He was a Frenchman of the South, of the same race as Villon and Marot.
Even in the prim and formal society of the eighteenth century, the barber occupied no unimportant part.

He and the sculptor, of all working men, were allowed to wear the sword--that distinctive badge of gentility.

In short, the barber was regarded as an artist.

Besides, barbers were in ancient times surgeons; they were the only persons who could scientifically "let blood." The Barber-Surgeons of London still represent the class.

They possess a cup presented to the Guild by Charles II., in commemoration of his escape while taking refuge in the oak-tree at Boscobel.{3} But to return to the adventures of Jasmin's early life.