A treatise on the elements of dancing

Many manuals compiled from previously published sources under a variety of author names were aimed at an ever-expanding group of people who could not avail themselves of a dance master. This work strives to instruct in a plain and explicit manner, making no attempts to discuss dance "technically and methodically." The manual is structured as a series of lessons. For example, lesson one of eleven on the waltz requires the reader to begin by being "seated upright in a chair." The manual also covers the polka, glide polka, heel and toe polka, schottisch, quadrilles, and the German (also known as the cotillon).