A graphic description of Elssler is given by Gautier. ‘Clad in a skirt of rose-colored satin clinging closely to the hips, adorned with deep flounces of black lace, she came forward with a bold carriage of her slender body, and a flashing of diamonds on her breast. Her leg, like polished marble, gleams through the frail net of the stocking. Her small foot is at rest, only awaiting the signal of the music to start into motion. How charming she is with the large comb in her hair, the rose behind her ear, her flame-like glance, and her sparkling smile! At the extremity of her rose-dipped fingers tremble the ebony castañets. Now she darts forward; the castañets commence their sonorous clatter; with her hands she seems to shake down clusters of rhythm. How she twists! how she bends! what fire! what voluptuousness of motion! what eager zest! Her arms seem to swoon, her head droops, her body curves backward until her white shoulders almost graze the ground. What charm of gesture! And with that hand which sweeps over the dazzle of the footlights would not any one say that she gathered all the desires and all the enthusiasm of those who watch her?’ It was a pity that such a bitter rivalry was created between Elssler and Taglioni by theatrical managers, which became a source of fierce controversy throughout Europe. We are told by the writers of that time that a veritable war of sentiments between the Taglionists and Elsslerists lasted for years. Now the one, now the other party claimed victory. Each party claimed to have the highest art in the individual style of its idolized dancer. It was a conflict between two movements rather than two artists: here the classic idealism, there the romantic realism. Elssler at the end remained the winner, but not for a long time, as the political unrest that swept Europe in the middle of the nineteenth century distracted the public attention from the ballet. After a successful tour in America, Elssler returned to Milan, when the La Scala opera, which was supported by the Austrian government, began to feel keenly the political pulse of the time. Elssler was to appear in Perrot’s ballet _Faust_, when she beheld the members of the ballet wearing a medal that represented the new liberal Pope, who was strongly pro-Italian, while Elssler was an Austrian. To her it seemed a demonstration directed against her fatherland and she refused to go on the stage unless the demonstration stopped. The audience was informed of the trouble behind the scenes, and from this time on Elssler’s career was finished. Vainly trying her luck in Russia and England till 1851, she realized the sentimental opposition of all the audiences to her art and retired forever. She spent her life in comfort, as the American tour alone had netted her a sum of five hundred thousand dollars. She died in 1884 in Vienna, a few months after the death of her rival, Taglioni. III