The reign of Charles II. was the dominion of French fashions. In some respects the taste was a little lighter, but the moral effect of dress, and which no doubt it has, was much worse. The dress was very inflammatory; and the nudity of the beauties of the portrait-painter, Sir Peter Lely, has been observed. The queen of Charles II. exposed her breast and shoulders without even the gloss of the lightest gauze; and the tucker, instead of standing up on her bosom, is with licentious boldness turned down, and lies upon her stays. This custom of baring the bosom was much exclaimed against by the authors of that age. That honest divine, Richard Baxter, wrote a preface to a book, entitled, "A just and seasonable reprehension of _naked breasts and shoulders_." In 1672 a book was published, entitled, "New instructions unto youth for their behaviour, and also a discourse upon some innovations of habits and dressing; _against powdering of hair_, _naked breasts_, _black spots_ (or patches), and other unseemly customs."A whimsical fashion now prevailed among the ladies, of strangely ornamenting their faces with abundance of black patches cut into grotesque forms, such as a coach and horses, owls, rings, suns, moons, crowns, cross and crosslets. The author has prefixed _two ladies' heads_; the one representing _Virtue_, and the other _Vice_. _Virtue_ is a lady modestly habited, with a black velvet hood, and a plain white kerchief on her neck, with a border. _Vice_ wears no handkerchief; her stays cut low, so that they display great part of the breasts; and a variety of fantastical patches on her face.