time also, Marshal Bassonpierre having been released from a long imprisonment, declared the chief alteration he found was, "that the men had lost their Beards and the horses their tails."
Under our first Charles,[1] the sides of the face were often shaven, and the Beard reduced to the moustache, and a long chin-tuft, as in the portrait of that monarch, retaining however still some of its former gracefulness. As the contest grew hotter between Cavalier and Roundhead, doubtless some of the latter cropped chin as well as head; though others are said to have been so careful of their Beards, as to provide them with pasteboard night-caps to prevent the hairs being rumpled.
In one instance it was worn long for a sign, as we see by the following verse—
"This worthy knight was one that swore
He would not cut his Beard,
"Till this ungodly nation was
From kings and bishops cleared:
- ↑ D'Israeli quotes an author of this reign, who in his "Elements of Education" says, "I have a favourable opinion of that young gentleman who is curious in fine moustachios. The time he employs in adjusting, dressing and curling them, is no lost time; for the more he contemplates his moustachios, the more his mind will cherish and be animated by masculine and courageous notions."
D'Israeli also states, that the grandfather of Mrs. Thomas, the "Corinna of Dryden," was very nice in the mode of that age, his valet being some hours every morning in starching his beard and curling his whiskers, during which time he was always read to.
