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[Illustration: The House of Commons in the time of Sir Robert Walpole.
Wigs in Parliament.]




AT THE SIGN
OF THE BARBER'S POLE

STUDIES IN HIRSUTE HISTORY


BY
WILLIAM ANDREWS

AUTHOR OF "BYGONE ENGLAND"
ETC.




COTTINGHAM, YORKSHIRE
J.R. TUTIN
1904




PREFACE


Connected with the barber and his calling are many curiosities of
history. In the following pages, an attempt has been made, and I trust
not without success, to bring together notices of the more interesting
matters that gather round the man and his trade.

In the compilation of this little book many works have been consulted,
and among those which have yielded me the most information must be
mentioned the following:--

"Annals of the Barber-Surgeons of London," by Sidney Young, London,
1890.

"An Apology for the Beard," by Artium Magister, London, 1862.

"Barbers' Company," by G. Lambert, F.S.A., London, 1881.

"Barber-Surgeons and Chandlers," by D. Embleton, M.D.,
Newcastle-on-Tyne, 1891.

"Barber's Shop," by R.W. Proctor, edited by W.E.A. Axon,
Manchester, 1883.

"Philosophy of Beards," by T.S. Cowing, Ipswich.

"Some Account of the Beard and the Moustachio," by John Adey
Repton, F.S.A., London, 1839.

"Why Shave?" by H.M., London.

_Notes and Queries_, and other periodicals, as well as encyclopaedias,
books on costume, and old plays, have been drawn upon, and numerous
friends have supplied me with information. I must specially mention with
gratitude Mr Everard Home Coleman, the well-known contributor to _Notes
and Queries_.

Some of my chapters have been previously published in the magazines, but
all have been carefully revised and additions have been made to them.

In conclusion, I hope this work will prove a welcome contribution to the
byways of history.


WILLIAM ANDREWS.

ROYAL INSTITUTION, HULL,
_August 11th_, 1904.




CONTENTS

PAGE
THE BARBER'S POLE 1

THE BARBER'S SHOP 8

SUNDAY SHAVING 21

FROM BARBER TO SURGEON 26

BYGONE BEARDS 33

TAXING THE BEARD 56

POWDERING THE HAIR 59

THE AGE OF WIGS 71

STEALING WIGS 93

THE WIG-MAKERS' RIOT 95

THE MOUSTACHE MOVEMENT 96

INDEX 117




LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS

PAGE
The House of Commons in the time of Sir Robert Walpole.
Wigs in Parliament _Frontispiece_

The Barber's Shop, from "Orbis Pictus" 3

A Barber's Shop in the time of Queen Elizabeth 10

William Shakespeare (the Stratford Portrait) 15

Henry VIII. receiving the Barber-Surgeons 29

Bayeux Tapestry 34

John Knox, born 1505, died 1572 37

John Taylor, the Water Poet, born 1580, died 1654 38

The Lord Mayor of York escorting Princess Margaret
through York in 1503. Shows the Beard of the Lord
Mayor 39

Beards in the Olden Time 42

The Gunpowder Conspirators, from a print published
immediately after the discovery. Shows the Beards in
Fashion in 1605 45

