mistres, in the noble Citie of Athenes,
both of warre and peace.
Therefore,
to ride cumlie: to run faire at the tilte or ring:
to plaie at all weapones: to shote faire in bow, or
surelie in gon: to vaut lustely: to runne: to leape:
to wrestle: to swimme: To daunce cumlie: to
sing, and playe of instrumentes cunnyngly: to Hawke:
to hunte: to playe at tennes, & all pastimes generally,
which be ioyned with labor, vsed in open place, and
on the day light, conteining either some fitte exercise
for warre, or some pleasant pastime for peace, be not
onelie cumlie and decent, but also verie necessarie,
for a Courtlie Ientleman to vse.
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From
Book II:
Foure
men onely whan the Latin tong was full ripe, be left
vnto vs, who in that tyme did florish, and did leaue
to posteritie, the fruite of their witte and learning:
Varro, Salust, Cæsar, and
Cicero. Whan I say, these foure onely, I am
not ignorant, that euen in the same tyme, most excellent
Poetes, deseruing well of the Latin tong, as Lucretius,
Cattullus, Virgill and Horace,
did write: But, bicause, in this litle booke, I purpose
to teach a yong scholer, to go, not to daunce:
to speake, not to sing, whan Poetes in deed, namelie
Epici and Lyrici, as these be, are fine
dauncers, and trime singers, but Oratores
and Historici be those cumlie goers, and faire
and wise speakers, of whom I wishe my scholer to wayte
vpon first, and after in good order, & dew tyme,
to be brought forth, to the singing and dauncing
schole: And for this consideration, do I name these
foure, to be the onelie writers of that tyme.
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