I 



and did not forget to make some inquiries concern- 

 ing the wonderful method of curing cancers by 

 means of toads. Several intelligent persons, both 

 gentry and clergy, do, I find, give a great deal of 

 credit to what was asserted in the papers ; and I 

 myself dined with a clergyman who seemed to be 

 persuaded that what is related is matter of fact ; but 

 when I came to attend to his account, I thought I 

 discerned circumstances which did not a little in- 

 validate the woman's story of the manner in which 

 she came by her skill. She says of herself : " that 

 labouring under a virulent cancer, she went to some 

 church where there was a vast crowd : on going 

 into a pew, she was accosted by a strange clergy- 

 man ; who, after expressing compassion for her 

 situation, told her that if she would make such an 

 application of living toads as is mentioned she 

 would be well." Now is it likely that this unknown 

 gentleman should express so much tenderness for 

 this single sufferer, and not feel any for the many 

 thousands that daily languish under this terrible 

 disorder? Would he not have made use of this 

 invaluable nostrum for his own emolument ; or, at 

 least, by some means of publication or other, have 

 found a method of making it public for the good 

 of mankind ? In short, this woman (as it appears to 

 to me) having set up for a cancer-doctress, finds it 

 expedient to amuse the country with this dark and 

 mysterious relation. 



73 



