The gentleman & lady's companion

About this book

The etiquette section of this manual anticipates many nineteenth-century concerns regarding decorum and bodily control, and some of the ill manners described include "swinging the arms, and all other awkward gestures" and "leaning on the shoulder, or chair of another person." The manual provides nine figures for the cotillon, a precursor to the quadrille consisting of a series of figures known as changes that were performed alternately with the cotillon figure. The manual also gives the figures for seventy-nine English country dances, a popular group dance performed by a column of men facing a column of women.-LoC