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A goodly, long, thick, Abraham-colour'd beard.

Carrot coloured beards were the vilest of all beards. As to the shapes of beards, Taylor, the water-poet, has probably enumerated all the several forms in the following lines, to be found in the same learned work.

"Some like a spade, some like a fork, some square,

Some round, some mow'd like stubble, some quite bare,
Some sharp, stiletto-fashion, dagger-like,

That may, with whispering, a man's eyes out spike;
Some with the hammer cut, or Roman T."

see further under the article T.

Whiskers or the Moustache, were of as much importance as the beard or wig, but particularly to military men, who probably wore false hair upon their lip, if not sufficiently barbed by nature. It is mentioned by Mercier, in his Tableau de Paris, and probably elsewhere, that if a soldier borrowed money, and offered his moustache in pledge, it was judged to be better security than a note of hand, being sure to be speedily redeemed.

OBSOLETE PRIVILEGES,

DISTINCTIONS, TITLES, &c. &c.

SOME privileges, titles, names, and distinctions, are become so obsolete as to be almost unknown to the persons particularly entitled to them. I much doubt, for instance, if the generality of our Dukes, (few as they are,) know, that in all places out of the King's presence, they have a right to a cloth of state hanging down (from whence I know not) within half a yard of the ground; and so have their Duchesses. The latter may moreover have their trains borne up by a Baroness. No Earl is to wash with a Duke without the Duke's permission. A Marquess, out of the presence of the King, and a Duke, has nearly the same privileges, only his cloth of state must be half a yard shorter, and his Marchioness's train borne by a Knight's lady, out of the presence of her superiors, and in their presence by a gentlewoman. No Viscount may wash with a Marquess, but at his pleasure.

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An Earl may have a cloth of state too, but without pendants, only fringe: his Countess may have her train borne by an Esquire's wife, out of the presence of her superiors, and in their presence by a Gentleman.

Viscounts appear to have no right to a cloth of state, hanging from any where, or reaching to any length, or with either pendants or fringe; but in lieu of this, they may have a cover of essay held under their cup when they drink; they may have a travers in their own house, and their Viscountesses may have their trains borne by a Woman out of the presence of their superiors, otherwise by a Man.

A Baron may also have the cover of his cup holden underneath whilst he drinks, and his Baroness may have her train borne by a Man in the presence of a Viscountess.

These are all certainly very important privileges and distinctions to those who set a value upon them; which in truth is the only thing that can give any importance to any distinctions, as we may judge from the horse-tails in Turkey, which by accident have become the highest of all distinctions in the Ottoman Court. Who would think that it could become a matter of

extreme ambition in any of our monkey race, to attain to the honour of having two tails instead of one, or three instead of two. Yet so it is in Turkey-but I would have you to know, they are horses-tails not asses-tails! I believe the history of this extraordinary distinction is, that upon a separation of the Turkish army, in some very perilous and critical engagement, one of the commanders had the precaution to cut off a horse's tail, and by elevating it on the point of a lance, to render it a rallying point for the dispersed soldiery. There is reason in all things, if we can but find it out, and therefore we may pend upon it, that, as the song says,

"'Tis a very fine thing to be father in law,

To a very magnificent three-tail'd Bashaw."

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Whether the following is to be regarded as a privilege or a duty I cannot pretend to say, however I fancy it is obsolete. The King's Lords of the Bedchamber ought to lie every night on a pallet by the King.

Amongst his Majesty's attendants, none ever attract my notice so much, as his Yeomen of the Guard. They not only look like kingly attendants, but they seem to have descended to him

wear.

from his predecessors. I could almost fancy I see the very body guard who waited upon Henry VII. and Henry VIII. whose livery they still "The vast jetting coat and small bonnet, which was the habit in Harry the Seventh's time, is kept on in the Yeomen of the Guard; not without a good and politic view, because they look a foot taller and a foot and a half broader: besides that the cap leaves the face expanded, and consequently more terrible, and fitter to stand at the entrance of Palaces." Spectator, No. 109.-I confess they are so singular, and so strongly represent to us the pageantry of ancient days, that if I were at the head of his Majesty's household, I would sooner buy their cast off dresses out of my own pocket and burn them, than suffer them to be so degraded as they now are, by being transferred to the keepers of wild beasts, and paraded about the kingdom on cart horses, or posted at the entrance of that dirty thoroughfare, Exeter Change, as the body guard of a parcel of monkies and parrots, or at the very best, the King of Beasts *.

* Since writing the above, I have been told of a young person, unacquainted with the Court, who expressed the greatest surprise, on seeing among the King's attendants at the theatre, some of the