Paper 26

Etiquette Guide Rules for Social Dancing (1808-1831)

Contributed by Paul Cooper, Research Editor

Several British Dancing Masters of the early 19th Century published rules or guidelines for the regulation of social dancing, notable amongst whom were Thomas Wilson, John Cherry, Edward Payne, and G.M.S. Chivers. Some of these authors published multiple books, and introduced additional details to their recommendations over time. This paper investigates those lists, and attempts to detect patterns of influence between them.

Figure 1. Hackney Assembly, 1812, by Rowlandson. © Corporation of London

The earlier lists were heavily influenced by the published conventions of the public Assembly Rooms (investigated in a previous paper), the later lists add many additional details. In this paper we'll consider those rules, and what we can discern from them about British social dancing in the early 19th century. Most of these rules pertain to Country Dancing, the historical conventions for which can be quite different to what modern enthusiasts typically experience; you might find it helpful to review our paper on the Form of Country Dancing before reading further, it describes the historical conventions of the early 19th Century in some detail.

Although numerous historical works are referenced in this paper it's not an exhaustive review. Several additional works were published in this same period that I don't have access to, and entire works may have existed that are otherwise forgotten. If you know of further relevant information do please contact us as we'd love to know more.

This is a lengthy paper which mostly consists of reference material, much of which (at time of writing) is not readily available elsewhere on the internet; it's effectively a continuation of the preceding paper on the regulations of Assembly Rooms. The following Table of Contents may assist with navigation of the information:

• Thomas Wilson's, Analysis of Country Dancing, 1st Ed., 1808
• Thomas Wilson's, Analysis of Country Dancing, 3rd Ed., 1811
• John Cherry's, Treatise on the Art of Dancing, c.1813
• Edward Payne's, A New Companion to the Ball Room, 1814
• Thomas Wilson's, A Companion to the Ball Room, 1816
• G.M.S. Chivers', Pocket Companion to French & English Dancing, 1818
• Thomas Wilson's, Complete System of English Country Dancing, 1820
• G.M.S. Chivers', The Dancers' Guide, 1821
• G.M.S. Chivers', The Modern Dancing Master, 1822
• Analysis of the London Ball-Room, 1825
• W.H. Woakes', An Essay on the Attitudes, 1825
• Lowes' Ball Conductor and Assembly Guide, 3rd Ed, 1831
• And Others...

This paper only reviews the early 19th century texts, but an honourable mention can be made for an anonymously published 1764 book called Country-Dancing Made Plain and Easy. It is the earliest source I know of documenting the kernel of the rules that would subsequently follow.

Thomas Wilson's, Analysis of Country Dancing, 1st Ed., 1808

The first major guide to be published in the 19th Century was Thomas Wilson's Analysis of Country Dancing, the first edition of which was published in 1808. Wilson introduced his Etiquette of the Ball Room chapter with the following statement:

The regulations of some well known assemblies are already before the public. As the Bath Guide contains the rules and etiquette of their balls, which for public balls are perhaps the genteelest and best conducted of any in England, I have in the following lines given only such general hints as ought to be observed in all assemblies, whether public or private.

Wilson's initial list of rules was clearly influenced by the conventions at Bath (and elsewhere), but he took the liberty of adding additional information of his own, and claimed that his conventions were universally applicable. Wilson's list of rules is likely to be the original document from which the later publications are derived.

Figure 2. Example dancing tickets, Swiss, 1780s.

© Trustees of the British Museum

These rules are similar to those of the various Assembly Rooms. For example, many have parrallels with the 1787 rules of the Edinburgh Assemblies. It's notable that Wilson promoted the Minuet in WILSON0802, a dance that was still featured in the regulations of the Bath Assemblies at this date, but had been dropped from many other venues' governance rules. WILSON0808 is a close approximation of a rule that governed the Bath Assemblies of 1810, and many others show clear similarities.

