One day, in 1775, the new queen took up from her dressing-table two peacock feathers, and placed them with several little ostrich plumes in her hair. Louis XVI. came in, and greatly admired his wife, saying he had never seen her look so well. Almost immediately feathers came into fashion, not in France only, but throughout Europe. But when, shortly afterwards, Marie Antoinette sent a portrait of herself, wearing large feathers as a head-dress, to her mother, the Empress Maria Theresa returned it. “There has been, no doubt, some mistake,” wrote Maria Theresa; “I received the portrait of an actress, not that of a queen; I am expecting the right one.” This severe rebuke had no effect. Before 1778 the hair had been so arranged as to form a point in front, called a “physionomie,” accompanied by “attentions,” or thick, separate curls. But in 1778 the queen invented the “hérisson,” or hedge-hog style of head-dress. Imagine a porcupine lying on the top of the head, that is to say, a bush of hair frizzed from the points to the roots, very high and without powder, and encircled by a ribbon that kept this horrible tangle in its place. This style of head-dress, somewhat modified, and reduced to a “demi-hérisson,” or half hedge-hog, was in fashion for several years. Marie Antoinette continued to invent new styles, such as “jardin à l’anglaise,” “parterre,” “forest,” “enamelled meadows,” “foaming torrents,” &c. How many ridiculous names were given to the inventions of ladies endeavouring to imitate and surpass their queen! The hair was dressed “butterfly” fashion, or “spaniels’ ears,” or “milksop,” or “guéridon,” or “commode,” or “cabriolet,” or “mad dog,” or “sportsman in a bush,” by turns. At the clubs or in the public gardens, every one talked in raptures of the achievements of Léonard, “Academician in coiffures and fashions,” and those of Mdlle. Bertin, a milliner who at a later period delivered herself as follows:— “The last time I worked with the queen, we decided that the new caps should not come out for another week.” A didactic mode of expression! Turgot or Necker could not have spoken more solemnly. It is true that Mdlle. Bertin’s fame had spread throughout Europe. In the “coiffure à la Dauphine” the hair was curled, and then drawn up from the forehead, falling at the back of the head; that called “monte-au-ciel” was of enormous size.