Qucks of Old London

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22500751932
Digitized by the Internet Archive
in 2017 with funding from
Wellcome Library
https://archive.org/details/b29826032
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THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON "

BY THE SAME AUTHOR
MYSTERIES OF HISTORY
MYSTERIES AND SECRETS OF MAGIC
MYSTERY AND LURE OF PERFUME
MYSTERY AND ROMANCE OF ALCHEMY AND
PHARMACY
POISON MYSTERIES IN HISTORY, ROMANCE
AND CRIME, ETC.
A MOUNTEBANK OF OLD LONDON
From a woodcut of the XVIIth Century in the British Museum
Frontispiece
THE QUACKS OF —
l
3
OLD LONDON
-
tX
By
C. J. S. THOMPSON
BRENTANO’S LTD.
NEW YORK LONDON PARIS
Printed in Great Britain
l&
FOREWORD
A LTHOUGH quackery has existed in one form or
another from time immemorial, little is known
of the quack-doctors who began to flourish in England
about the sixteenth century. Medicine in particular,
appears ever to have attracted pretenders and it is
the art in which they have been most successful. There
have always been unfortunate sufferers in despair,
ready to become the dupes of the charlatans, and so in
the seventeenth century, we find the ranks of the quacks
were increased by a host of boasting rogues and cunning
rascals, who flocked to London and soon became prom¬
inent in the social life of the time.
The following century was the golden age of the
quacks and they were patronised by all classes, from the
King to the peasant. Advertising was the mainspring
of their success, and the bills by means of which they
made their nostrums known, throw a considerable light
on the manner in which they preyed on the credulity
of the public.
Many of these quaintly-worded effusions, with their
rhymes and curious illustrations, which have now been
brought together from various collections, are of great
rarity and are published for the first time.
CONTENTS
PAGE
INTRODUCTION ------- 19
CHAPTER I
THE ORIGIN OF THE QUACK-DOCTOR-QUACK-
DOCTORS IN TUDOR TIMES - - - 23
Quack, Mountebank and Charlatan—Punishment

for quacks in 1382—Act to suppress quack-doctors—
Quacks in Elizabethan times—An early quack’s
bill—Grig, “ a healer ” sent to the pillory—A
quack’s remedies burned at Westminster Market—
An Italian quack fined—Fairfax, “ a quack stuffed
with arrogance ”—Tomazine Scarlet, u a female
quack ”—Paul Buck, “ a very impudent rogue ”—
Simon Forman, quack and astrologer—Francis An¬
thony and his Solution of Gold—Quackery in London
at the end of the XVIth century.
CHAPTER II
FAMOUS QUACKS IN THE TIME OF THE STUARTS - 36
James I and the prosecution of quacks—Arthur Dee,

a “ redoubtable mountebank”—John Lambe—Prac¬
tises as a magician—His exploits in Worcester Castle
—Charged with trickery with the crystal—Lambe
and the Duke of Buckingham—Beaten to death in
the street—Poisoning with an Antimony Cup—
Thomas Saffold, a “ merry rascal ”—His bills and
rhymes—John Case of the u Golden Ball ”—A Spagy-
rick Physician—Ladies consult his Oracle—The
priest and the Oracle—Dr. Pontaeus challenges the
physicians of Oxford—How he proved his antidote
to poison—Washing the hands in molten lead.
••
vu
Vlll CONTENTS
CHAPTER III
QUACK ASTROLOGERS AND FORTUNE-TELLERS - 57
William Lilly and his “ Prophetical Almanack ”—
John Partridge and his “Astrological Tracts”—Par¬
tridge and Swift—Partridge and the Wits—Professor
Woodward’s “ Honest invitations ”—A “ Gentle¬
woman ” Astrologer—Dr. Sandford of the “ Blew Ball
and Stars ”—An Astrologer’s bill—The Fortune¬
teller at the sign of “ The Parrot ”—Baynham, the
sporting Astrologer “ who fore-tells the winner ”—
Advice on marriage—The daughter of a Seventh
daughter, at the Sign of the “ Horseshoe and Crown ”
—An interpreter of dreams—The “ Glim’ring of the
Gizzard.”
CHAPTER IV
SOME MOUNTEBANKS AND THEIR ZANIES “ “ 73
Functions of the Zany—The Earl of Rochester describes
a Zany—The first Merry Andrew—The Merry Andrew
at the Fair—The Quack and the Zany—“ The In¬
fallible Mountebank ”—A Mountebank’s career—
How to get patients—Ben Willmore’s speech—Tom
Jones’s address.
CHAPTER V
NOTORIOUS LONDON QUACKS AND THEIR REMEDIES 86
Cornelius a Tilbourn of the “ Blue Flower Pot ”—He

cures Sir Richard Greenaway and Lady Ann Sey¬
mour—James Tilburg, the “Outlandish doctor”—
Will Atkins and his three-tailed wig—The Oxford
Doctor of the Fleet Prison—Dr. Trigg and his “Vati¬
can Pills ”—Salvator Winter and his “ Elixir Vitae ”—
Medicine in the Dog-days—Nat Merry and his
“ Archael ”—James Wasse and his “ Noble Medi¬
cine ”—Hippen, the Rupture healer—Borri’s “ Sove¬
reign Julep ”—The German Doctor of the “ Boot
and Spatterdash ”—A family of Quacks—Stoughton
and his “ Elixir Magnum ”—Purl Royal—Major
Choke and his “ Arcana ”—“ Nothing without God ”
—The Miraculous Necklace—The “Anodyne Neck¬
lace ” and how it was made.
CONTENTS IX
CHAPTER VI
FOREIGN QUACKS AND NEW DISEASES - - 106
A “ Caution to the Unwary ”—Gray’s diatribe

against quacks—The Physician at the “ Globe and
Two Balls ”—Lionel Lockyer and his Famous Pills—
Some new diseases—The “ Strong fives ”—The “Moon
Pall ”—The “ Marthambles ”—The “ Hockogrocle ”
—“ A Friend to the diseased ”—The Gentleman from
Louvain—The Illustrious Spanish Doctor and his
speech—The Physician of the “ Blew Ball ” and his
“ Arcanum Magnum ”—The German Quack of Petty
France, at the house with the “ Black Door and a Red
Knocker ”—The renowned Dutch Operator from
Leyden—Dr. Bellon from Montpellier—The Dutch
Operator who straightens limbs—The High German
Doctor at “ The Angel ”—His “ Red cloth and
Stones ”—He “ Cureth those born blind
CHAPTER VII
a quack’s costume, dr. salmon and some

OTHERS - - - - - - -125
A Quack’s costume—Description of his lodgings—

William Salmon and his “ Elixir of Life ”—His
patients and his cures—His books on medicine—The
Prophetical Almanack—The Fraternity of Free¬
thinkers—“ The Religious Impostor ”—Salmon’s Lib¬
rary—Mrs. Salmon and her Waxwork-Show—John
Pechey, a physician turned quack—His Dispensary—
Summoned before the College—Sabbarton of the
“ Bleeding Pelican ”—His “True Compound Elixir of
Scurvy-grass ”—“ Every man his own doctor ”—
Andrews and his Pectoral Lozenges.
CHAPTER VIII
A QUACK-DOCTOR AND BALLAD-SINGER-A HIGH
GERMAN DOCTOR AND HIS MERRY ANDREW - 138
Jack Edwards the ballad-singing quack—His Elegy—

The Merry Andrew’s speech—An Oculist to the
X CONTENTS
German Spread Eagle—The “ Infallible Pill ”—The
“ Umbellical Sticking Plaister ”—The “ Orvietano ”
—The German doctor’s harangue—His “ Universal
Solutive ”—The “ Panagion Outaconsticon ”—The
wonders of the “ Ante-vermick Powder.”
CHAPTER IX
PLACE FOR THE GENTLEWOMEN - - -

Mary Green and her cures—The Gentlewoman of the
“ Golden Heart ”—Her cosmetics and masks—Anne
Laverenst of the “ Coffin and Child ”—The Gentle¬
woman of the “ Garden of Eden ”—The Doctor’s wife
of Dean’s Court—Widow Drew and her Pills—Agno-
dice, the woman physician of the “ Hand and Urinal ”
—The “ Scotch disease ”—Spanish rolls—Madam
Gordan and her two monsters—Sarah de Heusde—
Her address to “ Civil Gentlewomen and Maidens ”—
Jones’s famous “Friendly Pill”—Elizabeth Russell
and her cures—Mrs. Norridge and her “ Great Secret”
—Sarah Gardiner of the “ Cock ” and her cure for
Ague—Mrs. Nevill and her “ true Spirit of Worm¬
wood ”—Elizabeth Maris, the “ True German Gentle¬
woman.”
CHAPTER X
MORE FOREIGN QUACKS -----

The learned Dr. Abraham Souburg of Gronigen—A
Cutter of the Stone and Oculist—The Renowned
Dutch Operator of Amsterdam—The Eminent Doctor
of Physick out of Poland—The Italian Quack and his
“ Right Roman Orvietan”—“ Venus and her Crown”—
Frederick van Neurenburg, the “ Faithful Physitian”
—His “ Persian Balsam ” and “ Chinese Antidote ”—
His opinion of quacks—The “ Herculeon Antidote ”
—The Dutch Chyrurgion of the “ Bursten Twins ”—
John Schultius, the Operator of the “ Three Flower
Pots ”—His operation on the Emperor of Turkey’s
brother—“ A Doctor beyond Doctors An Imperial
Physician comes to Town.
CONTENTS xi
CHAPTER XI
THE “ SCURVY-QUACKS ” - - - - ~ l73
Scurvy in England—Clark’s Compound Spirit of
Scurvy-grass—Blagrave’s Golden Spirit of Scurvy-
grass—The Sieur de Vernantes and his Essential
Spirit—Robert Bateman and his Spirit of Scurvy-
grass—His quarrel with Blagrave—“ Blagrave’s Rav¬
ings ”—Bateman attacks Vernantes—“ A Whiffling
Emperick ”—Dr. Pordage and the Penny post—
Nendick’s “ Popular Pills ” for Scurvy—“ Solamen
Miseries ” for Asthma—The “ Golden Elixir.”
CHAPTER XII
THE “ UNBORN DOCTORS ”-A QUACK ALCHEMIST 184
Wine as a remedy—“ The Bloud of the Grape ”—
“ Bacchus turn’d Doctor ”—Lucatelli’s Balsam—
Dr. Kirleus and his “ Drink ”—A Quack Alchemist—
Rose’s “ Balsamick Elixir ”—The “ Seventh Son of
a Seventh Son”—The “Unborn Doctor”—“The
Chymical Physitian, Oculist and Chyrurgical Opera¬
tor ”—The Unborn Doctor’s Poem—Bromfield’s Pills
—A quaint testimonial—The “ Celebrated London
Pills ”—David Perronet, “ Blood-letter and Tooth-
drawer ”—The Great Worm Exterminator—James
Newton and his cure for Melancholy—A private
asylum on Clerkenwell Green—Ben Willmore of the
“ Sugar-Loaf ”—“ The Old made Young ”—George
Fairclough and his Marvellous Cure.
CHAPTER XIII
THE BEAUTY SPECIALISTS - - - - 201
The Bond Street Gentlewoman who beautifies with¬
out paint—“ A Pearl and a Treasure ”—The Gentle¬
woman of Coventry Court—Her “ Balsamick Essence”
—The Gentlewoman of the House with the Red
Balcony—Her “ most rare Secrets for Beautifying
the Face ”—The Beauty Doctor at the House with
the White Balcony and Blue Flower Pots—“ She
makes the worst of faces fair”—Night-masks and fore¬
head pieces—Beauties disfigured by smallpox—Lady
Mary Wortley Montague—“ The Water of Talk and
Xll CONTENTS
Pearl ”—The Beauty doctor of Wine Office Court—
The “ Princesses Powder ”—Madam de Montespan
and her Famous Powder—Ren<£, the celebrated Perfu¬
mer—Joanna Nehellon and “ her secret that no one
else hath ”—The “ only delicate Beautifying Cream ”
—The Gentlewoman of the “ Sugar-Loaf ”—“ The
World’s Beautifyer ”—Pecune’s “ Fountain of Beau¬
ties ”—Dr. Stephen Draper, and his address to “ Be¬
loved Women ”—The “ Vertues of his Water of
Pearl ”—Draper’s Poem.
CHAPTER XIV
THE PLAGUE QUACKS AND OTHERS - - -
Quack remedies for the Plague—The “ Pestilencial
Pill ”—“ Angier’s Fume ”—Professor Russell of the
“ Two Blew Posts ”—John Newman and his mar¬
vellous Operations—The “ Never Failing Pills ”—
“ Universal Scorbutick Pills ”—The Quack at “ the
Gridiron ” and his “ Effectual Pills”—Hooker’s “Grand
Balsamick and Health Preserving Pill ”—The “ Pilula
Salutiferens ”—Piercy’s Lozenges—Buckworth’s Pec¬
toral Lozenges—The dispute between the rivals—
“ The Metallick Eagle ”—Fletcher’s Powder, “ A
Noble Panacea ”—The Physitian of the “ Heart and
Star,” who cured a woman with a “ Devil in her ”—
“ Lady Moor’s Drops ”—The “ Elixir Mineral ”—
The u Olbion ” or “ Badger’s Cordial ”—The “ Great
Cordial Antidote ”—“ Panchimagogum Febrifugum.”
CHAPTER XV
Jesuit’s bark—a company of quacks - -
Jesuit’s Bark—Price in London—Dr. Goodal’s bill—
Dr. Pulsefeel—Rand’s Speech—The Zany’s song—
Anderson of the u Coffin and Cradle ”—His certifi¬
cates from the clergy—The “ Famed Lozenges of
Blois ”—“ Drops of Comforts ”—Mathew’s Famous
Pills—The “ Drink called Coffee ”—“ A Pretious Pearl
in the midst of a Dung-hill ”—James Monk of the
“ Three Neats Tongues ”—The Royal Decoction—
A Company of Quacks—Their Secret Cabinet—“ Elec-
tuarium Mirable ”—The Anatomy of the Caul—The
“ New World’s Water.”
CONTENTS xm
CHAPTER XVI
( AN ELIXIR FOR RENEWING YOUTH-OLD QUACK
MEDICINES ______ 248
Moses Stringer and his “ Elixir Renovans ”—The

Old Hen that laid eggs—An ancient woman renews
her youth—The Quack at the House with the “ Green
Door and Two Golden Spikes ”—The Virtues of
Linseed Oyl—How the Marquis of Harcourt’s daugh¬
ter was cured—The “ Electuary of Balm of Gilead ”—
The Quack with the Healing Hand—A cure for Ague
—Daffy’s Elixir—Anderson’s Scots Pills—Lewis of the
“ Blew Ball ” and his Medicines—Robert Rotheram of
Sweeting’s Alley and his “ Elixir of Saffron ”—John
Coniers and his Artificial Mineral Water—Corner’s
Museum—Salter’s “ Sternutatory Snuff ”—Lisbon
Snuff for the Eyesight—Snuffs for the toothache—
“ Jatropoton,” that softens drinks—Bartlett, the
Truss maker—Nat. Baker, who “ sets crooked child¬
ren straight ”—A quack’s decoy ducks.
CHAPTER XVII
BAGNIOS AND CUPPERS-VIRTUES OF COFFEE
AND TEA ------- 263

The Duke’s Bagnio—The Royal Bagnio—Cuppers
for bleeding—How they operated—The Queen’s
Bagnio—Charges for baths and beds—The Hum-
mums in Brownlow Street—The Sweating House at
the “Black Prince'’—The Old Bailey Bagnio—The
China Hummum—The Dew Bath—Mary Lucas, the
female cupper—Lacy’s Bagnio—The Dutch Chiropo¬
dists—Thomas Smith, the “ Master Corn-Cutter ”—
His Silver Badge—His round of the Coffee houses—
Thomas Shadwells, the Corn-curer of Sea-coal Lane
—The Vertue of the Coffee drink—The first Coffee¬
house in London—Coffee for sore eyes and headache—
Sold at Garraway’s as a cure for all disorders—The
first tea sold in London—The Volatile Spirit of Bohee
Tea—“ A rich cordial for clearing the heart and
melancholy ”—The extraordinary discovery of Mr.
Lattese—Sex control—Colonel Cundum—Mrs. Philips
of the “ Green Canister ” and her “ implements of
safety ”—“ Ambassadors supplied
XIV CONTENTS
CHAPTER XVIII
QUACKS WHO RECEIVED ROYAL PATRONAGE - 276
Southey on Quacks—Sir William Read—Appointed

Oculist to Queen Anne—Addison on Read—Read’s
black servants, coach and horses—Sworn oculist to
King George I—Lady Read carries on the business—
Read’s famous Styptick Water—Roger Grant ap¬
pointed Oculist to the Queen—How he made the
blind to see—His Astringent Sear-cloth—The Cheva¬
lier John Taylor—His lecture on the “ Eye ”—His
address at Oxford University—His autobiography—
Appointed oculist to King George II—John Taylor
Junior—The Chevalier and Dr. Johnson—Joshua
Ward—A quack M.P.—How he was introduced to the
King—How he cured the King—The King’s gratitude
—Ward’s room at Whitehall—His distinguished
patients—Queen Caroline and Ward’s medicines—
“ Ward’s Pills and White Drop ”—Their composition
—The end of “ Spot Ward.”
CHAPTER XIX
THE WITS AND THE QUACKS-HOW THE BRITISH
GOVERNMENT WAS DUPED - - - - 29O
A quack investigator—His experience of female

quacks—Mynheer van Dunder—Addison on quack
doctors’ bills—“ Tetrachymagagon ”—Quacks’ bills in
the Coffee-houses—Addison’s prescription to pre¬
serve health—Joanna Stephens and her Cure for the
Stone—Offer to sell her secret—Subscription raised
to buy it—An Act of Parliament provides for its pur¬
chase—Parliament awards Mrs. Stephens -£5000—
The great secret revealed—The “ Stone quacks ”—
Sir Robert Walpole, a victim.
CHAPTER XX
THREE GREAT QUACKS ----- 299
Mrs. Mapp, the Bone-setter—Crazy Sally’s career—

She settles at Epsom—Her marriage—Her coach and
horses—How she appeased the mob—Sally Mapp
CONTENTS xv
and Hogarth—Ballads in her honour—A song in
“ The Husband’s Relief ”—Her Plate at Epsom—
Her end in the Seven Dials—Three great quacks—
“An epistle to a young student at Cambridge”—
Foote’s satire on a quack’s bill—Skit on a quack’s
harangue—Evolution of a quack.
; CHAPTER XXI
! QUACKS OF COVENT GARDEN AND PICCADILLY - 3 11

Colonel Dalmahoy and his wonderful wig—A ballad
on the Colonel—The famous Dr. Rock—Dr. Bossy of
Covent Garden—His talk with the parrot—Richard¬
son’s parrot intervenes—A story of the famous bird—
Dr. Mantacinni—How he brought the dead to life—
His celebrated “ Baume de Vie ”—Katterfelto and
his black cats—His exhibition in Piccadilly—His
Solar microscope—His artful advertisements.
CHAPTER XXII
a quack’s embalmed wife - - - - 321

Martin van Butchell and his white pony with purple
spots—His dental practise—His wife’s body em¬
balmed—“ The dear departed ” kept in his sitting
room—An Epitaph on the lady—The second wife
objects—John Hill, botanist, playwright and quack-
doctor—Garrick’s lines on his plays—“ The In¬
spector ”—A ballad on his death.
CHAPTER XXIII
BRODUM, SOLOMON AND GRAHAM - - - 327
Physicians and quack remedies—Dr. Brodum and his

“Nervous Cordial”—He is hailed before the College
of Physicians—How he got his diploma—Dr. Solo¬
mon and his “ Cordial Balm of Gilead ”—His “ Balm
of Gold ” and its composition—Lady patient’s fond¬
ness for the remedy—The irate husband’s revenge—
The quack’s punishment—James Graham and his
Temple of Health—The Grand Celestial Bed—The
Magnetic Throne—Temple of Health and Hymen in
Pall Mall—His religious mania.
XVI CONTENTS
CHAPTER XXIV
AN ARTIST-QUACK-A DANCING-MASTER QUACK -
Philip James Loutherbourgh R.A.—Scene designer

for David Garrick—His large pictures—Practises
healing—Mary Pratt’s account of his cures—He
entertains Cagliostro—Elisha Perkins and his “ Met¬
allic Tractors ”—An American fraud—How he duped
Congress—George Washington buys a pair—Perkins’
son starts business in London—The success of the
“ Tractors ”—Caricatures and ballads—How the
fraud was exposed—Mr. Patence, quack and dancing-
master—His “ Universal Medicine or Supreme pills ”
—“ Worth Ten guineas a box ”—A quack who took his
own pills—The advent of the quack-medicine vendor
*—Fortunes made in the XVIIIth century—“ God-
bold’s Vegetable Balsam ”—“ Velno’s Vegetable
Syrup ”—The influence of the mysterious—Human
credulity—How the quack succeeds—Beauty special¬
ists, past and present—Fortunes made by quacks—
Why they still flourish.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
A Mountebank of Old London - - Frontis'p)iece
Page
The Attack on Dr. Lambe - -
4°
A Bill of Dr. Case - -
51
Dr. Case ------- - facing 52
John Partridge & Bickerstaff (Swift) 99 58
Consulting the Astrologer - - 62
An Astrologer’s Bill ----- - 68
A Mountebank and his Zany - - facing 74
Dr. James Tilburg - -
91
£ The Paris Pill,’ A Quack’s Bill - - facing 100
The Famous High-German Doctor 99
122
4 Caveat to the Unwary ’ - 124
Operating for Cataract - - 161
4 The Eminent doctor of physick out of Poland ’ - 164
4 Venus with her Crown ’ -
i65
The famous High-German doctor operating - facing 170
4 An Herculeon Antidote ’ 99
182
4 Bacchus turn’d Doctor ’ - - - - 99
184
An operation on the Eye - - 190
Comport’s Bill ------ - 196
4 For the face, neck and hands ’ _
211
44 Famous Water of Talk and Pearl ” - facing 212
Stephen Draper ------ - 214
John Russell’s Bill - 99
220
The maker of 4 Pilula Salutiferens ’ - 225
4 Spring Trusses, Collars, and Swings ’ - 261
4 The Turk’s Head ’----- - 268
William Read ------ - facing 276
William Read’s Bill ----- 99
278
Chevalier John Taylor - - - - 99
284
Joshua Ward ------ 99
286
Mrs. Sarah Mapp - 99 3°°
Dr. Bossy on his Stage - - - - 99
312
Katterfelto and one of his black cats 99 318
Martin van Butchell ----- 99
322
o
♦
.
THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
INTRODUCTION
O UACKERY goes back to the beginning of human
history and has existed in all ages down to the
present day. From the records of the early civilisations,
there is evidence of its practise over four thousand
years ago, and it may therefore be said to form an
integral part of humanity.
Its growth was fostered by the early association of
the healing art with priest-craft, for human credulity,
especially in connexion with sickness, has altered but
little throughout the centuries, and there have always
been individuals ready to prey on the foibles and
weaknesses of their fellows.
The control of mysterious and unknown powers, has
ever been a quality which persons of ordinary ability
could not successfully acquire, so there arose a class of
specialists ; men, who by their superior knowledge and
cleverness, made others believe that they were able to
cope with the unseen. These, in ancient times, were
the priest-magicians who may fitly be called the first
quack-doctors. They practised a mystical form of
quackery that had its origin in charms and incan¬
tations, which they employed not only to cure but also
to prevent disease.
20 INTRODUCTION
This was followed by belief in the healing virtue of
water, springs, relics and shrines and thus, after begin¬
ning in simple faith, this form of mysticism developed
into deliberate trickery which was eventually exploited
for personal gain.
The early Babylonian priest-physician sometimes
sprinkled water over a sick person while he repeated
an incantation, or words of power, with the object of
expelling the evil spirit that was believed to be the
cause of the disease. A clay tablet, in cunieform, dating
from about 2500 years B.C., thus records the words
used :
“ When I sprinkle the water of Ea on the sick man,
When I subdue the sick man.”
In another it is directed to “ wash him with the
purest water,” in order to effect the cure.
In ancient Egypt the priest-physicians were the chief
practitioners of the healing art which they enveloped in
mystery, their secrets being jealously guarded and hidden
from the laity. The belief in charms and amulets was
universal, and quackery was doubtless rampant.
There were quack doctors also among the early
peoples of India, and Charaka, one of the traditional
Hindu physicians, alludes contemptuously to “ those
who making a great display in the train of a learned
doctor, who no sooner did they hear of a patient, than
they hurried off to him to fill his ears with their own
medical ability.”
In ancient Greece, the rhizotomists or root-cutters
who sold secret remedies, love philtres and cosmetics
to the credulous, were well versed in quackery ; while
INTRODUCTION 21
in Rome in the time of the Empire, there were quack
doctors innumerable.
To them we probably owe the introduction of quackery
into Britain at the time of the Roman occupation, for a
“ medicine stamp ” discovered at Bath some years ago,
shows that a quack called Junianus, sold a “ Golden
Ointment to clear the sight,” to the citizens of the
ancient city on the Avon.
Among the Arabs who cultivated pharmacy and had a
considerable knowledge of the use of drugs, the quack
doctor was known as early as the tenth century.
Rhazes the famous Arabian physician who was the first
accurately to describe smallpox and measles, referring
to the charlatans of his time, says : “ There are so many
little arts used by mountebanks and pretenders to
physic, that an entire treatise would not contain them.
Their impudence is equal to their guilt in tormenting
persons in their last hours. They profess to cure the
falling sickness (epilepsy) by making an issue at the
back of the head in the form of a cross. Others give
out they can draw snakes out of their patient’s noses,
or worms from their teeth. No wise man ought to trust
his life to their hands.”
During the Middle Ages, there was no line between
the regular practitioner of medicine and the pretender
to the art of healing.
Henri de Mondeville, who was surgeon to Philip the
Fair, writing between 1306 and 1320 in his treatise on
“Chirurgie,” alludes to the “unlearned persons, barbers,
fortune-tellers, old women, who give themselves out for
surgeons in order to gain a living.” He says that “ Kings,
22 INTRODUCTION
Princes and Prelates, Canons, Curates, Religios, Dukes,
Noblemen and Burgesses, dabble without knowledge in
dangerous surgical treatments and especially in the
treatment of diseases of the eye, which is dangerous,
difficult and fraudulent to that degree, that one seldom
finds a surgeon who is capable and expert in those
matters. The vulgar say of these religious and their
like, that they have knowledge infused into them by the
pure grace of the Creator.” Here again we have the
association of religion and medicine which has survived
to modern times.
CHAPTER I
I ORIGIN OF THE QUACK-DOCTOR-QUACKS IN TUDOR TIMES
O UACKERY may of course be practised in various

ways and in connexion with various callings,
so it will be well, before describing the activities of the
quack-doctor of medicine, to consider the meanings as¬
cribed to the word.
The quack-doctor in early literature is alluded to as a
mountebank, an empiric, and a charlatan. The “ Oxford
Dictionary ” defines the quack as “ an ignorant pre¬
tender to medical and surgical skill, who boasts to have
a knowledge of wonderful remedies, an empiric, an
impostor in medicine.” Skeat in his “ Etymological
Dictionary of the English Language ” gives the mean¬
ing of quack, “ to cry up pretended nostrums ” and
observes it is only a particular use of the original word
“ to make a noise like a duck.” He further says, “ Quack¬
salver is a derivative which means a quack who puffs
up his salves or ointments and later was quack-doctor.
The word originally meant a mountebank who sold
salves and eye lotions at country fairs.”
Quack-salver is said by some authorities to be
derived from the old Dutch word Kzcabzalver from
kwab a wen, and zalver an ointment, while others
assert the name originated from Quecksilber the German
24 THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
for quicksilver. The earliest allusion to it in English
literature is made by Gosson, in “ Schoole of Abuse ”
printed in 1579, who mentions, “A quacke-saluer’s
Budget of filthy receites.” In the seventeenth century
the word is frequently used, as in Ben Jonson’s
“ Volpone,” 1605, “they are quack-saluers, fellowes that
live by sen ting oyles and drugs ”, while in 1608, Dekker
alludes to “ Quack-saluing Empiricks.”
The word mountebank is mentioned by Stanyhurst
in his “Description of Ireland” as early as 1577,
and applies to “ the travelling quack who from a
platform appealed to his audience by means of
stories, tricks and jugglings, often assisted by a clown
or fool.”
The word charlatan came into use in the early seven¬
teenth century and Ben Jonson in “ Volpone ” alludes
to “ the rabble of these ground Ciarlitani that spread
their clokes on the pavement.” Sir Thomas Browne
also mentions “ Saltimbancoes, Quack-salvers and Char¬
latans ” in “ Pseudoxia Epidemica ” in 1646. Randle
Cotgrave defines the word as meaning “ a mountebanke,
a cousening drug-seller, a prattling quack-salver.”
An empiric was not necessarily a quack, and although
the word was often used in that sense in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, it became later to be more
properly applied to an experimenter who gained his
education or knowledge of his art by hearsay and ob¬
servation. He who practised by rule of thumb without
rational grounds.
The quack-doctor was recognised in London as early
as 1382, for according to Stow, a “ counterfeit physician ”
ORIGIN OF THE QUACK DOCTOR 25
i in that year “ was set on horseback, his face to the
i horse’s tail, the same tail in his hand as a bridle, a
i! collar of Jordans about his neck, a whetstone on his
breast and so led through the City of London with
ringing of basons, and then banished.” There is record
of another counterfeit physician who lost his head, which
was exposed on the Tower in 1426. Such were the punish¬
ments for quacks in London in the fourteenth and
fifteenth centuries.
It was not until the time of Henry VIII in 1511,
that an Act was passed for the regulation of medical
and surgical practise with powers to suppress quack
practitioners. The opening sentences of this statute
are interesting, as they give us some idea of the
extent to which quackery was practised at that
period.
“ Forasmuch as the science and cunning of physick
and surgery, is daily within this realm, exercised by a
great multitude of ignorant persons, of whom the greater
part have no manner of insight in the same, nor any
other kind of learning; that common artificers as
smiths, weavers and women, boldly and accustomably
take upon them great cures and things of great difficulty
in which they partly use sorcery and witchcraft, partly
apply such medicines unto the disease as to be noxious
and nothing meet, therefore to the High displeasure
of God, great infamy to the Faculty, and the grievous
hurt and damage and destruction of many of the King’s
liege people.”
When the College of Physicians was founded seven
years later, it was granted a charter conferring upon it
larger powers for the suppression of quacks and im¬
postors, but in spite of this, they continued to increase
and flourish, and in Tudor times, “ Ministers, Mounte¬
banks, Runnagate Quack-salvers and women ”, says a
writer of the time, infested old London.
Thomas Gale, who was a surgeon in the Army in 1544
tells us that in that year, “ I did see in the two hospitals
of London called St. Thomas’s and St. Bartholomews,
to the number of 300 and odd poor people that were
diseased of sore arms, legs, feet and hands with other
parts of the body, so grievously infected, that 120 of
them could never be recovered without loss of a limb.
All these were brought to their mischief by witches, by
women, and by counterfeit Javils (worthless fellows)
that take upon them the use of art, not only robbing
them of their money but of their limbs and perpetual
health.”
John Halle, a worthy doctor of Maidstone, describes
the “ j a veils who thronged to that town from London
in 1565.”
He says, one Thomas Lufkin, a fuller by trade, came
there in 1558 and announced, “ If any man, woman or
child be sick or would be let blood or be diseased with
any manner of inward or outward griefs, as all manner
of agues or fevers, pleurisies, colic, stone, strangulation,
imposthumes, pustules, kanker, gout, bone-ache and
pain of the joints which cometh for lack of blood letting,
let them resort to the 4 Saracen’s Head ’ in the East
Lane and they shall have remedy by me, Thomas
Lufkin.” Another quack was John Bewley who
hailed from the Old Bailey, and lived opposite Sir
ORIGIN OF THE QUACK DOCTOR 27
Robert Charnley. Bewley was arrested at Maidstone
and brought before the justices who found he could not
read. He was let off with a caution, and advised “ to
leave such false and naughty deceits and begone,” and
promptly returned to the scene of his former activities
in London.
The quack has always shown great skill in advertising
and recognised it as the mainspring of success. Before
the era of printing he had to rely solely on his lungs
for haranguing his audience, but in the sixteenth
century he began to appreciate the value of the press
in making known his remedies and commenced to cir¬
culate hand-bills.
A fragment of one of these bills printed about 1525,
is preserved in the library of the Royal College of
Surgeons. It reads as follows :
Canfeer or the Colpcfe anb the

ibfearre in tfje Ipppe or other bfeeasesi in
the mouth . . .
glso, if anp man fjabe anp bpssease in
his epen tofjo be toith ^purblinbnefiS or
a ®Iem or anp other ^fepnne ober the
H>pghtg. HLfyttie anb other such Ipfee
biseases can this aforesaib
JL€ bp the grace
anb hdpr of #ob. Jtloreober pf anp be
biseaseb tenth the pocfcesi or other prpbp
biseases or fmbe sore legges of olb or
netoe grebes!, let Ipm tome to tfje forfiapbe
tofjtcfj tb
lobgeb tn #>atnt fEljomas! fjabpttal tong
ôuttjtoarcfe anb fje topi fjeale fjtm tottlj
tfje grace of #ob ; tfje poore freelp for tfje
fjonor anb lobe of #ob anb tfje rpcfje for
a reasonable retoarbe.”
About the middle of the sixteenth century, the College

of Physicians on being urged to take more active steps
to check the practise of the quacks, began to take pro¬
ceedings against some of the more flagrant offenders,
and summoned them to appear before the President and
Censors, who had power to commit them to prison.
The account of these proceedings recorded by Charles
Goodall, throws a further light on the quacks of the
period. From him we learn that in 1551, a man
named Grig, who was a poulterer in Surrey, posed as a
prophet and healer, and said he was able to cure divers
diseases. His activities were cut short by the officials
of the College, and on the 8th of September of that year
he was put in the pillory at Southwark to expiate his
offence.
In 1555, during the reign of Queen Mary, one Charles
Cornet, “ an impudent and ignorant Buffoon, who
would not be restrained from his ill practises, with the
bills of his condemnation affixed at the corners of
streets, being patronised by Weston, Dean of West¬
minster and Robert Charnley, was forced to flee the
QUACKS IN TUDOR TIMES 29
town and had his unwholesome remedies burnt in the
open market at Westminster.”
In the time of Queen Elizabeth, many of the quacks
practising in London were Italians, and in 1570, one
of these called Sylva was brought before the President
and Censors of the College. He was charged with
having undertaken to cure an old woman by suffumi-
gations with which she died and “ presented Stibium
(antimony) to another person to his great prejudice.”
He was fined Twenty pounds and afterwards committed
to prison. On October 28th 1586, Peter Piers was
hailed before the College tribunal and sent to prison
“ for giving Pills of Antimony, Turbith (sulphate of
mercury) and Mercury sublimate, by which he killed
several persons.”
Paul Fairfax, another quack who gave out bills
“ stuffed with arrogance and ostentation of the Admir¬
able Virtues of a Water which he called Aqua Coelestis,
with which he cheated people, when brought before the
College, confessed that he had practised physick in
London for four months.” He pretended that he had
done several cures with his water and other remedies,
but without avail, for he was fined five pounds and
warned, that if he continued his evil doings, he would
be sent to prison.
Jl
The female quack was not unknown in the sixteenth

