IT is difficult to account for the verfatility of manners and fashions in a country.-The weekly dancing affemblies, for many years, were the most fashionable and crowded reforts of elegant and polite company.They fuddenly became deferted; which gave occafion to the following paper.

FOR THE EDINBURGH EVENING COURANT.

SIR,

THE rapid decline of dancing in this country, and particularly in the capital, seems a matter of fuch ferious moment to all admirers of the fair fex, that I hope a few obfervations on the fubject, together with a hint tending to a means of reviving a spirit for this elegant art, will prove neither wholly useless nor impertinent. The fact will hardly be difputed: It is too well known, that not above three or four affemblies have been attended this winter; and of private balls we can, alas! enumerate only two. All hopes are now over. The week of preaching, which generally terminates the amusements of this place, is past, and we must now look upon the feafon as irretrievably clofed. Not a marriage, hardly a flirtation has adorned it; bofoms of fnow have heaved, and brightest eyes have rolled unheeded.-Never indeed have the ladies been more cruelly mortified. So negligent were the men, that one evening the ladies were driven to the fad refource of footing it with one ano

ther.

ther. Perfons of a faturnine difpofition found ample food for their spleen on this occafion; it appeared in their eyes a heinous offence, a violation of propriety, and an outrage against decency. It is notorious that the men have for several years been perversely obstinate in refusing to dance; even the limbs of the law decline the cause, and we no longer hear of an Advocates ball. It is evident, unless some steps are speedily taken, the art itself must be loft among us. The Minuet with its beautiful movement, the cheerful Country-dance, the joyous Jigg, the riotous Reel, the boisterous Bumpkin, the sprightly Strathspey, and the courtly Cotillion, will foon fall into everlafting oblivion. We seem scarcely fenfible of what we are about to lofe: In few fituations does a fine woman appear to more advantage than when dancing. The whole perfon thrown into the most elegant and engaging attitudes is furely a moft alluring fpectacle; add to this, the complexion glowing with exercise, and the countenance enlivened with fmiles and cheerfulness. This matter bears peculiarly hard upon my fair countrywomen, as they are hereby prevented from difplaying attractions which nature has lavishly bestowed upon them. Perhaps in the fine texture of fkin, and the brightness of bloom, the English ladies may equal ours; but I aver, that in neatness of ancle, and prettiness of foot, the Scots women reign unrivaled. Senfible of these charms, whatever tafte could invent, or art execute, has been employed in the decoration of the fhoe. It has been ftretched in the tambour, and has glittered with fpangles and embroidery;

broidery; every combination of colours has been used that could please or allure the eye; but all in vain; the men have continued motionlefs, and one would have imagined that a hereditary gout, or an univerfal fprained ancle had overspread the land. Long has it been the object of my thoughts to restore things to their ancient footing, and to bring the light fantastic toe once more into fashion. I have at laft, after much reflection, hit upon an expedient which wears a flattering appearance of fuccefs. Defperate difeases, as fome persons profound in speculation have remarked, require defperate cures. My cure is indeed a defperate one. My fair tender-hearted readers will, I fear, fhudder with horror at the thoughts of it; in one word, I mean to effectuate my defigns by poifon. The Tarantula is a spider with eight legs, found in certain diftricts of Italy, whose bite has generally been reckoned mortal, unless proper affiftance is procured. The only efficacious remedies yet found out are mufic and dancing. At certain notes the patient finds himself seized with an irrefiftible defire of fkipping, leaping, and tumbling about with all his might; this brings on a profuse perspiration, highly useful in throwing off the virulence of the poifon: However, it has been found impoffible to expell it altogether, and a perfon once bit must be obliged to dance at intervals to the end of his days. My scheme is, I fancy, by this time pretty palpable: Let a number of public-fpirited ladies join in a subscription, for the importation of live Tarantulas into Scot

land

land next fummer*. Our winter has been rigorously cold; our enfuing fummer will, I hope, be proportionably hot, in which case the bite of the Tarantula will have its usual effects, the poison will begin to work by winter, and I don't defpair of feeing a couple of affemblies and three or four balls every week during the season: These meetings have always been reckoned as the great mart for marriage; there beauty appears in all its graces and perfections; many a partner for a night has turned out a partner for life. Happy, most happy fhall I confider myself, if my endeavours conduce to restore thefe receptacles of useful amufement to their former fplendor. Some people, I know, will fneer at this project, and affirm with a filly play upon words, that the whole is a bite; but I fcorn their malice, I am ferious, and as long as I can wield a pen, or wag a foot, I devote myself to the Fair. I remain, Sir,

Your humble fervant,

PETER PASPY.

* One would now imagine that the importation of the Taran◄ tulas had actually taken place. For though the Assembly Rooms are deserted (except on the Master of Ceremonies night), yet private balls, tavern dances, and oyster cellar gambols, have never been more frequent, or kept up to later hours.

To the PRINTER of the EDINBURGH EVENING COURANT.

I HAVE a wife, Sir, who has contracted a habit much more pernicious to me than the habit of fwearing, which you took notice of in your last paper; I mean the habit of reading and writing. Let me tell you, Sir, frankly, that for all my averfion to fnuff and tobacco, I had rather see her with a pipe and box than a book. From morning to night fhe fits poring over fome book or other, which may be very entertaining for aught I know, as I make it a rule to look into none of them. But of what use is all this to me? If I fet her down to mend my stockings, fhe is reading Locke upon the Human Understanding; and if I wish to have dinner an hour fooner than usual, fhe will not stir a step if fhe gets into the middle of a play of Shakespeare. The house is as dirty as a poet's garret (under favour, Sir), and my children are worse clad than parish baftards. Tommy's breeches have hung about his heels all this week, owing to the Revolution in the Low Countries; and Johnson's Lives have nearly starved my youngest daughter at breast. But what is more extraordinary, fhe feems to read to no purpose, and with no method; for my friend Hildebrand Huggins, who understands fuch things, tells me that the reads every kind of books, on any subject whatever; breakfasts on Tillotfon, dines on the

Thirty-nine