The Wisdom of the Dancer’s Feet

Come on, come on! and where you go,

So interweave the curious knot

As ev’n th’ observer scarce may know

Which lines are Pleasure’s and which not.

First, figure out the doubtful way

At which awhile all 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 you do,

And when they see the 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.

There follows the first dance.

This was a court masque, first performed on Twelfth Night,

 6 January 1618, in the Banqueting House at Whitehall Palace.                                                                                                  “Pleasure Reconciled to Virtue”, Ben Jonson

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