…This circumstance gave rise to the witty reply of Foscari to Prince Kaunitz, the Austrian minister, on his asking one day, in the presence of the Empress Maria Theresa, at whose court Foscari then resided as the Venitian ambassador, ‘where the Republic had found its winged lion?’ ‘In the same forest,’ replied Foscari, ‘in which Austria discovered her two-headed eagle.’

The beautiful Maria Theresa laughed heartily, not only at Foscari’s answer, but at the effect it produced on Prince Kaunitz; who, suddenly starting back, nearly knocked off his superb court wig, which it usually took him a couple of hours every morning to adjust to his satisfaction.

This same Prince Kaunitz was the most distinguished German dandy of his day, and was, as I have said, especially particular in the arrangement of his wig. I had one morning an appointment with him on some business for a friend; when his secretary told me he was sure the Prince had forgot the hour he had appointed, as it was the precise time which he devoted to his toilet, and that I should have to wait at least a couple of hours. While I was so waiting, this secretary related to me the following particulars.

It was the usual practice, he said, for the valet-de-chambre to dress the said wig on the prince’s head. As soon as the row upon row of curls had been diplomatically and skilfully arranged, the knight of the curling irons next emptied at least a pound of powder into his pouch, and, from an aperture in the door, made for the purpose, puffed it into an empty room. When the room was completely filled therewith, the Prince, with a mask on his face, entered it, and took a few stately turns backward and forward, until every hair of his perfumed perriwig had received its due quantum of the powdery particles.

Quoted from: The Museum of Foreign Literature, Science and Art. Vol. VI. January to June, 1825. New York: Littell.