is put in the _British Apollo_ (London, 1708):--

"... Why a barber at port-hole
Puts forth a party-coloured pole?"

This is the answer given:--

"In ancient Rome, when men lov'd fighting,
And wounds and scars took much delight in,
Man-menders then had noble pay,
Which we call surgeons to this day.
'Twas order'd that a hughe long pole,
With bason deck'd should grace the hole,
To guide the wounded, who unlopt
Could walk, on stumps the others hopt;
But, when they ended all their wars,
And men grew out of love with scars,
Their trade decaying; to keep swimming
They joyn'd the other trade of trimming,
And on their poles to publish either,
Thus twisted both their trades together."

During his residence at his living in the county of Meath, before he was
advanced to the deanery of St Patrick's, Dean Swift was daily shaved by
the village barber, who gained his esteem. The barber one morning, when
busy lathering Swift, said he had a great favour to ask his reverence,
adding that at the suggestion of his neighbours he had taken a small
public-house at the corner of the churchyard. He hoped that with the two
businesses he might make a better living for his family.

"Indeed," said the future Dean, "and what can I do to promote the happy
union?"

"And please you," said the barber, "some of our customers have heard
much about your reverence's poetry; so that, if you would but condescend
to give me a smart little touch in that way to clap under my sign, it
might be the making of me and mine for ever."

"But what do you intend for your sign?" inquired the cleric.

"The 'Jolly Barber,' if it please your reverence, with a razor in one
hand and a full pot in the other."

"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