Star.
London, England, 1822-12-28 00:00:00

BEARDS AND WHISKERS.

. . .
Various are the customs and ceremonies of diffe-
rent-nations with regard to the beard. A consider..
able part of the religion of the Tartars consists in the
management of their beards, and they once waged a
long and bloody war with the Persians, and declared
them infidels, merely because they would not cut their
whiskers after the mode or rite of the Tartars. -A
Spartan being once asked why he wore so long a
beard? replied-4, since it is grown white it inces-
santly reminds, me not to dishonour my old age:—
Nevertheless, in Sparta there was a law to make the
people shave the upper lip. The Egyptian priests
shaved the head, chin, and the whole body. The
Assyrians had long beards; the Kings of Persia had
their beards woven or matted together with gold
thread; likewise the first few Kings of Frarke: Alex-
ander made the Macedonians shave, lest the length
of their beards should give a handle to theirenemies.
The Greek philosophers distinguished themselves
from the vulgar by their long beards. Persius used
to call Socrates Magistrum barbatum. The Romans
for a long time wore beards and long hair ; they did
not begin to shave till the year of Rome 451., when
P. Sicinius bright over a number of barbers from
Sicily, arid Scipio Africanus was the first who intro-
duced the mode of shaving every day--to whose me-
mory the cutlers of Sheffield ought to erect a statue
of fine wrought steel. An Englishman little thinks
that every year he makes 43,800 strokes with the
razor across his chin, for no man in shaving can
make less than 120.

In time of grief and affliction the Romans suffered
their beards and hair to grow. The Greeks, on the
contrary, in time of grief, cut their hair and shaved
their beards. The list fourteen Roman Emperors
shaved till the time of the Emperor Adrian, who re-
tained the mode of wearing the beard. Plutarch says
he did it to hide the scars in his face. The Ancient
Britons, in the time of Casar, shiived the rest of the
body except the head and upper lip. Tacitus says
the ancient Germans shaved the beard, except that en
the upper lips; and among the Catti, a nation of Ger-
many, a young man was not allowed to shave or cut
his hair, till he had slain an enemy. Among the Jews,
was reckonedignominiOus to shave a pet son's beard.
It is not easy to fix with precision the time when the
beards were first shaven amongst the young Romans;
the first growth was consecrated to some God—
usually to the 'Ares. Nero consecrated his, in a gol-
den box set with pearls, to Jupiter Capitolinus.—
Slaves wore their hair and beard long, but when ma-
numitted, they shaved the head in the Temple of Fe-
ronia and put on a cap, or " Pileus," as a badge of
liberty. The Chinese affect long beards extrava-
gantly ; but Nature has baulked them, and only given
them very little ones, which they cultivate with great
care; the Europeans are greatly envied by them on
this account. The Russians wore their beards till within
these few years, when the Czar Peter enjoined them to
shave, but was obliged to keep on foot a number of
officers, to cut off by violence the beards of such as
would not otherwise part with them. At hit he
laid a tax on long beards, which might be put into
effect in this country upon whiskers and mustachio:.
A beard was held in high estimation in Russia in early
times, for it is a law, in the Novgorodian Code, that
whoever plucks hair from another's beard shall be
mulcted four times as much as for cutting off a finger.
Upon the death of Henry IV. of France, who was
succeeded by a beardless youth, the beard was pro-
scribed. Louis XIII. ascended the Throne of his glo.
rious ancestor without a beard, and his courtiers im-
mediately reduced their beards to whiskers, and a
small tuft of hair under the lower lip. The Duke of
Sully, however, though he encountered ridicule, would
never adopt this effeminate custom. I;: the reign of
Catherine, Queen of Portugal, when the brave John
de Castro had taken the Castle of Diu, in India, he
was under the necessity of borrowing from the inha-
bitants of Goa a thousand pistoles, for the support
of his fleet; and as a security for the loan, he sent
them one of his whiskers, telling them " all the
gold in the world cannot' equal the value of this
national ornament of my valour, and I deposit it
in your hands as a security for the money." Such
was the high estimation in which whiskers were then
held. The Arabs make the preservation of the beard
a capital article of their religion, because Nlahomet
never cut his. The Moors of Africa hold by their
beards while they swear, in order to give validity to
their oath,which, after this formality, they rarely vio-
_ -

