Vitus' dance takes its name from
this performance.
Christmas carols were originally choric. The performers danced and
sang in a circle.
The illustration (fig. 43) of a dance of angels and religious shows us
that Fra Angelico thought the practice joyful; this dance is almost a
counterpart of that amongst the Greeks (fig. 11). The other dance, by
Sandro Botticelli (fig. 44), is taken from his celebrated "Nativity"
in the National Gallery. Although we have records of performances in
churches, no illustrations of an early date have come to the knowledge
of the writer. [Illustration: Fig. 30.--Dancing to horn and pipe.
From an Anglo-Saxon MS.]
That the original inhabitants of Britain danced--that the Picts,
Danes, Saxons and Romans danced may be taken for granted, but there
seems little doubt that our earliest illustrations of dancing were of
the Roman tradition. We find the attitude, the instruments and the
clapping of hands, all of the same undoubted classic character.
Tacitus informs us that the Teutonic youths danced, with swords and
spears, and Olaus Magnus that the Goths, &c.
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