Somehow, the first quadrille is always unfortunate!--In the back room they succeeded no better than in the front:--here, Miss Charmer was top of the dance, as she always is, if it can be obtained; especially in the _Lancers_ or _Caledonians_ (which, we dare say, are pleasant quadrilles to those who know them, and the Charmer does). Well, she is top, with young Hoy (heir to Sir Hobbedy), for a partner, a brave youth at quoits, cricket, boxing, or boating--his hands, horny as a tortoise and large as Polyphemus', over which he split three right-hand gloves:--a glance will suffice to show how much he is _out_ of his, and she _in_ her, element--Miss Charmer looking, Lark said, as if she would prefer performing the "first _set_" (or sit) upon a vacant seat, beside Arthur Beau, who has just arrived, and by whom, we know, she disliked to be quizzed;--so, upon the completion of the first eight bars, the Charmer flounced, bringing the flounces of her dress into contact with the bars of the grate, causing the smoke to come out, and Arthur to come round, that he might lean upon the shelf, engage himself for the next dance, and stand behind the fair partner, a fire-guard of honour, unable to keep from smiling at Mr. Hoy, who dances upon his heels, as though enamoured of his large feet, and afraid of knocking his head against the chandelier. Their _vis-a-vis_ is a lively lady, apparently taking stock of a _bouquet_, but, in reality, joking an absent gentleman, opposite:--it is Miss Gay, whom Lark (her partner) is making laugh, by observing--the gentleman is not so _absent_ as he ought to be; causing that lady to forget herself--making many mistakes and false starts; which, being those of a person who knew better, were very diverting. Miss Gay is voluble as volatile, no subject coming amiss--she is now speculating as to how far the gentlemen will permit the buttons to travel down their backs, or their skirts to be curtailed; and Mr. Lark, unable to find a reason, must get up a contrary supposition--imagining some middle-aged ladies to resemble a cork-screw, as they have at different periods shifted the waist from the armpits downward;--_waists_ making us think of the short lady (in this set) with a very long one--Miss Price, only child of Alderman Price, chandler and dry-salter, of Candlewick ward--daughter and _hair_, as Mr. Lark jocosely observed, in allusion to the luxuriant red tresses of that lady;--saying her papa was the great crony of Sir Rich. Big, the free vintner, late of Portsoken ward, who was found, or rather not found--having evaporated of spontaneous combustion, before he could get to the civic chair,--leaving all his money to Price; who has retired, with his fat and the gout, to Bayswater. Miss Price is a lovely dancer, appearing hollow (a thing Miss Gay did not doubt), like an India rubber ball in flounces; she is said to have a beautiful hand, so small as to require only No. 6. gloves--as if a pigmy hand could not be a deformity.