century, for in 1588, we find that Tomazine Scarlet, “ a
woman so egregiously ignorant that she confessed
she knew nothing of Physick, neither could reade or
write, yet had hundreds under her cure to whom she
gave medicines, Stibium, etc., was charged with these
base practises. She was fined Ten pounds and was
committed to prison for her mis-deeds.”
Paul Buck, who is said to have been “ a very impudent
and ignorant quack,” who had been practising in Lon¬
don for six years, pretending to cure all diseases ;
apparently gave a great deal of trouble. He was com¬
mitted to prison in 1589 until he could give bond with
security, “ upon which he refused to give any bond and
said he would practise when he liked.” He was evidently
a contumacious rogue and on giving this “ insolent and
sawcy answer,” he was remanded back to the Counter
(prison) in Wood Street. Buck however was not without
influential friends, for he got Sir Frances Walsingham,
Secretary to Her Majesty, to write to the President of
the College stating, “ that he had done much good and
was otherwise of a verie good and honest disposition.”
On receipt of this letter, the Beadle of the College was
sent to bring Buck before the President again, but he
refused to come.
Meanwhile, he was ingratiating himself with the
Keeper of the prison, for about two months afterwards,
he appears to have been set at liberty without the
knowledge of the College. Once free, he recommenced
practise but was soon pounced upon and again brought
before the tribunal. This time, he procured letters
from Lord Howard, the Lord High Admiral, praying the
College to grant him a licence to practise and offering
twenty pounds (May 29. 1593) for the same, but this
was refused. Even then Buck was not at the end of
his resources, for he produced a letter from the Earl of
Essex commending him, but this did not move the
authorities, who refused the licence and again fined him.
Another notorious mountebank and impostor was
Roger Powel, who was cited to appear before the
College, “ for that he had hanged up a table in several
parts of the town wherein he boasted of his great cures
and long experience.” Although he produced letters
from the Queen giving an account of his poverty and
fortunate success in physick, he was fined twenty
pounds and sent to the Counter. Out of respect to the
Earl of Derby, with whom he claimed relationship, he
was released from prison upon giving bond that he
would never practise in London or within seven miles
of the city.
The notorious Simon Forman, who claimed to be an
alchemist and astrologer and a practitioner of magic,
was brought before the College and charged with pre¬
tending to cure “ many Hectical and tabid people by
the use of an Electuary made with rose juice and
wormwood water. He confessed that he had practised
physick for sixteen years and for two years in London.
He was mulcted in Five pounds but did not pay it, so
was brought back after two or three years and com¬
mitted to prison, but he was released soon after by
order of the Lord Keeper. He fled to Lambeth as a
place of protection from the College officers, but con¬
tinued to practise astrology and fortune-telling.”
Towards the close of the sixteenth century an English¬
man named Francis Anthony, who had taken the degree
of master of arts at Cambridge, proceeded to Hamburg
to study medicine. After obtaining his diploma, he
returned to London and commenced to practise as a
doctor of physic but without a licence from the College
of Physicians. In consequence, he was hailed before the
President and Censors, and on examination, he con¬
fessed that he had “ practised physick in London for
six months and during that period had cured twenty or
more divers diseases in people to whom he had given
purging and vomiting physick. To others he had given
a disphoretick medicine prepared from gold and mer¬
cury.” He was questioned in several parts of physick
by the Censors and found very weak and ignorant, where¬
upon he was fined Twenty pounds and committed to
the Counter prison. He was liberated in 1602, but a
few years afterwards fresh charges were laid against
him “ by a Reverend Divine, who upon his deathbed,
complained that a medicine called Aurum Potabile
given to him by Anthony had killed him.”
This caused him to publish a defence of his remedy in
which he revealed the recipe, although he still kept
secret the process for making it.
There was a popular belief in the sixteenth century,
that gold possessed great and remarkable medicinal
properties, and it was actually said to contain the prin¬
ciples of immortality. A solution of the precious metal,
therefore, was highly valued.
Anthony’s recipe for his preparation is particularly
interesting, as it shows he had some knowledge of
chemistry.
His process was published in the form of a little
pamphlet which was printed in London by William
Cooper in 1683, although he made known his recipe in
1610. It is called “ Receit showing the way to make his
most Excellent Medicine called AURUM POTABILE,”
and the following is a brief summary of the process.
A piece of block tin was first to be placed in any iron
pan and heated continuously until it became like ashes.
Four ounces of these ashes were then to be placed in a
flask with three pints of strong red wine and digested
for two or three days. The clear liquid was to be
distilled and four ounces of fresh tin ashes added to
it and a quart of red wine. This was to be digested for
ten days, filtered, distilled and a pint of vinegar added
to the residue which was to be heated for ten days and
then again distilled. This distillate he called the men¬
struum.
“ Then,55 he states, “ take one ounce of pure refined
Gold which costs £3 13s. 4d., and file it into dust, heat
it with an equal quantity of white salt and subject it
to heat for four hours. Grind this very small and after
I calcining it, wash it with boiling water repeatedly. One
jounce of the residue is to be then digested with half a
ipint of the menstruum and heated for six days. After
^ again being distilled, the residuum dried and powdered,
is to be put into half a pint of spirit of wine, left for ten
edays and then poured off.55 This operation is to be
repeated three times and the liquors then distilled until
jlthey are the thickness of a syrup. One ounce of this
is to be put into a pint of canary sack and the solution
is ready for use.55
Divested of all the unnecessary operations which
formed part of the mysteries of the alchemist, who loved
<to create an atmosphere of great labour, Anthony
^doubtless got a solution of stannate of gold. The sale of
the remedy was so successful, that it was carried on
by his son for some time after his death.
The practise of quackery in London at the end of the
sixteenth century is thus graphically described by a
contemporary writer and quoted in his own words :
“ The whol Rable of these quack-Saluers are of a base
wit and perverse. They for the most part are the abject
and sordidous scumme and refuse of the people, who
having run away from their trades and occupations
learne in a corner to get their livings by killing men,
and if we plucke off their vizards wherein these maskers
do march and bring them to the light, which like owls
they cannot abide, they will appear to be runnagate
Jews, the Cut-throats and robbers of Christians, slow-
bellyed monkes who have made their escape from their
cloysters, simoniacall and perjured shavelings, shifting
and outcast Pettifoggers, Trasonical Chymists, light¬
headed and trivial Druggers and Apothecaries, sun-
shunning nightbirds and corner-creepers, dull-pated and
base Mechanickes, Stage players, Juglers, Pedlers,
Prittle-pratling barbers, filthie Grasiers, curious bath
keepers, common shifters, cogging cavaliers, lazy clowns,
toothless and tatling old wives, chattering char-women,
long-tongued mid-wives, Dog-leeches and such like
baggage.
“ In the next ranke follow the Poysoners, Inchanters,
Soothsayers,Wizards, Fortune-tellers, Magitians, Witches,
Hags, with a rablement of that damnable crew. For
the greatest part of them disdaine booke-learning, being
altogether unacquainted with liberal arts and never came
where learning grew. Meere dolts, idiots and buzzards.
“ You shall sooner finde a blacke swan than an honest
man in this Bunch, but you shall discerne notorious
Impostors, old beaten foxes and cozeners, having a
foxe’s head and a whorish and wainscotted face. Hee
j will make sure to fawne upon the Female kinde and to
purchase favour of honourable ladies with some rare
pretious gifts, suppose a piece of counterfeit Unicorn’s
Horn, or a Bezoar Stone made of powder of post or glasse
sand, the onely and soveraigne antidote and medicine
i for all maladies.
“ Some under the names and tytles of Elixir of Lyfe,
Quin-Essence of Gold, Pearle, Azoth and Panacea, and
account Secret of Secrets, do sell certaine Gimmals
with great applause.
“ Others refer unto Charms, witchcraft, magnisicall
incantations and sorcerie, affirming, there is no way to
help them but by characters, Circles, Exercisms, Con¬
jurations, and other impious means. Others sell at
great price certaine Amulets of Gold and Silver, stamped
under selected constellations of the planets and some
magicall character, shamelessly boasting that they will
cure all diseases.”
Thus Oberndorf, in 1602, quaintly describes, no doubt
with some accuracy, the kind of people who swelled the
ranks of the quacks of London in the time of the Tudors.
CHAPTER II
FAMOUS QUACKS IN THE TIME OF THE STUARTS
D URING the seventeenth century quacks of every

description abounded and flourished in London.
At this period, the legitimate practise of medicine was
more a pursuit of systems, rather than an application
of the principles of pathology then known. During
this experimental stage, it is not to be wondered, that
quacks sprang up ready to undertake what the regular
practitioner could not cure.
Thus the folly of mankind, which is ever ready to
deceive itself, and the frequent failure of medicine to
give speedy relief in human suffering, threw many into
the hands of the quacks who did not scruple to boast
they were able to cure every disease incident to man.
Besides the more prominent and notorious figures who
made their nostrums known by bills, there were the
astrologers and fortune-tellers, the women doctors, the
beauty-specialists, the mountebanks who harangued
their dupes from tables or stages, who congregated in
the neighbourhood of Tower-hill and Moorfields, and the
general rabble of rogues and rascals who were out to
deceive any credulous person with whom they could
come in contact. Such was their increase in numbers
and audacity that in the time of James I, a warrant
36
FAMOUS QUACKS IN TIME OF THE STUARTS 37
was sent to all magistrates in the city, “ to take up all
reputed Empiricks and Quacks with other offenders
of this nature, and bring them before the Censors of the
College of Physicians, and the King himself sent letters
to the Lord Mayor of London, to the same effect.” The
College was given further power to fine, search, also to
correct and govern these persons, and to punish such
as unlawfully practised. But although the authorities
began to renew their activities they appear to have
prosecuted but few offenders.
Among them was Arthur Dee, a mountebank, who was
summoned before the Censors, for “ hanging out a table
at his door, on which he exposed to sale several medicines
by which many diseases were said to be certainly cured.”
This “ crime was esteemed such an intolerable cheat
! and imposture, that he was ordered to appear with his
I remedies in order to the inflicting a due penalty upon
him.” The penalty which was no doubt inflicted is not
recorded.
In 1627, they hailed before them a more notorious
rogue in the person of John Lambe, “ a bold quack, who
was charged with demanding forty to fifty pounds for
I his cures as lately of a Mr. Pickering in Cheapside, who
died in his hands.”
John Lambe, who was undoubtedly a great scoundrel,
had an extraordinary career. He began life as a tutor,
after which he took up the study of medicine but soon
developed a taste for the magical arts, which he found
more profitable than healing the sick. He settled at
Tardebigg in Worcestershire for a time, where he made a
living by telling fortunes and crystal gazing. In 1608
THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
he was brought before the magistrates and charged with
practising magic, was found guilty and committed
to prison. On regaining his liberty he went to Hind-
lip, where he again commenced operations as a magician,
but he soon got into trouble and a few months afterwards,
was arraigned at the assizes on a charge of having
“ invoked and entertained certain evil and impious
spirits.” At the trial it was also asserted that, “he had
caused apparitions to proceed from a crystal glass.”
According to the indictment, he was also charged with
degrading “ the profession of that noble and deepe
science of Physicke, which many base Impostours have
used to lewde and juggling practices.”
Further, “ with not having the feare of God before his
eyes, but by a Diabolicall instigation, being mooved and
seduced the 16th day of December in yeare of the raigne
of our Soveraigne, Lord King James of England, France
and Ireland, with certaine Evill, Diabolicall and Exe¬
crable arts called witchcrafts, enchantments, charmers
and sorcerers, in and upon the right Honourable Th.
Lo. W. Devilishly, maliciously and feloniously did use,
practise and exercise to the intent by the same Evill,
Devillish and Execrable arts, to disable, make infirm
and consume the body and strength of the said Th.
Lo. W.”
He was committed a prisoner to Worcester Castle and
while there, some strange things are said to have hap¬
pened. On one occasion, when he was being visited
by three of his friends, and wishing to entertain them,
he asked the gaoler for four cups. On these being
forthcoming, he conjured “ a bottle of sack on the
table with which they regaled themselves.” He boldly
declared that evil would befall his judges, and on the
assertion that “ the High Sheriff and divers other
Justices would die within a fortnight after his trial,” he
was transferred to King’s Bench prison in London, where
he was kept in durance for fifteen years. While there he
seems to have been plentifully supplied with money
and lived well.
On regaining his liberty, he again commenced to tell
fortunes and to practice crystal-gazing, living a wild
and dissolute life on his gains. In 1627, when he was
brought before the Censors of the College, the chief
witness against him was a Mr. Evans, “who” states the
record, “ gave an account against him in these very
words. The persons to whom Lambe, that notable
mountebank and impostor, gave physick were, Mr.
Springman a mercer, Mr. Wilson the Keeper of Newgate ;
by shewing him tricks in a crystal he got from Mr.
Peny forty shillings. He gave Physick to the Countess
of Exeter and by means of delusions in a crystal, in¬
sinuates himself into Ladies esteem and conceits. On
Saturday last he got fifty pounds for a cure.”
In his defence, Lambe produced a letter from the
Bishop of Durham stating, that “ he hath done many
and great cures.”
“ This Lambe,” concludes the record, “ was very
famous throughout the Town, being admired for his
great skill in the hidden Arts of Magick and Astrology,
but in truth he was a wretched knave.”
He is said to have been frequently consulted and
employed as a tool, by George Villiers, Duke of Bucking-
4o THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
ham, and to have supplied him with love-philtres and
other concoctions. Lambe apparently obtained a strong
influence over the Duke, and when the latter fell from
Royal favour and as his unpopularity grew, it was shared
by his “ creature,” who was commonly known as “ the
Duke’s devil.” One night, after attending the play,
Lambe was set upon by a mob of apprentices, who were
incensed by a charge that had been made against him,
and was so beaten and maltreated that he^died from
r’A' &I
the effects shortly afterwards.
THE ATTACK ON DR. LAMBE

From, a woodcut 1628
Lambe’s fate showed the popular hatred of Buck¬

ingham and the common cry of the London mob
was,
“ Let Charles and George do what they can,

The Duke shall die like Dr. Lambe.”
On the day of Lambe’s death, bills bearing the follow¬
ing words were posted on the walls of London.
“ Who rules the Kingdom ? —The King,

Who rules the King ?—The Duke,
Who rules the Duke ?—The Devil.
“Let the Duke look to it or he will be served as his

doctor was served.”
A few weeks later, Buckingham was assassinated.

A curious case brought before the Censors of the
College in the time of Charles I, was that of Mr. Evans,
a Minister, who was charged with having poisoned
Sir Nathaniel Kitch and Lady Amye Blunt by his
Antimonial Cup, in Charter House Yard.
Cups made of an alloy of antimony and tin called
fiocula emetica were used in the XVIth and XVIIth
centuries. They were filled with wine, which when
allowed to stand in them for some days, became suffi¬
ciently impregnated with tartar emetic to produce
vomiting, when swallowed. No further record beyond
the statement that “ he was sent to prison,” is made
of this interesting case.
A more genial and witty quack was Thomas Saffold,
whose quaint rhymes and doggerel amused the Town in
the time of Charles II.
He was born about 1640 and began life as a weaver,
but by some means he managed to pick up a smattering
of medical knowledge. On September 4th 1674 he
obtained a licence to practice medicine from the Bishop
of London, an easy matter for any plausible rogue at
that time, as the records of these episcopal licences,
still to be found in the library of Lambeth Palace,
readily testify.
He established himself at “ the Black Ball and Old
Lilly's Heady next door to the Feather Shops that are
within Black-Friers Gateway, which is over against
Ludgate Churchy just by Ludgate in London.”
He describes himself, as “ an Approved and Licensed
Physician and Student in Astrology, who (through
God’s mercy) to do good.” Tom Saffold was a firm
believer in advertising, and along Cheapside, Fleet
Street and the Strand, and thence down to Whitehall
and St. James’s, he stationed his bill distributors who
gave out his poetic effusions to those who passed by.
He believed himself to be a man of great talent which
he determined to exploit to the utmost, and so he
announced in one of his bills :
“ It hath so pleased God the King of Heaven,

Being he to him hath Knowledge given,
And in him there can be no greater Sin,
Than to hide his Talent in a Napkin.
His Candle is Light, and he will not under
A bushel put it ; Let the World wonder,
Though he be traduced by such like Tools,
As have knave’s hearts, lack brains are Fools.”
Saffold practised what he called “ Christian astrology,”

solved mysteries, answered all lawful questions, provided
his patients with lodgings if they required them, and
“ By God’s blessing cured the sick of any age or sex
of any distemper.”
He made no charge for his advice, if his patients bought
a bottle of his wonderful Elixir or a box of his famous
' Pills, as one of his bills proclaims,
“ THE SICK MAY HAVE ADVICE FOR NOTHING 55

And good medicines cheap, if so they please,
For to cure any curable disease.
It’s Saffold’s Pills much better than the rest,
Deservedly have gain’d the name of Best ;
In curing by the Cause, quite purging out
Of Scurvy, French-Pox, Agues, Stone and Gout.
The head, Stomach, Belly and the Reins, they
Will cleanse and cure, while you may work or play.
His pills have often, to their Maker’s Praise,
Cur’d in all weathers, yea in the Dog-Days.
I In short no Purging Med’cine is made, can
Cure more Diseases in Man or Wo-man,
Than his cheap Pills, but Three shillings the Box,
A sure Cure for the Running Reins and Pox.
Each Box contains thirty six Pills, I’m sure
As good as e’re were made, Scurvy to cure.
The half box, eighteen pills for eighteen pence,
Though ’tis too cheap in any Man’s own sense.”
His Liquor or Elixir, which he recommended for the

same diseases, he sold at half a crown a bottle and
declared it would cure “ Dropsie, Agues, Stone and
Gout, as well as the Disease too much in fashion.”
Saffold in his bills particularly warns his patients not to
mistake his house, as “ another being near him pretends
the same.” “ To those conceited fools and dark animals
who ask how he came to be able to work such great
cures, and to fore-tell such great things,” he thus
replies:
“ Dear Friends, let your disease be what God will

Pray to him for a Cure, try Saffold’s skill ;
Who may be such a healing Instrument,
As will cure you to your Heart’s content.
His medicines are Cheap and truly good,
Being full as safe as your daily food.
Saffold, he can do what may be done, by
Either Physick or true Astrology ;
His best Pills, Rare Elixir and Powder,
Do each Day Praise him Lowder and Lowder.
Dear Countrymen, I pray you be so wise,
When men Back-bite him, believe not their Lyes,
But go and see him and believe your own Eyes.
Then he will say, you are honest and kind,
Try before you judge and Speak as you find.”
Tom, as he was popularly called, was continually
turning out new rhymes and fresh bills, and one of the
last he issued in the form of a ballad runs as follows :
“ Some Envious Men being grieved may say,
What need bills thus still be given away ?
Answer. New People come to London every day.
Believing Solomon’s advice is right,
I will do what I do with all my might.
Also unless an English Proverb lies,
Practice brings experience and makes wise ;
Experimental knowledge I protest
In Lawful Arts and Science is the best,
Instead of Finis, Saffold ends with Rest.”
Another of Saffold’s rhymes ran :
“ Saffold Resolves, as in his bills exprest

When asked in good earnest, not in Jest ;
He can cure when God Almighty pleases,
But cannot protect against Diseases.
If men will live intemperate and Sin,

He cannot help’t if they be sick agen.
This great Truth unto the world he’ll tell
None can cure sooner, who cures half so well.”
In the spring of 1691, Tom was taken ill and when

t pressed by his friends to call in medical advice, he
: refused and declared that he would take no other
medicine but his own pills. In spite of his faith in his
physic it proved of no avail, and this “ benefactor of his
species ” died on May 12th of the same year. Abroad-
side was printed lamenting this sad disaster, and sung
by the ballad-singers about the city.
“ Tom Saffold dead ? That famous Operator,

And did no Blazing Star foretell the matter ?
No angry Comet with bright Flames her on,
Foretel the Death of so Renowned a Person ?
Ye ill-bred Stars ye knew when he was living,
He was each day from you some skill receiving,
And could ye not afford one Link Celestial,
To Light him from Black-Fyer’s House Terrestial ?
For very well ye flaming lights did know,
’Twas a dark way the Doctor had to go ;
But we alas in vain his absence mourn,
For he is gone, thence never to return.
To’s House again, who with his Bills alone
Did fill and furnish half the Town.
So skilled in Drugs and Verse, ’twas hard to show it
Whether was best, the Doctor or the Poet.
His skill in Physick did his fame advance,

Tho’ some accuse him of dull Ignorance ;
Powder of post may sometimes do the trick,
As well as Rhubarb, Senna, Agarick,
For let the sad disease be what it will,
The patient’s faith helps more than Doctor’s Skill;
Besides he had so quick, so short a way,
No patient under him long grieving lay ;
For was it Fever, Pox or Calenture,
His drugs could either quickly kill or cure.
Sometimes perhaps his Guilded Pill prevails,
But if that fail, the Dead can tell no tales.
What if his medicines thousands Lives should spill ?
Hangmen and Quacks are authorized to Kill.
Ye who now in sweating-tubs devoutly drivel,

Faith Sparks, your Doctor’s left you to the Devil.
Howl and lament and shed your briny tears,
Ye Shadwel Dames and Wap'ping Wastcoteers
Who blushing with your flasks of water,
Came to his House to understand the matter.
Lament ye Damsels of our London City,
(Poor unprovided girls) tho’ fair and witty,
Who maskt would to his House in couples come,
To understand your matrimonial doom ;
To know what kind of men you were to marry
And how long time, poor things, you were to tarry ;
Your Oracle is silent, none can tell
On whom his Astrologick mantle fell.
For he when sick refused all Doctor’s aid
And only to his Pills devotion paid ;
Yet it was surely a most sad disaster
The SAWCY PILLS at last should KILL THEIR
MASTER.”
EPITAPH.
44 Here Lyes the corps of Thomas Saffold,
By Death, in spite of Physick, Baffl’d,
Who leaving off his working Loom,
Did learned Doctor soon become,
To Poetry he made pretence,
Is plain to any man’s own sense ;
But he when living thought it Sin
4 To hide his Talent in Napkin.’
Now Death does Poet, Doctor crowd
Within the Limits of a shroud.”
London 1691.
Saffold’s business was carried on by John Case, who

removed to his house in Black-Friers, but he gilded the
old sign of the Black-ball and thus announced himself,
44 At the Golden Ball and Lillies Head

John Case yet lives, though Saffold’s dead.”
Case was born at Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire about

1660, and came to London when about fifteen to seek
his fortune. He was a sharp, shrewd youth and
fond of reading. He went to lodge at Lambeth and
before he was twenty-three published a book called
“ The wards of the Key to Helmont proved unfit for
the Lock, or the Principles of Mr. Wm. Bacon examined
and refuted, (London, 1682).”
He described himself at that time, as “ a student in
Physick and Astrology ” and the book shows that he
certainly had some literary ability. His friend John
Partridge, who had become well-known as the author
of Astrological Almanacks, contributed a commendatory
preface to the work, which is dedicated “ To my esteemed
friend Sir Thomas Gery Kt.” Their friendship is men¬
tioned later on by Swift.
In 1695, Case published “ Compendium Anatomicum
nova methodo institutum,” a little book which brought
him some fame as a medical writer. In it he ably defends
the opinions of William Harvey and De Graaf on the
“ Generation of animals,” and the work is so well put
together, that it is doubted by some, including Chalmers,
that Case actually wrote it.
In the same year he published another book called
“ Ars anatomica breviter elucidata,” and within twelve
months his “ Flos kEvi or Celestial Observations ”
was printed.
It was about this time, probably on account of his
literary efforts proving unremunerative, he decided to
take up Saffold’s mantle as a quack-doctor and Lilly’s
practise as an astrologer, and went to live in the house
at Black-Friers, where he hung up his “ Golden Ball.”
He took possession of the apparatus of both his pre-
(FAMOUS QUACKS IN TIME OF THE STUARTS 49
1 decessors, and is said to have been especially proud of
I the darkened room and the collection of mysterious
appliances, that had been used by Lilly to impress
: those who sought his aid and power, to see visions of
j their departed friends, and to question the oracle as to
; the future.
Under the sign of the “ Golden Ball,” over the door,
he had these lines inscribed :
u Within this place

Lives Doctor Case.”
Addison later declared in the Tatler, a Case made

: more money by this couplet, than Dryden made by all
[ his poetical works put together.”
Following Saffold’s style of poetic bill, he issued this
1 address :
“ Dear Friends, let your disease be what God will,

Pray to him for a cure, Try Case’s Skill;
Who may be such an healing instrument,
As will cure you to your Heart’s content.
His medicines are cheap, and truly good,
Being full as safe as your daily food,
Case, he can do what may be done, by
Either Physick, or true Astrology.”
“ Case offers the Poor, Sore, Sick and Lame, advice

: for Nothing, and proper medicines for every particular
; distemper at reasonable rates. He doth also, with great
1; certainty and privacy, resolve all manner of Lawful
questions according to the Rules of Christian Astrology,
land more than fifteen years experience. He is to be
4
spoken with alone from Eight in the morning till eight
at night.”
In another bill, he describes himself as “ a Spagyrick
Physician,” and enumerates some of his wonder-working
nostrums. These include, his “ Mundus Sanitatus, the
operations of which are the wonder of the world, price
2s. 6d., very proper. The Pilula Cathartica, the True
Medicarem Universale, Gutta Stipitica Miraculum Mun-
di, the world’s wonder for inward wounds, Liquor
Diuretica and Analepticus, and the cordial draught or
wonderful Elixir.”
Around his pill boxes he pasted a label with the
words :
“ Here’s fourteen pills for thirteen pence ;

Enough in any man’s own conscience.”
In one of his bills Case declares that he was admitted

“ an approved practitioner in that famous science of
physick in 1672, and both before and since, has been an
industrious inquirer into the secrets of Spagyrick or
Chymical Art. He has a laboratory of his own in this
city in the said art and at length by the Blessing of God
attained a most noble Universal Medicine, which he has
thought fit to call by the name of Mundus Sanitatus.”
He concludes :
“ He knows some who are knaves in grain,

And have more gall and spleen than brain,
Will ill reward his skill and pain.”
A bill issued later is illustrated with a woodcut of an

Indian and a Negro boy, busy pounding with a pestle
and mortar, while on either side are representations of
lancets, forceps, scissors and other surgical instruments.
(ioot) $e$os to t|ie

Veragainft. Ludgate Church, with¬
in Black-Fryers Gate-way, at Lil-
lies-Head, Livethyour old Friend
Dr. Cafe, who faithfully Cures the
Grand P—, with all its Symptoms,
very Cheap* Private, and without the lead Hin¬
drance of Bufmefs. Note, He hath been a Phy-
fitian 33 Years, and gives Advice in any Diftem
per gratis.
All ye (hat are of Venus Raoev
Apply your {elves to Dr. Cafe;
L Who, with a Box or two of F1LL S*

Will jfoon remove your painfull IL L S<
A BILL OF DR. CASE
In another headed, “ Good News to the Sick,” he

informs the public, that “ over against Ludgate Church
within Black-Fryer's Gateway at Lillies Head, liveth
your Old Friend, Dr. Case, who faithfully Cures the
Grand P-with all its symptoms, very cheap, Private
and without the least Hindrance of Business.”
“ Note, He hath been a Physician 33 years and gives
advice in any Distemper per gratis.
“ All ye that are of Venus Race,

Apply yourselves to Dr. Case ;
Who with a box or two of Pills,
Will soon remove your Painful ills."
His bill advertising the “ Glorious Spagyrick,” is

adorned with a picture of Case seated at a table. An
angel is descending from a cloud holding a book and
bearing the following legend :
“ Strive not for Gold nor Silver, but with

medicines transmute bodies corrupted,
into Health.”
The bill also has a representation of a shop andlabora-

ory with a skeleton standing by a still.
Case was visited by many fair ladies who were anxious
to consult his Oracle, and was no doubt able to furnish
them with satisfactory replies to their questions as to
the future.
The following skit on one of these consultations, called
“ A pleasant Dialogue between a Priest and the Oracle,”
was circulated about the Town.
“ Question—‘ Tell me John Case. Who art thou ?

Answer—c I am the new Dr. Saffold.
“ DR. CASE ”
From a woodcut illustrating one of his bills
Question—4 Art thou Dr. Saffold himself or somebody
else that resembles him ?
Answer—4 It is not permitted to reveal these mysteries.
Question—£ How many years wilt thou continue here
to give oracle near Ludgate ?
Answer—£ More than a dozen.
Question—4 Where dost thou intend to go after that ?
Answer—£ To White-Fryers, then to Moor Fields, to
honour the outskirts of the Town with my presence.
Question—£ Are the Oracles of Gadbury, Dr. Partridge
and Poor Robin, true Oracles ?
Answer—£ Don’t desire to know forbidden things.
Question—£ What shall I drink when I go from hence ?
Answer—£ First Flip, then Cherry Brandy, next Sherry
and sugar, next Brandy and Gunpowder, and lastly a
dose of Liquid Brimstone to settle your Stomack for
! Eternity, to prevent any further curdling of Conscience
: or Paultry pukes of Grace.’ ”
In his last book, ££ The Angelical Guide, showing

men and women their lott or Chaunce in this Elemen¬
tary,” printed by J. Dawks, in London, 1697, Case
confines himself to astrology and fortune-telling, and
dedicates the book to ££ the ingenious Mr. Tryon.”
Granger relates a story of a meeting between Dr. Rad-
cliffe and Case. He states,££ Dr. Maunby formerly of Can¬
terbury told me, that in his travels abroad, some emin-
; ent physician who had been in England, gave him a
token to spend on his return with Dr. Radcliffe and Dr.
Case. They fixed an evening and were very merry,
when Radcliffe thus gave a toast. £ Here’s to all the
fools, your patients, brother Case ! 5 ‘I thank you
good brother,5 replied Case, c Let me have all the fools
and you are heartily welcome to the rest of the practise.5 55
Pope in his “ Phrenzy,55 introduced Case as the doctor,
who is summoned to attend John Dennis, and he is
also the quack to whom Addison alludes in the Tatler in
the following mock advertisement.
“ Whereas an ignorant upstart in Astrology has

publicly endeavoured to persuade the world, that he is
the late John Partridge who died 28th March 1708 ;
These are to certify all whom it may concern, that the
true John Partridge, was not only dead at that time
but continues so to this present day.
“ Beware of counterfeits, for such are abroad.55
The last bill issued by Case reads thus :

“ You noble and ignoble, you may be foretold any¬
thing that may happen in your Elementary Adversity,
the end thereof.
“ Young men may foresee their fortunes and pretty
maids their husbands as in a Glass, by this Noble, yea,
Heavenly Art of Astrology. This is my last time of
publishing bills, therefore be still mindful of the House
and Place where ever may be, J. CASE.”
Dr. Harris, one of the physicians-in-ordinary to Charles
II, relates the story of a quack-doctor, well-known in
London at that time as Dr. Pontaeus, whom he states
“ was the first mountebank who ever appeared on a stage
in England.55
Pontaeus, who was an audacious fellow, sold an anti¬
dote to all poisons which he called “ Orvietan,55 and also
a a Green Salve ” that he claimed would infallibly heal
every wound. He was bold enough to issue a challenge
to the physicians of Oxford stating, that “if they would
prepare the rankest poison they could contrive, he would
undertake that one of his servants should swallow it,
and after taking a dose of his “ Orvietan,” he would
recover, and so prove the value of his antidote.”
The Oxford physicians took up the challenge and
decided the poison should be Aqua Fortis. On the day
appointed for the test, a dose was therefore duly prepared
and swallowed by the quack’s servant on the stage,
'who at once fell down apparently dead and was carried
off by his fellows. The following day however, he
appeared again, evidently none the worse for the poison¬
ous draught.
Harris explains, that previous to swallowing the
liquid, the man had well greased his mouth and gullet
with two or three pounds of butter. After being carried
off the stage, Pontaeus dosed him with more butter, and
then gave him warm water, which made him sick, and
so he soon recovered and was none the worse for the
poison.
On another occasion, one of the quack’s assistants
made pretence to wash his hands in a ladle of molten
lead in the presence of the astonished spectators. His
! hands appeared to be terribly burnt, and he seemed to
be suffering great agony. Pontaeus immediately came
forward, and applied some of his famous “ Green Salve,”
bandaged them up and led him off the stage. The
next day he was again introduced to the audience, and
on the bandages being removed, his hands were seen to
be quite healed. Pontaeus proceeded to reap a golden
harvest from the sale of this wonderful salve.
It transpired afterwards, that the seemingly molten
lead was simply warm quicksilver, and the inside of the
bowl of the ladle had been painted red. When the man
dipped his hands into it, he also had some vermilion
secreted between his fingers, which he rubbed over the
skin while immersed in the quicksilver, and so duped the
spectators.
Orvietan was an antidote electuary, first introduced
by a quack into England who came from Orvieto about
1647.
CHAPTER III
QUACK ASTROLOGERS AND FORTUNE-TELLERS
A STROLOGY which played such a prominent part

in medicine throughout the Middle Ages, as
. knowledge increased, gradually began to fall into the
hands of the quacks.
Until the close of the sixteenth century it had formed
spart of the regular training of the physician, but as the
belief in it waned, the so-called art of casting nativities
and fore-telling the future, was seized upon by the
quacks and other cunning individuals as an easy wray of
making a living.
One of the best known astrologers of the early
part of the seventeenth century was William Lilly, who
was born at Diseworth in Leicestershire in 1602. When
little more than a boy, he is said to have tramped to
London to seek his fortune and arrived with ten shillings
in his pocket. He succeeded in getting service in the
house of one Master Gilbert Wright, where, he says, he
performed “all manner of drudgeries, such as cleaning
the shoes, carrying water and scraping the trenchers.”
He remained in London during the visitation of the
plague in 1625 and decided to become an astrologer.
After devoting several years to the study of the subject
and acquiring some knowledge of medicine, he claimed
57
to be able to diagnose disease by the aid of the stars and
predict its end.
In June 1644, he published his first book on “ Super¬
natural sight ” and “ The White King’s Prophecy,”
which was followed by “ The Prophetical Merlin,” in
which he claimed to have predicted the defeat of Charles
I at Naseby. He then began to publish annually, his
“ Prophetical Almanack,” through which his name
became known throughout the country. From the
sale of these books and his successful predictions in
“ The Prophetical Merlin,” he made a great deal of
money. Lilly left London in 1665, and deciding to
live in the country he eventually settled at Hersham.
While there he obtained a licence to practise medicine
from the Archbishop of Canterbury. He used to ride to
Kingston every Saturday to physic the poor, who flocked
to consult him, and to whom he gave his advice and
medicines without charge. Owing to the success of his
prophecies he came in touch with Elias Ashmole who
remained his friend to the end. He died in 1681, and
was buried in Walton Church, where a marble slab was
placed over his grave by Ashmole, who appears to have
been a firm believer in his powers.
Lilly was certainly a very shrewd and quick observer,
with a keen eye to read the signs of the times, and this,
together with the wide knowledge of human nature he
possessed, was no doubt the secret of his success.
He had a warm admirer in a youth named John Par¬
tridge, who about 1660, became apprenticed to a shoe¬
maker in Covent Garden and while cobbling, delighted to
pore over Lilly’s prophetical works.
JOHN PARTRIDGE THE ASTROLOGER AND BICKERSTAFF (SWIFT)
From an early woodcut
QUACK ASTROLOGERS 59
Partridge, whose imagination was fired by Lilly’s
success, decided to give up shoe-making for the study
: )f astrology, and in 1680, having as he thought acquired
| sufficient knowledge, commenced the publication of a
regular Almanack which he called “ Merlinus Libera-
jj:us,” and so stepped into Lilly’s shoes.
During the reign of James II he journeyed to Holland
imd is said to have qualified as a doctor of medicine at
Leyden in 1689. On his return to London, he married
1 wealthy widow and resumed the publication of his
Almanacks, from the sale of which he drew a con¬
siderable income. Swift, under the pseudonym of Isaac
Bickerstaff made a mock prediction of his death in a
pamphlet, which was said to be written, “ to prevent
the people of England from being further imposed upon
by vulgar Almanack makers.”
This was followed by another tract, actually announc¬
ing the death of Partridge, and prepared the way for the
publication of Swift’s famous broad-side :
“An Elegy on the death of Mr. Partridge.”
“ Here, five feet deep lies on his back

A cobler, star-monger and quack ;
Who to the Stars in pure good will,
Does to his best look upward still.
Weep all you customers that use
His pills, his almanacks or shoes,
Step to his grave but once a week ;
This earth which bears his body’s print,
You’ll find has so much virtue in’t
That I durst pawn my ears, ’twill tell,
What e’er concerns you full as well,
In Physick, stolen goods or Love,
As he himself could, when above.”
After this, Partridge had the utmost difficulty in

persuading the public that he was still alive, while the
wits of the Town, including Rowe, Steele and Congreve,
took part in keeping up the fiction, by publishing
humorous skits and verses, such as the following :
“ Strange an Astrologer should Die

Without one wonder in the Sky.
Not one of all his Crony Stars
To pay their Duty at his Hearse.”
“ Some Wits have wondered what Analogy

