CHAPTER XI

.

LOUIS XV.

"Le luxe corrompt tout, et le riche qui en jouit, et le pauvre qui le convoite." --J. J. Rousseau.

Louis XIV. is now dead, to the delight of a wearied nation: we enter on the Regency and times of Louis XV.--that age of "fourchettes," manchettes, and jabots--in which the butterfly abbés, "les porte-dentelles par excellence," played so conspicuous a part.

The origin of the weeping ruffles, if Mercier[502] is to be credited, may be assigned to other causes than royal decree or the edicts of fashion. "Les grandes manchettes furent introduites par des fripons qui voulaient filouter au jeu et escamoter des cartes." It never answers to investigate too deeply the origin of a new invented mode,--sufficient to say, ruffles became a necessary adjunct to the toilet of every gentleman. So indispensable were they, the Parisians are accused of adopting the custom of wearing ruffles and no shirts.

"Les Parisiens," writes Mercier, "achètent quatre ajustemens contre une chemise. Un beau Monsieur se met une chemise blanche tous les quinze jours. Il coud ses manchettes de dentelle sur une chemise sale," and powders over his point collar till it looks white.[503] This habit passed into a proverb. The Maréchal de Richelieu, who, though versed in astronomy, could not spell, said of himself, "Qu'on ne lui avoit pas fourni des chemises, mais qu'il avoit acheté des {172}manchettes."[504] This account tallies well with former accounts[505] and with a letter of Madame de Maintenon to the Princess des Ursins, 1710.[506]

At this period it was the custom for grisettes to besiege the Paris hotels, bearing on their arms baskets decked out with ruffles and jabots of Malines, Angleterre, and point. What reader of Sterne will not recollect the lace-seller in his _Sentimental Journey_?

The jabot and manchettes of points were the customary "cadeau de noces" of the bride to her intended for his wedding dress--a relic of which practice may be found in the embroidered wedding shirt furnished by the lady, in the North of Europe.[507] The sums expended in these articles would now appear fabulous. The Archbishop of Cambray[508] alone possessed four dozen pairs of ruffles, Malines, point, and Valenciennes. The Wardrobe Bills of the Duke de Penthièvre of 1738 make mention of little else. An ell and a quarter of lace was required for one pair of ruffles. A yard, minus 1/16, sufficed for the jabot.[509] There were manchettes de jour, manchettes tournantes,[510] and manchettes de nuit: these last-named were mostly of Valenciennes.[511] The {173}point d'Alençon ruffles of Buffon, which he always wore, even when writing, were exhibited in 1864 at Falaise, being carefully preserved in the family to whom they have descended.

Even, if a contemporary writer may be credited, "Monsieur de Paris," the executioner, mounted the scaffold in a velvet suit, powdered, with point lace jabot and ruffles.

"Les rubans, les miroirs, les dentelles sont trois choses sans lesquelles les François ne peuvent vivre. Le luxe démesuré a confondu le maître avec le valet,"[512] says an unknown writer, quoted by Dulaure.[513] The servants of the last century had on their state liveries lace equal in richness to that worn by their masters.[514] Of a Prussian gentleman, we read, "His valets, who according to the reigning tastes were the prettiest in the world, wore nothing but the most costly lace."[515] This custom was not confined, however, to France or the Continent. "Our very footmen," writes the angry _World_, "are adorned with gold and {174}silver bags and lace ruffles. The valet is only distinguished from his master by being better dressed;" while the _Connoisseur_ complains of "roast beef being banished from even 'down stairs,' because the powdered footmen will not touch it for fear of daubing their lace ruffles."[516]

But the time, of all others, for a grand display of lace was at a visit to a Parisian lady on her "relevailles," or "uprising," as it was called, in the days of our third Edward. Reclining on a chaise longue, she is described as awaiting her visitors. Nothing is to be seen but the finest laces, arranged in artistic folds, and long bows of ribbon. An attendant stationed at the door asks of each new arrival, "Have you any perfumes?" She replies not, and passes on--an atmosphere of fragrance. The lady must not be spoken to, but, the usual compliments over, the visitors proceed to admire her lace. "Beautiful, exquisite!"--but, "Hist! speak low," and she who gave the caution is the first, in true French style, to speak the loudest.[517]

