A Cotillion of the 1790s and its revolutionary links

In "The Gentleman & Ladies Companion containing the Newest Cotillions and Country Dances", published by the Norwich-based dancing master Trumbull in 1798, we find the following instructions for dancing the cotillion called. 

The Ca Ira Cotillion

"Balance all eight, then half round the same back again; 1^st and'2d couple (opposite) take your partner with both hands, chasse with her to your side with five steps, back again to your places balance with the opposite couple, then cross hands half round, back again with four hands round, a gentleman with the lady opposite balance in the middle, and set, the other gentleman with the opposite lady do the same, right and left quite round until to your places. The 3rd and 4^th couples do the same figures."

"Ça ira", which can be translated as - it'll be fine - is a song of the French Revolution, first heard in May 1790. It underwent several changes in wording, all of which used the title words as part of the refrain.[1]

The music is a popular contre danse air called Le Carillon National, composed by Bécourt, a musician of the théâtre Beaujolais. Marie Antoinette is said to have often played the music on her harpsichord.

The title and theme of the refrain were inspired by Benjamin Franklin while in France as a representative of the Continental Congress. Franklin was very popular in France. When asked about the American Revolutionary War, he would reportedly reply, "Ça ira, ça ira" ("It'll be fine, it'll be fine").

The song first became popular as a work song during the preparation for the Fête de la Fédération of 1790 and eventually became recognised as an unofficial anthem of revolutionaries.

At the 1793 Battle of Famars, the 14th Regiment of Foot, The West Yorkshire Regiment, attacked the French to the music of Ça Ira (the colonel commenting that he would "beat the French to their own damned tune"). The regiment was later awarded the tune as a battle honour and regimental quick march. It has since been adopted by the Yorkshire Regiment.

Demons in the Sky sing "Ça ira" as the blade of the guillotine severs the head of Louis XVI in this British print published just four days after the king's execution on 21 January 1793.

1. Who wrote Ca Ira French Revolution? – Poletoparis.com. https://poletoparis.com/who-wrote-ca-ira-french-revolution/

A Bath Tailor's shop of the 1820s

Mr Drake claims to have worked for Stultz and Co. this is the company founded by Johann Stultz who in an earlier decade was the preferred tailor of London’s aristocracy including the most famous of dandies, George Brummell and the Prince Regent, who by 1822 was on the throne as George IV.

By habit Drake mean ladies riding clothes in modern values, Mr Drake was offering these at around £400.

Pelisse 1817

A pelisse was originally a short fur-lined or fur-trimmed jacket that was usually worn hanging loosely over the left shoulder of hussar light cavalry soldiers but by this time when military clothing was often used as inspiration for fashionable ladies' garments, the term was applied to a woman's long, fitted coat with set-in sleeves and the fashionable Empire waist. Although initially, these Regency-era pelisses copied the Hussars' fur and braid, they soon lost these initial associations, and in fact were often made entirely of silk and without fur at all. They did, however, tend to retain traces of their military inspiration with frog fastenings and braid trim. 

Super cloth and superfine cloth are grades of pure wool fabric. Saxony was the highest grade woollen and worsted dress fabric and was made from the wool of German merino sheep. Imperial usually implies cloth woven using a mixture of colours or fabrics in the weave.

The fashionable greatcoat of this decade was often angle length, with a deep rolled collar (with or without lapels.) Fur was still in fashion for facing, and buttons were large. The greatcoat was usually gathered at the shoulders (en gigot sleeved).

The frock coat was a form of undress, the clothing worn instead of the dress coat in more informal situations. Morning coats were cut light in the skirts and rather shorter than the evening coats. 

Kerseymere is a fine woollen cloth with a fancy twill weave.

Russia drilling or drill is a stout twilled fabric usually made with hemp linen.

Nankeen Trousers 1818

Nankeen is a kind of pale yellowish cloth, originally made at Nanjing from a yellow variety of cotton, but subsequently manufactured from ordinary cotton which is then dyed.

Jeans cloth was a cotton fabric.

Valencia was famous for producing high-quality silks and toilenet was a kind of poplin medium weight fabric made of wool or a mixture of wool and cotton or silk and cotton.

Waistcoats of this period were often made of gaily coloured material and the dominate style was single brested certainly for evening wear. They were cut longer in the waist and began to aquire a peak known as the hussar cut at the bottom of the front edge. The collar continued from the lapel and was rolled right down to the opening, leaving only two or three buttons closed. Waistcoats with straight standing collars were also worn.

