Washington telegraph., 1853-05-11
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In the collection of the earlier poems of
BYRON, there is slashing satire upon this
seductive dance. 1t is rather too free and
loud for Gears polite" otherwise we might
be tempted to quote few stanzas The
hits were so palpable, and told so effectively,
that the authorship was concealed for some
time. The putative author was a Mr. Hon
MEM, who, struck with amazement at seeing
his wife encircled in the lusty arms of a
whiskered dragoon in a ballroom. gives vent
to his astonishment in an invocation in verse
to the muse Of the '-Waltz" This was forty
years ago and Blachtrood, in his last num-
ber paraphrases it in the following style:
As 4 matter Of chronological history we
must say, that the "hugging polka had not
been introduced in the days of BYRON.
1.-The waltz, as we danced it was decent
of its kind No father of family, we think,
whatever may be the practices Of fashion,
spanned by the arm of some debauched dra-
goon, whose advances she can hardly refuse
without committing breach of the idiotic
rules which modern usage irculcates Sure
ly, In a free country, woman ought to be
free in her choice even of temporary part
ner; and the base notion which prevails, that
a lady, by refusing the invitation of one man
to dance, is debarrcd from accepting more
congenial offer, is utterly foreign and repug-
nant to the rules Of chivalry. In the hall,
or bower. the ladies are paramount, and they
ought to exert their authority-remember
ing this, the slightest murmur against their
decision ought to be considered an offence
against knightly courtesy 1t would be well
if we had female tribunal, with fall powers
of expulsion from society, to adiudicate up
on such matters.
But not to perpetrate depression in favor
of Provencial usages. let us return to the
matter in question We maintain, now, that
Lord Byron. writing under the name of
Horace Hornem, was fully justified in the
utterance Of every couplet. The poet is a
seer; and though we, perhaps, in our younger
days. could descry no impropriety in the
waltz, which merely admitted US to a nearer
degree of contact than the former Terpsich-
orean evolutions, the poetical eye of the bard
foresaw the necessary consequence. The
character of the waltz gradually became
changed. From a graceful, rotary motion
it degenerated into Bacchic movement,
similar, no doubt, to the first Thespian per-
formances, which were intended as scholars
tell us, to be in honor Of the young Lyaus.
Then came the galloppe, which was still
further manifestation of the triumphal pro-
cession of Adriadne Dancing, as one of the
fine arts, now received its virtual doathblow
You saw an infuriated looking fellow throw
his arm round a girls waist, and rush off
with her as if he had been one of the troop
of Romulus abducting a reluctant Sabine
Sabine, however made no remonstrance, but
went along with him quiet and cordially
They pursued species of pat-like race
around the room-ierking, flirting, backing,
and pirouetting, without rule. and without
any vestige of grace, until breath failed them,
and the painting virgin was pulled up short
on the arm of her perspiring partner. Ghost
of Count Hamilton. shade of de Grammont.
has it really come to this? You knew, in
your day, something about The Castlemains
and Others but never did you witness, in
public at least, such orgies as British mat
irons and mothers now placidly contemplate
and approve.
This, however, called for reform; and it
was reformed. By what? By the intro
duction Of the polka-the favorite dance, and
no wonder, of the Casions View it philo-
sophically, and you find 1t to be neither
more nor less than the nuptial dance of Bac-
chus and Adriadne Our mothers or grand
mothers were staggered and some of them
shocked, at the introduction of ballet in the
opera houses What would they say now,
could they see one of their female descend
ants absolutely in the embrace of some hairy
manufacturing him, linked to him, drawn
to him, her head reclining on his shoulder
and he perusing her charms executing the
most ungraceful of all possible movements,
at the will of notorious Tomnoddy? No
doubt every thing is innocent, and the whole
dance is conducted, on one side at least, with
perfect purity of idea. But somehow or
other, these grapplings, squeezings, and ap-
proHimat;ons, look rather odd in the eyes Of
the unpreiudiced spectator: and we, who
have seen the feats of Egyptian Almas al
most surpassed in British ball rooms, may
be pardoned for expressing our conviction,
that a fttle-nay, a good deal-more of
feminine reserve than is presently practiced,
would be vastly advantageous to the young
ladies' who resort to those haunts which they