As the church would not countenance the marriage of an actress, she
was forced to renounce the theatre when she would marry, but once
married a permit to return to the stage was easily obtained. Society
was not so severe as the laws; it received actresses, sought out, and
even adored them; it received the women of the stage as equals, and
many of them were married by counts and dukes, given a title, and
presented at court. The regular type of the prostitute was tolerated
and even received by society; "a word of anger, malediction, or
outrage, was seldom raised against these women: on the contrary, pity
and the commiseration of charity and tenderness were felt for them
and manifested." This was natural, for many of them--through
notoriety--reached society and, as mistresses of the king, even the
throne itself. "If such women as Mme. de Pompadour were esteemed, what
principles remained in the name of which to judge without pity and to
condemn the _debauches_ of the street," says Mme. de Choiseul, one of
the purest of women.

This class usually created and established the styles. There is a
striking contrast between the standards of beauty and fashions of the
respective periods of Louis XIV. and Louis XV.: "The stately figure,
rich costume, awe-inspiring peruke of the magnificent Louis XIV.--the
satins, velvets, embroideries, perfumes, and powder of the indolent
and handsome Louis XV., well illustrate the two epochs." The beauty of
the Louis XIV. age was more serious, more imposing, imperial, classic;
later in the eighteenth century, under Louis XV., she developed into
a charming figure of _finesse, sveltesse et gracilite_, with an
extremely delicate complexion, a small mouth and thin nose, as opposed
to the strong, plump mouth and _nez leonin_ (leonine nose). More
animated, the face was all movement, the eyes talked; the _esprit_
passed to the face. It was the type of Marivaux' comedies, with an
_esprit mobile_, animated and colored by all the coquetries of grace.

Later in the century, the very opposite type prevailed; the aspiration
then became to leave an emotion ungratified rather than to seduce;
a languishing expression was cultivated; women sought to sweeten the
physiognomy, to make it tender and mild. The style of beauty changed
from the brunette with brown eyes--so much in vogue under Louis XV.,
to the blonde with blue eyes under Louis XVI. Even the red which
formerly "dishonored France," became a favorite. To o