Paper 75

Bath Assembly-Room Cotillon Collections of the 1780s

Contributed by Paul Cooper, Research Editor

A collection of at least five small books were published in Bath across the 1780s containing Cotillons as danced at the Bath Assembly Rooms (see Figure 1). They were instruction books that were intended to help visitors cope with the local repertoire of social dances. Several of these publications were reissued multiple times, they were evidently popular with the dancers at Bath. In this paper we'll investigate these publications, speculate as to their uses and review the content of the dances themselves.

Figure 1. The title pages of the first two volumes of the Bath Assembly-Room Cotillon Collections

A transcription of the contents of the publications is provided below. The copies that I have studied were kindly provided to me by The Huntingdon Library in California, the Library have since shared their scans of the collections via their website (the links are provided below). I'm not aware of any other surviving copies of these books existing elsewhere in the world... though if you do have other copies, do please get in touch!

Cotillion dancing in England prior to the 1780s

Before we discuss the Bath Cotillon collections let's first reflect upon England's Cotillion dancing tradition up to the point of publication, c.1780. One of the subjects we'll investigate further is the extent to which the Bath Cotillon dances were similar to those danced elsewhere in Britain, in order to do that we must first think about the context in which they were published.

One subject to touch upon at the outset is the word Cotillon itself. It's often spelled as Cotillion and both spellings will be found in use within this paper. Some historical sources used further variants such as Cottilon, Cotilion or similar. The dance arrived in Britain from France and was initially referred to using the French spelling of Cotillon. Over time the predominant usage in Britain was anglicised to Cotillion, with both variants remaining in common usage. I usually use the term Cotillion when discussing dances published and enjoyed in Britain, whereas the term consistently used in the Bath publications of the 1780s is Cotillon. From a modern point of view the term Cotillon is sometimes preferred to disambiguate references to the dance form from those of a modern debutantes ball, a usage of the term that didn't exist back in the 18th century. The two usages can be considered equivalent for most practical purposes, within this paper we'll use them to mean approximately the same thing. We'll prefer Cotillon when referring specifically to the Bath dance collections and Cotillion when referring to the wider social dance industry in Britain.

We have written about the history of the Cotillion dance before in some detail, the review here will be necessarily short. If you'd like to know more you might like to refer to our papers on Cotillion Dancing in England, 1760s to 1810s and our Programme for a Cotillon Ball, 1799.

The early history of the Cotillion dance in Britain remains vague. Collections of Cotillion dances were published in London from 1767 and the phenomenon grew rapidly from that date. Prior to 1767 the references are few and rare. The word Cotillon appears in the New Bath Guide for 1766, the context of use isn't particularly clear however. The name Cotillon was also used for a fictional dancing master in the 1742 Memoirs of the Nobility, Gentry, &c. of Thule. There was clearly some comprehension of the term prior to the late 1760s, it seems not to have entered general parlance at those dates however. There are intriguing references to Figure Dances being enjoyed in Britain in the 1750s that might well have been early Cotillion dances (including references published by Benjamin Towle in 1759), the references are a bit too vague to be certain. It's from the late 1760s that the dance became genuinely popular, the Stamford Mercury newspaper for the 10th of March 1768 opined that: A country dance of a new nature called a Cotillon, and which admits but of eight persons, has lately been introduced in the polite world from France, and is now in great esteem, among our people of quality.

Figure 2. 2.X La Rose, an example Bath dance. Potentially the original figures to Jane Austen's cotillion dancing tune of the same name.

Several detailed cotillion dancing guides were published in London between perhaps 1767 and 1772, they offer significant insight into how Cotillions were danced. We'll refer to these guides further when investigating the Bath publications of the 1780s below. That these guides were published is clear evidence that the dance was not only successful, but that a market existed of people willing to pay money to learn how to dance them. A little later still we find collections issued by James Fishar and others that aimed to simplify Cotillion dancing to make it more accessible to the English public, Fishar minimised the use of French terminology and step-work in his collection of 1776.

One of the most telling clues regarding the success of the Cotillion across the 1770s is the adoption of Cotillion dancing terminology into English Country Dancing of the period. Over approximately ten years the terms allemande, pousette and promenade went from being unheard of, to being ubiquitously encountered within published English country dance collections. These terms all derive from Cotillon dancing and the British public had evidently become familiar with them. Other less popular terms were also adopted into English dances including pirouette and rigadon. By the 1780s English Country Dances had clear Cotillion dancing influence within them.

