over Europe, the name of mode Parisienne stamping them with every grace, beauty, and elegance.

Ladies' gowns were now usually embroidered, and an open petticoat of rich velvet or satin was worn over it. The corsage was pointed, and ornamented round the bosom with lace; the sleeves were bouffante, and terminated with deep ruffles at the elbow. The hair was often parted on the forehead, and hung in rich

curls upon the neck, adorned with bandeaux of pearls and precious stones. At other times the upper robe sloped away from the waist, and terminated in a long train; the sleeves, wide and hanging, were looped up with jewels, and the hair, powdered and pomatumed, was drawn over a cushion to a great height, and adorned with feathers, ri

From the sketches we now give, which are all of the time of Louis XV., it appears that high head

dresses were the most fashionable, for even the head with curls assumes the same towering height as the others.

The commode of which we spoke in our notice of the toilette in England, was much in vogue during the whole of this reign; and one variety was shaped somewhat like a modern cap, with an ornament resembling a fan rising up from the forehead, and two streamers floating behind.

In Thunberg's account of Paris in

the year 1771, we read: "In rainy weather the streets are scarcely passable for umbrellas, which are indispensably necessary in a city where all the world follows the Japanese fashion of going bareheaded." The same author also mentions that very small muffs were worn at this time in Paris by men as well as

women.

Wraxall, in his "History of France," compares the eighteenth with the sixteenth century; and says, in point of dress, there was a striking similarity, as will be seen by the following description: "The petticoat was made very long, so as to conceal the feet entirely in walking, but as a sort of compensation for this mark of modesty and bashfulness, the ladies displayed their necks in an immoderate degree. To Margaret of Valois was due the introduction of this mode, which she continued, in defiance of the admonitions and reprehensions levelled at her from the pulpit." It excites entertainment to know that inventions for increasing the size of the female figure behind, as well as for augmenting it before, and both of which have been renewed in the present age, were common under the last princes of Valois. As early as 1563 treatises were written, and satires composed, on the

"Basquines" and "Vertugalles," the two articles of dress destined to the above-mentioned purposes.

The "Guardian" says: "France may as properly be called the fountain of dress,' as Greece was of literature. French ladies have been celebrated in all ages for the fruitful genius they have displayed in the ever-varying form of petticoats and head-dresses, and never more so than during the reign of Louis XV., when every succeeding hour gave birth to some fresh mode, and new words had to be invented to express the thousand elegancies daily added to the mystic wonders of the toilette-table."

Hoops, which had failed to secure the good graces of the fair ladies of the court of Louis XIV., again shone forth in all their glory during the reign of his successor; while ruffles, plumes, ribands, laces, satins, brocades, and jewels, acquired a more important station in the wardrobe than at any former period. Waists were worn very long and pointed, bodies generally open, and laced across; sleeves reaching to the elbow, where they terminated with a rich lace ruffle ; and the upper petticoat open, and forming a kind of train, while the under one was covered with embroidery and flounces.

Long, square-cut coats, without collars, and with large pockets, seem to have been generally worn during this reign; they were often ornamented with gold or silver lace, and had very large buttons. The gayest colours and most expensive materials were frequently employed in their manufacture, as well as in that of the waistcoat, which had long flaps, and was almost always embroidered. Breeches were still worn, as well as ruffles, lace neckcloths, and high-heeled shoes.

Wigs, of various forms and denominations, preserved their ascendancy in the toilette of men of fashion; three-cornered hats were generally worn, and a sword still formed an indispensable part of a man's attire. High head-dresses appear

to have continued the fashion with ladies during the reign of Louis XVI. In the one of which we give a sketch, the hair is stiffly pomatumed and powdered, and drawn from the forehead in two points, to which are added several bows of hair, a plume of ostrich feathers, and another of

marabouts set in jewels. High caps, with lappets, were also much worn at this period, the gowns were made en fourreau lacé, with sleeves to the elbow en sabot, and lace ruffles.

The Duchesse d' Abrantès' account of M. de Caulaincourt gives a good idea of the dress of gentlemen in the time of Louis XVI. "Ancien officier de cavalerie, il avait conservé, en dépit du temps, de la reforme et de la révolution, les grandes bottes à l'écuyer et à manchettes, le toupet en vergette, les faces courtes, et la queue bien serrée; les culottes courtes, l'habit à grands boutons de métal, et le gilet à effilé. Audessous de cet effilé pendaient deux immense chaînes de montre, avec une telle collection de breloques que, lorsque je n'entendais pas le bruit accoutumé que faisaient son cheval et lui, m' avertissait dès qu'il montait l'escalier."

Previously to the opening of the Etats Généraux in 1789, it was decided that a distinct dress should be

worn by the three orders or ranks; ancient records were consulted, and the archives of the reign of Louis XIII. searched, to find models for the garments to be worn by the nobility and the tiers-état. At length it was decided that the nobles should represent the barons of the time of Philippe le Bel, and the tiersétat the clercs, baillis, and échevins of former days. Dulaure, however, in his work on the French revolution, gives the following description of these costumes; which shews that the nobles eventually assumed the dress not of barons of the time of Philippe le Bel, but of chevaliers of the time of Henri Quatre :

"La noblesse devait être vêtue de la manière suivante habit noir, avec veste et paremens d'or, manteau de soie, cravate de dentelle, et chapeau à plumes retroussé à la Henri IV. Le clergé devait paraître en soutane, grand manteau, bonnet carré; les évêques se distinguaient par la robe violette et le rochet. Quant au tiers-état, sa parure était des plus modestes. On l'avait condamné à l'habit de laine noire, au simple manteau de soie noire, à la cravate de batiste, et au chapeau rabattu, sans ganse ni bouton."

During the Revolution the Athenian mode of attire was adopted. A French lady of that time gives the following account of it: “A simple piece of linen, slightly laced before, while it leaves the waist uncompressed, serves the purpose of a corset. If a robe is worn which is not open in front, petticoats are altogether dispensed with, the cambric chemise having the semblance of one, from its skirt being trimmed with lace. When attired for a ball, those who dance commonly put on a tunic, and then a petticoat becomes a matter of necessity rather than of choice. Pockets,