Directory was formed, the splendid apartments of the Hotel de Richelieu
were opened for the reception of the higher classes, who had then but
few opportunities of meeting to 'trip it on the light fantastic toe.'
Monsieur Hullin, then of the Opera, was selected to form a band of
twenty-four musicians, from among those of the highest talent in the
various theatres: he found no difficulty in this, as they were paid in
paper-money, then of little or no value; whereas, the administrators of
the Richelieu establishment paid in specie. The tunes were composed in
different keys, with full orchestral accompaniments, by Monsieur Hullin;
and the contrast thus produced to the abominable style which had so long
existed, commenced a new era in dancing: the old figures were abolished,
and stage-steps were adopted;--Pas de Zephyrs, Pas de Bourrés, Ballotés,
Jetés Battus, &c. were among the most popular. Minuets and Forlanes were
still continued; but Monsieur Vestris displaced the latter by the
Gavotte, which he taught to Monsieur Trenis and Madame de Choiseul, who
first danced it at a fête given by a lady of celebrity, at the Hotel de
Valentinois, Rue St. Lazar, on the 16th of August, 1797; at this fête,
Monsieur Hullin introduced an entirely new set of figures of his own
composition.--These elicited general approbation: they were danced at
all parties, and still retain pre-eminence. The names of Pantalon,
L'Eté, La Poule, La Trenis, &c. which were given to the tunes, have been
applied to the figures. The figure of La Trenis, was introduced by
Monsieur Trenis's desire, it being part of the figure from a Gavotte,
danced in the then favourite ballet of Nina.

"To the French we are indebted for rather an ingenious, but in the
opinion of many professional dancers, an useless invention, by which it
was proposed, that as the steps in dancing are not very numerous,
although they may be infinitely combined, that characters might be made
use of to express the various steps and figures of a dance, in the same