Good and Ill in this Life; and fhe naturally thinks, if the is tall enough, fhe is wife enough for any thing for which her Education makes her think the is defigned. To make her an agreeable Perfon is the main Purpose of her Parents; to that is all their Cofts, to that all their Care directed; and from this general Folly of Parents we owe our prefent numerous Race of Coquets. Thefe Reflections puzzle me, when I think of giving my Advice on the Subject of managing the wild Thing mentioned in the Letter of my Correfpondent. But fure there is a middle Way to be followed; the Management of a young Lady's Perfon is not to be overlooked, but the Erudition of her Mind is much more to be regarded. According as this is managed, you will fee the Mind follow the Appetites of the Body, or the Body exprefs the Virtues of the Mind. CLEOMIRA dances with all the Elegance of Motion imaginable; but her Eyes are fo chaftifed with the Simplicity and Innocence of her Thoughts, that the raises in her Beholders Admiration and good Will, but no loose Hope or wild Imagination. The true Art in this Cafe is, To make the Mind and Body improve together; and if poffible, to make Gefture follow Thought, and not let Thought be employed upon Gefture. N° 67. Thursday, May 17. Saltare elegantiùs quam neceffe eft proba. R Sal. UCIAN, in one of his Dialogues, introduces a Philofopher chiding his Friend for his being a Lover of Dancing, and a Frequenter of Balls. The other undertakes the Defence of his Favourite Diverfion, which, he fays, was at firft invented by the Goddefs Rhea, and preferved the Life of Jupiter himself, from the Cruelty of his Father Saturn. He proceeds to fhew, that it had been Approved by the greateft Men in all Ages; that Homer calls Merion a Fine Dancer; and fays, That the graceful Mein and great Agility which he had acquired by that Exercife, diftinguifhed him above the reft in the Armies, both of Greeks and Trojans. НЕ HE adds, that Pyrrhus gained more Reputation by Inventing the Dance which is called after his Name, than by all his other Actions: That the Lacedemonians, who were the braveft People in Greece, gave great Encouragement to this Diverfion, and made their Hormus (a Dance much refembling the French Brawl) famous over all Afia: That there were still extant fome Theffalian Statues erected to the Honour of their beft Dancers: And that he wondered how his Brother Philofopher could declare himfelf against the Opinions of thofe two Perfons, whom he profeffed fo much to admire, Homer and Hefiod; the latter of which compares Valour and Dancing together; and fays, That the Gods have beftowed Fortitude on fome Men, and on others a Difpofition for Dancing. LASTLY, he puts him in mind that Socrates, (who, in the Judgment of Apollo, was the wifeft of Men) was not only a profeffed Admirer of this Exercise in others, but learned it himself when he was an old Man. THE Morofe Philofopher is fo much affected by these, and fome other Authorities, that he becomes a Convert to his Friend, and defires he would take him with him when he went to his next Ball. I love to fhelter my felf under the Examples of great Men; and, I think, I have fufficiently fhewed that it is not below the Dignity of thefe my Speculations to take Notice of the following Letter, which, I fuppofe, is fent me by some substantial Tradesman about Change. SIR, I Am a Man in Years, and by an honeft Industry in the World have acquired enough to give my Chil<dren a liberal Education, though I was an utter Stranger to it my felf. My eldeft Daughter, a Girl of Sixteen, has for fome time been under the Tuition of Monfieur Rigadoon, a Dancing-Mafter in the City; and I was prevailed upon by her and her Mother to go laft Night to one of his Balls. I must own to you, Sir, that having never been at any fuch Place before, I was very much < pleafed and furprized with that Part of his Entertain⚫ment which he called French Dancing. There were fe⚫veral young Men and Women, whofe Limbs feemed to have no other Motion, than purely what the Mufick ⚫ gave gave them. After this Part was over, they began a • Diverfion which they call Country Dancing, and wherein there were also fome things not difagreeable, and divers • Emblematical Figures, Compos'd, as I guess, by Wife Men, for the Inftruction of Youth. AMONG the rest, I observed one, which, I think, they call Hunt the Squirrel, in which while the Woman flies the Man purfues her; but as foon as she turns, he runs away, and fhe is obliged to follow. THE Moral of this Dance does, I think, very aptly recommend Modesty and Discretion to the Female • Sex. BUT as the best Institutions are liable to Corruptions, fo, Sir, I muft acquaint you, that very great Abufes are crept into this Entertainment. I was amazed to fee my Girl handed by, and handing young Fellows with fo much Familiarity; and I could not have thought it had been in the Child. They