me apartment served
for dancing and tea-room. Dinner parties more frequently ended with an
extempore dance on the carpet, to the music of a harpsichord in the
house, or a fiddle from the village. This was always supposed to be for
the entertainment of the young people, but many, who had little
pretension to youth, were very ready to join in it. There can be no
doubt that Jane herself enjoyed dancing, for she attributes this taste to
her favourite heroines; in most of her works, a ball or a private dance
is mentioned, and made of importance.

Many things connected with the ball-rooms of those days have now passed
into oblivion. The barbarous law which confined the lady to one partner
throughout the evening must indeed have been abolished before Jane went
to balls. It must be observed, however, that this custom was in one
respect advantageous to the gentleman, inasmuch as it rendered his duties
more practicable. He was bound to call upon his partner the next
morning, and it must have been convenient to have only one lady for whom
he was obliged

To gallop all the country over,
The last night's partner to behold,
And humbly hope she caught no cold.

But the stately minuet still reigned supreme; and every regular ball
commenced with it. It was a slow and solemn movement, expressive of
grace and dignity, rather than of merriment. It abounded in formal bows
and courtesies, with measured paces, forwards, backwards and sideways,
and many complicated gyrations. It was executed by one lady and
gentleman, amidst the admiration, or the criticism, of surrounding
spectators. In its earlier and most palmy days, as when Sir Charles and
Lady Grandison delighted the company by dancing it at their own wedding,
the gentleman wore a dress sword, and the lady was armed with a fan of
nearly equal dimensions. Addison observes that 'women are armed with
fans, as men with swords, and sometimes do more execution with them.' The
graceful carriage of each weapon was considered a test of high breeding.
The clownish man was in danger of being tripped up by his sword getting
between his legs: the fan held clumsily looked more of a burden than an
ornament; while in the hands of an adept it could be made to speak a
language of its own. {35} It was not everyone who felt qualified to make
this public exhibition, and I have been told that those ladies who
intended to dance minuets, used to distinguish themselves from others by
wea