If I open at hazard the old testament, I every where find proofs of this truth. It is there written how God threatened, his chosen people several times, by the mouths of his prophets, that he would have their chins ignominiously shaved; which was then a disgrace inseparable from slavery.[48] _David_ saw nothing more respectable in a man’s outward appearance than his beard: this is what made this psalmist king speak so honourably of that of the high priest Aaron,[49] and think that nothing less than streams of blood could wash away the insult which had been offered the beards of some of his subjects. Footnote 48: See Isaiah, chap. vii. v. 20; _ibid._ chap. xv. v. 2: Jeremiah, chap. xlviii. v. 37: Revelations xiv: Sam. xix. &c. Footnote 49: See the cxxxii Psalm. _Sicut unguentum in capite quod descendit in barbam, barbam Aaron._ Tertullian, in his book _de Pallio_, has explained the expressions of this Psalm very favourably for the beard. See likewise Saint Ambrose, _lib. de initiand. cap._ 6. At the council of Basil, held in 1433, Henry Kalteisen made a long commentary on this subject. Sauveur, archbishop of ——, made a speech at the council of Trent, which ran almost wholly on Aaron’s beard. We read in the _Paralipomenon_, that this prince sent ambassadors to Hanon, king of the Ammonites, to console him for the death of his father Naas; that this king, having been persuaded that these ambassadors were spies, had them all secured, and sent them back, after having had half their garments and half their beards cut off. On these news, David was greatly enraged; and in order that his envoys might avoid the disagreement of appearing at court in this disgraceful situation, he sent them word to stop at Jericho ’till their beards were grown out to their ordinary length; after which he marched against the Annmonites, and, in two bloody battles, destroyed seven thousand of their chariots, killed Sophach, their general, and forty thousand foot, and thus avenged the insult offered his ambassadors.[50] Footnote 50: See the Vatable Bible, _liber Paralipomenon_, cap. xix. This massacre, though it had no other object than the cutting off of a part of some beards will appear neither unjust nor cruel, if we consider how much this ornament of virility was honoured among the Jews, and especially when it is known that there is a law in Leviticus, which expressly forbids to cut off any part of it. God himself, before all his chosen people assembled, was pleased, by the means of Moses, to explain his intentions with regard to this decoration of the face of man. This law does not solely forbid shaving the chin, as the vulgar translation of the bible says, which would insinuate that the Hebrews had already made use of this effeminate custom; but, according to all the best versions of this holy book, we read: _Don’t marr the corners of your_ _beards_, that is, let them grow naturally.[51] Footnote 51: