vowed not to cut their beards till monarchy and episcopacy were utterly
destroyed. Thus in a humorous poem, entitled "The Cobler and the Vicar
of Bray," we read:

This worthy knight was one that swore,
He would not cut his beard
Till this ungodly nation was
From kings and bishops cleared.

Which holy vow he firmly kept,
And most devoutly wore
A grisly meteor on his face,
Till they were both no more.

In _Pericles, Prince of Tyre_, when the royal hero leaves his infant
daughter Marina in charge of his friend Cleon, governor of Tharsus, to
be brought up in his house, he declares to Cleon's wife (Act iii, sc.
3):

Till she be married, madam,
By bright Diana, whom we honour all,
Unscissored shall this hair of mine remain,
Though I show well in't;

and that he meant his beard is evident from what he says at the close of
the play, when his daughter is about to be married to Lysimachus,
governor of Mitylene (Act v, sc. 3):

And now
This ornament, that makes me look so dismal,