Arbeau says that in his youth the dance was given as a kind of “ballet,” by three young men and three girls, with grace and dignity and he bewails its subsequent decadence. The old English term was “current traverse.” In Sir John Davies’ _Orchestra_ one finds the following reference: “What shall I name those currant travases That on a triple _dactyl_ foot do run Close by the ground in sliding passages?” In Shakespeare’s _Henry the Fifth_, too, is the following: “_Bourbon_: They bid us to the English dancing-schools And teach _lavoltas_ high and swift _corantos_;” and Sir Toby Belch, it will be recalled, asks: “Why dost thou go to church in a _galliard_ and come home in a _coranto_? My very walk should be a jig ... sink-a-pace.” There seems, however, considerable ground for question as to what the _courante_, or _coranto_, really was, whether a slow or quick dance. Arbeau’s directions are, for once, not quite clear. He speaks of it being a more graceful affair in his younger days; and he was an old man at the time his _Orchésographie_ was published. In England it certainly seems to have become a fairly lively dance, of which the main feature was its “running” steps. In France that characteristic seems to have been the same though the _tempo_ may have been slower. Certainly it became slower there, for the _courante_ under Louis Quatorze was considered a dull dance, disappearing in favour of newer types requiring a more developed and quicker technique. However, dances alter in character, like everything else, in the course of time. The _waltz_ or _valse_ has considerably altered since it was first introduced into London drawing-rooms--and considered shocking!--in the first decade of the nineteenth century; and even to-day there is considerable difference between the _valse_ as danced by Swiss or German peasants, and as seen in the London ball-room. It is probable that the _courante_ of Arbeau’s day was as varied in performance as the tango of our later time. Let us return, however, to his description of other dances of the period. The _Allemande_, he explains, “_est une dance plaine de mediocre gravité, familiere aux Allemâds, et croy qu’elle soit de noz plus anciennes car nous sommes desendus des Allemandes_.” But his authority for the latter statement he does _not_ give! It was danced by two or more people, in twelve time, and later was a very popular dance with Louis the Thirteenth. A lengthy description follows of the _Branle_, which is also sometimes spelt _Bransle_, and from which comes our English word Brawl, the meaning of which has sadly degenerated from its original significance.