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tertaincd diiTerent prejudices, at different times, in favour ot 

 one part or another ot the beard. Some have admired the hair 

 upon the cheeks on each side, as we see with some low-bred 

 men among ourselves, who want to be fine. Some like the hair 

 lower down ; some choose it curled ; and others like it straight. 

 " Some have it- cut into a peak ; and others shave all but the 

 whisker. This particular part of the beard was highly prized 

 among the Spaniards ; till of late, a man without whiskers was 

 considered as unfit for company ; and where Nature had denied 

 them, Art took care to supply the deficiency. We are told of 

 a Spanish general, who, when he borrowed a large sum ot 

 n;oney from the Venetians, pawned his whisker, which he after- 

 wards took proper care to release. Kingson assures us, that a 

 considerable part of the religion of the Tartars consists in the 

 management of their whiskers : and that they waged a long 

 and bloody war with the Persians, declaring them infidels, mere- 

 ly because they would not give their whiskers the orthodox 

 cut. — The kings of Persia carried the care of their beards to a 

 ridiculous excess, when they chose to wear them matted with 

 gold thread : and even the kings of France, of the first races, had 

 them knotted and buttoned with gold. But of all nations, the 

 Americans take the greatest pains in cutting their hair, and 

 plucking their beards. The under part of the beard, and all 

 but the whisker, they take care to pluck up by the roots, so that 

 many have supposed them to have no hair naturally growing on 

 that part ; and even Linnaeus has fallen into that mistake. 

 Their hair is also cut into bands ; and no small care employed 

 in adjusting the whisker. In fact we have a very wrong idea 

 of savage finery ; and are apt to suppose that, like the beasts of 

 the forest, they rise and are dressed with a shake, but the reverse 

 is true ; for no birth-night beauty takes more time or pains in 

 the adorning her person than they. I remember, when the Che- 

 rokee kings were over here, that I have waited for three hours 

 during the time they were dressing. They never would venture 

 to make their appearance till they had gone through the tedious 

 ceremonies of the toilet : they had their boxes of oil and ochre, 

 their fat and their perfumes, like the most effeminate beau, and 

 generally took up four hours in dressing before they considered 

 themselves as fit to be seen. We must not, therefore, consider 

 a delicacy in point of dress, as a mark of refinement, since 



