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In the same reign, John dc Morillers was also objected
to by the Chapter of Orleans; but the cunning fellow
produced a letter from the king stating, that the statutes
must be dispensed with in his case, as his majesty intended
to employ him in countries where be could not appear
without a Beard.
At the court of the rival of Francis, Charles the 5th,
who had himself a right royal covering to his chin,
lived John Mayo, his painter, a very tall man, but
with a Beard so long, that he could stand upon it; and in
which he took much pride, suspending it by ribbons to
his button-hole. Sometimes this mass of hair, by com-
mand of the Emperor, was unfastened at table, and doors
and windows being thrown open, the imperial mind took
intense delight in seeing it blown into the faces of his
grimacing courtiers. Another noted German Beard was
that of a merchant of Braunau in Bavaria, which was so
long, that it would have draggled on the ground, had it
not been incased by its proud owner in a beautiful velvet
bag.*
* Southey in "The Doctor" mentions the Beard of Dominico
d'Ancona, as the crown or King of Beards,
A Beard the most singular
Man ever described in verse or prose ;
and of which Berni says, " that the Barber ought to have felt less
reluctance in cutting the said Dominico's throat, than in cutting
off so incomparable a Beard." But Southey is outdone by a. story
