reeks, and Romans. _Galerus_, a round cap, was the common name
among the Romans for a wig.

The early fathers of the Church denounced the wig as an invention of the
Evil One. St Gregory of Nazianzus, as a proof of the virtue of his
simple sister Gorgonia, said "she neither cared to curl her own hair,
nor to repair its lack of beauty by the aid of a wig." St Jerome
pronounced these adornments as unworthy of Christianity. The matter
received consideration, or perhaps, to put it more correctly,
condemnation, at many councils, commencing at Constantinople, and coming
down to the Provincial Council at Tours. The wig was not tolerated, even
if worn as a joke. "There is no joke in the matter," said the enraged St
Bernard: "the woman who wears a wig commits a mortal sin." St John
Chrysostom pleaded powerfully against this enormity; and others might be
mentioned who spoke with no uncertain sound against this fashion.

Dr Doran relates a strange story, saying that St Jerome vouches for its
authenticity, and that by him it was told to deter ladies from wearing
wigs. "Praetexta," to use Doran's words, "was a very respectable lady,
married to a somewhat paganist husband, Hymetius. Their niece,
Eustachia, resided with them. At the instigation of the husband,
Praetexta took the shy Eustachia in hand, attired her in a splendid dress
and covered her fair neck with ringlets. Having enjoyed the sight of the
modest maiden so attired, Praetexta went to bed. To that bedside
immediately descended an angel, with wrath upon his brow, and billows
of angry sounds rolling from his lips. 'Thou hast,' said the spirit,
'obeyed thy husband rather than the Lord, and hast dared to deck the
hair of a virgin, and make her look like a daughter of earth. For this
do I wither up thy hands, and bid them recognise the enormity of thy
crime in the amount of thy anguish and bodily suffering. Five months
more shalt thou live, and then Hell shall be thy portion; and if thou
art bold enough to touch the head of Eustachia again, thy husband and
thy children shall die even before thee.'"

Church history furnishes some strange stories against wearing wigs, and
the following may be taken as a good example. Clemens of Alexandria, so
runs the tale, surprised wig-wearers by telling those who knelt at
church that to receive the blessing, they must please to bear in mind
that the benediction remained on the wig, and did not pass through to
the wearer! Some immediately rem