Figure 2 shows some surviving dance tickets of a similar nature to those referenced in WISLON0801. These examples are from the 1780s, and are understood to be of Swiss origin; such ephemeral artefacts are fragile and rarely survive.

One of the more interesting new features in the list is WILSON0804, a rule requiring a new top couple to start dancing after every three iterations of a Country Dance; it's notable as Wilson's books generally recommended a new couple to start every fourth iteration, a feature almost unique to his own publications. Wilson may be tacitly acknowledging that his convention of neutral couples between minor sets was uncommon at most assemblies. Of even greater interest is WILSON0805 which governed when a Country Dance should end; Wilson was, once again, almost unique in recommending the conclusion to be three iterations after the leading couple return to the top of the set, it's a key distinguishing feature of Wilsonian Country Dancing - most authorities required a Country Dance to end the second time the lead couple were within two or three iterations of the bottom of the set.

Wilson's rules also include directions pertaining to the Master of the Ceremonies, a role he usually undertook at his own public Balls. He also included details for how lengthy Country Dancing sets should be split, and how precedence should be organised across a split set. The WILSON0813 rule against the dancing of Reels and other dances, while a Country Dance is being enjoyed, is similar to a rule from the 1804 regulations at Glasgow; it probably meant that guests should not attempt to use the music for a secondary purpose whilst a Country Dance was being danced.

Thomas Wilson's, Analysis of Country Dancing, 3rd Ed., 1811

The first edition of Analysis of Country Dancing must have been quite successful, as Wilson released the second and third editions in 1811. These weren't simple reprints, the third edition contained a large quantity of new and improved information (which may also have been in the second edition, I haven't found a copy to compare against). His essay on Ball Room Etiquette was also much enhanced.

His updated rules include most of the information from the first edition, though significantly restructured, together with a lot of new information. Most of these new rules can be found in the published regulations for Assembly Rooms of the period, so they're not of his own invention. He may however have been influenced by other writers; his contemporary John Cherry wrote a book around this same time, with similar rules - I can't be certain about whether Wilson was influenced by Cherry, or Cherry by Wilson. Reasoned intuition leads me to suspect that this updated version of Analysis of Country Dancing remains a purely Wilsonian text. It's his later publications that show a clearer influence from Cherry.

Wilson introduced his amplified etiquette rules with the following text:

In the following sketch I have not entered into the minutiae of the duties of the Conductor, or of the Company that compose a ball; neither have I introduced any bye laws, such as appertain to certain assemblies, as those of BATH, &c. but have confined myself to those general principles of politeness, which, like the laws of nations, must invariably be preserved in all assemblies, whether public or private, independent of any other rule or restriction any particular assembly may have to itself.

Figure 3. Dancing Engagements card, 1787.

© Trustees of the British Museum

If these rules are compared to the rules from the 1st edition, it'll be found that two are missing: the rather dull WILSON0806; and the more interesting but implicit WILSON0810. The WILSON1115 rule had also lost the second half of WILSON0808 which allowed late-comers to regain their position once the current dance had ended; the WILSON1101 rule had also lost (perhaps tellingly so) the precedence exception for ladies of title from WILSON0801. The distinctively Wilsonian WILSON1118/WILSON0805 rule which determined when a Country Dance should end was retained however.

I won't speculate about why the rules were rewritten and shuffled. The new sequence matches that of Cherry's book very closely, perhaps hinting that Cherry published first and Wilson borrowed from him (though I suspect the chronology is the other way around). The new rules include advice for handling same-sex couples, practical advice around the use of tickets, the removal of distractions for dancers, and additional responsibilities for the Master of Ceremonies. Wilson's references to the Minuet increase in this set of rules, with WILSON1103 promoting the Minuet as the most proper dance with which to start a ball, something that was certainly true at Bath at this date, but less clearly so anywhere else.

