The Sun.
London, England, 1851-02-15 00:00:00

A PLEA FOR BEARDS.

A correspondent of the Weekly News, calling himself
MET'a.Po?,ri, and, writing upon the abomination of
shaving, says :

" Why should men cut cuff what nature has given them for
use, comfort, ornament, and as a distinguishing characteristic
of their sex ? Is shaving a pleasing operation ?
" If the choice lay between two evils, something might be
urged in favour of the custom of shaving; but I do most
strenuously contend that the beard is a, positive good. It is
useful, for it affords naturally what we are forced to supply
artificially—warmth and protection to the throat. If the
fashion of wearing the beard were to come in, we should
have no more sore throats. It is ornamental—if you doubt
it, look at Cardinal Bembo's picture—at the portraits of
Titian, Shakspere, Fletcher, Spans er, Chaucer, Alfred, Plato.
I could name a great man who wore a beard, for every
hair which I painfully shaved off this morning. It sets
off the face as in a frame ; it gives dignity, and conveys
the idea of strength, decision, manliness, depth of intellect,
solidity—in short, everything may be said in its favour—
nothing against it. 'What!' I hear a fair friend exclaim,
would the wretch have our husbands, our brothers, our
80138, and our r ephews, wear nasty beards, and look like
Frenchmen?' Certainly not, Madam; and one reason why
we should not look like Frenchmen is, that our beards would
not be nasty. If we ceased to shave, we should not cease to
use soap and water, and I will venture to say that the
English beard would be the cleanest, glossiest, handsomest
thing in the world. Besides, the beard which I advo-
cate is the beard given us by nature, in the form in
which she has caused it to grow. I would not have it
touched by the razor; let the scissors curtail and shape it
when too exuberant : but my cry is, a Las the razor 1'
You very seldom see a foreigner with the beard, the whole
beard, and nothing but the beard. Ile shaves off his whiskers,
or his moustache, or in some way or other manages to di
figure himself. Now, what I want is, the whole or none.
Once admit that the use of the razor may be advantageous
to some extent, and I am as far off my end as ever.
Dear Madam, you know not the pains of shaving, and the
beauties of the beard. _

" This may be all very well for you,' observes a
jurenis imberbis ; but supposing you are not blessed
with a beard fit to be seen..' Supposing, my dear
young friend, you are not blessed with a handsome nos%
.vle
that any reason why others should cut off their rot
nasal promontories, whether they be well formed or
honour,
Surely no. I declare to you, sir, upon my word. of 'Measure
if it were the fashion to wear no noses, I would wuit
'n that
once submit to the pain of the operation of amp t
sell against the
butfl:asure
feature, if I could by so doing Insure of the beard.
misery attendant upon the daily amPutow' the smooth-faced
The hairy Esau sold his birthright
time would have the
Jacob. The Jacobs of the
ininociler
seeosvate fortheir the sacrifice, so
they offer not, as a bribe to,camp
el
Esaus of these days divest the sof beards, but
much as a mess of

....._
---;---------__ _, .
Right Hon. the
• consented to preside at a meeting of
Lord Mayor having .
CommERCS.---lh.e
TRIBUNALS (1)--.F
nts and others to consider the above important sub-
proprietors of the Hall of Commerce having
large room fur the purpose, a
meeting wilt lie held there on Wednesday, the 19th iust.,
jest,
trreallid offeredtlie
and the following Members of Parliament have joined the
committee, of which Lord Wharncliffe is the president:—
Sir James Duke, Bart., Joseph Hume, Esq., Robert S. Ten-
nent, EFq , John McGregor, Esq., Arthur Anderson,
Esq,
John Williams, Fsq., William Scholfield, Esq., J. Lewis
Ricardo, Esq., and Jacob Bell, Esq.

A soldier of the 92d Ilighlar&rs, named James
Grandison, committed suicide, on Saturday last, at the bar-
racks, Kilkenny, by shooting himself through the head with
his own musket. It appears that the poor fellow had sud-
denly received an account of his father's death, and that his
mother had been ill-treated at home by another son, and this
affected his mind.

MINT.—The total amount advanced from the oon-
solidatedfund for the purchase of bullion for coinage from
from 1837 to 1850 inclusive is shown by an account now be-
fore the House to have been 3,518,029/., and the amount
paid into the mak of
been 313.10,516/B. "Daiwa' in repayment timed las