I want
your advice respecting my mustachios.

"Mr Rawlinson: My advice is, go to the barber and have them shaved off
without loss of time.

"Applicant: Can't part with a single hair.

"Mr Rawlinson: You want to look like a grenadier, I suppose?

"Applicant: My granny-dear (God bless her dear old soul!), she never had
such a fashionable and warlike appendage in her life.

"Mr Rawlinson: What business has a carpenter with a quantity of long
hair hanging from his lip?

"Applicant: The reason vy I rears it is 'cos it's fashionable, and makes
me look like a man of some courage.

"Mr Rawlinson: Fashionable, indeed! I wish, with all my heart, that the
fashion was discontinued. Why need an Englishman make a Jew of himself?
It is disgusting to see persons strutting through the streets with
mustachios, and sometimes a fringe of hair round the face and chin,
which is dignified by the name of whiskers. As you won't take my advice,
I can't assist you.

"Applicant: Vot! not for striking me on the hupper lip?

"Mr Rawlinson: Then your moustachios must have saved you.

"Applicant: No, they didn't.

"Mr Rawlinson: How's that?

"Applicant: 'Cos the hair ain't long and thick enough; they're only
young 'uns as yet. There was no occasion to strike me.

"Mr Rawlinson: And there's no occasion for you to wear mustachios. You
may have a warrant if you like, but I think you had better not."

"The man with the mustachios then withdrew."

About 1855 the beard movement took hold of Englishmen. The Crimean War
had much to do with it, as our soldiers were permitted to forego the use
of the razor as the hair on the face protected them from the cold and
attacks of neuralgia. About this period only one civilian of position in
England had the hardihood to wear the moustache. He was Mr George
Frederick Muntz, a member of Parliament for Birmingham. He was a notable
figure in the House of Commons, and is described as manly in appearance,
with a handsome face, a huge black beard, and moustache. He died 30th
July, 1857, and is regarded as the father of the modern moustache
movement. Another early moustache member was Colonel Sibthorp, the
representative for Lincoln, who bore Mr Muntz company for some time in
the House of Commons. Daniel O'Connell wrote a biting epigram on
Colonels Sibthorp, Percival, and Verner, the first of whom was
remarkable for his length of beard, whilst the others had none:--

Three Colonels, in three distant cou