' 1810.) 
also from Ireland, Scotland, Jersey, and 
Germany.” It was the office of Mr. 
Wiseman, as serjeant-surgeon, to select 
such afflicted objects as were proper to 
be presented for the royal touch. In the 
history of the disease, when describing 
its various states and appearances, he 
says: “Those which we present to his 
majesty are chiefly such as have this sort 
of tumour about che musculus mustozdeus 
er vneck, with whatever circumstances 
they are accompanied; nor are we dif- 
ficult in admitting the thick-chapped up- 
per lips, and eyes afflicted with a /ppi- 
tudo. In other cases we give our judy- 
ments more warily,” ‘Sorjeant-surgeon 
Wiseman says, elsewhere: .‘‘ In case of 
the king’s touch, the resolution doth often 
happen. where our endeavours have sig- 
nified nothing; yea, the very gummata ; 
insomuch that I'am cautious in predict- 
ig concerning them, although they ap- 
pear never so bad, until fourteen days be 
over,” 
Sceptics deny their belief to miracles, 
from their not being duly attested ; but 
is it possibie to desire a more satisfactory 
testimony of these miraculous cures, 
than that of a man of science and respec- 
tability, under whose imiediate inspec- 
tion they were performea, and who has 
‘¢ himself been a frequent eye-witness of 
many hundreds of cures performed by 
his majesty’s touch alone ?” 
The Honorable Daines Barrington, in 
his Observations on the more Ancient 
Statutes, inserts what he heard from an 
old man, a witness’ in a cause, with 
regard to this miraculous power of heal- 
ing. The following are Judge Barrington’s 
words: 5 
“jTe had, by his evidence, fixed the 
time of a fact, “by Queen Anne’s having 
been at Oxford, and touched him whilst 
a child for the evil, When he had fi- 
nished his evidence, I had an opportunity 
of asking him, Whether he was really 
cured? “Upon which he observed, with 
a significant smilie, ‘that be believed 
himself never to have had 2 ¢omplaing 
that deserved to be considered as the 
evil; but that his parents were poor, and 
fad no objection to the bit ef gald? 
‘Tt seems to me, that this piece of gold 
which was given to those who were 
touched, accounts for the great resort! on 
this occasion, and the supposed alter- 
wards miraculous cures,’ 
Gemelli, the famous traveller, gives 
an account of 1600 perseus offering 
themselves to be cured of the evil by 
Louis XIV. on Easter Sanday, in the 
ycar 1686. Gemelli himself was present 
Touching for the Evil. 
139 
at the ceremony; and says, the words 
used were ‘‘ Le Roy te touche, Dieu te - 
guerisse.” Every Frenchman received 
fifteen sous, and every foreigner thirty. 
To some of the supposed patients the 
king said, Etes-vous malade wussi ? 
This power of healing by the kings of 
France, occasioned great resort to Fran- 
cis I. while prisoner at Madrid, by the 
Spaniards, who had not such faith in the 
eflicacy of their own king’s touch. 
It appears, by a proclamation of James 
T, March 25, 1617, that the kings of 
England would not permit any resort to 
them for these miraculous cures in the 
summer-time, By another proclamation, 
of the 18th of June, 1626, it is ordered 
that no one shall apply for this purpose, 
who does not bring a proper certificate 
that he has never been touched before ; 
and the same, it has already been seen, 
were the terms on which Queen Anne 
granted her reyal touch. This regulation — 
undoubtedly must have arisen from some 
supposed patients who had attempted to 
receive the bit of gold more than once. 
In a prayer-book printed in the year 
1708, is a form of the church-service 
for the occasion of the royal touch, After 
the Lord’s Prayer, it is stated, ‘Then 
shall the infirm persons, one by one, be 
presented to the queen; and while the 
queen is taying her hands upon them, 
and is puting the gold about their neckg, 
the chaplain that ofliciates, turning him- 
self to her majesty, shall say these words 
te —‘ God ,give a blessing to this 
work ! and grant that these sick persons 
on whom the queen lays her hands may 
recover, through Jesus Christ our Lord!? 
—After some other prayers, the chaplain, 
standing with his face towards them that 
come to be healed, ‘shall say: ‘The 
Almighty Ged, who is a most strong 
tower to all them that put their trust 
in him, to whom all things in heaven, in 
earth, and under the earth, do bow and 
obey, be evermore your defence; and 
make you know and feel that there is 
none other name under heaven given to 
man, and through whom yousmay receive 
health and salvation, but only the nae 
of out Lord Jesus Christ!) Amen,’” 
Your's, &c. 
Seplember 12, 1809. 1 BanNANTINEs 
er 
To the Editor of the Monthh y Mapaune. 
SIR, 
ONE species of writing,” says Dr. 
Johnson, “seems more worthy 
of ‘cultivation than biography, since 
none can be more delightful or useful.” 
This sentiment, together with the idea 
‘that 
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