It is recorded that during one of the many revolts indulged in by the dancers of the Paris Opera against managerial control, which incidentally meant, of course, State and Royal control, some of the leaders were sent to Fort l’Evêque--including Auguste Vestris. So melodramatically pathetic was the farewell scene with his father, Gaetan, that even his colleagues laughed! “Go my son,” said _le Diou de la Danse_. “This is the most glorious moment of your career. Take my carriage, and ask for the cell which was occupied by my friend the King of Poland. I will meet every expense.” And the great Gaetan is said to have added, with an air of injured dignity, that this was the first time in history that there had been “any difference of opinion between the House of Bourbon and the House of Vestris!” What _was_ the--“House of Vestris?” Well, it was a fairly numerous one, of which, so far as our interest is concerned, Gaetan was virtually the founder. He had a father it is true, who, being employed, it is believed, in a Florentine pawnbroker’s, got into some trouble and with his young family “cleared” to Naples. There being no trains, “wireless” or Scotland Yard in those days, they stayed there in safety for a while; the children, who had been taught music and dancing, being made to exercise their talents in that direction for their general support. Palermo was the next move, where two of the girls, Marie-Therese and Violante, with one of the sons, Gaetan, entered the Opera. After that they seem to have scattered and travelled over most of cultured Europe, appearing now in one opera house, now in another, and always deeply engaged in love affairs. It is with their arrival in Paris, and with Gaetan more especially that we now have to do. He was one of the eight children of Thomas Vestris and his wife, _née_ Violante-Beatrix de Dominique Bruscagli, but only of three of the family have we much record, namely, Gaetan and the two sisters already mentioned. Gaetan-Appolino Balthazar Vestris was born at Florence in April, 1729, and in importance--though far from it in physique--was the Mordkin of his era. There, however, the resemblance ceases. He was a little man, with the biggest ideas of his own talents. But his size did not detract from his merits, his sheer style as a dancer; and from all accounts he is to be ranked as one of the finest male dancers the world has ever known. Indeed, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that he is one of the most important factors in the history of the modern dance and that his influence as a teacher is seen to-day in the real classic school, that is, the school which is based on ages of tradition. For Gaetan was in his time the supreme leader of the Dance, and undoubtedly gave a new standard and tradition to Paris, the influence of which spread to every Opera House on the Continent.