THE OLD NAME FOR THE MOUSTACHE.
[To THE EDITOR OF THE " SPECTATOR."] '&14—Mr. Freeman, in last week's Spectator, tells us that in -the days of Sir Roger de Coverley the hair on the upper lip kept the name of "whiskers." This was not the only name, however, as the following passage from "Robinson Crusoe" will show. I quote Macmillan's reprint of the edition of 1719: —"My beard I had once suffered to grow till it was about a quarter of a Yard long; but as I had both Scissars and Razors sufficient, I had cut it pretty short, except what grew on my upper Lip, which I had trimm'd into a large pair of Mahomelota Whiskers, such as I had seen worn by some Turks, who I saw at Sallee; for the Moors did not wear such, tho' the Turks did; of these Muschatoes or Whiskers, I will not say they were long enough to hang my Hat upon them; but they were of a Length and Shape monstrous enough, and such as in England would have pass'd for frightful." (p. 152.)—I am, Sir, ST.c.,
R. H. Q.
Previous page