There is ’twixt Cobling and Astrology,
How Partridge made his Opticks rise,
From a shoe-sole to reach the skies.”
Partridge, whose real name was Hewson, however,

long survived his obituaries and continued his pub¬
lications until his death at Mortlake on March 29th 1715.
Judging from their numerous bills, astrologers and
fortune-tellers multiplied and flourished in London in
the time of the Stuarts, and from Lilly and Partridge,
down to the lesser lights, drove a profitable trade in
fore-telling the future from the stars.
Among the latter was Professor Woodward, who lived
at “ the sign of the ‘Globe,’ over against the ‘Cheshire
Cheese ’ in Arundel Street, by St. Clement’s Church in
the Strand.”
QUACK ASTROLOGERS 6i
He heads his bill with the ingenuous legend, “ Honest
Invitations.” He professed to be ready to answer any
: queries such as the following : “ What part of the world,
j:ity or country is best to live in ? Life, whether long or
(short, happy or unhappy ? Servants or Lodgers, if
i::rusty or not ? If good to hire or buy the house, ship,
m land desired ? Money owing, if recoverable ? Law
suits, who shall overcome ? What manner of person
: me shall marry ? If attain the office or place of prefer¬
ment ? ” These and many other important questions
Woodward was prepared to answer on payment of his
:ee.
But his activities did not end in fore-telling for in
Physick he states, you may also have his advice and he
was ready to sell you his “ Famous Balsamick Pills,” an
A infallibly good cure for Scurvy and 33 other diseases,”
some of which appear to be unknown to us to-day. What
for example, was “ Sleepy Evil ” ? Was it the disease
now known as sleepy sickness ?
It was a common practise with many quacks to re¬
commend the Waters of the mineral springs of which
there were several in and around London. Thus Wood¬
ward recommends those who take his pills, to drink
either Tunbridge, Epsom, Islington or other mineral
waters, which it is likely did the patient more good than
the pills.
Another practitioner was to be found at the “ Sign
of the ‘ Flower de Luce,’ near the Church-porch in the
Little Minories without Aldgate.” He describes himself
as “ A Gentleman, who in his youth was several years a
student in Cambridge, hath travelled, and for above
thirty-three years spent the greatest part of his Time,
in search after the Solid Truth of the Sublime Science
of Astrology, in all its Various Parts ; hitherto, for the
private satisfaction and diversion only of himself and
Intimate friends.” He expresses himself now willing
to communicate his skill, by giving “ a faithful answer
to any Lawfull, Serious Demand, within the compass
CONSULTING THE ASTROLOGER

From a woodcut 1670
of the said Art, to calculate Nativities, and impart his

knowledge to any Ingenious Gentleman or others who
shall desire it.”
He adds one instance (out of many) “ to prove the
usefulness and verity of this Noble Science.”
“ The greatest Evil that Invadeth our bodies is sick¬
ness, to the Cure of which, a certain Knowledge of its
cause, nature, countenance, end, etc., with a fit selection
of Remedies, and of the time of preparing and adminis¬
tering them is usually necessary. Now this Heavenly
Fountain, supplieth us with all this, as manifold experi¬
ence that fully convinced, not only us, but all the Sons
of Urania.”
At Bethnal-Green, “ by the Watch-house, at the
Blew Ball and Stars hanging out of the Balcony, about
half-a-mile beyond White-chapel Church, Middlesex,”
lived Dr. Sandford, who styles himself an “ Astrological
Medicus,” who, “ with God’s Blessing in his long studies
and practise in Physick and Astrology, hath obtained
most proper experienced Secrets, viz. His most excellent,
highly approved “ Soveraign Cordial, Cathartick, Uni¬
versal Purging Pills, which fortify decaying Nature.”
“ Likewise, he hath prevented many from Danger
and Ruine by his timely advice. Calculates Nativities,
and at the sight of the afflicted patient, he giveth deter¬
minate Judgment on the Disease and whether curable.
“ When love or fear shall wound the Patient’s Heart,

Some wand’ring Star points out the secret Dart,
Art may give ease, when nothing can expell,
The raging Pain which in the Mind may dwell.”
The Quack delighted to deride and score if possible

off his rivals, and an instance of this may be quoted from
ja bill headed “ No cheat, nor Meer pretended Fortune¬
teller, but an Honest and Faithful Student in Astrology,”
issued by a practitioner who hails from “ Lower Moor-
fields, over against New Bethlem, at the Corner-House
of Long-Alley, where you may see a Sign and a Board
over the Door that signifieth the practice, although
neither Globes or Balls”
A BRIEF DISCOVERY OF SOME CHEATS

“ Too many have been deceived and cheated of their
money by applying themselves to ignorant Professors
of Art (or meer pretended Fortune-tellers) of which
there are several sorts viz., there are a sort of women and
some men, that pretend to fore-tell things by silly Fan¬
cies or new Inventions made into books under the
names ‘ The Shepherd’s Calender,’ £ The Dutch Fortune
Book,’ ‘ The Wheel of Pythagoras,’ which are all of
no more worth or operation than Toys for children.
“ A pretended Astrologer (not far from my present
abode) hath got considerable summs of money from
many ignorant, silly creatures, by promising to do such
strange things for them as raise the wind, at other times
that he must raise a Spirit (out upon him jor shame) and
to others he’ll say, that he hath Rare Secrets which he
calls Pentacles and Sigils, but I am sure they will do
nothing else but draw money out of people’s pockets.
“ When this bill comes to the hands of those persons
who have been so cheated of their money, if they please
come to me, I will (without any reward to myself) set
them in a way to get all their money again, without the
trouble or charges of commencing a Suit of Law for
it. Those that shall pretend to conjure for you or to
shew you the Face of the Quesited in a Glass, or to work
by charms or Inchantments, are neither Conjurers nor
Astrologers, BUT MEER CHEATS.
“ Believe in God, his Works do not deride,
And let the Lights of Heaven be thy Guide ;
The Planets ever were, and will be still
God’s Candles for the Wise to search his Will.”
“ Are you any ways afflicted ? Come and learn the

i best way to be comforted. Are you poor ? Come and
! learn how to get riches ? But if you will not believe
i the Operations and Effects of God’s Handy-Work, sit
: still at home, and slug on and receive not the Benefit
i of his offers.”
The Astrologers and Quacks were particular in their

i bills to give explicit directions for finding their abodes,
i which was very necessary in the dark, narrow streets
and alleys of the city.
Thus, one living in White-Cross Street in Cripple-gate
1 Parish, directs his customers :
“ Almost at the far end near Old-Street, turning in

‘ by the Sign of the Black Croe, in Goat-alley, then
) streight forward, down three steps, at the Sign of the
Globe, you will find one, who hath above Thirty years
! Experience, and hath been Counsellor to Counsellors
: of several Kingdoms, and hath a secret in Art, far beyond
I the reach or knowledge of common Pretenders.
“ He practises the most noble Art of Christian Astro-
: logy, and telleth the meaning of all magical Pentacles,
: Sigils, Charms and Lamens, and with a Glass and
helpth in further marriages.
“ He hath attain’d to the Signet Star of the Philoso-
I pher. He likewise hath attain’d to the Green, Golden
and Black Dragon, known to none but Magicians and
Hermetick Philosophers, and will prove he hath the
True and Perfect Seed and Blossom of the Female Fern,
all for physicians uses ; and can tell concerning every
serious Person, what their business is on every Radical
Figure, before they speak one word.
“ Secondly, what is past in most of their life ; what is
present and what is to come ; where that they have
moles, what colour they are and what is the meaning
of them.”
Here we have a veritable magician indeed, and an

adept, who has apparently reached the highest plane of
Hermetick philosophy.
Fern seed to which he alludes, was believed to have
the power of making the person who carried it invisible.
Shakespeare alludes to the belief in the lines “ We
have the receipt of Fern seed—we walk invisible.” (1st
Henry IV, Act II.)
Writing in the XVIth century, Lyte says in referring
to the fern, “ a plant so strange, that grows without
seed, must needs have strange qualities and it hath the
peculiar power of making persons invisible.”
In ancient times, when a plant wras found to grow and
increase but of which the organs of fructification were
invisible, it was deemed to have the power of conferring
invisibility. This idea was seized upon by the quacks,
some of whom claimed to have discovered the unknown
seed of the fern, which was supposed to possess this
marvellous property.
From an early period there were many superstitions
| connected with moles. When on the body they were
i believed to bring “ good-luck ” to the individual who
! had them.
This astrologer concludes with the following lines :
“ To all that please to come he will and can

Cure most diseases incident to Man,
The Leprosie, the Cholick, and the Spleen,
And most diseases common to be seen,
Although not cured by Quack Doctors proud,
And yet their Names doth ring and range aloud,
With riches and with Cures which others do,
Which they could not perform, and this is true.
This Doctor, he performeth with out doubt
The lleak Passion, Scurvy and the Gout,
Even to those the Hospitals turn out.”
“ He will sell no more of his Friendly Pills to Nature,

; to those that make money of it again. He keeps them
: for the use of the Poor.
LAUS DEO.”
V
At the Sign oj the Parrot, opposite to Ludgate Church,

within Black-fryePs Gateway, there dwelt another astrolo¬
ger, who declares he can fore-tell “ anything that may
happen to your Elementary Life as to what time you may
expect Prosperity, or if in Adversity, the end thereof.
Also, young men may foresee their fortunes as in a Glass
and pretty maids their husbands, in this Noble, yea
I Heavenly Art of ASTROLOGY.”
One astrologer even claimed to be able to “ Tell the

winner ” and W. Baynham, the author of the “ Royal
Almanack,” was ready to inform those who consulted him
beforehand, Which shall Win in Horse or Foot races.
He was to be found at the “ Blew Ball in St. Andrew's-
street, being the Corner house over against the upper
end of St. Martin's-lane, near the Seven Dials, St. Giles,"
and was doubtless well patronised. He claims to be a
AN ASTROLOGER’S BILL
At the Sign of the Parrot, oppofite to Pud-

gate Church, within BlackyFrya/s Gate¬
way.
follower of the “ Famous William Lilly and a practitioner

of Astrology and Physick. He tells the Christian
Name and Trade at length, of any Lover or Friend, as
well as their own.
“ How many Husbands they shall have, and whether
man or wife shall die first. He calculateth nativities by
the time of Birth, and in Physick, by an Astrological
Rule, resolving whether the disease will end in Life
or Death. As an astrological Professor in its several
parts, he undertakes to teach the same to any that
desire to understand it, according to the Doctrine of
Ptolemy, Regiomontanus and Confalonerius the Learned
Monk.”
£A Remarkable Person,’ who was to be spoken with every
day in the week from morning till night, “ at the Golden
Ball in Gulstone-square, being the next turning beyond
Petticoat-lane, and the next Turning beyond White-
chappel-Bars, the Third house in the Left-Hand in the
Square,” claimed to be able to work marvels.
By his travels, he states, ££in many Remote parts of
the world, he has obtained the ££ Art of Presaging or
Fore-telling, all Remarkable Things that ever shall
happen to men or women in the whole course of their
lives, to the great Admiration of all that ever come to
him, and this, by a method never yet practised in
England.
££He might give multitudes of examples but offers but
these few.
££ A Young Woman, who had a person pretending
Love to her for many Years ; I told her she would find
him false and deceitful to her, and that he never designed
to marry her, which was a great trouble to her to hear,
by reason she had plac’d her affection on him. But
she found it True, for shortly after he marryed
another.
££ Soon after, she had several Sweet-hearts at a time,
and came to me again for advice ; I told her there was
one of those she could be happy with, and describ’d him
to her. She took my advice and marryed him, and they
prove a very happy couple.
“ I have prevented the Ruin of Hundreds of young
men and women, by advising them to whom to dispose
of themselves in marriage.
“ Another, who had been many years plagued with a
Bad Husband. I told her in a few months she’d Bury
him and marry again very happily, which she found True,
A woman came to me to know if a relation of hers was
alive, that was several hundreds of leagues oh. I told
her he was dead ; shortly afterwards news came it was
so.”
This astrologer, in addition to his other remarkable
powers, was useful for his detective faculties, for he tells
us, “ A great parcel of Plate etc. was stolen from a
Gentleman in Kent. By my Directions, THE THIEF
WAS TAKEN AND MOST OF THE THINGS RE¬
COVERED.
“ Finally, I discover if any persons are under an Evil
Tongue or Eye, whereby they have been unfortunate
many years, not knowing the reason.”
The practise of astrology was by no means confined
to the male sex and in the seventeenth century, we find
there were many women who also followed the Art.
Among them was a “ Gentlewoman, who lived next
door to the Castle Tavern, without Cripple-gate, at a
Scrivener's House," who proclaims in her bill, that she is
prepared to answer such questions, as “ Whether Life
may be long or short, happy or unhappy ? A person
absent, whether dead or alive ? In what part of the
world it is best to live ? Whether one shall be rich or
QUACK ASTROLOGERS 7i
poor, and if rich, when and by what means to attain it.
She reports also concerning Husbands, Wives, Children,
Ships at Sea, or other things, if true or false.
“ If with child, and whether male or female ? What
kind of person one shall marry, and whether the sweet¬
hearts position be great or small ? ” These are but a
few of the useful and important questions this “ gentle ”
astrologer was ready to answer for a suitable con¬
sideration. Besides fortune-telling, we learn that she
sold “ all sorts of excellent Medicines, ready prepared,
fitted for the cure of all diseases (that are curable)
in the bodies of men, women, or children and lastly,
she hath a Rare Water which beautifies the Face.”
At the White Hart in Grays-inn-lane near the Queen's
Head dwelt another oracle called Mrs. Stothard, who
besides being ready to answer the usual “ lawful ques¬
tions ” specialised in interpreting dreams, and telling
the signification of Moles in any part of the Body. Her
fee was a very modest one, as she gave her advice for
6d, and directs her customers, “ to go up one Pair of
Stairs without asking.”
The old tradition, that certain occult powers were
inherited by a seventh child of a seventh child, has
i survived until recent times, and this belief was turned
to advantage by the quacks.
Thus, a bill announces, that at the “Sign of the Horse¬
shoe and Crown in Castle-street, near the Seven Dials in
St. Giles, Liveth a Gentlewoman, the daughter of a Seventh
I Daughter, who far exceeds all her sex, her business being
very great amongst the Quality ; hath now thought
fit to make herself known for the benefit of the public.
“ She resolves these questions following :
“ As to Life, the best Time of it, past or to come ?
Servants or Lodgers, if honest or not ? A Friend, if
real or not ? A woman with child or not, ever or likely
to have any ? Journies by Land, or Voyages by Sea
and the Success thereof ? Law suits, which shall gain
the better. SHE ALSO INTERPRETS DREAMS.
“ These and all other lawful questions, which for
brevity sake are omitted, she fully resolves.”
In a curious bill called “ The Woman’s Prophecy or the
Rare and wonderful Doctrines,” printed in 1677, the
author of which is unknown, are revealed, “a thousand
strange monstrous things that shall come to pass before
New Year’s day next or afterwards.” The most curious
and desperate Diseases are described, such as “ the Glim-
’ring of the Gizzard, the Quavering of the Kidneys and the
Wambling Trot. Likewise “ secrets to restore Beauty
and Youth to Ladies of Fourscore, make Usurers Im¬
mortal and Resolve all Questions, past, present and to
come. ??
CHAPTER IV
SOME MOUNTEBANKS AND THEIR ZANIES
T HE mountebanks who usually sold their medicines

from a stage, or a coach when travelling, were
generally merry fellows of ready wit and repartee.
They relied more on their stentorian voices to sell their
nostrums than on bills, and were accustomed to extol
their virtues in the most extravagant language in the
speeches or addresses they declaimed to the assembled
spectators.
With the object of attracting attention, as well as
amusing their audience, they were usually accompanied
by a “ zany ” who played the fool. He was sometimes
dressed as a harlequin and often created laughter by
his antics with a monkey.
The use of a fool to divert an audience, is a custom
that goes back a considerable period, and even during
lectures of a more serious character, the clown’s services
were not disdained.
In the ancient and famous Anatomical theatre of the
Archiginnasio at Bologna, where lectures and demon¬
strations were given to the students in the sixteenth
century, just above the lecturer’s rostrum, near the
roof, is a small door let into a panel, large enough to
admit the head of a man. According to tradition, when
73
the speaker found his listeners becoming inattentive or
somnolent, a fool would suddenly pop his head through
the little door, crack a joke to make them laugh and
disappear.
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, no
mountebank was complete without his “ Zany ” or
“ Merry Andrew.” The Earl of Rochester thus describes
him in one of his poems :
“ Merry Andrew. A stage clown or fool,

More blades, indeed, are cripples in their art,
Mimick his foot but not his speaking part ;
Let them the traitor, or Volpone try
Could they-
Rage like Cethegus, or like Cassius dig,
They ne’er had sent to Paris for such fancies
As monsters heads and £ Merry Andrew’s’ dances.”
It was from the quack’s method of using such

speeches at markets and fairs that in after times, those
that imitated the like humorous, jocose language, were
styled £ Merry Andrews.’
The name is said to have been originally applied to

Doctor Andrew Borde, physician to Henry VIII, who
was noted for his ready wit and humour.
Thomas Holcroft has left us a picture of a mounte¬
bank he first saw at Wisbeach fair ; and ££ peeping from
behind his curtain, that droll devil his Merry Andrew.
“ It was a pleasure so unexpected, so exquisite, so
rich and rare, that I followed the £ Merry Andrew ’ and
A MOUNTEBANK AND HIS ZANY
From an enyraving of the XVIIth Century
i
SOME MOUNTEBANKS AND THEIR ZANIES 75
his drummer through the streets, almost bursting with
laughter at his comicality.
“ When he returned to the stage followed by an eager
crowd, and ordered by his master to mount ; to see the
: comical jump he gave, alighting half upright, roaring
1 with pretended pain, pressing his hip declaring he had
put out his collar-bone, crying' to his master to come and
; cure it, receiving a kick, springing up and making a somer¬
sault ; thanking his master kindly for making him well,
yet the moment his back was turned, mocking him with
, wry faces ; answering the doctor, whom I should have
thought extremely witty, if Andrew had not been there
j with jokes so apposite and whimsical, as never failed to
: produce roars of laughter.”
In an old ballad the quack and his zany are thus
described :
“ When Quack and Zany thus are met,

The Imperious Emperick seem to fret ;
But looking round, the crowd to see,
Are pleas’d to find such company.
At last the Zany fetched the Wallet
Of-no Man e’er knew what to call it ;
Promiscuous sweeps of Druggist shops
Made into Plaisters, Pills and slops,
All mix’d, as you’ll hereafter see,
Up with Infallibility.”
“ As soon as his infallible Jewels are disposed of, he

presents you with his £ Jack Pudding,’ ” says a con¬
temporary writer, “ who mounts his hempen fortune,
flying like a bird in the air, and when he has fool’d it
about half an hour, he promises his mobbish spectators
more diversion the next visit, honours them with a
gracious nod and comes down ; and this the Noble
Doctor gives them and his Infallible packet at so small
a price as sixpence.”
Phe Infallible Mountebank, was the title of a popular
broad-side printed by H. Hills in Black-Fryers near the
Water-side.
It is headed with a crude woodcut depicting a typical
mountebank on his stage, holding a bill in one hand and
leading a monkey with the other. At his feet is his
medicine chest and on his right the “ zany ” is seen
emerging from behind a curtain.
“ See Sirs, See here (he cries)

A Doctor rare,
Who travels much at home,
Here take my bills,
I cure all Ills,
Past, Present and to come ;
The Cramp, the Stitch,
The Squirt, the Itch,
The Gout, the Stone, the Pox ;
The Mulligrubs
The Bonny Scrubs
And all Pandora's Box.
Thousands I’ve Dissected,
Thousands new erected,
And such cures effected
As none e’er can tell,
Let the Palsie shake ye,
Let the Chollick rack ye,
Let the Crinkums break ye,
Let the Murrain take ye ;
Take this, and you are well.
Come wits so keen,
Devour’d with spleen ;
Come Beaus who sprain’d your backs,
Great Belly’d maids,
Old Foundered Jades,
And pepper’d vizard cracks.
I soon remove
The pains of Love,
And cure the Love-sick maid;
The Hot, the Cold,
The Young, the Old,
The Living and the Dead ;
I clear the Lass,
With wainscot Face
And from Pimginets free,
Plump Ladies Red
Like Saracen’s Head,
With Toaping Rattafia.
This with a jirk
Will do your Work,
And Scour you o’re and o’re,
Read, Judge and Fry,
And if you Die,
Never believe me more.”
In 1676, an unknown writer published an amusing

and “ faithful ” account of the quacks and mounte-
banks of his time in a pamphlet, from which the follow¬
ing is extracted.
“ A Quack Doctor is one of the Epidemical Diseases

of this age. Betwixt Ignorance and Impudence an
Heterogenious jumble.
“ You may call him an Enthusiast in Physick or a
Gifted Brother in the knack of healing, a Doctor, a
Mountebank, but no Master of Arts, save those of
cousenage and Lying, a Pettifogger in medicine that goes
to Law with Diseases and plays booty with Death.
“ Whoever Trust their Lives in his Hands had need
of a large dose of Hellebore, and did not madness Excuse,
must forfeit their goods and chattells.
“ He pretends to cure all diseases that ever Sin
intail’d upon the race of Adam, but in truth a vagrant
Mountebank, or a 4 Seventh Son,’ or an ‘ Irish Stroaker ’
out does him fifty in the hundred ; for his skill is not
so much as a Tooth-drawers, and a Corn-cutter is an
./Esculapius to him.
“ His looks are enough to make one vomit, and his
everlasting impertinent tattle, will either purge your
gall with anger or your spleen with laughter.
“ He might have liv’d well at his primitive handicraft
but extravagance put him upon shifts and idleness,
made him abandon his anvil or his loom, his aul or his
thimble, and pitch upon this safe and thriving course of
pocket-picking, no Jiltor, Legerdemain being nowadays
so effectual, as a CATHOLICK PILL or a UNIVERSAL
POTION.
“ His prime care and greatest trouble is to get the
I SOME MOUNTEBANKS AND THEIR ZANIES 79
1! names of diseases without book and a Bead-role of
’ Ratling terms of art.
“ To render himself remarkable, he first prevails
< with some Associate Porters and Tripe-women to call
i him Doctor, for his ingenuity in healing kib’d heeles and
: curing cut fingers with a shoe-maker’s Ind and cobwebs.
Two gally-pots and a penyworth of Sena stalks set him
; up, and he is not so soon a Student as a Professor.
! Impudence is his license to practise and at the seventh
I Funeral he has caused, he takes his degree. When he
; comes to ‘ Let Blood,’ you would think him about to
I stick a Calf, and he thumbs your Pulse like a Carman
playing on a lute. When people tell him their grief
I and their ails, he tells them ’tis a Scurbattical Humour
\ afflicting the Diaphragma, and then pulling out a box
: of Quicksilver Pills (for his pocket is all his pharmaco-
: pceia) he bids ’em take them. His ambition is to be
: counted a Phylosopher by Fire. His Brain-pan, is
stuft with Antimony and Vitriol, but his fairest pretence
to chymistry, is because an excellent trick he has got to
; turn Powder of the Rows of Red-herrings, or a vial of
fair water, into good hard silver.
“ At first he deals as a private Mountebank and makes
: every blind Alehouse he comes to his stage, where he tells
a thousand lies of his Miraculous Cures, and has his
Landlady at his elbow to vouch them.
“ He bribes all the nurses he can meet with, and keeps
a dozen midwives in his pension to proclaim his skill
at gossipings. He indears the chambermaid by a private
dose to bring him in with her mistress, the new married
! Citizen’s wife, that outlongs Rachel for a Bantling
comes to him, and the Suburb Gammers admire him
for topeing a pot so socially.
“ Some times knowing his medicines not worth buying,
he takes up a humour of giving them away, and pretends
to cure all the poor in the three nations for nothing.
“ But these are only smaller Angling Baits, his
Drawing Net is a Printed Bill which catches the Gud¬
geons in shoals. For hatching this, he engages some
friend that’s Book-learn’d to correct the false English
and sprucify the sence, and interlard it with Proverbial
Latin and Cramp words, as a gammon of bacon is stuft
with green herbs and cloaves ; then to a confiding
printer he goes, who depositing paper and pains, is
referred for satisfaction to a snack in the profits and then
out comes a Proclamation of Wonders, trickt up in some
strange form. These impudent ostentatious Decoy-
papers he dayly spreads about the London streets, and
thereby Lime-twigs the rabble to become his patients.
He likewise Hucksters his venome in every market
town and village, and if the Farmers would buy it only
to treat Rats with it might do them a courtesy.
“ His fullest practice is amongst fond women that
have more money than wit; he first persuades them
that they are not well, and then gives ’um Physick which
shall infallibly make ’um sick.
“ When persons are killed by his improper applica¬
tions, he chides their friends for not sending for him
sooner.
“ The grave covers his ignorance, but if any happen
to recover, though but of a cold or an Ague, he magnifies
the business as if he had raised a second Lazarus.
“ There are so many Fools in the World that a knave
j can hardly want employment, and they are so incorri-
1 gibly silly and stupid, as to think themselves obliged to
i gratify him for not murthering them, and trumpet him
i up as the rarest man in the World.
“ By these arts he grows famous and rich and buys
I him the worshipful jacket, and takes State upon him,
: and defies authority that should suppress his insolency,
: and at last purchases a Title and arrives at his coach,
I where we leave him, an instance of Fortunate Folly
: and Prosperous wickedness, driving on (without repen-
i tence) to perfect his pseudo-chymistry in the Devil’s
i Laboratory.”
The author concludes by remarking : “ it is far

j from his intention to bespatter the noble art of heal-
! ing, but ’tis the illiterate and dangerous pretenders
that he would expose to deserved contempt.
“ If any conscious Dons shall acknowledge the
i picture to be theirs, and think themselves intended,
i he frankly tells them, they are the Persons meant
indeed.”
Some of the speeches of the old mountebanks have

been preserved and the following two are fair examples
of their style of oratory.
The first is the harangue of Ben Willmore, a notorious
quack who had his stage on Tower-hill. Ben arrayed in
a scarlet coat, lavishly braided with gold, and a cocked
hat with a feather, holding up a little bottle in his hand,
would thus address his gaping audience :
6
“ Gentlemen and Ladies,
“ Behold this little vial, which contains in its narrow
bounds what the whole universe cannot purchase, if
sold to its true value. This admirable, this miraculous
Elixir, drawn from the hearts of Mandrakes, Phoenix
Livers, Longues of Mermaids and distilled by contracted
Sunbeams, has, besides the unknown virtue of curing all
distempers both of mind and body, that Divine one of
animating the Heart of man to that degree, that how¬
ever remiss, cold and cowardly by Nature, he shall
become Vigorous and Brave.
“ Gentlemen, If any of you present was at Death’s
Door, here’s this, my Divine Elixir, will give you Life
again.
‘ This will recover whole fields of Slain,

And all the Dead shall rise and fight again.’
“ Come, gentlemen, buy this Coward's Comfort,

Quickly buy ! What fop would be abused, mimick’d
and scorn’d for fear of wounds that can be so easily
cur’d. Who is it, would bear the insolence and pride of
domineering great men, proud officers or magistrates ?
What foolish heir, undone by cheating gamesters ?
“ What Lord, would be lampooned ? What poet,
fear the malice of his satyrical Brother ? Come, buy
my Coward’s Comfort, quickly buy !
“ Here Gent, is my little Paper of Powder whose value
surmounts that of Rocks of Diamonds and Hills of Gold.
’Twas this made Venus a goddess and given her Apollo.
“ Come, buy it Ladies, you that would be fair and wear
eternal Youth, and you in whom the amorous fire
remains, when all the charms are fled ; you that dress
young and gay, that patch and paint, to fill up sometimes
old furrows on your brows and set yourselves for con¬
quest though in vain. Here’s that, which will give you
Auburn Hair, White teeth, Red Lips and Dimples on your
cheeks. Come, buy it, all you that are past bewitching,
and you’d have handsome, young and active Lovers !
“ Come, all you City wives, that would advance your
husbands to be Lord Mayors, come buy of me new
Beauty. This will give it, though now decayed as are
your shop commodities ; this will retrieve your cus¬
tomers and vend your false and out-of-fashion wares.
Cheat, lye, protest and couzen as you please, a handsome
wife makes all a lawful gain.
“ Here is my famous bottle of Powder, the Life and
Soul of Man. This is the Amorous Powder which Venus
made and gave the god of Love !
“ ’Tis this alone that wounds and fires the Heart,
makes women kind and equals men to gods.
“ ’Tis this that makes your great Lady doat on the
ill-favour’d Fop, your great man be jilted by his little
: mistress, your politician by his comedian, your chaplain
by my Lady’s waiting woman—
“ In fine Sirs,
£ ’Tis this, that Cures the Lover’s Pain

And Celia of her cold Disdain.’
“ I need say nothing of my Divine Baths of Reforma-

1 tion, nor the Wonders of the old Oracle of the Box, which
j resolves all questions which sufficiently declare.”
Yet another mountebank, one Tom Jones, was wont
to address his hearers :
“ Gentlemen and Ladies,

“ You that have a mind to preserve your own and
your families health, may here, at the expence of a two¬
penny piece, furnish yourselves with a packet, which
contains several things of great Use and Wonderful
Operation in human Bodies, against all Distempers
whatsoever.
“ Gentlemen : because I present myself among you,
I would not have you think that I am any upstart
Glister-Pipe, Rum-Peeping Apothecary ; No Gentlemen,
I am no such person. I am a regular Physician and have
travelled most kingdoms in the world.
“ I am not a person that takes delight, as a great
many do, to fill your ears with hard words.
“ Those Quacks may fitly be called Solimites, because
they prescribe only one sort of physick for all distempers,
that is a Vomit.
“ If a man has bruised his Elbow, Take a Vomit, says
the doctor.
“ If you have any Corns : Take a Vomit. If he has
torn his Coat : Take a Vomit. For the Jaundice, Fevers,
Flux, Gripes, Gout, Stone and Pox, nay even those
Distempers known only to my friend the Famous Doctor
Tufts, whom you all know, as the Hockogrocles, Mar-
thamhles, the Moon-Pall and the Strong-Fives : Take a
Vomit.
“ Tantum, Gentlemen. These Imposters value killing
a man no more than I value drawing an old stump of a
tooth, so that I say, They are a pack of Tag-Rag-
Assifetide-Glister-Pipe Doctors !
“ Now Gentlemen, having given you a short account
of this spurious Race, I shall present you with my
Cordial Pills, being the Tincture of the Sun. They cause
all complexions to Laugh or Smile in the very taking
them, and cure all Dizziness, Dulness in the Head and
Scurvy.
“ My Incomparable Balsam heals all sores, cuts and
ulcers, old and new.
“ The next I present you with is my Specifick, which
certainly Cures all Agues in a minute. The last and
most useful medicine prepared throughout the World is
this, my Pulvis Catharticus. Its virtues are such, it will,
equally with the Unicorn's Horn, expel the ranke’st
Poison, ’tis a perfect and speedy Cure and fortifies the
Heart against all Faintness.”
In the following ballad the mountebank thus replies

to one who questions his pretensions :
“ Stop Sir, you’re in error, I am a physician,

See here’s my diploma in good condition ;
It came by the coach from the North, pon my honour,
And grateful am I to the generous donor,
If that wont surfice, Sir, see here is my patent,
To cure all diseases, apparent or latent ;
I find you suspected I was but a poacher,
On other physicians, a fountless encroacher ;
But my qualification’s without the least flaw,
And I kill my game fairly according to law.”
CHAPTER V
NOTORIOUS LONDON QUACKS AND THEIR REMEDIES
L ORD BACON in his “ Advancement of Learning,”

observes, “ We see the weakness and credulity
of men is such, as they will often prefer a mountebank
or witch before a learned physician.” This was un¬
doubtedly true at the time of the Restoration when the
quacks of London increased in considerable numbers,
and mountebanks and charlatans thronged to our
shores from Germany, Italy, Spain, France and the
Low Countries.
From this gallery we must next introduce a famous
quack called Cornelius a Tilbourn, who declared he
was a “ Sworn Chyrurgeon to King Charles II, from
whose hands he received a Gold Medal and Chain.”
It is quite probable that the easy-going Monarch, who
had a liking for experimenting with quack remedies,
may have patronised Tilbourn. One of his bills is
headed with Five coats of Arms and bears the legend
“ By their Majesties Special License and Authority.”
Cornelius first lived at “ the Blue Flower Pot in Great
Lincoln’s Inn Fields, in Holbourn Row,” where, he
says, “ you will see at night a light over the door. For
the convenience of those that desire privacy, they may
come through Red Lyon Inn, between the two Furnstiles
S6
NOTORIOUS LONDON QUACKS 87
in Holbourn, which is directly against my back door,
when you will see the Sign oj the Blue Ball.” Tilbourn’s
chief nostrum was the famous Orvietan already men¬
tioned, which he sold either in Liquid or in Powder
form. This he claimed was “ the only True Orvietan that
expelled that vast quantity of Poyson before King
Charles II, for which I received from that Courteous
Prince, the Gold Medal and Chain. I dispose of it from
half a crown the box, to five shillings, and so what
quantity or price you please.”
Tilbourn or Tilburg, as he later called himself, went
on the principle of “ No cure, No money,” and was
ready to accommodate his patients with food, lodgings
and medicines until the cure was performed. He says,
“ I perform all Manual operations, as the stone in the
bladder or kidnies, by cutting or by particular medicines.
“ I recover and give sight to the blind. I restore
sight in a moment. I cure deafness (if curable). I
cure vomiting, rising of the vapours, pain in the milt,
stitches in the side and all scorbutick distempers.
“ I can, if any person do by accident or misfortune,
lose one of his eyes, artificially put in another, not to be
discerned as a blemish by any person.”
He gives the following account of cures he “ lately
performed on persons of Quality.
“ Sir Richard Greeneway, troubled with the Stone

was speedily cured by me. John Owen, Esquire, who so
Honourably served his late Majesty in the Dutch En¬
gagements and had five or six ulcerated holes in his
leggs, occasioned by splinters, and at first but ill patcht
up : in less than six weeks, I made him sound and well.
The Lady Ann Seymoure, that had a Lameness in her
Limbs, that she was forced to keep her Bed for four
years, was cured by me in seven weeks time, and I also
cured a cancerated Lip of Sir John Andrews at St
James’s. Mr. Christopher Shelly hard by Cupid's Bridge
in Lambeth, was brought to me in a chair, deprived of
all his limbs, uncapable of moving hand or foot was (by
the blessing of God) perfectly cured by me, to the ad¬
miration of all.
“ I could mention a great many more which I have
cured, but the Paper being too little. VIVANT REX
ET REGINA.”
From a later bill, we find he had removed to Bruges

Street in Covent Garden, “ over against the King's-
Play-House and the Rose Tavern, where you will see
the Kings Arms hang over the Balcony.” Here he
specialised as an oculist and states, that by his “ great
Diligence and study, he hath lately found out some
Admirable Remedies which was never yet made Pub-
lick, for weak or dimm sight occasion’d by Age or other¬
wise, and bring them to see well without spectacles in a
week’s time, although they have used them 20 years
before.” He takes off all “ Pearls, Pins, Webbs, Catar¬
acts, both white and black, and skins of all kinds, and
gives immediate Sight to those that are termed Stone-
blind.”
In another bill he styles himself, High German
Doctor or Physician, Oculist, Chirurgeon and Rup¬
ture Master ! He observes, “ that the antient philo-
sopher Plato gives us a proverb for imitation. ‘ A
man that spins out his age idley and not distributing
the gifts given him by God Almighty, he ought to be
expelled out of the vulgar society of men.’ This saying
having made deep impression on my mind, I endeavoured
to arrive by God’s blessing and my weak endeavours
to the study of Physick, to know what hath hitherto
been hid to others, so that I have obtained to some
knowledge more than our forefathers could boast of.
“ Now the agreement I make with everyone is, I
shall not require one farthing till they have been cured
half a year, so well, only I shall require your names
and the places of your abode when the half-year is
expired. I do cure all Persons that have been at Venus
Sports of the French, Italian, Indian, High Dutch,
English or Spanish variety. If any person hath the
scurvy in the mouth or Blacking teeth, I can clean
them, although they be black as pitch and make them
extraordinary white.
“ Master Cornelius a Tilburg now liveth at the
Sign of the Sun in the Strand, at one Mr. Smith’s a
Boddice maker, over against the White Horse Tavern
between St. Clement's Church and the Maypole in the
Strand, where you shall see a candle burning in a Lan-
thorn out of the window every night.”
Cornelius appears to have survived until the time of
King William and Mary, for in his last bill headed “ By
His Majesty’s Special License and Authority ” he says
that he is now “ Priveledg’d by our Gracious Sovereign
Lord and Lady, King William and Queen Mary, as for
several years past he has cured Thousands of People
in and about the City of London of dangerous maladies
and distempers, who are now living monuments of the
Blessings of God by the incomparable vertue of my
excellent and never-failing remedies. His House is now
at the Sign of the King’s Arms in Bridge-street, Covent
Garden, at the corner of White Hart Yard, exactly
over against Exeter-street end at the Two White Twisted-
Posts. He is the Sworn Chirurgeon to our Sovereign
Lord King William, and now for the convenience of the
City and some remote parts of the Town, he has taken
lodgings at Mr. Berrymans, a grocer and chocolate-
maker at the Corner of Angel Court, next door to the
Sign of the Crown in Bishopsgate-street, over against
thq Queen’s Head Tavern within the Gate, where he is to
be seen three days a week, and where he still disposes
of his famous Orvietan, and hopes this Famous City
is sufficiently satisfied in the ability and care
of Your Loving Friend and servant
CORNELIUS a TILBURG.”
Another member of the family appears to have suc¬

ceeded to the business of Cornelius, for a few years later
a bill was issued by a Doctor James Tilburg, embellished
with a portrait holding a pair of forceps in his hand.
He declares that he is “ Famous through Germany
and Holland, Brabant, France and Italy and is now
living at the Black Swan in St. Giles in the Fields, over
against Drury-lane end, where you shall see at night,
Three Lanthorns with candles burning in them upon the
Belcony. He may be spoke with, all alone, from 8 of
the clock in the morning till io at night, desiring you to
I be careful for your own benefit not to mistake the place,
I because there is a new person that is lately come over,
; and hath presumed to make use of the bill and Peice
| which I did formerly make use of.”
James Tilburg gives notice that he is “ a very expert,
DR. JAMES TILBURG

