\ 



72 



and hyppM ; and her poor flatulent ftomach 

 was, cruelly, annoyed with the repeated po- 

 tions of this infallible fpecific. At length, 

 after enduring the doElor^ and his remedy, 

 through a moft tedious trial, and finding no 

 relief, fhe grew impatient to know, decidedly, 

 the nature of her malady, and, at one of her 

 vifits to the doBor^ pointedly importuned 

 him to tell her the real and true name of her 

 difeafe : when this great man, finding that 

 his patient was urgent, and that he was un- 

 able, any longer, to evade the queftion, af- 

 fumed a dignified and important air, and, 

 with great gravity, made known to her his 



great opinion that fhe had - 



a great jire in the bones 7" The poor burn- 

 ing lady, in all fuUncfs of faith, gave credit 

 to the fiery tale, and, in the true fenfe of a 

 hypochondriac believer, felt that not only her 

 bones, but her whole frame was rapidly con- 

 fuming. Unhappily for the doEior^ fhe foon 

 after difcovered that taking his never-failing 

 balfam was only adding fuel to her fire ; and, 

 at laft, upon turning to the newfpapers fhe 

 found that, in the long liil of maladies to be 

 cured by this omnipotent remedy, the doSfor^ 



