Note 141 — Chapter VI · TOILETTE, DRESS, AND ORNAMENTS.

Suidas, however, supposes these garments to have been less becoming when the girdle was removed, and adds ἐν Σπαρτῇ δὲ καὶ τάς κόρας γυμνὰς φαίνεσθαι.—v. δωριάζειν. t. i. p. 772. Montaigne observes, that the ancient Gauls made little use of clothing; and that the same thing might be said of the Irish of his time, t. iv. p. 214.—The French ladies, also, of his own day, affected a costume in no respect less indelicate than that of the Spartan girls: “nos dames, ainsi molles et delicates qu’elles sont, elles s’en vont tantôt entre ouvertes jusques au nombril.”—Essais, II. xii. t. iv. p. 213.