B E A 



Among the Turks, it is more infamous fm «ny one to 

 have hilt beard cut off, than among un to he p-.ihlickly whipt, 

 or bi-aiidid uiih a hot iron. They who fcrve in the fcragho 

 hive ihcir htards (haven as a token of fervjtude; and when 

 they arc fet at hbcrty, they permit it to jjrow. With them 

 and the Perliaiis the beard is a mark of aulliorlty and hber- 

 ty ; and the want of miillachios and bearda dil'ci inilnates fiaves 

 and xvomrn. Hence, it is faid, arifes the uiifavourablc idea 

 wh.ich they form on the firll lifrlit of an European. There 

 are many in that country who would prefer death to this 

 kind of punifhnieiit. The Aiiibi make the prefervalion of 

 the heard a capital article of religion, liecaufe Mahomet never 

 cut his. Tlie Moots of Africa hold by their beards while 

 they fwcar, in order to give validity to their oath, which 

 after this formality they rarely violate. 



The Turkiih wives kil's their hulbaiids beard:;, and children 

 their fathers, as often as they come to falute them. The men 

 klfs one another's beards reciprocally on both fides, when they 

 iahitc one another in the llrects, or come off from a journey. 



I'he Jews wear a beard on the chin, but not on the upper lip 

 or cheeks. Mofes forbids thein to cut ofl" entirely tlie angle 

 or extremity of their beard; that is to imitate the Egyptian 

 fafliion, who left only a fmall tuft at the extremity of the chin ; 

 whence the Jews to this day fuffer a little fillet of hair to grow 

 from the lower end of their ears to their chins, where, as well 

 r.n as their lower lips, their beards form a pretty long bunch. 

 In time of mourning the Jews neg!e6ted to trim their beards, 

 that is, to cut off wlial was fuperRnous on the upper hps and 

 cheeks. In time of great affliition they alfo plucked ofl the 

 hair of their beards. 



It has been advanced by feveral hiftorians and travel- 

 lers, that the Indians of America dilTcred from other males 

 of the human fpecies in the want ot one very chnrafteriftic 

 mark of the ftx, viz. that of a heard. From this general 

 obfervation, the Efquimaux have been excepted ; and hence 

 it has been fuppofed, that they had an origin different from 

 tl at of the other natives of America. Mr. Caufland, after 

 ten years refidcnce at Niagara, in the midft of the Six Na- 

 tions, with frequent opportunities of feeing other nations of 

 Indians, afHrms, that they do not dltTer from the reft of men 

 in this particular more than one European dilfers from ano- 

 ther ; and as this iuiperftftion has been attributed to the In- 

 dians of North America, equally with thole of the reft of 

 the continent, he inclines to think, that the aflertion is as 

 void of foundation in one region as it is in the other. All the 

 Indians of North America, fays this writer, except a very 

 fmall number, who, from living among white people, have 

 adopted their cullorn, pluck out the hairs of the beard ; and 

 a they addicl themfelvcs to this praftlce from its firll ap- 

 pearance, it may be fuppofed, that to a fuperficial obferver, 

 their facts will feem fmooth and beardlefs. As farther proois 

 that they have beards, le alleges that all of them have an 

 inflrument which they ufe for plucking out the hairs ; 

 ihat when they negledt this for fome time, hairs fprout up, 

 and are feen upon the chin and face ; that many Indians 

 allow tufts of hair to grow upon their chins or upper lip ; 

 and that feveral of the Mohocks, Dcla wares, and others, 

 ■who live among white people, fometimes (have with razors, 

 ard fometimes pluck their beards out. Accordingly, colonel 

 Bi.tltr afGrms, th.u the men of the Six-Nation Indians have 

 all beards naturally, which is alfo the cafe with refpeft to 

 all other nations of North America, which he has had an 

 opportunity of feeing; but that it is the general prafticeof the 

 Indians to pluck out the beard by the roots from its earliell 

 appearance ; and hence their faces appear fmooth. The 

 lame fatl is confirmed by Captain Brent. Phil. Tranf. 

 vol. Ixsxvi. p. 229. Sec, 7 



B £ A 



Be.vrd, ttmhil'wg the, with unguents, Is an ancient pra£\!ce 

 both among the Jews and Romans, and iliU continues in ufe 

 among the Turks ; where one of the principal ceremonies 

 ohfcrved in ferious vifits, is to throw fweet fcented water 011 

 the beard of the vifitant, and to perfume it alttrwards with 

 aloes wood, which ll'.cks to this moilture, and gives it an 

 agreeable fmell, &c. ' 



In AT'uliUe aj^e HYilcrs we meet with adientare larlam, 

 ufed for ihoking and combing it to render it foft and 

 flexible. 



