As the logical sequence of the above short recapitulation, let me again repeat that good taste must be the arbiter of dress, and that good taste exacts harmony in every part of the costume, secondary or principal. The original type of dress has not changed, and probably will change but little; but its subordinate parts will undergo continual alteration, and will afford to future historians a subject of study, if at a later period they too desire to give Fashion its rightful place, in a picture of the manners and customs of France. [Illustration] FOOTNOTES [1] “Fashion is a tyrant, respected by mortals; The fitting offspring of distaste and novelty.” [2] “Fashions are certain usages, invented by caprice, and approved by love, which fools, and sometimes the wise, observe.” [3] “The wise man is never the first to follow, nor the last to abandon them.” [4] “There is a goddess, troublesome, inconstant, Strange in her tastes, in her adornments foolish; She appears, she vanishes, she returns at all times and seasons; Proteus was her sire, and ‘Fashion’ is her name.” [5] The mercer’s list includes so many articles of which the names are obsolete, that it is not possible to translate it. [6] “Fair fame is better than a golden belt.” [7] “Attire yourselves, mesdames, I pray, otherwise than in all those falbalas,” &c. [8] “My book of hours, those of Notre-Dame, I must have, And it shall be such as beseemeth noble dame of high lineage. Of subtle workmanship, gold and azure, rich and rare; Well ordered and well shapen; Covered in fine cloth, or in wrought gold, And when it is opened, to be closed again With two golden clasps,” &c. [9] The iron collar by which criminals were bound to the gibbet was called a “carcan.”—_Translator’s note._ [10] “There may be seen in Paris many who possess neither money, house, nor land, but whom you would take, at a glance, to be allied to the greatest chiefs and warriors. They say that they come from England, and are the issue of a count, or a baron of Anjou, and related to the seneschals of Auxerre, or the lords of manors in Poitou. And for the most part they come from holes and corners, out of the loft of a miller, perhaps, or of the lineage of a cabbage, children of a gardener. The wife of a mere clerk, or a doorkeeper, presumes nowadays as much as a duchess. It would be well there should be an end of this! You shall see a simple bourgeoise decked out with diamonds and jewels, and talking gravely, in good sooth, in all the new phrases.” [11] “Ladies with turned-down collars, Of whatever condition.” [12] “Our fair ones are so grand, That to appear tall and fair, They must have high slippers Even with four-and-twenty soles.” [13] “To accoutre oneself like a Lucretia, A Lombard woman, or in Grecian fashion, It is my belief cannot be done With honesty.