From a ruoodcut on his bill
famous outlandish Doctor and Citizen of Hambourgh,

and now arrived in London, and hath brought a won¬
derful Art with him, which he hath found through
long seeking-for and travelling through many King¬
doms.
“ First, He cures the French Pox, with all its depen¬
dents. Secondly, He takes away all pains in the shoul¬
ders arms and bones, therefore all ye that are troubled,
come to him before you are spoiled by others, for this
secret art was never heard of or seen by any as by him.
“ Fourthly, If any have anchored in a strange har¬
bour, fearing to have received damage, let them come
to him.
“ Lastly. He helps them that have lost their Nature
and cherishes up the sad’ned spirits of a Marrye’d man,
by what occasion soever they have lost it, and does
quicken them again as a Rose that hath received the
Summer’s dew.”
Another quack celebrated in the time of Charles II
was Will Atkins, who extolled the virtues of his wonder¬
ful remedies for gout and sold them in considerable
quantities. He lived in the Old Bailey, and his remark¬
able appearance when he took his walks abroad to visit
his patients, always attracted attention. He affected
an enormous three-tailed wig, which was frizzled and
combed over each ear, and sometimes carried a cane, but
he never wore a hat, so as not to disarrange his artifi¬
cial head-gear.
His appearance is described in the following lines :
.... to make him look more big,

Had on a large, grave, decent, three-tailed wig ;
His clothes full-trimmed, with button holes behind,
Stiff were the skirts, with buckram stoutly lined,
The cloth-cut velvet, or more reverend black,
Full-made and powder’d half-way down his back.”
He declared that the curative effects of his nostrums
were due to the fact, that each contained at least thirty
different drugs, all of which were calculated to ease the
complaint.
a At the Angel and Crown in Basing-lane, being the
second turning on the left hand in Bread-street from
Cheapside, dwelt a Physician, a graduate in the Uni¬
versity of Oxford and a member of the College of
Physicians in London,” who issued a bill which states
that, “ he has a pill prepared with wholesome ingredients
and of such great vertue, that it ought not to be con¬
cealed. These pills will take away all scabs in the head
and face and pains in the head, Arms or Legs and
prevent much danger, and are to be bought at my House
in Basing-lane in boxes from is. 6d.”
“ An Oxford doctor ” who heads his bill with a
Greek quotation, combined the art of healing with that
of a pedagogue and states, that his “ Oxon Pills against
the Scurvy, Dropsie and Colt Evil, exceed all other
medicines and are Sixpence a box.
“ He draws teeth or stumps with ease and safety.
He lets blood neatly and Issues or Setons he curiously
makes, for two-pence each and welcome ! ”
He also teaches, “ writing, arithmetick, Latin, Greek
and Hebrew, at reasonable rates by the great, or Two¬
pence, each of them by the week.” He concludes with
the appeal to the reader to:
“ RAPAIR TO THE OXFORD DOCTOR AT THE
FLEET PRISON, near Fleet-bridge, London. Lately
a Fellow of Arx-cercer Collge (!) Oxon.”
Among the quacks who congregated in the neigh-
bourhood of the Tower, was Doctor Trigg, who claims
to be the inventor of the famous “ Golden Vatican
Pills.” In a bill issued from his house on Tower Wharf
he adjures the reader, to “ be not so injurious to thyself
as presently to commit this paper to the worst of offices.
It designs thy good, therefore first Read (three minutes
perform the taske) after which use thy discretion.
There were few diseases, according to Trigg, the

Vatican Pills could not cure from Scurvy to Ague.
“ They will keep their virtues many years, even the age
of man. They may be conveyed to any plantation
without the least danger of decay, and are made up in
Tin boxes and seal’d with the Doctor’s own seal, con¬
taining 20 for 2S.”
According to a manuscript of the XVIIth century
the Vatican Pills were made as follows :
“ Take, Anise, Mastich, Ginger, Cardamoms, Cinna¬

mon, Zedoary, Mace, Cloves, Saffron, Aloes wood,
Turbith (yellow sulphate of mercury) Manna, Senna,
Cassia, Mirabolams, of each one drachm, Rhubarb one
ounce, Aloes two ounces, Scordium half drachm. Mass
with Syrup of Roses.
“ Smith, an Apothecary at the Sign of the Three
Black Lyons in the Old Bailey makes them.”
An Italian quack named Salvator Winter from the City

of Naples, who took up his residence at the “Sign of St.
Paul's Head, in New King-street, between Long-acre and
St. Giles-in-the-fields, near Covent Garden,” solemnly
declares in his bill, that he is “ Ninety eight years of age
yet by the Blessing of God, finds himself in health and
as strong as anyone of Fifty.” He attributes the first to
God and the second to his “ Elixir Vitae,” which “ he
always carries in his pocket a dayes, and at night under
his pillow.” When he finds himself “ distempered, he
taketh a Spoonful or two, according as need requireth.”
There was apparently no disease under the sun that
his “ Elixir Vitae ” would not cure, from all sorts of
catarrhs to French-pox and Consumption, in fact he
states, that his “ Elixir hath such Force and Vigour
that if it were possible it would revive the Dead, were
that not a secret reserved to God only.”
He tells us, that his “ Sovereign Remedy, contains
sixty-two ingredients in its composition, one correcting
the other,” thus carrying on the belief common in his
time, that the more drugs contained in a preparation the
surer the cure. Of the miraculous cures he has per¬
formed with it “ in divers parts of Europe, Particularly
of this Kingdom, he need only mention one viz. The
Most Learned and Honourable of Worthy memory,
Sir Kenhelm Digby, who styles in his book the ‘ Mira¬
culous Elixir Vitae 5 which never doth harm, but
assuredly doth good.” Salvator concludes by saying,
that a report is abroad “ THAT HE IS DEAD, but he
wishes it to be known THAT HE IS VERY MUCH
ALIVE and of so great an Age.”
An old tradition that certain medicines would do more
harm than good if taken during the Dog-days, is turned
to account by Nathaniel Merry, a quack who styles
himself a “ Philo-chym and who has lived at The Star
in Bow-lane, next but one to the Half-Moon Court for
eight years!’’ In a friendly and seasonable warning he
issues concerning the Dog-days, he states “ His ‘ Archael’
or Vital Medicines are truly adapted for all times, being
divested of their Crudities and Heterogene Qualities
by a true separation of the pure from the impure, and
impregnated with beams of Light.
“ Such medicines I have always by me faithfully
prepared by my own hands. There are many that perish
in and about this City, through an evil custom arising
from a false opinion, ‘ That it is not safe to take Physick
in the extreams of Heat and Cold or in the Dog-days.’
Nat further claims to have discovered a Cure for the
“Dogmatical Incurables.” “ First cure the subjects of
their diseases,” he says, “ and then thou shalt happily
cure thy patients of their sicknesses.
“ All true medicine is the uncorruptible and undigest-
able part latent in their subjects, whence it follows, that
execrements and foods are no physick or very improper
medicines, hence a necessity of separation.
“ I have cured when the Body hath been drawn double
and fixt so, and the neck and face, drawn and fixt,
looking over one shoulder, and have saved many
hands, arms, legs, fingers, and toes from cutting off,
when they have been ready and order’d for amputation
by the vulgar way. My cures have been wrought by
medicines, truly adapted and naturally gifted with a
capacity to expel and correct venoms and close with
nature centrally, by Rays and Beams of Light upon the
Spirit of Life, which corrects the Disorder of the Arch-
aeus and reunites its powers.
“ All honest Chyrurgeons, Apothecaries and Doctors,
that are not furnished with such medicines and make
! conscience of the lives and limbs of their patients, may
ihave them of me.
“ I will call God to witness, I am Master of such
j medicines prepared by mine own hands, as the cures
I have performed do prove.”
James Wasse, who describes himself as “ a Citizen
:and Surgeon of London,” and claims to have had Forty
! years experience ; declares that “ being himself now
: Infirm by Age, and not capable of doing his accustomed
: service to Mankind, he is retiring to the country for his
Health, and therefore is resolved to publish the Virtues,
Use and Dose of his famous ‘ Elixir.’ ”
“ This Noble Medicine,” he says, “ has by the great
lindustry and pains of the author, been brought to that
Perfection, that no medicine hitherto made, has answered
the ends of this Composition.”
Its special virtue was to give “ immediate ease to such
as are troubled with gravel of any sort, also as an anti
dote against all contagious diseases, either on Ship-
Board or on Shore, caused by corruption of the Air, by
bad provisions or any means whatsoever.
“ This Noble Medicine is to be had at the Author’s
own House in Church-Alley in Clements-lane, Lombard-
street, also at several Coffee-houses like Brightman’s,
near Wapping Old Stairs, Ive’s in St. Bartholomew’s-
[ane. Oliver’s at Westminster hall, Roe’s at the Bridge-
foot and the Admiralty Coffee-house over and against
Whitehall.”
The mechanical art connected with surgery was not
neglected by the quack, and at the “Grown and Golden
7
Ball on London Bridge, next door to the Coffee-house,
near St. Magnus5 Church,” lived H. Hippen, whose
speciality was the cure of ruptures. He announces that,
“ by the blessing of God on his great study, Travels and
Experience, he hath at last attained to that, which
many of our Forefathers of the same profession have
sought for, but never so completely found, as (God be
praised) he hath ; and has had wonderful success in
cure of diseases.” Hippen says, he would not have his
patients think that he aims at high prices or makes it
his business to get great store of money. “ No, in truth
he is none of those, and he will give you to understand
his Terms (which are very reasonable) before he under¬
takes you, that you may not be cheated. This then is
his agreement with all his afflicted patients ; he takes
no money for his trouble or medicines, till a quarter of a
year after the cure is performed, and then, as a reward
for the same, he requires the sum of Forty shillings or
for those who are not able, Thirty shillings.
“ FOR THOSE THAT HAVE NO MONEY AND
DESIRE IT FOR GOD’S SAKE, HE WILL CURE
GRATIS.” What more indeed could man offer ?
Patients are finally adjured, to “ defer not the Time
but come to him before it is too late.”
Giovanni Francesco Borri the Italian alchemist,
who practised at several of the Courts of Europe in
the XVIIth century, but who was eventually thrown
into prison and died in the Castle of St. Angelo in Rome,
was the originator of several famous medicines. Among,
them was a “ Sovereign Julep,” for which marvellous
properties were claimed. This wonderful remedy was
sold at Morandi’s Chocolate House in Playhouse Yard
in Drury Lane.
Morandi, who was evidently a compatriot, states in a
bill, that “ the £ Sovereign Julep ’ is universally esteemed
in most parts of Europe as well as the Whole World,
as being first made and rightly prepared by that most
Eminent physician Shavillier Borri, lately deceas’d. A
Nobleman in his travels got the Receipt (from the afore¬
said Shavillier) for the benefit of his country; but
lately coming into England, has not only here generously
given it, as a mark of his favour to a particular Friend,
but has also taught him how to make the same.”
The Julep was declared to be “ an infallible cure for
Consumptions, Ptisicks (chest troubles), Asthma’s,
Catarrhs and all other Distempers whatever afflicting
the lungs,” and was to be had at Half a Crown a bottle.
Among the army of German quacks that invaded
London about this time, was an anonymous “ gentle¬
man,” who describes himself as a “ German Doctor and
Surgeon,” who took up his quarters at the Boot and
Spatterdash, next door but one to the Vine Vavern in
Long-acre, near Drury-lane.
The “ Vine ” was a famous hostelry in the XVIIth
and early part of the XVIIIth century, much frequented
and used as a meeting place by many of the celebrated
physicians of the time, and is mentioned by Sir Samuel
Garth in his poem “ The Dispensary.”
The German Doctor of The Boot and Spatter dash
claimed to be a great healer, “ who by the Blessing of
God on his great pains, travels and experience, hath had
wonderful success. He can “ Recover and give sight to
IOO THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
the blind in a moment, cure Hair-lips in six days, and
the Cancer in the breast or any other part of the body.
“ If any woman be unwilling to speak to me, they may
have the conveniency of speaking to my wife, who
is expert in all women’s distempers. As to gouty
pains or shrinking of the sinews, I dare presume, few
have arriv’d to the perfection in this cure as myself.”
The quacks who specially appealed to the deaf were
innumerable but prominent among them was Edmund
Searl, who lived at Pye Corner, over against the Golden
Ball by West Smithfield.
The whole Searl family appear to have been in the
business and the last descendant Margaret, wife of the
late Samuel Searl, was famed for relieving and curing
deafness.
Margaret says, that “ her father practised this art
about 38 years and communicated the secret to her only,
who practis’d it with him in his lifetime.” In her bill
she states, that “ she is still to be found at Pye Corner
(although it is reported that I was dead by some pre¬
tenders to deceive the World) where I am ready, upon
any occasion of the nature to serve such as apply them¬
selves to me, being the survivor of my father Edmund
Searl, and of my late husband, Samuel Searl.”
Among the quack medicines popular at this period,
the Elixir Magnum Stomachicum took a prominent
place. It was made and prepared by one Richard
Stoughton, an apothecary who had a shop in South¬
wark, known as the Sign oj the Unicorn. This Elixir
was said to be the great remedy for all distempers
of the stomach, “ Fifty or sixty drops of which (more
.'-p— fflalLnotJcnorv H
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cvnd d Pot idle Elcctunry i-cij cyf Pills
and Electuary âBoxes Sc oncPot ruldl
be suf(lcl^Jitjfor any one, not very Y’ar
yone l7VtAeB\[venipzrarid/)oudietJiC'
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Extremely.Sold by $ Sherwood
km. -O ook Sc Her a t Pop inys ahy Gate fleet,
ftreet With a paper of Directions.
“ THE PARIS PILL ”

A quack’s bill of the XVIIth Century
To face page 100

NOTORIOUS LONDON QUACKS ioi
or less as you please) were to be taken in a glass of Spring
water, Beer, Ale, Mum, Canary, White wine, with or
without sugar, and a dram of brandy, as often as you
please.
“ ’Tis most excellent in Tea, in Wine, very pleasant
and proper, and in Beer or Ale, makes the best Purl in
the world, and Purl Royal in Sack, giving all of them a
fragrant smell and taste, far exceeding Purl made with
wormwood and now used to drink in their wine at
Taverns.”
Purl, a drink, now almost forgotten, was the name
given to a liquor, made by infusing wormwood or
other bitter herbs in ale or beer, while Purl Royal,
was a similar infusion made with wine. It was generally
taken in the morning, or as an aperatij before a meal, to
induce a good appetite.
Pepys in his Diary (Feb. 19th 1659-1660) alludes to
“ a draft of Purle,” and as late as 1865, Charles Dickens
: refers to Purl in “ Our Mutual Friend.”
Stoughton says that the country doctors and prac¬
titioners discountenanced his Elixir, which he claims
to be one of the best and most useful medicines that ever
was made. “ I refer you to them for your purging
Physick, but not to mountebanks and such illiterate
j fellows. The Elixir has twenty-two ingredients unknown
to any one but me, and has now obtained a great
reputation throughout England, Scotland, Ireland and
the plantations beyond the Sea.”
Stoughton had a keen eye to business, for he con-
; eludes his bill thus, “ If any Captain or Seaman, Book¬
seller, Stationer, Shop-keeper, Coffee-man, or any
keeping a Publick House, wants any quantities to dis¬
pose of or sell again, they may be furnished with good
allowance by letter or otherwise.”
John Choke, who is said to have served as a major in
the Army, and afterwards called himself an “ approved
physician and further priviledged by His Majesty,” was
a well known quack who practised in the Strand. He
kept two assistants called Blewton and Bemston whom
he used to send about the country to sell his nostrums.
Like others of his kind, who found that cant made a
never-failing appeal to the public, he heads his bill
with the legend :
“ NOTHING WITHOUT GOD,”
He then proceeds to extol the virtues of his u Elixir

Capitalis totius Mundi or the only Elixir in the World
for the Morow-Cure of the Gout, Dropsie and Agues of all
sorts, Tertian, Quartan and Quotidian.
“ All these diseases,” he says, “ I cure infallibly
(by the assistance oj God) in a very short time. I am
sensible that the vulgar will not admit that there is any
cure for the gout, neither have they any reason, seeing
that there are so many pretenders that come short.”
Choke states that his wife was a daughter of Baptista
van Helmont the famous Dutch physician and chemist,
and from him, he obtained the recipe for his wonderful
arcana. He further observes, that one “ Thomas
Odored, unto whom His Majesty recommended a patient
of the Falling-sickness, adding, that (c he was perswaded
that he could cure him’) was his pupil, and he wrote a
book, which is no idle pamphlet but dedicated to the
most Reverend Father in God, Gilbert, by Divine
Providence, Lord Archbishop of Canterbury.”
“ It is needless to declare my forrain actions,” he
: continues, “ and the many thousand cures I have per¬
fected in London. I cured the Duke of Buckingham
of an ague when all physicians had left him, and his
Majesty was pleased to send for me, and as a mark of
his Royal pleasure, gave me his authority to practise
in any of his Dominions without any control.”
Choke, who was a fervent Royalist, concludes his bill

with the words
GOD SAVE THE KING.
In a later bill “ Major ” John Choke describes him¬

self as “ the great traveller and one of His Majesty’s
! Chymists,” and extols the virtues of his “ most famous
! and in a manner, Miraculous Necklaces, for easing child-
: ren in breeding teeth and cutting them without pain.
“ The best time to put them on is when they are two
1 months old and to wear them until they have bred all
their teeth, and none are troubled with the Evil or
Falling sickness.”
Choke says that he has not appeared in print, “ but
for the good of such as have not much money to lay
out upon Physick, and such persons as can make appear
that they are really poor, he will cure gratis. He
lodgeth at the Blew Boar's Head and Chequer in the
Strand, an Oyl shop, between St. Clement’s Church and
the Maypole, near the Greyhound Tavern, where he
1 may be spoken with every morning till ten or eleven
a clock.”
io4 THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
“ The names of the parents of children that have
made use of the Virtuous Necklaces are, the Countess
of Northumberland, Lady Bartees at St. James’s,
Lord Burleys, Sir William Drake in Bucks, Sir
Edward Turner in Essex, Mrs. Grooms in Windmill-
street near Pickadilly, Mrs. Flowers in Pye-alley in
Fan-church street and others.”
The Anodyne Necklaces as they were sometimes
called, remained in use down to the middle of the
XVIIIth century. Among Choke’s rivals and suc¬
cessors, was Burchell of Long Acre, who says they were
invented by Dr. Tanner and recommended by Dr.
Paul Chamberlen, a descendant of the family of famous
Man-midwives. He states that the “ Virtues of the
same being so large, I thought fit as in duty and was
bound to my fellow Christians, to revive this worthy
Anodyne from the ashes which hath been advantageous
to all mankind. Being not much bigger in weight than a
Nut-meg, absolutely easeth all children in Breeding
and Cutting of teeth without pain ; and also children
that have so worn them, have been stronger at nine
months than them of twelve.
“ They are sold for the publick good for five shillings
each necklace, by fifty people, including Mrs. Pope, a
Perfumer at the Pope Head, Mr. Searson at the Maiden
Head and Castle in Pickadillee, Mr. Gyles at the Black
Raven, backside of St. Clement’s Church near the May-
pole, Mr. Oxspring at the Hand and Shears in Shoo-
maker row, Black-fryers and others.”
The beads of these necklaces were said to be made
of peony wood, which curiously enough, was recom-
mended by Oribasius the Roman physician in the
fifth century, to be worn round the neck to prevent
epilepsy. Like any other hard substance given to
infants to bite, they no doubt helped to cut their
teeth.
More a charm than a medicine, were the small bags
sold to hang around the necks of children to prevent
rickets which are thus advertised in the Intelligencer
in 1664.
“ Small Baggs to hang about Childrens necks, which
are excellent both for the prevention and cure of Rickets,
and to ease children breeding teeth are prepared by
Mr. Edmund Buckworth and constantly to be had at
Mr. Philip Clarks, Keeper of the Library in the Fleet
and nowhere else at 5 shillings a bagge.”
CHAPTER VI
FOREIGN QUACKS AND NEW DISEASES
T HE quack of old seized every opportunity to

abuse his rivals and so extol his own learning
and superiority as a healer. An instance of this may be
quoted from a bill headed, “ A CAUTION TO THE
UNWARY 55 issued by E. Gray, who styles himself,
“ A Doctor in Physick, one of His late Majesties Phy¬
sicians, above twenty years since Fellow of King’s
College in Cambridge, and now at the Golden Ball in
Hatten-garden, near Holbourn.”
“ ’Tis generally acknowledged throughout all Europe,”
he says, “ that no Nation has been so fortunate in
producing such eminent Physicians as this Kingdom of
ours, and ’tis as obvious to every eye, that no country
was ever pestered with so many ignorant Quacks and
Empericks.
“ The Enthusiast in Divinity, having no sooner
acted his part and had his Exit, but on the same stage,
from his shop (or some worse place) enters the enthusiast
in Physick ; yesterday a Taylor, Heel-maker, Barber,
Serving-man, Rope-dancer, etc, to-day 'per saltum, a
learned Doctor, able to instruct Aesculapius himself,
for be never obliged mankind yet with a Panacea, a
Universal Pill or Powder that could cure all diseases,
106
FOREIGN QUACKS AND NEW DISEASES 107
which now every post can direct you to do, though it
proves only the Hangman’s Remedy for all diseases by
Death.
“ Pudet haec opprobria did, for shame my dear
countrymen, re-assume your reasons, and expose not
your bodies and purses to the handling of such illiterate
fellows, who never had the education of a Grammar
school, much less a University.
“ Nor be ye so irrational as to imagine anything
extraordinary (unless it be ignorance) in a pair of out¬
landish Whiskers, though he is so impudent to tell you,
he has been Physician to Three Emperours and Nine
Kings ; when in his own country, he durst not give
physick to a cobler.
“ Nor be ye gull’d with another sort of Impostor,
who allures you to him with ‘ Cure without money,’ but
when once he has got you into his clutches, he handles
you so unmercifully as he does unskilfully.
“ Nor be ye imposed on by the pretence of any Her¬
culean Medicine, that shall with four doses, at 5s. a dose,
cure the most inveterate Pox, a distemper not to be
eradicated (in the opinion of the most learned in all
Ages) with less than a renovation of all the humours in
the whole body.
“ These and the like abuses, have induced me to con¬
tinue this publick way of Information, that you may be
honestly dealt with and perfectly cured, by repairing
to him who, with God's Blessings on his studies, and
twenty years successful practice in this City of London,
hath attained to the easiest and speediest ways of Curing.”
The quacks were always eager to make excuses for
io8 THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
endeavouring to obtain publicity, by advertising the
virtues of their remedies and proclaiming their skill.
Thus “ J.T.,” a practitioner who calls himself a “ Licen¬
sed Physician ” and “ who liveth in the Upper Moor-
fields at the Globe and Two Balls, addresses himself in
recommending his Pilula Imperialis vel Sospitalis, whose
vertues and Excellent Qualities do aloud proclaim to the
world, the great benefit they bring to mankind, they
being the only Antidote against the French Scurvey.
“ Courteous Reader. Were it not to gratify the
important solicitations of several friends and gentle¬
men, who does well know what strange cures, even to
admiration, my Pills have done to divers persons, I
should not have taken this publick way to Practice,
but as we were not altogether born for ourselves, I have
exposed these my medicines to the Publick, so they may
infallibly find a safe and speedy cure, and that without
being Grip’t too hard in the Pocket.”
Dr. Lionel Lockyer, a famous quack in the time of
the Commonwealth, who made a great deal of money
from the sale of his pills, was buried in St. Saviour’s
Church, Southwark in 1672. His tomb has his effigy
in stone, representing him dressed in a long furred gown,
wearing a large flowing wig, and on a pillow on which he
reclines resting on his elbow, is the following inscription:
“ Here Lockyer lies interr’d, enough ; his name

Speaks one hath few competitors to fame ;
A name so great, so gen’ral it may scorn
Inscriptions which do vulgar tombs adorn
A diminution ’tis to write in verse
His eulogies, which must mens mouths rehearse,
His virtues and his Pills are so well known,
That envy can’t confine them under stone.
But they’ll survive his death, and not expire

Till all things else, at th’ Universal fire !
This verse is last, his pills embalm him safe
To future times, without an Epitaph.”
Lockyer issued a pamphlet in 1670, in which he

relates the wonderful cures wrought by his “ Pilulae
Radiis Solis Extractae.” Seventy-four cases are des¬
cribed, including that of a man “ who thought ill of the
pills after taking one box.”
“ All such these,” he says, “ may keep their money
and their diseases too.” He then cites the case of a
man who was left incurable but was “ cured of a Regi¬
ment of diseases and only by these pills.”
Another cunning quack who hails from the “ Sign of the
Water Tankard in Northumberland-alley in Fanchurch-
street, near Aldgate, there being Pales before the window”
has the distinction of having invented a new name for
a complaint very common in the XVIIth century. This
disease, variously known as Morbus gallicus, Morbus
anglicus and other terms, he designates as the
Affection Allamode, which he says he has made it his
business in his studies and practice, “ to find out means
more effectual than the common ways, which by God’s
assistance with his endeavours, he has attained to a most
expeditious, safe and easie method.”
The quack doctor’s bills enumerated so many com-
no THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
mon diseases that it was thought by one ingenious prac¬
titioner it was time some new ones were invented.
Dr. Tufts, who announces from the Three Compasses
in Maiden-lane, that he has newly arrived from his
travels, “ states that after forty years study, he hath
discovered Several strange Diseases, for which (though
as yet not known to the world) he hath infallible cures.
“Now the names of these new Distempers are :
THE STRONG FIFES, THE MOON PALL, THE

M ART HAMBLES, AND THE HOCKOGROCLE.
“ Although the Names, Natures, Symptoms and

several cures of these New Diseases are altogether Un¬
known to our greatest Physitians, and the particular
knowledge of them would (if conceal’d) be a vast ad¬
vantage to the aforesaid person ; yet he, well knowing
that his country’s good is to be prefer’d to his private
interest, doth hereby promise all sorts of People, a
faithful cure of all or any of the Diseases aforesaid, at
as Reasonable Rates as our modern Doctors have for
that of any common Distemper.”
Here is a most ingenious and artful idea, and
it is a wonder that some of the quacks of our own time
have not adopted it. One can imagine the advantage
it would give to the discoverer, who might not be so
disinterested as the worthy Tufts.
Are you suffering from the Marthambles, Con¬
sult Doctor X-, for he alone will have the re¬
quisite knowledge to cure you, or should you have the
Hockogrocles, the man who discovered them is surely the
only one who can put you right.
FOREIGN QUACKS AND NEW DISEASES iii
“ DEO ADJUVANTE ” was the motto of a “ Doctor
of Physick well-known for his successful practice in
the City of London, who lived in the Haymarket by
Charing-cross, at the sign of the Half Moon, next the
Nag's Head Tavern, being the Balcony Room, one pair
of stairs,” who claimed to have “an admirable skill in
urines, though Ignorants dispise it, yet from which the
Learned know the truest Indications of occult diseases.”
He was a pioneer in the treatment of tubercular
disease and neurasthenia, by means of fresh air and
change, for he announces, that “ For melancholy persons
inclining to distraction or such that are consumptive, he
hath a Large Country House with Gardens, being excel¬
lent Air, within a mile of the Town, where the doctor is
daily to give advice and what physick is most necessary
for recovery, at easie rates.”
It is curious how the quack, with his empirical know¬
ledge, sometimes stumbled on a treatment that proved
of great value centuries afterwards.
The quack who delighted to pose as a friend to his
patient and who announced that he had acquired his
skill and wisdom from some mysterious source, appears
always to have had an attraction for the public. Of this
type was the “ Licensed and Legal Practitioner in
Physick and Surgery” of the Globe and Urinal, at the
Corner House next the Square in Baldwin’s Gardens
near Holbourn, the third turning from Leather-lane
and the third from Gray’s Inn.”
He declares, that “ he has practis’d thirty years and
travelled twenty-seven years through several kingdoms
and Provinces, and in the year 1680 was at Leghorn in
I 12 THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
Italy, where he obtained of an old Italian Physician the
knowledge of the “ Famous Arconum Pill, which he doth
assure is free from mercury and is a perfect cure for
morbus gallicus.” He describes himself as “A Friend
to the Diseased and his remedy, which also cureth the
Scurvy and all Rheumatick pains, may be taken in any
season by Sea or Land.
“ Take notice, in short, that this artist Cureth all
diseases curable in the Bodies of men, women, and
children, and he is the only man in Fown for curing the
King’s Evil, Cancer and Ulcers.
“ He can also take away all Webs, Pearls, Spots,
Sparks, Clouds and films from the Eyes, and coucheth
cataracts if occasion be.” One wonders how many of
his unfortunate patients he thus may have blinded ?
Another quack of foreign origin who flourished in
London at this time, was u The Gentleman from Lou¬
vain,” who was to be found at the “ Sign of the Moon
and Stars in Leopard’s-court in Baldwin’s Gardens near
Holbourn, from 8 in the morning till 7 at night.” This
“ Gentleman,” who “ by the benefits of a learned edu¬
cation in the University of Louvain, daily study and
thirty years practice and travels ” declares, that he has
arrived at a greater Perfection in several Arts than the
common practitioners in Physick can justly pretend to.
“ To strangers that cannot speak English, through his
learning he is able to speak to them in Latin or French.”
His wife was also in the business, and “ sells excellent
beautifying washes at is. the bottle, and has proper
remedies for distempers incident to the female sex.” His
“ Cephalick Powder ” he claims to be “ a present remedy
.

for all diseases of the head proceeding from colds or
! excess of humours, Price 6d. a paper,” and he concludes
! his bill as follows :
“ Would you your minds free from each labouring

doubt,
The future state of your Disease find out ?
The WHEN and HOW of things to come explore,
Shall you grow rich (or God forbid) be Poor ?
Are you fall’n sick or grievous pains endure ?
He’ll tell the Best and Speedi’st way to cure.
If good to marry, if the charming Soul
That wounds your Heart, will ever make it whole ;
Ask but the Doctor, you shall truly know
What in each thing the ruling Stars will do.”
“ Note. This is the same doctor that liv’d in Globe

i court and after in Hanging-Szvord-court in Fleet-street.
I' Those that can procure the time of their birth are desired
c to bring it with them, because some questions are best
| answer’d and some diseases best discover’d, by the
| Party’s nativity.”
Don Lopus, the “ Illustrious Spanish Doctor,” who de-

3] dared that he had just arrived from the ancient City
I: of Saragossa, was a mountebank with a sense of humour,
ji Accompanied by his Zany and assistants, he would thus
h address his audience :
“ Most noble Gentlemen and egregiously beautiful

ni and virtuous Ladies, with the rest of my friends and
j auditors. Behold your humble and most officious
II Servant, Lopus, who has come on purpose to make you
8
a present of his Physical and Chymical Arts to your
fair acceptance, and especially his most inestimable
Vegetable and highly valued Oil, which I protest, I and
my six servants are not able to make so fast as it is
fetched away from my Lodging by Gentlemen of your
City. Strangers of the Terra firma and worshipful mer¬
chants, ever since my arrival and have detained me to
their uses by their splendidous liberalities and worthily.
For what avails your rich man to have his magazines
stuft with Moscadelles of the purest grape, when his
physicians prescribe him on pain of Death, to drink
nothing but Water cocted with aniseeds ?
| “ O’ Health ! Health ! the Blessing of the Rich.
“ The Riches of the Poor ! Who can buy thee at too
dear a Rate, since there is no enjoying this world without
thee. Be not so sparing of your purses honourable gentle¬
men I entreat ye, as to abridge the natural course of
Life.
“ This is the Physician. This the Medicine. This
counsels. This Cures. This works the effect ; And in
sum, both together may be term’d an abstract of the
Theorick and Practick in the ZEsculapian Art.
“ Now Zan Fritada, prithee sing a verse extempore
in Honour of it.”
The Zany's song :
“ Had old Hippocrates or Galen,

