ng the wind.

* * * * *

SHAVING BY MACHINERY.

We have tried every kind of shave at every variety of price, from the
shilling operation of the West End to that most frightful of tortures,
"an easy shave for a halfpenny," in the New Cut, Lambeth. We have been
shaved by a drunkard, under whose "effacing fingers" we have felt our
beard bristling up with fear, "like quills upon the fretful porcupine,"
and we have been shaved by an aged individual with the palsy, who has
made sudden darts at us with the razor, and ultimately triumphed over
the difficulties that stared him in the face--that is to say, in our own
face--with a "bloodless victory." We have been shaved by a woman in
Scotland; by an apprentice in Shoreditch; by a sailor on board ship in a
storm; by ourselves in the dark; by a schoolfellow, for fun; and by
young beginners, for practice. In fact, we have shown a sort of reckless
audacity in getting rid of our beard, that would have justified our
enemies in saying that we have evinced a wondrous amount of bold-faced
effrontery. But, notwithstanding all these perils which flesh is heir
to, in having the hair removed from the flesh, we should be afraid to
patronise, or give our countenance to, a certain new invention which is
described in the following newspaper paragraph:--

"SHAVING BY MACHINERY.--MR. WILLIAM JOHNSON, of North Shields,
Joiner, has invented a shaving machine. This machine is of singular
construction, and contains every qualification necessary for the
process. In appearance it is not unlike an old-fashioned arm-chair.
But the most unique feature in the whole affair is the arrangement
of the razor blades, which are fixed longitudinally on cylinders,
from three to six inches in length, four on each cylinder, at an
angle of 60 degrees, with fine camel-hair brushes between; for you
are lathered and shaved at one and the same time, the lather being
slipped from the interior of the cylinders, which are hollow. The
machine is put in motion by the weight of the patient, the seat
gradually giving way beneath, and sinking with him until he reaches
the ground, when the operation is completed. The seat, rising
immediately it is released from his weight, is ready to commence
again without any preparation. A musical-box, of MR. JOHNSON'S
construction, and capable of performing a great variety of airs, is
appended