POGONOLOGIA
My friend,
TO load the beginning of one’s work withpompous titles is an honour that interestsolicits and vanity easily grants; but toplace the name of one’s friend there, anddedicate the fruit of a few leisure hoursto him, is a homage so pure and disinterested,that modesty need not blush at it.Receive then this small testimony of myattachment and esteem, and allow me thepleasing satisfaction of publicly declaring,how much I am,
your friend,
J. A. D***.
PREFACE.
“WHATEVER concerns themanners and customs of apeople, says Rollin, shews theirgenius and character; and this iswhat may be called the soul ofhistory.” I am led to think, thata picture of customs, by presentingmankind with objects of comparisonat a nearer view, naturally flattersthem more, than facts or dates, themultitude or improbability of whichfatigues the memory, or shocks theunderstanding. This is the reasonwhy we prefer the private life of ahero, to the history of his greatactions; the one gives us a secretsatisfaction in which self-love findsits account: the other produces onlyastonishment. The hero is too distantfrom us; we admire him toomuch to presume to compare withhim: ’tis the man we seek; hisheart; his very weaknesses. ’Tiswith still more eagerness we wish toexamine his person; this is the causeof our liking better to see the portraitsof great men, than to read theirhistory. We would fain touch thehero with our hand, as one may say,we would wish to enter into competitionwith him.
The knowledge of customs andancient fashions forms a branch ofliterature which is not without itsenthusiasts; this is the favourite studyof antiquaries. Among the historiesof these usages of our ancestors, thatof the beard holds a distinguishedrank; and though at present, fromits little importance, it is become anobject of ridicule, it has been held inhigh consideration in different agesand among different people. Neverwas there any thing like that causedso many troubles and so much illblood: the cowls of