Add to this the fact that her father was not only a really accomplished teacher of dancing but was steeped in the romantic legends and poetry of Scandinavia, and we are better able to understand how it was the stiff formalism and poetic conventionalities of Ballet in the pre-Taglioni period had to succumb to the new breath of inspiration which was to set all London and Paris raving of its beauty in the ’forties, and fire even so temperate and cynical an observer as Thackeray to enthusiastic expressions of admiration of Marie Taglioni in “Sylphide.” As a child she was unprepossessing to look at and had physical defects. It is said that when the famous dancing master, Coulon, was consulted as to the teaching of the child, he exclaimed: “What _can_ I do with that little hunch-back?” Nevertheless, her father intended that she should become a dancer, and, taking her in hand himself, a dancer she became; with the result that--to adapt the expression of an ingenious French critic--between them they ultimately _taglionised_ the Ballet. Marie made her first appearance at Vienna in 1822, in a ballet bearing the lengthy title, “Réception d’une jeune nymphe à la cour de Terpsichore.” Her father had arranged a _pas_ for her _début_, but in her confusion, it is said, she forgot it, and substituted another of her own invention, which proved a triumphant success. From Vienna she went to Stuttgart, where the Queen of Würtemberg became so attached to her that she treated her like a sister, and was seen to shed tears on the occasion of Taglioni’s last appearance at the Stuttgart Opera House. She next proceeded to Munich, where she was equally well received by the royal family, finally making her _début_ at Paris on July 23rd, 1827, in a ballet called “Le Sicilien.” Her appearance was an immediate success, and was followed by fresh triumphs in “La Vestale,” “Fernando Cortez,” “Les Bayadères” and “Le Carnaval de Venise,” this first engagement terminating on August 10th. One critic of her time writes enthusiastically of the effect she created with: “_sa grâce naïve, ses poses décentes et voluptueuses, son extrême légèreté, la nouveauté de sa danse, dont les effets semblaient appartenir aux inspirations de la nature au lieu d’être les résultats des combinaisons de l’art et du travail de l’école, produisirent une sensation très vive sur le public. Le talent d’une virtuose qui s’éloigne de la route battue par ses devanciers, trouve des opposants que la continuité des succès ne désarme pas toujours: il n’y eut qu’une voix sur Mlle. Taglioni: tout le monde fut enchanté, ravi._”