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Another head-dress of this period seems very strange at the present day, though when worn it was much admired. The front hair was turned back over two cushions, the back roll being the highest, and ornamented with knots and bows of riband. A long veil, which was generally the most admired part of a French élégante's coiffure at the time of which we are writing, hung in graceful folds down the back. It appears, however, to have been worn for ornament only, as it is never seen drawn over the face; and, indeed, the height of the head-dress would have rendered it inconvenient.

Under this king great changes took place in the manner of wearing hair. Beards disappeared; "la barbe pointue," so much admired by all fashionables in the three preceding reigns, was banished, and a small tuft of hair, termed an " " imperial," was all that "la Mode" permitted to grace the chins of her followers. Moustaches, however, grew longer, and were shaped at the ends into a most insinuating twist. The head was now

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adorned with long curls, which soon gave place to enormous perukes.

Ruffs vanished, and were replaced by falling collars of costly lace; while ruffles, tied with ribands, ornamented the sleeves of the doublets at the wrists, and either lay back upon the arm, or fell over the hand they, also, were of lace.

THE TOILETTE IN FRANCE.

CHAPTER XIX.

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We now ar

rive at the reign of Louis XIV., an epoch in the annals of fashion cele

brated for the

variety of its coiffures, and also forthemagnificence and

splendour of its habiliments. Madame de Sevigné, in a letter to her daughter, says, speaking of the head-dress then much the fashion, of which we give the sketch: " Imaginez vous une tête partagée à la

paisanne jusqu'à deux doigts du bourlet; on coupe ces cheveux de chaque côté, d'étage en étage dont

on fait de grosse boucles, rondes et négligées, qui ne viennent point plus bas qu'un doigt, au-dessous de l'oreille; cela fait quelque chose de fort jeune et de fort joli, et comme deux gros bouquets de cheveux de chaque côté. Il ne faut pas couper les cheveux trop courts; mais comme il les faut friser naturellement, les boucles qui en emportent beaucoup, on a attrapé plusieurs dames, dont l'exemple doit faire trembler les autres. On met les rubans comme à l'ordinaire, et une grosse boucle entre le bourlet et la coëffure; quelquefois on la laisse traîner jusques sur la gorge." Of the dress called hurlu bielu, we find in another letter from the same lady, "Ces coëffures m'ont fort divertie : il y en a que l'on voudrait souffleter."

She also mentions coëffes and cornettes as being then the fashion. The latter seem to have been worn en déshabille, for in speaking of a visit which she paid to a lady, Madame de Sevigné thus describes her dress: "Je la trouvai fort négligée; pas un cheveu; une cornette de vieux point de Vénise, un mouchoir noir, un manteau gris effacé, une vieille juppe." In another letter the same writer says: "Votre bellesœur a une souris qui fait fort bien dans ses cheveux noirs; la plaisante folie!" But what it was, whether a head-dress or only an ornament, she does not mention. In speaking of another fashion of that period she gives the following description: "Vous avez donc eu peur de ces pauvres petites chouettes noires

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je m'en doutai, et j'en ris en moi-même : vous trouvez qu'elles ont l'air triste; mais au moins elles ne sont point rechignées; elles n'ont point une voix de Megere; et quand vous verrez ce qu'elles sçavent faire, vous trouverez qu'au lieu d'être de mauvais augure, elles font la beauté, au moins, de la coëffure." In a letter from Vichy, Madame de Sevigné writes: "Je voudrois que vous eussiez vu jusqu'à quel excès la présence de Termes et de Flamarens fait monter la coëffure et l'ajustement de deux ou trois belles de ce pays: enfin, dès six heures du matin tout est en l'air, coëffure, hurlupée, poudrée, frisée; bonnet à la Bascule, rouge, mouches, petite coeffe qui pend, évantail, corps de juppe long et serré; c'est pour pâmer de rire."

At intervals during this reign, a very becoming mode of dressing the hair was the fashion. Curls were raised in rows from the forehead

to the top of the head, each row
divided with a string of pearls,
and an ornament of
ornament of jewellery,
termed a Sevigné, was placed in
the uppermost curl, this being
finished with great care though
apparent negligence. The long
hair from the back of the head

was arranged in large curls upon the neck and shoulders, the longest falling quite to the waist, and with jewels peeping out here and there, as if dropped accidentally. The hair arranged in this manner left the forehead quite bare.

This appears to have been the era of wonderful headdresses. One known in England by the name of com

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