BEARDS AND MUSTACHES.

Inangahua Times, Volume IX, Issue 1412, 4 July 1884, Page 2

BEARDS AND MUSTACHES.

♦ . la 3'Yauce tiie beard bus -:een many vevohitiuns. When HtS-iry 1. amr^v.d:A the tivone o> France be \nw. a moustache, but no beard. Li roaib.-it-oigthe rebellion of hisyounge •• V«-» f h" "lie received a fviVhfcful g,?. r : li on Vm chin, and as soon as the wou ..rl •. ' ,s healed he allowed his beard !o ;row i..i the hope that he woulri cc. tea; ill wound. But the h&ir won v\. oa'y :/ow on one side, whereupon, buys Bertholde, " the king oir* master ordered that the, hob,d of a h.i.n6som? youth should be shaved, aad thno • ifth his hair a long and fine baavc) sliuuiy be made, which was done. Ano the king our fiii'e, wore this beard a year as long as it lasted, and the*] the head j of ai -other youJi was shaved." Dining the twelfth aud thirteenth centuries the mon';s were enjoined to shave once a fortnight auriny the v;intev moiiulis, and once every 10 Cy-d d urine? Vne rest of the year. Lay •jrotiiers oid Protestants were V) shave but o.ice a month. The v. unity Sor omitting to ahssve ac i,heie specified times was, for the first offc'oee to eas nothing but dry brea<\ and water for lour consecutive S^iiUtdajs; tor the second, to be beaten wiLh a scourge of cords. Oliver le Daim, the barber of Louis XI, was a very mighty personage. He, was a great favourite witii i-he king, and not only did bin voya'i master miike him immensely rich, hvt he conferred upon him the title of count Nevertheless, in fuite of lii.high rank, he continued to e have Looian til the day of the laUer'a dtiufch, within 10 months of which eveut he was put to de-ih by Charles .Vlll. Shaven chins we-e the fashion until 1521. Various accounts art given of the accident which led to tlie changs. O>ie account says that Francis I, while arau&ing himself one winter's day by snowballing with his courtiers, was struck on the chin by a stone which .jounced to be ia a snowball. The <vouiidtd part could not be shaven, •md the' beard was allowed to grow. Thus the fashion was revived of wearing beards, after it had been stopped tor over a century. Another account ■.emarks that Francis, whilst revelling on Twelfth Night, was accident! y struck on tbe head by a lighted firebrand and this accident led to brain fever, in which the king's head wa3 .shaved. When he rose from his bed f after a few weeks' illness, he found all courtiers with their heads like his, the hair clipped into bristles, and with spouting beards upon their chins. | Imitation, then as now, was the sincerpst flattery. Francis, whose head had to be shaved periodically was afraid of looking like a monk if his face were shaved too ; he therefore allowed his boaid to grow for good, and his example was followed during the rest of his lifetime, and' during the three next reigns after him. During the reign of Henry IV (of France) the beard was considerably .shortened, and it was not worn longer than throe fingers' length under the chin. But the attention" conferred upon it was by no means dimished ; in some cases it was cut square at tho bottom, while in others it was cut and rounded in the shape of a fan. Tho moustache were very carefully dressed,

and were kept in their peculiar form by preparations of wax, which gave the hair an agreeable smell and the colour that the beard was dyed different colours to suit the tastes of the weavers jindead, it was r-ot uncommon to see the beard dyed in different hues. That the hn.ir might not get out of order during the night while the wearer slept, before retiring to rest it was customary to enclose it in a pe'oifee mghtcap, known then hy a name of hiquotelle, which wus fastened round the neck by strings.