y, darting forward, like twin stars, in
free and unimpeded space. As if in the pride of defiance, the cavalier
accentuates his steps, quits his partner for a moment, as if to
contemplate her with renewed delight, rejoins her with passionate
eagerness, or whirls himself rapidly round, as though overcome with
the sudden joy and yielding to the delicious giddiness of rapture.
Sometimes, two couples start at the same moment, after which a change
of partners may occur between them; or a third cavalier may present
himself, and, clapping his hands, claim one of the ladies as his
partner. The queens of the festival are in turn claimed by the most
brilliant gentlemen present, courting the honor of leading them through
the mazes of the dance.

While in the Waltz and Galop, the dancers are isolated, and only
confused tableaux are offered to the bystanders; while the Quadrille is
only a kind of pass at arms made with foils, where attack and defence
proceed with equal indifference, where the most nonchalant display of
grace is answered with the same nonchalance; while the vivacity of
the Polka, charming, we confess, may easily become equivocal; while
Fandangos, Tarantulas and Minuets, are merely little love-dramas, only
interesting to those who execute them, in which the cavalier has nothing
to do but to display his partner, and the spectators have no share but
to follow, tediously enough, coquetries whose obligatory movements are
not addressed to them;--in the Mazourka, on the contrary, they have also
their part, and the role of the cavalier yields neither in grace nor
importance to that of his fair partner.

The long intervals which separate the successive appearance of the pairs
being reserved for conversation among the dancers, when their turn comes
again, the scene passes no longer only among themselves, but extends
from them to the spectators. It is to them that the cavalier exhibits
the vanity he feels in having been able to win the preference of the
lady who has selected him; it is in their presence she has deigned to
show him this honor; she strives to please them, because the triumph of
charming them is reflected upon her partner, and their applause may be
made a part of the most flattering and insinuating coquetry. Indeed, at
the close of the dance, she seems to make him a formal offering of their
suffrages in her favor. She bounds rapidly towards him and rests upon
his arm,--a movement susceptible of a thousand varying