And then the movements of the dancer of
necessity involve greater display of the human form than is required
by the simpler acts of riding, walking, or sitting. In dancing it is
inevitable that there should be swaying and bending of the figure,
possibly waving to and fro of the arms, certainly some standing upon
the toes, and raising of the nether limbs more or less high in the
air. Bereft of these measures dancing could not be; still here were
matters upon which moralists, or persons who so styled themselves,
were able greatly to enlarge, and concerning which Pharisees, who did
not so style themselves, but were such nevertheless, had much to say.
Now just at the close of the last century the world was in very sad
case; society had gone on from bad to worse: low life was of course
lower than it had ever before been known to be, and high life was not
nearly so high as it should have been. There was profligacy in very
exalted places, and, indeed, dissoluteness and immorality everywhere.
Thereupon, in 1798, a certain Bishop of Durham made a speech from his
place in Parliament in regard to the wickedness of the period; and
especially he drew attention to the dancers of the opera-house.
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