Dancing in All Ages by Edward Scott

Author:Edward Scott
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Read Books
Published: 1899-12-15T00:00:00+00:00

* 1 Samuel xviii.

* Judges xi.

† Judith xv.

* This happened in order to remove a scandal which was rumoured against him. See SALE’S Notes to Al Korân.

* 2 Sam. vi.

* Dr. FRANK DELITZSCH in the Expositor.

† Jer. xxxi. 13.

* Luke vii. 32.

* Scaliger says that the early bishops were called prœsules, because they originally led the dance in solemn festivals.

* John Chrysostom, the saint of the “golden mouth,” according to Gibbon, incurred the enmity of the Empress Eudoxia by the exordium of a sermon: “Herodias is again furious. Herodias again dances; she once more requires the head of John.”—Decline and Fall, chap, xxxii.

* Petrarch says: “Incitamentum libidinus chorœa—circulus e ejus centrum diabolus.” But why the Italian poet should have been so bitter against dancing I fail to discover.

* MOSHEIM, Ecclesiastical History, Part II., chap. v. See also ROBERTSON’S History of the Church, p. 119.

* There are, I regret to say, even in this enlightened century, people who imagine that there is something “mightily laughable and diverting” in mimic representations of the sad emblems of mortality, especially if they be illuminated with coloured fire. To a certain order of intelligence, a painted skull, with lights blazing through the eyeless sockets, would seem to be a particularly droll object. Not long since I was present at an entertainment where the proceedings terminated with the entrance of a gigantic skeleton robed in a winding-sheet. And this entertainment was given ostensibly for the amusement of children! What a spectacle to present to their gaze, the last, too, on which their eyes rested before leaving the theatre! what execrable taste! Let us concede that fairies, gnomes, demons even, dwelling as they do only in the realms of fancy, are perfectly legitimate objects to stimulate the imagination and excite the wonder of children; but the secrets of the grave should be respected, and whatever has reference to the awful reality of death—phantoms, skeletons, and such things—ought not to be paraded before their young eyes. Managers of theatres should reflect that among their audience there may be some little ones to whom such representations are likely to prove no laughing matter; that although the brave little creatures may appear not to be frightened while others are near, yet, all the same, the objects they have seen may haunt their dreams by night and inspire their wakeful hours with terror. It is cruel to frighten children, or allow them to be frightened. Let parents read Elia’s beautiful essay on witches, wherein he speaks of the strange terrors that surround the years of sinless childhood, and, mindful of the health and happiness of their little ones, carefully avoid taking them to any entertainments where ghastly objects are exhibited.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.