A dancing master’s epitaph

From a book of “select and remarkable” epitaphs published in 1757:

On Mr. Maddox, a Dancing-Master, and his Wife.
They were lovely and pleasant in their Lives, and in
their Deaths they were not divided.
Hail happy Pair!  predestin’d long to prove
The chastest Raptures of connubial Love!
Who took no Step thro’ Life’s perplexed Dance,
But what would well your mutual Bliss advance!
Who figur’d not a Plan but what was meant,
Again to join your Hands with fresh Content.
Tho’ ceremonious–yet with Ease still fraught;
The very Image of the Art you taught !
Polite in all Life’s mazy Measures try’d,
As the gay Partner to his destin’d Bride.
Twice thirty Years in gentle Wedlock past,
The first was not so happy as the last !
Still each to each so complaisantly gay,
As raptur’d Lovers on their Nuptial Day !
All wing’d with Down their Years advancing roll,
And still improve this Unison of Soul!
Unvarying–courtly to his latest Breath,
He gave his Spouse Precedence e’en in Death.
The truest Honours to each other given,
He just surviv’d, then led her up to Heaven.

The source is Select and remarkable epitaphs on illustrious and other persons, in several parts of Europe, with translations of such as are in Latin and foreign languages and compendious accounts of the deceased their lives and works, Vol. II, edited by John Hackett (London, 1757), p. 20.  It’s not clear to me who the actual author of the epitaph was, but Maddox seems to have been a real person, and he and his wife apparently did die within a day or two of each other in 1744.  He is mentioned in A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers & Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800, Volume 10: M’Intosh to Nash, by Philip H. Highfill, Kalman A. Burnim, Edward A. Langhans (SIU Press, 1984), as the probable father and grandfather of wire-dancers Anthony and Michael Maddox.  Within the Anthony Maddox entry (p. 49), there is a note about the death of the Maddoxes:

On 8 December 1744 the Bristol Oracle and County Intelligencer remarked the death on 2 December of “James Maddox late an eminent Teacher of the Art of Dancing in this City,” and of his wife only 48 hours later, after being married for 50 years.  They were buried in St. Michael’s Church.  The wife was said to be the daughter of a Dr. Hoyle, physician.  

The epitaph and the obituary as cited above are slightly at odds over exactly how long the Maddoxes were married (50 years or “twice thirty”?) and who died first.  That issue of the Bristol Oracle and County Intelligencer is not online, alas, and I don’t currently feel curious enough about Mr. Maddox’s life to jump through genealogical hoops looking for further information.

The editors of the Biographical Dictionary dismissed the Maddox epitaph as “execrable sentimental verse”, and I’m not going to argue with that, but it is worth noting how the epitaph-writer worked in dance references here and there:

Who took no Step thro’ Life’s perplexed Dance,

The obvious: life is dance, one steps through it.

Who figur’d not a Plan but what was meant,
Again to join your Hands with fresh Content.

“Figures”, as I have previously discussed, are the components of the dance, and to “figure” was to perform them.  And of course one regularly joins hands in dancing.

Tho’ ceremonious–yet with Ease still fraught;
The very Image of the Art you taught !

The references here are a bit more subtle.  Certain dances, notably (for this era) the minuet, were quite ceremonious in style.  “Ease” was a valued quality in one’s dancing; it meant appearing neither effortful nor artificial.  “Every degree of stiffness or affectation destroys what is meant, or understood by graceful attitudes, or an easy carriage; nothing can be more inconsistent with ease…” is one of its many mentions in A new treatise on the art of dancing, published in installments in The Lady’s Magazine from February through July, 1785, a transcription of which was published in Dance Research in 1993.

Polite in all Life’s mazy Measures try’d,
As the gay Partner to his destin’d Bride.

A “measure” was both a figurative reference to dancing and a type of dance in the sixteenth and late seventeenth centuries.  “Mazy”, meaning complex or intricate, was a term frequently applied to dances.  “Partner” is obviously a reference to one’s dance partner.

He gave his Spouse Precedence e’en in Death.
The truest Honours to each other given,
He just surviv’d, then led her up to Heaven.

“Precedence”, or allowing the lady to precede one, was a courtesy in both dance and life.  “Honours” refers to the bow and courtesy of the dancers to each other and/or to the royal presence at the beginning of a dance.  “Lead down” and “lead up” are dance terms referring to two dancers moving up and down a set together.

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Perhaps someone whose particular interest is early eighteenth century dance will decide to look for more information on Maddox and his career.

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