Indeed, dancing was much thought of as an accomplishment, and more will be said of it in its place among the social habits of the time. One book alone, 'The Dancing Master' for 1713, 15th ed., contains 358 different figures and tunes for country dances. It got to be a fine art, and books were written on 'Chorography' and 'Orchesography,' illustrated with wonderful and most perplexing diagrams. A contemporary sketch of a dancing academy is interesting. It is by Budgell.[26] 'I am a Man in Years, and by an honest Industry in the World have acquired enough to give my Children a liberal Education, tho' I was an utter Stranger to it myself. My eldest Daughter, a Girl of Sixteen, has for some time past been under the Tuition of Monsieur _Rigadoon_, a Dancing Master in the City; and I was prevailed upon by her and her Mother to go last Night to one of his Balls. I must own to you, Sir, that having never been at any such Place before, I was very much pleased and surprized with that Part of his Entertainment which he called _French Dancing_. There were several young Men and Women, whose limbs seemed to have no other Motion but purely what the Musick gave them. After this Part was over, they began a Diversion which they call _Country Dancing_, and wherein there were also some things not disagreeable, and divers _Emblematical Figures_, compos'd, as I guess, by Wise Men for the Instruction of Youth. [Footnote 26: _Spectator_, 67.] 'Amongst the rest, I observed one, which I think they call[27] _Hunt the Squirrel_, in which while the Woman flies, the Man pursues her; but as soon as she turns, he runs away, and she is obliged to follow. [Footnote 27: See Appendix.] 'The Moral of this Dance does, I think, very aptly recommend Modesty and Discretion to the Female Sex. 'But as the best Institutions are liable to Corruptions, so, Sir, I must acquaint you, that very great Abuses are crept into this Entertainment. I was Amazed to see my Girl handed by, and handing young Fellows with so much Familiarity; and I could not have thought it had been in the Child. They very often made use of a most impudent and lascivious Step called _Setting_, which I know not how to describe to you, but by telling you that it is the very reverse of _Back to Back_. At last an impudent young Dog bid the Fiddlers play a Dance called _Mol Patley_,[28] and after having made two or three Capers, ran to his Partner, locked his Arms in hers, and whisked her round Cleverly above Ground in such manner that I, who sat upon one of the lowest Benches, saw further above her Shoe than I can think fit to acquaint you with. I could no longer endure these Enormities; wherefore, just as my Girl was going to be made a Whirligig, I ran in, seized on the Child, and carried her home.' [Footnote 28: See Appendix.] Poor Budgell! what would have been his feelings could he have but seen a galop, or a valse _à deux temps_?