At the Sign of the Barbers Pole | Page 4

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 simillim? 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