Pre-Bailioay Life in London, 167 



covered with large rings) " is going as DiAanner ; and she 

 looks very 'andsome in a blue and silver dress, with a bow 

 and arrers in her 'and, and a 'alf moon in her 'air." Most 

 men " did the rounds of London " once or twice, but that 

 was quite enough for anyone with a mind. 



Weippart provided a band and a good ball-room for 

 gentlemen who wanted a little quiet dancing — at a tariff far 

 beyond the reach of "the Gent" — at which no one was 

 admitted except in full dress ; and, though the dancers were 

 mostly members of the corps de ballet of the Opera, of a 

 higher grade than the ordinary ballet gir\ of to-day, no one 

 would know, from their dress, manners, and appearance, that 

 (but for the fact of the paucity of chaperones) it was not a 

 private ball. Perhaps it was rather a bore to be constantly 

 asked by your partner to take a ticket for her own or her 

 sister's ball for the next week ; but the dancers, who were 

 many of them dancing mistresses, and probably received some 

 small payment for attending the balls, found the amusement, 

 and wanted the money, and it was hard to say " No." 



One very funny scene occurred at one of these balls 

 many years ago. A young member of the legislature had 

 made his maiden speech in Parliament that night, and they 

 stood him on a table in the ball-room, and made him give it 

 all over again. 



Whether the story is accurately true in all its details or 

 not matters little, as tales of this kind, which were freely 

 circulated and believed at the time, show the spirit of the 

 age, as Macaulay says. On a certain occasion one of those 

 underbred fellows who poison every rill and stream of 

 innocent pleasure, and miike it impossible to have dancing 

 in public as they do abroad, obtained an entree to one of 

 Wieppart's ballet balls, and being much enamoured of a fair 

 danseuse, invited her to a Richmond dinner on the following 

 Sunday. The fair dcmseuse said she would not come alone, 



