When summer came, alpaca, mohair, and grey “poil-de-chèvre” or goats’-hair dresses were seen at all the public promenades. Black and dark shades were worn less and less every day. It was evident to all that the worldly spirit was reviving to a certain extent. Moreover, trade and manufacture required support; manufacturers, traders, and workmen had all of them suffered, and custom was needed to repair their losses. Towards autumn the managers of theatres began to bring out new pieces; and shortly afterwards, receptions at the Presidency gave some impetus to the manufacture of dress-stuffs, which had been seriously affected by the siege of Paris. Among other dresses, I recollect having seen one made with a demi-train, a deep kilting “à la vieille” round the bottom of the skirt, at the head of the kilting five rows of thick cording, and two bias flounces gathered together. The bodice was in one piece, and cut like a long square waistcoat. The basques and sleeves were in woollen material, and the waistcoat in silk. With this was worn a Marie Stuart bonnet in China crape and “faille” silk, edged with jet beads, and trimmed with a tuft of black feathers with one long hanging plume. The “Michael Angelo” bonnet, lined with some light colour, and the “sailor” hat, in felt or dark velvet, were also favourites. Sets of collars and cuffs were made in linen, trimmed with Valenciennes or guipure; and dresses were trimmed with China crape, cashmere, and black or white lace. We may mention, as novelties, doeskin, kid, and cashmere gloves, with as many as five, six, and even ten buttons; and clocked stockings in all colours, called hunting stockings, and very much liked by the public. Ladies’ costumes were completed by small muffs, braided and fur-trimmed dolmans, circular lined cloaks of silk or cachemire; the comfortable “Duchess mantles,” that might well have been called Oriental; satin-lined hoods; and “Rabagas” bonnets, which were made of the same velvet or satin as the dress, and with a long feather curled round the crown. The “Rabagas” hat was brought into fashion by a play of Victorien Sardou’s, that attracted much attention by its political and reactionary character. An absurdity of the winter of 1872 deserves notice. Ladies carried enormous fans, almost as big as parasols, with a painted bouquet of flowers in the left-hand corner. This unfortunate invention was intended to serve both as fan and screen, but its reign was of short duration. The “fan-parasol” was, in fact, a failure. The “Leopold Robert” bonnet, on the contrary, had a great success, owing to its artistic shape. It consisted of a wreath of flowers or foliage placed on a band of plain or puckered velvet; ribbon or lace at the back fell over the chignon; there were no strings. A veil called a “provisoire” was wound round the head; it covered the face, Jewish fashion; and the long ends crossed behind, then brought forward and tied under the chin, took the place of bonnet strings.