The reign of Charlemagne, and the passing away of the first race of our kings, to be succeeded by the second, made no essential difference as to dress. We cannot, in fact, ascribe much importance to the German and Byzantine influences which succeeded each other at that period, but did not destroy what we may denominate the Gallo-Roman style. The most elegant dress of a woman in the tenth century consisted of two tunics of different colours, one with long, the other with short sleeves; on the feet were boots laced up in front. Wide bands of embroidery bordered the throat, sleeves, and lower edge of the skirt. The waist-band was placed just above the hips. This belt was generally of great value, being studded with gold and jewels. The belt belonging to Judith, wife of Louis le Débonnaire, weighed three pounds. At the present day there are no waist-bands either of that weight or value. The Carlovingian women wore splendidly embroidered veils, covering the head and shoulders, and reaching almost to the ground. This lent a character of severity to the costume, which was especially aimed at by the women of that period. The veil was indispensable, being regarded as the penalty of the sin of our Mother Eve, and the hair was concealed beneath it. Among the admirable miniatures in the Mazarin Library, there is one of a queen wearing a triangular diadem, and a veil falling on either side over the shoulders. The under-tunic is black, the upper, in the style of a mantle, is violet. Both are bordered with yellow, her shoes are yellow also, and borderings and shoes alike were probably ornamented with gold. In the celebrated Bible of Charles the Bald, a most curious historical treasure, there are paintings of four women wearing the chlamys in different colours. The chlamys is always white, with sleeves of gold brocade, with one exception, when it is rose-coloured. The under-garments are bright orange, light brown, light blue, and violet, with pale blue sleeves, trimmed with strips of red embroidery on bands of a gold ground. We find that gold was used everywhere and always, and while making due allowance for the imagination of the artist, his pictures throw light on the costumes of the period. Observe that the four women all wear shoes, not boots. The historian has in general but scanty material with which to trace the dress of the princesses and ladies of the court under the Carlovingians, on account of the many wars both civil and foreign that took place between the time of Charlemagne and that of Charles the Simple. Still less do we know concerning the dress of the women of the people, for on that point history is almost silent. We learn, however, that their skirts were extremely long, and that they wore veils much resembling the veil of nuns, but thicker, and hanging more closely round the figure.