Indeed, it was not until practically the close of Queen Anne’s reign that stage-dancing began to come to its own; for though the craze for pantomimes (and his importation of French dancers) started by John Rich in Anne’s last year, were mainly responsible for this, I cannot help thinking that Steele and Addison’s ever lively _Spectator_, together with the works of Mr. John Weaver, had considerable effect in rousing the attention of playgoers as to the possibilities of dancing on the stage; for while there are four papers in _The Spectator_ in which dancing as a _social_ accomplishment is discussed, Steele, in one of them, makes the interesting suggestion that “It would be a great improvement, as well as embellishment to the theatre, if dancing were more regarded, and taught to all the actors”; and another calls special attention to _An Essay towards an History of Dancing_, by John Weaver (a 12mo. volume published in 1712), who was also author of a very interesting _History of Pantomimes_. These literary efforts cannot have been without their influence on current taste in things theatrical. Before the appearance of _The Spectator_, however, Addison had made amusing reference to a dancing-master in one of his papers for _The Tatler_. The date is 1709. He heads it as written “From my own Apartment, October 31,” and goes on: “I was this morning awakened by a sudden shake of the house; and as soon as I had got a little out of my consternation, I felt another, which was followed by two or three repetitions of the same convulsion. I got up as fast as possible, girt on my rapier, and snatched up my hat, when my landlady came up to me and told me that the gentlewoman of the next house begged me to step thither, for that a lodger she had taken in was run mad; and she desired my advice; as indeed everybody in the whole lane does upon important occasions,” he slyly adds. With much detail and delightful humour Addison goes on to describe his adventure, at greater length than can be given here. Suffice it to say that he went in next door and upstairs, “with my hand upon the hilt of my rapier and approached this new lodger’s door. I looked in at the keyhole and there I saw a well-made man look with great attention at a book and, on a sudden, jump into the air so high that his head almost touched the ceiling. He came down safe on his right foot, and again flew up, alighting on his left; then looked again at his book and, holding out his right leg, put it into such a quivering motion that I thought he would have shaken it off.”