Page:A short history of social life in England.djvu/359

Rh Court life was lessening its hold on the country. It did not attract the poets, the scholars, the architects, the journalists, the inventors, or those men who were busy in maintaining the greatness of their country. The Court life of earlier times had passed away.

Next to the Court came an exclusive society, to which either a man belonged or he did not. There was little overlapping of class with class at this time: no tradesman could belong to this society; doctors, bankers, and men with such-like professions, were outside the pale. Indeed, one writer tells us that there were but six hundred folk "in society" at this time. The test was admission into Almack's Club; this was the "Royal Academy of Society," and many were the heart-burnings of those left outside. It was governed by a Committee of six English ladies, who decided who should be admitted to the charmed circle and who should not. Pedigrees and family connections were carefully weighed, and tickets for the famous balls at Willis's Rooms were judiciously dispensed. Dancing began at eleven. With the disappearance of the powdered head and hoop petticoat, the minuet and picturesque old country dance