We have now arrived at the modern style of ball, so beloved by many of the French Monarchs. Henry IV. and Napoleon were fond of giving these in grand style, and in some sort of grand style they persist even as a great social function to our own time. The Court balls of Louis XIII. and XIV. at Versailles were really gorgeous ballets, and their grandeur was astonishing; this custom was continued under the succeeding monarchs. An illustration of one in the eighteenth century by August de l'Aubin (fig. 54) sufficiently shows their character. There is nothing new in the postures illustrated, which may have originated thousands of years ago. As illustrating the popular ball of the period, the design by Hogarth (fig. 55) is an excellent contrast. The _contredanse_ represented was originally the old country dance exported to France and returned with certain arrangements added. This is a topic we need not pursue farther, as almost every reader knows what social dancing now is. [Illustration: Fig. 57.--Spring dancing away from winter. From a drawing by Watteau.] [Illustration: Fig. 58.--The Misses Gunning dancing. End of the 18th century, from a print by Bunbury, engraved by Bartolozzi.] [Illustration: Fig. 59.--Dancing. Close of the 18th century. From Derby ware.] [Illustration: Fig. 60.--Spanish dance in the Hall of Saragoza, 19th century.] CHAPTER VI. THE MODERN THEATRE DANCE. Although the theatrical ballet dance is comparatively modern, the elements of its formation are of the greatest antiquity; the chorus of dancers and the performances of the men in the Egyptian chapters represent without much doubt public dancing performances. We get singing, dancing, mimicry and pantomime in the early stages of Greek art, and the development of the dance rhythm in music is equally ancient. The Alexandrine Pantomime, introduced into Rome about 30 B.C. by Bathillus and Pylades, appears to have been an entertainment approaching the ballet. In the middle ages there were the mysteries and "masks"; the latter were frequent in England, and are introduced by Shakespere in "Henry VIII." In Italy there appears to have been a kind of ballet in the 14th century, and from Italy, under the influence of Catharine de' Medici, came the ballet. Balthasar di Beaujoyeulx produced the first recorded ballet in France, in the Italian style, in 1582. This was, however, essentially a Court ballet.