Dancing itself of course had continued to exist through all time. But from the decadence of Rome until fairly late in the fifteenth century, ballet had only a precarious sporadic existence; and the production of Beaujoyeux’s volume of the _Ballet Comique de la Royne_ in 1582, and Arbeau’s _Orchésographie_ in 1588, made a turning-point in the history of ballet--the _point where a popular amusement was once again taken up by men of intellect and given a new form and a new spirit_. Beaujoyeux created an interest in ballet, Arbeau assisted an advance in the technique of one of the chief elements of the art, namely, dancing; and there can be little doubt that both men were largely instrumental in forwarding that movement towards popular delight in the theatrical masque and ballet which were to become an outstanding feature of the next two centuries, the seventeenth and the eighteenth. CHAPTER VIII SCENIC EFFECT: THE ENGLISH MASQUE AS BALLET In considering di Botta’s elaborate feast, and Beaujoyeux’s “ballet,” one is struck by their similarity to the English “disguisings” and masques, which, first introduced to the Court of Henry the Eighth in 1512 as a novelty from Italy, only began to assume definite literary form about a century later. That century contributed towards the development of scenic effect. In studying Arbeau’s manual of contemporary dance and music, one is struck by another thing: he is dealing with a social amusement of the upper classes. The dances he describes were mainly the proper accomplishment of the well born, or were such of lower origin as might with adaptation become worthy of performance by more courtly dancers. It is certain he does not describe all the types of dance known to his period. The old Provençal “_Rigaudon_” which was later to come into such favour owing to Camargo, is not referred to by Arbeau; nor the languorous “_Sarabande_,” which was probably of Moorish origin derived through Spain--or possibly earlier through Augustan Rome; the lively “_Chaconne_” is another omission; the “_Tresca_” yet another. These, and perhaps others, must have existed in Arbeau’s time and long before; but would be among the traditional amusements of the people, and were not yet elected to the company of courtly dances. It is needful to linger over these points here, for they account for much that we find in the subsequent development of theatrical ballets in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Speaking of Beaujoyeux’s “_Ballet Comique_,” Castil Blaze, the scholarly historian of the Paris opera, remarks that it “became the model on which were composed a number of _ballets_, sung and danced, a kind of piece which held the place of Opera among the French and English for about a century.” That century was, roughly, from about 1500 to 1600. And he adds: “The English gave them the name of _masque_.”