ounces, costs from five to ten dollars the ounce, as we learn from dealers.
These may seem exorbitant figures, but if we compare them with the prices in former generations, we find they are not at all unparalleled. A story is told in the Percy Anecdotes of the Countess of Suffolk, in the reign of George I. She was visiting with her husband the Court of Hanover, and, as is not unfrequent with travellers, they ran out of money at some town where they had no acquaintances. The Countess had, however, magnificent hair, and as she was a shifty woman, she sent for the most fashionable friseur, and sold it to him for the amount of twenty pounds sterling, a sum equal in value to a hundred and fifty dollars in gold to-day.
We have found even higher figures than this, much higher, obtained for fine hair. One instance is recorded of about the same date, where one hundred pounds sterling was paid for an uncommonly fine head. This eclipses any price we have heard quoted in our day.
The chief cause why some colors are so much dearer than others, is the great difficulty of dyeing the hair after it is cut. It is next to impossible to persuade it to take the bright, delicate, glossy hues most admired.
A century ago the hair trade depended chiefly on wig-making. It was de rigueur that every gentleman should wear an immense wig when in full dress. On