(that to their books put med’cines all in)
But known this Secret, they had never
(Of which they will be guilty ever)
Been murderers of so much paper,
Or wasted many a hurtless taper ;
No Indian Drug had e’re been famed,
Tobacco, Sassafras not named ;
No yet of Guaiacum one small stick, Sir,
Nor Raymund Lullie’s Great Elixir.
Nor had been known the Danish Gonswart,
Or Paracelsus, with his long sword.”
“ No more Zany,” says the doctor, with a wave of

his hand.
“ Gentlemen, if I had but time to discourse to you
the Miraculous effects of this My Oil, surnamed Oglio
del Scoto, with the countless catalogue of those I have
cured of the aforesaid and many more diseases, the
Patents and Priveleges of all the Princes and Common¬
wealths of Christendom, or but the Deposition of these
that appeared on my part before the Sigmory of the
Sanita and most learned College of Physicians, where I
was authorised, upon notice taken of the admirable
virtues of my medicaments and mine own excellence,
in matters of rare and unknown secrets.
“ And Gentlemen, honourable Gentlemen, I will
undertake by virtue of Chymical Art, out of the honour¬
able hat that covers your head, to extract the four ele¬
ments, that is to say the Fire, Air, Water and Earth,
and return you your Felt without burn or stain !
“ Tune your voices once more and give the honour¬
able assembly some delightful recreations.”
Zany sings.
“ You that would last long, list to my Song,
Make no more coil, but buy of this Oil,
Would you be ever fair and young,
Stout of teeth and strong of tongue,
Tart of palate, quick of ear,
Sharp of sight, of nostril clear,
Moist of hand, and light of foot,
(Nor, I will come nearer to’t)
Would you like free from all Diseases,
Do the thing your Mistress pleases,
Yea, fright all aches from your bones,
Here’s a med’cine for the Nones.”
“ Well, Gentlemen, I am in a humour (at this time)

to make a present of the small quantity my coffer
contains, to the Rich in courtesy and to the Poor for
God’s sake. Come, you shall not give me the price of
six shillings, nor five, nor four, nor three, nor two, nor
one. SIXPENCE IT WILL COST YOU, OR SIX
HUNDRED POUND.
“ Expect no lower price by the Banner of my Front.
I will not bate a Bagatine. That, I will have only as a
Pledge of your loves to show I am not contemn’d by you.
“ Therefore now, toss your handkerchiefs chearfully,
and be advertized, that the first heroick spirit that
deigns to grace me with a handkerchief, I will give it a
little remembrance of something besides shall please it
better, than if I had presented it with a double Pistolet.
“ Ah, Thank you Lady,” Lopus exclaims, as he catches
a handkerchief thrown. “ I kiss your Bounty, and
for this timely grace you have done your poor Scoto,
I will return you over and above my Oil, a secret, of that:
high and inestimable Nature, shall make you for ever ;
enamoured on that minute, wherein your eye first
descended on so mean an object.
“ Here is a Powder concealed in this paper, of which,
if I should speak to the worth, nine thousand volumes
were but as one page, that page as a line, that line as a
jword, so short is this Pilgrimage of man to the expressing
of it. I will only tell you, it is the Powder that made
iVenus a goddess (given her by Apollo) that kept her
^perpetually young, cleared her wrinkles, firmed her gums,
[filled her skin, colour’d her hair ; from her derived to
(Helen and at the sack of Troy (unfortunately) lost till
enow, in this our age it was as happily recovered by a
jstudious Antiquary out of some Ruins of Asia, who sent
la moiety of it to the Court of France, wherewith ladies
(there now colour their hair ; the rest (at this present)
remains with me extracted to a Quintessence, so that
wherever it but touches in youth it perpetually pre¬
serves, in age restores the complexion, seats your teeth
did they dance like virginal Jacks firm as a wall and
makes them white as Ivory that were black as H—L.”
A bill issued by a “ Physician ” of the Blew Ball in
Great-Knight-Rider-street by Doctor’s Common an¬
nounces, that he is privileged to sell the Famous
Powder called Arcanum Magnum formerly prepared by
that Learned Riverius, Physician-Regent to the French
IKing and approved by most persons of Quality in
iChristendom, for preserving the Face. “ Being used
in time, it prevents the Face from ever being
wrinkled, though they live to a very old age, and it
cures all sorts of Red Faces, it takes away all heat
pimples, sun-burnt and morphew. (Morphew was the old
name for a scurfy skin or that yellowish coloration
common to elderly people.)
“ It likewise prevents superfluous hair growing on
women’s faces, and in short, it adds more lustre and
beauty to the face, than any other Powder or wash ever
prepared by any other person, as many persons of
quality in England can testify who do daily use it ; and
all that use it, do admire it above anything to Beautifie
the Face.
“ It is prepared by no one in England but at the
Blew Bally where it may be had at Twelvepence the
Paper, or Two shillings the Paper, that all persons may
receive the benefit, though formerly never sold to any
but those that would bestow a Guinney at one time of
it.”
Lazarus Riverius, the famous Italian physician, was
the author of several treatises on medicine and phar¬
macy in the seventeenth century and among them
was the “ Arcana,” which contained the recipe for
his Arcanum Magnum, said to possess such wonderful
properties. This book was translated into English under
the title of “ The Secrets of the famous Lazarus Riverius”
and printed in London in 1685.
From it, there is little doubt, our “ Physician of the
Blew Ball” obtained his prescription. The Arcana or
Golden Extract, was composed of Bayberries, Almonds,
Elder flowers, Wild grape, Catmint, Wild thyme, Penny¬
royal, Carrot seed, Aniseed, Fennell seed, Cummin,
Cinnamon, Cloves and Aloes-wood, to which was added
Balsam of Peru, with the oils of Nutmeg and Turpen¬
tine. These were well mixed and fermented together.
In Petty-France, Westminster, at “ a house with a
Black door and a Red Knocker, between the sign of the
Rose and Crown and Jacob's Well” a German quack
established himself, “ who hath a Powder which with
the blessing of God upon it, certainly cures the Stone
and saveth those that have been designed to be cut for
it. It wonderfully dissolves Great Stones and brings
them away.”
This individual appears to be among the first to
introduce the so-called stone solvent into London, which
later became so much in demand.
The Dutch quacks were almost as numerous in
London as the High-German doctors. They doubtless
reaped an advantage from the fact, that Holland had a
reputation as the seat of medical learning in the seven¬
teenth century, and to the University of Leyden many
Englishmen went to study medicine.
“ In Crutchet-Fryers near Aldgate, betwixt the
Saracens Head and the Kings Arms, between two Wine-
coopers, over against the Lhree Golden Anchors, where
you shall see a Hatch at the entry door and a Lanthorn
hung over it, dwells that most Renowned Dutch Opera¬
tor, who lived in the great City and University oj Ley¬
den.
“ He is come over into this most famous Nation at
the instances of some persons of quality, that knew in
what great credit he lived in Holland, for the cure of
men, women, and children.
“ He can do such cures, that there is not any example
of the like extant, either in books or in the memory
of men, for he hath cured even those that had all their
guts fallen that could not be thrust back by others,
although they had hanged up the poor patient by the
feet as if it had been an ox or a calf.
“ Now, for to let the world know his Integrity and
upright and honest dealing, he maketh this agreement;
that he will not have any money for his pains and
medicines, untill half a year after the patient hath been
perfectly cured.”
Another Dutch quack, who claims Royal patronage,
thus announces his arrival. “ There is lately arrived in
this Kingdom, a Gentleman who had the honour to wait
upon his Majesty at the General Meeting of the Con¬
federate Princes at the Hague ; who (by reason of an
admirable secret which he hath obtained from a Philo¬
sopher well-skilled in Natural Causes) had the honour
to shew several rare experiments, to the general satis¬
faction of that gallant and Noble Assembly.
“ And now, by the invitation of several persons of
Eminence and Quality, does tender for this Kingdom,
an Incomparable Powder, which at his residence at
Rotterdam in Holland, has work’d such wonders and
done such notable cures, the like was never yet performed
by any medicine in the world.
“ He gives it the name Appellation and Title of
Universally because there is no Distemper incident to
the bodies of mankind, but what it exterpates and
utterly eradicates ; and withall, is a medicine so friendly
to Nature, that it cures as it were by Sympathy, without
any sensible disorder or fateful to the body.
“ If the favourable Reader, put but an honourable
Construction upon his good intent and meaning, he
may in a moment finde that good and benefit which an
age can hardly afford him, and since he offers himself to
this kingdom as a Gentleman, not a Physician, and with
this medicine and with no other, the thinking part of
mankinde may conclude, that it must of necessity be
something not common, and indeed, beyond the reach
and capacity of an ordinary pretender.
“ It is an easy matter for any person to stile himself
a Physician, but to restore bodies decay’d by consump¬
tions, to remove the raging heat of violent Feavours, to
restore decaying Nature and prop the trembling frame
of weak mortality, and to procure health to all that
have been sporting in the Garden of Venus, he never
fails to cure, and all with one single medicine.
“ This Universall and now Incomparable Medicine, I
sell for Six Pound the ounce and Three pound the half
ounce.
“ You will have no occasion for Apothecaries weights,
: for with each quantity I sell, I give a small Silver spoon,
which filled, contains the quantity of a horse-bean that
must be taken by the patient.
“ My Lodgings are at the Grown and Jewell against
! Exeter Exchange, at a Goldsmith’s shop, over against
! Burley-street, where I am to be spoken with every day
from 8 a clock in the morning, till 12 at noon and from
2 till 7 a clock at night.”
A Frenchman called Anthony Bellon, who describes
: himself as a “ Doctor of Physick of the University of
I Montpellier,” dwelt at the house of Mr. Edward Steven-
: son in Bridges-street, just over against the King’s Play
3 House, near Covent Garden.
Among his preparations was the Syrop Vitae much
used at the French Court, which he says is so extra¬
ordinary, that “ it doth make one live longer and doth
preserve Health. He also sells that Geneva Cordial
Water oj Lemon, to which there is no other Liquor to
be compared, also a Coffee powder to be taken as ordinary
coffee with the same taste and smell, but do purge very
gently.
“ He hath for the ladies all sorts of Waters, per¬
fumed prepared spunges for to clear and smoothen or
colour the face. He sels a Lozenge to cure and smoothen
Sore lips and also the Canada Maidenhair Syrop made
with Flowers, and the Cedar Syrop.”
At the farthest house but one, on the right hand in
Deans-court by Deans-street, near St. Ann’s church in
So-Ho, lived Mr. C. V. P., a Dutch Orthopaedic quack,
who states, “ that he has very good skill, in helping all
such whose members of their bodies are out of shape
or order ; that is to say, such are inclined to be crooked,
having one shoulder or hip higher than the other, or
their Legs or Arms anyways distorted. These and any
other like irregularities he undertakes by the Blessing
of God.”
A celebrated High-German Doctor who settled in the
Strand, “ betwixt St. Clement’s Church and Temple Bar,
his house being the sign of The Angel, just over against
Essex-street, and where the pictures of patients and
manual operations are over the Door, and WHERE
THERE IS A RED CLOTH WITH STONES AND
RUPTURES taken out of the patients hanging by,”
issued an elaborate bill.
THE FAMOUS HIGH-GERMAN DOCTOR
An illustration from his bill
o
It is illustrated with a woodcut worthy of description,
representing the interior of an Apothecary’s shop, the
walls being lined with shelves bearing a great array of
jars, pots and bottles. Seated at a table is the doctor
receiving his patients, some of whom are cripples hob¬
bling on sticks. The sick visitors are followed by a boy
carrying a urine flask for examination. On the left is a
large bed draped with curtains and in it a woman is
lying. By the bedside is another doctor who is feeling
her pulse, and at the foot, a woman is seated in an arm¬
chair. In the background, through an archway, a
laboratory is depicted with a quantity of retorts,
flasks, globe-receivers and other apparatus, together
with a still, which is being watched by an assistant.
The bill informs us, that this “ Famous High-German
Doctor, hath by his great study and constant practice
in several parts of the world, as well as in Princes Courts,
as in Hospitals and war-like Expeditions, obtained such
a physical method as to cure all external and internal
Distempers. He can show by Testimonials, not only
from Emperors, Kings, Dukes, Electoral Princes, but
also from the Right Worshipful Mayor and Alderman of
the City of Bristol, Worcester and Hereford, and many
other Cities and Corporations in this Kingdom.”
He wishes it to be understood, that he is as expert an
Oculist as he is excellent in curing the Stone and Rup¬
ture, that “ the like of him is scarce to be found. He has
cured those that were born Blind (by cataract) and
restores their sight in less than a quarter oj an hour”
The catalogue of diseases he claims to be able to cure
is too long to quote in full, it is sufficient to state that it
includes “ Cancers, crooked legs, and a curious way for
curing the King’s Evil and an extraordinary method
for the treatment of morbus gallicus and many other
distempers, which no physicians can give name to.”
He also keeps an operator who “ cleanses the teeth and
makes them white as ivory, extracts aching teeth with
a touch, fastens loose teeth, and sets in Artificial Teeth
as if they were natural.”
A
Cafceat to tfte Untoarp:
CHAPTER VII
THE QUACK’S COSTUME AND LODGINGS-DR. SALMON
AND SOME OTHERS
T HE usual costume of the quack, according to a

writer in 1678, consisted of “a decent black suit,
and if credit will stretch so far in Long Lane, a plush
jacket ; not a pin the worse, though threadbare as a
taylor’s cloak it shows the more reverend antiquity.
“ Like Mercury, you must always carry a caduceus
' or conjuring japan in your hand, capt with a civet-box,
with which you must walk with Spanish gravity.
“ A convenient lodging, not forgetting a hatch at the
door ; a chamber hung with Dutch pictures or looking-
glasses, belithered with empty bottles, gallipots and
vials filled with tar-drippings or fair water coloured
1 with saunders (red sandal wood).
“ Any sexton will furnish you with a skull, in hope of
1 your custom, over which hang up the skeleton of a
i monkey to proclaim your skill in anatomy. Let your
table never be without some old musty Greek or Arabick
author and the Fourth Book of Cornelius Agrippa’s
‘ Occult Philosophy,’ wide open to amuse spectators,
i also half a dozen of gilt shillings, as so many guineas
received that morning for fees.”
Amidst such surroundings, one can imagine William
Ia5
Salmon, one of the most notable quack practitioners in
London in the seventeenth century, and a man who had
an extraordinary career.
He was born on June 2nd 1644, and began life as an
assistant to a mountebank with whom he travelled
about the country. He then crossed the Atlantic and
lived for some time in New England. Returning to
London, he first established himself in Smithfield near
the gates of St. Bartholomew’s Hospital where he treated
all who came in his way, sold them medicines and also
practised as an astrologer.
His quack remedies, which soon had a considerable
sale, included an “ Elixir Vitae ” or “ Elixir of Life,”
which he claimed to be “ a quintessence made of the
salts, oyls and spirits of the simples, impregnated with
their own proper essences.” He also sold the “ Family
Pills ” which acquired a great reputation, and “ an
antidote against the Plague and all Pestilential Venom,
being a specifick against Epidemick Diseases.” The
latter he states, “ certainly takes away and cures
melancholy and is without doubt, not only a Restorer
of the natural parts but a true and certain prolonger
of Life.”
He cites in testimony of their virtues the cure of one
“ Ambrose Webb at the Three Compasses in Westbury-
street, of a great bleeding at Nose ; a youth, a son of
William Ogben, a Taylor, near the Black Boy in Barnaby-
street, of a long and tedious ague and madness ; one
Cox, who dwelt in Well and Bucket Alley in Old street,
of a great obstruction of the liver ; Thomas Chew at
the Green man and Still, a distiller, without Smithfield
THE QUACK’S COSTUME AND LODGINGS 127
I Bars, of the Gout ; Nicholas Earl at the Cup in Long
S alley, of dropsie ; Joan Ingram near the Bear in Moor
' Fields of the Gout, and Anthony Geasture at the Cock
: in Wapping of a consumption, together with more
than a thousand others.”
In spite of his quackery, Salmon was an astute and
I clever man with considerable literary ability. His
enemies declared that he hired some impecunious phy¬
sician to write certain of his books. In 1671 he pub¬
lished a work entitled “ Synopsis Medicinae, or a Com¬
pendium of Astrological, Galenical and Chymical Phy-
sick,” in three books. This was a popular treatise
; embodying the names of the drugs and chemical sub-
l stances employed in the medical treatment of his time
! mixed up with a jumble of astrology and other fantastic
I theories.
Books of this kind, written in English, at a period when
i orthodox works on medicine were always printed in
Latin, had an attraction for the public, and so the
“ Synopsis Medicinae ” met with success and passed
through four editions.
Salmon did not confine his literary efforts to medicine
alone, as in 1672, he published a book called “ Poly-
graphica, or the Art of Drawing, Engraving, Etching,
Limning, Painting, Washing, Varnishing, Colouring and
Dyeing,” which he dedicated to Peter Stanley of Alder-
ley, who appears to have consulted him on matters of
art. This work shows that he had some knowledge
: of the graphic arts and in it he describes various methods
of representing the passions and emotions in portraiture.
This also proved successful and it ran into eight editions.
He removed from Smithfield to the “ Red Balls 55 in
Salisbury Court off Fleet Street, and from this address,
published his “ Horae Mathematicae ” in 1679, t^Le
“ Iatrica seu Praxis Medendi ” in 1681, and “ Doron
Medicon ” in 1683.
In 1684, he again removed to the “ Blue Balcony
by the ditch side near Holbourne Bridge.” It was here
in 1684 he first published his “ London Almanack ”
afterwards called “ Salmon’s Almanack ” which com¬
bined prophecies with dates and was a precursor of Old
Moore.
In 1689, he ventured into anatomy and with Edward
Brewster published a translation of the “ Anatomy ”
of Diemerbrock, the famous surgeon of Utrecht. This
was followed by two more popular works on medicine
viz., “The Family Dictionary or Household Companion”
in 1696, and “ Seplasium, the complete English Phy¬
sician or the Druggists Shop opened,” in 1693.
From the “ Blue Balls ” in Mitre court in Fleet street,
he again began to issue bills advertising his “ Family
Pills,” which he recommends for innumerable diseases;
his “ Cordial Drops ” to comfort the heart in old or
young, and his “ Balsam ” for all pains, sprains and
swellings. “ Many bedridden,” he says, “ and given over
to all appearance, have unexpectedly met with a cure,
almost to a miracle, in so much, that many learned
Phisitians could not but admire at their virtues.”
Like other quacks he developed strong religious views
and carried them to a fanatical extent. He became a
prominent member of a sect called the “New Religious
Fraternity of Free-thinkers ” that met near Leather-
DR. SALMON AND SOME OTHERS 129
seller’s Hall, where he was wont to expound his theo¬
logical doctrines.
On account of this, in 1700, he was attacked in an
[jamusing broad-side entitled, “ The Religious Impostor
ox the Life of Alexander——A sham prophet, doctor and
I
: fortune-teller, by Sebastian Smith Esq. Printed in
Amsterdam, for the Company of the Saints of the
New Stamp, in the first year of grace and free-thinking,
and sold next door to the Devil.”
It is dedicated “ to the Worthy Doctor S-lm-n and
the Company of the Saints of the New Impression alias
the Free-thinkers,” and purports to give an account of
Salmon’s early life and career.
The author alludes to him as Alexander, and declares
that when a boy he was apprenticed to a mountebank
whom he served as a 44 Whachum or Zany, and used to
inveigle and direct the amazed silly Rout, with tumb¬
ling through a hoop and vaulting and amusing ’em with
tricks of legerdemain and sleight of hand. He served
him also as Jugler, Sub-conjurer, astrologer, ganymede
and orator ; made speeches and wrote Panegyricks in
praise of his master’s Panaceas. He wrote Almanacks to
direct the taking of his medicines and made the stars
vouch for their virtues. He calculated Nativities, told
fortunes, had admirable Secrets to Soddercrack’d
maidenheads, and Incomparable Philtres for the con¬
solation of Dispairing Damsels.
“ He succeeded to his Quack-master’s business and
on his travels met with a man, part-author and part-
book-seller, who had an excellent knack of canting and
counterfeiting religion, and to him imparted his design
9
of setting up as a prophet and they became partners in
the strategem. It is easy to apprehend for what I give
you this summary of the History of Alexander, whom I
take to have been a type of you,” the biographer says
in conclusion.
“ The Churchyards and Burying places are every¬
where ample witnesses of your travels. You teach when
to cut corns and let blood. By you, old Nurses are in¬
structed to make Carduus-Possets and Chalybeate
Pancakes, bawds to cause abortions and strumpets to
counterfeit maidenheads. In a word, Pious Sir, may
you never cease to hold the sucking-bottle of the gospel
to the babes of grace, and the crutches of faith to the
crippled Saint.”
Salmon next became involved in theological dis¬
cussions and in 1690, published “ A Discourse against
Trans-substantiation,” in the form of a dialogue between
“ a Protestant and a Papist.”
Incensed at Sir Samuel Garth s allusion to him as a
“ Quack-Astrologer ” in his poem “ The Dispensary,”
which caused a great deal of controversy at the time,
he wrote a reply entitled, “ Rebuke to the Authors of a
Blew Book, written on behalf of the Apothecaries and
chirurgians of the City of London.”
In 1692 he published his “ Medicina Practica or the
Practical Physician,” and his last two works, which
show his versatility, were the “ English Herbal or a
History of Plants” in 1710, and “ Ars Anatomica or the
Anatomy of the Humane Bodie” in 1714. These however
do not by any means exhaust the list of his publications,
which are recorded in Bibliotheca Salmonca, printed in
London in 1713. Salmon made a considerable sum of

money by the sale of his nostrums and books. He formed
a large library and was the possessor of two microscopes,
several mathematical instruments and many interesting
curiosities which he had gathered during his travels
abroad. After his death, a catalogue of part of his
library was published by Thomas Ballard, Bookseller,
at “ The Rising Sun ” in Little Britain, and they were
sold by auction at St. Paul’s Coffee-house on November
16th 1713.
Ballard, in a preface, comments on William Salmon’s
extraordinary love of books and his singular judgment
in the choice of them. He had over 3,000 volumes, and
a glance at their titles show they included most of the
works on Physic and Surgery printed in the XVIIth
century, rare copies of the Classics, many Bibles, a very
complete library of contemporary medicine and a good
proportion of works on Mathematics, Theology, Botany
and Alchemy printed in the XVIth century.
Mrs. Salmon carried on what was probably the first
wax-work show in London at the Turkish Seraglio in
St. Martins near Aldersgate Street, in the early days of
Queen Anne’s reign.
She combined the art of modelling wax figures with
that of making glass eyes. In her bill she states that,
i“ She takes likenesses of Gentlemen and Ladies and has
3n view the Temple of Ephesus, of Apollo, the Vision of
Augustus and the Six Sybyls, moving figures. Also an
old woman flying from time who shakes his head and
oour-glass with sorrow at seeing age so unwilling to die.
Nothing but life can exceed the motions of the heads,
hands, eyes of these figures.” Mrs. Salmon, who claims
to teach the full art, removed soon afterward from St.
Martin’s-le-grand to the “ Golden Salmon ” at Temple
Bar which, she says, “is a more convenient place for the
coaches of the quality to stand unmolested.”
A curious case of a Licentiate of the College of Phy¬
sicians who turned Quack-doctor, is that of John
Pechey, who was born in 1654 and at the age of seven¬
teen, matriculated at Oxford as a member of New Inn
Hall and graduated as Master of Arts in 1678.
Returning to Chichester, where his father practised as
a physician, he probably learned from him the rudi¬
ments of medicine, for in the year 1684, he took up his
residence in London and applied for a licence to practice.
At this time, three examinations were necessary to be¬
come a licentiate of the College of Physicians, the first
being in Physiology, the rudiments of medicine with
questions on Anatomy; the second in Pathology, and
the third on the use and exercise of medicine.
Although he failed at first to satisfy the Examiners,
he obtained the licence at the end of 1684 and went to
live at Chequer Yard near Dowgate. He was the
translator of the first English version of the works of
Sydenham and published several other works on medi¬
cine. In 1687, together with two colleagues, he obtained
the lease of the Golden Angel and Crown in King
Street, Cheapside, and there established a Dispensary,
concerning which he issued a bill to the public.
In this, he gives his rules for patients, which were as
follows :
DR. SALMON AND SOME OTHERS i33
“ 1. A certain time shall be agreed upon for the cure

of the diseases before they are undertaken.
“ 2. The sick shall know first what the medicines will
cost that are necessary for their cure, tho’ they shall
pay for them only as they use them.
“ 3. Whatever is received for medicines of them shall
be faithfully return’d, if the case be not perfected within
the time prefixt.
“ 4. That they may be sure of either having their
money or their health restored ; they or their friends
for them, shall have a note, if they desire it, under my
hand and seal, for the performance of these proposals.
“ I will visit them in any part of the City of London
in the day time for two shillings and sixpence, and will
ride to visit patients in the City of Westminster or in
Southwark or the Suburbs, for two and sixpence a mile ;
the messenger that comes for me, leaving the said fee
at my house, and the name of the person that sends for
me and of the place of his or her abode.”
Pechey’s propensity for issuing bills and advertising,

: soon brought him into trouble with the College, and we
1 find in November 1688, he was summoned to appear
) before the Censors “ upon printing bills ” and was
admonished ; but he still continued, with the result,
: he was brought before the College again and again and
fined several times, all of which he refused to pay.
As an excuse for his unprofessional conduct, Pechey
then issued a bill stating, “ Many ill men make it their
business to reproach this publick way of practice,
because it thwarts their interest, but undoubtedly all
i34 ™E QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
persons that are free from prejudice, will approve of
it.”
“ At the Angel and Crown in Basing Lane, being the
second turning in Bread Street from Cheapside, there
lives John Pechey of long-standing in the Colledge of
Physicians in London, and because it is commonly
reported that Physicians will do nothing without their
fees, he proposes to undertake certain diseases including
Deafness, Sore-eyes, Coughs, Consumptions, Stomack-
pains, Jaundice, Fevers and Agues for nothing till the
cure is performed.”
In 1693, he advertises that “ The sick may have ad¬
vice for nothing and excellent Purging Pills prepared by
J. Pechey of the College of Physicians ; My Elixir for
the Stone and Chollick, price 2s. 6d., and other approved
medicines for the cure of other diseases.”
In another bill, in which he describes himself as “ a
Graduate in the University of Oxford,” he states, “ all
sick People that come to him may have for sixpence a
faithful account of their diseases, and Plain Directions
for diet and other things, they can prepare themselves.”
He further gives a description of his ten secret remedies
including his Worm Powders at 4d. each.
Meanwhile, further trouble developed with the College
on account of his refusal to pay his yearly payment of
40/- due by the Statute, and for this they entered an
action against him which was tried at the Guildhall.
When the Beadle called upon him afterwards to de¬
mand his money and threatened more drastic measures,
Pechey told him, “ to bid the College begin when they
pleased.” Whereupon the Board ordered him to be
arrested and prosecuted according to law ! Apparently
this was not carried out, for in 1706 he removed from
the Angel and Crown to Bow Lane, where he resided
until his death in 1718.
The quack of to-day, who advertises his nostrum by
offering to send the recipe for it to any anxious inquirer,
is but imitating some of his predecessors, who carried on
the same business three hundred years ago. In this way
Mr. Joseph Sabbarton of The Bleeding Pelican, exploited
his “ True Compound Elixir of Scurvy-grass and
Horse-radish.”
According to his bill, in order to make it, you are to
“ take Horse-radish roots 10 pounds, Scurvy-grass
seeds 8 pounds, Sea and garden Scurvy-grass of each
10 pounds, Winters Lignamon 4 pounds. Bruise the
seeds, reduce the bark to powder, macerate the herbs in a
marble mortar, then extract an Elixir according to the
SPAGERICK ART.
“ But, if you want it RIGHTLY PREPARED you
must seek Mr. Sabbarton at the Norwich Coffee-house in
Dean’s Court in St. Martin’s-le-Grand, near Aldersgate,
where he sells it at one shilling per glass, sealed with the
Bleeding PelicanP
“ Every Man his own Doctor,” is the title of a pam¬
phlet published by J. A. One of his Majesty’s Physicians
to advertise his remedies. “ This Doctor is to be spoke
with and gives advice from 2 till night at his chamber
at the Haymarket by Charing Cross, next the White
Horse Inne, a Strong-Water-Shop where his medicines
are to be had.” In the long list which follows, these
preparations include his Elixir Proprietatis sold at 5s.
an ounce, Elixir Guiaci, Aqua Cordialis, his prepared
Tobacco for dropsie, his Sneeze Powder for convulsions
and falling sickness, his Cordial Diet Drink, his Morbus
Pills, his Stichback Pills and Purging Bolus at 3s. 6d.
the pot.
“ If you think the quantities mentioned are too great,
they may be had for one shilling, of any sort,55 he naively
remarks in conclusion.
His “ Pectoral Lozenges as your companions by day
and his Balsamick Syrup as your guard by night,” is
the appeal of Edward Andrews M.D. who lived at the
second house on the right hand in Bolt and Tun Yard,
in Fleet-street. “ These are the two greatest remedies
extant for the Restauration and Preservation of the
Lungs, Breast and Organs of Respiration. The Gemelli
Pulmonales or Pectoral Lozenges and Balsamick Syrup
you must know, do joyntly and mutually operate with
Admirable effect in the Cure of the various Distempers
of those Noble Parts.”
Dr. Andrews also issued a broadside, which he called
Panoplia Medica or a Medicinal Armour for the whole
Body, in which he claims “ to give proof against the
Invasion of sickness and Assault of Destroying Diseases.
Being composed of the greatest Arcana and select
medicines in the whole Practical Part of Physick.”
The Arcana consisted of “ Our Great Stomach Pills
whose primary intentions are the Relief and support of
that Noble Part.
“ The next is our Grand Antiscorbutick call’d Anima
Cochleariae or the Soul of Scurvy-grass, next our Pul-
moniack Lozenges and last our Alexiterial Balsamick
t*
DR. SALMON AND SOME OTHERS i37

Syrup for the Lungs and Breathing Organs. A fourth
medicine. The Tincture oj Mars or Steel, a Medicine
indeed ! which never till now, made its publick entry,
that I never mett with or heard of any that exceeded it.
“ To which I beseech God to give his blessing.”
CHAPTER VIII
A QUACK-DOCTOR AND BALLAD-SINGER-A HIGH GERMAN
DOCTOR AND HIS MERRY ANDREW
N extraordinary character, well-known in the

± Jl district round St. Giles, the Seven Dials and
Smithfield towards the end of the XVIIth century, was
Jack Edwards.
Every one in the neighbourhood knew Jack as a
merry fellow, ever ready with a quip or to crack a joke
with passers-by, for he practically lived in the streets.
He combined the callings of Quack-doctor, Ballad-singer
and Merry Andrew, but was particularly successful in
treating horses for various disorders.
When trade, in selling his medicines in the markets
and at street corners, fell off, he would turn Zany to
some fellow practitioner, sing ballads, or distribute bills,
and afterwards return to his mountebank pranks and
sell his own pills and potions.
His demise was commemorated by an “ Elegy on the
much unlamented death of John Edwards—The Horse-
Doctor and Merry Andrew,” which was sold as a broad¬
side about the streets and from which the following
is extracted :
138
A QUACK-DOCTOR AND BALLAD-SINGER 139
“ Alas, what sudden news flies o’er the Town,
In one we’ve lost a Gentleman and a Clown,
Jack Edwards, thro’ the sudden want of Breath,
Is gone to play Jack Dindle’s part with Death.
######
T’ oblige the mobb that did some Pastime lack,

He’d Merry Andrew turn ; and name of Quack
Forsake a Fortnight, then that time expired
The name of Doctor was again acquired.
His horse and he for nothing gave advice,
Nay sware if any took his Pills but thrice.
If Blind he’d so restore you to your sight
That you should never more perceive the Light,
If Deaf, such practice try upon your Ear
That Drum nor Cannon you should never hear ;
But now, poor Jack’s as any herring Dead,
And will no more dull people cheat for bread.
This Quack and Merry Andrew for the D—1
When living to the mobb was very civel,
For if his antick tricks their Coyn could get,
He’d give them leave to laugh at his dull Wit.
Death fell a laughing at this vain discourse
And told poor Edwards, who was very hoarse.
’Twas now, just now, that we did lack,
An Andrew, Ballad-singer and a Quack.
So giving Jack a dose which made him stare,
He sent him headlong straight, the Lord knows
where ;
Too sure our Mountebank is gone to sleep,
So all you simple people sadly weep,
Who’ve often stood to hear him Nonsense prate,
And bought the Drugs he sold about the Street.
Epitaph
“ Here lies a Songster, Fool and Quack,
But which of all these three,
He really had the chiefest knack
Is nought to you and me,
But see the Fool whose noisome Drugs
Has stopt some People’s breath,
For all his skill could not secure
Himself from greedy Death.”
“ Jack Edwards departed this life, on Saturday the

16th of this instant November, at his Seat in Castle-
street in the Parish of St. Giles-in-the-Fields in 1706.”
The Zany often played an important part on the

stage and sometimes introduced his master to the
audience (when he happened to be a foreigner) in a mock-
speech, of which the following is an example :
“ Gentlemen. Tho’ I am an English Fool yet my

Master has the Honour to be a High-German Physician,
who in his travels round the Universe, has cured twelve
Foreign Ministers of State of those Twin Plagues,
Bribery and Infidelity ; six kinds of a Tyranical Fevers,
the whole Conclave of Cardinals of Pride, Laziness and
Hypocrisy and the present Pope of the Anti-Christian
Evil!
“ He was also three years Oculist to the German
Spread-Eagle, and Seven years Operator for the Teeth
to the King of Spain’s White Elephants. He is not only
Learn’d by his Studies, but Reverend as you may see
by his Beard, and Wise, as you may judge by his silence.
“ He has made himself by his long travels master of
all the Tongues in the whole World.
“ Amongst the many excellent medicaments contain’d
in his little Health-preserving packet, the first thing that
he presents with is this minute Panopharmacon which
he calls his ‘ Infallible Pill,’ tho’ ’tis so small in bulk that
it is scarce discernable without a microscope, yet is so
mighty in its operation, that it will raise the weakest
patient out of his sick-bed and make him strong enough
in two minutes to encounter Conscience, Death and the
Devil.
“ In the next place, he communicates to your view
his most excellent umbellical ‘ Sticking Plaister,’ which
if applied by the wife to the pit of her husband’s stomack,
! disperses all manner of jealous Heart-burnings, prevents
the many violent Evils that daily arise from that pre¬
dominant, Monarchical Distemper, such as grumbling
in the Gizard, Murder, Imprisonment and the like ;
these, with all its evil concomitants it disperses in a
moment and so strengthens his appetite towards family
duty, that he will be able to love wonderfully and beget
a miraculous progency.
“ Lastly, to crown the whole number of his Admirable
secrets, here is that rich and excellent Preservative,
as well as antidote, his ORVIETANO. Take but a
small dose of this next your heart in a morning, and
you may venture anytime of the day after into the most
j disaffected Coffee-house in London, without the danger
of being poisoned with Rebellious Principles. It expels
all Low-Country Schism, carries off all Disloyalty, and
is the best restorative to strengthen weak Faith and
decay’d Allegiance, that ever was yet discover’d since
the fall of Adam. And all these Medicines, contain’d
in this little Packet, the Doctor, through his Bounty to
the Publick, is willing to let you have for the small
value of sixpence.”
Here follows the speech of a High-German Doctor,

who apparently had a remarkable command of the
English language.
“ I am a High-German Doctor who, by the blessing of