very often made use of a moft impudent and lafcivious Step called Setting, which I know not how to describe to you, but by tel ling you that it is the very reverfe of Back to Back. At laft an impudent young Dog bid the Fidlers play a Dance called Mol. Pately, and after having made two .or three Capers, ran to his Partner, locked his Arms in hers, and whisked her round cleverly above Ground in fuch manner, that I, who fat upon one of the loweft Benches, faw further above her Shooe than I can think fit to acquaint you with. I could no longer en⚫dure thefe Enormities, wherefore just as my Girl was going to be made a Whirligig, I ran in, feized on the Child, and carried her home. SIR, I am not yet old enough to be a Fool. I fuppofe this Diverfion might be at firft invented to keep up a good Understanding between young Men and Women, and fo far I am not against it; but I fhall never allow of these things. I know not what you will fay to this Cafe at prefent, but am fure that had you been with me you would have seen matter of great Speculation. I am Yours, &c. I must confels I am afraid that my Correfpondent had too much Reafon to be a little out of Humour at the Treat Treatment of his Daughter, but I conclude that he would have been much more fo, had he seen one of those kissing Dances in which WILL. HONEYCOMB affures me they are obliged to dwell almost a Minute on the Fair One's Lips, or they will be too quick for the Musick, and dance quite out of Time. I am not able however to give my final Sentence againft this Diversion, and am of Mr. Cowley's Opinion, that fo much of Dancing, at least, as belongs to the Behaviour and an handfome Carriage of the Body, is extreamly ufeful, if not abfolutely neceffary. WE generally form fuch Ideas of People at first Sight, as we are hardly ever perfwaded to lay afide afterwards: For this Reason, a Man would wish to have nothing difagreeable or uncomely in his Approaches, and to be able to enter a Room with a good Grace. I might add, that a moderate Knowledge in the little Rules of Good-breeding gives a Man fome Affurance, and makes him easie in all Companies. For Want of this, I have feen a Profeffor of a Liberal Science at a Lofs to falute a Lady; and a moft excellent Mathematician not able to determine whether he should stand or fit while my Lord drank to him, IT is the proper Bufinefs of a Dancing-Master to regulate thefe Matters; tho' I take it to be a juft Obfervation, that unless you add fomething of your own to what thefe fine Gentlemen teach you, and which they are wholly ignorant of themfelves, you will much fooner get the Character of an Affected Fop, than of a well-bred Man. AS for Country Dancing, it must indeed be confeffed that the great Familiarities between the two Sexes on this Occafion may fometimes produce very dangerous Confequences; and I have often thought that few Ladies Hearts are fo obdurate as not to be melted by the Charms of Mufick, the Force of Motion, and an handfome young Fellow who is continually playing before their Eyes, and convincing them that he has the perfect Ufe of all his Limbs. BUT as this kind of Dance is the particular Invention of our own Country, and as every one is more or lefs a Proficient in it, I would not Discountenance it; but ra ther ther fuppofe it may be practifed innocently by others, as well as my felf, who am often Partner to my Landlady's Eldest Daughter. POSTSCRIPT. HAVING heard a good Character of the Collection of Pictures which is to be Expofed to Sale on Friday next; and concluding, from the following Letter, that the Perfon who Collected them is a Man of no unelegant Tafte, I will be so much his Friend as to Publish it, provided the Reader will only look upon it as filling up the Place of an Advertisement. From the three Chairs in the Piazza Covent-Garden. SIR, S May 16, 1711. As you are SPECTATOR, I think we, who make it our Bufinefs to exhibit any thing to publick View, ought to apply our felves to you for your Appro⚫bation. I have travelled Europe to furnish out a Show for you, and have brought with me what has been admired in every Country thro' which I paffed. You have ⚫ declared in many Papers, that your greatest Delights are thofe of the Eye, which I do not doubt but I fhall gratifie with as beautiful Objects as yours ever beheld. If Caftles, Forefts, Ruins, Fine Women, and Graceful Men, can please you, I dare promise you much Satis faction, if you will appear at my Auction on Friday next. A Sight is, I fuppofe, as grateful to a SPECTATOR, as a Treat to another Perfon, and therefore I hope you will pardon this Invitation from, ་ O SIR, Your most obedient humble Servant, Friday, May 18. Nos duo turba fumus Ovid. NE would think that the larger the Company is in which we are engaged, the greater Variety of Thoughts and Subjects would be started in difcourfe; but instead of this, we find the Converfation is never fo much |