The Cotillion brought a further less obvious change to British social dancing: a culture for memorising dances, rehearsing them and ideally perfecting them. Cotillion dancers were expected to learn the figures for a dance, all eight individuals involved had to move at the same time and in a predictable way (something significantly less true of English Country Dancing at the same date). The figures for dances would be circulated ahead of events, practice or rehearsal opportunities were held for the dancers in the hours before a ball. This performance culture was new and may have further influenced the development of the English Country Dance over the following few decades. The adoption of fancy steps into English Country Dancing, as experienced by ordinary English dancers (as opposed to the elite courtly dancers) accelerated towards the end of the 18th century, several references to the novel adoption of French steps into English dancing exist from around the year 1780.

And throughout all this Bath was one of the main centres of influence over what was happening. The influence of Bath on British social dancing was every bit as significant of that of London, Edinburgh and Dublin... one could argue that Bath was the single most influential location of all. The Bath resort had become the destination of choice for health related tourism, rich families from across the country would travel to Bath to take the waters, many would make annual visits to the spa. They would mix together and meet social peers from across the nation, all within the confines of a small town. The dancing at the Assembly Rooms was an ideal opportunity for individuals to meet each other and to socialise together. When they went home they'd take their favourite experiences away with them. Some of the earliest references to Cotillion dancing involve Bath, it's possible that they became popular in Bath before spreading elsewhere around the nation.

The Bath Cotillon Publications

The five Bath dance publications are wonderful survivors from the early 1780s, they offer us a flash of insight into English social practices at the popular Bath spa. Most English dance publications that survive from this date were issued in London, whereas these publications were genuinely published in Bath and were intended for a local (albeit transitory) audience. They offer a more nuanced insight into localised dance culture of the period.

Figure 3. 4.XII Les Caprices des Hommes, a rare example of a Cotillion beginning in two lines rather than as a square.

The five surviving books (there could of course have been more of them) were published in Bath itself. The first two claim on the covers to have been printed and sold by R. Cruttwell. Richard Cruttwell (1747-1799) was the owner and printer of the Bath Chronicle newspaper and also the publisher of the annual New Bath Guide publications. All five books claim to contain dances that were connected with the Assemblies in Bath, the later three specifically claim to have been available for sale at the Assembly-Rooms, Bath. Indeed, the third volume was to be had only at the Assembly Rooms. The implication is that they began circulation under the direction of Richard Cruttwell, perhaps as an opportunity to make money from the visitors to the Spa, but were soon adopted and endorsed by the operators of the Bath Assembly Rooms themselves. They were, to some extent, the official cotillon books that visitors to Bath could purchase. They could perhaps have been acquired as mementoes for visitors to take home with them, it seems likely that they had a more practical primary purpose though: they were intended to assist in learning the dances that were being actively enjoyed at the Assembly Rooms. A visitor to the Assembly Rooms, once they knew the names of the dances to be performed of an evening, could familiarise themselves with the figures of those dances ahead of the event.

Despite being specific to the Bath Assembly Rooms they were sometimes available for sale in London from specific sales agents associated with Bath. The third volume was available from Mr Catelo, in Saville-Row, the fifth from Mr Grant, No 7 Gay-Street. Several of the volumes claimed to be available from other booksellers, presumably where vendors had purchased stock to sell elsewhere. A visitor planning to travel to Bath might acquire the dance manuals ahead of their visit.

All five surviving volumes share a similar look, they give the appearance of having been published by the same type-setter and printer. It's possible, perhaps even likely, that Richard Cruttwell was resposible for producing all five volumes. That said, the typography of the covers are slightly different between the first two and following three volumes. There are also minor differences between the volumes such as evolving use of terminology and spelling, nothing of particular significance though. Each volume is very small in size at approximately 10 cm in one dimension and 5 in the other. They were designed to be carried on the person. Volumes three through five are clearly intended to be a continuation of the series started with volumes one and two, they could have been printed and sold separately however.

