to afford a joyful welcome to foreign nobles; we also practise the same amusements on the celebration of marriages.”  In no country in the world was dancing practised with more grace and elegance than in France.  Foreign dances of every kind were introduced, and, after being remodelled and brought to as great perfection as possible, they were often returned to the countries from which they had been imported under almost a new character.

[Illustration:  Fig. 186.—­Musicians accompanying the Dancing.—­Fac-simile of a Wood Engraving in the “Orchesographie” of Thoinot Arbeau (Jehan Tabourot):  4to (Langres, 1588).]

In 1548, the dances of the Bearnais, which were much admired at the court of the Comtes de Foix, especially those called the danse mauresque and the danse des sauvages, were introduced at the court of France, and excited great merriment.  So popular did they become, that with a little modification they soon were considered essentially French.  The German dances, which were distinguished by the rapidity of their movements, were also thoroughly established at the court of France.  Italian, Milanese, Spanish, and Piedmontese dances were in fashion in France before the expedition of Charles VIII. into Italy:  and when this king, followed by his youthful nobility, passed over the mountains to march to the conquest of Naples, he found everywhere in the towns that welcomed him, and in which balls and masquerades were given in honour of his visit, the dance a la mode de France, which consisted of a sort of medley of the dances of all countries.  Some hundreds of these dances have been enumerated in the fifth book of the “Pantagruel” of Rabelais, and in various humorous works of those who succeeded him.  They owed their success to the singing with which they were generally accompanied, or to the postures, pantomimes, or drolleries with which they were supplemented for the amusement of the spectators.  A few, and amongst others that of the five steps and that of the three faces, are mentioned in the “History of the Queen of Navarre.”

[Illustration:  Fig. 187.—­The Dance called “La Gaillarde.”—­Fac-simile of Wood Engravings from the “Orchesographie” of Thoinot Arbeau (Jehan Tabourot):  4to (Langres, 1588).]

Dances were divided into two distinct classes—­danses basses, or common and regular dances, which did not admit of jumping, violent movements, or extraordinary contortions—­and the danses par haut, which were irregular, and comprised all sorts of antics and buffoonery.  The regular French dance was a basse dance, called the gaillarde; it was accompanied by the sound of the hautbois and tambourine, and originally it was danced with great form and state.  This is the dance which Jean Tabouret has described; it began with the two performers standing opposite to each other, advancing, bowing, and retiring.  “These advancings and retirings were done in steps to the time of the music, and continued