The master of the house in which the ball was given, always opened it himself by leading off in this dance.  His partner was selected neither for her beauty, nor youth; the most highly honored lady present was always chosen.  This phalanx, by whose evolutions every fete was commenced, was not formed only of the young:  it was composed of the most distinguished, as well as of the most beautiful.  A grand review, a dazzling exhibition of all the distinction present, was offered as the highest pleasure of the festival.  After the host, came next in order the guests of the greatest consideration, who, choosing their partners, some from friendship, some from policy or from desire of advancement, some from love,—­followed closely his steps.  His task was a far more complicated one than it is at present.  He was expected to conduct the files under his guidance through a thousand capricious meanderings, through long 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