"The dance consisted mostly of a succession of figures, in which the performers endeavoured to exhibit a great variety of gesture. Men and women danced at the same time, or in separate parties, but the latter were generally preferred for their superior grace and elegance. Some danced to slow airs, adapted to the style of their movement; the attitudes they assumed frequently partook of a grace not unworthy of the Greeks; and some credit is due to the skill of the artist who represented the subject, which excites additional interest from its being in one of the oldest tombs of Thebes (B.C. 1450, Amenophis II.). Others preferred a lively step, regulated by an appropriate tune; and men sometimes danced with great spirit, bounding from the ground, more in the manner of Europeans than of Eastern people. On these occasions the music was not always composed of many instruments, and here we find only the cylindrical maces and a woman snapping her fingers in the time, in lieu of cymbals or castanets. "Graceful attitudes and gesticulations were the general style of their dance, but, as in all other countries, the taste of the performance varied according to the rank of the person by whom they were employed, or their own skill, and the dance at the house of a priest differed from that among the uncouth peasantry, etc. "It was not customary for the upper orders of Egyptians to indulge in this amusement, either in public or private assemblies, and none appear to have practised it but the lower ranks of society, and those who gained their livelihood by attending festive meetings. "Fearing lest it should corrupt the manners of a people naturally lively and fond of gaiety, and deeming it neither a necessary part of education nor becoming a person of sober habits, the Egyptians forbade those of the higher classes to learn it as an amusement. "Many of these postures resembled those of the modern ballet, and the pirouette delighted an Egyptian party 3,500 years ago. "The dresses of the females were light and of the finest texture, a loose flowing robe reaching to the ankles, sometimes with a girdle. "In later times, it appears more transparent and folded in narrow pleats.[Footnote: There is a picture of an Egyptian gauffering machine in Wilkinson, vol. i., p. 185.] Some danced in pairs, holding each other's hand; others went through a succession of steps alone, both men and women; sometimes a man performed a solo to the sound of music or the clapping of hands. "A favourite figure dance was universally adopted throughout the country, in which two partners, who were usually men, advanced toward each other, or stood face to face upon one leg, and having performed a series of movements, retired again in opposite directions, continuing to hold by one hand and concluding by turning each other round (see fig. 3). That the attitude was very common is proved by its having been adopted by the hieroglyphic (fig. 4) as the mode of describing 'dance.'"