Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1851-07-23
FROM DrNTLEY's MISCELLANY.
RED HAIR.

| III Tue SeueIdl CaI06oiJ VI icu e1o SiSot
er part of people one meets confound every
description of hair which is neither black,
nor brown, nor white, nor whity-brown.-
1t may be the fiery Milesian shock-it may
be the paly amber-it may be the burnish-
ed gold-it may be the
Brown in the shadow, and gold in the sun;
-c;est egaz-it is all "red"-they have no
other word.
And vet, under this general term are
confounded the two extremes of beauty and
ugliness-the two shsdes which have been
respectively made the attributes of the an
gel and of the demon-we find that while, on
the one hand, red hair (or rather certain
shade of it) has been both popularity and
POLITICALLY associated with all ugliness, all
vice, and all malignity a more pleasing va
riety of the same hue has been associated
with all loveliness, all meekness, and all
innocence.
Thus we find that red hair, or rather a
certain shade of it, (be it understood that |
always qualify it thus, as betoking cruel
and fiendlike disposition, is part of the
orthodox description of a professed execu-
toner Scott, in the Craftsman" gives
Richards headsmen "a huge red beard,
mingling with shaggy locks of the same
color;" and in the very same scene intro
duces, as most marked contrast, his beau
tiful Queen Berengaria, with her 'cherub"
countenance, and dishavelled "golden tes-
ses."
1t seems, likewise, to be considered the
mark of "a crafty and treacherous disposition.
In Spain it is popularly known by the name
Of Judas hair, from belief that the traitor
disciples hair was of that shade, and in all
Spanish paintings he is distinguished from
the rest of the disciples by the fiery color of
his hair. (See Strings "Annals of the
Artists of Spain.") To such an extent do the
Spaniards carry their prejudices that the
Castilians have proverb, "De tul pelo, nj
cato nj perro" (of such hair neither catnor
dog.)
In our country similar belief seems to
have prevailed, though unattended by the
same unreasonable prejudice as in Spain.
In Shakspeare's play of GAS You like 1t, /"
Rosalind says other lover
Ros His very hair is Of the dissembIing color.
Ccna.-oOmetnnS UroWher tnau Suuas'
| Ros..-Pfaith-hs hair is Of good color.
Having now seen certain variety of red
hair to be the attributes of the demon-the
headsman and the traitor-we shall find
another variety of the same hue to be one
of the attributes of perfect beauty and ILL
nocence. In that most unequal poem, "The
Course of Time," Pollok, describing the
dawn, says it was -
As though the glorious, golden, bu'hy locks
OF thousand cherubim had been shorn of,
| And in the temples hung of morn and e'en.
A bold step by the way, beyond the sub
lime.
Thus, Tennyson's-
Sweet girl graduates, in their golden hair.
Among all nations the ancient Egyptians
stand preeminent for the violence of their
aversion to red hair. Theirs was literally
a burning hatred, for, on the authority of
Diodorus and others, that highly civilized
people annually performed the ceremony of
burning alive an unfortunate individual
whose only crime was the color of his
hair.
1t is right, however to remark, that Sir
! OdruueI w HhliSon tllIoWS uouuI Oh tiiC
whole story, upon the general ground that
the Egyptians were too civilized people to
permit such barbarous custom. Seeing,
however, that it is not couple of centuries
since old women were served in the same
way in England, think his reason scarce
ly sufficient. AS to the fact that this people
had violent antipathy to red hair, there
is no dispute, and the reason may probably
be found in the circumstance of their being,
as we learn from the sculptures, continually
at war with ared-haired people call the Re-
bo, and it is probable, that if the above saw
age rite was ever actually performed, the
victims were the prisoners taken in war
Among their own nation red hair was very
uncommon, for though it is found upon &
great number of mummies, it is merely the
effect of imperfect embalming, which ha:
changed the natural color ofthe hair.
1t would appear from the terms, "red
haired barbarans," and "red-haired-devils,
which the Chinese have been wont to EN-.
ploy towards us English, that in that coun
try similar antipathy prevails.
If we turn to the ancient Romans we fine
that people had as strong apenchant in ia
vor of yellow or golden halr as the above
named nations had prejudice against red
Among them yellow hair was so much ad
!, mired that their ladies were in the habit o
making use of cosmetics to change the colo
of their raven locks. The hue most esteem
ed was probably very dark shade, and al
most brown, as the epithet favus) mad
use of by Horace to describe it is the sam
) which he he constantly employed to describ
the color of the Tiber.
The prediction of the Romans has de
scended to the modern Italians, anon,
whose women we find many beautiful vari
eties of the golden hue so much priced by til
ancient connoisseurs. Among the ancient
! as among the modern Greeks. we find
similar penchant and the ancient custom
of employing ornaments of gold to height
en- the effect of the darker-coIored hair, a
bronze is set off by or-molu, is preserved
the present day.
| TO the violent antipathy of the Spaniards
have already had occasion to allude. In OF
| own country golden hair has always bee
4 admired. and in the middle ages simila
practice to that of the ancient Romans wa
in fashion among our ladies. They were
S the habit of dyeing their hair yellow, an
: timing their eyebrows-the latter custol
exactly the reverse of that so common in tf
East.
II In the Lowlands Of Scotland yellow ha
S is still more general favorite, for we fin
i that of almost all the popular songs eye
ho,r