The Passepied’s the dance for me!”
ENVOI
“Lovers of dance, let naught deter
Your love from graces all can see
In Passepied! And all aver
The Passepied’s the dance for me!”
Of the jealousy which might have impelled Mlle. Prévôt to speak thus of her young rival Camargo and her quicker style there will be more to say presently. It is necessary for a while to turn aside (even to hark back a little, perhaps, since in dealing with a period of transition there must be several threads to trace back and gather up), and to glance at another phase of theatrical history than that of the première danseuse and the august Royal Opera, namely, the less exalted—and more popular—theatre; one which proved often the antechamber to the greater stage and Royal favour, to wit—the Italian Comedy and the Theatres of the Fair.