Wilson's references to the Minuet are interesting. He often danced a minuet with one of his pupils as the opening act of his own public balls, perhaps as a way of introducing himself and asserting his authority over a public assembly. I suspect he found it useful to promote the Minuet as a way of promoting himself at his own events... I know of little evidence of him genuinely having insight into the dancing practices of the Nobility and Gentry, despite his hints to the contrary.

Figure 3 shows a Dancing Engagements card, understood to date to 1787. The British Museum add that it was associated with: the Fishery Ball which Lord Breadalbane & Sir John Sinclair conducted on Friday May 4th.

John Cherry's, Treatise on the Art of Dancing, c.1813

Wilson's contemporary John Cherry was another London based dancing master of the Regency period. He published his own undated A Treatise on the Art of Dancing c.1813 (I estimate a date of 1811 to 1813), which contained a list of etiquette rules that closely follows that of Wilson's 3rd edition of Analysis of Country Dancing. They're so similar that one must surely be derived from the other... but which came first?

Wilson's later publications do show influence from Cherry, so if he did absorb many of Cherry's etiquette rules in 1811, one might wonder why he borrowed so little from Cherry at that date, and would later go on to borrow much more. Cherry's etiquette rules appear at the end of his book, published almost as an afterthought. I suspect he'd written most of his book before discovering a copy of Wilson's work, decided that he needed an etiquette list of his own, and borrowed from Wilson (though rewording many of the rules).

Regardless of who published first, the two lists contain some significant differences, and thereby offer insight into the extent to which Wilson represented the entire social dancing industry of his period.

Cherry introduced his etiquette rules with the following text:

As certain assemblies have private rules of their own, it would be wrong to offer the laws of any one as a sufficient guide in all; I shall, therefore, give the generally acknowledged etiquette in public and private balls which, independent of other regulations appertaining to particular ones, must always operate.

Figure 4. Ticket for Commencement Ball, Cambridge, 1807.

© Trustees of the British Museum

Most rules in this list have a one-to-one mapping to equivalent rules in the 3rd edition of Wilson's Analysis of Country Dancing, but some differences do emerge. Such differences are telling; they imply that either Cherry or Wilson (depending on who published first) felt sufficiently strongly about those rules that they chose to diverge on a list that was almost completely equivalent.

Some of Wilson's rules are missing from Cherry's list: WILSON1126 referred to regulating of supper; WILSON1115 required late-comers to start at the bottom of the Country Dancing set (and is widely present in the published Assembly Room regulations, so is an odd omission); WILSON1111 provided details on how to split a long set of Country Dancers; and WILSON1107 helped govern same-sex couples (something Cherry appears to have disapproved of as he added CHERRY06 discouraging them). Cherry also added CHERRY24, a non-controversial rule demanding respect for the Master of Ceremonies, something Wilson would surely have included if his list was derived from Cherry's.

Two further differences are especially interesting. Firstly, CHERRY15 changed WILSON1118 to remove the reference to the Wilsonian mechanism for ending a Country Dance - Cherry promoted the dance ending when the lead couple had danced down the set for a second time. He presumably felt sufficiently strongly on the subject to correct Wilson, though it's curious that the two rule variants are equivalent if a longways set is made up of just six couples. The other fascinating change is between CHERRY14 and WILSON1117, Cherry's variant of the rule incorporates tolerance for the Wilsonian concept of a neutral couple between minor sets, something that was notably absent from Wilson's equivalent rule. Again, Wilson would surely have included this alteration if his rules were derived from Cherry's, as that neutral couple was a core part of Wilson's system of Country Dancing (whereas it wasn't a part of Cherry's system as described elsewhere in his book).

Edward Payne's, A New Companion to the Ball Room, 1814

The next major source to consider is Edward Payne's 1814 A New Companion to the Ball Room. Payne's work, like those of Wilson and Cherry before him, included a list of regulations for ball room etiquette. The similarity between the work of Wilson and Cherry makes it difficult to determine who most influenced Payne, but a reference to the regulations for supper strongly hints that Payne had a copy of Wilson's 3rd edition of Analysis of Country Dancing to hand when he wrote his list. He may have also had Cherry's book, as one of the final rules could be derived from Cherry's rule CHERRY24 - though that could be the result of simple chance. It's even possible that Cherry's book wasn't published until after Payne's, but I find that improbable.

