The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-09 00:00:00

THE BAR AND THE BEARD.

(From the London :Review.)

We believe we are committing no flagrant breach
of confidence when we mention than the present
ea aeon brings with it a cause of much anxiety, not
to say anguish, of mind to more than one member
of the Inns of Court. During the Long Vacation,
w hich has just closed, they have been wandering
too and fro about the earth, among fields and fiords,
po,ika and passes, moors and mountains, and have
come home again not only with faces tanned, and
constitutions invigorated, but with a " knightly
growth" about their manly lips. For a month or
two they have enjoyed the sweet experience of total
abstinence from the rasping of the razor. Perhaps
they have learned to think that the result is rather
becoming than otherwise, and have flattered them-
selves with the reflection that now they need not
dread lest the eyes of any adored Angelica should
draw a disparaging comparison between their bare
laces and the fall, crisp moustache of young de Boots,
the Guardsman, or the flowing beard of Harde Cashe,
the banker, which a Sheik might envy, and which,
as he walks along, " streams like a meteor to the
troubled air." Alas, this satisfaction was destined
to be of but, short duration. Before the fatal 2d of
November, the cherished crop had to fall a sacrifice
to an old fashioned professional prejudice. It is
supposed that the etiquette of the Bar proscribes the
conjur.ction of a moustache and a horse-hair wig.
Thy re is, however, no absolute law to that effect.
In olden times, indeed, when the benchers pre-
sumed to dictate to the students what they should
wear, as well as what books they should read, there
were edicts against beards as well as against slashed
hose and "great bryches, after the Dutch, Spanish,
or Alman fashion." In Henry VIII.'s day it was a
rale in Lincolnis-inn
that " no fellow of the house
being in commons or at his repast should wear a
beard ;" which reminds one of the famous prohi•
bition at the Bank of England of moustaches " dur-
ing business hours." Any transgressor was sub.
jetted to a fine, and, if obdurate, to expulsion from
the hall. Under Qacen Elizabeth it was ordered
that "no fellow should wear any beard above a
fortnight's growth, under penalty of forfeiting
38. 4d. for the first offence, and 6s. Bd. for the
second, while the third entailed banishment from
the House. This punishment was certainly severe
enough, and one would have expected to find it an
effectual deterrent ; yet it proved of no more avail
than Cannte's memorable interdict to the rising sea.
Fashion t.riumphed over all the terrors of the Bench.
The students vied with each other in the enormity
of their beards; and at last the authorities, finding
it impossible to check the growth of the impropriety,
wisely made a virtue of necessity, and cancelled the
idle and obnoxious law. Similar injunctions seem
to have been issued at the other Inns, and to have
met with a similar fate. At present there is, as far
as we know, no written law on this grave subject.
Custom, of course, prescribes the white wig and
shaven face; bat if we trace the fashion back, we
shall find that it was adopted merely because it
happened to prevail in general society. When
beards were general, lawyers wore them too. Bacon
had one, as well as Shakespeare; and we all know
host/ Lord Chancellor Hatton's

Bushy beard and shoe-strings green,
Ms high-crowned hat and satin doublet,
Moved stout heart of Britain's queen,
Though Pope and Spaniard could not trouble it.

When beards went out and wigs came in, the
Bar followed the general usage. In the revolu-
tionary days, when people took to displaying their
hair au naturel, the three learned professions, the
Church, Law, and Physic adhered to the cauliflower
wig. It is not so long since the archbishops used to
'wear wigs as long and imposing as the Lord Chan-
cellor's; and the late Dr. Sumner always wore a
small one, much like that of a Belgrave-square
coachman on a levee day. Both the clergy and the
doctors have, however, now entirely given up this
article of apparel. The lawyers and aristocratic
Jehus are alone conservative in this respect.
It would perhaps be deemed like laying profane
hands on a pillar of the constitution, or one of the
bulwarks of the empire, if we hinted that the wig is
a foolish superfluity. There is scarcely a man at the
Bar over middle age, who does not suffer more or less
from baldness on account of it. In the House of
Commons you can generally pick out the lawyers by
their bare pates. An academic cap, which was
once a regular part of the forensic uniform, would
be much more becoming and convenient than the
ridiculous horse-hair wig. However that may be,
we put in a plea for beards for barristers. It may
be doubted whether the old philosopher was right
who hoped great things of any young gentleman
who was " cnrious in fine moustachios," because
the contemplation of them would give rise to "mas-
culine and courageous notions." There was some
meaning, however, in the reason which a worthy
divine of E:izabeth's time gave for cultivating one
of the longest and largest beards in the kingdom,
that no act of his life might be unworthy of the
gravity of his appearance." Only think of the dig-
nified solemnity of a bench of Aeroas, and a bar
which followed the example at 'a respectful distance.
If the wig and the beard won't do together, then
tant pis pour la perruque.
As it ie, beards have found admission to various
departments of the Bar—to the Parliamentary Com-
mittee-rooms, for instance, and one or two of the
regular courts. It is only a few legal martinets
upon the Bench who frown on them, and who throw
out sarcastic hints that they cannot see who is ad-
dressing them when concealed behind a growth
of hair, Hence the attorneys, who have them-
by the way, very generally adopted the
beard
movement, are afraid of irritating the judicial
suseel/tAbili les by employing a spokesman who does
not ra
--sPeet the . .
traditional proprieties. If a num-
ber of men in good pule ice would only unite toge-
ther on this 4
they might soon establish the
rule that a byparottiimnstter has a right to follow the usages
of the societ
bo:g which he moves, and to enjoy
the comfort of a
ot dif he pleases. Such an agree-
ment, indeed, is
teer
day
made about this
season ; but when
:if arrives there is seldom
one of the conspirators
does not show a little
gap in his moustache,wivith
shear
widens as the
briefs come in. Just now
a vow 4:07 tof a.dozen resolute
men who have made
give way in this
respect ; but whether
they
equal mind remains to be seen,keep it with an
The only safe and
legitimate law on such a matter sh
ed by the Middle Tem
ould be the old
one promulgat
-P.e th t e
as he listeth, so that his a every
man may go apparel pre-
tend no lightness or wantonness in the we,
th show him to
be rer ; for
even as his apparel do
' even Bo
shall he be esteemed."