Sarah Siddons as the Tragic Muse paintings of Melpoméne, she is represented with a tragic mask and also often holds in her other hand a knife or club. In Greek mythology, she is the daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, who had eight other daughters, Melpoméne's sisters and the eight other muses are: Calliope, muse of epic poetry; Clio, muse of history; Euterpe, muse of flute playing; Terpsichore, muse of dancing; Erato, muse of erotic poetry; Thalia muse of comedy; Polyhymnia, muse of hymns; and Urania, muse of astronomy. Reynolds was inspired not only by Sarah Siddons' extreme talent to embody the tragic heroine in Macbeth, but
Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day the right hand of God, that man May come unto the general dance. Chorus Thomas Cahill, in his book "Mysteries of the Middle Ages" (Doubleday, 2006), presents this song as an English carol in which Christ speaks of his incarnation, his "dancing day". Cahill writes that the carol can be found on extant broadsides, which makes it certainly as old as early printing, but still impossible to date. He goes on to suggest that the phrase "the legend of my play" appears to be an allusion to a mystery play, and that the song might well have been sung at