Le Grand Dauphin en Steinkerque.
Fig. 79.
Madame du Lude en Steinkerque.
To face page 168.
Fig. 80.
Madame Palatine (Eliz. Charlotte de Bavière), Duchesse d'Orléans.
(By Rigaud. M. de Versailles.)
Before finishing with point de France, we must allude to the équipage de bain, in which this fabric formed a great item. As early as 1688, Madame de Maintenon presents Madame de Chevreuse with an "équipage de bain de point de France" of great magnificence. It consisted not only of a peignoir, but a broad flounce, which formed a valance round the bath itself. You can see them in old engravings of the day. Then there were the towels and the descente, all equally costly,[[497]] for the French ladies of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries admitted their habitués not only to the ruelle,[[498]] but also to the bath-room.[[499]] In the latter case the bath was au lait, i.e., clouded by the mixture of some essence. "Aux autres temps, autres mœurs."