Payne, however, did not simply tweak an earlier list; he completely rewrote Wilson's list, and added a lot of new information of his own in the process. Payne's work is quite distinct, and it is fascinating as yet another independent commentary on Regency era social dancing.

Figure 5. Dancing Tickets, date unknown.

© Trustees of the British Museum

Most of the useful information from both Wilson and Cherry is included in this set of regulations, along with a lot of new information, some of which was implied in previous regulations, but not explicitly stated. For example, EPAYNE10 says that ladies may call a Country Dance together in the absence of men, something that was implied in WILSON1107 but not clearly stated. Payne also added some additional new rules to govern how large numbers of dancers are handled, alteration to tickets, governance of rest periods, and how to handle couples leaving early. As with Cherry, Payne's rules don't hint at a rank based precedence system for ladies of title.

A couple of rules that had mysteriously disappeared from Wilson's text between the first and third editions of Analysis of Country Dancing are restored here in Payne's list: WILSON0808 (EPAYNE15) that governed how late arrivals should be handled, and WILSON0810 (EPAYNE29) which forbade the figures being changed mid-dance.

A few rules are especially interesting: EPAYNE12 informs us that the band should play a tune once through before the dance starts, something that hasn't been mentioned elsewhere; EPAYNE33 provides significant new information about the alternative dancing that may be introduced during the rest periods between Country Dances; and EPAYNE38 demands suitable qualification for the Master of Ceremonies.

It is notable that EPAYNE21 emphasises the more common progression system in Country Dancing whereby a new minor set forms after every three iterations of a Country Dance, it doesn't hint at the toleration for additional neutral couples from CHERRY14 (which in turn is a key aspect of the Wilsonian style of Country Dancing). On a similar note, EPAYNE22 matches the convention from CHERRY15 for concluding a Country Dance, rather than Wilsonian system from WILSON1118; Payne presumably made a reasoned decision to change Wilson's rule rather than to blindly copy it.

Thomas Wilson's, A Companion to the Ball Room, 1816

The next major work to be published containing an Etiquette list was Thomas Wilson's 1816 A Companion to the Ball Room. A second and third edition were published in 1817, and a fourth edition some time thereafter. I have access to the second and fourth editions, and find the list to be unchanged between them. I can't be certain whether the rules are the same in the 1816 first edition.

The regulations derive, as might be expected, from the rules in the 3rd edition of Wilson's Analysis of Country Dancing. Significant additional content is included, largely derived from Payne's A New Companion to the Ball Room, from which significant similarities can be detected (especially the suffix to the first rule, which is too similar to Payne's equivalent text to be by chance). He also included information from Cherry, notably the 12th rule which is clearly duplicated. Wilson added some further information of his own, and only selectively included suggestions from Payne.

Wilson introduced his amplified etiquette rules with the following text:

In the following sketch, the minutiae of the duties of the conductor, or of the Company comprising a Ball, have not been entered into, nor are any of the bye-laws and rules belonging to any private or particular Assembly given, being confined only to the Etiquette of such Public and Private Balls, where the persons composing the company take their places in the Dance according to their numbers. At court, and some other select balls and assemblies, places are taken according to Precedence.

Figure 6. Jubilee Ball Ticket, Dublin, 1809

© National Library of Ireland

This extensive set of rules contain many interesting fragments of information, but most of them are derived either from Payne's rules, or from Wilson's earlier rules. It's notable that the only substantive additions Cherry made to Wilson's 1811 rules are both included here (see WILSON1612 and WILSON1640). This set of rules might therefore be seen as a composite of the best of all three writers.

