“Heures me fault de Nostre-Dame, Si comme il appartient à fame (femme) Venue de noble paraige, Qui soient de soutil (subtil) ouvraige, D’or et d’azur, riches et cointes, Bien ordonnées et bien pointes, De fin drap d’or très bien couvertes; Et quand elles seront ouvertes, Deux fermaux d’or qui fermeront,”[8] &c. These prayer-books were carried in cases suspended to the arm or waist. Until the reign of Charles VI. the under-garments of Frenchwomen were of coarse stuff or serge, that is, of woollen material. Isabeau de Bavière was the first to wear a linen chemise; she possessed, however, two only. The fine ladies of the fifteenth century naturally imitated her, and in order to show that they wore linen under-garments, they made openings in their gown sleeves that the chemise might be seen; they even opened their skirts on the hips in order to display the length of the chemise; and they ended by having those garments made of fine linen only in the parts visible to the public, the rest was in coarse stuff or serge. Linen chemises were regarded as luxuries until the time of Louis XI. They were called “robes-linges.” In the reign of Charles VI., the dress of servant-maids was generally composed of three pieces; a bodice of one colour, a tucked up skirt of another, and a petticoat with a kilted flounce at the edge, such as are worn at the present time. The hair was covered with a kind of cap “à la musulmane.” Such is the costume we find represented in the miniatures of the latter period of the fourteenth century. Every one knows what evil times had befallen our country under Charles VI. The English were masters of a great part of France, at the time that Charles VII. ascended the throne and was called in mockery “King of Bourges.” That affront was wiped out by Joan of Arc. At that period, Fashion was confined for a long time within narrow limits; but no sooner had France returned to her normal state, than the court of Charles VII. displayed a magnificence of which the sovereign set the example on the occasion of his entry into Rouen. He rode a palfrey caparisoned in blue velvet, embroidered with gold lilies, and the “chanfrein,” or nose-piece, was of plates of solid gold with ostrich plumes. The beautiful Agnes Sorel was as much devoted to splendour as Isabeau de Bavière. Certain changes began to take place in women’s dress. We meet with trailing gowns, high head-dresses in great variety, splendid stuffs, lace, gloves, mittens, rings, and necklaces, towards the middle of the fifteenth century; and with sundry additions of a still more extravagant nature; with conical hats of which our Cauchoises have retained the shape, and the “coiffe adournée,” a cylinder or tube diminishing in size towards the top, where it either terminated in a flat crown, or curved over towards the back and hung down like a veil.