Part 15 (1/2)
The same etiquette should be observed on the departure of royal guests as on their arrival.
=General Introductions= should not be made to royal guests, and introductions should be made by request only.
Gentlemen present at a ball are expected to ask the daughters of the house for one dance at least.
A hostess should use her own discretion as to any introduction she thinks proper to make. When a ball is given in the country, the hostess should endeavour to find partners for those young ladies who are strangers to the general company. But when a ball is given in town, she is not expected to do so, as in town the guests are supposed to be acquainted with each other more or less, and to be independent of the kind offices of a hostess.
=The Dances mainly in vogue at the moment= are, ”Valses,” ”The Boston,”
”Two Steps,” and ”The Cotillon,” in which handsome presents are given.
”Quadrilles” are danced at ”State b.a.l.l.s,” and at those b.a.l.l.s at which the King and Queen are present. Also at ”Fancy Dress b.a.l.l.s.” ”Lancers”
are danced occasionally at ”Hunt b.a.l.l.s.”
=The Precedency observed= in sending guests in to supper is far more punctiliously followed in the country than in town. The host should take in the lady of highest rank present, and the hostess should endeavour to send in the princ.i.p.al guests according to their individual rank; but in town she generally leaves the guests to follow the host and lady of highest rank according to their inclinations, a guest should not enter the supper-room before the host has done so.
When a gentleman takes a lady in to supper, he should re-conduct her to the ball-room as a matter of course; the fact of friends joining her in the supper-room would not relieve him from this obligation. And the same etiquette applies equally to a lady. She should return to the ball-room only with the gentleman who has taken her down to supper, unless she is engaged for the ensuing dance, when her partner might come in quest of her; she should then return to the ball-room with him.
It is not usual for guests to take leave of a hostess at a London ball.
This remark applies to acquaintances of the hostess, and not to intimate friends.
At a country ball the guests are on a more friendly footing than is generally the case in town; and, therefore, make a point of taking leave of the hostess if possible.
It is optional whether a host conducts a lady to her carriage or not. In the country more is expected of him than in town in this respect, as at a London ball, such a civility would involve a vast amount of exertion which few hosts would be willing to undergo: ladies accompanied by an acquaintance generally make their way to their carriages.
=The Custom of covering in Small Balconies= and the windows of the drawing-rooms where a ball takes place, rendering the atmosphere of the room almost insupportable from the total exclusion of air, is fast disappearing. The s.p.a.ce gained by this means for the accommodation of the guests is totally disproportionate to the discomfort thereby entailed upon them.
Ball-givers have at length realised the mistake of crowding two hundred to three hundred people together into rooms not properly ventilated, and it is now the rule, when covering in balconies, to introduce window frames into the bunting covering, and to drape them with lace curtains, etc., the windows of the ball-room being entirely removed.
Large blocks of ice are frequently placed in convenient spots for the purpose of cooling the atmosphere, and coloured ice produces a pretty effect.
Patent ventilators are also much in use, and the subst.i.tution of electric lighting, on account of its emitting little heat, has become general.
Ball-goers appreciate these alterations as only those who have experienced the close, stifling atmosphere of an over-crowded ball-room can do, and as half the London ball-rooms are only average-sized drawing-rooms, the absurdity of excluding air from the ball-room with yards of thick canvas cannot be too severely criticised.
Ball-givers, too, frequently issue far more invitations than the size of their rooms authorises, under the mistaken idea that to have a great crowd in their rooms is to give a good ball.
But experienced ball-givers limit the number of their invitations to under two hundred, instead of expanding it to over three hundred.
=The Country Ball Season= ostensibly commences in November, reaches its zenith in January, and terminates early in February.
The stewards of these b.a.l.l.s are, as a rule, the representatives of the various cla.s.ses by whom they are attended; the members of the aristocracy residing in the county heading the list of stewards, and the members of the professional cla.s.ses usually closing it.
The top of the ball-room is, as a rule, appropriated by the aristocratic element, head stewards and ”lady patronesses.”
The enjoyment derived from country b.a.l.l.s depends upon a variety of circ.u.mstances, which do not influence in a like degree the ball-going world of London.