Brand, in his Popular Antiquities, says, that the barber's pole, used in bleeding, is represented, in an illuminated missal, of the time of Edward I., Longshanks, whose reign began in 1272. Fosbroke, in his Encyc. of Antiquities, page 414, says--"A staff, bound by a riband, was held, by persons being bled, and the pole was intended to denote the practice of phlebotomy." According to Lord Thurlow's statement, in the House of Peers, the pole was required, by the statute, to be used, as a sign. The first statute, incorporating the barber-surgeons, was that of Edward IV., as I have stated. The missal of Edward I., referred to by Brand, shows, that the usage was older than the law, and, doubtless, that the popular emblem was adopted, in the statute, to which Lord Thurlow refers, as still in force, in 1797. In Brand's Newcastle, I find, that "it is ordered, Dec. 11, 1711, that periwig-making be considered part and branch of the Company of Barber-_Chirurgeons_." The history of the pole is this: A staff about three feet high, with a ball on the top, and inserted, at the bottom, in a small cross-piece, was very convenient for the person to hold, who extended his arm, as he sat down, to be bled; and a fillet, or tape, was equally convenient for the ligature. These things the barber-surgeons kept, in a corner of their shops; and, when not in use, the tape or fillet was wound or twirled round the staff. When the lawgivers called for a sign, no apter sign could be given unto them, than this identical staff and fillet; much larger of course, and to be seen of men much farther. No. CXLII. Ancient plays abound with allusions to the barber's _citterne_, or lute, upon which not only he himself, and his apprentices were accustomed to play, but all the loiterers in the _tonstrina_. Much of all this may be found, in the Glossary of Archdeacon Nares, under the article CITTERNE, and in Fosbroke's Antiquities. The commonness of its use gave rise to a proverb. In the Silent Woman, Act II., scene 2, Ben Jonson avails of it. Morose had married a woman, recommended by his barber, and whose fidelity he suspected, and the following passage occurs, between Morose and Truewit. Lond., 1816, iii. 411. _Morose._ That cursed barber! _Truewit._ Yes, faith, a cursed wretch indeed, sir. _Morose._ I have married his _cittern_, that's common to all men. Upon this passage is the following note--"It appears from innumerable passages, in our old writers, that barbers' shops were furnished with some musical instrument, commonly a cittern or guitar, for the amusement of such customers as chose to strum upon it, while waiting for their turn to be shaved, &c. It should be recollected, that the patience of customers, if the shop was at all popular, must, in those tedious days of love-locks, and beards of most fantastical cuts, have been frequently put to very severe trials. Some kind of amusement therefore was necessary, to beguile the time."