Read the following and then check your understanding by answering the following questions:

A letter from Jane Austen to her sister, Cassandra, written on Friday, December 9th, 1808. In part of the letter she describes a ball she attended with her good friend, Martha Lloyd.

1

My dear Cassandra,

......Our ball was rather more amusing than I
expected. Martha liked it very much, and I did not gape
till the last quarter of an hour. It was past nine before
we were sent for, and not twelve when we returned.

6

The room was tolerably full, and there were, perhaps,
thirty couple of dancers. The melancholy part was, to
see so many dozen young women standing by without
partners, and each of them with two ugly naked
shoulders.

It was the same room in which we danced fifteen years

12

ago.
I thought it all over, and in spite of the shame of
being so much older, felt with thankfulness that I was
quite as happy now as then. We paid an additional
shilling for our tea, which we took as we chose in an
adjoining and very comfortable room.

17

There were only four dances, and it went to my heart
that the Miss Lances (one of them, too, named Emma)
should have partners only for two. You will not expect to
hear that I was asked to dance, but I was - by the
gentleman whom we met that Sunday with Captain
D’Auvergne. We have always kept up a bowing
acquaintance since, and, being pleased with his black
eyes, I spoke to him at the ball, which brought on me
this civility; but I do not know his name, and he seems
so little at home in the English language, that I believe
his black eyes may be the best of him.

Now read the following extract from an article by John Mullan about balls in Jane Austen’s time, and answer the following question:

What information is included in both pieces of writing?

In this article, Professor John Mullan explores the protocol and the passion of balls in Jane Austen’s novels.

In Austen's fiction, as in many novels of the 19th century, a ball is the ultimate occasion for a heady kind of courtship – a trying out of partners that is exciting, flirtatious and downright erotic. Couples perform together, feeling each other’s physical proximity (though both men and women wore gloves throughout) while being watched by others. Many of the dances were physically demanding: a ball might last for six hours or more, and end only as dawn approached.

Codes of behaviour were exacting. If a woman turns down one request for a dance she must turn down all others.

At a ball there were plenty of people who were not dancing but either playing cards in an adjacent room (a proper private ball would have tables laid out for whist) or just watching. Those who stand by are removed from the sexually charged pleasures of performance. The patterns of steps and movements were often complicated and required a great deal of practice. Books were published to guide would-be dancers. Dancing well was a test, and when Austen's heroines take the floor with the men they love it is in order to perform well together. Dancing is one of the female ‘accomplishments.’ Some of the other young ladies will also have to come into contact with him as they prance and rotate.

Dancing was among the most important accomplishments for the women, and the men, of polite society.

Balls lasted for a long time.

There were spaces provided for people not dancing (to watch, play cards, or drink tea).

Balls were an opportunity for men and women to have contact/get to know one another/see if they were attracted to one another.