Marseilles is a strong cotton fabric with a raised pattern

13 York Street Today

The Wiltshires and the Lower Rooms

The Wiltshire's were a very wealthy and influential Bath family who made their money as carriers, transporting high-value goods between London and Bath, selling mineral water and in banking.

Thomas Rowlandson A Carrier's Waggon

In addition to these enterprises, they also became proprietors of one of the rooms on the parades. The first Wiltshire to take charge was Anne Wiltshire who ran the rooms from 1744 to 1747. The Bath Journal of 23 September 1745 tells us that the subscription Anne charged to use the Rooms was a guinea and they opened at 11 am.

Wiltshire's Rooms

Anne's son John Wiltshire took over in 1747 and ran them until 1762.

John was the brother of Walter Wiltshire who took over the running of the Rooms until 1767. Both brothers were prominent Freemasons and Walter was elected a Councillor in 1746 and went on to be Mayor in 1772, 1780 and 1791. We learn from the Bath City Council Minutes of 1746 that the Council was indebted to Walter Wiltshire to the tune of £7,700 or around £900,000 today.

Walter also claimed sole London agency for the sale of Bath bottled water at his depots at the White Bear, Piccadilly and the White Swan at Holborn.

Shockerville House
Walter Wiltshire's House

The New Bath Guide of 1766 tells us that John decorated his rooms with a "Portrait Picture and Bust of the Late Richard Nash Esq. beside many curious landscapes." The latter is of some interest because the Wiltshire brothers through both their work and Freemasonry were mixing with many important artists including Gainsborough.

Wiltshire's Rooms

Up With The Orange a dance from 1814

This is taken from "Up with the Orange. A fashionable country dance to which are added two favorite French country dances or cotillions for the year 1814. The proper figures are affixed to each air."

The suggested figures are:
    
The 1st and 2nd couples advance and foot it in the centre, Then turn into place down the middle and up again - swing corners  - pousette.  

The title probably refers to the Prince of Orange, for whom 1814 had been a big year as he had been promoted to lieutenant-general in the British Army and had become engaged to Princess Charlotte, the only daughter of the Prince Regent.  

William and his wife Anna Pavlovna (1816)

                                                                                                

The London dancing master Thomas Wilson tells us in his 1808 publication An Analysis of Country Dance how to swing corners correctly at this period.

The Gentleman at B, turns the Lady at A, with his right hand, who moves to D, while the Gentleman
moves to C.

Barree a Bath Dancing Master of the Regency

Monsieur Barree, "Professor of Dancing and Ballet-Master, Pensioner of the Opera House, Paris, and late Ballet-Master at the Opera House, London," taught in Bath before 1814.

In an announcement in the Bath Chronicle, he claims that one of his pupils was the famous and infamous Mademoiselle Parisot. If this is true, this must have been when he was a ballet master in London at the King's Theatre, then known as the Opera House.

Parisot moved to London and made her stage debut at the King's Theatre on 9 February 1796. The Morning Chronicle reported on the 19-year-old's performance favourably and described her balance "as positively magical, for her person was almost horizontal while turning as a pivot on her toe." Parisot frequently wore costumes that accentuated her legs as she danced, leading the Monthly Mirror to remark on her degree of flexibility in a 1796 performance as creating "a stir by raising her legs far higher than was customary for dancers", Parisot's salary for the 1795–1796 season was £600, and she earned £577 in 1799–1800 and £840 during the 1803–1804 season.

Mademoiselle Parisot in a 1799 mezzotint
by Charles Turner

In the late 1790s, Parisot often danced with Rose and Charles Didelot, a husband-and-wife ballet pair trained in Paris and later influential in developing Russian ballet. In 1798, the Bishop of Durham denounced a dress she had worn while dancing at the Opera as "indecent." 

Mademoiselle Parisot in a 1796 caricature
by Robert Newton.
The Bishop of Durham and
the Duke of Queensberry are in the theatre box.

The risqué dance moves of Parisot and the Didelots and Parisot's use of sheer, neoclassical costumes that often exposed one breast led the same bishop to denounce the "immoral" antics of the French ballet dancers.

