But something warned him that though such a high-handed proceeding might be tolerated in America, that land of freedom, it would never be tolerated in England.

He felt instinctively that in England there are things you can't do, and that this particular thing was one of them.

So the ball went forward, and neither Mr nor Mrs Sampson Levi had ever the least suspicion what a narrow escape they had had of looking very foolish in the eyes of the thousand or so guests invited by them to the Gold Room of the Grand Babylon that evening.
The Gold Room of the Grand Babylon was built for a ballroom.

A balcony, supported by arches faced with gilt and lapis-lazulo, ran around it, and from this vantage men and maidens and chaperons who could not or would not dance might survey the scene.

Everyone knew this, and most people took advantage of it.