OR, A TREATISE ON PILE. 135 
CHAPTER VIII: 
Or THe Beauty or Pite.—Hair was, doubtless, intended, in part, to beautify. 
“ Behold thou art fair, my love,—behold thou art fair. Thou hast doye’s eyes within thy locks,—ihy hair is as a flock of 
Goats that appear upon Mount Gilead, &c, (Song of Solomon, y. 1.) 
So in describing the beauty of Absalom, his hazr is mentioned. (2 Sam. xiv. 25 
and 26.) 
Hair was considered as the chiefornament of the Egyptian ladies. Ptolemy Evergetes, 
king of Egypt, had a most beautiful wife, “‘ Berenice ;”’ who, being alarmed for his safety, 
during his absence in war with Antiochus, king of Syria, made a vow to consecrate her 
hair in the Temple of Venus, if he returned safely. By some accident these locks soon 
became lost; and the Astronomer, ‘‘Conon,” did not hesitate to assert that they had been 
translated to the firmament and formed a constellation in the Heavens ! 
Hearken to Apuleius:*—‘ But because it is a crime for me to say so and give no 
example thereof. Know yee, that if you spoyle and cut off the haire of any woman, or 
deprive her of the colour of her face, though shee were never so excellent in beauty, 
though shee were thrown down from heaven, sprung of the seas, nourished of the flonds, 
though shee were Venus herselfe, though shee were accompanied with the Graces, though 
shee were waited upon of all the Court of Cupid, though shee were virded with her beautiful 
Skarfe of Love, and though shee smelled of perfumes and musks, yet, if shee appeared 
bald, she could in no wise please, no uot her own Vulcanus. 
“ O! how well doth a faire colour and ashining face agree with glittering hatre. Behold 
it encountereth with the beams of the sunne and pleaseth the eye marvellously. Some- 
times the beauty of the haire resembleth the colour of gold and honey, sometimes the blew 
plumes and azured feathers about the neckes of Doves, especially when it is either anointed 
with the gumme of Arabia, or trimmely tufted out with the teeth of a fine combe ; which, if 
it be tyed up in the pole of the necke, it seemeth to the lover that beholdeth the same, as 
a glasse, that yieldeth forth a more pleasant and gracious comelinesse, than if it should be 
sparsed abroad on the shoulders of the woman, or hang downe scattering behind. Finally, 
there is such a dignity in the haire, that whatsoever shee be, though shee be never so 
bravely attyred with gold, silkes, pretious stones, and other rich and gorgeous ornaments, 
yet if her hazre be not curiously set forth, shee cannot seem faire.” (Adlington’s Trans- 
lation, (A. D. 1639, page 27,) of the Golden Asse of Apuleius.) 
Tue Uszs or Pite ro tHe ANIMAL UPON WHOM Ir Grows.—The first and most obvious 
use of pile is to prevent the animal heat from escaping, thereby preserving an equili- 
* Apuleius was born at Madura, in Africa. He studied at Carthage, Athens and Rome. His Golden Ass, in 11 books, 
is an allegorical production, replete with morality. 
a) 
oo 
