picturesque grouping of the vast assemblage. But his first impressions on
English dancing are perfectly unique in their way, and we can only do
justice to them by quoting them at length. "It is so entirely unlike any
thing we ever heard of in Hindustan, that I cannot refrain from giving a
slight sketch of what I saw. In the first place, the company could not
have been fewer than 1500 or 2000, of the highest classes of society, the
ministers, the nobles, and the wealthy, with their wives and daughters.
Several hundreds stood up, every gentleman with a lady; and they advanced
and retired several times, holding each other by the hand, to the sound of
the music: at last the circle they had formed broke up, some running off
to the right, and some to the left--then a gentleman, leaving his lady,
would strike out obliquely across the room, sometimes making direct for
another lady at a distance, and sometimes stooping and flourishing with
his legs as he went along: when he approached her, he made a sort of
salaam, and then retreated. Another would go softly up to a lady, and then
suddenly seizing her by the waist, would turn and twist her round and
round some fifty times till both were evidently giddy with the motion:
this was sometimes performed by a few chosen dancers, and sometimes by
several hundreds at once--all embracing each other in what, to our notions,
would seem rather an odd sort of way, and whirling round and round; and
though their feet appeared constantly coming in contact with each other, a
collision never took place. And those who met in this affectionate manner
were, as I was told, for the most part perfect strangers to each other,
which to me was incomprehensible! Several ladies asked me to dance with
them, but I excused myself by saying that their dancing was so
superlatively beautiful that it was sufficient to admire it, and that I
was afraid to try--'besides,' said I, 'it is contrary to our customs in
Hindustan.' To which they replied that India was far off, and no one could
see me. 'But,' said I 'there are people who put every thing in the
newspapers, and if my friends heard of it I should lose caste.' The ladies