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their joy” in a public manner, but his Majesty “accepting their 
intention ” forbade anything more to be done. 
During this progress the King touched five thousand persons, 
but it was found that the registration which should have been 
followed in every parish was so carelessly done that many came 
who had been touched before, and thus got a second piece of 
gold, “contrary to established order.” ‘The touch of the King,” 
wrote one, “carried so much Divinity in it that physic was 
nonplus’d and surgery tied up ;” more were cured in one year by 
that “salutiferous faculty” than by all the physicians since his 
accession. So great seems to have been this confidence that some 
were found trying it for the “fystle, or French pocke.” 
It was during this visit to Bath that the episode occurred as 
mentioned by Warner, p. 257. Notice was given, a sudden or 
short notice, that the King would touch in the Abbey after the 
daily morning prayer. Beingnow an avowed Papist, he had altered 
the short form which had been used on such occasions and had 
introduced the intercession of the Virgin. This was the only 
alteration that he could make as, although the form was bound up 
in the Prayer Book, and so remained through the time of Anne, 
and even, although never used, in the early reign of George I., 
it was not used in a church, and was not a part of the authorised 
services. Whether James used it in Latin or English is not 
certain. Warner, acknowledging that he wrote from tradition, 
says that the altar was popishly decorated, that other popish 
‘mummery was introduced, and that after the healing the King’s 
Confessor suddenly mounted the pulpit and preached a popish 
‘sermon, Bishop Ken being present, but not interfering until it 
was over, when, begging the congregation to remain awhile, he 
in turn preached, and so eloquently as to confound his opponent, 
A little examination will now sift the truth. In the ‘‘Life of Ken,” 
by a Layman (J. L. Anderdon), a letter is printed (p. 254), in 
‘which Ken reports the circumstance to the Archbishop, and also 
his own conduct resulting. There was a great healing, he writes, 