Between them the five volumes contain the figures for approximately 156 cotillion dances: 29 in the first volume, 30 in the second, 25 in the third, 24 in the fourth and 48 in the fifth volume. The actual count is slightly more complicated as the first volume contains two dances numbered as XIX (1.XIX(a) Les Ormeaux and 1.XIX(b) L'Aimable Viellesse share the same figures) whereas Keppel's Welcome spans the numbers 1.XXIII and 1.XXIV. The second volume also includes a page explaining the Grand Carre figure numbered as dance 2.XXXI but not otherwise included in the total. The total of 156 is therefore correct after taking these anomalies into consideration.

Figure 4. 1.XXI The Crescent, a rare sighting of the chassez a la Marquise figure.

The publication dates for the five books are a little complicated to ascertain as several of them were reissued multiple times. I have only been able to study a single edition of each book, it is unclear whether the contents changed between the editions. In all probability they did not, it's very likely that the only change was to the cover of the works and even they may not have been altered for a simple reprinting. The first advertisement for any of the volumes that I can find dates to 1799; the Bath Journal for the 22nd of February 1799 makes mention of a publication printed and sold by R. Crutwell, sold also by all the booksellers of Bath and Bristol, Wells, Devizes, Marlborough, Shepton-Mallet, Taunton and Wootton-Underedge, of whom may be had, price 1s, printed very small and neat for the pocket, Figures of all the New and Fashionable Cotillons, as danced at the Public Rooms at Bath. By 1781 (Bath Chronicle, 6th September 1781) Cruttwell was advertising both the second volume (second edition) and also a Second Edition of the First Collection of Cotillons. A little later that year Crutwell advertised a third edition of both of the first two collections (Bath Chronicle, 27th December 1781). These third edition publications continued to be advertised throughout 1782 (eg in the Bath Chronicle for the 26th of September 1782). 1783 saw the first two volumes being advertised collectively as containing 59 dances (Bath Chronicle, 30th October 1783) and also saw the 5th volume being advertised (Bath Chronicle, 25th December 1783). Presumably volumes three, four and five were all first issued at a similar date between 1781 and 1783. I suspect that one volume was issued each year between 1779 and 1783. Later advertisements tended only to mention the first two collections however, examples include in the Bath Chronicle for the 8th of April 1784, the 2nd of November 1786 and the 29th of November 1787. It's unclear why the later volumes didn't get advertised in the same way, it may be a clue that Crutwell continued to sell volumes 1 and 2 personally while the operators of the Assembly-Rooms sold the subsequent volumes. The copy of volume 1 that I've studied claims to be the 4th edition and has the date 1783 on the cover, the contents are probably unchanged from the 1799 first edition. The copy of the second volume that I've studied claims to be a third edition but bears the date 1784 on the cover, it's probably at least the fourth reprinting and has contents largely unchanged from the c.1780 first edition. The fact that so many editions of these collections were issued, and that so few copies are known to exist today, is evidence of how useful they were. They were bought, used, and eventually discarded. We're lucky to have any surviving copies to study today.

What follows is a table summarising what we know about each individual volume that I've studied.

It's unclear whether an official sixth volume was available or at what date it would have been issued. Worldcat has catalogued a volume named New edition of the sixth book containing fifty of the newest cotillons as danced at the Lower-Assembly Rooms, Bath with an estimated publication date of 1790, yet no copies are known to be available to study. It may have been a continuation of the series, perhaps dating to the late 1780s.

It's possible that the five known volumes were all that was available for several years. It's perhaps relevant that the London based music publisher Longman & Broderip issued a collection of cotillions for 1786 under the name Book the VI. Twenty Four New Cotillions as danced at the Assmembly Rooms in Bath & other Grand Balls & Assemblies. The significance of this collection is that I know of no evidence for Longman & Bropderip having issued any previous volumes. They may have started their collection at number six in order to suggest a continuity with the Bath publications. If so, it seems that they only published this single collection. Their publication included both the figures and music for the dances such that it's really quite different to the five volumes issued in Bath itself. The Longman & Broderip volume continued to be advertised until at least 1789 where it was described in an advertisement printed in The Times newspaper for the 11th of September 1789 as Bath Cotillons, 6th Book, new edition. This advertisement from 1789 might offer a clue that the Bath Cotillon collections were still considered to be meaningful at this date. I know of no allusions to the collections from the 1790s however, they may have ceased to be relevant from around the turn of the decade.

Figure 5. 5.XLII La Creon, a dance in which performers are expected to strike a pose.

