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." The smart reply won from the duke a handsome reward. It need scarcely to be added he never resumed his dangerous threats in a barber's shop. A lesson was taught him for life. The barber of an English king boasted, says a story, that he must be the most loyal man in the realm, as he had every day the regal throat at his mercy. The king was startled at the observation, and concluded that the barbarous idea could never have entered an honest head, and for the future he resolved to grow a beard as a precautionary measure against summary execution.