The Turkish wives kiss their husbands' beards,

and children their fathers', as often as they come to
salute Ahem. The Mahometans wear long hair, pro-
ceeding from a piece upon the head about the size of
a crown piece, by which Mahomet pulls them up into
Heaven, it is supposed. It is the practice with the
North American Indians to pluck out the beard by
the roots from its earliest appearance, and hence their
faces appear smooth. This fact is confirmed by Capt.
Brent and others. So much for beards—now for the ope-
rators thereon. There were no barbers at Rome before
the year A.U.C. 454. Ticinus Mena brought them thi-
ther from Sicily. The barbers' shops soon became the
resort of idlers and gossips. To this purpose, Horace,
in expressing what was public and notorious' says,
that " all the barbers knew it." The ancient barbers
also trimmed the nails. Formerly a lute or viol was part
of the furniture of a barber's shop,which was then fre-
quented by persons above the ordinary rank, who re-
sorted thither for the cure of wounds,or as it was called,
to be trimmed—a word which signified either shaving
or cutting, and curling the hair. The musical instru-
ments in their shops were for the amusement of wait-
, ing customers, and answered the end of a newspaper.
Some have supposed the barber's pole to have been de-
rived from the poll or head ; but the true. intention was
to shew the master practised surgery,and could breathe
a vein as well as take off the beard. The present frater-
nity of barbers are well known for their ready wit, and
"'We have only to walk In their shop., and see
What witty and merry fellows the Shavers be !"

On the 12th of November a farmer's wife, of the
name of Weischwill, at Wilkischken, in 'Prussia,
poisoned with arsenic her daughter, a girl of 15 years
of age, for fear she should make it known that her
mother stole some geese. After the crime was dis•
covered, she confessed that two years ago she dis-
patched her father-in.law in the same manner, to
inherit his prole" the sooner; and five months ago
the husband o her eldest liaughterii4 order to marry
her to a tichwt wan.

VERERAZ arAL 'fits ettßisTENt.
INGS AND BURIALS,
WITHIN THE CITY OP LONDON AND SILLS OP MOSTA.
LITT, PROM DSC. 11, 1821, TO DEC. 10, 1322.
• Christened in the 97 Parishes within the wails, 1,051 ; burled!,
1,141. Christened in the 17 Parishes without the walls 5,015;
buried, 3,703. Christened in the U Out-Parishes in 111iddle-
ses and Surrey, 12,551 ; buried, 9,074. Christened in the 10
Parishes in the City sad Libtxtles of Westminster, 4,944;
buried, 4,947.
THE DISEASES AND CASUALTIES THIS YEAR..

Abscess
Apoplexy
Asthma
Bedridden
Cancer
Childbed
Consumption
Convulsions
Croup -
Diabetes
Dropsy -
Dropsy in the Brain
Dropsy in the Chest
Dysentery
-
Epilepsy
Eruptive Diseases -
Erysipelas, or St. Anthony's
Fire 17
Fever 1,104
Fever (Typhus) - 17
Fistula 6
Flux 6
(Cunt 41
Hemorrhage 31
Harping Cough 757
'casts
Broken Limbs
Burnt 18
Drowned 113
Excessive Drinking 4
Executed• 8
Found Dead 6
Fractured 2
Killed by Falls and several
other Accidents - 84
11,948
In all

DISIMAI.U.
11)7 Inflammation - 1,".08
206 Inflammation of die Liver 61
553 Insanity - 218
1 Jaundice - 111
- 82 Measles - 712
191 Mortification - 159
Old Age and Debility 2,601 G
Palsy - 168
itieumathai - e
Rupture - 44
Scrofula - I
Small Pot - 001,
Sore Throat or Quinsy it
..,
Spasm . Sg
Stillborn • - 667
Stone - 16
Stoppage in the Stomach 16
Suddenly - 220
Teething - tont
Thrush - 102
Venereal - 7
Worms - 5

Males

3,608
2,929
100
3
. $5l
324
4
2
6

!WU
9,455
In all -
WHEREOF
Under two years cf age 4,605
Between twq and five 2,c7,3
Five and ten 932

Nlalcs

Ten and twenty 6.11)
Twenty and thirty 1,3:8
Thirty and forty 1,1;05
Forty and fifty 1,993