BEARD, the hair growing on the chin and adjacent parts of the face, chiefly of adults and males.

Various have been the ceremonies and customs of nations in regard to the beard. The Tartars, from a religious principle, waged a long and bloody war with the Persians, declaring them infidels, merely because they would not cut their whiskers after the fashion of Tartary; and we find that a considerable branch of the religion of the ancients consisted in the management of their beards. The Greeks wore their beards till the time of Alexander the Great; but that prince ordered the Macedonians to be shaved, lest the beard should afford a handle to their enemies. According to Pliny, the Romans did not begin to shave till the year of Rome 404, when P. Ticinius brought over a colony of barbers from Sicily. Persons of quality [7:4:472]had their children shaved for the first time by a person of the same or greater quality, who, by this means, became godfather or adoptive father of the children.

As to ecclesiastics, the discipline has varied touching the article of beards; sometimes they have been enjoined to wear them, from a notion of there being too much effeminacy in shaving, and that a long beard was more suitable to the ecclesiastical gravity; and sometimes again they have been forbidden to do so, from an idea that pride lurked beneath a venerable beard. The Greek and Roman churches have been long together by the ears about their beards. Since the time of their separation, the Romanists seem to have given more into the practice of shaving, by way of opposition to the Greeks; and have even made some express constitutions de radendis barbis. The Greeks, on the contrary, espouse very zealously the cause of long beards, and are extremely scandalized at the beardless images of saints in the Roman churches. By the statutes of some monasteries, it appears that the lay-monks were to let their beards grow, and the priests among them to shave; and that the beards of all who were received into the monasteries were blessed with a great deal of ceremony. There are still extant the prayers used in the solemnity of consecrating the beard to God, when an ecclesiastic was shaven.

Le Comte observes that the Chinese affect long beards extravagantly; but nature has balked them, by only giving them a scanty growth, which, however, they cultivate with infinite care. Chrysostom observes that the kings of Persia had their beards woven or matted together with gold thread; and some of the first kings of France had their beards knotted and buttoned with gold.

Among the Turks, it is more infamous for any one to have his beard cut off, than among us to be publicly whipt or branded with a hot iron. The Arabs make the preservation of their beards a capital point of religion, because Mahommed never cut his. Hence the razor is never drawn over the grand signior’s face; and the Persians, who clip their beards and shave above the jaw, are reputed downright heretics. The slaves who serve in the seraglio have their beards shaven as a sign of their servitude.

The most celebrated ancient writers, and several modern ones, have spoken honourably of the fine beards of antiquity. Homer commemorates the white beard of Nestor, and that of old King Priam. Virgil describes that of Mezentius, which was so thick and long as to cover all his breast; and Chrysippus praises the noble beard of Timotheus, a famous player on the flute. Pliny the younger tells us of the white beard of Euphrates, a Syrian philosopher; and he takes pleasure in relating the respect mixed with fear which it inspired the people withal. Plutarch speaks of the long white beard of an old Laconian, who, being asked why he let it grow to such length, replied, “It is that, seeing continually my white beard, I may do nothing unworthy of its whiteness.” Strabo relates that the Indian philosophers called gymnosophists were particularly attentive to have their beards of sufficient length to “captivate” the veneration of the people ;—Diodorus gives a very circumstantial history of the beards of the Indians ;—Juvenal does not forget that of Antilochus the son of Nestor ;— Fenelon, in describing a priest of Apollo in all his magnificence, tells us that he had a white beard down to his girdle -and Persius, convinced that a beard was the symbol of wisdom, thought he could not bestow a greater encomium on Socrates, than by calling him the bearded master, Magistrum barbatum.

Whilst the Gauls were under the sway of their native sovereigns, none but the nobles and Christian priests were permitted to wear long beards. But the Franks having made themselves masters of Gaul, assumed the same au thority as the Romans; the bond-men were expre ss i v commanded to shave their chins; and this law continued in force until the entire abolishment of servitude in France So, likewise, in the time of the first race of kings, a lon<i∙ beard was the sign of nobility and freedom; and the kings as being the highest nobles in their kingdom,were emulous likewise to have the largest beards. Eginard, secretary to Charlemagne, speaking of the last kings of the first race says they came to the assemblies in the field of Mars in a carriage drawn by oxen, and sat on the throne with their hair dishevelled, and a very long beard, crine profuso, bαrha submissa, solio residerent, et speciem dominantis effingerent.

To touch any one’s beard, or cut off a bit of it, was among the first French, the most sacred pledgeof protection and confidence. For a long time all letters that came from the sovereign had, for greater sanction, three hairs of his beard in the seal; and there is still in being a charter of 1121, which concludes with the following words: Quod, ut ratum et stabile perseveret in posterum, praesenti scripto sigilli mei robur apposui cum tribus pilis barbae mere.

