COME on, come on, and where you go
So interweave the curious knot
As even the Observer scarce may
know
Which lines are pleasure, and which not:
First figure out the doubtful way At which awhile the youth should stay
Where she and Virtue did contend Which should have Hercules to friend.
Then as all actions of mankind
Are but a labyrinth or maze,
So let your dances be entwined,
Yet not perplex men unto gaze:
But measured, and so numerous too,
As men may read each act they do;
And, when they see your graces
meet,
Admire the wisdom of your feet:
For dancing is an exercise
Not only shows the mover's wit,
But maketh the beholder wise,
As he hath power to rise to it.
O more and more, this was so well
As praise wants half his voice to tell.
Again yourselves compose,
And now put all the aptness on
Of figure, that proportion
Or color can disclose:
That, if those silent arts were lost,
Design and Picture, they might boast
From you a newer ground
Instructed by the heightening sense
Of dignity and reverence
In their true motions found.
Go choose among them, with a mind
As gentle as the stroking wind
Runs o'er the gentler flowers,
And so let all your actions smile,
As if they meant not to beguile
The ladies, but the hours.
Grace, laughter, and discourse
may meet,
And yet the beauty not go less:
For what is noble should be sweet,
But not dissolved in wantonness.
Will you that I give the law
To all your sport, and sum it
It should be such should envy draw,
But overcome it.
SHAKE off your heavy trance,
And leap into a dance,
Such as no mortals use to tread,
Fit only for Apollo-
To play to, for the moon to lead,
And all the stars to follow!
O blessed youth! for Jove doth pause,
Laying aside his graver laws