72

The Earl of Albemarle 78

Man with Wig and Muff, 1693 (_from a print of the period_) 80

Campaign Wig 81

Periwig with Tail 82

Ramillie Wig 83

Pig-tail Wig 84

Bag-Wig 84

Heart-Breakers 89

With and Without a Wig 90

Lord Mansfield 93

Stealing a Wig 94

George Frederick Muntz, M.P. 100

Charles Dickens, born 1812, died 1870 106

THE BARBER'S POLE

In most instances the old signs which indicated the callings of
shopkeepers have been swept away. Indeed, the three brass balls of the
pawn-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 circumstance 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.

[Illustration: 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