APPLIANCES roil PREVAILING TASTE. GO 



a gentleman, or undergo the triPiing more exertion 

 of a polka, lie can well do tliis if lie never put a 

 foot in the first position till he was five-and- 

 twenty ; but if a man was intended for an opera 

 dancer, and never straightened an instep till that 

 age, we might as well expect a gavotte from Gog 

 or Magog as from him. 



I am quite willing to agree, that calling forth 

 powers of speed, or jumping, at an early age may 

 cause an earlier fading of such poAvers than would 

 be the case if their practice was deferred to a 

 later period. I am equally willing to allow, that 

 it is not necessary that opera dancing should be 

 carried to the pitch it is ; nor is it that hounds 

 should go the pace they do, still less that leaps 

 undreamt of a century ago should be taken in 

 steeple-chaso^s ; but as aristocratic fashion patro- 

 nises such lancing, if men of sense, high edu- 

 cation, fash on, and fortune decree that hounds 

 must be as fast as race-horses, and that steeple - 

 chasing shall be a national sport, each will go 

 on, and, what is more, means (that is, appliances) 

 must somehow be found to gratify prevailing 

 taste. If we determine to have extraordinary 

 exertion of animal functions, we must adopt those 

 measures that conduce to bring them to the 

 greatest perfection ; and if, by producing certain 

 qualities in a supereminent degree, we shorten 

 their durability, as we cannot have everything, 



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