"--In
obedience to his spiritual advisers, Louis VII of France had his hair
cut close and his beard shaved off. But his consort Eleanor was so
disgusted with his smooth face and cropped head that she took her own
measures to be revenged, and the poor king was compelled to obtain a
divorce from her. She subsequently gave her hand to the Count of Anjou,
afterwards Henry II of England, and the rich provinces of Poitou and
Guienne were her dowry. From this sprang those terrible wars which
continued for three centuries, and cost France untold treasure and three
millions of men--and all because Louis did not consult his consort
before shaving off his beard!
Charles the Fifth of Spain ascending the throne while yet a mere boy,
his courtiers shaved their beards in compliment to the king's smooth
face. But some of the shaven Dons were wont to say bitterly, "Since we
have lost our beards, we have lost our souls!" Sully, the eminent
statesman and soldier, scorned, however, to follow the fashion, and,
being one day summoned to Court on urgent business of State, his beard
was made the subject of ridicule by the foppish courtiers. The veteran
thus gravely addressed the king: "Sire, when your father, of glorious
memory, did me the honour to consult me in grave State matters, he first
dismissed the buffoons and stage-dancers from the presence-chamber.
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