ed perukes. In 1706 the English, led by Marlborough,
gained a great victory on the battlefield of Ramillies, and that gave
the title to a long wig described as "having a long, gradually
diminishing, plaited tail, called the 'Ramillie-tail,' which was tied
with a great bow at the top, and a smaller one at the bottom." It was
at the great battle fought before the town of Ramillies that France lost
the whole Spanish Netherlands, and Europe gained a wig from the vanity
of Louis XIV., of whom Thackeray irreverently speaks in his "Henry
Esmond," as "a little, wrinkled old man, pock-marked, and with a great
periwig and red heels." Lord Lyttelton in his letters thus refers to the
French king: "Louis XIV. annexed great dignity to his peruke, which he
increased to an enormous size, and made a lion's mane the object of its
similitude. That monarch, who daily studied the part of a king, was
never seen uncovered but by the barber who shaved him. It was not his
practice to exchange his wig for a nightcap till he was enclosed by his
curtains, when a page received the former from his hand and delivered it
to him in the morning before he undrew them. The figure of the great
Bourbon must at times have been truly ridiculous." It is stated in
Read's _Weekly Journal_ of May 1st, 1736, in a report of the marriage of
the Prince of Wales, that "the officers of the Horse and Foot Guards
wore Ramillie periwigs by His Majesty's order." This wig survived until
the days of George III. We meet, in the reign of George II., other forms
of the wig, and more titles for them; the most popular, perhaps, was
the pig-tail. The pig-tails were worn hanging down the back, or tied up
in a knot behind as shown in our illustration. This form of wig was
popular in the army, but in 1804 orders were given for it to be reduced
to seven inches in length, and finally, in 1808, to be cut off. It is
recorded that when the Reform Bill of 1832 received the Royal assent,
the Lord Bathurst of the period solemnly cut off his pig-tail, saying,
"Ichabod, for the glory was departed."

[Illustration: Pig-tail Wig.]

In the first reformed Parliament only one pig-tail was returned, and
that was Mr Sheppard, M.P. for Frome.

[Illustration: Bag-Wig.]

Here is a picture of an ordinary man; by no means can he be regarded as
a beau. He is wearing a common bag-wig, dating back to about the middle
of the eighteenth century. The style is modified to suit an individual
taste, and for on