By 1792 the interest in Cotillon dancing at Bath was in decline, the Bath Chronicle newspaper for the 6th of December 1792 reported: The MASTERS of the CEREMONIES, finding the COTILLON BALLS not so well attended as in former years, and it having been suggested to them that an Alteration in the Entertainments of the Evening would be acceptable, submit the following Arrangements to the Subscribers to that Ball and the Public in general; ... the name of COTILLON BALL be changed to that of FANCY BALL, At which Ladies will be allowed to appear in Hats, or any Mode of Dress (that of Character excepted) which they may think most elegant and becoming. The Ball to commence with a Country Dance, after which there will be one Cotillon only and then Tea. After Tea, a Country Dance, One Cotillon, and the evening to conclude with Country-Dances, and the Long Minuet. The Bath faithful were to enjoy fewer Cotillon dances thereafter, the books of dance figures issued in Bath were presumably of little use thereafter.

Similarity of the Bath Cotillons to the c.1770 London Cotillion publications

A significant group of Cotillion handbooks were published in London around the year 1770. Books that not only included Cotillion music and dance figures but that went further, they offered an explanation of how to dance cotillions. Some of the more interesting publications include those issued by Fishar, Gallini, Gherardi, Hurst, Siret and Villeneuve. Much of what we know about Cotillion dancing in Britain is derived from these publications. We tend to assume that the prevailing cotillion dancing traditions of the 1780s matched those documented in London c.1770, and that the conventions applied nationwide. The Bath collections offer an unusual opportunity to investigate this assumption. To what extent do the Bath conventions of the 1780s match what was documented in London a decade or more earlier? Several observations emerge from a close inspection of the books that offer clues.

A starting point we might consider is the form of the dance. Most cotillion dances were documented to require eight dancers, that's four couples facing each other across the sides of a square. Cotillions for sixteen (or for other numbers) were not unheard of but were not described in any detail in the surviving literature. The Bath Cotillons follow this same convention, as far as can be determined they all assume eight dancers (four couples) and all but one of them assume that they begin the dance in a square formation. The exception is 4.XII Les Caprices des Hommes (see Figure 3) in which the dancers begin in two lines of four, facing each other. Although unusual this flattened convention was not unheard of in the London publications, Monsieur Siret published several examples of this in his c.1770 A Set of Cotillons or French Dances. We might therefore conclude on this point that the Bath Cotillons are similar to those published in London.

Next we might consider the structure of the dance. The London Cotillion guides emphasise that the dance consisted of two parts, the Change and the Figure. The dance consists of a repeating pattern of Change followed by Figure, followed by Change, followed by Figure... until the end. The Figure would be the same each time, whereas the Change (a simple eight or sixteen bar activity) would vary each time. The published guides offered a specific sequence of Changes to use, the minutiae of which could vary slightly from one book to the next but were relatively consistent. The Change was a sufficiently predictable part of the dance that many cotillion dance collections wouldn't even refer to it at all, the use of Changes being so commonplace and well understood that it didn't need to be mentioned. We find a similar structure to the Bath Cotillons. Most of the dances make no explicit reference to the Changes but it's certain that they were being danced. Seven dances from volume 5 do end with an explicit reference to dancing a Change, eg 5.VII La Mascarade or 5.XXII La Petite Pantouffle. This instruction remains implied in all of the others. Every dance in volumes 2 and 3 indicate that the cotillon begins with a Grand Round, which was the leading Change danced to almost all Cotillions. This instruction was probably omitted thereafter to save space. One dance, 5.XIII La Marche Allemande has the oddity of referencing a Change mid-Figure, which could either be a printing error or something a little exotic. Another, 4.XXI Les Plaisirs Anglois indicates that the Gentlemen and Ladies swap activity after each Change. It's reasonable to determine that the Changes were a standard part of how the Bath Cotillons were danced. We don't know the sequence of Changes used, whether they were fixed or variable, how many there were, whether the dance ended on a Change or on the Figure, and so forth; but the dancing of Changes does seem to have been expected in Bath.

Figure 6. Les Drapeaux in Francis Werner's Book XIII for the Year 1780 (left) and 1.III Les Drapeaux from the Bath collections (right). Note that Werner's music has an unusual 18 bar B strain and that the Bath figures more naturally fill that music than the figures Werner himself printed.

