GALLIARD (Ital. Gagliarda; Fr. Gaillarde). An old dance, as its name implies, of a merry character. ‘I did think,
’ says Shakspeare, ‘by the excellent constitution of thy leg that it was formed under the star of a galliard.
’ It was generally in 3–4, but sometimes in common time. It was described by Praetorius as ‘an invention of the devil,
’ and ‘full of shameful and obscene gestures, and immodest movements.
’ From the fact of its coming from...