In a production in 1799, Parisot "astounded" British theatregoers when she dressed in menswear. A "shawl dance" performed by Parisot at the King's Theatre as part of the January 1805 production "was received with enthusiastic applause." On 15 June 1805, a riot occurred at the Opera due to the manager, Mr Kelly, following the Bishop of London's orders to end the ballet by midnight, drawing the curtain before a dance by Parisot was completed. The angry theatre patrons "threw all the chairs out of the boxes into the pit, tore up the benches, destroyed the chandeliers, jumped into the orchestra, smashed the piano forte and broke all the instruments of the poor unoffending performers."

Mademoiselle Parisot retired from the stage at the end of the 1807 season.

Whether Monsieur Barree moved to Bath on the retirement of his pupil or earlier is not clear, but before 1814, we know he was living in the city with his wife and son, who both assisted in his dance school, which may have been located at 6 George Street. In 1814, he moved his family to Twerton. From 1814 to 1817, he confined himself to giving private lessons. Then, in 1817, the following advert appeared:

This is an interesting document as it gives some insight into how public dancing schools functioned at this time. Note that young people are taught separately, with young men only being taught in the morning and young women only in the afternoon. Lessons took place three times a week, and one class was wholly devoted to the most fashionable dances at this time, the Quadrille and the Waltz.

We also learn a little more about Barree. His daughter is now old enough to join him in the family business, and it seems he has published several books on the art of dancing.

Paynes Seventh Quadrille

Edward Payne was one of the most influential dancing masters of the Regency Era.
He is not to be confused with James Paine of Almacks. Payne seems to have significantly influenced the dancing master and author of numerous dancing manuals, Thomas Wilson.

Edward Payne died at the end of 1818 or the beginning of 1819 before he could see the
success of his dances. Payne was teaching Waltzes in 1815.

Payne's Seventh Set was probably published in 1815. The figures he proposes are:

Le Troubadour

1. Change sides all 8 and turn hands to the left
2. Back again and turn hands to the right
3. The 4 cross over giving the right hands
4. Back again with the left
5. Figure to the right and to the sides
6. The 8 advance and resume your partners

The other 4 dancers do the same

La Pettite Brunette

1. One Lady advances 8 bars.
2. The opposite Gentleman, the same
3. Balancez [sic] & turn your partners

The other 6 Dancers do the same

La Regence

1. One Gentleman and the opposite Lady figure to the left turn turn hands three round and back again to their place.
2. The 4 Ladies chain
3. Change sides 4 and cross over immediately
4. Change sides again and cross over to your places
5. Demie Promenade
6. Demie chaine anglaise

The other 4 Dancers do the same

La Nouvelle Bisson

1. One Gentleman and his partner with the Lady on his left, advance twice
2. Hands 3 round to the left
3. Back again to the right
4. The tiriors [sic] 4 times
5. The 4 back to back and half right and left to your places
6. The 4 back to back and half right and left to your places

The other 6 Dancers do the same

La Pomme d'Or

1. Hands round all 8
2. Balancez [sic] to the left and to your partners
3. Right and left
4. Change sides 4 and cross over immediately 
5. Hands 4 half round to your places

To finish hands round all 8

Les Carillions de Dunkirk

1. Promenade all 8
2. Change sides and set
3. Balencez [sic] and turn hands
4. Three beats with the hands afterwards with the foot
5. Allemande, change sides again and continue the same figure till you regain your places

To finish, Promenade all 8

Thomas Wilson Dancing Master and publisist

This advert appears in the 1820 edition of Thomas Wilson's own book The Complete System of English Country Dancing.

We know very little about Thomas Wilson and much of what we do know is what he tells us himself. From his writings he was clearly not lacking in self belief or self confidence.

He was a prolific author of books about dance and dancing and was often used by publishers to add suggested figures to their published dance music.

Because he was so prolific and so many of his books have survived he has become our primary source for information about social dancing in the early nineteenth century.

How his often very dogmatic views on dance were regarded by his contemporaries  we can only guess.

The reviewers of his works though favorable in tone offer little specific comment, though they often have a gently mocking tone designed to puncture pomposity. The following reviews for instance appear in the Gentleman's Magazine of 1817:

101. A Companion to the Ball Room, containing a Choice Collection of the most original and admired Country Dance, Reel, Hornpipe, and Waltz Tubes‘, with a variety of appropriate figures ,' the Etiquette, and a Dissertation on the State of the Ball Room. By Thomas Wilson, Dancing Master, from the King’s Theatre, Opera House; Button, Whitaker, &Co.pp. 232.