Lace "garnitures de lit" were general among great people as early as 1696. The _Mercure_ speaks of "draps garnis d'une grande dentelle de point d'Angleterre." In 1738 writes the Duc de Luynes,[518] "Aujourd'hui Madame de Luynes s'est fait apporter les fournitures qu'elle avoit choisies pour la Reine, et qui regardent les dames d'honneur. Elles consistent en couvrepieds[519] garnis de dentelle pour le grand lit et pour les petits, en taies d'oreiller[520] garnies du {175}même point d'Angleterre, etc. Cette fourniture coûte environ 30,000 livres, quoique Madame de Luynes n'ait pas fait renouveler les beaux couvrepieds de la Reine." These garnitures were renewed every year, and Madame de Luynes inherited the old ones.

[Illustration: Fig. 81.

MADAME SOPHIE DE FRANCE, 1782, DAUGHTER OF LOUIS XV. By Drouais. M. de Versailles. (In this picture the hexagonal brides and heavy relief of Point d'Argentan are clearly to be seen.)]

{176}[Illustration: Fig. 82.

MADAME ADÉLAÏDE DE FRANCE, DAUGHTER OF LOUIS XV.--(M. de Versailles.)]

Madame de Créquy, describing her visit to the Duchesse Douairière de La Ferté, says, when that lady received her, she was lying in a state bed, under a coverlet made of point de Venise in one piece. "I am persuaded," she adds, "that the trimming of her sheets, which were of point d'Argentan, were worth at least 40,000 écus."[521] To such a pitch had the taste for lace-trimmed linen attained, that when, in 1739, Madame, eldest daughter of Louis XV., espoused the Prince of Spain, the bill for these articles alone amounted to £25,000; and when Cardinal Fleury, a most economical prelate, saw the trousseau, he observed, "Qu'il croyait que c'etait pour marier toutes les sept Mesdames."[522] (Figs. 81, 82). Again, Swinburne writes from Paris:[523] "The trousseau of Mademoiselle de Matignon will cost 100,000 crowns (£25,000). The expense here of rigging[524] out a bride is equal to a handsome portion in England. Five thousand pounds' worth of lace, linen, etc., is a common thing among them."

PLATE LIII.

[Illustration: MADAME LOUISE DE FRANCE. Trimmings and tablier of Point d'Argentan.

Painted by Nattier at the age of eleven, 1748. M. de Versailles.]

_To face page 176._

{177}[Illustration: Fig. 83.

MARIE THÉRÈSE ANT. RAPH., INFANTA OF SPAIN, FIRST WIFE OF LOUIS DAUPHIN, SON OF LOUIS XV.

--By Tocqué. Dated 1748. M. de Versailles.]

The masks worn by the ladies at this period were of black blonde lace[525] of the most exquisite fineness and design.[526] They were trimmed round the eyes, like those described by Scarron:--

"Dirai-je comme ces fantasques Qui portent dentelle à leurs masques, En chamarrent les trous des yeux, Croyant que le masque en est mieux."

In the reign of Louis XV., point de France was rivalled {178}by the productions of Angleterre[527] and Malines. Argentan and Alençon (Fig. 83) were declared by fashion to be "dentelles d'hiver:" each lace now had its appointed season.[528] "On porte le point en hiver," says the Dictionary of the Academy.

There was much etiquette, too, in the court of France, as regards lace, which was never worn in mourning. Dangeau chronicles, on the death of the Princess of Baden, "Le roi qui avoit repris les dentelles et les rubans d'or et d'argent, reprend demain le linge uni et les rubans unis aussi."[529]

"Madame" thus describes the "petit deuil" of the Margrave of Anspach: "Avec des dentelles blanches sur le noir, du beau ruban bleu, à dentelles blanches et noires. C'etoit une parure magnifique."[530]

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