“Le velours, trop commun en France, Sous toi reprend son vieil honneur; Tellement que ta remontrance Nous a fait voir la différence Du valet et de son seigneur, Et du muguet chargé de soye, Qui à tes princes s’esgaloit, Et, riche en drap de soye, alloit Faisant flamber toute la voye. Les tusques ingénieuses Jà trop de volouter s’usoyent Pour nos femmes délicieuses, Qui, en robes trop précieuses, Du rang des nobles abusoyent. Mais or la laine mesprisée Reprend son premier ornement; Tant vaut le grave enseignement De ta parole autorisée.”[22] Starched and plaited linen ruffs, or “rotondes,” were first worn in this reign, also Spanish capes and “collets montés.” The proverbial expression, a “collet monté,” was applied then as now to persons who affected great gravity of manner. It owes its origin to the severity of the Spanish dress, which was adopted in certain quarters in France. Catherine de Médicis, who deemed it incumbent on her to grieve unceasingly for her royal husband, manifested her sorrow by means of the widow’s dress she habitually wore. Her costume was remarkably austere. It consisted of a sort of cap, with the edge bent down in the middle of the forehead, a collerette with large gofferings, a tightly-fitting buttoned bodice, a wide plaited skirt, and a long mantle with a “collet montant,” or high stand-up collar. This simplicity of dress on the part of the queen-mother formed an exception to the boundless caprices of the ladies who formed a brilliant court circle around Catherine de Médicis. While confining herself to black, she made no objection to the splendid attire of her companions. Coquetry reached to the highest pitch. The beautiful Diana of Poitiers preserved her beauty by bathing her face, even in winter, in spring water. This heroic practice did not come into general use, notwithstanding its supposed efficacy. The form of women’s attire and head-dresses in the reign of Henri II. was really admirable. There can be no more complicated needlework than that employed on the bodice of a dress as represented in an engraving of 1558. It is trimmed with two little epaulettes, and is made with a basque barely three inches in depth, and far from being “décolleté,” it is high to the throat, like a man’s jacket (sayon). Occasionally the fair wearer threw this bodice open, in order to show the pourpoint or vest underneath, and generally it was also slashed either in front or behind, or on the shoulders. By this means it looked less thick, and kept the chest less warm. The sleeves harmonized perfectly with the gown, particularly with the bodice. They were not wide, though ten years previously they had been puffed, but were slashed like the bodice. They diminished in size from the shoulder to the wrist, and were slashed from top to bottom. They were frequently trimmed with beads, and still more frequently with silk riband.