Wig

(wig,) or PERIWIG. [Fr. perruque.] The use of false hair for concealing baldne , or for the supposed adornment of the head, appears to belong to all ages and countries. Several 1 of the Roman emperors wore wigs, and Lamp rid i us relates that the wig of the Emperor Commodus was highly per fun ied, and sprinkled with gold dust. After this, there are no historical traces of the wig till about the end of the 14th cent., when wigs made their appearance in France, and hence spread gradually over other European countries. The fashion of wearing wigs set in strong in the reign of Louis XIII. (1610-1643), and for more than a century no gentleman of fashion could appear without one. It was only towards the end of the 18th cent. that the unnaturalne of this ornament appears to have been thought of, and it began to be superseded by 1. Time of Louis the queue with hair-powder. Except by English judges and barristers, wigs are now used only in cases of baldne . [s. 961]