Geoffrey Chaucer, born about 1340, died 1400 52

Russian Beard Token, A.D. 1705 58

Egyptian Wig (probably for female), from the British
Museum 72

The Earl of Albemarle 78

Man with Wig and Muff, 1693 (_from a print of the period_) 80

Campaign Wig 81

Periwig with Tail 82

Ramillie Wig 83

Pig-tail Wig 84

Bag-Wig 84

Heart-Breakers 89

With and Without a Wig 90

Lord Mansfield 93

Stealing a Wig 94

George Frederick Muntz, M.P. 100

Charles Dickens, born 1812, died 1870 106




THE BARBER'S POLE


In most instances the old signs which indicated the callings of
shopkeepers have been swept away. Indeed, the three brass balls of the
pawn-broker and the pole of the barber are all that are left of signs of
the olden time. Round the barber's pole gather much curious fact and
fiction. So many suggestions have been put forth as to its origin and
meaning that the student of history is puzzled to give a correct
solution. One circumstance is clear: its origin goes back to far distant
times. An attempt is made in "The Athenian Oracle" (i. 334), to trace
the remote origin of the pole. "The barber's art," says the book, "was
so beneficial to the publick, that he who first brought it up in Rome
had, as authors relate, a statue erected to his memory. In England they
were in some sort the surgeons of old times, into whose art those
beautiful leeches, [Footnote: This is the old word for doctors or
surgeons.] our fair virgins, were also accustomed to be initiated. In
cities and corporate towns they still retain their name
Barber-Chirurgeons. They therefore used to hang their basons out upon
poles to make known at a distance to the weary and wounded traveller
where all might have recourse. They used poles, as some inns still
gibbet their signs, across a town." It is a doubtful solution of the
origin of the barber's sign.

[Illustration: The Barber's Shop, from "Orbis Pictus."]

A more satisfactory explanation is given in the "Antiquarian Repertory."
"The barber's pole," it is there stated, "has been the subject of many
conjectures, some conceiving it to have originated from the word poll or
head, with several other conceits far-fetched and as unmeaning; but the
true intention of the party coloured staff was to show that the master
of the shop practised surgery and could breathe a vein as well as mow a
beard: such a staff being to this day by every village practitioner put
in the hand of the patient undergoing the operation of phlebotomy. The
white band, which encompasses the staff, was meant to represent the
fillet thus elegantly twined about it." We reproduce a page from
"Comenii Orbis Pictus," perhaps better known under its English title of
the "Visible World." It is said to have been the first illustrated
school-book printed, and was published in 1658. Comenius was born in
1592, was a Moravian bishop, a famous educational reformer, and the
writer of many works, including the "Visible World: or a Nomenclature,
and Pictures of all the chief things that are in the World, and of Men's
Employments therein; in above an 150 Copper Cuts." Under each picture
are explanatory sentences in two columns, one in Latin, and the other in
English, and by this means the pupil in addition to learning Latin, was
able to gain much useful knowledge respecting industries and other
"chief things that are in the World." For a century this was the most
popular text-book in Europe, and was translated into not fewer than
fourteen languages. It has been described as a crude effort to interest
the young, and it was more like an illustrated dictionary than a child's
reading-book. In the picture of the interior of a barber's shop, a
patient is undergoing the operation of phlebotomy (figure 11). He holds
in his hand a pole or staff having a bandage twisted round it. It is
stated in Brand's "Popular Antiquities" that an illustration in a missal
of the time of Edward the First represents this ancient practice.

In a speech made in the House of Peers by Lord Thurlow, in support of
postponing the further reading of the Surgeons' Incorporation Bill, from
July 17th, 1797, to that day three months, the noble lord said that by a
statute still in force, the barbers and surgeons were each to use a
pole. The barbers were to have theirs blue and white, striped, with no
other appendage; but the surgeon's pole, which was the same in other
respects, was likewise to have a galley-pot and a red rag, to denote the
particular nature of their vocation.

A question is put in the _British Apollo_ (London, 1708):--

"... Why a barber at port-hole
Puts forth a party-coloured pole?"

This is the answer given:--

"In ancient Rome, when men lov'd fighting,
And wounds and scars took much delight in,
Man-menders then had noble pay,
Which we call surgeons to this day.
'Twas order'd that a hughe long pole,
With bason deck'd should grace the hole,
To guide the wounded, who unlopt
Could walk, on stumps the others hopt;
But, when they ended all their wars,
And men grew out of love with scars,
Their trade decaying; to keep swimming
They joyn'd the other trade of trimming,
And on their poles to publish either,
Thus twisted both their trades together."

During his residence at his living in the county of Meath, before he was
advanced to the deanery of St Patrick's, Dean Swift was daily shaved by
the village barber, who gained his esteem. The barber one morning, when
busy lathering Swift, said he had a great favour to ask his reverence,
adding that at the suggestion of his neighbours he had taken a small
public-house at the corner of the churchyard. He hoped that with the two
businesses he might make a better living for his family.

"Indeed," said the future Dean, "and what can I do to promote the happy
union?"

"And please you," said the barber, "some of our customers have heard
much about your reverence's poetry; so that, if you would but condescend
to give me a smart little touch in that way to clap under my sign, it
might be the making of me and mine for ever."

