ninety ermines' skins. It is unnecessary to state, that in consequence
of this large consumption, skins could only be purchased at the most
extravagant prices; for example, fifty skins cost about one hundred francs
(or about six thousand of present currency), showing to what an enormous
expense those persons were put who desired to keep pace with the luxury of
the times (Fig. 424).

[Illustration: Fig. 422.--Costume of Charles V., King of France.--From a
Statue formerly in the Church of the Celestins, Paris.]

[Illustration: Fig. 423.--Costume of Jeanne de Bourbon, Wife of Charles
V.--From a Statue formerly in the Church of the Celestins, Paris.]

We have already seen that Charles V. used his influence, which was
unfortunately very limited, in trying to restrain the extravagance of
fashion. This monarch did more than decree laws against indelicate or
unseemly and ridiculous dress; he himself never wore anything but the long
and ample costume, which was most becoming, and which had been adopted in
the preceding century. His example, it is true, was little followed, but
it nevertheless had this happy resuit, that the advocates of short and
tight dresses, as if suddenly seized with instinctive modesty, adopted an
upper garment, the object of which seemed to be to conceal the absurd
fashions which they had not the courage to rid themselves of. This heavy
and ungraceful tunic, called a _housse_, consisted of two broad bands of
a more or less costly material, which, starting from the neck, fell behind
and before, thus almost entirely concealing the front and back of the
person, and only allowing the under garments to be seen through the slits
which naturally opened on each side of it.

A fact worthy of remark is, that whilst male attire, through a depravity
of taste, had extended to the utmost limit of extravagance, women's dress,
on the contrary, owing to a strenuous effort towards a dignified and
elegant simplicity, became of such a character that it combined all the
most approved fashions of female costume which had been in use in former
periods.

The statue of Queen Jeanne de Bourbon, wife of Charles V., formerly placed
with that of her husband in the Church of the Celestins at Paris, gives
the most faithful representation of this charming costume, to which our
artists continually have recourse when they wish to depict any poetical
scenes of the French Middle Ages (Fig. 423).

[Illustration: Fig. 424.--Costumes of Bo