On the 20th of November, 1746, fifty-one barbers were convicted before the commissioners of excise, and fined twenty pounds each, for having in their custody hair-powder not made of starch, contrary to Act of Parliament. _Primitive Tavern Signs._ In Ireland, in the taverns by the road-side, in which illicit whiskey can be obtained, the traveler is informed of the fact by a piece of turf unobtrusively placed in the window. In the Middle Ages, road-side ale houses in England were indicated by a stake projecting from the front of the house, from which some object was suspended. Sometimes a garland was hung upon the stake, to which occasional reference is made in Chaucer's poems. The bush, however, was more common than the stake, and was often composed of ivy. The saying "Good wine needs no bush," no doubt originated from this custom. _Watch-Papers._ Years ago it was the custom for watch-makers to put their business cards inside of the case. These cards were sometimes enlivened with a couplet or a verse, of each of which we subjoin a sample— He that wears a watch, two things must do; _Pocket_ his _watch_ and _watch_ his _pocket_ too. I labor here with all my might, To tell the hours of day and night; Therefore, example take by me, And serve the Lord as I serve thee. _Echo Verse._ It was a sharp bit of echo verse that the _Sunday Times_ of London threw off in 1831, when tickets to hear the great violinist were very high— What are they who pay three guineas To hear a tune of Paganini's? Echo—Pack o' ninnies. _Signature of the Cross._ The mark which persons who are unable to write are required to make instead of their signatures, is in the form of a cross; and this practice having formerly been followed by kings and nobles, is constantly referred to as an instance of the deplorable ignorance of ancient times. This signature is not, however, invariably a proof of ignorance. Anciently, the use of the mark was not confined to illiterate persons; for among the Saxons the mark of the cross, as an attestation of the good faith of the persons signing, was required to be attached to the signature of those who _could_ write, as well as to stand in the place of the signature of those who could not write. _Simply on Account of her Name._ Herrera, the Spanish historian, records an anecdote in which the choice of a queen entirely arose from her name. When two French ambassadors negotiated a marriage between one of the Spanish princesses and Louis VIII., the names of the royal females were _Urraca_ and _Blanche_. The former was the elder and the more beautiful, and intended by the Spanish court for the French monarch; but they resolutely preferred Blanche, observing that the _name_ of _Urraca_ would never do! And for the sake of a more mellifluous sound, they carried off the happier-named but less beautiful princess. _Richelieu's Boast._