Note 236 — BOOK V.
William Robson translation
This may at first appear a singular pledge; but when we remember the great consideration in which beards were and are held in the East, we are reconciled to the fact. Beckford makes Vathek inflict loss of beard upon the sages who cannot decipher the magic characters upon the sabres, as the greatest possible punishment; and few were better acquainted with Eastern manners than the master of Font-hill Abbey.—Trans.