"But what do you intend for your sign?" inquired the cleric.

"The 'Jolly Barber,' if it please your reverence, with a razor in one
hand and a full pot in the other."

"Well," rejoined Swift, "in that case there can be no great difficulty
in supplying you with a suitable inscription." Taking up a pen he
instantly wrote the following couplet, which was duly painted on the
sign and remained there for many years:--

"Rove not from pole to pole, but step in here,
Where nought excels the shaving but--the beer."

Another barber headed his advertisement with a parody on a couplet from
Goldsmith as follows:--

"Man wants but little beard below,
Nor wants that little long."

A witty Parisian hairdresser on one of the Boulevards put up a sign
having on it a portrait of Absalom dangling by his hair from a tree, and
Joab piercing his body with a spear. Under the painting was the
following terse epigram:--

"Passans, contemplez le malheur
D'Absalom pendu par la nuque;
Il aurait evite ce malheur,
S'il eut porte une perruque."

The lines lose some of their piquancy when rendered into English as
follows:--

"The wretched Absalom behold,
Suspended by his flowing hair:
He might have 'scaped this hapless fate
Had he chosen a wig to wear."




THE BARBER'S SHOP


The old-fashioned barber has passed away. In years agone he was a
notable tradesman, and was a many-sided man of business, for he shaved,
cut hair, made wigs, bled, dressed wounds, and performed other offices.
When the daily papers were not in the hands of the people he retailed
the current news, and usually managed to scent the latest scandal, which
he was not slow to make known--in confidence, and in an undertone, of
course. He was an intelligent fellow, with wit as keen as his razor;
urbane, and having the best of tempers. It has been truthfully said of
this old-time tradesman that one might travel from pole to pole and
never encounter an ill-natured or stupid barber.

Long days are usually worked in the barber's shop, and many attempts
have been made to reduce the hours of labour. We must not forget that
compulsory early closing is by no means a new cry, as witness the
following edict, issued in the reign of Henry VI., by the Reading
Corporation: "Ordered that no barber open his shop to shave any man
after 10 o'clock at night from Easter to Michaelmas, or 9 o'clock from
Michaelmas to Easter, except it be any stranger or any worthy man of the
town that hath need: whoever doeth to the contrary to pay one thousand
tiles to the Guildhall."

[Illustration: A Barber's Shop in the Time of Queen Elizabeth.]

In the reign of Queen Elizabeth the rich families from the country
thought it no disgrace in that simple age to lodge in Fleet Street, or
take rooms above some barber's shop. At this period, indeed, the
barber-surgeon was a man of considerable importance. His shop was the
gathering-place of idle gallants, who came to have their sword-wounds
dressed after street frays. The gittern, or guitar, lay on the counter,
and this was played by a customer to pass away the time until his turn
came to have his hair trimmed, his beard starched, his mustachios
curled, and his love-locks tied up. We give a picture of a barber's shop
at this period; the place appears more like a museum than an
establishment for conducting business. We get a word picture of a
barber's shop in Greene's "Quip for an Upstart Courtier," published in
1592. It is related that the courtier sat down in the throne of a chair,
and the barber, after saluting him with a low bow, would thus address
him: "Sir, will you have your worship's hair cut after the Italian
manner, short and round, and then frounst with the curling irons to make
it look like a half-moon in a mist; or like a Spaniard, long at the ears
and curled like to the two ends of an old cast periwig; or will you be
Frenchified with a love-lock down to your shoulders, whereon you may
wear your mistress's favour? The English cut is base, and gentlemen
scorn it; novelty is dainty. Speak the word, sir, my scissors are ready
to execute your worship's will." A couple of hours were spent in combing
and dressing the ambrosial locks of the young Apollo; then the barber's
basin was washed with camphor soap. At last the beard is reached, and
with another congee the barber asks if his worship would wish it to be
shaven; "whether he would have his peak cut short and sharp, and amiable
like an inamorato, or broad pendent like a spade, to be amorous as a
lover or terrible as a warrior and soldado; whether he will have his
crates cut low like a juniper bush, or his subercles taken away with a
razor; if it be his pleasure to have his appendices primed, or his
moustachios fostered to turn about his ears like vine tendrils, fierce
and curling, or cut down to the lip with the Italian lash?--and with
every question a snip of the scissors and a bow." If a poor man entered
the shop he was polled for twopence, and was soon trimmed around like a
cheese, and dismissed with scarce a "God speed you."

