The Louis XV. shape prevailed in the early years of Louis XVI., but gradually gave way to a more natural and sober fashion. Among the earlier specimens is a shoe which appears to have been worn by the ordinary public. It has still much of the old style, but its proportions are very modest. The covering is black spotted silk, with a sort of puff-ball ornament over the toe, also in black silk. The pointed toe continued some time, but the heel got flattened and began to recede into its normal place. A specimen of this period is a slipper (12) said to have belonged to the unfortunate Princess de Lamballe. It is sharply pointed, but delicate in form. The material is pale green silk, set off with yellow ribbons. But the shoe that must be considered typical of the reign of Louis XVI. has a very low heel, and a toe which, at first oval, becomes what botanists distinguish as ovate. The collection affords several examples of this gradual change in the shape of the toe, commencing with a very obtuse point, which in the end is quite lost. The specimen engraved (13) is an extremely pretty slipper in green morocco, with a red heel and a double ruche of red taffetas. [Illustration: BOOTS AND SHOES.--II. 10, 11. Shoes, Louis XV.; 12. Slipper of the Princesse de Lamballe; 13. Slipper, Louis XVI.; 14. Female Shoe, Louis XVI.; 15. Shoe, Napoleon I.; 16. Shoe of the Empress Josephine; 17. Man’s Dress Shoe, 1820.] These dainty shoekins must begin their last dance, and many will be whirled away in the tumbrils. The galleries of Versailles and the Tuileries resound with the noisy tread of the daughters of the people. M. Jacquemart has wisely preserved a specimen of their foot-gear (14). It is oval-toed, with a flap on both sides of the instep; the front, opening slightly, is tied by a narrow ribbon, as also the flaps could be if required, there being holes pierced for the purpose. The heels are painted red. Then the Republic gives place to the Empire, and one of the first changes in fashion is the reappearance of the pointed toe. Otherwise, the shoes affected during the Consulate and first days of the Empire are in the antique taste. The shoe we give (15) is in pearl-grey linen, with a very restrained ornamentation in green silk; it might have been worn by the women of Etruria. Born of republican admiration for Greek and Roman liberty, the fashion soon passed away, and a singularly dull mode set in. The specimen from the Empress Josephine’s wardrobe (16) is indicative of the bourgeois character of the imperial court. This fashion of neat, square, low-heeled shoes prevailed during the Restoration with both sexes. From 1820 we get a man’s evening dress shoe of varnished leather (17). The instep is cut away, and the opening made to represent an embroidered stocking by a tracery of black kid on white leather. Between this and the wear of Louis XV. there is a great lack of male foot-gear. This is to be regretted, as a number of interesting