Next we might consider the collection of individual dance figures referred to within the Bath collections. Most were well established figures that were documented in the London guides. A few exotic figures can be found however. The most unusual named figure appears twice in the first volume, it's a chassez a-la-marquise and can be found in both 1.I Les Plaisirs François and 1.XXI The Crescent (see Figure 4). This figure is known from French sources but is very rare in 18th century British publications. Another exotic instruction involves three steps to the right, quick, and one to the left in 4.VI Les Desirs des Dames, an instruction somewhat reminiscent of later Quadrille dancing figures. A further oddity can be found in 5.XI L'Elizabeth in which a variant of the Tirois figure from Quadrille dancing is found. There's also an instance of hand clapping in 1.XXVIII Le Double Inconstance and two instances of balking in 1.XVIII La Fete du Village and 3.X The Emperor's Cossack. There's an allemande pass in both 1.XXII La Louise and 5.VI La Belle Cecille, and the little chaine of four and four in 5.XLIV Les Aricots Ecossois. Perhaps the most unusual figure within the collection involves striking a pose in 5.XLII La Creon (see Figure 5), the instruction being pour le tableau (for the picture). Despite the presence of a few exotic figures it's nonetheless clear that the dances are compatible with the London guides published a decade or so earlier, the variations encountered being no more than we might find in typical London dance publications of the 1770s or 1780s.

A further uncommon element we find across the dances are occasional references to steps. That is, the specific type of step that should be used. Three of the dances in the Bath collection include sections of the dance that should use a Minuet step, they are 1.IX Le Balance, 2.VI Le Heir au Soir and 3.XI La Sandale. The instructions include make one forward minuet step to side couples, two side minuet steps, pas grave, right-hand and left half round with the minuet step and the equivalent le chain half round with a minuet step. A further dance includes two mentions of pas d'allemande which might be interpreted as allemande step, they can be found in 2.XXIX La Belle Harriot. Several more refer to pas de rigadon or the rigadon step such as 1.XXVII Les Plaisirs des Dames (there are many further examples using the alternative simple spelling of rigadon or rigaudon). A couple of the dances refer to a side step in 2.XI Le Promenade de Colisèe and 3.XI La Sandale (the second example being a Minuet step to the side). A few of the dances include hints on the speed of movement; 4.XXIII L'ancienne Angloise includes the instruction This Figure must not be hurried over and 4.VII La Petite Rossette has This Cotillon requires Time for the Steps, whereas two have the instruction to fly back to their places (1.X L'Ordonnance and 3.XI La Sandale) which hints at a frantic scurry. These characteristics are uncommon but not entirely unique. Once again the Bath cotillons are found to be largely compatible with their London equivalents.

We do however have one characteristic of the Bath dances that is inconsistent with the London terminology of the c.1770 guides, it's related to the numbering of the couples within a Cotillion dance. The common approach is for the couple at the top of the square to be termed the First Couple, the couple to their right being the Second Couple; opposite the First Couple are the Third Couple and opposite the Second Couple are the Fourth Couple. Sometimes the First and Third couples are collectively referred to as the Top & Bottom couples whilst the Second and Fourth couples were referred to as the Side Couples. The Bath collections routinely use the Top & Bottom and Side terminology following the standard pattern. However, in some cases they number the individual couples in a different way. The alternative system for numbering the couples is what eventually takes over for Quadrille dancing in the 19th Century: the First and Fourth couples are unchanged whereas the Second and Third couples have their numbers swapped around. In this alternative system the First Couple is opposite the Second Couple and the Third Couple is opposite the Fourth Couple. The alternative numbering system is clearly evident in two of the dances 1.XVII The Pitiful Fellow and 1.XXIX Thracie. Whereas the regular numbering system is evident in two others, 4.IX Les Boulevards de Paris and 4.XVIII La Marche Allemande. A further dance, 1.III Les Drapeaux, could be interpreted either way. Most of the Bath Cotillons don't refer to ordinal position numbers and of those that do the split is 50:50 between the regular and alternative numbering systems. Nonetheless, this is the clearest diverge from the London conventions found so far.

Figure 7. Madelon Friquet in Francis Werner's Book XIV for the Year 1781 (left) and 1.5 Le Matelot Friquet from the Bath collections (right).

