Domestic Encyclopædia (1802)/Balls

BALLS, in the polished circles of society, are those nocturnal assemblies devoted chiefly to the entertainment of dancing. Whether public or private, the institution of balls appears to have been originally intended for the conjoint purposes of promoting health, by the exercise there mingled with mirth and social conversation, as well as for the refinement of manners, or what is more properly termed good breeding.—(See that article.)

In large and populous cities, however, these excellent purposes are often in a great measure defeated; partly by a deviation from the genuine principle on which balls were first introduced, under the sanction of wise governments, and partly by connecting this amusement with collateral objects, such as suppers, masquerades, card-parties, &c.

Consistently with our plan, we beg leave to observe only, that morality and health would be better consulted, if all public balls and masquerades were limitted to a certain number of visitors—excluding every female who ventures to appear without a proper friend or relation; and, upon the whole, by adopting those excellent regulations which already subsist in the city of Bath, where decorum or good breeding is the "order of the night."