The people at first would not follow this dangerous example. The duke of Sully never would adopt this effeminate custom. This man, great both as a general and a minister, was likewise so in his retirement: he had the courage to keep his long beard and to appear with it at the court of Lewis XIII. where he was called to give his advice in an affair of importance. The young crop-bearded courtiers laughed at the sight of his grave look and old fashioned phyz. The duke, nettled at the affront put on his fine beard, said to the king: “Sir, when your father, of glorious memory, did me the honour to consult me on his great and important affairs, the first thing he did was to send away all the buffoons and stage-dancers of his court.” The tuft of hair under the nether lip insensibly diminished, and at length entirely disappeared. This resolution caused much grief; several complained bitterly, and obstinately resolved not to follow the new mode. _Le Mercure_ of that period bears honourable testimony of the esteem in which the long beards were held, even after their disgrace. The following sort of funeral elogy is taken from that work: “The beard, which is natural only to man, is the mark of his virility, and gives him precedency among his species; ’tis this token of manhood which adds a dignity to his features, and gives him an air of gravity and modesty, which makes him look full of wisdom.”[21] Footnote 21: _Mercure of_ ——, A. D. 1678. Neither the complaints of the one nor the elegies of the other were of any effect. Every body followed the court.[22] Thou, O celebrated Mithon, whose name merits an honourable place among those of the illustrious men of thy country, thou alone hadst the resolution, amidst thy shaved countrymen, to let thy long beard remain, and to preserve it entire till thy last breath. May thy name, O Mithon, passing down to posterity, be always pronounced with rapture! may the most famous Academies propose thy elogy in emulation of one another! and may it be repeated there, in the most philosophical tone, that thou hadst the courage to appear like a man amidst a people of beardless boys.[23] Footnote 22: Marshal Bassompierre said, that all the change he found in the world, after passing twelve years in prison, was, that the men had lost their beards and the horses their tails. Footnote 23: _The last that wore a long beard in this city was Mr. Richard Mithon, bailiff and criminal judge of the county of Eu, who lived at the beginning of the last century, and died about the year 1626._ Mercure for January, 1732.