tion: ANNE OF AUSTRIA.]

At once regal and elegant as such a costume must have been, it is
deplorable to contrast it with those which she adopted in after-years,
when the most monstrous caprices were permitted at her Court; and when
it was by no means uncommon to see women of the highest rank, about to
ride on horseback, present themselves in the royal circle in dresses
reaching only to the knee, with their legs encased in tight pantaloons
of velvet, or even in complete _haut-de-chausses;_ while the habitual
attire of the sex was equally _bizarre_ and exaggerated. There were the
_vasquines_ or rollers which encircled the waist and extended the folds
of the petticoats, thus giving additional smallness to the waist; the
_brassards-a-chevrons_ or metallic braces for expanding the sleeves; and
the _affiquet_ of pearls or diamonds coquettishly attached to the left
breast, and entitled the _assassin_. Added to these absurdities there
were, moreover, bows of ribbon, each of which had its appropriate name
and position; the _galant_ was placed on the summit of the head; the
_mignon_ on the heart; the _favori_ under and near the _assassin_; and
the _badin_ on the handle of the fan. Short curls upon the temples were
designated _cavaliers_; ringlets were _garcons_; while a hundred other
inanities of the same description compelled the great ladies of the
period to adopt a slang which was perfectly unintelligible to all save
the initiated; and when we add to these details the well-authenticated
fact that the royal apartments were fumigated with powdered tobacco
(then a recent and costly importation into France), in lieu of the
perfumes which had previously been in use for the same purpose, it will
scarcely be denied that caprice rather than taste dictated the habits of
the Court under Louis XIII.

To revert, however, to the earlier years of Anne of Austria, it would
appear that the troubles of the royal bride did not await her womanhood.
Like Marie de Medicis, she clung to all which appeared to link her to
her distant home, and caused her to forget for a time that it was hers
no longer; and under this impulse it was by no means surprising that she
attached herself with girlish affection to the individuals by whom she
had been followed in her splendid exile; but even as her predecessor had
been compelled to forego the society of her native attendants, so was
Anne of Austria in her turn deprived of the solace of their presence.
With t