All, in virtue of their grace and beauty, deserved the name of ‘belles d’amour’ that had been given to them. They were the Princesses Paul Esterhazy, Marie de Metternich, the Comtesses de Périgord, Rzewuska, Marassi, Sophie Zichy, etc. It is impossible to imagine a more gorgeous and at the same time graceful spectacle. These ladies were divided into four quadrilles, each distinguished by the colour of their dresses, namely, emerald green, crimson, blue, and black. All their dresses were made of velvet, trimmed with priceless lace and sparkling with precious stones. The whole of their costumes had been copied in the minutest details from those of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The quadrille that had adopted emerald green wore the Hungarian national dress. It consisted of a long open tunic over a petticoat of white satin, fastened from the bust to the knees with diamond pins. Placed at regular intervals, the openings between these pins disclosed the satin, the dazzling white and glimmer of which presented a most delicious contrast to the rich green of the velvet. Other diamond hooks likewise marked openings from the waist to the shoulder. The bodice itself, flat-busted, was covered with valuable gems. A principal wide and floating sleeve of velvet, opening from the shoulder, fell along the arm; beneath was another ample sleeve of white satin, embroidered like the bodice, but in gold and coloured jewels. On their heads they wore velvet toques, entirely covered with precious stones. Finally, a long gossamer veil, picked out with gold, fastened to the head-dress, and descending as far as the feet, enwrapped the wearer in a kind of beautiful haze. The other quadrilles had chosen respectively the Polish, Austrian, and French costumes of the Louis XIII. period. A glance at them easily induced the belief that all the trinket-caskets of the Austrian monarchy had been ransacked. The ornaments worn on that evening by these two dozen fair ones were estimated at thirty millions of francs. Those of the Princesse Esterhazy, _née_ Tour et Taxis, figured in that estimate for about six millions. As soon as the ‘love beauties’ had taken their seats, presenting, as it were, a line of angelic faces, all eyes were turned towards them. Motionless, and enveloped in their long, transparent veils, they seemed to await with the utmost calm the moment of their triumph. A second blast of trumpets announced the arrival of the sovereigns. At their entrance everybody rose, the four-and-twenty ladies flung back their veils, and stood forth revealed in all their beauty, and were greeted with unanimous applause, mingled with the acclamations due to the presence of the monarchs.