The only rule Wilson dropped from the third edition of his Analysis of Country Dancing is rule WILSON1104 that referred to Minuet dancing, though he continued to assert that the Minuet was the most correct way to start a Ball (WILSON1603) - a rule he probably found convenient for his own public balls, where he would dance a Minuet or similar dance at the start of the program. He also omitted some of Payne's rules: EPAYNE06 that demanded alacrity once a number was announced; EPAYNE15 which allowed for tardiness; and EPAYNE26 which envisioned 100 or more Country Dancing couples. Wilson's WILSON1613 rule is also somewhat interesting as it appears to contradict Payne's EPAYNE10, a rule that allowed ladies to dance together and yet retain their opportunities to call a dance.

New rules added by Wilson for this publication include: WILSON1605, requiring honours at the start and end of each dance; rules covering unequal length Country Dancing sets in the same room; the behaviour when both dancers have a ticketed number and potentially change partners; dancers who are found to be troublesome; and the advantages of displaying bye-laws.

Perhaps the most interesting rule is WILSON1625 which explores the distinctively Wilsonian characteristics of Country Dancing. He provided a footnote that justified his reasons for injecting neutral couples between minor sets in a Country Dance, resulting in a request to start a new minor set every 4th iteration (similar to CHERRY14) rather than every third; and yet he continued to promote the Wilsonian ending to a Country Dance from WILSON1118, having apparently rejected the modifications made by Cherry in CHERRY15 and Payne in EPAYNE22.

G.M.S. Chivers', Pocket Companion to French & English Dancing, 1818

The next major work I know of to be published featuring a Ball Room Etiquette guide is the Pocket Companion to French & English Dancing by G.M.S (George) Chivers. Chivers' etiquette rules are related to the earlier lists, but not sufficiently closely to be sure of their provenance. He may have taken one of Wilson's books, or Payne's book, and crafted his own list from it; but he seems to have adapted the details to suit his purposes, resulting in an original work. Many of the details from Wilson's combined list in the Companion to the Ball Room are absent from Chivers' list, but it's not clear why. Chivers may have felt they were superfluous, he may have been working with an earlier list, or he may have constructed his own list for his own reasons. It's also possible that an intermediate source (such as the first edition of Wilson's Companion to the Ball Room) may have existed, and Chivers worked from that.

One point of interest is that Chivers and Wilson were professionally estranged. They took any opportunities they could find to be unkind towards each other in their publications, thus a couple of Chivers' footnotes are probably aimed against Wilson. This will become more clear in some of Chivers' later publications.

Figure 7. Ticket for the Doncaster Assemblies, 1808.

© Trustees of the British Museum

These rules are broadly consistent with those of Wilson's Companion to the Ball Room, though a great many of Wilson's rules are missing. There are also some new rules here, notably CHIVERS1805 that forbids a disengaged Lady to refuse to dance with a Gentleman, and CHIVERS1824C/CHIVERS1824D that forbid certain steps and overly tight holding of hands.

The CHIVERS1801 rule is interesting as the clarifying footnote contradicts the equivalent footnote in WILSON1601, it may be an example of Chivers being deliberately contrary with respect to Wilson. CHIVERS1809 is even more interesting, as it directly pertains to the Wilsonian style of Country Dancing described in WILSON1625; Chivers provided a reasonable explanation for why Wilson's system would be inferior in practice - the last couple in a longways set would only have six turns as a top couple before the dance ends. It's not the devastating blow to the Wilsonian convention Chivers perhaps intended it to be, but he is consistent with both Cherry (CHERRY15) and Payne (EPAYNE22) in disagreeing with Wilson.

Thomas Wilson's, Complete System of English Country Dancing, 1820

The next major work to consider is Thomas Wilson's 1820 Complete System of English Country Dancing. Early versions of this work may have been available in 1816 and 1818, but the work didn't achieve its final form until the 1820 publication (which may have been the first edition, the historical record isn't clear). It included yet another set of etiquette rules, but this time they were almost identical to those of Wilson's Companion to the Ball Room.

This new list of regulations only involve a single new rule and an extended footnote, the rest are the existing rules duplicated verbatim with only inconsequential grammatical changes. The updates extend the rules to reference other dance forms that Wilson promoted at his own Public Balls.

The table below only shows the differences compared to the Companion to the Ball Room.

Figure 8. Assorted tickets for the King Street Assembly (Almack's), 1770s.

© Trustees of the British Museum

This set of rules are notable for being extended to cover additional dance forms. There had been passing references to Quadrille dancing in previous sets of rules (such as WILSON1636), but for the first time the organisation of the Quadrille is discussed. The numbers for Quadrille dancing in WILSON2009.5 have to be allocated separately to those for general dancing. These new rules also mention the Ecossoises dance form (that was introduced by Wilson in 1817) and Spanish Dances (introduced by Payne c.1815).

It's also notable that the distinctively Wilsonian style of Country Dancing described in WILSON2025 continued to promote the Wilsonian ending to a Country Dance, despite Cherry (CHERRY15), Payne (EPAYNE22) and Chivers (CHIVERS1809) uniting in disagreeing with him. Wilson had clearly made a conscious decision to persevere with his own system of Country Dancing, despite the rest of the industry openly disagreeing with him.

G.M.S. Chivers', The Dancers' Guide, 1821

The next major publication to feature a Ball Room Etiquette guide was G.M.S. Chivers' 1821 The Dancers' Guide. This publication, as might be expected, is heavily based on the set of rules from Chivers' 1818 Pocket Companion to French & English Dancing, though significantly reworded; but it also contains a rich collection of new rules. The new information seems to have been supplied by Chivers himself, rather than duplicating information from earlier publications (a few of the changes may have been influenced by Wilson or another source); some of the changes further Chivers' anti-Wilsonian agenda.

Figure 9. Assorted tickets for the Hanover Square Festinos, 1780s, signed by Sir John Gallini.

© Trustees of the British Museum

Every one of the rules from Pocket Companion to French & English Dancing is present in this set of rules, though often with additional clarifying information. What's more interesting are the new rules. These include: CHIVERS2103 which required the caller to pick compatible tunes and figures; CHIVERS2104 that governed the honours at the start of a dance, especially a Quadrille; CHIVERS2114 which discouraged talking; and CHIVERS2131 which required progressive figures.

A more interesting rule is CHIVERS2121 which required that couples leading down a Country Dance should not exceed the fourth couple. This is important as it pertains to a significant attribute of Wilsonian Country Dancing - that a lead-down only travels as far as the second couple, and takes a half-measure of music. Wilson's style of leading-down a set was prevalent during the Regency era, but it wasn't universal; Chivers may have been taking a dig at Wilson by explicitly indicating that a non-Wilsonian lead-down remained legitimate.

The anti-Wilsonian rhetoric is much more clear in CHIVERS2132, the footnote to which extended that in CHIVERS1809. This was the rule that explicitly commented on the Wilsonian method for concluding a Country Dance. No longer content at merely disagreeing with Wilson's WILSON2025 rule (and predecessors such as WILSON1625), he added that some teachers will still persist in their old plan, because they are ashamed to acknowledge their error. Wilson was unique in promoting his concluding style to a Country Dance, Cherry (CHERRY15) and Payne (EPAYNE22) also disagreed with him.

G.M.S. Chivers', The Modern Dancing Master, 1822

The next major work to include a Ball Room Etiquette guide is the 1822 The Modern Dancing Master by G.M.S. Chivers. The etiquette list therein is very similar to that of his 1821 The Dancers' Guide, every rule from 1821 survived into the 1822 publication, with minor editorial changes. Some of the footnotes from 1821 became complete rules in 1822, some minor rewording and grammatical corrections are also evident, and the sequence of the rules changed. The only change of significance is the addition of one entirely new rule.

