In a drawing by
Gillray, Miss Rose, with other _danseuses_, is depicted performing
what is called "_La Danse a l'Eveque_;" the ladies have assumed, out
of excessive regard for decorousness and the bishop's arguments, that
apron of black silk which has long been thought peculiar to prelates.
Another satirical illustration bore the title of "Ecclesiastical
Scrutiny; or, The Durham Inquest on Duty." Bishops were represented as
attending in the dressing department of the opera-house; one is seen
to be measuring the dancers' skirts with a tailor's yard; another
arranges their stockings in an ungraceful fashion; while a third
inspects their corsets, decreeing some change in the form of those
articles of attire. The Bishop of Durham was further portrayed in
another broadsheet as armed with his pastoral staff, and sturdily
contesting hand to hand with the Spirit of Evil arrayed in ballet
costume. In short, this subject of the bishops and the ballet-girls
occupied and amused the public very considerably, and doubtless proved
profitable, as an advertisement of his wares, to the manager of the
opera-house.
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