“And everich on her head
A rich fret of golde, which withouden drede
Was full of stately net stones set,
And every lady had a chapelet.”
The king, as appears from his effigy, wore flowing curls, confined by a narrow fillet round the temple; his beard and moustache short, from which two small tufts depended on each side of the chin. The “Canterbury Tales” furnish admirable sketches by a master-hand in illustration of our subject. The squire, “a lover and a lusty bachelor,” is pictured “with lockés curl’d as they were laid in press;” the franklin had a beard
“White was his beard as is the dayesy;”
the merchant—
“A merchant was there with a forked beard;”
and the sumpnour,
“With sealled browes, black and pilled beard.’