Чудесная сказка о возникновении контрдансов.
Perhaps it will not be inapropos to give here the fable of how the Country Dances began, as told
by the poet Jenyns in the verses on dancing which he dedicated to Lady Fanny Fielding, said to have been the finest dancer of the early eighteenth-century ball-ropms : -
' Then |et the jovial country dance begin,
And the loud fiddlers call each straggler in :
But e'er they come permit me to disclose
How first, as l^ends tell» this pastime rose.
In ancient times (such times arc now no more).
When Albion's crown illustrious Arthur wore,
In some fair op'ning glade each summer's night,
Where the pale moon diffused her silver light,
On the soft carpet of a grassy field.
The sporting fairies their assemblies held :
Some lightly tripping with their pigmy queen,
|n circling ringlets nuirked the level green.
Some with soft notes made mellow pipes resound.
And music warble through the grpves around ;
Oft lonely shepherds by the forest side.
Belated peasants oft their revels spyed.
And home returning, o'er their nut-brown ale.
Their guests diverted with the wondrous tale.
Instructed hence, throughout the British isle,
And fond to imitate the pleasing toil,
Round where the trembling Maypole fixed on high
Uplifts its flow'ry honours to the sky.
The ruddy maids and sunburnt swains resort,
And practise every night the lovely sport ;
On every side Aeolian artists stand.
Whose active elbows swelling winds command ;
The swelling winds hsurmonious pipes inspire,
And blow in every breast a gen'rous fire*
Thus taught, at first the country-dance began.
And hence to cities and to courts it ran."
Отсюда, стр.157
Если кто-то сможет сделать перевод (хотя бы подстрочник) на русский - буду очень благодарна, тогда сказочка пойдет в цитатник
by the poet Jenyns in the verses on dancing which he dedicated to Lady Fanny Fielding, said to have been the finest dancer of the early eighteenth-century ball-ropms : -
' Then |et the jovial country dance begin,
And the loud fiddlers call each straggler in :
But e'er they come permit me to disclose
How first, as l^ends tell» this pastime rose.
In ancient times (such times arc now no more).
When Albion's crown illustrious Arthur wore,
In some fair op'ning glade each summer's night,
Where the pale moon diffused her silver light,
On the soft carpet of a grassy field.
The sporting fairies their assemblies held :
Some lightly tripping with their pigmy queen,
|n circling ringlets nuirked the level green.
Some with soft notes made mellow pipes resound.
And music warble through the grpves around ;
Oft lonely shepherds by the forest side.
Belated peasants oft their revels spyed.
And home returning, o'er their nut-brown ale.
Their guests diverted with the wondrous tale.
Instructed hence, throughout the British isle,
And fond to imitate the pleasing toil,
Round where the trembling Maypole fixed on high
Uplifts its flow'ry honours to the sky.
The ruddy maids and sunburnt swains resort,
And practise every night the lovely sport ;
On every side Aeolian artists stand.
Whose active elbows swelling winds command ;
The swelling winds hsurmonious pipes inspire,
And blow in every breast a gen'rous fire*
Thus taught, at first the country-dance began.
And hence to cities and to courts it ran."
Отсюда, стр.157
Если кто-то сможет сделать перевод (хотя бы подстрочник) на русский - буду очень благодарна, тогда сказочка пойдет в цитатник