Many true nursery rhymes go back to traditional dancing and singing games which are now relegated to the playground, but which were danced by rustics within the memory of man, and which are heirs to the choral dances of our heathen forefathers. For dancing in its origin was no idle and unmeaning pastime. Dances were undertaken for serious purposes, such as warding off evil and promoting agricultural growth, conceptions which hang closely together. These dances formed part of festivities that took place at certain times of the year. They were accompanied by expressive words, and by actions which were suited to the words, and which gave the dance a dramatic character. Our carol is related to the _caraula_ that was prohibited among heathen customs by Bishop Eligius of Noyon (d. 659), in the north of France in the seventh century, and has the same origin as the _Choreia_ of the Greeks, the _reihe_ or _reigen_ of Germany, the _karol_ of Brittany, and the _caraula_ of eastern Switzerland. In course of time the religious significance of the choral dance was lost and its practice survived as a sport. At a later stage still, it became a pastime of children and a diversion of the ballroom. Among the dances that can be traced back through several stages, is the one which in its latest survival is known as the _Cotillon_. This is mentioned in England as far back as the year 1766. Burns in _Tam o' Shanter_ speaks of it as "brand new from France." The peculiar features of the Cotillon as it is danced nowadays, include free choice of partners, the women being at liberty in one figure to choose the men, the drawing into the dance of the assembled company, and the presence of a cushion which is put to a variety of uses. The Cotillon usually concludes the ball. In an earlier form the Cotillon is represented by the dance which was known in the seventeenth century as _Joan Saunderson or the Cushion Dance_. The way of dancing _Joan Saunderson_ is described in _The Dauncing Master, a collection of dances with tunes for young people_, published by H. Playford. Of this the first volume was issued in 1650, which was enlarged in subsequent editions, when further volumes were added. _The Dauncing Master_ of Playford shows how traditional country dances were appropriated to the ballroom, for many of these dance tunes, such as _Mulberry Bush_, and _Green Sleeves_, correspond with the names of traditional dancing and singing games.