Figure 10. Example Quadrille Card, Manchester, c.1822

This new rule has some similarity to rule CHIVERS2130 which also mentioned dance cards. Dance cards were a relatively new phenomenon, the need for which was brought about by the success of Quadrille dancing in England. The early Quadrilles, unlike most other social dance forms of the time, were choreographed. Dancers needed to know the figures that were to be danced. If the Dancing Master could provide cards, or fans, with the figures printed on them, that could greatly simplify the process of learning and then dancing the Quadrilles. Some examples of these dance cards have survived, see for example a collection of Chivers' Quadrille cards. It's possible that such cards allowed dancers to pre-arrange their partners in advance of a planned dance; this convention became common later in the 19th Century, and perhaps evolved from this initial convention for sharing the figures.

Figure 10 shows an example such card c.1822 with the figures for Pain, (of Almack's) first Set of Quadrilles, as taught by F. Cooper, Manchester. The original is less than two inches in height.

Analysis of the London Ball-Room, 1825

Our next major work was published anonymously in 1825 under the name Analysis of the London Ball Room. It's sometimes ascribed to Thomas Wilson, but is so dissimilar to other Wilsonian works that I find Wilsonian authorship to be most improbable. The Ball Room etiquette list in this publication is interesting as it's clearly based on those that went before, but is rewritten in such a way that it's hard to discern a single specific predecessor. Most of the rules identified are included in most of the preceding regulations, so this work may have been an attempt at listing the most commonly agreed rules.

The text of some of the rules have a slightly Chiverian tone, so I suspect the author had a Chiverian publication to work from, amongst others. For example, one of the rules refers to suspending the regulations in a conspicuous place, which is a feature of the Chiverian lists; another refers to dispute arbitration involving leaving the room, another feature of Chivers' lists.

Figure 11. Alexander Wills' annual ball at the Hanover Rooms, 1786. Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

This list is unexceptional, but if Chivers was an influence, the author was prepared to rewrite them quite significantly. An unusual feature is that the list begins and ends with The Honors, presumably a joke indicating that dances should begin and end with Honours (as in WILSON1605). The reference in ANLOBR17 indicating that the changing of partners is irregular is interesting, it hints that the conventions were not as established as some of the other publications might lead us to suspect.

One important aspect of this set of rules involves ANLOBR09 and ANLOBR10. These rules refer to the Wilsonian style of Country Dancing. The first acknowledges the use of neutral couples between minor sets, somewhat like CHERRY14; what's most interesting is that the author provided a different justification from that used by Wilson in WILSON2025, they encouraged additional neutral couples if the dance has more than three figures. The second of these two rules describes the ending of a Country Dance, and as with most previous writers, this author disagrees with Wilson (WILSON2025); but the author has found a new (and better) way to describe the preferred ending.

W.H. Woakes', An Essay on the Attitudes, 1825

Our next publication is the 1825 An Essay on the Attitudes Derived from Gesture to be Attended to in Dancing published in 1825 by W.H. Woakes. Woakes is an interesting writer; he was a dancing master from the Chelmsford/Gloucester/Hereford area, one of only a few of our authors who practised outside of London. He claimed to have been taught in Paris by Monsieur Coulon, yet was a close copyist (and presumably disciple) of G.M.S. Chivers. He printed an advert in 1833 (Gloucestershire Chronicle, 27th July 1833) in which he claimed to have been a member of the Royal Academy in Paris for 9 years, suggesting that this publication was released shortly after returning from Paris. The title page of the 1825 book describes him as a Student of the Royal Academy, Paris rather than a Member. His work in the 1830s focussed on anatomy, bone structure and the importance of gymnastic exercises. He's also remembered as the discoverer (and consumer) of a giant mushroom two feet eleven inches in circumference (Leicester Chronicle, 8th October 1825).

