"Who rudely takes another's turn By forfeit glass--may manners learn; Who reverentless shall swear or curse Must beg seven ha'pence from his purse.
"Who checks the barber in his tale, Shall pay for that a gill of yale; Who will or cannot miss his hat Whilst trimming pays a pint for that.
"And he who can but will not pay Shall hence be sent half-trimmed away; For will he--nill he--if in fault, He forfeit must in meal or malt.
"But mark, the man who is in drink Must the cannikin, oh, never, never clink."
The foregoing table of forfeits was published by Dr Kenrick in his review of Dr Johnson's edition of Shakespeare in 1765, and it was stated that he had read them many years before in a Yorkshire town. This matter has been discussed at some length in _Notes and Queries_, and it is asserted that the foregoing is a forgery. Some interesting comments on the controversy appeared in the issue of March 20th, 1869.
Women barbers in the olden time were by no means uncommon in this country, and numerous accounts are given of the skilful manner they handled the razor. When railways were unknown and travellers went by stage-coach it took a considerable time to get from one important town to another, and shaving operations were often performed during the journey, and were usually done by women. In the byways of history we meet with allusions to "the five women barbers who lived in Drury-lane," who are said to have shamefully maltreated a woman in the days of Charles II. According to Aubrey, the Duchess of Albemarle was one of them.
At the commencement of the nineteenth century a street near the Strand was the haunt of black women who shaved with ease and dexterity. In St Giles'-in-the-Fields was another female shaver, and yet another woman wielder of the razor is mentioned in the "Topography of London," by J.T. Smith. "On one occasion," writes Smith, "that I might indulge the humour of being shaved by a woman, I repaired to the Seven Dials, where in Great St Andrew's Street a female performed the operations, whilst her husband, a strapping soldier in the Horse Guards, sat smoking his pipe." He mentions another woman barber in Swallow Street.
Two men from Hull some time ago went by an early morning trip to Scarborough, and getting up rather late the use of the razor was postponed until they arrived at the watering-place. Shortly after leaving the station they entered a barber's shop. A woman lathered their faces, which operation, although skilfully performed, caused surprise and gave rise to laughter. They fully expected a man would soon appear to complete the work, but they were mistaken. The female took a piece of brown paper from a shelf, and with this she held with her left hand the customer's nose, and in an artistic manner shaved him with her right hand. Some amusement was experienced, but the operation was finished without an accident. The gentlemen often told the story of their shave at Scarborough by a woman barber.