We must add that ladies also wore capes with hoods in the severe cold of winter. Nor must we omit the question of clothing for the feet. This is one of the most important parts of dress, and the woman with the prettiest shoes will generally be found the most graceful in other respects. Ladies wore shoes and slippers, both adapted for indoor wear only, and quite unsuited for the hard stones and thick mud of Paris. In the streets there were but few coaches or litters, and so ladies wore pattens with cork soles, over their shoes or slippers, to protect them from cold and damp. [Illustration] [Illustration: Francis II 1559 Francis II 1560] CHAPTER XI. REIGN OF FRANCIS II. 1559 TO 1560. The earliest queens of fashion—Mary Stuart’s costumes; her jewels—Description of bodices and sleeves of that period—Crosses—The “loup” or small mask—Coiffure “en raquette”—An anecdote concerning high heels—Regulations respecting fashion—Remark of a lady of our own day on distinctions in dress—Exordium of the Edict of July 12, 1549—Maximum of marriage portions—The first knitted silk stockings. Women of celebrity exercise a great influence on dress in general; and certain historical personages of the sixteenth century gave laws on the question of Fashion. Whether their celebrity overruled the caprices of their contemporaries, or whether their perfect taste compelled the approbation of the dandies and fine ladies of their time, certain it is that their portraits are typical, and could we be shown any of the costumes in which they have been painted, the original wearers would immediately be suggested to us. Such a celebrity was Mary Stuart, niece to the Guises, and wife of Francis II., whose misfortunes and tragical fate have made her a deeply interesting character. There existed, only a few years ago, among the rare books, manuscripts, and prints in the library of St. Geneviève, in Paris, two sketches in coloured chalk, being probably copies of portraits of the Queen of Scots, painted from life by the famous François Clouet, about the year 1558. Those sketches, among many others, have been removed from St. Geneviève to the National Library, where they are less easy of access to the public than they formerly were in the less pretentious establishment of the Place du Panthéon. Let us picture Mary Stuart in her youth, and again in her widow’s garb. Nothing can surpass the purity and delicacy of outline in those two portraits. Calm intelligence sits on her brow, and shines from her dark eyes. Her head is dressed in the Italian fashion, as was then the custom at court; a high collerette encircles the throat, round which is a pearl necklace.