EARLY AND MEDLEVAL DANCES. After the fall of Rome, dancing as an art practically disap peared. Christianity at first encouraged it as an inheritance from the Jews; Saint Basil recom mended the practice of the dance on earth because it was the principal occupation of the angels in heaven, and sacred chances were given on feast days, and later every Sunday. In reality they were hardly so much dances as processions, each sex going through the evolutions separately. Gradually, however, they degenerated from their solemn character, and in 69'2 were expressly for bidden by the Church, thought they still lingered in sonic localities for a considerable length of time. There are curious survivals of these old Church dames, such as hose • which is still performed annually by the choir boys in the cathedral at Seville, on Corpus Christi and the Immaculate Conception: the Guilin di San Paolino is a ritual dance performed on June 26, in front of the Cathedral of Nola, near Naples, in honor of San Paolino, who, on his return from Barbary, was met by a procession of the citizens of Nola. .leanwhile the simpler forms of the dance had been preserved by the peasants of Gaul. who kept them alive until they were taken up by the knights and nobles. 1u Spain the heritage of dances left by the Romans was more or less imperfectly preserved. Even
the Arab invasion could not completely destroy the old forms; and there are some dances used at present in Spain, such as the Turdion and Gib (hi na, which date from about the twelfth century. Liveliness is characteristic of early as well as later Spanish dances.
Dancing iu Germany and England developed along the lines originated by the barbaric na tions which governed their early history. In England the egg dance and the Carole were de rived from Saxon sources. The Morris dance was introduced in the reign of Edward III. All English dances are lively and varied in motion. In Germany, war, funeral, and harvest dances were among the earliest popular kind, and with the formation of the guilds each trade adopted its characteristic dance. Hans Sachs gives an excellent description of the Schihwart, which was a carnival dance peculiar to the city of Nurem berg. From the thirteenth century on, each class of society had its own dances; hut there were two general classes—the 'circular dance' and 'the measure.' Che first was a rapid, uneven sort of dance; the second, a slow, gliding move ment.