The fashion prevailed so generally, that our trade with Holland was materially augmented. In June, 1722, the States-General of the Netherlands authorized a loan of 600,000 florins in support of a “company established in East Friesland for the whale fishery, the trade in which increased daily by reason of the demand for whalebone used in the construction of hoops for women.” We see here that the result of the polemical discussions described above was twofold. Paniers became a question of interest to Europe, and a source of profit to Holland. The “Journal de Barbier” observes: “It will scarcely be believed that the Cardinal de Noailles has been much exercised with regard to the paniers worn by women under their skirts in order to make them stand out. They are so large, that when the wearer sits down, the whalebones being pushed fly up in an extraordinary manner, and armchairs have had to be constructed expressly for them. The largest boxes at the theatre will now hold only three women. The fashion has been carried to an extreme, and is consequently quite extravagant; so much so, that when the princesses take their seats beside the queen, their skirts rise up, and quite conceal those of her majesty. This appeared like an impertinence, but it was difficult to find a remedy. At last, by dint of reflection, the cardinal invented an expedient—there should always be one armchair left empty on each side of the queen, who would thus be spared any inconvenience.” Mdlle. Jaucourt played the part of Galatea in “Pygmalion” in 1775, and wore a polonaise with paniers, satin slippers, and a colossal “pouf” ornamented with green leaves, and surmounted by three ostrich feathers. MM. de Beauvau, De Guéménée, De Pompadour, and others, had supplied her wardrobe. A great number of the court ladies sent her beautiful dresses, made by themselves, and worn at the Dauphin’s marriage, that she might appear in them on the stage. Louis XV. presented her with a theatrical costume. In November, 1721, he had given Mme. de Seine, an actress of the Comédie Française, a coat worth 8000 francs. Nine hundred ounces of silver were woven into the material. At about the same time the Comte de Charolais presented Mdlle. Delisle with a costume of pure silver, worth 2000 crowns, in which she danced a “pas” in the ballet of Pirithoüs. Mdlles. Clairon and Hus, of the Comédie Française, gave up wearing on the stage “the awkward machine called a _panier_,” and a little book was published shortly afterwards, called “Les Paniers supprimés au Théâtre.” Some ladies of high rank followed the example of the two celebrated actresses. Mdlles. Clairon and Hus had exercised more influence than preachers, pamphleteers, or journalists! Actuated by a hatred of paniers, a poetaster wrote in praise of corsets, and women discarded one folly for another. “Est-il rien plus beau qu’un corset, Qui naturellement figure, Et qui montre comme on est fait Dans le moule de la nature?”[45]