And whirl and languish tenderly divine!
O, how I hate this loving, hugging dance;
This imp of Germany brought up in France!
* * * * *
Let France its whim, its sparkling wit supply,
The easy grace that captivates the eye;
But curse their waltz,—their loose, lascivious arts
That smooth our manners to corrupt our hearts!
In the novel and play of the time “Salmagundi” found still more alarming evidences of a decline in morals and manners:
Where now those books, from which in days of yore