ong suites of apartments lined by guests, who were to take a
later part in this brilliant cortege. They liked to be conducted through
distant galleries, through the parterres of illuminated gardens, through
the groves of shrubbery, where distant echoes of the music alone reached
the ear, which, as if in revenge, greeted them with redoubled sound and
blowing of trumpets upon their return to the principal saloon. As the
spectators, ranged like rows of hedges along the route, were continually
changing, and never ceased for a moment to observe all their movements,
the dancers never forgot that dignity of bearing and address which won
for them the admiration of women, and excited the jealousy of men. Vain
and joyous, the host would have deemed himself wanting in courtesy to
his guests, had he not evinced to them, which he did sometimes with
a piquant naivete, the pride he felt in seeing himself surrounded by
persons so illustrious, and partisans so noble, all striving through the
splendor of the attire chosen to visit him, to show their high sense of
the honor in which they held him.

Guided by him in their first circuit, they were led through long
windings, where unexpected turns, views, and openings had been
arranged beforehand to cause surprise; where architectural deceptions,
decorations and shifting scenes had been studiously adapted to increase
the pleasure of the festival. If any monument or inscription, fitted
for the occasion, lay upon the long line of route, from which some
complimentary homage might be drawn to the "most valiant or the most
beautiful," the honors were gracefully done by the host. The more
unexpected the surprises arranged for these excursions, the more
imagination evinced in their invention, the louder were the applauses
from the younger part of the society, the more ardent the exclamations
of delight; and silvery sounds of merry laughter greeted pleasantly the
ears of the conductor-in-chief, who, having thus succeeded in achieving
his reputation, became a privileged Corypheus, a leader par excellence.
If he had already attained a certain age, he was greeted on his return
from such circuits by frequent deputations of young ladies, who came,
in the name of all present, to thank and congratulate him. Through their
vivid descriptions, these pretty wanderers excited the curiosity of the
guests, and increased the eagerness for the formation of the succeeding
Polonaises among those who, though they did n