From this web site, read the description of etiquette as taken from Wilson:
- "Gentlemen must not enter the Ball room in whole or half boots or with sticks or canes [This also applies in today's ballroom to protect ladies feet and the surface of the dance floor] nor are pantaloons a proper dress for a Ball room." [Knee breeches and stockings were correct dress, though this began to relax after about 1826.]
- "No person must, during a Country Dance, hiss, clap or make any other noise to disturb the company." [I'm surprised that this was a sufficiently frequent problem for him to mention it. Balls could obviously get boisterous unless kept under control. In a similar vein -]
- "Snapping the fingers in Country Dancing and Reels, and the sudden howl or yell too frequently practised, ought particularly to be avoided, as partaking too much of the customs of barbarous nations; the character and effect by such means given to the Dance, being adapted only to the stage, and by no means suited to the Ball Room."
- "No two Ladies must dance together without permission of the Master of the Ceremonies." [This rule does not apply today and even then, with the army in France and the navy at sea, there was often a shortage of men. Jane Austen remarks on it in her letters.]
- "In the absence of Ladies, Gentlemen sometimes form couples. In that case they must always stand at the bottom." [I have never seen this happen today, except as a joke, but it is interesting that it was not unusual in Wilson's day. It is possible that that when Balls were held in or around military camps there might be a shortage of ladies.]
- "Ladies or Gentlemen being without partners should make application to the Master of the Ceremonies as it is his place if possible to provide them." [This is still acceptable today.]
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