Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1883-12-12
Concerning Boards.
From the London Spectator.

| question which Of the two sexes is more under
the slavery of fashion. Men. doubtless, have
much to say on their side. Their fopperies in
dress are foolish enough, and have been at
times almost Incredibly silly-witness the shoes
! with curling toes in which the dandies in the
days OF the early Plantacenets rejoiced-but, on
/ the whole. they do not match the extravagances
/ OF feminine taste. And then there is tight
/ lacinr, practice to which. while artists
vany proclaim that it disfigures the form.
and physicians to as little purpose declare
that it is unhealthy. the women obstinately
cling. But then, on the other hand. the history
Ofthe beard is a terrible record of male fOlly If
! some inhahtant OF a superior sphere were called
/ down TO hear the case. as in Leigh Hunts apo
/ logue the angel is called in to arbitrate between
! the Nan and the Fish, what would he say when
| it was thus presented: Here is natural growth.
which is commonly allowed to be ornamental
I Which certainly cOnceals what are often the
weaker and least shapcly parts of the face which
| heips to protect important organs of life the
/ removal OF which is tedious. painful. and, in
possibility az least .dangerOuS-was not DiOnysus
/ compelled to SINCE off his beard with hot walnut
| shells for fear of letting a razor approach his
/ tyranneous throat?-and yet at various epOchs
sundfy nations have agreed az far as might be-
| to remove it. ana not only this. but to make its
! removal test of mental sanity and moral good
ness. 1t is this last fact. the bgotry so to
! speak. which has commonly been associated
with this fashion. that makes the history of the
beard SO strang, and. we may venture to say.
| so Illuminating record. Does it not seem alb
! soiutely Incredible that not more than a quar-
ter OF century ago Archbishop TAFT then
bishop of London an exceptionally liberal pre-
tate, actually forbade one of his clergy man
OF the highest character, to read PRAYERS in his
own church on the occasion of a confirmation.
because he had the sense to let the hair grow
on his upper lip; and that Lord Justice Knight
| Bruce absolutely refused to hear, in fact ip-
| nOred the presence Of bearded yOunr barrister
irp. md hiatt,
case well known to the present writer, all the
di@nfed machinery OF the governing BODY of
school was called in by the head master to
| compel an innOvating colleague to shave?
These instances are striking. because they are
| recent, but the whole history of the subject is
| full OF the most curious anomalies In earlier
antiquity. the wearing of the beard was with
the exception of Egypt, where the priests Ger
was indeed. held to be peculiarly sacred To
| touch it was to make the most solemn appeal
| possible to compassion Ca fact possibly Connected
with the helples snesS Of man so grasped)
me creeks recognized. indeed. a peculiar type
| OF beauty in the baardess Apollo; but this fea-
ture was certainly part of their ordinary con-
ceptlon OF the manly form, and they GER
tainly did not. as DR.. Doran suppOses
strangely misledby an analogy of sound), '.style
as barbarianS, unshaven savageS all nations who
were out of the pale of their own customs and
religion" (Encyopedia Britannica" edition
1850 Shaving, however. seems to have be-
| come common after the best days or Greece had
past. Alexander the Great is represented with
oeardless face; and he is said to have made
his Macedonians dOff their boards as affordinr
dangerous hold to the enemy in close com.
bat. 1t was certainly one of the Greek fashions
That made their way into Rome, and after a long
struggle it seems to have prevailed BARRIERS
from Sicily are said to nave settled in the city
as early as 300 b. c. Conservatives such as
Cato the Elder. seem to have tercelv resisted
the change. Scipio Africanus the Younger is
S sac to to have been the first who shaved daily.
But the fashion prevailed The heads of the
great Romans of the last age of the
! Republic are bearlHess; and the Gus
tom seems to have confined during
the early empire. To be able to grow a beard
was OF course, sign of manly wears and the
young Romans cultivated it as diligently as an
ambitious lad among ourselves; but to cut it
on was a necessary sacrifice to custom, though
II we may Judge from an expression in one of
CiccrO's letters there was class of ultra-fash-
lGnaDle youths who wore o small beard. Angus
tus. the Elder Pny tell u.s. always used the
razor bearded became a synonym for some
thlng OF fashion, and even silly. The philoso-
piers however. still were champions of nature
though not always creditable champions, as they
were often believed to make the beard and it's ac-
compartment the cloak, serve in the stead both
ofwisdom and virtue. Some ofthe emperOrs how
ever, after the end the first century of our era
seem to have worn the beard, Julian in the
fourth century. being conspicuous example
In our own country, the English before the
Conquest were commonly bearded though the
Norman fashion of shaving was creeping in
Just as the Greek fashion had crept into Rome
IAN army of priests" was the report brought
back by HarOld's spy from the camp of the in
Tadcrs. The conquerOrs of Senlac seem to
have imposed their custom of shaving upOn the
conquered and it was one of the grievances of
the English under their new masters that they
were compelled to shave. After two centuries.
however. boards again asserted their right to
exist, The portraits Of Reformation
founders at Oxford and Cambridge fire.
4uently display the beard: but it seems to
have gone partially out of fashion in the days of
the TudOrs. Dr. Doran tells us that the benahers
OF lncOlns Inn forbade any bearded person to
SIT at table unless he paid for double commons
Still. there are conspicuous exceptions. The
beard which Sir Thomas More moved out of the
way OF the executiOners axe has become famous |
The appendage, too, must have been common F.,
when Elizabeth thought it worth while to i'm
pose tax on all who wore beard of more than
fOrtnght's growth. The RefOrmers again |
certainly were bearded, as in the earlier half of
the next century, were the statesmen and pre- |
lates OF the Stuart monarchy. Meanwhile, shay |
ing became more and more common among the |
eccleslastcs of the Roman church the Greek
communion, conservative in this as in all things
has always chung to the beard), though the !
Ropes, as late as the end of the seventeenth CEN
fury. seem not to have personally followed the |
practice. with us shaving became almost uni
versal with the restoration, the Second Charles
with whom tle growth seems to have been |
naturally deficient setting the fashion. Still, |
there were those who refused to surrender the |
beard. In Ely cathedral. for instance as late |
as the first decade of the eighteenth century,
we see the bearded efi1gy of bishop of the |
see. Then came a long PERIOD lasting down |
almost to this generation, during which no |
words were heard hard enough for the auda-
clOus creature who dared to show himself in |
the haunts of his fellows as, it may be pre- |
sumed. nature had intended him to be. He |
was supposed to be revolutionary in politics |
and heretical in faith, if not positively |
an atheist. Persons not yet middle-aged |
will remember how fiercely the controversy
ragged. 1t sounds ludicrOus now to Younger
generation. which, thanks to the struggles !
or their elders, enjoys a perfect freedom
in such matters; but it was not a laughing mat
ter at the time. Bishops and Judges as has been |
said before, not only denounced but prosecuted
the beard. Masters forbade it to their employees |
well-knowB West End bank with certain |
humor that does something to atone for the
tyranny of the act issued an edct that ''gen-
tlemen were not to wear boards or mustaches
during office hours" Congregations deserted
ministers who had the presumption to appear as
according to all tradition, and indeed, ali prob
ability, the founder of their religion appeared
Slowly the opposition became less vehement A
bearded clergyman was appOinted to bshopric,
mot in England. it is true-that has not yet, we
ban and