COURTS IN THE PAST.

Court dress will some day add a very interesting chapter to the history of modern costume. Queen Victoria always held what during her reign were known as “Drawing-rooms” in the afternoon. Queen Charlotte had always held hers in the evening, but George IV introduced the innovation of an earlier hour, and it was continued by his august niece.

A “drawing-room” in Queen Victoria’s reign was something of an ordeal to face. Her late Majesty, in the latter years of her reign, did not invariably remain in the Throne Room to the end, and it was the aim, therefore, of everyone, whether débutante, bride, or merely “attending,” to arrive as early as possible in the hope of being among those who actually passed before the Sovereign. Consequently, the full Court dress was assumed in the morning, and the carriages, with their splendidly-dressed occupants, waited in the Mall for hours.