This poet-swindler, Villon, used to go about with a few friends, who robbed and cheated landlords, and obtained good dinners without paying for them, whence he called them “Repues Franches.” Too frequently he got off safe, but occasionally he would get a caning in the bargain to assist his digestion. These predatory dinners he has related in an épopée which has come down to us.
[501] It is to be observed that these soap-basins are now always of brass, and also that on the continent their place is taken by a shallow brass basin to contain hot water—Don Quixote’s helmet of Mambrino, held under the chin of the person to be shaved, with a hollow space in the rim to fit the neck, and a cavity into which the soap is deposited during the operation.
[502] Vossius, “De Poematum Cantu et viribus Rythmi,” Oxford, 1673, p. 62. Isaac Vossius was an eccentric Dutchman, who died a canon of Windsor in 1689. In the above treatise on rhythm he says:—“I remember that more than once I have fallen into the hands of men of this sort who could imitate any measure of song in combing the hair, so as sometimes to express very intelligibly iambics, trochees, dactyls, &c., from whence there arose to me no small delight.”
[504] “People made younger here,” alluding to the youthful appearance of a man without a beard.
“Nature gives beard and hair,
And I cut them both.”
or—
“I devote my razors to all faces,
And can stand the test of the truest looking-glasses.”
[506] Tavern Anecdotes, 1825.
[507] Remarkable Trials, vol. ii., p. 14. 1765.