The Puritans looked askance at the fashions introduced by the barbers.
No wonder when the talk in the shop was about the French cut, the
Spanish cut, the Dutch and the Italian mode; the bravado fashion, and
the mean style. In addition to these were the gentleman's cut, the
common cut, the Court cut, and county cut. "And," wrote Stubbes with
indignation, "they have other kinds of cuts innumerable, and, therefore,
when you come to be trimmed they will ask you whether you will be cut to
look terrible to your enemy, or amiable to your friend; grim and stern
in countenance, or pleasant and demure; for they have diverse kinds of
cuts for all these purposes, or else they lie! Then when they have done
all their feats, it is a world to consider how their mowchatows must be
preserved and laid out from one cheek to another; yea, almost from one
ear to another, and turned up like two horns towards the forehead.
Besides that, when they come to the cutting of the hair, what tricking
and trimming, what rubbing, what scratching, what combing and clawing,
what trickling and toying, and all to tawe out money, you may be sure.
And when they come to washing--oh, how gingerly they behave themselves
therein! For then shall your mouth be bossed with the lather or foam
that riseth of the balls (for they have their sweet balls wherewith they
use to wash), your eyes closed must be anointed therewith also. Then
snap go the fingers full bravely, God wot. Thus this tragedy ended,
comes the warm clothes to wipe and dry him withall; next the ears must
be picked, and closed together again, artificially, forsooth! The hair
of the nostrils cut away, and everything done in order, comely to
behold. The last action in the tragedy is the payment of money; and lest
these cunning barbers might seem unconscionable in asking much for their
pains, they are of such a shameful modesty as they will ask nothing at
all, but, standing to the courtesy and liberality of the giver, they
will receive all that comes, how much soever it be, not giving any
again, I warrant you; for take a barber with that fault, and strike off
his head. No, no; such fellows are rarae aves in terris, nigrisque
simillimae cygnis--rare birds on the earth, and as scarce as black swans.
You shall have also your fragrant waters for your face, wherewith you
shall be all besprinkled; your musick again, and pleasant harmony shall
sound in your ears, and all to tickle the same with rare delight, and in
the end your cloak shall be brushed, and 'God be with you, gentlemen!'"

John Gay issued in 1727 the first series of his "Fables," and in the one
entitled "The Goat Without a Beard" we get a description of the barber's
shop of the period:--

"His pole, with pewter basins hung,
Black, rotten teeth in order strung,
Rang'd cups that in the window stood,
Lin'd with red rags, to look like blood,
Did well his threefold trade explain,
Who shav'd, drew teeth, and breath'd a vein."

The wooden chair is next referred to, and then it is stated:--

"Mouth, nose, and cheeks, the lather hides:
Light, smooth, and swift, the razor glides."

Old barbers' shops had their regulations in poetry and prose. Forfeits
used to be enforced for breaches of conduct as laid down in laws which
were exhibited in a conspicuous manner, and might be read while the
customer was awaiting his turn for attention at the hands of the knight
of the razor. Forfeits had to be paid for such offences as the
following:--

For handling the razors,
For talking of cutting throats,
For calling hair-powder flour,
For meddling with anything on the shop-board.

Shakespeare alludes to this custom in "Measure for Measure," Act v. sc.
1, as follows:--

"The strong statutes
Stand like the forfeits in a barber's shop,
As much in mock as mark."

[Illustration: William Shakespeare (the Stratford Portrait).]

Half a century ago there was hanging a code of laws in a barber's shop
in Stratford-on-Avon, which the possessor mounted when he was an
apprentice some fifty years previously. His master was in business as a
barber at the time of the Garrick Jubilee in 1769, and he asserted that
the list of forfeits was generally acknowledged by all the fraternity to
have been in use for centuries. The following lines have found their
way into several works, including Ingledew's "Ballads and Songs of
Yorkshire" (1860). In some collections the lines are headed "Rules for
Seemly Behaviour," and in others "The Barber of Thirsk's Forfeits." We
draw upon Dr Ingledew for the following version, which is the best we
have seen:--

"First come, first served--then come not late,
And when arrived keep your sate;
For he who from these rules shall swerve
Shall pay his forfeit--so observe.

