Towards the beginning of the seventeenth century, the high hose which were worn by the northern nations, profusely trimmed, was transformed into the culotte, which was full and open at the knees.  A division was thus suddenly made between the lower and the upper part of the hose, as if the garment which covered the lower limbs had been cut in two, and garters were then necessarily invented.  The felt hat became over almost the whole of Europe a cap, taking the exact form of the head, and having a wide, flat brim turned up on one side.  High heels were added to boots and shoes, which up to that time had been flat and with single soles....  Two centuries later, a terrible social agitation took place all over Europe, after which male attire became mean, ungraceful, plain and more paltry than ever; whereas female dress, the fashions of which were perpetually changing from day to day, became graceful and elegant, though too often approaching to the extravagant and absurd.

[Illustration:  Figs. 436 and 437.—­Costumes of the German Bourgeoisie in the Middle of the Sixteenth Century.—­Drawings attributed to Holbein.]