y name, for the derivation is most probably from
_Pavo_, a peacock, with a reference, no doubt, to the majestic strut
and gay feathers of that bird. It was _de rigueur_ for gentlemen to
dance the Pavan in cap and sword; for lawyers to wear their gowns,
princes their mantles; and ladies to take part in the fullest of full
dress, the long trains of their gowns being supposed to correspond in
appearance and movement to the peacock's tail.

The only Pavan mentioned by Shakespeare is the _Passy-measures pavin_,
otherwise known as Passing-measures-pavin, or Passameso, or _Pass e
mezzo_, which last is the earliest form of the word.

Praetorius (_b._ 1571), however, says the Passe mezzo is so called
because it has only _half as many steps_ as a Galliard. Thus the name
is inverted, mezzo Passo. Hawkins helps to confuse the matter by
explaining that the Galliard has _five bars or steps_ in the first
strain, and that the Passamezzo has just half that number, and thus
gets its name. No Galliard ever had an uneven number of bars in any of
its strains, so this account is difficult to reconcile.

However, Pass e mezzo, 'step and a half,' is the most trustworthy form
of the name, and the Note on the Orchesographie of Arbeau (1588) makes
all quite clear.

The Passamezzo (or passy-measures pavin) tune in the Appendix has a
similar construction to the ordinary pavan, the form of which has been
explained earlier in this section--_i.e._, it consists of regular
'strains,' which in their turn contain a certain _even_ number of
semibreves, or 'bars.' In the case given, the strains consist of
_eight_ bars each. This must be borne in mind, in connection with Sir
Toby's drunken fancy about the surgeon, in the following passage:--

_Tw._ V, i, 197.

_Sir To._ [Drunk, and with a bloody coxcomb]--Sot, didst see
Dick surgeon, sot?

_Clo._ O! he's drunk, Sir Toby, an hour agone; his eyes were
_set at eight_ i' the morning.

_Sir To._ Then he's a rogue, and a _passy-measures pavin_.

Toby being only moderately sober, naturally feels indignant at the
doctor's indiscretions in the same kind; and, quite as naturally, the
Clown's remark about the latter's eyes brings this fantastic
comparison into his head. The doctor's eyes were set _at eight_, and
so is a Pavan set 'at eight.' It is easy to see Sir Toby's musical
gifts asserting themselves, confused recollections reeling across his
brain, of that old rule in Morley abo