His list of etiquette rules are interesting as being clearly derived from two sources: the anonymous Analysis of the London Ball Room, and one of G.M.S. Chivers' later publications. He appears to have started by copying the Analysis list, then replaced many of them with the equivalent rules from Chivers verbatim, and added in a lot of extra rules from Chivers. He clearly had copies of both books to hand; his dancing repertoire featured dances invented by Chivers, which leads me to suspect that he had spent time at the Chivers Academy in London.

Figure 12. Mr Blake's Annual Ball, Willis's Rooms (Almack's), 1800.

© Trustees of the British Museum

The bulk of these rules are copied either verbatim, or with minor changes, from elsewhere. Rule WOAKES11 is interesting as it goes further than any previous rule, it suggests that any disengaged Lady who refuses to dance with a Gentleman, may be barred from any further dancing that evening. Rules WOAKES17 and WOAKES18 are also interesting as they pertain to the Wilsonian style of Country Dancing; it's a rare example of Woakes not copying Chivers, and instead using the more inclusive text from Analysis of the London Ball Room.

Woakes only added a single new rule of his own, WOAKES07, which refers to the arrangement of dances. It's especially interesting for mentioning Swedish Dances, a variant of the Country Dance invented by Chivers. Woakes was an example of a provincial dancing master who promoted Chivers' dances, despite their relative obscurity at the time.

Lowes' Ball Conductor and Assembly Guide, 3rd Ed, 1831

The Lowe brothers published the first edition of their Ball Conductor in Glasgow in 1822. It was subsequently extended and republished in Edinburgh for the 1831 3rd edition. We've investigated the Lowe brothers, and their publications, in a previous research paper. The third edition of their book contains another detailed list of etiquette rules, closely derived from those of G.M.S. Chivers, particularly the 1821 Dancers' Guide. It's unclear whether these rules survived unchanged from 1822, or whether they were reworked for the 3rd edition. What is clear is that they contain some new material that appears unrelated to the previous publications.

Figure 13. Ticket for an Assembly at London's Crown & Anchor Tavern, 1800s.

© Trustees of the British Museum

These regulations are closely related to their Chiverian predecessors, though they've been rearranged and combined into a more logical structure. Many of the new rules pertain to graceful movement and behaviour, LOWES3117 through LOWES3121 all address that topic. Several of the new rules address Quadrille dancing; LOWES3104 requires the director to be familiar with the figures, LOWES3122 described their fluidity, and LOWES3129 requires the dancers to understand the format of the dance. Two of the rules emphasise a difference between the prevailing conventions in Scotland and England; LOWES3123 discusses the dancing program for an evening, and LOWES3109 covers how a Country Dance should end in England.

Several Chiverian rules are not present in the Lowes' list. They dropped the CHIVERS2104 rule requiring an extra strain of music at the start of a dance in order for partners to honour each other. They also dropped CHIVERS2105 which required anyone without a partner to apply to the Master of the Ceremonies for assistance. They dropped the CHIVERS2112 rule which forbade clapping of hands and the use of unsuitable steps (though that second issue was perhaps better addressed in their rules on graceful dancing), and CHIVERS2119 which forbade the same dance being called twice in the same evening. They dropped the CHIVERS2121 rule that limited how far down the middle of a Country Dance the dances should lead down, and CHIVERS2127 which addressed mistakes in performing the figures.

And Others...

It's probable that other guides were published towards the start of the 19th century. It would certainly be interesting to study the first edition of the Lowes' Ball-Conductor and Assembly Guide from 1822, and G.M.S. Chivers's 1825 Dancing Master in Miniature. Further publications may yet emerge that provide further insight into the patterns of influence between our various sources.

What should have become clear is that while many conventions were standardised across Britain and throughout the Regency period, variations can be seen between the various guides. A dancer two hundred years ago might need to familiarise themselves with the conventions of each Public Ball they frequented, as each Master of Ceremonies was liable to require slightly different behaviour from their dancers.

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