One further oddity we might reflect upon is that a small minority of the Bath dances are named in English. They are 1.XVII The Pitiful Fellow, 1.XX Winchester Camp, 1.XXI The Crescent, 1.XXIII Keppel's Welcome, 1.XXV The Dusky Night, 2.XXII The Starling, 3.X The Emperor's Cossack and 3.XVII The Vestris. Most Cotillion dances were named in French both in the London publications and at Bath, the anomaly of a small subset being named in English isn't particularly significant.

A further minor oddity is that there are three explanations of how to dance a Grand Quarre/Carre figure scattered amongst the dances. There's a numbered explanation at 2.XXXI An Explanation of the Grand Carre, an explanation at 5.XXX Les Plaisirs de Spa and another in 5.XXXVI Les Plaisirs de Spa.

A small minority of the dances contain what appear to be errors. An example can be found in the instruction demie queue du chat, or half right and left in 1.XXII La Louise, another in how 4.VIII Le Petit Raton omits the instruction to repeat the activity for the other dancers. Any such errors, if indeed they are errors, are rare.

Overall it seems that the Bath Cotillons of the 1780s do have a high degree of compatibility with the conventions documented in the London guides c.1770. A little later in time the conventions are known to have evolved, that's something we've written about in another paper; later still the Quadrille dance emerged as the preferred form of square dance, it evolved the format still further. But in Bath in the 1780s the Cotillion dancing would not have been very different to the conventions documented in London c.1770.

Example Cotillons of Note from the Collection

In this section we'll highlight a few cotillons from the collection of note. They're offered in no particular order and aren't necessarily of greater interest than any others, they're just dances that caught my attention for some reason or other.

• The first few dances I'll point out are especially short and/or simple. They might be useful dances in a modern ballroom for teaching to beginners. Members of the public might pick them up relatively quickly. Examples include 1.V Le Matelot Friquet, 1.XX Winchester Camp, 2.XIII Le Vertigo, 2.XVI La Provencale and 5.XII La Theadore.
  
  
• As a counterpoint to the short dances there are a couples that are excessively long and complicated. They include 1.XXIII Keppel's Welcome (which extends into entry 1.XXIV) and 5.XXXVI La Charmante Bellingand which also requires two pages of text.
  
  
• 1.III Les Drapeaux is potentially the same dance published by Francis Werner of the same name in his Book XIII for the Year 1780, Eleven Cotillions two Country Dances and two Minuets (see Figure 6). There are significant similarities between the two dances yet also significant differences. Werner did publish music for the dance. However the Bath figures would be a better fit to Werner's music than his own figures are. Werner's music has an odd 18 bar B strain of music that could fit the Bath figures quite well. It's possible that Werner, knowingly or otherwise, was induced to sell a poor copy of a Bath dance, perhaps as notated by an amateur who danced it at Bath.
  
  
• 1.V Le Matelot Friquet was also published by Francis Warner under the name Madelon Friquet in his Book XIV for the Year 1781, Nine Cotillons, 8 Country Dances and two Minuets (see Figure 7). Once again there are minor differences between the two arrangements in that Werner begins the action with the leading man and opposite lady, whereas the Bath figures begin with the leading lady and opposite man. The Bath figures use the term pirouette where Werner uses turn single and the Bath figures include several rigadons that Werner didn't mention. The music as published by Werner is once again odd in that the B strain has just 14 bars which is difficult to use in his arrangement; the Bath figures are also a little tricky to arrange into 14 bars, though perhaps it's a little more natural. Once again it appears that Werner published a Bath dance in a slightly corrupted format.
  
  
• 1.VII Les Paniers is yet another dance that was published by Francis Werner under the same name in his Book XIV for the Year 1781, Nine Cotillons, 8 Country Dances and two Minuets. Once again Werner substituted the term pirouette with turn single half round. This time the music for the B strain is a more natural 16 bars.
  
  
• 1.XII La Rosetta is another dance that was probably published by Francis Werner, this time in his tricky to date Six New Minuets, with three favorite Cotillions publication. The dance published by Werner seems to start in the same way as the Bath dance, the second half is in a largely garbled state however. So much so that it's unclear whether it's intended to be the same dance or not. Werner has all four couples form 2 lines and lead up followed by a peculiar chasse movement and a return, whereas the Bath dance has a more comprehensible grand moulinet quite round, the Ladies in the centre; grand moulinet back again, the Gentlemen in the centre. If it is the same dance then Werner's readers must have been very confused by his version of the figures!
  