Aesculapius on his great Pains, Travels and Nocturnal
Lucubrations, has attained to a greater share of know¬
ledge than any person before him was ever known to do.
“ IMPROMIS. Gentlemen, I present you with my
* Universal Solutive 5 which corrects all the Cacochy-
mick and Cachexical Diseases of the Intestines, Hvdro-
cephalous, Epileptick Fits, Flowing of the Gall and many
other distempers not hitherto distinguished by name.
“ Secondly. My ‘ Friendly Pills ’ call’d the Never
Failing Heliogenes, which work by dilating and expand¬
ing the Gelastick Muscles, first of all discovered by
myself.
“ They clear the Officina Intelligently, correct the
Exorbitancy of the Spleen, mundify the Hypogastrium,
comfort the Sphincter and are an excellent remedy
against Prosopo Chlorosis or Green sickness.
“ They operate seven several ways viz. Hypnotically,
Hydrotically, Cathartically, Proppysinatically, Hydra-
gogically, Pulmatically, and lastly Synecdochieally, by
corroborating the whole Oeconomia Animalis.
“ There are twenty or more in every Tin box, sealed
with my Coat of arms, which are Three glyster-pipes
erect Gules in a field Argent, and my crest is a bloody
hand out of a Mortar emergent, and my supporters, a
Chymist and an Apothecary.
“ This ‘ Tincture Solaris 5 or Most Noble Offspring of
Hyperious Golden Influence, wipes off abstertively all
those tenacious, sedimental sordes that adhere to the
Oesophagus and Viscera, and annihilates all the noso-
trophical Ideas of the whole Corporeal.
“ Thirdly. My ‘ Panagion Outaconsticon ’ or Auri-
: cular Restorative, were it possible to shew me a man so
: deaf, that if a Demiculverin were to be let off under his
: ear, he could not hear the report, yet these infallible
] Drops (first invented by the two Famous Physicians and
Brothers, St. Cosmas and St. Damian) and some forty
I years ago communicated to me by Anastasio Logotheti,
i a Greek Colyr at Adrianople, when I was invited to
t; those parts to cure Sultan Mahomet IV of Elephantiasis
:i in his Diaphragm, he would recover his auditive faculty
h and hear as smartly as any old fumbling priest when a
r young wench gives him her confession.
“ Lastly, my ‘ Pulvis Vermifugus ’ or Ante-vermick
Powder, so famous for killing and bringing away all
a sorts of worms incident to human bodies. It has brought
W away Worms as long as the Maypole in the Strand when
:| it flourished in its primitive prelixity, though I confess
: not altogether so thick.
“ I dexterously couch the cataract, extirpate Wens of
i44 THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
the greatest magnitude, close up Hair-Lips, likewise take
the Stone from all Women or Maids without cutting.
“ I forge all myself, nay my very machines, for safe
and easy drawing Teeth and obscure stumps.
“ Mrs. Littlehand, midwife to the Princes of Phlege-
thon, can sufficiently inform the women of my Helps,
and if any woman be unwilling to speak to me, they
may have the conveniency of speaking to my wife who
is expert in all feminine distempers. She has an
excellent Cosmetick Water to carry off Freckles, Sun¬
burn or Pimples and a curious Red Pomatum to plump
and colour the lips, while she can make Red Hair as
white as a Lilly. Also a rare secret that takes away all
warts from the face, hands, fingers and other parts.
“ I have predicted miraculous things by the Pulse,
far above any Philosopher. By it, I not only discover
the circumstances of the body, but if the party be a
woman, I can fortel how many Husbands and Children
she shall have ; if a Tradesman, whether his wife will
fortify his forehead with Horns and so of the rest.
“ By my learning and great travels I have obtained
the true and perfect seed and blossom of the Female
Fern, and infinately improved that great traveller, Major
John Choke’s famous Necklace for breeding the teeth.
“ My hours are from 9 till 12 and from 2 till 9, every
day in the week, except on the real CHRISTIAN SAB¬
BATH CALLED SATURDAY.”
CHAPTER IX
PLACE FOR THE GENTLEWOMEN
O UACK-doctoring was by no means confined to the

male sex in the seventeenth century, and the
female of the species, who preyed chiefly on members
of her own sex, flourished in old London.
She usually introduces herself as a “ Gentlewoman,”
but occasionally she is the “ wife of a famous doctor
now deceased.”
In the year 1693, we learn from a bill, that Mrs. Mary
Green living at a Haberdasher of Hats, next door to the
Three Crane Tavern, in Chancery-lane, “hath, by the
Blessing of God and many years practice, learned a
most Excellent Method of Curing those Distempers
which shall be later mentioned.”
Mrs. Mary Green, be it known, is “ Licensed by His
Grace, the Lord Archbishop of Canterbury, for the great
cures she hath performed on Several Persons ; the truth
of which you may be satisfied by repairing to her House
in Chancery-lane.
“ She cures all Deadness, Numbness, Weakness of
Limbs, Rheumatisms, and Sciaticas, tho’ of many years
standing. Many of them should have had their Arms
and Leggs cut off by the advice of many eminent
Doctors in and about London.
145 10
“ Mr. Robert Smith, who two years ago was struck
by a Planet on his left Arm, and did then apply himself
to the ablest Physicians and Chirurgeons in London and
found no relief, but applying himself to the said Mrs.
Green was in a short time perfectly cured by her, and is
now as well as any man can be.
“ Also Mrs. Atkins, a Midwife in Scroop’s Court against
St. Andrew’s Church, Holbourn, was lame in all her
limbs, did for Five years consult the Ablest Doctors and
likewise THE WHOLE COLLEDGE OF PHYSICIANS,
was perfectly cured by Mary Green. She hath also cured
Mrs. Dixter in Hanging-Sword Alley in Fleet Street, and
Mr. Vaughan, Clark to the White-Lyon-Wharf near
Barnard’s Castle in Thames street, who was troubled
with the Ptisck (chest trouble) and Mrs. Batler, over
against the Pezvter Platters in St. John’s street, who had a
White swelling of which she was perfectly cured by me.”
The “ Gentlewoman ” sometimes combined the sale
of cosmetics and other aids to the toilet with the practice
of medicine. Thus, “ Be it known, that in St. Martin’s
Court in St. Martin’s lane, at the sign of the Golden Heart,
up one pair of stairs, Liveth a Gentlewoman who by
the long experience of her predecessors, as likewise from
her own practice for several years past, hath attained
to great knowledge in things relating to the Female sex,
which she is unwilling to conceal, knowing them far to
exceed anything exposed by the Common Pretenders
of the Town. Therefore, she is persuaded by several
Persons of Quality, to make this general Publication.
“ First. She hath a most incomparable Wash to
beautifie the Face, agreeable to all manner of Complex-
PLACE FOR THE GENTLEWOMEN 147
ions, which takes off pimples, freckles, morphew or
what else may obstruct a fair and lovely complexion.
It leaves such an agreeable Lustre, that the most Curious
Eye cannot perceive art to be used, but will judge it to
be the true product of Nature.
“ Second. She hath also a most Delicate Pomatum,
which is wonderfully agreeable to be used with it. A
Summer’s day is too short to demonstrate the full
virtues of both these, therefore for brevity’s sake she
omits it.
“ Third. She hath Red and White Handkerchiefs
(these were used for colouring or whitening the skin
as required).
“ Fourth. She hath a fine Lip-Salve.
“ Fifth. She hath all sorts of delicate Pearl Powders
to whiten the skin.
“ Sixth. She hath most curious Masks and Forehead
cloths, which take out all spots, pits, scars, caused by
the small-pox, and also all wrinkles of the face.”
The masks and cloths for application to the face, were

usually made of coarse linen which had been dipped in
a hot mixture of wax, gum benzoin and oil. In earlier
times they were sometimes called cere-cloths.
Besides the preparations mentioned, this “ gentle¬
woman ” had a Rare Dentifrice Powder and Water for
the Teeth to make them white as Ivory. “ She shapeth
the Eye-brows, and also hath a great Secret to prevent
Hair falling and causing it to grow where it is wanting.
She hath a fine ointment to anoint the face so soon as
the Small-pox begins to dry, and a Goldon Unction te
cure all old ulcers in the leggs, altho’ of never so many
years standing.”
The disfigurement caused by small-pox which was
so prevalent in England at this period, marred the
beauty of many women, a fact commented on by
several contemporary writers.
“In Holbourn over and against Southampton-square
at the sign of The Coffin and Child, against the Watch-
house■, next door to the Sugar-Loaj and Role, where a
Golden Ball hangeth over the passage door, liveth Anne
Laverenst, a German Gentlewoman.”
Anne informs the public, that she has but very lately
arrived in this Kingdom, and so is consequently a
stranger, it behoves her therefore to make herself known
by a printed paper, otherwise she might for some years
remain wwknown. She says that her parents before her,
were so far skilled in the art and knowledge of physick,
that “ they have removed the most dangerous dis¬
tempers and have seldom or never failed wholesomely to
assist Nature in the discharge of her duty.” From them
she received the great knowledge and experience that
she now professes, and questions not, but (by the blessing
of God) she will be able to cure any distemper incident
to woman-kind.
Following a long list of ailments to which her sex are
susceptible, Anne states, that she also cures the Morbus
Gallicus and presumes few have arrived to the perfection
in this cure than herself. She offers to those who require
close confinement to their chambers, lodging at her house
and accommodation, with all things necessary at a
reasonable rate.
In a later bill headed with a device of the double
eagle and the words cum Privilegio, addressed to
“ Ladies and all others of the Female Sex ” she announces,
that she now lives in Arundel street, over against the
King's Arm’s Tavern, near St. Clement’s Church in the
Strand, “ where you will see a RED CLOTH hang out
at the Balcony, with coagulated stones taken out of the
bodies of the Female Sex,” a gruesome sign indeed for
a Gentlewoman practising chirurgery.
At the Sign of The Garden of Eden in the Old Bailey,
next Ludgate-hill, lived a Gentlewoman “ who after
twenty years experience cures all sorts of scal’d Heads
and leprosies without the least pain, and hath per¬
formed great cures in old and young. She desires
nothing for her pains till she hath performed the Cure.”
The wives and daughters of the quacks sometimes
carried on or took an active part in their practice,
and among them was “ The Doctor’s Wife ” of Dean’s
Court, who was famous for the cure of all Female Dis¬
tempers.
In a bill addressed specially “ to Ladies, Gentle¬
women and Others,” she states, that having left off for
some time, for the sake of her health, now through God’s
blessing, she is enabled to lend her best help to those of
her sex. She claims to have had almost Thirty years
Experience and Practise at Home and Abroad, in
Germany, Spain, France and other parts of Europe,
where she hath attained to the knowledge of the most
Rare and most Effective Remedies. She hath made it
her chief business and study during her various long
travels, to attain to the knowledge of the Best, Rarest
and most Wonderful Secrets which Art and Nature can
afford for the cure of Barrenness.
“ To those whom God hath made so, none can make
Fruitful, but so far as anything can be done by Art, she
will undertake by God’s blessing to do it, insomuch,
that if a Woman should be 20, nay 25 years married,
she may hope to be Bless’d ; as great numbers of Women,
many of them of Quality, have experienced and will
testify.
“ She still lives in Dean’s Court, in St. Martin’s-le-
Grand, near Aldersgate, at the sign of The Hand and
Urinal, and is to be spoken with at any reasonable
hours.”
The Widow Drew, who was the daughter of a “ Doctor
of Physick and who for twenty years and upwards
visited her Father’s patients, prepared physick for them
and administered to all her sex,” announces, that “ since
her father’s decease, to improve herself she has lived
with Dr. Rose, the Man-Midwife. Her Pills certainly
cure the green-sickness and change the pale, greenish
Tallow coloured, nasty and Death-like look of the
patient, into a fair, lovely, florid and healthy com¬
plexion.
“ Many hundreds of young Virgins have had the bene¬
fit of these pills, which may be had at the sign of the
Blue Ball, at the upper end of Gun-Yard in Hounds-
ditch, near Aldgate.”
The Widow Drew apparently combined the calling
of draper with that of the quack, for she adds, “ At the
same house likewise are sold all sorts of childrens coats,
by wholesale or retail.”
Agnodice, the Woman Physician, who lived at the
Hand and Urinal next door to the Blue Ball in Hayden
Yard in the Minories, near Aldgate, claimed to have
special abilities as a healer and maker of preparations
for the complexion.
She recommends a “ Tincture for fits, a Powder for
the green-sickness, a Pill for a dry cough, a Diet-Drink
to cure the King’s Evil, an Infusion for a ‘ third day ’—
Ague, Pillets and Pouder to Purge the Head, a Water
for Sore-Eyes, an Elixir for Gravel and many other
remedies too tedious to mention.”
She states “ to her own Sects, she cures all diseases
or accidents that may or can attend them, although
given over by others as is daily experienced. The
diseases in particular 1 shall forbear to mention, they being
not proper to be exposed to the Publick.
“ If Venus should misfortunately be wounded with a
Scorponious Poyson by tampering with Fiery Mars, to
her own Sects it is then she brings comfort and relief,
and by her antidotes expels the poyson, Jove-like,
though never so far gone.”
She also mentions that she cures very speedily the
Scotch Disease, a name which in former times was applied
to the itch.
Owing to her travels for many years in foreign parts,
from which she has brought back ever such curiosities
as was never published or known in England before,
Agnodice claims to have some wonderful preparations
for the skin. These include her “ Italian Wash, which
takes away all cutaneous effects and blemishes in the
skin, making the face most clear and Fair. The “ Spanish
Rolls,” a little being scraped into Fair water takes away
wrinkles and pits of Small-pox and makes the hands
and face smooth, white and lovely.
“ She hath also a Liquid which adds to the Face a
fresh and Lively lustre and Colour, proper for all those
that look as pale as death.
“ Her excellent pomatums doth work wonders and
have a rare art in shaping the Eyebrows, making low
fore-heads high, making the hair grow thicker and
colouring it what they please.
“ These,” she concludes, “ are Remedies daily ex¬
perienced by Persons of Great Quality, who have and do
commend them to all their acquaintances.”
A Madam Gordan of Goodman’s Fields adopted a
curious method of advertising her medicines. In her
bill dated 1695, which she heads, “ By His Majesty’s
Authority,” she announces that she has “ Two Monsters
on view, which by medicines prescribed by her to
Robert Cobb, a labourer who lives in White-Horse
Ally in Barbican, who had been Labouring under an
unknown Distemper for several years ; and after being
given over by many Physitians, was, by her medicines
and God’s assistance, delivered of one Monster the
9th of October 1695, like a Lyon ; and of one other
the 5th of June 1696, like a Fox, both of which he
vomited up at his mouth and are now to been seen.
VIVAT REX.”
Sarah Cornelius de Heusde, “ widdow of Dr. Sasbout,
and grandmother of the Doctor that had his stage upon
Great Tower Hill and did so many cures before the
Fire,” issued a bill, that was “ To be delivered into the
Hands of Civil Gentlewomen and Maidens,” which begins
thus :
“ Loving Reader,
“ God Almighty hath not created man for himself,
neither for his own ends, but hath given him natural
affection for to Love his Fellowes and loving them to
cure them by all means, and whereas I have many
Sciences and Mysteries of Nature, likewise particular
experiences, new inventions, natural secret arts to cure
many and divers great and dangerous accidents, as well
internal as external, specially for women and young
maidens.
“ It may be, some will say, that this my Science is but
a deceitful enterprize, as there are some old women and
midwives who sometimes have a little book out of which
they gather their sciences.
“ But it is not so with me, who have learned these my
sciences of my Father and Husband, who both were
physicians and of such esteem amongst men, as well
noble, as others, that there appeared no accidents how¬
ever so great in the humane body, as well men as women,
whereunto their advice had not been required.”
Sarah then gives a long list of the diseases in which
she has been successful, and among them, that curious
distemper, “ incident to young maidens who long to
eat strange things like morter, stone, sand and coals.
“ Those also who are troubled with heavy thoughts,
that they were in a rage or mad, so that they endeavoured
to kill themselves or another.
“ I further make a Beautifying for the Body, as well
for Fair Colours for the Face, as for the Hands, without
painting. I make the hair to fall out when it is too
thick, and make it grow where it is too little, and can
colour it according to everyone’s fancy.
“ Therefore, if there be any person who hath occasion
for this famous Operatoress, she liveth at the sign of
The Red Lyon, by the postern Gate in George Yard,
between Great and Little Tower Hill, where she is to
be spoken withall, between 8 in the morning and 8 in
the evening.”
The Virtues of that “ Famous Friendly Pill, Electuary
and Balsam of Balsams,” invented by the late Dr.
George Jones of Hatton Garden are extolled in a bill
issued by Elizabeth Russell “ that was Dr. Jones’
Widdow, but who is now married again and lives at
the Two Blew Posts, against Grayes-Inn in Holbourn.
“ The Friendly Pills, being the Tincture of the Sun,
having dominion from the same light, giving Relief and
Comfort to all mankind are a wonder among other
wonderful medicines.
“ They cause all complexions to laugh or smile in the
very time of taking them. They are Twenty or more in
every Tin box sealed with the Lyon and Cinquefoil, and
the price one shilling.
“ They are as big as pins heads and very easie to be
taken. Take all the Twenty, or so many as you find in
the box, all at once, last going to bed and sleep on them,
and if you find the first taking hath not finished the
cure, continue taking another box every second or third
night or till you are well.”
The list of diseases they will cure is too lengthy to be
PLACE FOR THE GENTLEWOMEN i55
quoted here, but it is sufficient to state that “ they
extinguish all supernatural Ferments, and Destroy the
Disasiefying Idaea of the whole Body.”
Some of the accounts given by Elizabeth of her cures,
however, may be worth mentioning. “ The Electuary,”
she states, “ Cured the wife of Mr. Randal at Deptford,
almost blind with the King’s Evil, and took a Worm
four yards long from Mr. Colbrook, against the Old
Hole-in-the-Wall in Baldwin’s garden by Holbourn.
Other cures lately done, are on January 17th 1678, John
Tichberry, a Cooper, on the Bank-side in Southwark
near Marygold stairs, after taking two boxes of pills,
voided a Stone. Henry Butterfield at Wemly in Harrow
Parish, was cured of a surfit and Feaver ; Mrs. Field
living at Harrow-upon-the-Hill, sorely afflicted with
great pain in her limbs, was cured by a few boxes of
these pills.
“ They also cured Mr. John Davis of Pickle-herring-
stairs, at The Five Tobacco Pipes, of the Ague ; Lettis
Story, who had the Evil in her mouth ; the pills and
balsam cured her and she continues well; George Stone
of Arsal parish in Surrey, whose body was swolled so
big, that his cloathes would not come together by a foot,
took 6 boxes and he was cured. Likewise Mr. Edward
Mallord in Hare-street, at the sign of The Mallet and
Tobacco-roul, in Stepney parish, was cured of the Scurvy
when he was broken out in knobs, and the child of Mr.
Hugh Gardiner, a barber in Milk street, at the sign of
The Hand and Perriwig, near the Market, was cured of a
violent Fever.”
A “ Gentlewoman who lives at the Blew Ball in
little Kerby street in Hatton Garden, in Holbourn, who
without making any preamble as to how or from whence
she gained her Art, is willing to tell the world in a few
words that (through the blessing of God) she is to a
wonder, successful in working a speedy cure on those that
have either Rickets or Deafness.
“ She hath a Sear-cloath which hath been highly ap¬
proved by several for taking away all manner of Pains
and Aches.”
This “ Gentlewoman hath likewise a most Excellent
and Wonderful art to make the hair grow wherever it
be wanting, though there had been none before. She
also hath a Water that takes all sorts of worms out of
the face, and is always ready to give an answer to any
reasonable question that shall be askt her of what kind
soever it be, whether of things past, things now depend¬
ing, or things to come.”
Among the women quacks who claimed to cure the
“ Stone” was Mrs. Norridge, who states that her father,
Dr. Duncan, left her a great Secret on his decease, for an
“ Infallible powder ” to dissolve the Stone.
This Powder, she says, “ hath been several times in
the Gazette for the general good of mankind and you may
confirm the truth about it, to those that are either en¬
vious or unbelieving, of the Vise-Countess Lamsbury
at her House over against Mr. Notts, the Stationer in
Pall-Mall, of Mr. Guilbart, Knight of the Shire for Darby-
shire and his Lady, both experienc’d it, and Alice Field¬
ing servant to the Countess of Kingston.
“ She hath also a useful Powder, that takes away the
sharp humour of the blood which causes violent itching,
PLACE FOR THE GENTLEWOMEN i57
so that many persons are forced to scratch so much it
makes them like Leopards.
“ She hath likewise the greatest secret in the world
for Deafness, which was left to her by her father, who
cured the deaf and dumb from their birth, and others
that had been deaf for the space of Twenty years and
could neither hear Drum or Trumpet.
“ She setteth Artificial Teeth and cureth toothache
immediately.
“ Her excellent Water for Sore-Eyes cured Mrs.
Wilson herself, and Susanna Locker of the Evil in her
Eyes, so now at 17, she sells fruit in the Market, also
Goody Drewets, daughter of Goody Lewis’s husband,
the Dipper at the Well, at Tunbridge Walks.
“ You must note that Mrs. Norridge is removed from
The Pewterers to the White Hart, a Linnen drapers, over
against Hungerford-market in the Strand.”
Sarah Gardiner, the wife of the late Famous William
Kellitt, specialised in “ curing Agues of all sorts, and
wishes it to be known, that she still lives at The Cock in
the Mint, in Southwark.”
She says, that her late husband William, by God’s
blessing, and his diligent search into the Secret causes of
that pernicious disease commonly called Ague, attain’d
to the knowledge of an Incomparable medicine that
speedily, safely, and infallibly cures all sorts and
degrees of Agues, whether Quotidian, Tertian or
Quartan.
“One eminent instance is that of an Apothecary of 72
years of age, who had lived forty years in Cheapside,
and after ineffectually trying other medicines, by the
advice of several Learned Physicians, was lately cured
of a Quartan Ague and restored to health.
“Be it known, that Mrs. Sarah Gardiner late Widdow
of William Kellitt, dwells in the same house where she
assisted her husband in preparing and administering his
medicine, and still continues by the blessing of God.”
The virtues of the “ True Spirit of Wormwood ” are
related by another “Widdow” named Mrs. Nevill, now
a milliner, who lives next door to the Ship, near the great
North Door of St. Paul’s Church.”
She tells us “ that there is not any Herb that grows,
that is a greater factor and friend to the Stomack than
Wormwood.
“ It removeth Stitches in the side and disperseth that
melancholy water that hinders digestion. Take of this
spirit in the morning 40, 50, or 60 drops in a draught of
Rhenish wine, White wine, Bear or Ale, which you
please ; likewise I shall advise all persons that go to
drink Epsom, Tunbridge, and Barnet Waters, to be
provided with the Spirit of Wormwood.”
Elizabeth Maris, who calls herself the “ True German
Gentlewoman ” and was the mother of a High German
Doctor, set up in practice for herself at the Blew Ball
in Grays Inn Lane near Holbourn Barrs, next door to a
Tallow Chandler, where her name is on a board over the
door.
Elizabeth, with unusual modesty, excuses herself
for issuing a bill, but like Dr. Saffold, she does not think
it right, that “ she should hide her talent in a napkin,
which heaven has been good enough to bestow upon her
for all your benefit and good.”
She states that her <£ Parents and Husband were far
skill’d in the Art and Knowledge of Physick, and from
them she received the great secrets and experience
through which she is able to cure any distemper of
women-kind, including among other diseases Impostumes,
inflammation of the lungs and Tertians of the guts.”
There were apparently few disorders that Elizabeth
could not cure, from ruptures to gravel. She claims to
be able to “ drive away all gouty pains in the Joynts,
nay, though your arms and leggs were grown crooked
and though you have kept your bed for many years, I do
not doubt but to relieve you.”
She concludes with a postscript, that “ If any gentle¬
man has any distemper not fit to be discoursed of to a
woman, he may speak to my son, who hath practised
Physick above Twenty years with good success.”
CHAPTER X
MORE FOREIGN QUACKS
M UCH of the quaintness of the quack-doctor’s

bills, lies in the detailed directions usually given
for finding their lodgings, which recall many of the lanes
and courts of old London, now forgotten.
From these descriptions, one can almost follow the
twists and turns of the narrow alleys, darkened by
the overhanging gables, and picture the seeker of the
quack looking out for the sign of the Blew Ball, or the
“ lantern hanging over the balcony,” then groping up the
tortuous stairs, and furtively tapping at the door of the
doctor’s lodging.
In such a house lived the famous Dr. Abraham Sou-
burg of Gronigen,who heads his bill, “MilleOpijex rerum
medic aminis, Author and Anspex Primus lethaeos docuit
depellere morbus,” and thus announces himself :
“ Be it known unto all men, that to this famous City
of London, this Renowned and well experienced Physi-
tian, Cutter of the Stone and Oculist, has arrived.” He
declares, that “ by God’s assistance, he hath by his Art
and Skill, gotten great Repute in the United Provinces
of the Netherlands and in several Kingdoms and Duke¬
doms, having by his continual experience, acquired
many fine and curious manual operations, not before
160
MORE FOREIGN QUACKS 161
heard of, and hath many excellent Remedies for curing
Diseases incident to Mankind, which others have not
yet found out.
“ He doth cure many Grievous Distempers in the
OPERATING FOR CATARACT

From a woodcut on a XVII Century bill
Eyes by manual operation, with a needle of Gold, Silver

or Steel. Even those who are blind by a Cataract, be
they men, women or children, he hath cured by God’s
n
assistance, and brought them to their sight with speed,
and without pain or smart, who could not distinguish
by reason of their blindness, Fire from Water nor the
Sky from the Earth, for there is no person in all the
United Netherlands, nor in this famous City, who can
operate with a Gold, Silver or Steel needle as he.
“ He hath cured 184, both young and old, of blindness,
by the help of the needle only, there being 313 distem¬
pers incident to the Eye.
“ He doth cut and cure the Excrescences of Nature,
be they never so Monstrous or Deformed. He is also a
Famous cutter of the Stone, having attained to perfect
knowledge therein, he being able sometimes to get the
Stone out without an instrument and no person is made
Lame thereby. Some persons use six or seven Instru¬
ments and spoil the patient, whilst he, at the worst, useth
but one. He cut above 900 in the United Provinces,
besides several in Flanders, Brabant, Germany, Mun¬
ster, Euchden and other places.
“ If anyone can produce me any person (by me cut)
that hath any imperfection by reason of my cutting,
I will give him Six hundred Rix dollars from the Province
of Utrecht, for I cut 104 persons, whereof 96 were shortly
well and brisk.
“ This Doctor, Oculist, Cutter of the Stone, Cancer
and Hair Lips, has a yearly sallery from the Lords of
the State of Overyssel and from the State of Groningen.
He is to be spoken with at his lodging in Hedge-lane,
over against the Duke of Richmond’s, near Charing
Cross, having two round windows in the wall.”
Another Renowned Dutch Operator who heads his
bill with the coat of arms of the City of Amsterdam,
states he has cured “ THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS,
as his Testimonials of several Princes in several parts of
the world, can shew.”
He begins his bill with an historical discourse, in which
he says, “ It is but a story and a fable, that the Morbus
Gallicus began first in the Siege of Naples, for Monardes,
that most learned Spanish Physitian will tell you, that
it was very common before then in several parts of the
World. If you understand Arabick or Chaldaick, Hebrew
or Greek, read Algazel Alpharabius, Rabbi Joseph,
Jetzira Onkelus the Pythagorean, and the very Cabalists
of the first age of the world, they will tell you.”
This learned Dutchman gives minute directions to
his patients how to find his lodgings in the Strand which
were “ over against Exeter House (that is now pulling
down), between the Golden Cock and the Blew Anchor,
j ,
at a Bookseller's House where you will see A wo handsome
Blew Belconies, gilded ; but you are desired not to come
to him the shop way, for there is a very fine conveniency
to come the back way in the Savoy Alley; the first door on
your left hand, near the Church, where you will see a
Blew Belcony, gilded, and a Green Lanthorn with a
candle in it at night, hanging over the Door to give
you notice.”
An Eminent Doctor of Physick newly come out of

Poland next claims attention. A portrait of him heads
the bill in which he states, that “ so many persons have
flockt to him, that he has been forced to give out these
papers by the hands of his servants, to desire all persons
whatsoever, to forbeare to come to him, unless it be for
the cure of the morbus gallicus.”
He declares that there
is none in all Europe
besides him, with the
knowledge of such brave
medicines as he has
brought over with him,
from the “ old Chinese
Doctor, to whom the
persons of the GREAT¬
EST QUALITY resorted
five and six hundred
leagues, for such a cure.
He is now dead at Bres-
law in Silesia in June
last, in the HUNDRED
AND EIGHTEENTH
YEARS OF HIS AGE.”
He certainly had a cur¬
ious method of diagnosis,
for he says, uFrom see¬
ing one or three of the
Patient’s Hairs, I will pre¬
THE EMINENT DOCTOR OF
PHYSICK OUT OF POLAND sently know what remedy
From a woodcut on his bill
is most fit for his cure.”
He is to be seen at his house in Fleet street, betwixt
the Golden Lion, and the Three Golden Bucks, next door
but one to the Castle-T avern, where there is a Hatch
before the entry door, over against the sign of The
Lamb.
“ N.B.—Ij any Lady hath an Extravagant Husband,
as so many honest wives have jound to their sorrow, she
may have a remedy
An Italian Doctor “ who never was any STAGE
QUACK OR MOUNTEBANK/’ dwelt in Holburn,
within three doors of Brownlow-street, next door to an
Apothecarys and over against the sign of Lhe Magpy
He states that he has been very successful in the
“ Speedy Cures of all sorts of Feavers which he certainly
VENUS with her CROWN.
cures in six days time, the Dropsie in three weeks time,

and does also perfectly cure all convulsive Fits in jijteen
or sixteen days”
He declares that all these distempers are best to be
undertaken and will be more safely and more effectually
cured, “ in the moneth of May and till the middle of
June.”
“ This Italian Master has brought with him out of
Italy, the “ RIGHT ROMAN ORVIETAN,” which he
sells at Half a crown the 3 ounces, or 6 ounces for Five
shillings, and so you may have as many ounces as you
please.”
“ VENUS WITH HER CROWN ” is the heading of
another bill which begins with the lines:
“ The sight hereof will make you for to think

But the Blessing of God we may after hint.”
This quack implores “all sufferers to come unto him

and he will help them, in as short a time as anyone, to
the admiration of all people.
“ Here is now come the Right Medicine Master, that
hath cured so many hundreds and daily do ; therefor
good people come unto me without fear, for time and
opportunity is hereby lost.
“This High, Renowned Operator, Artist, Master or
Traveller, hath brought over with him an excellent, rare,
specifick, amiable and cordial Remedy prepared by a
New Invention.
“ He is approved of in many Nations by several
Princes, where he hath cured many thousands. There¬
for you have great cause to rejoyce that there is such a
person for to cure you of these diseases. He has now
purposely come to this Famous City, through the pers-
wasion of many Eminent persons, who have had very
much experience of him.
“ I also cure any manner of Gout, let the humour be
what it will, I presently give ease. Therefor, come unto
me for your own good and loose not this bill, that you
may not be attacht with the vulgar here. Neglect not
your own health, since God hath been pleased to send
a means.
“ Now for to let the world know his integrity, upright
and honest dealing, he makes this Agreement, that he
will not have any money for his Pains and Medicines,
until half a year after that the Patient hath been per¬
fectly cured. That is to say plainly,
NO CURE—NO MONEY
“ This operator liveth without Temple-Bar, between

St. Clement’s Church and the Bar, next door to the
Crown Tavern, at Mr. Gregson’s house, a Meat-man,
where you shall see these printed bills pasted at the
door, and also a bill within Deverick’s Court att the first
door on the left hand.”
A German quack named Frederick van Neurenburg,
who arrived in London in 1698 took up his quarters
at a house in St. Martin’s-in-the-Fields, “ next door to
the Minister’s house, opposite to the Church. Being
a thoroughfare by the Church to the Strand ; a new
house with a Hatter’s-shop in the front and a free entry
into Moor-Yard.” This “ Faithful Physitian,” as he
describes himself, states, “ It is no wonder that
clamarous Complaints and Confusion super-abound
and Cruelty so aboundeth, and where so many vainly
and arrogantly promise and undertake that which they
understand not, without reason, nay, contrary to reason
or possibility of Truth.”
He then proceeds to dogmatise thus :
“ The Art of Physick requires universal and experi¬
mental knowledge in Natural Philosophy which cannot
be contracted and contained in the narrow circle of
Domestick study and shallow Experience.
“ Hence the difference is great between a Student and
a Professor of Physick, and a Proficient and general
experienced Physitian.
“ The manner of curing and the goodness and proper
uses of Remedies, the which Sloth and Ignorance hath
divided into three faculties viz. Doctor, Chirurgeon,
and Apothecary, the which of old, was, and yet is in
some countries, intirely contained in one man, called
a Physitian ; neither can any man be an accomplished
Physitian who is ignorant in any of those three
faculties.”
He then proceeds to inform the public, that he has
several “ excellent soveraign approved Medicaments,
Simples and Compounds, truly prepared viz, Stones,
Minerals, Natural Balsams, etc, the which together
with their hidden and excellent qualities I have with
great charge, Labour and Travel gathered in several
parts of Europa, Asia and America, where I have
travelled and practised above thirty years.” His pre¬
parations include the Persian Balsam and Powder, which
cures all Fluxe and sharp corrosive Humours in the
Blood.
The Asian Balm, the American Balsam and Essence,
by the use of which the Americans are generally strangers
to the Gout.
The Japan Powder which expels all manner of worms.
The Chinese Antidote for rheumatism. The Emperical Pill
for the Ague. The Grecian and Turkish Antidote which
prevents fainting, The Arabian Antidote that prevents
and cures the Ptisick and Consumption. The Balsam
of Gilead for internal pains, and several cordial and
pleasant Physical Perfumes, also several preparations
that beautifie the skin without future danger, as fre¬
quently falls out by the use of mercurial waters.
All these medicines, he declares, are “ bona-fide,
positively and what I assert them to be, a parcel of which
I afford for twelve-pence sufficient for several doses.”
“ Doubtless,” he concludes, “ there are more quacks
and empericks in all arts than well qualified Pro¬
fessors altho’ the General Frenzy of Humours, opinions
and Al-a-mode customs conceil the subtiler sort of
quacks, who by Quack Books and Opinions have proved
as fatal to many, as Quack bills do to the vulgar and
ignorant. Nay all are quacks in all arts and sciences,
whatsoever, whether Theology, Law, or Physick who
are not truly qualified, by art and nature for that which
they profess.
“ You shall not find me in the number of those who
profess and promise more than they know or can do
using the Refuse of Lyes, Equivocations, Evasions and
Delays for their refuge. Considering the main circum¬
stances which attend Publications of this nature, I shall
only publish a few of these papers and bid a final adieu
to the like for the future.
“ N.B.—I may also be seen at my chamber upon
London Bridge, near the Gate, at the sign of the King of
Diamonds, being a Corner house.”
The inventor of the HERCULEON ANTIDOTE, a
Dutch Chyrurgion who lodged at the end of Thread-
needle-street, near the Stocks-market in Three Nun
Alley, at the Sign of The Bursten Twins, says, that
“ after twenty years study and travels in most countries
of the universe, he hath attained to the knowledge of
this medicine, which far excels any published in England,
and for its excellent Specifick faculties is deservedly
called the Herculeon Antidote.
“ If any people are ashamed to come to me, they may
have medicines sent them by any messenger, sending but
a little note of their condition. I can cure Scal’d heads
without pulling the Hair off, and draw rotten teeth and
stumps with a touch.”
John Schultius, a High German Operator who hailed
from the Three Flower Pots in Holbourn-Row in Lin¬
coln’s Inn Fields states, he has “ decided to continue
in the city of London for some time ; for as a very
expert oculist, he has taken away cataracts in the Eyes
with his curious fine instrument with great success.
He also healeth inveterate deafness in the ears, and
though one could not hear the ringing of a bell yet he
readily cureth them.
“ He likewise draweth broken teeth and sets in arti¬
ficial ones in their room, as firm as if they were natural,
so that you may eat to bite with them.”
An interesting bill illustrated with a woodcut, depict¬
ing the “ Emperor of Turkey ” witnessing an operation
on his brother, and issued £‘ with Liberty of the Colledge
of Phisitians of the Royal Head City of London in
England,” announces the arrival of “ a most Famous,
German, Turkish and Imperial Physitian, who’s like
has not been in this kingdom.”
The bill proceeds :—
“ Be it then known to all high and lower persons, that
this learned physitian who hath learned such a curious
THE FAMOUS HIGH-GERMAN DOCTOR OPERATING
From the woodcut illustrating his bill
MORE FOREIGN OUACKS I7I
and strange art, which no other Doctor doth understand,
and can cure all sorts of patients which are left off by
others, has arrived. He can shew his testimonials from
Three Emperors, Nine Kings, as also from Seven Dukes,
and Electoral Princes, as the Romish, Turkish, and
Japanese Emperors ; he can shew his testimonial in
36 languages, which no other doctor can shew. He hath
cured the brother of the Turkish Emperor, which was
blind thirteen years and hath obtained his natural
sight again.
“ This German Physitian has travelled through three
parts of the world. He lets understand, that he is so
famous, that the like of him is not to be found ; an
Occulist, Stone, and Rupture-cutter, Medicinae, Chymi-
cus, Practicus.
“ He is a Doctor beyond other Doctors and gives counsel
as to the effect of Witchcraft or unfruitfulness. This
Physitian is also a great artist and draws teeth most
artificially, whole teeth, little teeth, the roots of teeth, if
they were so fast in the gums they cannot be seen, he
knoweth to draw them with great dexterity and without
trouble or pain. He puts in artificially teeth of Ivory,
Silver, or gold, as if they were natural. He maketh black
teeth white in a moment, which taketh a man’s heart
away to see it, and maketh loose teeth fast.
“ He hath also brought with him, all sorts of smelling
and well-tasting Teeth-Powder, to clean the teeth and
make them white.
“ If anyone hath occasion for these his Rarities, let
them come to his lodging, and to persons of quality that
send for him, he will wait on them.
“ This said Imperial Physitian hath brought his
Apothecaries shop along with him, and carries it where-
ever he goes, for the good of his patients. He hath in
his house in Moorfields, made by his art a Most Excellent
Sweating and Bathing House, after the High German
manner, in which he uses for his baths, the best smelling
and odorous Herbs, through which, by the help of God,
many diseases are cured thereby.
“ Whoever hath occasion for this Imperial Physitian
may come to his lodging or else send for him, and he will
wait upon them according to their qualities. This
Imperial Operator is at present in London and now
liveth at a new house, the corner of White-cross Alley
in Moorfields, next door to the Star Musick-House,
where you may see the High German Spread-Eagle
hang over the door.”
This bill of the German quack is interesting from the

allusions to early dentistry, which in England in the
XVIIth century, was almost entirely in the hands of
the Barber-surgeons, Quacks and Tooth-drawers. The
instruments used, the chief of which were the
Pelican and Davier, were of a very primitive des¬
cription and veritable instruments of torture. It is
especially noteworthy that artificial teeth of ivory, silver
and gold were then made, although gold dentures were
known to the Etruscans and Romans in ancient times.
The introduction of baths of aromatic herbs in

curative treatment, became common when the Bagnios
and Hummums were established in London about this
CHAPTER XI
THE “ SCURVY-QUACKS ”
T HE prevalence of scurvy in England in the seven¬

