emen in the county of Bedford have since followed the
example: it has become general with the gentry in Hampshire, and the
ladies have left off wearing powder." Hair powder did not long continue
in use in the army, for in 1799 it was abolished on account of the high
price of flour, caused through the bad harvests. Using flour for the
hair instead of for food was an old grievance among the poor. In the
"Art of Dressing the Hair," 1770, the author complains:--

"Their hoarded grain contractors spare,
And starve the poor to beautify the hair."

Pitt's estimates proved correct, for in the first year the tax produced
L210,136. The tax was increased from a guinea to one pound three
shillings and sixpence. Pitt's Tory friends gave him loyal support. The
Whigs might taunt them by calling them "guinea-pigs," it mattered
little, for they were not merely ready to pay the tax for themselves,
but to pay patriotic guineas for their servants. A number of persons
were exempt from paying the tax, including "the royal family and their
servants, the clergy with an income of under L100 per annum, subalterns,
non-commissioned officers and privates of the yeomanry and volunteers
enrolled during the past year. A father having more than two unmarried
daughters might obtain on payment for two, a licence for the remainder."
A gentleman took out a licence for his butler, coachman, and footman,
etc., and if he changed during the year it stood good for the newly
engaged servants.

Powder was not wholly set aside by ladies until 1793, when with
consideration Queen Charlotte abandoned its use, swayed no doubt by her
desire to cheapen, in that time of dearth, the flour of which it was
made. It has been said its disuse was attributable to Sir Joshua
Reynolds, Angelica Kauffmann, and other painters of their day, but it is
much more likely that the artists painted the hair "full and flowing"
because they found it so, not that they as a class dictated to their
patronesses in despite of fashion. The French Revolution had somewhat to
do with the change; a powdered head or wig was a token of aristocracy,
and as the fashion might lead to the guillotine, sensible people
discarded it long before the English legislature put a tax upon its use.
With reference to this Sir Walter Scott says, in the fifth chapter of
"The Antiquary:" "Regular were the Antiquary's inquiries at an
old-fashioned barber, who dressed the only three wigs in the parish,
which, in