In soft accents, the sorrows of her heart."
L. Uhland.
If we had ransacked all the pawnbrokers' shops, and attended the auction of an antiquary's goods, to find "a pocket-book giving a description of the social pleasures, with the fashionable figure dances, of the year 1519," we could not have been more fortunate than in the fund of information which chance has thrown in our way upon that subject.
Having arrived at that part of the present history which is to treat of a ball so far back as 1519, a difficulty arose of ascertaining what were the figures, and how they were danced in those days.
We might, indeed, have simply said, "they danced;" but how easily might some of our fair readers have made an anachronism, and imagined an old veteran such as George von Fronsberg, booted and spurred, standing up in a cotillon. In this embarrassment a very rare book fell in our way, entitled, "The beginning, origin, and customs of tournaments in the holy Roman Empire. Frankfort, 1564." We found in these precious pages, among other well executed wood-cuts, the representation of a ball in the time of the Emperor Maximilian, which was about a year before the date of this history.
We may, therefore, take it for granted, that the ball in the town-hall of Ulm differed in nothing from the explanations afforded by the above-mentioned drawing, and consequently we shall be able to give a better idea of the amusements of those days, by giving a description of the picture, than by our own delineation.
The foreground is occupied by the spectators; and the musicians, composed of fifers, drummers, and trumpeters, placed in a gallery, "sound a blast," according to the expression in the tournament book. On either side, towards the further end of the room, are arranged those who intend to join in the dance, dressed in rich heavy stuffs. In our days, we see only two standing colours on such occasions, black and white, in which the ladies and gentlemen are divided as night and day. Not so in former times. An extraordinary brilliancy of colours shoot their rays from the picture. The most beautiful red, from fiery scarlet to the deepest purple, accompanied by rich deep blue which surprises us in the paintings of the old masters, form the cheerful colours of their picturesque drapery and dresses. The centre of the apartment is occupied by the actual performers. The dance resembles very much the Polonaise of the present day, in which the gentleman, with his partner, walk around the room in procession. Four trumpeters, bearing heraldic flags suspended to their instruments, open the procession, followed by the first couple. The rank alone of the gentleman entitles him, with his lady, to the honour of leading; and at each change of the dance, the next in precedence takes his place. Then come two torch-bearers, followed by the rest of the dancers in pairs. The ladies walked with modest and reserved demeanour; and the men placed their feet in a singular position, as if they were on the point of making a high leap. Some appear also to stamp with their high heels in time to the music; a custom even now seen in the Swabian village festivals.
Such was the ball in Ulm. The first blast of the trumpets had sounded before Albert von Sturmfeder entered the room. His eye flew through the ranks of the dancers, and soon fell upon his beloved. She was led by a young Franconian knight of his acquaintance; but she did not appear to heed the animated conversation which he addressed to her. Her eyes sought the ground, her look expressed seriousness, bordering on sorrow; very different from the rest of the female part of the company, who, floating in all the pleasures of the ball, gave one ear to the music, the other to their partner; accompanied by inquisitive looks, now to their acquaintances for the purpose of reading approbation in their choice of their cavalier, now towards him, to ascertain if his attention was exclusively taken up with them.
The cornets and trumpets having sounded a finale in lengthened tones, put an end to the first dance. Dieterick von Kraft having remarked the arrival of his guest, came to lead him to his cousins, according to his promise. He whispered to him, that, having himself already engaged Marie for the next dance, he had asked Bertha's hand for him.
Both the girls had been prepared for the appearance of the interesting stranger; nevertheless, upon the recollection of the remark she had made upon him when he passed under her window, Marie's lively features were covered with a deep blush when he was introduced to them. She was unable to account to herself for the embarrassment his presence now produced on her, having only seen him once in her life, and never heard of him before. Whether it was that she had selected him as the most striking cavalier in the procession, or whether, among the young citizens of Ulm, she thought none were to be compared with him in appearance; such was the effect of this sudden attack on her feelings, one to which she had hitherto been a stranger, that she had no little difficulty in endeavouring to conceal her confusion from his observation.