The Turks, when they cotnb their beards, hold a hand- 

 kerchief on their knees, and gather very carefully the hairs 

 that fall ; and when they have got together a certain quan- 

 tity, they fold them up in a paper, and carry them to the 

 place where they bury the dead. 



EiARD, phirhhi^ the, was pradifcd to Cynics by way of 

 contempt. The Stoics, as well as Cynics, affcded to bein- 

 fenfible to injury, and their patience was tried by this prac- 

 tice. Socrates was not exempt from this fpecies of infult 

 atid perfccution, as we are informed by Diogenes Laertius. 

 Horace fays to a perfon of this defeription ; 



" Vellunt tibi barbam 



Lafcivi pueri." Sermon. Sat. 3, 133. 



And Perfius (Sat.i. 133.) 



" Si Cynico barbam petulans Nonaria vellat." 

 The fame fntyrill reprcfents Jupiter as ofl'cring his beard to 

 be plucked by Dionyfius the tyrant : 



" Idcirco ftolidam prxbet tibi vellere barbam 

 Jupiter." 



Some autliors alfo fptak of vwrlga^iii^ the heard, larlam 

 hypothecare. Du-Cange. 



Beard, touching the, was an adion anciently ufed by fup- 

 plicants, and by thofe who made vows. An inftance of thij 

 is found in Homer (II. K. 454.): and Pliny (ii. 45.) fays, 

 that the ancient Greeks had a cullom of touching the chin 

 of a perfon, whofe compa.Tion they wilhed to excite ; the 

 chin being fubllituted for the beard. Inllanccs of a fingidar 

 kind occur in the Oreftes and Hecuba of Euripides. To 

 touch any one's beard, or cut off a fmall part of it, was, . 

 among the ancient French, the m.oll facred pledge of pro- 

 teition and confidence. For a long time all letters, iffuing; 

 from the fovtreign, had, for greater fatisfaftion, thiec hairs 

 of his beard in the feal. A charter of 1121, If ill extant, 

 concludes with the following woids ; "Quod ut ratum et 

 rtabile perfeveret in polltrum, pra:fcntis fcripto figlUi itiei ro- 

 bur appofui cum tribus pilis barbae meae." 



BiiARl), barl.a fulfil, was an artificial one. In a general 

 court of Catalonia, held in 1351, it is exprefsly enjoined, 

 " Ne quis barbam falfam feu fic\am audcat deferre vel fabri- 

 care." Du-Cange. 



Hottonrjn has given an elegant dialogue dc barba, fij-ft 

 printed by Plantin in 1586. 



Beard, or undtr-bcnrd, called alfo chuck, of a horfe, is 

 that part under the lower mandib'e on the outfide, aiid above 

 the chin, which bears the curb ot the bridle. 



BRAr.D, old-man's, in Bolmiy. See Clematis. 



Beard of a Co:iiet, denotes the rays which the corret 

 emit_9 towards that part of the heavens to which its proper 

 motion feenis to direft it. Thus, the beard of the comet is 

 dirtinguillied from the tad, which is nnderftood of the rays 

 emitted towards that part from which its motion feems to 

 carry it. It is called beard from fome fancied relemblance 

 it bears to the beard of a man ; or becaufe it ib piojeAed 

 before the comet. 



Beard, in Conchology, the byffus of \\\t pinna, the nnifcle^ 

 &c. an affemblage of thr.nds or hairs of a ilout texture that. 

 iiangs from the body of the animal, and by nv:ans of vt-hich' 



u 



