81 
But this power which brought Royalty so much credit was not 
to be allowed without opposition ; others claimed it from time to 
time, one superstition begat another. Especially was it claimed 
by a seventh son, never a wench being born between, or better 
still the seventh son of a seventh son, born under the same 
condition. The actors were called Strokers, and occasional 
notices of their existence may be met with, but the following 
Somerset case must be unique, the first and only one in which 
the proceedings and routine are actually and officially told. As 
any great success would lessen the value of the Royal privilege 
such a claim could not be passed unnoticed, and this case 
occurring in the time of Charles I. was, as usual under Archbishop 
Laud, referred to the local bishop for inquiry, with orders to 
report the name of “ Ye father of ye 7th sonne that doth cures in 
Somersetsheer.” The King’s Council under date 30 September, 
_ 1637, wrote to the bishop, that they had heard that the father, 
under the above pretence, undertook to do divers cures, and 
_ thereby had abused divers of his Majesty’s subjects ; the bishop 
was therefore to call the offender before him as well as any with 
whom he had had dealings. This letter is signed by 
Lp. A’BisHop oF CANT. Lp. GREAT CHAMBERLAIN. 
Lp. Keeper. EARL OF Dorset. 
Lp. TREASURER. Lp. Corrineron. 
Lp. Privy SEAu. Mr. TREASURER. 
ae Mr. Secy. WINDEBANK. 
‘The bishop obeyed, and writing from Wells on the 18th Nov. 
sent his report. He found that the father was William Gilbert, 
alias Yeaton, of Prestley, in Doulting, and the actor his son 
Richard. Gilbert had been a butcher, but was then a husband- 
nan, having exchanged a copyhold and a lease at Evercreech for 
another at Doulting, equal to about fifty pounds a year. He was 
reputed an honest man, with a good understanding but no learn- 
ing, only much given to talking and bragging. The child’s age 
was five and three quarters, and it seemed that widow Yeaton the 
