In the reign of Louis XVI. dress was carried to an height, and the story goes that when M. Roland, on his appointment as Minister for the Home Department, was presented to his Majesty, the simplicity of his apparel excited the ridicule of the Court satellites, who derived from etiquette their sole importance. “Oh dear, sir,” said the master of the ceremonies, whispering to Dumourier and glancing at Roland, “he has no buckles in his shoes.” “Oh, shocking,” re-echoed Dumourier, “we shall be ruined and undone.” The mention of shoes reminds us that, according to one authority, silk stockings were first worn by Henry II. of France at the marriage of his sister in 1559, but before that time Edward VI. had secured a pair from Sir Thomas Gresham, who imported them from Spain, where they were first manufactured. The story goes that a loyal-minded grandee thought he could not do better than present a pair of silk stockings to his queen, and to that end placed them in the hands of the first minister of the Crown, who astonished him by returning them, bidding him remember that the “Queen of Spain had no legs.” Another version tells us how when Maria Anne, mother of Charles II., was on her way across Spain as the bride of Philip IV., she stopped at a town famous for the manufacture of stockings, some of which the Alcáide of the place offered her, when he was thrust out by the Mayordom with the words, “You must know the Queen of Spain has no legs.” Upon hearing which the young Queen began to cry, saying, “I must go back to Vienna; if I had known before I set out that they would have cut my legs off, I would have died rather than come here.” This remark made even Philip smile, although he is said to have laughed only three times in his life. Before Mademoiselle Bertin became so celebrated as Marie Antoinette’s milliner, she was not only very plain in her attire, but very economical, a circumstance which she was wont to say gave great umbrage to the other princesses of the Court of Versailles, who never showed themselves from the moment they rose till they returned to bed, except in full dress, while she herself made all her morning visits in a simple white cambric gown and straw hat.