"As to their love of dancing, and of the
fandango in particular, it is said, though I do not vouch for it, that
the Church of Rome, scandalized that a country so renowned for the
purity of its faith, had not long ago proscribed so profane a dance,
resolved to pronounce the solemn condemnation of it. A consistory
assembled; the prosecution of the fandango was begun according to
rule, and a sentence was about to be thundered against it. But there
was a wise Spanish prelate present who knew his countrymen, and
dreaded a schism, should they be driven to choose between the fandango
and the faith. He stepped forward and objected to the criminal's being
condemned without being heard.
"The observation had weight with the assembly. He was allowed to
produce before them a _majo_ and a _maja_ of Seville, who, to the
sound of voluptuous music, displayed all the seductive graces of the
dance. The severity of the judges was not proof against the
exhibition. Their austere countenances began to relax; they rose from
their seats; their legs and arms soon found their former suppleness;
the consistory-hall was changed into a dancing-room, and the fandango
acquitted.
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