DICKENSIAN DANCING.
I have become involved in a fierce argument with the Organizing Committee of the Dickens Episode in connexion with Rochester Historical Pageant, as to what was the popular dance in Pickwick's day. I maintain the Quadrille was the fashionable and up-to-date thing because, when describing Mr. Pickwick's visit to the Assembly Rooms at Bath, Dickens says, "There was the music—not of the quadrille band, for it had not yet commenced." The Committee maintain that the Minuette is in keeping with the period because, when Pickwick is at Dingley Dell, he says to Mrs. Wardle, "I will come back again and we will show these young people how to do a minuette," or words to that effect. This second quotation I maintain refers to a dance which was already out of fashion in Pickwick's day. What do your readers say ?—J. S. JACKSON, 33 Star Hill, Rochester.
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