ndered it impossible to keep it in high
order; but an annoyance infinitely greater than decorations
indifferently clean, was the style and manner of the audience.
Men came into the lower tier of boxes without their coats; and I
have seen shirt sleeves tucked up to the shoulder; the spitting
was incessant, and the mixed smell of onions and whiskey was
enough to make one feel even the Drakes' acting dearly bought
by the obligation of enduring its accompaniments. The bearing
and attitudes of the men are perfectly indescribable; the heels
thrown higher than the head, the entire rear of the person
presented to the audience, the whole length supported on
the benches, are among the varieties that these exquisite
posture-masters exhibit. The noises, too, were perpetual, and
of the most unpleasant kind; the applause is expressed by cries
and thumping with the feet, instead of clapping; and when a
patriotic fit seized them, and "Yankee Doodle" was called for,
every man seemed to think his reputation as a citizen depended
on the noise he made.

Two very indifferent figurantes, probably from the Ambigu
Comique, or la Gaiete, made their appearance at Cincinnati while
we were there; and had Mercury stepped down, and danced a _pas
seul_ upon earth, his godship could not have produced a more
violent sensation. But wonder and admiration were by no means
the only feelings excited; horror and dismay were produced in at
least an equal degree. No one, I believe, doubted their being
admirable dancers, but every one agreed that the morals of the
Western world would never recover the shock. When I was asked if
I had ever seen any thing so dreadful before, I was embarrassed
how to answer; for the young women had been exceedingly careful,
both in their dress and in their dancing, to meet the taste of
the people; but had it been Virginie in her most transparent
attire, or Taglioni in her most remarkable pirouette, they could
not have been more reprobated. The ladies altogether forsook the
theatre; the gentlemen muttered under their breath, and turned
their heads aside when the subject was mentioned; the clergy
denounced them from the pulpit; and if they were named at the
meetings of the saints, it was to show how deep the horror such a
theme could produce. I could not but ask myself if virtue were a
plant, thriving under one form in one country, and flourishing
under a different one in another? If these Western Americans are
right, t