HAVING seen that the Beard is a natural feature of the male face, and
that the Creator intended it for distinction, protection, and ornament,
let us turn lightly over the pages of history and examine the estimation
in which it has been held at various times among the leading people,
ancient and modern.
The first nation which suggests itself is the Egyptian, and very
peculiar forms of Beard were assigned by them on their monuments to
their gods, kings, and common people. That of the gods is curled and the
length of the oval of the face: that of the kings is shaped like an
Egyptian doorway, and three fourths of the same standard: of which the
people’s is one fourth and nearly square. This appendage seems from the
appearance of an attaching band to have been frequently artificial, and
probably the Egyptians, who, as you may see by the wig in the British
Museum, wore false hair, also wore false Beards. Some have supposed the
forms alluded to, to be mere symbols of the male sex on the monuments;
but this notion is disproved by male persons being represented without
them. That they were occasionally so used, however, is clear from the
kingly Beard on that symbol of royalty the Sphynx.
The priests of this ancient nation are stated to have removed every hair
from the body thrice a week; and they ultimately compelled the people to
shave both their heads and faces; and all slaves and servants, though
foreigners, were obliged to do the same. That this arose from some
superstitious notion of cleanliness, is confirmed by the remark of
Herodotus, “that no Egyptian of either sex, would on any account kiss
the lips of a bearded Greek, or make use of his knife, spit, or
cauldron, or taste the meat of an animal which had been slaughtered by
his hand.”
In times of mourning, however, the Egyptians allowed the hair of the
head and Beard to grow in token of grief.