a very graceful kind of dance, consisting of a coupee, a high step, and a balance. It begins with a beat, and its motion is triple.

The invention of the minuet seems to be generally ascribed to the French, and particularly to the inhabitants of the province of Poitou. The word is said by Ménage and Furetière to be derived from the French menu or menu, small or little, and in strictness to signify a small space. The melody of this dance consists of two strains, which, from being repeated, are called reprises, each having eight or more bars, but never an odd number. The measure consists of three crotchets in a bar, and is thus marked $\frac{3}{4}$, though it is commonly performed in the time $\frac{2}{4}$. Walther speaks of a minuet in Lully's opera of Roland, each strain of which contains ten bars, the sectional number being 5; a circumstance which renders it very difficult to be danced.