OK. A TKEAT1.SE U.\ TILE. 



j:;.-. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



OF THE BEAUTY OF PILE. Hair was, doubtless, intended, in part, to beautify. 



" Behold thou art fair, my love, behold thou art fair. Thou hast dove's eyes within thy looks, thy hair is as a flock of 

 Goats that appear upon Mount Gilead, &c. (Song of Solomon, v. 1.) 



So in describing the beauty of Absalom, his hair is mentioned. (2 Sam. xiv. 25 

 and 26.) 



Hair was considered as the chief ornament 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 frmament 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 girded 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 not her own Vulcanus. 



" O ! how well doth a fare colour and a shining face agree with glittering haire. 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 harigdowne 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 haire be not curiously set forth, shee cannot see in faire." (Adlington's Trans- 

 lation, (A. D. 1639, page 27,) of the Golden Asse of Apuleius.) 



THE USES OF PILE TO THE ANIMAL UPON WHOM IT 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 stiuliod at Carthage, Athens and Rome. His Golden Ass, in 11 books, 

 is an allegorical production, replete with morality. 



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