"Who enters here with boots and spurs
Must keep his nook, for if he stirs
And gives with arm'd heel a kick,
A pint he pays for every prick.

"Who rudely takes another's turn
By forfeit glass--may manners learn;
Who reverentless shall swear or curse
Must beg seven ha'pence from his purse.

"Who checks the barber in his tale,
Shall pay for that a gill of yale;
Who will or cannot miss his hat
Whilst trimming pays a pint for that.

"And he who can but will not pay
Shall hence be sent half-trimmed away;
For will he--nill he--if in fault,
He forfeit must in meal or malt.

"But mark, the man who is in drink
Must the cannikin, oh, never, never clink."

The foregoing table of forfeits was published by Dr Kenrick in his
review of Dr Johnson's edition of Shakespeare in 1765, and it was stated
that he had read them many years before in a Yorkshire town. This matter
has been discussed at some length in _Notes and Queries_, and it is
asserted that the foregoing is a forgery. Some interesting comments on
the controversy appeared in the issue of March 20th, 1869.

Women barbers in the olden time were by no means uncommon in this
country, and numerous accounts are given of the skilful manner they
handled the razor. When railways were unknown and travellers went by
stage-coach it took a considerable time to get from one important town
to another, and shaving operations were often performed during the
journey, and were usually done by women. In the byways of history we
meet with allusions to "the five women barbers who lived in Drury-lane,"
who are said to have shamefully maltreated a woman in the days of
Charles II. According to Aubrey, the Duchess of Albemarle was one of
them.

At the commencement of the nineteenth century a street near the Strand
was the haunt of black women who shaved with ease and dexterity. In St
Giles'-in-the-Fields was another female shaver, and yet another woman
wielder of the razor is mentioned in the "Topography of London," by J.T.
Smith. "On one occasion," writes Smith, "that I might indulge the humour
of being shaved by a woman, I repaired to the Seven Dials, where in
Great St Andrew's Street a female performed the operations, whilst her
husband, a strapping soldier in the Horse Guards, sat smoking his pipe."
He mentions another woman barber in Swallow Street.

Two men from Hull some time ago went by an early morning trip to
Scarborough, and getting up rather late the use of the razor was
postponed until they arrived at the watering-place. Shortly after
leaving the station they entered a barber's shop. A woman lathered their
faces, which operation, although skilfully performed, caused surprise
and gave rise to laughter. They fully expected a man would soon appear
to complete the work, but they were mistaken. The female took a piece of
brown paper from a shelf, and with this she held with her left hand the
customer's nose, and in an artistic manner shaved him with her right
hand. Some amusement was experienced, but the operation was finished
without an accident. The gentlemen often told the story of their shave
at Scarborough by a woman barber.

At Barnard Castle a wife frequently shaved the customers at the shop
kept by her husband, who was often drunk and incapable of doing his
work. Louth (Lincolnshire) boasted a female barber, who is said to have
shaved lightly and neatly, and much better than most men.

Many stories, which are more or less true, are related respecting
barbers. The following is said to be authentic, and we give it as
related to us. The Duke of C---- upon one occasion entered a small
barber's shop in Barnard Castle, and upon inquiring for the master was
answered by an apprentice of fourteen that he was not at home. "Can you
shave, then?" asked the duke. "Yes, sir, I always do," was the reply.
"But can you shave without cutting?" "Yes, sir, I'll try," answered the
youth. "Very well," said the duke, while seating himself, and loading
his pistol; "but look here, if you let any blood, as true as I sit here
I'll blow your brains out! Now consider well before you begin." After a
moment's reflection, the boy began to make ready, and said, "I'm not
afraid of cutting you, sir," and in a short time had completed the feat
without a scratch, to the complete satisfaction of the duke. In gentle
tones his grace asked, "Were you not afraid of having your brains blown
out, when you might have cut me so easily?"

"No, sir, not at all; because I thought that as soon as I should happen
to let any blood, before you could have time to fire I would cut your
throat."

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