A dance as distinguished as the minuet was the _Gavotte_, performed by couples in joyous, sparkling little steps. Its foundation was three steps and an _assemblé_ in quadruple time, commencing on the fourth beat of the bar. It starts in a line or a circle, one couple separating themselves from the rest. It has six figures. The first figure consists of four gavottes forward, four gavottes round, four back, four around again, the dancers hand in hand, the figures always accompanied by graceful head movements, the partners turning towards each other or apart. The following three movements are nearly the same, with slight variations. The fifth consists of four skating steps and gavotting around the partner. The sixth figure consists of gavotting forward three times, pirouetting back, raising the foot up to the heel, and advancing four times. In the _Gavotte_ the partners generally kissed each other, as they did in so many other dances. In later days the cavalier presented a flower in the course of the figure instead. The _Gavotte_ was a favorite dance of Louis XV, Marie Antoinette and Napoleon. Lully, Gluck and Grétry composed pretty gavottes, and it was frequently performed on the stage by Gardel and Vestris. The _Rigaudon_, which enjoyed a great popularity at all the European castles and courts till the French Revolution, was rather intricate. In it each figure occupied eight bars and both dancers started together without taking hands. The dance consisted of seven figures, the first being a sliding step and four running steps, turning, posing and repeating with the opposite foot. The second consisted of turning to left and right alternately four times, and sliding backwards. The third figure was danced diagonally to the right with running steps, turning, posing and repeating. The fourth figure was a graceful hopping and turning, repeating, running diagonally to the right and turning with the arms out straight. The fifth was in two half turns, one turn and repetition. The sixth was three steps left with arms over the head, hopping around, turning to left and right, posing with right hand down and the left hand above the head. The seventh consisted of balancing four times on the left foot and four times on the right and posing. Like the music of so many other old social dances, that of the Rigaudon was of extremely gracious cadences, with sentimental pathos and sweet, gay melodic turns. Music combined with dancing carried gladness and joy into the soft-shaded ball-rooms, bringing smiles and laughter to the lips of the picturesque gatherings.