Several great men received or adopted the surname of Bearded. The emperor Constantine is distinguished by the epithet of Pogoniates;— in the time of the Crusades, we find there was a Geoffrey the Bearded ;— Baldwin IV. earl of Flanders, was surnamed Handsome Beard;— and, in the illustrious house of Montmorenci, there was a famous Bouchard, who took a pride in the surname of Bearded, and was always the declared enemy of the monks, without doubt because of their being shavelings.

In the tenth century, we find that King Robert of France, the rival of Charles the Simple, was not more famous for his exploits than for his long white beard, ln order that it might be more conspicuous-to the soldiers when he was in the field, he used to let it hang down outside his cuirass; and this venerable sight encouraged the troops in battle, nay served to rally them when defeated. A celebrated painter in Germany, called John Mayo, had so large a beard that he was nicknamed John the Bearded. In fact it was so long that he wore it fastened to his girdle; and though he was a very tall man, it hung upon the ground when he stood upright. John took the greatest care of this extraordinary beard, which he would sometimes untie in the presence of the emperor Charles V., who took great pleasure in seeing the'wind make it fly against the faces of the lords of his court. In England, the chancellor Sir Thomas More, one of the greatest men of his time, being on the point of falling a victim to court intrigues, was able, when on the fatal scaffold, to procure respect for his beard, and saved it, by a pleasantry, from the fatal stroke which he could not escape himself. When he had laid his head on the block, he perceived that his beard was likely to be hurt by the axe of the executioner; on which he took it away, observing, “My beard has not been guilty of treason; it would be an injustice to punish it.’

Every one has admired on medallions and in portraits the beard of the renowned Henry IV. of France, which gave to the countenance of that prince a majestic dignity and openness, and which ought to serve as a model for that of every great king, as the beard of his illustrious minister should for that of every statesman. But~there is little dependence on the stability of the things of this world. By an event equally fatal and unforeseen, the beard, which had arrived at its highest degree of glory, a H 0 f a sudden lost its favour, and was at length entirely proscribed. The unexpected death of Henry the Great, and the youth of his successor, were the sole causes of this revolution.

Louis XIII. mounted the throne of his glorious ancestors without a beard. Every one concluded immediately that the courtiers, seeing their young king with a smooth [7:4:473]chin, would look upon their own as too rough; and the conjecture proved correct. They presently reduced their beards to whiskers, and a small tuft of hair under the nether lip. But the people at first refused to follow this dangerous example. The duke of Sully also persisted in clinging to his beard. This man, great as a general and a minister, was likewise so in his retirement, and had the courage to keep his long beard, nay, to appear with it at the court of Louis XIΠ., when called thither to give his advice in an affair of importance. The young smooth-shaven courtiers laughed outright at the grave look and old-fashioned appearance of the venerable minister; on which the latter, probably jealous of the honour of his beard, observed to the king, “Sir, when your father, of glorious memory, did me the honour to consult me on his great and important affairs, the first thing he did was to send away all the buffoons and stage-dancers of his court.”

The czar Peter, who had so many claims to the surname of Great, seems to have been but little worthy of it in the matter of beards. He had the boldness to impose a tax on the produce of his subjects’ chins. He ordered that the noblemen and gentlemen, tradesmen and artisans, should pay a hundred rubles for the privilege of retaining their beards, and that the lower class of people should pay a copec for the same liberty; and he established clerks at the gates of the different towns to collect these duties. Such a new and singular impost troubled the vast empire of Muscovy. Both religion and manners were thought in imminent danger. Complaints were heard on all sides; and some ill-natured persons even went so far as to write libels against the sovereign. But Peter was inflexible, and shaving began in good earnest; the Russians very generally coming to the conclusion that it was better to cut off their beards than to give serious offence to a man who had the power of cutting off their heads.

Example, more powerful than authority, produced in Spain what the Czar Peter had not accomplished in Russia without great difficulty. Philip V. ascended the throne with a shaven chin. The courtiers imitated the prince, and the people in turn imitated the courtiers. However, although this revolution was brought about without violence and by degrees, it caused much lamentation and murmuring; the gravity of the Spaniards lost by the change, and they said, Desde que no hay barba, no hay mas alma; “since we have lost our beards, we have lost our souls.” In fact, among thoseEuropean nations which have been most curious in beards and whiskers, we must distinguish Spain. This grave romantic people has always regarded the beard as an ornament which ought to be peculiarly prized, and indeed has often made the loss of honour consist in that of their whiskers. Nor have the Portuguese, whose national character is much the same, been behind them in this respect. In the reign of Catherine queen of Portugal, the brave John de Castro had taken the castle of Diu m India. Victorious, but in want of every thing, he found himself obliged to ask the inhabitants of Goa to lend him a thousand pistoles for the maintenance of his fleet; and, as a security for that sum, he sent them one of his whiskers, telling them,—“All the gold in the world cannot equal die value of this natural ornament of my valour; and I deposit it in your hands as a security for the money.” the whole town was penetrated with his heroism, and every one interested himself about this invaluable whisKer: even the women were desirous to give marks of their zeal for so brave a man; several sold their bracelets to increase the sum asked for; and the inhabitants of Goa se nt him immediately both the money and his whisker.

