Page:Archaeological Journal, Volume 7.djvu/540

398 curious volume in 12mo, a copy of which is in the British Museum, by Rango, who was Rector of the Gymnasium, at Berlin. It is entitled De Capillamentis, vulgo Parucquen, Magdeburg, 1663. This author says, (p. 159)—'The ladies quickly curl their hair by means of a tobacco-pipe, which is convenient for the purpose, because it parts with its heat gradually from within, and keeps warm.' It appears, therefore, that the articles before us were an improvement upon tobacco-pipes.

"In the 'Encyclopédie dcs Sciences, des Arts, et des Métiérs,' the twelfth volume, published at Neufchatel, 1765, folio, and in the article Perruque (p. 402), we are informed that hair-dressers curl hair by means of wooden moulds, called 'bilboquets,' from their resemblance to the plaything used in the game of cup and ball. 'These moulds,' the author says, 'are generally three inches long. They vary much more in thickness. They are made of different kinds of wood; but box is the best, because it imbibes the least quantity of water.' He adds, 'that these moulds used formerly to be made of clay, but that the employment of these had been given up, because when the clay moulds were placed on the stove, they became so hot as to make the hair too crisp.'

"There are twelve plates annexed, and in one of them (Planches, tome viii., No. III., figs. 4, 5, 6, 14,) we see representations of these objects, agreeing in form with the specimens found in various parts of England.

"In the terminology of our English friseurs, the art of using these implements is called piping. The pipes now employed for the purpose are cylindrical pieces of wood of various sizes, which are wrapt up in paper and then boiled in water. When they are moderately dry and still sufficiently warm, the hair is rolled round them, and tightly tied down. In this state it is left for some months. From the nature of the process it is manifest, that wherever piping is practised to any extent a large stock of pipes is requisite.

"Whether pipes like those before us were used in ancient times is by no means certain, hut not improbable. Splendid perukes were worn by the Assyrians, Egyptians, and other ancient nations; and the use of the curling-tongs, called in Latin calamistrum, has prevailed in all civilised countries from the earliest periods. Since, therefore, the Etrurians were a very luxurious and cultivated people, they were very likely to be acquainted with this art; and I think it probable that the collection of 129 objects of terra-cotta, found in a tomb at Polledrara, in Etruria, the Necropolis of Vulci, and now preserved in the British Museum, was intended for this purpose. For, although thicker and coarser, they are in all other respects exactly like the clay pipes, the use of which in modern Europe for curling artificial hair has now been proved."

By the .—A very curious bronze fibula, of a type exceedingly rare in England. It was found in the course of recent excavations at St. Albans, in St. Stephen's parish, outside the rampart, on the S. side of Verulam; it lay near the left shoulder of a skeleton, around which were arranged seven fictile urns, some of them still containing ashes. Some parts of the ornament, of open work, designed with much elegance, have suffered much from the corrosion of the metal; hut enough remains to show the form distinctly, as hero represented. Several examples of this