Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-03-03
PARIS, Saturday.

FAHlS, SATURDAY.
The graceful domino represented on
this page recalls to mind the fact that
folly and gayety are the order of the
day, according to the calendar, up to
the period for which the austerities Of
Lent are set down. Let us, then, be
merry, according to custom, and If
the great receptions, masked balls, the
dinners de tetes'' and the living pic
lures that will be going on every
where in a few days leaves us a little
leisure, let us profit by IL to design
some fetching domino that will make
a sensation at the next ball, or at
the "Veglione" on the "Coted'Azur."
At no period has feminine fancy
been more enamoured of this garment,
which has long kept its primitive form
because Of it's ecclesiastical characters.
It is even highly interesting to know
its origin, which in no way foreshad-
owed its long and gay career.
In the Middle Ages, when the high
roads were unsafe and travelling was
difficult, those who had a delicate mis-
sion to fulfill or a dangerous journey
to undertake took shelter under the
costume of the monks, which at that
period were universally respected.
This costume consisted of an immense
robe and a cowl, to which the wearer
owed protection and moved safely amid
the innumerable body Of monks from
country to country; the costumes were
to be seen all over Europe, and doubt
less gave rise to the proverb, "Cucullus
non facit monachum' ('"The cowl does
not make the monk.")
This disguise was first used in Italy
for society diversions, on account OF
it's extreme convenience. All that vas
necessary was to cut the robe in two
down the front and add a short cloak
to the hood. A black velvet or satin
mask always accompanied the COS
tune. It was especially in the wild
night of orgies in which the Venetian
youth exhausted it's energy, it's health
and its fortune that the domino reach
ed it's widest popularity.
From Italy it passed into France,
where it soon became Indispensable
for balls, fetes and ~masquerades at the
court of Louis XIII, an ever to a great
extent at that of Louis XIV. There
were gatherings where it was impera-
lively required. The King alone was
exempt from the condition. The black
domino was usually adopted, while the
royal domino was of white muslin. At
this date dominos became very full
and highly ornamented.
But the astonishing popularity Of
this garment, so mysterious and useful
to hide the weaknesses of the most
exalted personages In the social scale,
did not stop here. Louis XIV, Of sorry
''candle-end balls" as it pleased him
to call gatherings got UP by the lower
middleclass, shopkeepers, hairdressers
and d~ressmakers. He used to go to
these balls in a black domino, masked,
and attended by the captain of his
guard and a few officers Of his house
hold.
Under the regency the opera balls
completely ropularized the domino,
which began to be made in silk and
lace in all colors.
When Marie Antoinette was Queen
OF France she did not disdain to leave
the %splendors of the Palace at Versail-
les and court etiquette, which she de-
tested, and make her appearance at the
opera ball, which was held weekly.
Mime. Campan relates in her memoirs
an amusing incident that occurred dur
ing n of these ~escapades.
One evening the Queen set out with
the Duchesse de Luynes, one of the
ladies of the palace. Her carriage
broke down at the gates of Paris, and
the pair had to alight. The Duchesse
induced Her Majesty to enter a shop
while the footman went for a facre. |
The ladies were masked and enveloped
in dominos, and if they had only kept |
silence the event would never have
become known. But to ride in a COM
mon cab wa such . strange apd