hi Louis XIII.’ s reign, whiskers attained the highest de-Ş 'β of favour, at the expense of the expiring beards. In

0∙*e days of gallantry, not yet empoisoned by wit, they became the favourite occupation of lovers. A fine black whisker, elegantly turned up, was a very powerful recommendation to the favour of the fair sex. Whiskers were still in fashion in the beginning of Louis the Fourteenth’s reign; and this king, with all the great men of his time, took a pride in wearing them. They were consequently the ornament of Turenne, Condé, Colbert, Corneille, Molière, &c. It was then no uncommon thing for a favourite lover to have his whiskers turned up, combed, and dressed by his mistress; and hence a man of fashion took care to be always provided with every little necessary article, especially whisker-wax. It was highly flattering to a lady to have it in her power to praise the beauty of her lover’s whiskers, which, far from being disgusting, gave his person an air of vivacity; and several even thought them an incitement to love. But the levity of the French made the whiskers undergo several changes both in form and name; there were Spanish, Turkish, guard-dagger whiskers, nay even royal ones, which were the last worn; the smallness of these proclaiming their approaching fall.

Consecration of the Beard was a ceremony among the Roman youth, who, when they were shaved the first time, kept a day of rejoicing, and were particularly careful to put the hair of their beard into a silver or gold box, and make an offering of it to some god, particularly to Jupiter Capitolinus, as was done by Nero, according to Suetonius.

Kissing the Beard. The Turkish wives kiss their husbands’ beards, and children their fathers’, as often as they come to salute them. The men kiss one another’s beards reciprocally on both sides, when they salute in the streets or return from a journey.

The Fashion of the Beard has varied in different ages and countries; some cultivating and entertaining one part of it, some another. Thus the Hebrews wear a beard on the chin, but not on the upper lip or cheeks. Moses forbids them to cut off entirely the angle or extremity of their beard; that is, to manage it after the Egyptian fashion, leaving only a little tuft of beard at the extremity of the chin; whereas the Jews to this day suffer a little fillet of hair to grow from the lower end of their ears to their chins, where, as well as on their lower lips, their beards are in a pretty long bunch. The Jews, in time of mourning, neglected to trim their beards or cut off the superfluous growth on the upper lips and cheeks. In time of grief and great affliction they also plucked off the hair of their beards.

Anointing the Beard with unguents was an ancient practice both among the Jews and Romans, and still, we believe, continues in use among the Turks. One of the principal ceremonies observed among the latter in serious visits, is to throw sweet-scented water on the beard of the visitant, and to perfume it afterwards with aloes-wood.

Beard of α Comet, the rays which the comet emits towards that part of the heavens to which its proper motion seems directed; so that the beard of a comet is distinguished from the tail, which is understood of the rays emitted towards that part from which its motion appears to carry it.

Beard of a Horse, that part underneath the lower mandible on the outside and above the chin, which bears the curb. It is also called the chuck.

Beard of a Muscle, Oyster, or the like, denotes an assemblage of threads or hairs, by which these animals fasten themselves to stones. The hairs of this beard terminate in a flat spongy substance, which being applied to the surface of a stone, sticks thereto, like the wet leather used by boys.

Beards, in the history of insects, are two small, oblong, fleshy bodies, placedjust above the trunk, as in gnats, moths, and butterflies.
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Bearded Women. Of these there have been several remarkable instances. In the cabinet of curiosities of Stut-gart in Germany, there is the portrait of a woman called Bartel Graetje, whose chin is covered with a very large beard. Her portrait was painted in 1587, at which time she was only twenty-five years of age. It is said that the duke of Saxony had the portrait taken of a poor Swiss woman, remarkable for her long bushy beard; and those who attended the carnival at Venice in 1726 saw a female dancer astonish the spectators not more by her talents than by her chin covered with a black bushy beard. Charles XII. had in his army a female grenadier, who had both the beard and courage of a man. She was taken prisoner at the battle of Pultowa, and carried to Petersburg, where she was presented to the Czar in 1724; her beard measured a yard and a half. A woman was once seen at Paris, who had not only a bushy beard on her face, but her body likewise covered all over with hair· Amongst a number of examples of this nature, that of Margaret, the governess of the Netherlands, is very remarkable. She had a very long stiff beard, which she prided herself in; and being persuaded that it contributed to give her an air of majesty, she took care not to lose a single hair of it. The Lombard women, it iš said, when they went to war, made themselves beards with the hair of their heads, which they ingeniously arranged on their cheeks, in order that the enemy, deceived by the likeness, might take them for men; and Suidas informs us, that in a similar case the Athenian women did as much.