CHAPTER IV.

THE LEADER OF FASHION.

Josiana was bored. The fact is so natural as to be scarcely worth

mentioning.

Lord David held the position of judge in the gay life of London. He was

looked up to by the nobility and gentry. Let us register a glory of Lord

David's. He was daring enough to wear his own hair. The reaction against

the wig was beginning. Just as in 1824 Eugene Deveria was the first to

allow his beard to grow, so in 1702 Prince Devereux was the first to

risk wearing his own hair in public disguised by artful curling. For to

risk one's hair was almost to risk one's head. The indignation was

universal. Nevertheless Prince Devereux was Viscount Hereford, and a

peer of England. He was insulted, and the deed was well worth the

insult. In the hottest part of the row Lord David suddenly appeared

without his wig and in his own hair. Such conduct shakes the foundations

of society. Lord David was insulted even more than Viscount Hereford. He

held his ground. Prince Devereux was the first, Lord David Dirry-Moir

the second. It is sometimes more difficult to be second than first. It

requires less genius, but more courage. The first, intoxicated by the

novelty, may ignore the danger; the second sees the abyss, and rushes

into it. Lord David flung himself into the abyss of no longer wearing a

wig. Later on these lords found imitators. Following these two

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The Man Who Laughs