do scorn the court;
We can be as merry upon the downs
As you at midnight with all your sport,
With a _fading_, with a _fading_."

It would appear, also, from a letter appended to Boswell's edition of
Malone, that it was an Irish dance, and that it was practised, upon
rejoicing occasions, as recently as 1803, the date of the letter:

"This dance is still practised on rejoicing occasions in many parts of
Ireland; a king and queen are chosen from amongst the young persons who
are the best dancers; the queen carries a garland composed of two hoops
placed at right angles, and fastened to a handle; the hoops are covered
with flowers and ribbons; you have seen it, I dare say, with the
May-maids. Frequently in the course of the dance the king and queen lift
up their joined hands as high as they can, she still holding the garland
in the other. The most remote couple from the king and queen first pass
under; all the rest of the line linked together follow in succession.
When the last has passed, the king and queen suddenly face about and
front their companions; this is often repeated during the dance, and the
various undulations are pretty enough, resembling the movements of a
serpent. The dancers on the first of May visit such newly wedded pairs
of a certain rank as have been married since last May-day in the
neighborhood, who commonly bestow on them a stuffed ball richly decked
with gold and silver lace, and accompanied with a present in money, to
regale themselves after the dance. This dance is practised when the
bonfires are lighted up, the queen hailing the return of summer in a
popular Irish song beginning:

'We lead on summer--see! she follows in our train.'"

In the "Winter's Tale" (iv. 4), Shakespeare seems to allude to this
dance where he makes the servant, speaking of the pedler, say: "he has
the prettiest love songs for maids; so without bawdry, which is strange;
with such delicate burdens of 'dildos' and 'fadings.'" Some
commentators,[827] however, consider that only the song is meant.

[827] See Knight's "Pictorial Shakespeare," vol. ii. p. 375;
Dyce's "Glossary," 1836, p. 152; "British Popular Customs,"
1876, pp. 276, 277. See also Chappell's "Popular Music of the
Olden Time," 2d edition, vol. i. p. 235; Nares's "Glossary,"
vol. i. p. 292.

_Hay._ Douce[828] says this dance was borrowed by us from the French,
and is classed among the "brawls" in Thoinot Arbeau's "Orcheso