were confined to foreigners and
to a few cavalry regiments, so that for a working man to sport them
(although now so exceedingly common) would probably lead to derision and
persecution, as in the following police case reported in the _Times_ of
21 Sep.:

MARLBOROUGH STREET.--Yesterday, a young man, "bearded like the pard,"
who said he was a carpenter employed on the London and Birmingham
Railroad, applied to Mr. Rawlinson, the sitting magistrate, for an
assault warrant, under the following ludicrous circumstances:

Mr. Rawlinson: What do you want the warrant for?

Applicant: I'll tell your worship, and you'll say it's the most
haggrawating and provoking thing as ever was heard on. Veil, then, I
goes to my vork, as usual, this 'ere morning, ven one of my shopmates
said to me, "Bill, you arn't shaved your hupper lip lately." "Don't
mean it," says I. "Vy?" says he. "'Cos," I replied, "I intends
vearing mustachios to look like a gentleman." "Vell, then," says he,
"as you intends to become a fashionable gentleman, p'raps you'll have
no objection to forfeit half-a-gallon of ale, as it's a rule here
that every workman vot sports mustachios, to have them vetted a bit."
Veil, has I refused to have my mustachios christened, they made game
of them, and said they weren't half fledged; and, more nor all that,
they hustled me about, and stole my dinner out of the pot, and
treated me shameful, and so I want your advice respecting my
mustachios.

Mr. Rawlinson: My advice is, to go to a 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 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 vears 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.