silver lace, smart spensers, and gorgeous petticoats; while their male companions, on their part, by the display of their gayest stockings and vests, seemed determined not to be outdone in finery. The women at Drappo, near Nice, wear their hair bound together with a silk fillet or net, which is fastened above their heads with a long pin. The men wear short vests, blue belts and stockings, and their hair tied up behind.

From an old French work printed in 1727, and entitled "Histoire de la Provence d'Alsace," par le Père Laguille, we copy the annexed print of an Alsatian belle. Her dress is very curious; her robe appears to be of two different materials, half the petticoat being laid in very fine close plaits, the other half in larger plaits, and the bottom all round escalloped. The body is made with an immensely long pointed stomacher, trimmed with lace and jewels; over it is a lace handkerchief, with long pointed ends, apparently of black silk, trimmed with black lace. The sleeves are full, puffed, short, and open, being much longer at the under than the upper part of the arm; the long gloves meet them, scrupulously concealing the fair skin beneath. Several rows of jewels and a cross adorn the neck, and the shoes very much resemble those worn in England during the reign of Charles II. being very pointed, with immense heels and large

rosettes.

But the coiffure quite eclipses the rest of this singular dress, and is more outré than any other we have met with. It is an enormous three-cornered edifice of satin, lace, and jewels, stretching out on

each side, far beyond the width of the figure, and standing up in a point of front. The hair is turned back from the forehead, and hangs in a very long plait, which the fair lady carries over her arm.

THE TOILETTE IN GERMANY.

CHAPTER XXII.

ASHION seems to have been more than usually capricious in the fancies she has displayed in the adornment of the natives of Germany, and singular are the descriptions given by old travellers of their curious and often splendid attire.

On the column of Antoninus, which commemorates the vic

tories gained by Marc
Aurelius over several of

the German nations, we

find this people represented with the long close trousers (the bracche) then almost universally worn; shoes much resembling those now in use; and a cloak (the sagum Germanicum mentioned by Tacitus), fastened on the shoulder by a buckle.

Pomponius Mela, in his " Description of the ancient Germans," iii. 17, says: "The rich wore a garment, not flowing loose, as the Sarmatians and Parthians, but girt close, and shewing the shape of every limb; they also wore the skins of wild beasts; those bordering on the Rhine without choice or nicety, those in the interior parts were more curious in the selection, as not having acquired by commerce a taste for other apparel. They chose particular beasts, and having stripped off the furs, variegated them with spots and pieces of the skins of marine animals, which the exterior parts of the ocean and seas, unknown to the Romans, produced. The dress of the women was not different from that of the men, except that the women frequently wore linen robes, and variegated them with purple, not extending part of the upper garment into sleeves, but leaving the whole arms and part of the bosom bare."

Lewis, Emperor of Germany, made a solemn declaration, forbidding the introduction of all foreign apparel into his country. Subsequently, however, the people in the higher ranks, like those of all European nations, followed the fashions of France; still, however, retaining their love of splendour, which was, and still is, displayed in the profusion of jewels, rich furs, and gold and silver lace, with which they adorn themselves.

In Montfaucon's "Monarchie Française," is a splendid print of Isabelle of Bavaria, wife of Charles VI. She is represented as being very fond of rich and costly attire, and is accused by Brantome of teaching the French ladies great extravagance in dress. Certainly, in the picture to which we

allude, her majesty is magnificently habited, covered

with a profusion of jewels, and wearing the tall head-dress which was the fashion in France for so many after years, and was called a horned cap. The robe worn by Isabelle is adorned with embroidery and jewels; as is also her train, which is immensely long, trimmed with ermine, and supported by two ladies, whose heads are also covered with immense caps, still higher than the queen's. No hair is

visible, and her majesty's coiffure is surmounted by a crown; her shoes are long and very pointed.

66

The two heads given beneath are copied from the Nuremberg Chronicle" of the year 1493: