“I’de know why he that selleth ale

Hangs out a chequer’d part per pale;

And why a barber at port-hole

Puts forth a party-colour’d pole?”

ANSWER.

“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 huge long pole,