Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1856-09-22
EVENING STAR.
HAIR.
From the New York Mirror I

has been cultivated and preserved by those
women who desire to please, as among the
| first of those charms which give them power
over mankind. The ancients differed mate
| rally from US in their taste for with them,
and indeed to n very late date, yellow hair
| was considered as the most beautiful, and it
| belonged entirely to youth, while dark hair
| was the color worn by matronly danes and
aged men. Thus we find Demertius of Mace
| donia, an uncivilized Charles IL. dyeing his
hair yellow in accordance with this custom
| Sometimes false hair was used. The custom
died in giving place to the powdered hair in
troduced during the reign of Louis XIII. Of
| France.
Shakespeare makes Bassanio in the "Mer-
chant of Venice" speaking of yellow hair,
say:
| "Look on beauty,
| And you shall see It purchased by the weight
Which therein works a miracle Of nature,
| Making them lightest that wear most oft;
| So are those crisped, snaky, golden locks,
Which make such wanton gambols with the wind
Upon supposed fairness, often known
| To be the dowry OF a second head
| The scull tina. bred them In the sepulchre."
| About the only exceptions we find to this
custom in ancient times are those Of SapphO-
the 4" Tenth muse" of Plato, Julius Caesar,
! and Theseus. Sappho is said to have had
very dark hair, Alceus, one of her lovers,
calls her, '7
''Dark haired, chaste, sweetly smiling sappho."
and Antipater speaks Of her as
1.-The beautiful dark haired woman OF Lesbos. -
| Julius Caesar was extremely negligent Of
his hair, ard had dark hair, while Theseus
who, according to Plutarch, was a " dark
| haired handsome youth won Ariadne by a
total neglect of hair dressing.
| Milto, better known as ASpasia, so called
from her great resemblance to that great
| beauty, is represented 4" with yellow hair, the
| locks little curled, and long and beautifully
! flowing" She was the only woman in the
Court Of Cyrus Of Persia, whose favorIte she
| From this, we judge this custom was often at
variance with the simplicity of nature
Baily, whom we cannot but look upon as
madman, yet whose lines In their madness are
| even more grand than those CT Lee, says in a
strain gorgeously beautiful:
{. With lightsome brow, and beamlrg eyes, and
bright,
| Like gold hused cloud flakes on the rosy morn !"
| Aud Byron speaks of f" long floating auburn
curls" and GLOSSY ringlets."
| Hector, according to Homer, had black hair,
| and his great enemy Achilles had yellow hair.
| Describing the funeral rites of Patroclus,
Homer says:
Patrocius descent on the appointed ground,
| They place, and heap the sylvan pete around,
But great Achilles stands apart in prayer,
| And from his head divides tie yellow hair;
| Those curing locks which nom his youth he
| vowed,
And sacred grew, TO Sperchula, honored Hood u
| Alexander the Great had long flowing hair
| and richly curled. His mother is represented
| in medals OF her age, according to Plutarcb
| with leaves gracefully intertwined in her hair
| 1t was a custom with the ancients to powder
their hair yellow, as it lately was to powder
l white.
| Boards have always been considered as a
| type OF wisdom. Lucian speaks Of several
| cases in which the beard Of a man was taken
| as the recommendation Of his skill in physic
The golden beard Of Rsculapius is quite fa-
| nous.
| Plutarch informs US that a certain omen
having been translated by the Soothers to
read that 4" person of courage and superior
1 beauty should take the reins of government in
his hands, and suppress the tumults with
| which Rome was then agitated. Sylla, who
was then in power, said, am the man, for
my locks of geld are sufficient proof Of my
| beauty"
| Boadicea had yellow hair which fell in rich
| profusion down to her thighs.
The Emperor Nero had yellow hair, as did
also his wife Popp@ Sabina. A single hair
coming out of her head Nero caused 1t to be
fastened with gold to the head Of the statue of
Juno.
Byron, who has an appreciative eye for
every point Of female beauty, and language
no less beautiful to express it, says, Of golden
| locks:
"Here | can trace the locks of gold
| Which rouadthy snowy forehead wave"
And again:
q That form with eye so dark, and cheek so fair,i
And auburn waves Of gemmed and braided hair,
| With shape Of fairy, llghtness."
Charlemange had hair of an unusual color
for a man in the prime Of life-beautifully
| whito
Lucretia Borgia was possessed of hair which
caught and charmed the eye OF Lord Byron,
and that tasteful judge OF beauty, Leigh Hunt;
added to the beauties of being Of golden hue,
| and luxuriant, falling in ricn profusion over
her shoulders, il possessed the charm of length
l and fneness. Leigh Hunt, in that beautiful
| article published in the Indicator on g Female
/ Beauty after stating he is in possession of e
| single hair Of this mysterious and beautiful
| being says: 1--WE quote from memory " If
ever hair was golden 1t is this; it is not rcd !;
ii is not yellow it is net auburn it is golden
| and naught else and though natural looking,
| too, must have had surprising appearance
| in a mass Lucretia, beautiful IN every re-
| spect, must have looked like a vision in pic
| ture-en angel from the SUM-"
Mary Stuart, in childhood, had yellow hair,
but In age she wore false yellow to conceal
her gray locks. BrantOne says of her gray
hair:
"Sf 6edS-si b'oade--et ceRdres.n
Elizabeth Of England wore false yellow
| hair, and that red "There is no accounting
| for tastes"
Cervante3 the author of Don Quixote, I"
| had brown hair. His taste was in favor OF
yellow
Tasso, the great epic poet, had yellow, and
sang of no other.
A sketch of the Countess Guieicoli reads
| thus: " Her hair, which is pngathcred on her
heap, plays ever her falling shoulders in a
profusion of natural ringlets OF the darkest
auburn" - #...
The French first introduced powdered hair
as beauty, and among the first whom We
hear IF as using powder, is Annie Of Austria,
| wife of Louis XIII, whose hair was a light
| brown, curling, and of great profusion. This
style We cannot admire. The only true state
| for hair is its natural. q Heaven never hangs
| out false colors " .7i.
The hair of Ninon dc L. Enclos WAS long and
curling, of a dark brown color, which she usu-
allV tastefully ARRANGED and aAorpad With