BARBER

(Lat. barb a, beard), trimmer of beards; Eng. b’s were incorporated in 1461 by Edward IV.; they were joined to the Surgeons’ Company by Henry VIII., but their operations, apart from beard-trimming, were confined to blood-letting and extraction of teeth; in 1745 George II. gave the b’s a separate corporation, but barber’s sign, the pole, may still sometimes be seen accompanied by the surgeon’s basin. B.’s shop a place of go ip in Horace’s time, remained so until days of daily postman and newspaper; B. of Seville, comic opera, masterpiece of Ro ini.