Minuets became less and less popular during Jane Austen’s time in Bath. A clue to why might be found in this quote from a letter in the Bath library describing a ball in the Upper Rooms in 1792:
“It was amazingly crowded, although the minuets had not begun, so much so that we found some difficulty to get seats. I was very much entertained with the bad minuet dancers especially with a Mr Badcock who was obliged to stand up with seven or eight Ladies successively, to the great diversion of the spectators. I believe there were twenty minuets which was rather tiresome, but at last the Country Dances began”
Fancy Balls were a new innovation designed to combat the decline in attendances at the Cotillion Balls of the previous decade and an increasing resistance to the rigid dress codes. Fancy Balls were, in Georgian terms, much more relaxed occasions Ladies could appear in hats or make any other elegant fashion statement they pleased, short of actual fancy dress costumes. Fancy balls started with a country dance, after which there was one Cotillion only, and then tea – after tea, a country dance, one Cotillion only and the evening ended with more country dances, and the Long Minuet famously illustrated by Henry Bunbury.
Cotillions were danced in a square formation, by four couples, and consisted of a number of relatively simple standard verses in between which was danced a chorus that denoted a particular cotillion. The dance had its own vocabulary of step and in particular punctuation steps such as the rigadon. The dance involved a lot of exchanges of partners and opportunities to show off to and acknowledge members of the opposite sex. However, cotillions take a long time to dance and involve a lot of repetition.
In the 1790s, Dress and fancy balls in the Upper Rooms began as soon as possible after seven o’clock and concluded precisely at 11 even in the middle of a dance. These times were slightly different at the different rooms and the start times were altered slightly over time probably to accommodate shifting fashions for private parties.
In 1797 the 22-year-old Jane Austen visited Bath and it is possible that the description of a first ball at the Upper Rooms in Northanger Abbey is drawn from this visit. Certainly, her description of the Upper Rooms is in keeping with both contemporary illustrations and written descriptions in letters and diaries.
“Mrs Allen was so long in dressing that they did not enter the ballroom till late. The season was full, the room crowded and the two ladies squeezed in as well as they could. As for Mr Allen, he repaired directly to the card-room and left them to enjoy a mob by themselves.”
Struggling through the crowd they hoped to find seats and
“watch the dances with perfect convenience,”
but even when they gained the top of the room,
“they saw nothing of the dancers but the high feathers of some of the ladies.”
By continual exertion of strength and ingenuity, they found themselves at last in the passage behind the highest bench, and Miss Morland gained a comprehensive view of all the company beneath her.
“. .. It was a splendid sight and she began for the first time that evening, to feel herself at a ball: she longed to dance, but she had not an acquaintance in the room.”
It is interesting to compare this fictional description of the 17-year-old Catherine Morland’s experiences based on those of the 22-year-old Jane Austen with the description of a first ball at the Upper Rooms by the 15-year-old Elizabeth Canning writing to her mother the redoubtable Mehitabel Canning.
“at length a little past seven arrived and we set sail, were soon safe landed, at the Upper Rooms. By that time I felt all impatience to be in the Ball room, & was picturing to myself all the charms I could conceive, such a place to have, when we entered it. I was fully gratified, for to be sure I never saw so brilliant an assembly. It was amazingly crowded, although the minuets had not begun, so much so that we found some difficulty to get seats.”
After watching the Minuets
“there was a great humming & hawing whether or no I should dance. If I could get a partner, I felt at first as if I should be afraid but the sound of the music did so insinuate itself into my ears, that all idea of fear took itself off & I declared to Mrs Leigh that I should like to dance, if I could get some mighty smart partner”
After a break for tea
“Mrs Leigh was not unmindful of her little niece, for she sent her good man to look for some dapper little personage for me & indeed he succeeded very well, for he soon brought us a Young Gentleman of about fifteen the smartest little mister you ever saw. When I perceived the gentleman I began to fear lest I should be obliged to accept him, but might have saved myself that trouble, for the pride of the old aunts was up at the idea of my making my first company with a lump of a boy”
After this unfortunate start
“Mr Leigh was dispatched after two or three dapper people that Mrs L had in her mind’s eye for me, among the rest Sir William Andre.”
Sir William was 32 and had become a Baronet when his brother was executed as a spy by the Americans.
“we were standing on the upper bench, so that we could all around the room to where we saw Mr Leigh rushing about till he got to Sir W and there was a little parleying and then they walked together as if coming towards us. Then my heart began to palpitate half afraid and yet wishing to dance but after being kept in suspense for some time Mr Leigh returned to us unsuccessful as for Sir William he had refused several ladies already & could not possibly dance then without offending them, another was engaged, & a third was tired, so among them your poor little pixie was obliged to content herself without cutting capers. Which indeed I did not much lament as, as the heat was so great that I almost doubt I should not have been able to have got down the dance, but the next time I go to a Ball now that I know the manoeuvres of it I shall get them to look out for a partner earlier in the evening, and then I shall have a better chance. Altogether I was very well satisfied with the evening’s amusements and came home in very good spirits, to supper, between eleven and twelve. I slept very well & dreamt all night of the fine rooms.”
