A Discourse on the Evils of Dancing

John F. Mesick's 'A Discourse on the Evils of Dancing' is an impassioned moral examination, a reflection of its time, steeped in the cultural rhetoric of propriety and piety. With consummate precision, Mesick orchestrates an argument that seeks to reveal the moral corruptions he perceives within the act of dancing. The literary style is didactic, marked with a fervent tone that is emblematic of 19...