DURING THE EIGHTEENTH AND THE BEGINNING OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY.
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BY FAYETTE ROBINSON.
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(Continued from page 141.)
We had almost forgotten to speak of another class, important though youthful, of the saucy, petted and spoiled pages. They, too, are gone, and not one of them survived the eighteenth century. The Almanac of the Empire, it is true, bears the names of thirty-two pages, and that of the restoration of seventy-two; but all this means nothing, for the last page, who really was what he professed to be, and who was the most celebrated of his class, was named Cherubim, and was born April 27, 1784.
The following is his portrait.
The old Duke of Lauraguais said that the first English frock worn in France had been the death-blow of the French nobility, one of the most numerous of the grades of which had been the first to adopt it. The Marquises, with their proverbial love of change, began from that time to transform their modes, and effected it so rapidly that their brocade garments were soon only found on the stage, or in the bals-costumés. This frock, (fr. froc,) which had so disadvantageous an influence, was a kind of loose gown, with pockets on the inside, and without any tightness at the waist. It was cut lengthwise with the cloth, and though first without a collar, ultimately acquired one. The dress of the age in other respects remained long unaltered, though its accessories, such as buttons, plaits, etc., were constantly changing. The coats first were made to button all the way up, and then only from the pockets up: finally buttons were not used at all. After some lapse of time loops were used, which clasped the narrow coat over the often portly tournure in the most ridiculous manner. Waistcoats then were waistcoats, not gilets, but substantial coats without sleeves. The wardrobe of a gentleman also contained another garment called a veston, covered with lace and broderie, a volant, which was always single-breasted, various kinds of redingotes, such as the roquelaure, the houppelande, etc., all of which were made of every conceivable material and color. The above are the general characteristics of costume, all the variations of which we cannot be expected to describe any more than the botanist is to count every leaf on a tree.
Black, now the ne plus ultra of dress, was then worn only by procureurs, authors, small landholders, and, in a word, all persons who were negligent in their toilette. It was the index of restricted means, and of mourning, when the most obscure bourgeois dressed himself like a count or marquis.