In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries these gifts of dolls became very frequent. They were so highly valued, that during the terrible war of the Succession in Spain between the English and French, the Cabinets of Versailles and of St. James’s granted a free pass for an alabaster doll, which, with dress and hair arranged in the newest fashion of the Court of France, conveyed our latest novelties across the Channel. Like Dandin, the judge in “Les Plaideurs,” who begs Intimé the lawyer to “pass on to the deluge” so as to escape his lecture on the creation of the world, our fair readers must hope that we are not about to begin our history with the origin of our country. But while we restrict ourselves within proper limits, it is not possible to avoid speaking of the dress of the most remote ancestresses who are known to us, of the women of Gaul and Roman-Gaul. We must, for a short space, return to those far-off ages, because certain attributes of dress which existed of old have reappeared at different times, and at the very date at which we write, more than one Gallic or Gallo-Roman fashion may be recognized in the garments or the head-dresses of our countrywomen. We therefore ask permission to dwell for a short time on the earlier centuries of our history. Then the Merovingian period will supply us with curious documents. The Carlovingians and the early branches of the family of Capet will claim a larger share of our attention. Finally we shall dwell on the Middle Ages, and the period of the Renaissance, which were remarkable for luxury, love of wealth, and splendour of Art, and so we shall pass on to the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, over which Fashion reigned an absolute monarch. The Revolution of 1789, the Empire, the Restoration, the Monarchy of July, the Second Empire—in a word, Contemporary History as it is called, will bring us to 1881, and the fashions of which our fair readers can judge for themselves: we have no intention of taking a place among archæologists, or arraying a multitude of historical notes before them. Moreover documents are few, and even if we wished to relate our story in full, it would not be possible, since we are bound to observe the limits of historical truth. We may, indeed, endeavour to present it in a pleasant light, but we must not change its natural expression. CHAPTER I. THE GALLIC AND GALLO-ROMAN PERIOD. Gallic period—Woad, or the pastel—Tunics and boulgètes—“Mavors” and “Palla”—Cleanliness of the Gallic women—The froth of beer or “kourou”—The women of Marseilles; their marriage-portions—Gallo-Roman period—The Roman garment—The “stola”—Refinement of elegance—Extravagant luxury of women—Artificial aids—A “vestiaire” or wardrobe-room of the period—Shoes—Jewels and ornaments—The amber and crystal ball—Influence of the barbarians.