Читать книгу Cherry & Violet: A Tale of the Great Plague онлайн

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“For you will see,” quoth my Father, “there will sooner or later be a Reaction; I may not live to see it, but you Youngsters will; People will be tired of Puritanism and Rebellion some of these Days, and then the old State of Things will come back; and the Croppies will be as ashamed of their Stubble Heads as the Cavaliers are of their Love-locks now; and, as Hair won’t grow as fast as green Peas, they will then be constrained to wear Wigs, and then will come a rare Time for the Barbers!” Every Word of which, like so many other of his Prophesyings and Presages, in due Season proved strictly true!

Meantime, though this Fury for cropping filled the Till as long as there was any long Hair to cut off, yet, this being presently done, a great Stagnation of Business ensued; for, whereas the curled Locks had required constant curling, brushing, and trimming, the round Heads were easily kept short, and brought only Pence where the others had brought Shillings. My Father kept his Hair long to the last; and, to express his Opinion of the Times so as e’en they who ran might read, he set up two waxen Effigies in his Window, not merely Heads, but half Lengths; the one representing an exceeding comely and handsome young Man, (very much like my Cousin Mark,) with long, fair Tresses most beautifully crimped, falling over his Vandyke Collar and black Velvet Coat: the other, with as red a Nose as old Noll, close cropped, so as to show his large Ears sticking out on each Side. And to make the Satire more pungent, the Round-head made as though pointing to the Cavalier, with a small Label superscribed, “See what I was!”—and the Cavalier, with a Look of silent Disgust, was signing at the Round-head and saying, “See what I shall be!”