the miller’s beard,
“As any sow or fox, was red,
And thereto broad, as though it were a spade;”
and the Reve—
“The Revé was a choleric man,
His head was shav’d as nigh as ever he can;
His hair was by his earés round yshorn;
His top was decked like a priest beforn.”
But here we must part company with the pilgrims, and proceed on our way.
During the reign of Henry IV., there occurred a marked change of fashion; the hair was now closely cropped round the head. The king retained the beard and moustaches; but, his successor, Henry V., discarded them, and, in his reign, even military men seldom wore moustaches, and none but old men had beards. A kind of horned head-dress was in favour with females, which Lydgate, the monk of Bury, ridicules: