quadroon balls, that divided the nights of the week with the balls given to the white ladies, where none but white men were allowed, and where strange gentlemen were always taken, as to the amusement par excellence in the city. Robin, in 1804, remarked slyly, as we have seen, that the gentlemen of New Orleans society were fond of seeking distractions elsewhere than in
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A Negro Type.
their own sphere, so that the brilliancy of their balls was much diminished by the number of ladies condemned to be wall-flowers. And the travellers after him, with the licensed indiscretion of travellers, write admiringly of the piquante fascinations of these entertainments. The Duke of Saxe-Weimar confesses himself not indifferent to the tempting contrast offered by
