The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1879-01-18
The Beard.

AAO 00NAAt
Not many years ago it was hardly re-
spectacle to wear a beard, but the beard
movement, resisted and ridiculed at first,
has conquered, and il grows more aud
more the fashion to grow on the face as fall
q covering Of hair as can be coaxed out.
T'he beard" the natural clothing of the
chin, says a very old English writer, "was
10 ancient times looked upon not as a trou-
blesome burthen but as dignifed ornament
Of ripe manhood, and old age" Our
present generation, however, cares moth
ing for "dignifed ornament in dress,
but very much for convenience and
utilitarianism. 1t sees 10 the beard,
and, above all in the moustache, nat
ural defence for the throat and face
against the cold, and equally in warm
climates protection Of these parts against
excessive heat. Persons who wear nous.
tachios are said, on good authority, to be
less liable to toothache than others, aud it
is also said that the teeth are less apt to
decay. The beard and moustache equal
ize the temperature to the parts they cover
with their protection. The sappers and
miners Of the French army, chosen in part
for the size and beauty Of their boards,
enjoy an especial immunity against bron-
chitis and iimilar evils. 1t is related that
Walter Savage Landor was q great suffer-
er from sore throat for many years of his
life, but was cured by the surgeon of the
Grand Duke of Tuscany, who advised him
to let his beard grow. aye shall not round
the corners Of your heads; neither shalt
thou mar the corners Of thy beard, says
the Scriptures in Leviticus. In ancient
times all men and gods wore boards. The
glory and beauty Of jumpers beard is
dwelt upon by Homer, when the Father
of Gods and men is first brought into the
Iliad. Alexander the Great first intro
duced shaving, saying that in his Asiatic
wars the boards Of his warriors "mlght
afford handle to the enemy" 1t became
the mark Of a fine gentleman to wear no
beard in Greece, and dandies even removed
them by "sharp pitch plasters," as well as
razors. Rome began to shave about one
hundred and fifty years before the Christian
era. Scipio Africanus the Younger, it is
said, was the first Roman gentleman of note
who shaved every day. In Cmsar's time
young gentlemen Of fashion wore slight
goatee, but the full beard was only worn
in mourning or in days Of great public
calamity. Caesar Augustus and Nero.
were close shaved. but the beard revived
again under later emperors. The ancient
Britons cut of their boards upop the chin,
but wore long. shaggy hair and enormous
tangled moustachios, A Young barbarian
in some German tribes never areaped his
chin" till he had slain an enemy. The
Saxons wore the moustache; the Normans
shaved.
In that wonderful specimen of decora.
tive art, the Bayeux Tapestry. worked b,
Queen Matilda and her maidens, we car
distinguish the two nations everywhere b,
this sign. Of course, when Norman vii
liam won the throne the courtly days o.
boards were at an end. King Edward
III. in 1927, one of the handsomes
men who ever lived, revived the fashion
He and his son, the Black Prince, ver,
famous for their boards. On all the knight
ly efigies of that period athe beard i
forked, and the moustache is long, droop
, ing on each side Of the mouth. But tn
haudsomest royal beard was Henry VIII
) which is celebrated by poets Of his time
: France, however, in al ages has been th,
fountain-head of fashion, aud France a
length went against tho beard KIM
} Henry ~ Of France and Navarro had |
very handsome beard, though he bestowed
small time or pains on it. His son, Loui
! Kill, ascended the throne beardless, aut
} instantly all courtiers shaved. 1t was
| matter of complaint against Sully, hi
iather great minister, tnat ne appeared
nj the court of A beardless monarch in hi
old-fashioned beard. Peter the Great, do
J sirous of de- -Russianizing his subjects, i'm