LOUIS XIV.

133

with cravats and ruffles of the finest point. 16 These cravats wereeither worn of point, in one piece, or partly of muslin tied, withfalling lace ends 17 (Fig. 6(5).

In 1679, the king gave a fete at Marly to the elite of hisbrilliant court: when, at sunset, the ladies retired to repair theirtoilettes, previous to the ball, each found in her dressing-room arobe fresh and elegant, trimmed with point of the most exquisitetexture, a present from that gallant monarch not yet termed“ l’inamusable.”

Nor was the Veuve Scarron behind the rest. When, in 1674,she purchased the estate from which she afterwards derived her

Fig. 6G.

Louvois. 1C91. From his statue by Girardon. Musee Rationale, Versailles.

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title of Maintenon, anxious to render it productive, she enticedFlemish workers from the frontier to establish a lace manufactureupon her newly acquired marquisate. How the fabric succeeded,history does not relate, but the costly laces depicted in her por-traits (Fig. 67) have not the appearance of home manufacture.

Point lace-making became a favourite employment amongladies. We have many engravings of this reign: one, 1691, of a“ bile de qualite ” thus occupied, with the motto, “ Apres dinervous travaillez au point.” Another, 18 from an engraving of Le

18 “Mercare Galaat,” Fcv. 1685.

17 Ibid. 1678.

18 At the Mazarin Library there arefour folio volmv.es of engravings, afterBonnard and others, of the costumes of

the time of Louis XIV.; and at theArchives Nat. is a large series preservedin cartons numbered M. 815 to 823, &c.,labelled “ Gravures de Modes.”