CROWN, in an ecclesiastical sense, is used for the clerical tonsure; which is the mark or character of the Romish ecclesiastics. This is a little circle of hair shaved off from the crown of the head: more or less broad, according to the quality of the orders received: That of a mere clerk is the smallest; that of priests and monks the largest. The clerical crown was anciently a round list of hair, shaved off around the head, representing a real crown: this is easily observable in
VOL. VI. Part II.
several ancient statues, &c. The religious of St Dominic and St Francis still retain it.