teenth century is evidenced from the great
number of quack remedies that were exploited for this
disease. The use of the indigenous herb commonly
known as Scurvy-grass or Spoonwort which was chiefly
employed, goes back to the Middle Ages, when it was
cultivated by the monks in their physic gardens to make
an infusion which they administered to sufferers from
the complaint who came to them for aid.
Gerard in his ‘Herbal,’ 1580, remarks, “Our common
scurvie grasse groweth in divers places upon the brims
of the river Thames, as at Woolwich, Erith, Greenhithe
and Gravesend, as well as on the Essex shore. The juice
is given in Ale or beere. It perfectly cures the disease
called the Scurvie.”
Scurvy-grass ale was specially brewed and dispensed
at St. Bartholomews Hospital in 1669. A brewer sup¬
plied the ale to make the Scurvy-grass drink and accord¬
ing to the Journals of the Hospital, in 1677, “ the
steward was empowered to buy four measures of pew¬
ter to be used in the scurvy-grass cellar, but it was only
to be given by the direction of the doctor.”
The quacks, ever ready to seize their opportunity
173
also began to make and advertise their own special
preparations of the herb, which became very popular.
One of the best known, was Clark’s Compound Spirits
of Scurvy-Grass which was introduced in 1664. The
bill states : “ ’Tis some years since Mr. Clark first exposed
his excellent medicine to sale, and (blessed be God) it
has largely answered the end for which it was designed
viz.: The health and welfare of his countrymen.
“ The admirable vertues of these spirits and that
universal welcome they meet with in the world, occas-
sioned many counterfeits to be published, but their shams
were quickly detected, and whereas they hoped to
amend their credits by lessening mine, they did but
present to the view of all honest men, their own ignor¬
ance and malicious folly.
“ It is a Divine Maxim. That every Tree is known
by its fruit.”
Clark then proceeds to relate a number of cases in
which his remedy <£ snatched people from Death’s
Door,” in the year 1694.
Among them, was Mary Jones of Thetford, “ who
had not been out of her house for the space of Five
years, but after taking two bottles, Mary went to Church.”
Clark’s Spirit was said not only to cure scurvy but
also Rheums, Toothache, Asthma, and Stone in the
bladder ! But it did not cure Clark. “ For it hath pleased
the Almighty,” the bill concludes, “ to take to himself the
said Mr. Clark, yet the said compound Spirits continue
to be truly prepared by his Widow, at her Dwelling
House in Naked-Boy Court, near Strand Bridge, by
the Maypole in the Strand, which are sealed with her
THE “SCURVY-QUACKS” 175
Coat of Arms, the Three swords in Fess, Price is. a
bottle.”
The “ Golden Spirit of Scurvy-grass ” another pre¬
paration made by Thomas Blagrave, had a great
vogue. On his death his son carried on the business
of “ the Noble medicine ” of which he says, “ his
Father was the first author who prepared this “ Golden
Spirit ” several years unmolested by counterfeits. It
is now sold at Clerkenwell Green, the corner house of
New Prison Walk, a green door, a frame being over the
door in gold letters with my coat of arms.”
The sieur de Vernantes, who announced himself as a
man of great learning, was the Inventor of an “ Essential
Spirit of Scurvey-Grass ” for which he claimed wonder¬
ful virtues.
He says, “ although of German birth, he graduated in
Physick in those famous Universities of Montpelier
and Padua in Italy, was sometime Professor thereof in
Leyden in Holland, and chief chymist and Physitian
to that great lover of Learning and Art, Arch-Duke
Leopold ; communicated by him to Hen. Clarke,
Chymist and Apothecary of London and now by him
prepared.”
“ This Noble Herb call’d Cochlearia or Spoonwort,
from its shape and figure, changed its name and was
call’d Scurvey-grass, from a peculiar and Specifick
quality, which was found in it, to cure this disease.
“ This noble Spirit, which from the hand of this great
artist, I do offer to all who at this day suffer under the
scurvey, and it also cures the Dropsey even to a wonder.
It is to be had from Mr. John Ward at the Pestle and
Mortar in Panton street in Leicester Fields, Mr. Hum¬
phrey at the Black boy, a Cutler, next Whitehall, Mr.
Markham at the Seven Stars, over against St. Dunstan’s
Church in Fleet Street, and at his shop in Westminster
Hall and of Mr. Notts at the Queens Arms in the Pell
Mell.”
Robert Bateman another maker of “ Spirit of
Scurvy-grass,” which he claimed to be the “ true and
only preparation,” fought a wordy combat with his
rival Blagrave and opened the battle with an amusing
bill headed, “ A gentle dose for the Fool turn’d Physician,
or a brief reply to Blagrave’s Ravings.”
He begins, “ I must beg the serious Reader’s Pardon
for condiscending to answer this clamorous Imper¬
tinence, it being in effect, but to Syllogize to an Oyster-
wench or Wrestle with a Chimney-sweep, where nothing
is to be expected in Return save Foul Language and
Smut. Were my own interest and reputation only at
stake, I should not regard the brayings of an Ass that so
palpably discovers his ears, expressing so much malice,
that if what he writ were as true as it is false, no wise
man could credit him without forfeiting his discretion ;
but since the Interest and Health (nay, lives) of people
are concerned, to prevent his dangerous Imposing on the
Vulgar who are apt to mistake Railing for Reason, Noise
for Victory; because correction being generally a neces¬
sary part in the cure of a Mad-man, who knows but this
may do him Good ?
“ The Case between us is thus : This Billingsgate
Orator, not content to have counterfeited my Spirits of
Scurvey-grass, impudently pretends himself the Author,
and with the Policy of the proverb, ‘ To cry whore
first-,’ charges me, as if I had counterfeited them from
him, abusing me in print with divers most False as well
as Opprobrious reflections. Challenging him, since he
had usurpt the Title of Physitian, to prove himself a
graduate in either University or Licensed by the Honour¬
able and Learned Colledge of Physitians.
“ This unwelcome discovery put the man’s choler
(I cannot say his brains) into a violent fermentation
and now, after seven weeks hard study and continual
brooding on Envy and Malice, he has hacht this little
Cockatrice, stufft with nothing but Slander, Lies, False-
English, Nonsense and Impertinence.
“ After this, he makes a clutter to prove the excel¬
lency of his Slip-slops, because forsooth : nobody is able
to take half an ounce of them. As much might be said in
praise of Aqua Fortis. Ignorant Scribler ! Sure this
learned Travelling Mountebank, though apt to take
pepper in the Nose, was never thoroughly acquainted
with it, else he might know, that though it be hot on
the palate, ’tis cold in the stomach !
“ He is not able rightly to spell the very name of the
Colledge he pretends to, not to mention the false gram¬
mar and solecisms frequent in his bills ; And as to his
ten years travels in Terra Incognita we may safely
conclude, ’twas only a Ramble through Berkshire and
the Lands adjacent, with some Arch-Gipsy or at best
a forc’d Pilgrimage to Barbadoes.
“ But ’tis said the Gentleman is somewhat Craz’d, and
very likely this Rhapsody was writ in a delirious Fit,
therefore in charity, I would advise him to forbear
12
Tampering with Spirits, but rather to get the good old
Remedy of Hellebore, and have a special care of his
head this approaching Midsummer Moon and the en¬
suing Dog-Days.”
Bateman then proceeds to extol the special virtues of
his own remedy, the reputation of which he says cannot
be sullied, and which may be got from his House in St.
Paul’s Chain near Doctor’s Commons.
Having thus castigated his rival Blagrave, the irre¬
pressible Bateman next makes an onslaught on his
other competitor, the Sieur de Vernantes, whom he
describes in his “ Hue and Cry,” as one who was “ Lately
shamm’d upon the World by one Clark, an Ale-Draper
near Temple Barr.” “ Honest Countrymen ! ’tis my
unhappiness, not my humour, to be engaged in con¬
troversy. I take no delight m touching of pitch or
answering the everlasting clamours of Billingsgate
orators, but where a contest is unavoidable, it may sure
be excusable.
“ Several Triobulary Quacks have endeavoured to
counterfeit my Spirits of Scurvy-grass, but still, like
those foolish fires, which in dark nights lead people
astray, these Meteors of kitchen-stuff-chymistry, soon
become extinct, leaving a noysome flavour behind them.
Of this class, this spring, there is started up one Clark
(the first born of impudence) abusing the world with
stuff he calls the ‘ Spirit of Scurvey-grass Compound ’
of the preparation of the Sieur de Vernantes. Nothing
can vex a Felon worse, than to be detected, so that
modest and but just caution so enraged the animal, that
it has since barked out a kind of apology, in which some
Abortive offers of wit are supplied with store of substan¬
tial lies and Railing.
“ But in vain does the Blackamoor scrub himself ;
his fraud and folly is more conspicuous than before,
for he is ashamed to tell us who this Worshipful Sieur
de Vernantes is, or where he is to be found.
“ May we not suppose him some Rosy-Crucian Philo¬
sopher in an Invisible cloak, whose person like his
medicine’s vertues, is become imperceptible ?
“ He dares not reply on behalf of his medicine, know¬
ing well enough, that ’tis most pitiful counterfeit cheat¬
ing trash, and the powerful specifick material he
prattles about, is nothing in the world but an addition
of Horse-Radish !
“ This pretended de Vernantes is a WHIFFLING
EMPERICK that has got as many names as a Popish
priest. He was lately Doctor Jewel, when he huckster’d
out Pills in Long-acre, formerly Doctor Bates, when he
quacked it with Lozenges and having no success, he
now sets out under this Outlandish-Mask to counterfeit
my Spirits ; but if he do not speedily desist, Lie pull
off his Vizard and expose his true Name, which in truth
will be the greatest disgrace that can be done to him.
’Tis true I have heard, he was once an Apothecaries boy
in Oxford, but such a proficient, that to this day it would
give an Artist a vomit but to see him prepare either
Chymical or Galenical Medicine. As for his repute in
Chancery-lane, an easie inquiry may satisfy. After
shuffling from Chancery-lane to Queen-street, and thence
to Castle-yard, he at last pitch’d his tent at Temple
Bar, and to patch up a sorry livelihood adds to his two
trades (chymist and apothecary) a third, viz. the laudable
mystery of a Drunkard Maker, for though an apartment
(as he magnificently calls it) of his Palace be let to a
Coffee-Merchant, yet the rest of the Edifice in his own
occupation is a Publick Mart, where you may daily be
furnish’t either with Nappy Bub or Compound Scurvey-
Drinks at your pleasure.
“ But I spend too much time on such trash. Come and
taste gratis of mine, and be satisfied of the difference
between the true, noble, rightly prepared Spirits and his
sordid compounded Quackeries ! ”
However, both the rivals died and Bateman’s
“ Spirits ” came to be made by one Robert Smith, while
Clark’s widow continued to compound his preparation
for sixteen years after his death.
A certain Dr. Pordage of Leather-lane near Holbourn,
was another maker of a “ True Spirit of Scurvy-grass ”
which he sold at 6d. a bottle.
He states that, “ by the new ingenious way of the
PENNY POST, any person may send for it from any
part of the City or Suburbs, writing plain directions
where to send it to them. If for half a dozen glasses,
they will be brought as safe as if fetcht by themselves
and as cheap as one. But who sends this way, must put
a penny in the letter (besides sixpence for each glass)
to pay the carriage back, for nobody can think the
profit great; therefore a penny must be sent for every
parcel. None need fear their money in sending by the
PENNY POST, for things of considerable value are
daily with safety sent by it, security being given
by the messengers. There are houses appointed
THE “ SCURVY-QUACKS ” 181
in all parts of the Town to take the PENNY POST
LETTERS.”
This bill is interesting as it shows that a penny local
post for letters and parcels was carried on in London
in the seventeenth century.
Among other quack remedies offered as a cure for
Scurvy, was Nendick’s “ Popular Pill.” Nendick, in
recommending its virtues declares that this distemper
or popular disease is one peculiar to this country and
observes that ‘ some diseases familiar to some nations
we are altogether free from, as Leprosie (very familiar
among the Egyptians) Swelled throats, to the inhabi¬
tants of the Alpes, and the French-Pox in some parts
of the Indies.’
“ The Scurvey, in short, is the undoubted cause so
many do linger and pine under so many tedious and
difficult Diseases, that I afhrm with able doctors that
have lately seen the success of this Pill in divers
parts of England, as also at the ‘ Incurabile ’ in
Venice.
“ They will be deliver’d to any messenger at my
House, at the Pwo Black Posts in Bell Yard in Carter-
lane, near St. Paul’s Church.”
The “ Pilulae Anti-Scorbuticae,” another remedy
“ Against that Epidemick Disease the Scurvy,” was
sold at the CarPd Posts in Stonecutter-street, between
Shoe-lane and Fleet Ditch.
The maker recommends them, “ for nothing but what
30 years experience of the galenical practice and above
20 years in the study of chymistry approves. Those
that drink the Spaw at Tunbridge, Epsom, Barnet
Astrop, Dulledge, Islington or any other medicinal
waters, cannot do better.”
The same quack sold a medicine called “ Solamen
Miseries,” which he extols as an admirable remedy for
Asthma and Rheums and as to the “ Measles and Small¬
pox, it brings them out to admiration.”
The German quacks in London also sold a “ Golden
Elixir ” called the “ Herculeon Antidote,” which they
claimed to have special virtues for curing that “ Popular
Disease, the Scurvey.”
The bill states, that in the Eastern parts of Europe
our popular disease is the Scurvey which the “ Golden
Elixir ” will cure, and then goes on to recommend the
wonderful virtues of the “ Italian Pills ” which are
specially good in Surfeits and after High Drinking.
As instances of their great value it is recorded, that
“ Mr. Davies on Thangue’s Yard was cured of the Bloody
flux who had three impostumes as big as a hen's maw,
which was breeding 15 years, and was judged to be
Ptisick. Mr. Yangley’s daughter, who had worn away
to an Anatomy. Mrs. French in Crown Court in Grub-
street, was quite distracted, occasioned by a Melan-
cholick Passion and was judged never to obtain her
senses again, with this Elixir was cured. Mrs. Price, a
Strong-waterman’s wife at Wapping New Stairs, who
was distracted and tore and broke all that she came near,
now perfectly cured. Mrs. Cock in Irish-Court in White-
chappel, a Latin schoolmaster’s wife, who was swelled as
big as a barrel, and voided above 60 stones and had made
use of several physitians, is now perfectly cured. Mrs.
Warren in Soaper’s Alley, in Whitecross-street, being
By his M A Jf E S T
^ * i 1I t,
f S« Licence,
r •
A Book of Oiredions
And Cures done by that Safe and Succesful Medicine CALLED,
HERCULEON* antidote*
OR THE
GERMAN GOLDEN ELIXIR
VVhichis defervedly fo called, for its Special Virtues, in Curing that
POPULAR DISEASE, thcSCVRÊT. °
THIS HERCULEON ANTIDOTE, Cures by cleanfing of the
Blood, Purging by URINE, and gently by STOOL.
S Ome Difeafes are Fami¬
liar to fome Nations, which
others are free from ; the Le-
profie, Itch-, Pox, as in Italy,
and fome Parts of the Indies ^
fo in the Eaftem Parts , our
Popular Difeafe is the Scur¬
vey, which this Golden Elixir
hath had fuch admirable Sue-
cefs far beyond any thing Ex-
Rant for the Scurvey, and that
it cures molt Dilfempers, for
there are few Difeafes , but
has a fpice of the Scurvey ,
which corrupts the Blood-
The Symptoms and Nature of the Scurvey.

T He Scurvy is the Original of mo ft violent Diftempers, which this Golden
Elixir preventeth, as Stoppages, Ohftrudions, railing Vapours tha~
caufes Swimming and Fumes in the Fkad, Dimncfs of Sight, Deafnels, ah.
DrcwGnefs which' makes theBcdy dull and heavy, and alters the Complex!-
A on;
To face pa;/e IS“2

THE “ SCURVY-QUACKS 183
poysoned by eating Mussels and swelled from head to
foot, perfectly cured. Then there was Mr. Feild, the
Sexton of the Dutch Church in Kattern-wheel Alley in
Whitechappel, was worn to an Anatomy and judged past
recovery, is now in perfect health. Also Mrs. Fisher of
Plasto, at the sign of the Green Man, of the wind Chol-
lick and Lameness, and Mr. Febs at the Hand and Bowl
in Barking, of a Ptisical Cough and Mixt Distempers,
all cured and now well.”
CHAPTER XII
THE “ UNBORN DOCTORS ”-A QUACK ALCHEMIST
T HE use of wine as a vehicle in medicinal

preparations dates back to a period long before
the Christian era. The early Greeks employed the wine
of Cyprus to extract the properties of certain drugs, and
this practise has continued throughout the ages to the
present day, and survives in the form of the wines of
Ipecacuanha and Iron still in the British Pharmacopoeia.
The “ Bloud of the grape,” as it was called by Dr.
Whitaker, in his book in 1654, was extolled by the
quacks, and brandy often formed an ingredient in their
nostrums. Whitaker believed wine to be a universal
remedy against disease and its revivifying powers, no
doubt inspired Ben Jonson to write his once popular
ballad called:
“ BACCHUS TURN’D DOCTOR
Let Souldiers fight for pay and Praise

And Money be the Miser’s wish,
Poor Schollars study all their days,
And gluttons glory in their Dish,
’Tis Wine, pure Wine, revives sad Souls,
Therefore give us chearing Bowls.
184
From a print in the British Museum
THE “UNBORN DOCTORS’’ 185
Let Minions marshal in their Hair,
And in a Lover’s lock delight,
And artificial colours wear,
We have the native red and white.
Your Pheasant, pout and culver Salmon,

And how to please your palates think,
Give us Salt-West-Phalia-Gamon
Not meat to eat, but meat to drink.
It makes the backward spirits brave,

That lively that before was dull;
Those grow good fellows that are grave,
And kindness flows from cups brimfull.
Some have the Tisick, some have Rheume,

Some have the Palsey, some the Gout,
Some swell with fat, and some consume,
But they are sound that drink all out.
Some men want youth, and some want Health,

Some want a Wife, and some a punk,
Some men want wit, and some want Wealth,
But he wants nothing that is drunk.
’Tis Wine, pure Wine, revives sad Souls
Therefore give us Chearing Bowls.”
One of the most popular Cordials in which Spanish

wine played a prominent part, was Lucatelli’s Balsam
which contained Venice Turpentine, Olive oil and
Spanish Wine washed in Rose water, Red Sandal-wood
or Dragon’s blood, and Balsam of Peru. It was taken
internally in wine and used externally for burns and
wounds. Originated by an Italian, it was much in
demand in London in the XVIIth century and was sold
by Charles Peter who lived in St. Martin’s-lane, over
against the sign of The Castle, where he also sold his
“ Famous Head Pill, a most rare medicine in most
diseases incident to mankind, being most proper for all
families to be provided with.”
A “ Drink ” of another character was that exploited
by Dr. Thomas Kirleus, who states that he is a Colle¬
giate Physician and was Sworn Physician-in-ordin¬
ary to King Charles II.
One of his bills issued in 1691 reads as follows :
“ In plow yard, the 3rd door in Grays Inn lane lives

Dr. Thomas Kirleus, a Collegiate Physician and Sworn
Physician in Ordinary to King Charles II until his death,
who with Drink and Pill (hindering no business) under¬
takes to cure any Ulcer, Sores, Swellings of the Nose,
Face or other parts etc expecting nothing until the
Cure be finished. He has cured many hundreds in this
City, many of them after fluxing which carries the Evil
from the Lower Parts to the Head and so destroys many.
The Drink is 3s. the Quart, the Pill is. a box with Direc¬
tions ; a better Purger than which was never given.
“ With another drink at is. 6d. a Quart, He cures all
Fevers and hot Distempers without Bleeding except in
few Bodies. He gives his opinion to all that writes or
comes, for nothing.”
An Alchemical philosopher, who professed to be ready

to exhibit to the curious nothing less than the long-sought
THE “UNBORN DOCTORS” 187
Philosopher’s Stone, took up his residence in “ Lights

Court near the Kings Arms, by St. Giles Church, where
you may see over the door a printed paper.” He an¬
nounces that, “ he hath brought along with him the
work of a Famous Philosopher which is the True Matter
and Stone of Philosophers and Naturalists, concerning
Gold and Silver.
“ It is a Masterpiece, and the most curious thing that

ever was seen hitherto, where one may see without
treachery the subject so much sought after by the
Philosophers.
“ This Gentleman will also shew some Sulphur and
Mercury in their crudity, and also in their marriage, and
although they be but in their first operation, yet the
wonders of God, of Nature and of Art and a Philoso¬
phical Mine, in its vessel, are therein to be observed.
“ It is meerly upon account of Charity, that this work
will be exposed to the Publick view, to undeceive so
many people, and to hinder so many Learned and
Chymists, from wasting their estates and consuming
their lives to no purpose, to come to the knowledge of
the great work to which they shall never attain, as long
as they shall make use, as the most part do, of matters
which are quite contrary to that end.
“ By seeing this work and by working, they may, if it
please God, come to the knowledge of the True Philoso¬
phical Sulphur, Salt and Mercury, fixed by Nature, and
see that possible which many believe Impossible, and
they will afterwards employ their time upon a natural
subject and common to all mankind which they shall
never want, and will return the Gentleman thanks, for
having shown them their errors and freed them from
great expenses.
“ Anyone may see this rare piece of work by giving
only a shilling.”
Rose’s “ Balsamick Elixir,” which is described by
its originator, as “ The Most Noble Medicine that Art
can produce,” was a very popular remedy, “ its
incomparable virtues being such, that it gives or
restores to Nature what’s wanting and takes away
what’s hurtful.
“ It is a signal Restorative for Consumptive persons
and there is not such another preparation in the whole
world.
“ It cures the English Frenchify'd beyond all the other
medicines upon the face of the Earth. It removes
all pains in 3 or 4 doses and makes any man, tho’ rotten
as a Pear, to be sound as a sucking lamb.
“ Whoever tries it, on my word, shall have just
reason to thank me as well as pay me. And as I have
set no value on anything here mentioned, you may be
better satisfyed if you please to come or send to me at
my Lodgings at Mr. Hamptons, a Joyner, in Hewit’s-
Court, near St. Martin’s Church in the Strand.”
The tradition attributing special occult powers of

healing to a seventh son of a seventh son, goes back to
an early period and has survived for centuries. In
some remote parts of Wales to-day, such a person is
believed to be endowed with extraordinary powers in
the treatment of disease or in bone-setting.
A QUACK ALCHEMIST 189
This tradition was exploited by several quacks in
the XVIIth century who laid claim to these hereditary
powers, much to their advantage.
Thus we learn from a bill, “ There is newly arrived in
London an UNBORN DOCTOR, THE SEVENTH
SON OF A SEVENTH SON, who (by God’s blessing
on his Studies) and more than 27 years travels, with
most Famous and Eminent Physicians, has obtained
to be an able Chymical Physician, Oculist and Chyrur-
gical Operator.
“ He hath made a large demonstration of his great
Abilities in Several Kingdoms, and as well in Hospitals
and War-like Expeditions as in other places, for he
hath obtained such a physical Method as never was in
England before for the cure of all curable distempers
in the bodies of men, women and children. He hath
cured many in his travels of very sad and deplorable
Diseases, which had been left off by learned Physicians
and Chyrurgions as to be incurable, as he can show by
testimonials from several Electorial Princes, Dukes and
Persons of Quality.”
After enumerating a number of Distempers which he
had and does intend to cure, “ by the Blessing and All¬
healing Divine Providence of Almighty God,” he
declares “ his ability to be ready to treat Epilepsy,
Rickets, Madness and Megrims.
“ As a Chyrurgical Operator, this Unborn Doctor is
able to take from the eyes, all Pin-webs and Cataracts
in a quarter of an hour. He cures, to a wonder, those
which are deaf even if for more than 20 years.
“ He hath also a Great Secret for the cure of Crooked
children and Morbus Gallicus, a method never in England
till now.
“ All persons that have a mind to make use of him may
come to his House, at the sign of the Parrit and Rain-bow,
AN OPERATION ON THE EYE

From a woodcut of the XVII Century
at the Lower end of Long-acre, near St. Martin’s-lane

end, when they may have his advice and medicines.”
Another “ Unborn Doctor ” and “ Seventh son,”
A QUACK ALCHEMIST igi
lived in Golden Lane at the Golden Key near Old-street.
This gentleman, for the convenience of his West-end
patients, was also to be spoken with on Mondays and
Thursdays, next door to the Pump in Denmark Court,
at the lower end of Exeter-street near the Strand.
This “ Unborn Doctor 55 continues his bill in rhyme
as follows :
“ Resist Beginnings, late is Physick us’d

When the Disease delay’d is deep infus’d.
Now follow a catalogue of what he’ll do,
Be your Distemper old or new.
First, Morbus Gallicus, you may be sure,
He with speed will soundly cure,
And as for the Gout, if any can,
He’ll ease or cure with any man ;
But I confess unto you all,
It is the Master of Physician-Hall,
And as for the Stone,
He never yet failed in none,
If in the bladder it dissolveth not,
He safely cuts it out,
And cures the patient you need not doubt.
Now as for Palsy, Fevers and all aching pains,
He’ll cure in Limbs, Nerves, Joints and Veins.
For Wounds, Tumours, Cancers and Running
Sores,
In the Year he cures many scores.
Now to all women he is a Friend,
If they be sick or ill, he doth them mend,
And as for children, of what e’re they ail,
To cure them he’ll never fail.
And as for those that deaf may be,
Or lost their sight and cannot see,
He by Art doth them restore,
Be they rich or be they poor ;
For every one of each degree,
That deaf and blind have been,
He hath brought to hear agen
Or see as well as e’en.
So ’tis for that very thing,
His Fame in England now do ring.
All ye that of cure do stand in need,
Make haste and go to him with speed ;
For be ye poor, sick, lame or blind,
He’ll on his word, to you be kind.
So to conclude and make an end,
I to you this paper send
That you may see God’s Gift is great to me,
By which I cause the Lame to go
And the Blind to see.”
The Pilulae in Omnes Morbus or “ Pills against all

Diseases,” which were popularly known as “Brom-
field’s Pills,” had a great vogue in old London.
Bromfield who lodged at the Blew Balls in Plow-yard
in Fetter Lane, relied largely on his testimonials to
extol the virtues of his remedy. Judging from these he
seems to have been a quack who travelled about the
country, for he publishes the following letter dated
from Chichester, the 19th of the nth month, 1677.
“ Doctor,
“ These are to acquaint thee with a remarkable cure
that hath been lately performed with thy pills upon the
daughter of Edmund Stevens of the Parish of Apple-
drum near this city.
“She hath been extremely afflicted with tormenting
pains in her stomack and many times in all her limbs,
very much loathing her meat, not being in a capacity
to eat with her Father and her Mother at their table in
several years. Much hath been spent upon Physicians
and in Physick for her cure, but all in vain.
“She is now cured with taking thy pills, and hath
continued in good health since last spring. I might
inform thee of several others, but having no order for
it by those cured, shall say no more at present but rest
“ Thy Friend,
“ Rich. Carter
Distiller.”
Bromfield’s Pills could be had from Mr. John Painter,

at his house called John’s Coffee-house, above the Royal
Exchange in Corn-hil’ ; Mr. John Bayns, Tin-man at the
Bird cage at Cock-lane end against Holborn Conduit ;
Mr. Flaxmore at the Maiden Head near Cherry-garden
stairs in Redrif-wall; and Mr. Edward Chandler,
Shoemaker, at Old Bedlam Gate going into Moor-
fields.
Another well known nostrum was the Pilulae Lon-
donenses popularly known as the “ London Pills,”
which were said to be prepared by “ a Physitian of many
years standing in the Colledge of Physitians in London,
13
according to true Rules of Art, good for prevention as
well as the cure of all diseases.”
Their inventor says, “ by the advantage of a liberal
education in the University, and many years experience
in the practice of Physick in this city, the unprejudiced
cannot but think me a person capable, not only of
detecting the innumerable mischiefs arising from Quacks,
but their ill-compounded and worse prepared Trash.
“ Accordingly I have invented and for some time pub¬
lished, for the benefit of the publick these pills, which
have justly brought their poysonous and absurd Phy¬
sick under a deserved disreputation, all that are wise
now dreading to trust their lives with those Pretenders.
“ Not only the meaner sort of all ages and sex, but
people of eminence, both for their rank in the world and
their parts, have found admirable success in taking these
piUs'
“ I take it Charity to caution you against some Cob¬

bling Doctors, who having no knowledge of the Earth,
pretend to do a great deal in the Stars. Do but read
their bills and they will tell you of their skill in non¬
sense and their ignorance in Physick, notwithstanding
their boasted Astrology. Believe them as little, who
dare advise women with child to take as many of their
pills as their body will bear, not regarding the Murther
of Children.
“ Most of these Mountebank Doctors also that com¬
menced in a Shop, being vagrants from their trades,
provide feigned letters of feigned cures as a pass for
their Poysonous Mercurial Physick, from one town to
another, having no other Patent commendatory to
A QUACK ALCHEMIST *95
practise by, than the fob of a letter from some country
fellow in recommendation of some Physick which he
never took. These things being far remote from in¬
genuity or learning, I shall never trouble you with such.”
David Perronet, who styles himself a Surgeon, ap¬
pears to have specially cultivated the art of blood¬
letting and the cure of Toothache. He lived in Bucker-
idge-street between Dyot-street and St. Gile’s Church,
at the Blue and White Ball, the Surgeons sign being over
his door.
Here he sold his “ Universal Dentifrice which made
black teeth as ivory, and a sure and speedy remedy for
the worst Teeth-aches from such as be hollow and
rotten ; for be they never so raging or of long con¬
tinued, this remedy will presently cure it by Killing
the Worm in it.
“ I further inform the Publick, that I let blood as
cheap and safe as any of my profession. I make use of
an excellent foreign method of bleeding viz., the ob¬
serving of the proper times for it. ?Tis common in this
country for People to use bleeding, either to prevent
sickness, or be cured of some other slight illness, in
which case they mind nothing else but their own leisure,
or when they can best spare a shilling for it. By the
proper time for it, I mean the Moon, which has un¬
doubtedly no small Power over our bodies.”
There was another practitioner of this kind called
Edward Comport, who lived next door to the Red Cow
in Shoe-lane, “ who Letteth Blood and Draweth Teeth
Dexterously for what you call for, also Cutteth issues
for Sixpence.”
The celebrated Pulvis Benedictus or Worm Exter¬
minator required a book of fifteen chapters to record its
wonderful power and the cures it effected. The writer
informs us, that a fuller account is given in a large
sheet of paper, printed and done upon pasteboard, to
N EXT Door to the Red-Cow in

Shoe-Lane , foil Liveth E.
Comport, who Letteth Blood, and
Draweth Teeth Dexteroufiy , foT
what you Call for. Alfo Cutteth
Hues for Six Pence.
COMPORT’S BILL
be found in most of the eminent Coffee-houses in the

Town.
The excellencies of this marvellous powder, which is
declared to be “ the only thing known, not only in
England, but in the whole Europian World of the kind,”
are told in the pages of the treatise and in addition, the
following stories are related. “ The first is of one Mr.
Stiles of the Lock and Key in West-Smithfield, who was
practically eaten by a worm 8 feet long, and might still
have been alive, if he had only taken the Exterminator,
which is looked upon to be rather a miracle than a
medicine.”
Another extraordinary occurrence happened to Mr.
Stubbs, a surgeon living at Stratton Ground in West¬
minster, who was “ about to embalm a Gentlewoman
who had been dead eight and forty hours. “ When work¬
ing his operation, her heart leapt out upon the table, and
out of it he took a worm as thick as an arrow, with two
heads, one like a serpent.”
How these stories helped to sell the Exterminator,
it is a little difficult to conceive, but probably, like the
worms in a bottle, the quacks were so fond of dis¬
playing, they were designed to frighten the spectators
into using the remedy whether they required it or not.
The originator, who lived at the Golden Ball in Devon-
shire-street without Bishop’s-gate, thus concludes:
“ Since it hath pleased Almighty God to send such
medicines as will prevent these fatal evils, I think it a
great error in those that neglect them.”
“ A cure for Melancholy which is offered to distracted
friends ” by Mr. James Newton, who lived on Clerken-
well Green, throws some light on the treatment of the
insane in the XVIIth century.
He states in his bill, that “ he seeks not applause, yet
would he not be vilified. ’Tis not more my own than
others good I aim at ; nor do I seek more to cure the
Rich for reward, than the poor gratis ; but I labour by
ig8 THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
all means to cure both, rather than keep any in my
House for advantage. I might give many instances of
it, but He name only three of the Parish where I live.
“ The first was a woman put to me by the Church¬
wardens in 1672, who was very much given to swear
and tear, having very grievous sores made by binding
her in bed with cords, yet was she perfectly cured in
three weeks.
“ The second was a man void of sense and reason, who
when his hands were at liberty, most vigorously beat
himself and tore the hair off his head. He was perfectly
cured in four days.
“ The third was a man put to me by the Overseers of
the Poor in 1674, whose distemper varied from the other ;
wherefore, because I would not say he should be King
Charles II, he commanded the standers-by to take off
my head, for he would be King Charles whether I would
or not. He was perfectly cured in six days. The truth
of what I here affirm will easily be confirmed, if those
that doubt hereof, will but apply themselves to me at my
House. Now, if any skil’d in these distempers object
anything, I am very willing for their satisfaction, if I
may have liberty, to take three persons out of Bedlam
that have been there several years, and to bestow all
necessaries upon them gratis.”
A notorious quack and mountebank already men¬
tioned, who lived at the Sugar Loaf in Ram Alley,
right across Fetter-lane, was Ben Willmore. In a bill
he issued in 1680, he claims to heal ulcers, impostumes,
cure pains and inflammations, and continues his com¬
mendation in rhyme.
“ Are you Sick, Lame, Blind, Deaf, Dumb, come
away,
To this skilful Doctor and do not stay.
Try Willmore, a cure you will thereby,
For Honest dealing is his Policy ;
And when you have done, pray prove so kind,
Respond your Candid censure as you find.”
He expresses himself ready to “ Cup you after the

German manner, Purge you after the English manner,
or Sweat you after the Turkish manner. You may be
neatly blooded, your teeth or stumps dexterously drawn,
have Issues curiously made, and Setons put in your
neck, safely, for “ sixpence a piece and welcome.”
“ THE OLD MADE YOUNG,” is the heading of a
bill addressed to those who desire to make their lives
happy and long.
“I will not pretend,” said the writer, “that I have
known my great Restorer cure any distemper, excepting
one, and such a one, as I believe never was helped by
any medicine but this, that is to say in LOVE AFFAIRS
both in OLD MEN AND WOMEN.
“ This I suppose many will laugh at, and few will
believe, but it has that miraculous operation that it
renders old men and women of three or four score, as
youthful as those of twenty or thirty years of age.
“ Thus it is an extraordinary Prolonger of Life and
may be had at my house in Nevill’s Alley in Fetter-lane.”
Another curious character was George Fairclough, a
quack oculist, who at one time had been blind himself.
According to his bill, “ he hath given such eminent
proofs of curing all sorts of eyes of late in London, and
hath so oft cautioned all persons against quacks, mounte¬
banks and old women, hath now done each a won¬
derful cure at the Bath, upon a person, by one breaking
into his house by night, first striking the man down with
a piece of iron, then battered and flatted his face and
twisting his hands in his hair, placed his thumbs in the
corner of both his eyes and by violence forced them out.
“ In this barbarous manner he was brought to me, as
dead as a sheep’s eye cut out of its hed ; yet with God’s
assistance I replaced his eyes and restored him to perfect
sight again. This being notoriously known to the whole
city and all gentlemen and ladies here.
“ The Mayor and Justices sent the criminal to prison
for the same.”
CHAPTER XIII
THE BEAUTY-SPECIALISTS
A T the time of the Restoration and after the period

of Puritan severity had passed, women again
began to seek those aids to beauty, which had been
introduced into this country in the early part of the
century.
Perfumes, powders, face-washes and various cos¬
metics brought over from Italy and France were
exploited by the many beauty-quacks who began to
flourish in London.
Some of their bills read very like the advertisements
prominent in the columns of our ladies papers and
magazines to-day.
The neighbourhood of Mayfair, even in those days,
was the happy hunting ground for the beauty specialists,
and one of them who established herself in Bond Street,
issued the following bill.
“ Amongst so many famous persons that have apply’d

themselves to study the so necessary art, is a Lady well-
known and reputed among the Gentry, who has studied
for the space of above forty years, and has performed
many wonderful cures in France and elsewhere.”
She was evidently something of a chemist as well as a

