James Russell Lowell Quote

He who esteems the Virginia reel A bait to draw saints from their spiritual weal, And regards the quadrille as a far greater knavery Than crushing His African children with slavery, Since all who take part in a waltz or cotillon Are mounted for hell on the devil's own pillion, Who, as every true orthodox Christian well knows, Approaches the heart through the door of the toes.

A Fable for Critics ; Or, a Glance at a Few of Our Literary Progenies from the Tub of Diogenes (ed. 1848)