3-053-627 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The First Quadrille - drawn by F. Barnard, 1873. Illustration to a poem by John Latey. 'Precise and prim, demurely rigid, With formal bows and curtsies frigid, The first quadrille is gone through dumbly, Each partner setting, turning glumly, As though, in his and her despite, Performing some funereal rite, With solemn air, lugubrious grace, All gladness banished from the face, As quite unfitted for the season, And to Decorum's self high treason. Neglected wall-flowers all the while Sit coldly mute, without a smile, In freezing stateliness, until The very air is icy chill...'. From "Illustrated London News", 1873.