Page:Fancy dresses described, or, What to wear at fancy balls (1887).djvu/20

 Quadrille. The choice is a large one. The following have from time to time been given:—Watteau, Poudré, Noah's Ark, Cracker, Constellation, Domino, Hobby-Horse, Seasons, Bouquet, Bird, Louis Quinze; Shepherds and Shepherdesses, when both ladies and gentlemen wear the hair powdered and costumes associated with these characters; a Louis Quinze Hunting Quadrille in the hunting dress of that period; a Holbein Quadrille in the Tudor dress; a Quadrille ot All Nations, embracing all nationalities, the ladies and gentlemen of the same countries dancing together, the gentlemen occasionally carrying the national flag; Scotch, Irish, King and Queen, Army and Navy, Flowers of the Year, Venetian, Vandyke, Pack of Cards, Fairy Tale, Joe Willett and Dolly Varden, Puritan and Cavalier. The time when such quadrilles are danced, and the partners, are all pre-arranged. A Singing Quadrille, in which the heroes and heroines of the nursery rhymes wear appropriate dresses and sing as they dance, is to be specially recommended for Children's fancy balls. Country dances are being resuscitated for costume balls; the Maltese country dance, the Swedish dance, Sir Roger de Coverley, the Tempête, Morris dance, ribbon dance, and others. The most effective pre-arranged dance is a well-performed Minuet or the stately Pavane, the See-saw Waltz, the Staffordshire Jig, Le Carillon de Dunkerque, Ribbon Dance, Mazurka, a Highland Schottische, a Norwegian dance, a Polonaise in Watteau Costume, or the Cachuca. At juvenile fancy balls dancing is not, as a rule, the sole amusement. Conjurors, Ventriloquists, Christy Minstrels, a Punch and Judy Show, and a magic lantern, please the little ones, but possibly nothing so much as a Horn of Plenty, out of which a liberal number of presents are distributed, or the old familiar Christmas Tree, or a Fairy Pool, where the children fish for presents; and the Brandy-ball Man (one of the guests with a tray of sweets), who distributes goodies to the children.

Fancy Balls are said to have been brought over to this