eards be grown,
and then return." To shave off the beard was considered by the Jews as a
mark of the deepest grief.

[Illustration: Bayeux Tapestry.

The above picture, showing two soldiers of William the Conqueror's army,
is taken from the celebrated Bayeux tapestry.]

To turn to the annals of our own land, we find that the ancient Britons
did not cultivate the beard. The Saxons wore the hair of the head long,
and upon the upper lip, but the chin was clean shaven. Harold, in his
progress towards the fateful field of Hastings, sent spies in advance to
obtain an idea as to the strength of the enemy. On their return they
stated among other things that "the host did almost seem to be priests,
because they had all their face and both their lips shaven," a statement
borne out by the representations of the Norman soldiers in the Bayeux
tapestry. It is recorded that when the haughty victors had divided the
broad lands of England among themselves, and when the Englishmen had
been made to feel that they were a subdued and broken nation, the
conquered people still kept up the old fashion of growing their hair
long, so that they might resemble as little as possible their cropped
and shaven masters.

Julius II., who ascended the Papal throne in 1503, was the first Pope to
allow his beard to grow, "in order," as he said, "to inspire the
greater respect among the faithful." A curious custom of the Middle Ages
was that of imbedding three hairs from the king's beard in the wax of
the seal, in order to give greater solemnity to the document. Another
instance of the value placed on this adornment of nature by some nations
comes to us in the story of the Eastern potentate to whom the King of
England had sent a man without a beard as his ambassador. The Eastern
monarch flew into a passion when the beardless visitor was presented.
"Had my master measured wisdom by the beard," was the ready retort, "he
would have sent a goat."

It is said that beards came into fashion in England in the thirteenth
century, but by the nineteenth century they seem to have been given up
by those holding leading positions in the land. Traces of beards do not
appear on monumental brasses. A revival of the practice of wearing the
beard occurred in the reign of Henry VIII., and in some quarters
attempts were made to repress it. The authorities at Lincoln's Inn
prohibited lawyers wearing beards from sitting at the great table,
unless they paid double commons; b