The Roman T, in its bravery, Doth first itself disclose, But so high it turns, that oft it burns With the flames of a too red nose. The stiletto-beard, oh! it makes me afeared, It is so sharp beneath, For he that doth place a dagger in 's face, What wears he in his sheath? But, methinks, I do itch to go thro' stich The needle-beard to amend, Which, without any wrong, I may call too long, For man can see no end. The soldier's-beard doth march in shear'd In figure like a spade, With which he'll make his enemies quake, And think their graves are made. The grim stubble eke on the judge's chin, Shall not my verse despise; It is more fit for a nutmeg, but yet It grates poor prisoners' eyes. What doth invest a bishop's breast But a milk-white spreading hair? Which an emblem may be of integrity, Which doth inhabit there. But, oh! let us tarry for the beard of King Harry, That grows about the chin, With his bushy pride, and a grove on each side, And a champion ground between. Last, the clown doth rush, with his beard like a bush, Which may be well endur'd." Charles I. wore the Vandyke-beard, made familiar to us by the great artist. This fashion, set by the king, was followed by nearly the whole of his Cavaliers. It has been thought by some students of this subject that with the tragic death of the king the beard disappeared, but if we are to put our faith in an old song, dated 1660, we must conclude that with the Restoration it once more came into fashion. It says:-- "Now of beards there be such company, Of fashions such a throng, That it is very hard to treat of the beard, Tho' it be never so long." It did not remain popular for any length of time, the razor everywhere keeping down its growth. [Illustration: The Gunpowder Conspirators, from a print published immediately after the discovery. Shows the Beards in Fashion in 1605.] Sir Walter Scott's great grandsire was called "Beardie." He was an ardent Jacobite, and made a vow that he would never shave his beard until the Stuarts were restored. "It would have been well," said the novelist, "if his zeal for the vanished dynasty had stopped with letting his beard grow. But he took arms and intrigued in their cause, until he lost all he had in the world, and, as I have heard, ran a narrow risk of being hanged, had it not been for the interference of Anne, Duchess of Buccleuch and Monmouth." Sir Walter refers to him in the introduction to Canto VI. of "Marmion":-- "With amber beard and flaxen hair, And reverend apostolic air. Small thought was his, in after time E'er to be pitched into a rhyme. The simple sire could only boast That he was loyal to his cost; The banish'd race of kings revered, And lost his land--but kept his beard."