"When he hath harped all his fille, The kingis hest to fulfille, A waie goth dishe, a waie goth cup, Doun goth the borde, the cloth was up, Thei risen and gone out of the halle." In the sequel, the interesting stranger was made tutor to the princess, and among other teachings, "He taught hir till she was certeyne Of harpe, citole, and of riote, With many a tewne and many a note, Upon musike, upon measure, And of her harpe the temprure, He taught her eke, as he well couth." Another occasion on which their services would be required would be for the dance. Thus we read in the sequel of "The Squire's Tale," how the king and his "nobley," when dinner was ended, rose from table, and, preceded by the minstrels, went to the great chamber for the dance:-- "Wan that this Tartar king, this Cambuscán, Rose from his bord ther as he sat ful hie; Beforne him goth the loudé minstralcie, Til he come to his chambre of parements,[334] Theras they sounden divers instruments, That it is like an Heaven for to here. Now dauncen lusty Venus children dere," &c. In the tale of Dido and Æneas, in the legend of "Good Women," he calls it especially the dancing chamber:-- "To dauncing chambers full of paraments, Of riché bedés[335] and of pavements, This Eneas is ledde after the meat." [Illustration: _Mediæval Dance._] But the dance was not always in the great chamber. Very commonly it took place in the hall. The tables were only movable boards laid upon trestles, and at the signal from the master of the house, "A hall! a hall!" they were quickly put aside; while the minstrels tuned their instruments anew, and the merry folly at once commenced. In the illustration, of early fourteenth-century date, which we give on the preceding page, from folio 174 of the Royal MS., 2 B vii., the scene of the dance is not indicated; the minstrels themselves appear to be joining in the saltitation which they inspire. In the next illustration, reproduced from Mr. Wright's "Domestic Manners of the English," we have a curious picture of a dance, possibly in the gallery, which occupied the whole length of the roof of most fifteenth-century houses; it is from M. Barrois's MS. of the "Compte D'Artois," of fifteenth-century date. In all these instances the minstrels are on the floor with the dancers, but in the latter part of the Middle Ages they were probably--especially on festal occasions--placed in the music gallery over the screens, or entrance-passage, of the hall. [Illustration: _A Dance in the Gallery._]