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If you ever needed a defense of beards complete with a brief history of them - well here you go. This traces the wearing of beards from Greece and Assyria up to the then-modern day, apparently missing few opportunities to promote beards.
Despite other sources the date of 1854 seems correct - at least there was a review in the 1854 Living Age.
Gowing is something of a mystery. He's mentioned several times in connection with the Society of the Arts so was probably a member and he once presented a paper on Suffolk place names so possibly from there.
