a particular manner of shaving or clipping the hair of ecclesiastics or monks. The ancient tonsure of the clergy was nothing more than polling the head, and cutting the hair to a moderate degree, for the sake of decency and gravity. The same observation is true with respect to the tonsure of the ancient monks. But the Romans have carried the affair of tonsure much farther. The candidate for it kneels before the bishop, who cuts the hair in five different parts of the head, viz. before, behind, on each side, and on the crown.