At the Sign of the Barber's Pole Part 1

At the Sign of the Barber's Pole.

by William Andrews.

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 grat.i.tude 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 INSt.i.tUTION, HULL, _August 11th_, 1904.

THE BARBER'S POLE

In most instances the old signs which indicated the callings of shopkeepers have been swept away. Indeed, the three bra.s.s b.a.l.l.s of the p.a.w.n-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 circ.u.mstance 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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: 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 pract.i.tioner put in the hand of the patient undergoing the operation of phlebotomy. The white band, which encompa.s.ses 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 t.i.tle of the "Visible World." It is said to have been the first ill.u.s.trated 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 ill.u.s.trated 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 ill.u.s.tration 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 n.o.ble 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 n.o.ble 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 tr.i.m.m.i.n.g, 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 advertis.e.m.e.nt 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:--

"Pa.s.sans, 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-fas.h.i.+oned barber has pa.s.sed 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."