"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.]