orchids in these various groupings. The café and the court were also decorated, with a desired homelike effect. 125 tables were set up, each to accommodate six guests, with a centerpiece of Beauty roses. Music The danse d’honneur, arranged by Caroline Astor, opened the ball. The company was led by Cornelia Bradley-Martin, in the role of the Queen, escorted by John Jacob Astor as the King. For this danse d’honneur, the orchestra played music composed by Beethoven. Following this, the orchestra started playing one of Chopin's polonaises announcing the approach of the wife of Edmund L. Baylies and her associates for the minuet. When they formed for the minuet the orchestra struck into Mozart's dance music out of "Don Giovanni". The dance of the debutantes was next, and it was livelier than the others and the most difficult of all. The members of this set, organized by the wife of Frederic Bronson, danced a Hungarian Court quadrille, the Kormagyar, in music arranged by Allen Dodworth. This quadrille ended the exhibition dances. General dancing followed the three quadrilles until supper time. Entertainment and Favors The cotillion commenced at three, and spectators found amusement as the gentlemen danced it with swords at their sides. Swords got tangled in gowns and laces, and courtiers tripped over them, to the delight of the spectators. Elisha Dyer, Jr. led the cotillion. Cornelia Bradley-Martin selected small silver figures and a staff as “favors” for each of the guests of the ball. The “favors” were awarded by Elisha Dyer, Jr. as leader of the cotillion. Reaction and controversy Before the Ball took place, the Bradley-Martins drew fire from all directions, as newspapers criticized its extravagance and clergymen urged their congregations not to attend. One clergyman denounced the ball by saying: "You rich people put next to nothing in the collection plate, and yet you’ll spend thousands of dollars on Mrs. Bradley-Martin’s ball”. After the ball many ministers preached against its excessive consumption and the authorities promptly raised Bradley-Martin's taxes (as well as those of their friends and fellow-attendees the Astors) quite out of proportion to those paid by anyone else. The Bradley-Martins returned to England, where they had owned a home for several years, and Scotland, where they leased a estate, Balmacaan. The Bradley-Martin ball is perhaps best-remembered as the end of the excesses of the Gilded Age. See also Duchess of Richmond's ball https://www.rickhutto.com/articles/BMBall.pdf Notes External