How to Dress for Dancing, 1530
In case of dance emergency, pull cord.
Cesare Negri, Nuove inventioni di balli, 1604
You must always be garbed to perfection and your codpiece must be well tied. We sometimes see codpieces slip to the ground during the basse dance so you must tie them well.
Antonius Arena, Leges dansandi (trans. John Guthrie and Marino Zorzi)
Oh, that anxiety dream: you’re getting your basse dance on with a shapely demoiselle when suddenly you realize that the codpiece on the floor is yours! Don’t let it happen to you.
Now I just have to wikipedia codpiece.
Don't wikipedia codpiece.
The illustration is from the second edition of Negri's dance manual - it was originally produced as an engraving to show the way to do a dance (more a parlour game, I'd say) where a man (and it was almost always a man) would dance a little jig and then hop onto one foot and execute a big "roundhouse" kick with his other foot and attempt to kick the tassel of a drapery cord held head-high with a candle snuffer by a lady.
Elizabeth, you just made beer come out my nose. Thank you for this blog.