this view of the derivation of the word appears both ingenious and correct. Roger North shrewdly conjectured that the "rude and gross" Gothic Fiddle "used to stir up the vulgar to dancing, or perhaps to solemnise their idolatrous sacrifices." In the Dark Ages dancing may have been regarded as bi-pedal trembling. I have remarked in another place,[19] "In the early ages of mankind dancing or jigging must have been done to the sound of the voice, next to that of the pipe, and, when the bow was discovered, to that of a stringed instrument which was named the Geige from its primary association with dancing." The evidence we have of the use to which the leading instrument was put in the days of its adolescence is indicative of its having grown up among dancers, jugglers, and buffoons. In Germany its players gave fame and name to a distinct class of itinerant minstrels named the Gigeours, who were often associated with the Jongleurs in their perambulations. In France, from the days of the Jongleurs to those of Henry IV., and later to those of Louis XIV., the instrument was wedded to the dance. In England to the time of Charles II. it was in the hands of the Fiddler, who accompanied the jig, the hornpipe, the round, and the North Country frisk. [Footnote 15: In Carl Engel's "Researches into the Early History of the Violin Family," 1883, the author disbelieves in the Crwth having been the lineal ancestor of the Violin, and there can be but little doubt of the correctness of his opinion.] [Footnote 16: It is worthy of remark that the Northmen, who invaded and gave their name to Normandy, carried from their Scandinavian homes a love of minstrelsy.] [Footnote 17: Sebastian Wirdung, a priest, published a work in 1511, in which he describes the bow instruments of his time by the names Gross-Geigen and Klein-Geigen. The illustration of the Klein-Geige differs but little from the Rebec; it has three strings, whilst the Gross-Geige has nine. Further information is supplied by the work of Martin Agricola, published in 1529.--_Mendel's German Musical Dictionary, article "Violine."_] [Footnote 18: "Almost all our musical writers state, as if it were a well-ascertained fact, that the German word Geige is derived from the _Gigue_ of the French Minstrels, who, during the 13th and 14th centuries, had a sort of _Rebec_ which they called by that name, and which, according to some commentators, resembled in outward appearance the shank of a goat or ram, called _Gigot_, and hence the origin of all the similar words occurring in different European languages. These commentators have, however, neglected to prove that the old French word Gigue occurs before the 13th century, or that it is earlier than the Middle High German _Gige_."--_Engel's "Researches into the History of the Violin Family."_] [Footnote 19: "The Violin and its Music," 1881, page 19.]