The size and the forms of hats and bonnets have not altered, and probably will not now before the spring : they are now indeed in that happy medium in which we should wish them to remain, but as the very essence of fashion is change, an alteration one way or other will assuredly take place as the spring approaches. Black velvet and satin are now more decidedly in favour both for hats and bonnets than last month, and lace in the trimmings has, if possible, increased in estimation . Wadded bonnets have again come into favour, but in undress only. We have seen some that had the front finished with a double bouillonnée at the edge, the effect is novel but extremely heavy ; a curtain veil of lace is infinitely preferable. A sprig of velvet flowers and ribbon to correspond, or else shaded , is the style of trimming generally adopted for these bonnets . Those of shot silk are very little worn, if we except a few drawn ones that are lined with either white or coloured satin ; blue, rose, and green are the colours most in use for linings ; the latter hue indeed enjoys a decided vogue, and one that we cannot think it merits, for we know not a hue that is more generally unbecoming. We have observed a good many hats in half dress trimmed with sprigs of velvet flowers in a style that struck us as novel, the sprig was placed on one side of the crown, and inserted in a knot of rich ribbon , the ends of which finished with a light floize silk fringe fell upon the brim, the long and slender stalk of the sprig drooped so as to bring the flowers very forward. Shaded feathers have lost none of their attractions, we perceive the bouquets are all what are called étagées, that is there are three feathers, the longest of moderate length, the second somewhat shorter, and the third shorter still. A matronly but very lady-like style of half dress hat , is composed of either black or dark-coloured velvet, the interior of the brim is decorated with a cordon of roses without leaves ; they may be either of one or of various shades of red, but each is encircled with blond lace of the lightest texture and pattern. A broad rich satin ribbon corresponding in colour with the hat, and edged with black real lace, is disposed in a kind offichu drapery on the crown, and a single long ostrich feather either plain or shaded is placed far back and winds round in a spiral direction ; there is something at once simple and distingué in this style of chapeau. Plain silks and satins are beginning to be much more in vogue than shaded ones, both for dinner and evening robes ; a good many black satin ones have been seen in the former. Some are trimmed with black lace flounces, headed
