In Jane Austen’s time these were known as the Upper Rooms, since there were other assembly rooms in the city centre. The wide-eyed heroine of Northanger Abbey was astonished by the crowd at her first ball there. Chandeliers glittered upon a gaudy company. At a public assembly a country squire might hope to rub shoulders with a duke, or a handsome officer to win an heiress. Men and women alike were arrayed like peacocks. What an appropriate home for the Museum of Costume.