ATHENS. 
CHAP. 
I. 
Mode of 
Dancing 
practised 
by the 
women. 
to assist, and we readily joined in a circle formed 
by a number of yomig women holding each other 
by their hands in the middle of the room. From the 
figure thus presented, we supposed that some- 
thing like a cotillion was about to be performed ; 
but the dance, if it may be called by that name, 
consisted solely in a solemn poising of the body, 
first upon one foot, then upon the other; the 
whole choir advancing and retreating by a 
single step, without moving either to the right 
or to the left. The gravity with which this 
was performed, and the pompous attitudes 
assumed, were so uncommonly ludicrous, that 
it was impossible to refrain from laughter. In 
order, however, to apologize for oar rudeness, 
we ventured to propose that the most easy 
figure of a French or of an English dance might 
be introduced ; which was attempted, but 
pronounced too fatiguing. At this moment the 
eyes of the whole company w^ere turned upon 
the fat figure of a matron, who, rising from the 
divan on which she had been seated, beckoned to 
another lady still more corpulent than herself, 
and, as if to assert the superior skill of her 
countrywomen in an exercise for which she had 
been considered famous in her youth, promised 
to exhibit the utmost graces of an ylthenian pas- 
de-deux. Immediately, several whispers were 