THOUGH our dancing-days are pretty well over, Mr. Wilson recalls to memory that such days have been, and were most dear,- and there was a time when we should have thought such a publication as the present a very high treat. For the sake of the Author, we hope that there are many who still think so; and that the sale of his Work will remunerate his ingenuity and his labour.

 “He has been induced to bring forward the present Work, not only to answer the request of those who have so frequently and for so many years past applied to him, to publish a Pocket Collection of correct and favourite Country Dances, with appropriate Figures, for the use of the Ball Room, but also to answer every purpose of the Dancer and the Musician; and consequently no pains have been spared to render it, what he trusts it will be found to be, the most original, useful, and pleasing Collection ever found in a Work approximating to its kind-It chiefly consists of Airs, adapted to Country Dancing, Reels, Hornpipes, Waltzes, &Co. with their Ages and Nationality attached to them, and a variety of appropriate Figures, to such Tunes as require them, with Directions for their correct Performance and remarks thereon: also will be affixed, a Critical Dissertation on the Present State of the English Ball Room, Ball Room Musicians, and Musical Publications."

The Tunes, which are numerous, are all engraved; a scientific Introduction is prefixed; and the volume closes with “ A Dissertation on the present State of the English Ball Room; Ball Room Musick, and Collection of Country Dances; Ball Room Musicians‘ the Etiquette of the Ball Room, and a National and Characteristic Index.

54. A Description of the correct Method of Waltzing, the truly fashionable Species of Dancing, that, from the graceful and pleasing Beauty of its Movements, has obtained an Ascendancy over every other Department of that polite Branch of Education. Part I containing a correct explanatory Description of the several Movements and Attitudes in German and French Waltzing. By Tho. Wilson, Dancing- Master, (from the King's Theatre, Opera House) Author of "The Analysis of Country Dancing," " The Treasures of Terpsichore," and a Variety of other Works on Music and Dancing. Illustrated by Engravings, from Original Designs and Drawings, by. H. A. Randall. 12mo. pp.113.Sherwood &Co.

HAVING in our last Volume paid proper consideration to Mr. Wilson's "Country Dances," we shall content ourselves with now giving only the ample title of the present work i observing merely, that it is dedicated

"To the Ladies and Gentlemen, of the King's Theatre, Opera House, of the Theatres Royal, Drury Lane and Covent Garden, and of the other Theatres, and to the Teachers of Dancing, and the others who have honoured the Treatise on the correct Method of Waltzing with their patronage and support, as subscribers and otherwise.

" No work on Dancing ever having been so highly patronised as the present, I can only say, that my sense of gratitude, excited by your goodness, is so strong, as to be altogether inexpressible, and such as never can be destroyed, but must be ever held in my remembrance, and cherished with enthusiasm."

The volume is splendidly printed; and will be a curious morsel for some Bibliomaniac of the next Century.

Disapproving in toto of the art of Waltzing, we cannot say more of the mode of teaching it.

55. The celebrated and fashionable Dance La Batteuse, with the various figures correctly explained, as danced at Paris, and at all the fashionable Balls and Assemblies of the Nobility and Gentry, and also at the Author's Balls and Assemblies : clearly illustrated by Diagrams, shewing the various Movements of which it is composed. Arranged for the Pianoforte, or Violin, by Thomas Wilson, Dancing-Master, folio, pp. 111.

THE skillful and indefatigable Mr. Wilson thus introduces La Batteuse :

 "The great celebrity which this Dance has so generally acquired in the first circles of Fashion, and the required frequency of its introduction in all fashionable Balls and Assemblies, has rendered it necessary that every Teacher of Fashionable Dancing should become properly acquainted with it. It has however, since the introduction of it as a fashionable dance, suffered many alterations which have tended to per vert the true nature of its composition as it correctly stands. To obviate as much as possible any further innovation On this pleasing Dance, is the Author's object in laying down the correct method of its performance, by giving the proper music, pointing out where the steps and the beating should be introduced, the quantity of musick required for each, and shewing by diagrams the form of the dance, and the correct manner of performing all the various movements of which it is composed."

As a consequence of this lack of real critique or comment it is unclear how reliable a guide he is to the real world of social dance in the early nineteenth century.