On the other hand, in the second half of the century, when platonism had disappeared along with feminism, the scruples of the women underwent considerable modification. A compromise was effected; the body was, so to speak, cut in two. The lower part remained inferior, but the upper, the bust namely, was regarded as superior and of a beauty that might fitly be exhibited. At the end of the century we have portraits of great ladies conforming to this new fashion. Perhaps also, out of a spirit of mischief, people amused themselves by distributing under this form portraits of ladies who enjoyed almost a public reputation for beauty, such as Gabrielle d’Estrées and her sister. The more masculine society becomes, the more do women become fleshly. And we should only have to point out another instance of this phenomenon if we were not convinced that the fashion of which we speak sprang up in an atmosphere of semi-platonism. Diana of Poitiers, apparently, was delighted to exhibit her bust, and indeed it is this peculiarity which led M. Vitet to believe that he recognised her in a family portrait of Henri II., at present in England, which includes all the royal family, namely, Henri II., Catherine, his official wife, Diana, spouse of his heart, and his children. We have not had the opportunity of seeing this portrait, and consequently cannot verify M. Vitet’s conjecture. But we think we have sufficiently proved that, even from the purely aesthetic standpoint, the platonist ladies did not depart from the practical principles of conduct they deemed the best and most profitable; the solitary example of Diana of Poitiers, who cannot be cited as a thorough platonist, does not strike us as sufficient to prove the contrary. It is true that sometimes the ladies had to yield to the exigencies of their time, and tolerate, on the part of the men about them, customs and a style of talk in which they could take no pleasure. They had to do so or risk being neglected and causing often worse evils. The intimacies of family life sanctioned in those days truly astonishing liberties. Thus, on the morning of Innocents’ Day in December, a man would consider himself entitled to surprise in her bed a lady of the family, or a woman of the household (generally a young woman), and to administer a slap with the open hand, which was called “giving the innocents.”[184] In one of the stories of the _Heptameron_,[185] a husband gravely announces to his wife “that he means to go at daybreak and give the innocents to her waiting-maid, to teach her not to be so lazy,” and the good lady is blissfully unsuspicious.