It may be possible to do without dancing entirely. Instances have been known of young people passing many, many months successively, without being at any ball of any description, and no material injury accrue either to body or mind; – but when a beginning is made – when the felicities of rapid motion have once been, though slightly, felt – it must be a very heavy set that does not ask for more.
– Jane Austen
Emma, Chapter 29. Following the party at the Coles, Frank Churchill and Emma decide to work on planning a ball. In the opening words of this chapter Austen treats us to a hyperbolic and satirical description of balls. Austen adds humor and verbal irony as she playfully talks of young people being able to do without dancing for months without injury to their mind and body.