ut it is highly probable that this was
before 1535, when the king ordered his courtiers to "poll their hair,"
and permit the crisp beard to grow. Taxing beards followed, and the
amount was graduated according to the condition of the person wearing
this hirsute adornment. An entry has often been reproduced from the
Burghmote Book of Canterbury, made in the second year of the reign of
Edward VI., to the effect that the Sheriff of Canterbury and another
paid their dues for wearing beards, 3s. 4d. and 1s. 8d. During the next
reign, Queen Mary does not appear to have meddled with the beard. She
sent four agents to Moscow, and all were bearded; one of the number,
George Killingworth, had an unusually long one, measureing 5ft. 2in. in
length, the sight of which caused a smile to light up the face of Ivan
the Terrible. It is described as a thick, broad, and yellow beard, and
we are told that Ivan played with it after dinner as if it were a new
toy. When Sir Thomas More laid his head on the block he carefully put
his beard aside, saying, "It hath done no treason." John Knox (born 1505
and died 1572), the famous Scottish reformer, whose name figures so
largely in the religious annals of his country, was remarkable for the
length of his beard. The Rev. John More was a native of Yorkshire, and
after being educated at Cambridge settled at Norwich. He was one of the
worthiest clergymen in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, and gained the name
of "the Apostle of Norwich." His beard was the largest and longest of
any Englishman of his time. He used to give as his reason for wearing
his beard of unusual size "that no act of his life might be unworthy of
the gravity of his appearance." He died at Norwich in 1592.

[Illustration: John Knox, born 1505, died 1572.]

[Illustration: John Taylor, the Water Poet, born 1580, died 1654.]

In the first year of the reign of Queen Elizabeth an attempt was made to
add to the revenue by taxing at the rate of 3s. 4d. every beard of above
a fortnight's growth. It was an abortive measure, and was not taken
seriously. It was never enforced, and people laughed at the Legislature
for attempting to raise money by means of the beard. In Elizabeth's
reign it was considered a mark of fashion to dye the beard and to cut
it into a variety of shapes. In the reigns of the first James and the
first Charles these forms attracted not a little attention from the
poets of the period. The rugged lines of Taylor, "the Water P