  
• 2.V Les Ombres Chinoises has the same name as a dance published by Thomas Budd in his c.1778 Sixth Book, Twelve Favourite Cotillons and Country Dances. The Bath figures are entirely different to those of Budd and the name may only match by coincidence. The Budd dance has entered the modern repertoire however such that the name may be familiar to some readers.
  
  
• 2.X La Rose (see Figure 2) happens to have the same name as a piece of Cotillion music personally notated by Jane Austen in the Austen family music collection (without any figures). It's possible that this dance was a personal favourite of Jane's. It's also possible (though far from certain) that the Bath collection hosts the figures that were danced to the tune that Jane notated. Jane lived in Bath between 1801 and 1806 so it's clearly possible that they're a match, the Bath figures can be arranged to fit Jane's music with no great difficulty.
  
  
• 2.XV Le Jupon Rouge is a dance that we've written about before. It was published by Thomas Budd in his 1781 9th Book and featured in a Cotillion Ball held in Bristol in 1799. We've animated a suggested arrangement of the dance here.
  
  
• 4.XXII Les Quatre Amis was also published by Francis Werner in his Book XV for the Year 1782, 8 Favourite Cotillons, 9 Country Dances and three Minuets. Werner's version is a precise match for the Bath version and includes the associated music.

Conclusion

The Bath Assembly Room Cotillon collections are a wonderful survivor from the 1780s. Despite being small in sizes, just 5 cm by 10 cm, they contain a treasure-trove of otherwise lost social dance history. Individually the dances are quite interesting, collectively they offer further insights still.

In so far as the conventions at Bath were often duplicated at other spa resorts across Britain, it's possible that other towns had their own favoured collections of dances too. We may yet find similar collections issued at Margate or Buxton or Southampton. One can live in hope!

The interest in cotillion dancing declined in the 1790s, by the turn of the 19th century it was a decidedly old fashioned phenomenon. Until, that is, the Quadrille dance came to prominence in the mid 1810s. The Quadrille was very similar to the Cotillion in most respects, it's a dance form that went on to dominate the ballrooms across the 19th century. There's a sense in which the Bath cotillon collections helped to pave the way for that future revolution.

But that's where we'll leave the investigation for now. If you have anything else to add then do please Contact Us as we'd love to know more.

Appendix

What follows is the textual content of the first five volumes of the Bath Assembly-Room Cotillon books. The publications assign each dance a number (formatted as a roman numeral), this could be considered to be either a page number or a dance number. We've adapted that convention by adding a leading volume number. For example, if referring to cotillon nineteen of the third book this table will refer to it as dance 3.XIX. Each dance also has a unique name, our naming convention adds that name to the reference number resulting in, for example, 3.XIX Le Batelier. The Description field of the tables contains the text for each dance. The spelling from the original books has been preserved in this transcript except in cases where a printing error is absolutely certain, variant spellings of technical terms have been retained as far as possible. It will be found that diacritic marks are employed somewhat randomly in the text, that too has been preserved in the transcript.

A link in each case has been provided to the digitised images.

Figures of Twenty-Nine New and Fashionable Cotillons, as Danced at the Assembly-Rooms, Bath. Fourth Edition. Bath: Printed and Sold by R. Cruttwell. And by all the Booksellers. 1783

A Second Collection of Figures to Thirty of the most favourite Cotillons, as now Danced at the Assembly-Rooms, Bath. Bath, printed by R. Cruttwell. Price One Shilling. 1784

Book the Third. Containing the Figures to Twenty-Five New Cotillons, As now danced at the Assemblies in Bath. Price One Shilling. To be had only at the Assembly Rooms and of Mr Cantelo, in Saville-Row. N.B. The Music entirely New. A New Edition.

Book the Fourth, Containing the Figures to Twenty-Four New French Cotillons, As they are danced at the Assemblies in Bath. Price One Shilling. To be had at the Assembly-Rooms and Book-Sellers Shops.

Book the Fifth, Containing the Figures to Forty-Eight new French Cotillons, As now danced at the Assemblies in Bath. Price One Shilling. To be had at the Assembly-Rooms, Booksellers, And of Mr. Grant, No 7 Gay-Street.