201
physician, for she says, she had studied all manner of
“ Physick, Chymical, Gallonique, Hermetique, as well
as Chyrurgical and Fermatie. She also extracts Potes-
tates, and Impetu’s, and the three Principles of all
manner of mettals, minerals, animals, vegetals and of
mirrh.
“ She makes all kinds of Liquors, Salts, Powders,
Pills and Opiates ; whereby she extracts out of the body,
all manner of venoms, poysons, plagues, purple spots,
measles, great and smallpox with few Doses, and in so
very short a time as can’t be imagin’d nor believ’d
without one sees it ; as also all manner of chollicks of
what cause soever, Malignant vapours and others, in a
moment’s time as she has experimented many times.
“ Besides these and other distempers, this Lady
preserves Youth and Beauty. She beautifies without
any paint and increases the Radical Humour in some
and restores it in others, corroborating the spirits,
animals or vitals and the whole body, so as to live (God
permitting to old age) without any sickness, but on the
contrary always lusty, strong and healthy.
“ In a word, without any Disparagement of many Able
and Eminent Professors (for every one hath his par¬
ticular Gift of God) she durst without any boast or bray,
challenge any one to do more and to go beyond her in
the Practice of this Art; and if anyone surpasses her, she
is willing to give over and no more to profess this Art.
“ Let none slight her, before they have seen and heard
her and tryed her medicines, all that she aims at being
chiefly the Glory of God and the good of mankind in
general.
THE BEAUTY-SPECIALISTS 203
“ She desires also to be better acquainted among

Persons of Quality and Gentry, that other Ladies, when
they see and Know her Capacity and Great Skill, may
for the Honour of their sex be emulated to follow her
example.
“ She will use every body so kindly that none shall
have cause to complain.
“ Let every one then, consider that such a Person as
this Lady is, is a Pearl and a Treasure, for she works
almost Night and Day for the good of mankind, which
a great many Persons of the first rank can testify. Fur¬
thermore, this Lady cures the most inveterate Distem¬
pers that’s possible for man or woman to have, which
modesty will not permit to name. She cures without
seeing them.
“ Her Eye Water, so necessary for old people, must
also be mentioned, as by the use of it, a Person of above
sixty years of age may recover as good a sight as a young
person.
“ Therefore, come to her and you will know more of
her ability. She lives at Mr. Trout’s in Bond-street, near
Picadily, the second House on the left-hand side.”
The beauty-quack’s subtle and persuasive methods,

are instanced in an address issued by a “ Gentlewoman,
who lived at the Surgeon’s sign, just at the corner of
Coventry-court in the Haymarket, near Pickadilly.”
Her bill begins as follows :—
“ God the author of all things, to make man in love

with his wife in her state of innocency, he made her
smooth, soft, delicate and fair to intice him ; I there¬
fore, that woman might be pleasing to their husbands,
and that they might not be offended at their deformities
and turn to others, do commend unto you the Virtue
of an eminent and highly approved ‘ Balsamick Essence,’
with several other Incomparable Cosmeticks, faithfully
prepared without Mercury.
“ This ‘ Balsamick Essence ’ takes away the broadest
freckles be they never so long standing, wrinkles, mor-
phew, tan, sunburn or yellowness, in Thirty days, and
renders the skin plump, soft, fair, bright, smooth and of
a lovely colour.
“ ’Tis of that mighty Influence, that the like was never
found out to Beautify the Face and there is nothing of
paint relating to it.
“ The aged it makes appear fair and young, and pre¬
serves beauty to their lives end. ’Tis a most delicate
thing to anoint the Face with when the smallpox begins
to dry, for it certainly prevents all scars and pits.
“ Price one shilling each bottle of the Noble Balsamick
Essence.
“ A Super-super-excellent paste for the shaking and
trembling of the Hands after hard drinking or otherwise,”
was another novelty prepared by this 4 Gentlewoman.’
“ It will also make them smooth, soft and of a delicate
white colour, that although you were to Scower Brass
and Pewter and to make Coal fires every day, yet nobody
will imagine you to do any such drudgery, as hundreds
can testify.”
The use of mercurial preparations and their atten-

dant evils, had been recognised in the XVIth century,
when mercury was frequently employed in cosmetics
and applications for the skin.
Another “ Gentlewoman ” who “ liveth in Great
Suffolk-street near the Haymarket, at a Jeweler's house
with a Red Balcony ” announces, that she has attained
the “ Most Rare Secrets in the World for Beautifying
the Face, as many thousands can testifie. Those who
have had their Faces utterly ruined by Poysonous
washes, so that the skin has been reduced into a perfect
wainscot colour, by her Art she can restore.”
As well as her beauty preparations, this Gentlewoman
states that she has “physick to perfectly cure the Gout
and finds no ingredient wanting but Faith, which if the
patient will bring with him, she doubts not but by God’s
Blessing, to perform the rest.”
The use of the word “ wainscot ” to describe the com¬
plexion, was common in the XVIIth century, when
the skin assumed a yellowish or parchment-like colour.
A “ Gentlewoman ” who claimed wonderful virtues
for her preparations dwelt in Surrey-street in the Strand
“at the Corner house with a White Balcony and Blue
Flower pots."
“ Her Most excellent Wash to Beautifie the Face
also cures all Redness, Flushings and Pimples. Takes
off any yellowness, morphew, sun-burn spots on the
skin and takes away the wrincles and driness caused so
often by mercurial poysonous washes ; rendering the
worst oj faces fair and tender and preserves ’em so. You
may have it from half a crown to Five pound a bottle.
“ You may also have Night masks, Forehead pieces,
incomparable white pots, and Red pomatum jor the Lips,
which keeps them all the year, plump and smooth and
of a delicate colour. She has an admirable Paste to
smooth and whiten the hands, with a very good Tooth-
powder which cleanses and whitens the teeth. You may
have a Plaister and Water which takes off Hair from any
part of the body so that it will never come again. She
has also a most excellent Secret to prevent the Hair
from falling, causing it to grow where it is wanting on
any part of the head. She shapes the eyebrows making
them perfectly beautiful, without any pain, and raises
low foreheads as high as you please ; And colours grey
or red hair to a lovely brown which never decays,
changes, or smoots the linnen. She has excellent Cos-
meticks to anoint the face after the Small-Pox, which
wears out any scars, marks or redness, and has great
skill in all manner of Sore eyes.”
No modern beauty-culturist could do more.
The prejudice against red hair was apparently com¬
mon at the time, and the repeated recommendation of
applications to anoint the face to prevent the pitting of
the skin following small-pox, recalls how prevalent this
disease was in London in the XVIIth century before
vaccination was known.
Dr. Corlett makes the interesting statement, that in
the time of Charles II, the Court Beauties and women
of fashion looked in envy upon the immunity enjoyed
by some of the dairy-maids of Gloucestershire, from the
disfigurement following an attack of the dread disease.
The Duchess of Cleveland, in 1670, when once joked
with the possible loss of the King’s favour through the
disfigurement caused by small-pox, is said to have
replied, that she had nothing to fear, as she had suffered
from cow-pox ; a remark which significantly fore¬
shadows Jenner’s great discovery in the following cen¬
tury.
It was through the endeavours of Lady Mary Wortley
Montague wife of the British Ambassador to the Otto¬
man Court, in 1717, that the physicians of London were
first persuaded to try the method of inoculation then
practised with some success in Turkey, as a preventive
of small-pox.
Talc, which is now so largely used in the preparation
of face-powders, especially in America, is no new dis¬
covery. It was employed in making cosmetics in
England in the XVIIth century as evidenced in several
bills.
A “ Gentlewoman ” who lived at the Green Ball in
Chiswell-street, over against the Artillery-wall, near
The Archer, claims to have been the first to sell “ The
Water of Talk ” in London.
She announces, that there is now made at the Green
Ball, being the first place where this preparation was
made in England, that “ Most Famous and well-approved
Water of Talk and Pearl, the clearest and brightest
of all waters, and is of that excellent virtue for the
clearing of the Face, that in a short time, will turn the
Brownest complexion to a Lovely White.
“ It is now used by most persons of quality in England,
it beiug of that excellent vertue, the longer it is kept, the
better it is. She hath also Rare Washes and Powders,
and also Forehead pieces both leather and linnen, and an
excellent Water to make hair grow. An excellent Oynt-
ment that will take hair off from the forehead in a
quarter oj an hour, an incomparable Red Lip Salve that
heals all sores and chops in the lips, a marvellous
“ Powder of Talk,” the best of all powders for clearing
the skin ; also Vizard-masks to be worn at night, and
gloves to make the hands smooth and white.”
The forehead pieces referred to, were strips of soft
leather or linen impregnated with a mixture of sper¬
maceti, wax and oil, which were placed on the forehead
at night when going to bed to keep the skin soft and
prevent wrinkles. Vizard-masks for the same purpose
were made of similar materials, and were used to cover
the upper part of the face, slits being made for the eyes.
A Beauty quack who lived in Wine-office Court in
Fleet street, at the sign of The Acorn, included fortune¬
telling among her other accomplishments, and states,
that “ she will resolve to her own sex all manner of lawful
questions. She also hath most excellent Washes for
the Face, and has been experienced by persons of the
greatest quality, for they make the face most lovely,
plump, smooth and beautiful. She hath most excellent
Pomatums of several pleasant scents and for several
profitable uses. She hath also a most rare and easie
Art in shaping the eyebrows and in making low fore¬
heads high ; she can cause the hair to grow thick and
colour it to what they please, and to continue so. She
also sells the usual washes, pastes, toothpowders and
balls.”
One of the favourite cosmetics of the Court ladies of
Charles the Second’s time, was the “ Princesses Pow-
der,” which was so-called, <£ because four Princesses,
whose great beauty was renowned throughout Europe,
used it with such success that they have preserved their
skins and their beauty, with an air of youth, till Seventy
years of age.”
The bill recommending this famous preparation states,
that “ Madame de Montespan, with whom the King
of France has been so much in love, very well knew, by
this little artifice, how to please that Prince and she has
made her beauty famous over all the habitable earth.
Madame de Montespan has no fine nor delicate skin
naturally, but by means of this Powder, which she has
used all her life, she had preserved the fineness and deli¬
cateness of it, so that she does not appear above eighteen
; or twenty years of age though she be above fifty-five.
“ But as Mr. Rene, chymist and apothecary at Paris
is dead, and that he was the only one that knew the
: Secret of composing it, he left by writing, to Peter Rene
1 his son, the Secret to make the same.
“ It is commonly known by experience, that this
! powder produces extraordinary effects, and the said
1 Mr. Rene has been requested by several persons to send
it into foreign countrys and particularly hither into
England, where the climate is extremely harsh.
“ It has already had extraordinary effects on persons
: that have had very ill looks, and they have now recovered
1 Lustre and their Beauty by means of this powder.
“ In a word, it has the vertue to take away all Red-
mess, all Pimples and Frecles, and generally all ill things
ithat occur in the Face, and maketh the skin so fine,
smooth and dilicate as Sattin ; as you may experience
14
by putting it upon your hand a little of that enclosed
in the Pacquet.
“ There will be put to all the Pacquets that shall be
sold, the seal of him that made them ; to the end, to
prevent the cheats that may happen by persons pre¬
tending to have found the Secret of its making.
“ Anyone that has a mind to have this powder may
have it at Mrs. Joanna Nehellon near the BlackmooR s
Head in German-street, over against the church, also at
Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson’s over against <The Ship, near
the Maypole in the Strand, and the price of the Pac¬
quets are from sixpence to five shillings.”
A “ Gentlewoman ” who dwelt in “ Red Lyon Court,
but now removed to Racket Court near Fleet Bridge,
the third door on the right side, hath obtained with
much difficulty, a Secret that no one else hath, from a
great Lady in Paris, now dead, who sold it there to the
Queen and Court, for above Twenty thousand pistoles
in one year.
“ You may have it from her for half a crown to five
pounds the bottle.
“ She can alter Red or Gray hair to a most delicate
light or dark brown, which will continue so for ever
without any soil or smooting.”
A Hair-dresser who “ cuts and curls all Ladies and

Gentlewomen’s Hair extremely fine, after the French
fashion,” lived at the Cross Keys on Ludgate-hill, next
the Rainbow Coffee-house, and had an “ Extraordinary
Essence that preserves the hair in a wonderful man¬
ner, and it is of that singular vertue, that it will actually
THE BEAUTY-SPECIALISTS 21 I
prevent hair shedding after the small-pox, and is to be

used instead of Orange Bath or Pomatums.”
“ There are a great many Beautiful Ladies who have
but indifferent hands, and would be overjoyed to make
them white, if they knew how,” writes a “ Gentle¬
woman,” with some truth, in proceeding to recommend
the virtues of her “ Only Delicate Beautifying Cream.”
For the
FACE, NECK, and HANDS.
“ She also hath a curious fine white for the Face and
Neck, entirely without mercury or any such hurtful
thing in it ; it being a new thing never before published,
is. a pot. She also sells a ‘ Cholick Tincture ’ and
4 Daffy’s Elixir ’ and the 6 Famous Purging Sugar
Plums, without any mercury at I2d. a dozen.
“ The ‘ Only Delicate Beautyfing Cream 5 is daily
sold in great quantities to the Court and the greatest
of the quality, who continually express their abundant
satisfaction in the use of it.
“This Gentlewoman liveth up one pair of stairs at the
Sugar Loaf, a Confectioner’s shop, over against Old
Round Court, near the New Exchange in the Strand.”
Dr. Paul Chamberlaine’s Wonderful Necklace could
also be obtained from her. In the bill concerning it, the
doctor expressly desires that the World may know, that
he absolutely advises the wearing of this Necklace by all
children for their Teeth.
“ In and about London,” he states “ 12,000 children
yearly, die of their teeth, whereas out of great numbers
of children who have only worn this Necklace, we do
not know of one that has died. A Treatise writ upon it
and dedicated to the Royal Society, shews how it
naturally performs all these surprising effects, from a
secret harmony and sympathy in Nature between this
Necklace and the Human Body.”
At Nixon’s Coffee-house, the inventor of the “ World’s
Beautifyer ” could be spoken to if desired. “ This
never failing medicine prepared without the least Mer¬
curial or Poysonous Ingredients, in a week’s time, per¬
fectly cures the worst of Red Faces in Man or Woman.”
It should be noted that, “ if any person of distinction
wishes to be waited on at their houses, in sending notice
where they shall be attended, and if any in the country
send the colour of their hair, age and what condition
their face is in, to their friend in Town, they may have
it delivered to them with direction, they giving security
The Fame us Water of Talk and Pearl,
B Eing the Clearcfl of 2II Waters, and is of that
Excellent Quality for Beautifying the Face, that
inafhorttime it will turn the Brownell Complexion
to a Lovely White; It takes away Freckles, Scurf
andMorphew, makes the Skin fmooth and fofc, Illu-
ftratesBeauty to Admiration.
Ifany Perfons Faces are Wrinkled, or damaged by
tiling poifonous Powders, this Water will not only
bring them to their former Complexion, but create
Beauty.
Alfo an Excellent Oyntment, that takes away the
Rednefsof the Face, if it were Rubies or never fo bad ,
in ten times uling.
Alfo a Water that fallens Hair that is falling, and
makes it grow very thick.
And-an Excellent Oyntment that takes aw'av the
Hair from any part, that it lhall never grow again.
Alfo a Water that will turn the ReddeR Hair to a
perfedl dark Brown-
Likewife you may have White and Red, or any
other things to adorn the Face, as Th/icfmely prepared,
which is a rare thing for the Skin.
A Salve for the Lips, that gives them a good Colour, ar.d
makes them fmooth,rare Powunwand Fore-head pieces,Pow¬
ders for the Teeth,with feveral other things for the adorning
ofBeauty, never the like prepared in England.
Are to be had at the Blew Ball in Blew-Ball-Cou rt in the
Squire in --alisbury-Court, Fleetflreet.
THE BILL OL A BEAUTY-SPECIALIST
To face page %12

for the sum agreed upon, the lowest price being two
guineas.”
“ As medicines from unskilful Quack

Their Force and Efficacy lack,
So from a skilful hand (’tis known)
The Patients cur’d and not undone.”
The “ Water of Talk and Pearl ” evidently had a great

vogue. There were several rival makers of this cosmetic
in the field, and among them was Pecune, a famous
Italian quack. His preparations were sold by a “ Gentle¬
woman ” who informs us that, “ there is another Person
who hath lately set forth bills entitled ‘ The Fountain
of Beauties,’ who does pretend to something of this
nature ; But nothing to the purpose, he being only
taken in by me for sometime as my servant, till he
thought he had gained experience enough, then ran
away in my debt and is now gone further distant to
deceive others.
“ If any persons Faces are wrincled or damaged by
using poysonous powders, which are too frequent in this
age, there is none like that made by the ‘ Famous
Italian Pecune,’ whose ‘ Water of Talk and Pearl ’ will
bring them to their former complexion. It will create
beauty where Nature has been defective, as it hath been
experienced by many Persons of Quality who have been
sending many Leagues for it.
“ He hath also a Water, that will bring Hair on a
BALD HEAD, if the party be not too old, and an
excellent Water to make the Hair curl.
“ Likewise, you may have Talk finely prepared, both
Roman and English, and any other wash made, as Myrrh
Water, May-Dew sublimated, or Blossom-Water called
the French-Wash.
“ Also ready drawn Spirit of Mint and Saffron, Spirit
of Orange, pleasant and very good against the Scurvey,
Rosa Solis made the Italian way, most excellent in con¬
sumption and a High Cordial.
“ For all these you may be pleased to repair to the
Blew Ball in Blew Ball Court, over against the Ship

Tavern in Salisbury Court in Fleet Street, or at the
Green Ball in Chiswel-street, turning up Bun-hill, over
against the corner of the Artillery-wall and next door
to the Anchor.”
The last in our gallery of Beauty-quacks is Dr.
Stephen Draper, who in 1686, issued a bill that he strictly
directs is to be “ Presented to none but Ladies, Gentle¬
women and Civil Maids.” Draper, who was not without
THE BEAUTY-SPECIALISTS 2I5
a sense of humour, was skilled in the art of flattery and
dedicates his address to :
“ Beloved Women, who are the Admit ablest Creatures
that ever God created under the Canopy of Heaven, to
whom therefore, I have devoted my studies to the pre¬
serving of your Beauty, Health, Vigour, Strength and
Long Life.”
The following are some extracts from his bill.
“ Ladies, beauty is a Blessing of God, and every one

ought to preserve it, in fine, they do as much offend
that neglect it, as they do that Paint their Faces.
Therefore I commend unto you the Virtue of My £ Water
of Pearl,’ with several other cosmeticks for the face
faithfully prepared without Mercury.
££ My £ Water of Pearl ’ defieth corruption and
adorneth the countenance with a lovely Rosie com¬
plexion, and renders the skin soft, fair, bright, smooth
and of a lovely colour. The aged it makes appear young
and Illustrates Beauty to a wonder. Nay, it addeth to
Nature’s Masterpiece, a sensible and visible advantage
and is but ten shillings a bottle. I also make a
Rare Powder, that makes Black and Yellow teeth as
white as Ivory and kills scurvey in the gums.
££ A Water that brings hair on a Bald head and an
unguent that heals the Chops in the Lips, and gives
them a cherry colour, beautiful to beholders.
££ ’Tis undeniable,” he adds, ££ that Nature has so
Illustrated some Women with beauty, that they think
they cannot be beholden to Art ; yet Nature without
Art is frail, as we see in plants and flowers which perish
216 THE OUACKS OF OLD LONDON
/•W
for want of Artificial means or fade by unskilful hands,

so it is with Beauty.
“ Ladies, Draper with his Pearl Water doth out-doe

All other Washes, and the pride of Nature too.
Altho’ Dame Nature she hath made some women
Fair,
Use his Cosmeticks you’d be indued past compare ;
Yea, your adorned Beauties will transporting prove,
That who so gazes must be ravish’d with Love.
Your Beauty will be a surpassing Throne of Graces,
Like a Bright Illustrious Queen you’d charm all faces
What Kings humbly offer Scepters, Diadems and all,
Nay, Kingdoms compar’d with Beauty are but small.
Abuse your time no longer, but be advised,
To let men know your Beauty to be prized,
Let vertuous Modesty your Beauty grace,
For it will make each charm more lovely in your face;
And also will the Roses with your Lillies joyn,
Besides the Sweet Carnation with the Jessamine.
Further yet, you’d find it doth a Factor prove,
To barter such men’s hearts that trade in chastest
love,
Nothing more firmly wins, there’s nothing sooner
can,
Than a female modest beauty, alure fond heart of
man.
And he that lies panting on a vertuous breast,
Let him with all love and beauty be doubly blest,
In Beauty and in Vertue, the Graces all appear,
Women’s beauty adorned shines ever in its sphere.”
Another quack from Italy thus announces his arrival

in London : “ A Doctor (who being lately returned from
his Travels) who hath by his long and daily study and
practise abroad, particularly in Italy, Spain, and Por¬
tugal, discover’d and found out a safe, sure, and speedy
and easy way or method to cure all persons, is at the
Sign of the Queen's Arms in Stock’s Market by Beard-
binder Lane.
“ He hath brought over with him from Italy and
which is sold by his wife at the place above, a most
delicate wash for the Face, besides Cold Cream and other
rare things (which cannot be inserted here) for the use
of Ladies and others, never made use of in this kingdom.”
CHAPTER XIV
THE PLAGUE QUACKS AND OTHERS
T he time of the Plague was the quacks great

opportunity, and they flooded the Town with
advertisements of their so-called infallible medicines and
remedies for the dread disease. The posts of houses and
corners of the streets, were plastered with the bills and
papers of “ Ignorant fellows, quacking and tampering
in physic and inviting people to come to them for
remedies.” Among the quack medicines were “ The
Sovereign Cordial against the corruption of the Air,”
the “ Infallible preventive Pills against the Plague,”
“The only True Plague Water” and a score of others.
“ A list of preservatives and medicines against the
plague that were mostly used ” was published in 1666,
from the “ Sign of the Angell, neere the Great Conduit
in Cheape-side.”
“ As preservatives against this disease,” says the
writer, “ Eate every morning as much as the kernell of a
nut of this Electuarie, which I shall keep always ready
for you, or of Treacle mixed with Conserves of Roses or
Diascordium, the quantitie of two white peas.
“ Let your chambers be ayred morning and evening
with good fires, wherein put, Juniper, Frankincense,
Storax, Bay leaves, Vinegar, Rose water, Rosin, Tur¬
pentine, Pitch, Tarre or some of them.
218
THE PLAGUE QUACKS AND OTHERS 219
“ When you go abroad, chew in your mouth the root of
Angelica, Gentian, Zedoarie, Enula campane or the like.
“ Likewise twice a weeke, take a scrupell of the £ Pesti-
lenciall Pill,’ in two pills, when you goe to bed or an
houre before supper.
“ Also I have prepared Tablets to weare about the
necke, of which I did see great aid and experience
the last great sicknesse, as also Pomanders to smell to.
“ As remedies after a person is infected, after bleeding,
Mithridatum, one dramme and a halfe ; of the best
London Treacle one dramme, and mix with them Car-
duus Benedictus or Angelica or Scabious Waters.”
Even the Inn-keepers entered into competition with
the quacks in selling plague drinks as the following
announcement from the Intelligencer for Aug. 28th 1665
shows : “ An Excellent Electuary against the plague,
to be drunk at the Green Dragon Cheape-side at Six¬
pence a pint.”
Shortly before the epidemic reached its height,

a French quack-doctor arrived in London who
announced that he had discovered a method of pre¬
venting the disease, which had proved successful in
Paris, Lyons and Toulouse. His invention, which he
called “ Angier’s Fume ” was soon in great demand.
He succeeded in deceiving Lord Arlington the Secretary
of State and the Privy Council, who ordered the Lord
Mayor and Aldermen of London to “ Give Angier all
encouragement and distribute his medicaments.”
His famous fumigation was afterwards found to
consist of Sulphur, Saltpetre and Amber.
220 THE OUACKS OF OLD LONDON
/W
An elaborate bill was issued in 1670 by John Russell,

who styles himself a Professor of Physick and Oculist, at
the “ Two Blew Posts against Gray’s Inn in Holbourn.”
Surrounding a portrait of the “ professor ” are illus¬
trations of various operations he claimed to be able to
perform.
The first, on the left, depicts a case of rupture. Second,
Extracting the stem of a tobacco pipe from a man’s
mouth where it had been lodged for three days. Third,
Couching a cataract. Fourth, Extracting a nasal poly¬
pus. Fifth, Trepanning a man whose skull has been
fractured. Sixth, An operation on the Eye. Seventh,
Operation for fistula. Ninth, An operation on the breast.
Tenth, Operation for Hare-lip. Eleventh, Cutting off
a great wen. Twelfth, Tapping a patient for dropsy.
Thirteenth, An operation for rupture.
Russell declares that, “ these pictures present what I
have cured by manual operation, that without boasting,
I may truly say, few as yet performed the like.
“ There is above 100 diseases of the eyes and few
understands their cure, which causeth so many blind,
that a good oculist might have prevented, for it is not
enough to say he is a linguist, if he have not studied to
be an Oculist. That will not serve the patient who cries,
6 Give me ease and sight or else I am for ever blind.’
“ I have many Sovereign medicines that are friendly
to the Vital Spirits, which I have prepared out of ani¬
mals, vegetables, and mineral mettals, that I am not
confined to the use of a few in practice, for there is many
thousands, that if they have not medicines at a cheap
rate must perish.
A C tn i cevuk d Lith (III! |
find? cft’d/wl c®fctl
t*we
c»r&}
J. ûjfrfl, ProFedor of Phyfidk, and Oculift.

At the Two Blew Pods again ft Grays Inn in Hollo urn:
TT's needled to declare the Particularsof thofcC^rc* I formerly Performed mSmisk^tU,
*hccanfc «>wi»TbottU.î have fecn fuch Varieties b<xk os Sick?L*m< and, Blind,tfcwat with¬
out Boailing i may truly fiy, Ths: tew has yet performed the like. Vex fope arc fa <bf-m-
genuous a* to underrate diac they Never Did, Cannot. Mead* or Tver fee Done.
There is above too Diieofes of the Eyes, a:td few undediaod their Cute, whkh caufeth fo
many Blind, which a good Ocuiifl might have prevented. T)iofc whkh are troubled with
Di/iempos of their tyex, if they come in nroe may have Cure, i have eared many chat
hare been blind jo or ?♦ yeai s : two of fciem horn fslmd.
__ Curing Pains and Oil tempers of d*c Head and «mn, as CVra*, Lechorgy, A|>opie3y,lî-
d.Cdfy&Ct of*OTTC] iwtfncfs, over- tvatsehmg, Pkreame, FaUuig-Sicklneft, Omvuiftoos^GuidiiKis of r~,c
^ • * u“*'i T **■*• - *' — y" -arrh of Deft«x oii-x^Msdnefs,Melancholy and'Hjdr+ph*irt+,-Curing
is, Huft-Lrp double f r <tngêJWry*^»ccks>wichTumour^ltrBom.
maoons, Ulcers, 1 ropofthuma'joa* ox the tars. Note, Face, Mouth, Throat«.a& Jawc*>. the
Quinzy, A-fthma, Cough, Pryfick,fhon Bresth^Spicing Ek>od,PUr'rrfieîi$a««**axioe and UP
ccraoonsoi the Lung 5,Consumptions, Famtnefs, Wcakads and Palpintaorw of the Heart
with Psinsj Ulcers, Weak‘scU, ftoppage oi the ftomaeh, Vomiting, Wibdio«fi,B<khing,
Naudoufnefs, hurt ofCotsco^tion, the Chohek, Hiack jfc&on,Qr}p* ng*x the Guaâllibijs
of Fluxes or Loofndfc* > all forts of WonW'yHimtrrbesdt and with VVeakmdks,
OMiru&ioas, Swellings, 1 uflammaucm and Ulcers of th* Liver, Spleen, ’SUft+tmts and
The _launake,Scurvey,and Droplsc of all Tons; wichPami, 1 nil animations, Ul¬
cer Jttions or Stone o; the Kerns, rifling Blood or Matter ; filling the Bed ; Uy Drops wish
uatn or heat of Urine. Curing the Green-ikknefs, Aoppage or overflowing of die Couffe
of Nature-. Fxs of the Mother, Inflammanoo, Ukers, Swellings or any Curable Hi temper
of the Womb : Curing molt at the fetemd Fit, as %n> Tm«A, or 4^/^,
Curing HcdickjMali^nan^Continual or Putrid Fevers of alt for .s y with the Gout,Sciatica,
LsrT.com, and ail Pains, Swelling, 1 nflammsbon and Weak fiefs of ihcf'yotsor Curbs
Ty»pa.i
»rc fpecdiiy Hafed. Curing Ruptures, and Children of the Rickets. With aii Ci;i**bft Uj-
ticrr.ptr* either Inward or outward tha can afS:d any fart & the Body*
For having fuch Proper Medicines fo Friendly to die Spine of Lift, that is moH Probable
to Cere aii Dêmccts that afflidh Humane Body • Therefore let none be aba;i to <(>-.<<
unto me bocaufe of the Long Conunaance of their DiiUtnycrs, fev i have Cured many that
has been C;veq over by other* as UiKurcabk-v /
Drawing Teeth with a Touch.

Makinc Black or Yellow TCcth white ina Moment.
JOHN RUSSELL’S BILL 1670
To face page 220

“ The reason for publishing this, is for the sake of
those that cannot go to the charge of fees and are not
able to pay for such costly courses of physick, as is
commonly used.”
John Newman, a quack who had a stage on Moor-
fields in 1679, a-^so claimed to be a most expert Chyrur-
gian. “ I shall not trouble your ears,” he says, “ to
give you an account of the operations I have performed
in many parts of England and other places beyond the
Seas but shall only mention what operations I have per¬
form’d on my Stage since March 28, 1679, when I cut
a large Wen the bigness of a penny loaf from off the
throat of Robert Bond, a carman, and is now very well.
On April 2, I cut a large Rupture from Michael Butts
living next door to the Signe of the Crown and Lamp in
Gravel-lane near Petticoat lane. I cure the Poor of
Wens and Hair lips, for God’s sake.” Newman was
also to be found at his Lodgings at Mr. Richard Shores,
at the Sign of the Prince of Orange's Head on Windmill-
hill, in Moorfields.
At the “ Signe of the Red Ball in Bartholomew Close,
with Fwo Black Posts at the Door, near unto Smithfield-
gate, lived an “ Expert Operator ” and maker of the
Never Failing Pills.
“ There never was more Pretenders to cure than there
is now,” he states, “ but Friends, have a care how you
fall into the hands of such ignorant Pretenders, for if they
once but get you into their clutches, they will use you as
unmerciful as they are unskilful. Therefore, be not
ashamed to come in time. COME TO ME !
“ My ‘ Never failing Pills ’ are so prepared, that the
tenderest patient may take them. They are excellent
good for Seamen to take to sea with them, for they
keep their full vertue for Seven years.
“ A private lodging may be had if required, and the
house is so private, that no notice can be taken of your
coming to him, from six in the morning till ten at night.”
E.M. a “ Doctor of Physick ” and the maker of the
“ Universal Scorbutick Pills,” was an advocate of ad¬
vertising and begins his bill with a brief historical dis¬
course. “ The Honour and Esteem of Physick,” he
states, “ was in former ages so great, that Kings and
Princes did own and allow medicines of which they were
authors and inventors, to be called by their own names.
Physicians of the greatest fame delighted in the pre¬
paration and tryals of medicines, so were they ambitious
their names should give title to the medicines. But
this last Age, revolting from the ingenious labours of
the Ancient Heroes regarding the Art of medicine, let
it fall into the hands of Tradesmen. Medicines thereby
fell much lower in repute.
“ Physicians now reviving the primitive practice, are
at present discouraged from offering the products of
their art to the world, for fear of scandal and being ac¬
counted in the number of these Quacks.
“ But the publishing of medicines by the learned,
which will prove most advantageous to the people,
should be encouraged among skilful and experienced
artists, that they may not lock up their rare inventions
and fortunate experiments, confining them within the
narrow limits of a private practice. If a printed ser¬
mon or any piece of learning cried about the streets be
no disparagement to the work nor the author, why the
publishing of a medicine : Again, if Persons of Honour
and Quality expose their cattle and produce of their
land at Market and Fair, why not men of Arts the pro¬
ducts of their learned ingenious labours ? ”
The Honourable Robert Boyle was a pioneer in
scientific chemistry and one of the Founders of the
Royal Society, but according to a quack who hails from
“ the Gridiron, with out the Bars in Whit-chappel,” he
was also the inventor of an Effectual Pill.
In his bill he states, “ That the world may no longer
be deceived by the false and ignorant pretenders to
Physick, of which this City has more than enough ; I
present to all the ingenious, the most Effectual Pills of
which the ever-honoured Esquire Boyle was the Author.
“ And Jtis to be lamented, that so many thousands
suffer yearly by these distempers, not knowing where to
address themselves to honest, able men, so the publisher
humbley conceives ’twere a pity, wondrous pity, to
conceal or bury so precious a Remedy.
“ True, it is indeed, that the world (for the sake of a
few notoriously ignorant Physick Pedlars) are ready
to dis-esteem all bills exposed to view, but if men will
still continue in that humour, they may as well hate
the Scripture, because the Devil sometimes takes an
Argument from it. They may likewise condemn all
trade by sea, because some few suffer shipwreck. For
which reason, the publisher did for a long time decline
all thoughts of printing, but on being last prevailed
upon by the unanswerable perswasions of worthy men,
he is to tell the world, that if they will avoid the horrid
torture of ill cures, if they will disappoint the irrecover¬
able disgrace of the fall of the Nose, in a word, if they
will prevent the slaughter of the Body and the Rape
of the Purse, they may address themselves to a Physician,
learned in all causes as well as this.”
Another famous remedy was the “ Grand Balsamick
and Health-Procuring and Preserving Pill,” which
the proprietor, John Hooker of St. Paul’s-Chain near
Doctors Commons, declares to be the most pleasant in the
World.
“ It is a compound,” he says, “ of the most costly and
precious ingredients that ever Art or Nature yielded,
and is adapted to all ages and constitutions. Among
other truly remarkable properties, it draws away the
corroding humours from the lungs, and by that means
Surceases the Toothache. It fortifies the Optick Nerves
and by that means preserves and strengthens the Sight.
Nor is it less beneficial to purge away the Dregs of un¬
concocted wine, which occasions morning nauseousness
of the Stomack, the decay of appetite, and that Sottish
Dulness that attends hard drinking.
“ These pills are sold by Mr. Grainger, at the Three Neats
Tongues in Chancery-lane ; Mr. Collier on London Bridge,
under the Gate; Mr. Rickards, Haberdasher of Hats, at
the Hat and Gun, Bishopsgate, and Mr. Thornton, at the
sign of England, Scotland and Ireland, in the Minories.
The “ Pilula Salutiferens ” or the Health-Bringing
Pill, is said by the proprietor, to have been first prepared
by the “ Famous Dr. Sydenham for his own use, who
afterwards prescribed it with incredible success through¬
out the vast extent of his Laborious Practice.”
“ It is a composition of all the richest Cephalicks and
Salubrious Stomaticks in Physick, and is especially good
for the head, to purge the brain, quicken the senses, and
leave a liveliness upon the Spirits.”
Piercy, Lownds and Buckworth, were three rival
Lozenge-makers, who flourished towards the end of the
XVIIth century. The former, who lived on the Postern,
next door to the Black-horse near Moorgate, “ whose abil¬
ity and skill, are so well-known for his Famous and Most
approved Lozenges for these 27 years,” comes forward
THE INVENTOR OF ‘ PILULA SALUTIFERENS ’

From a woodcut on the bill
with a bill in which he states, that “ some persons of

late, have taken a prejudice against him, and have
taken on them to make lozenges and undervaluing those
of Mr. Piercy which are so highly approved by the Queen
Dowager’s most Excellent Majesty, as by other great
and eminent persons of this nation.”
To this, Theophilus Buckworth of Mile-end Green
issued a counter-blast to vindicate himself, “ From the
wicked designs of his rivals, and to expose their vil¬
lainies.”
15
1
He says, “ I intended to rest thereupon in silence, but
yet they, still pursuing their wonted practise in Scan¬
dalous Libelling, I am once more inforced, though I shall
not trouble you with a recital of their many impudent
untruths and scandals published by Piercy and Lownds
against me, the Author and operator of the said
Lozenges.
“ When Piercy began to make Lozenges, Lownds
issued bills against him, but when they met and Piercy
would sell him lozenges, such as they are, for five shil¬
lings a pound, then Lownds, for his own profit utterly
disclaims Buckworth’s, and combines with Piercy to
scandalize my Lozenges.
“ Lownds pretends great care of the people’s health,
but being told that Piercy’s Lozenges were not so good
as Buckworth’s, his answer was, he cared not, for his
Sign was the Sign of the White Lyon still, and if they
were c Brickbats ’ sealed up, he could sell them.
“ Lownds, then finding his design to fail herein, hath
gotten one Buckworth to make him lozenges, and now
the said Lownds being undeceived herein, sells them
again, pardon his mistakes.
“ They have the Impudence to publish, that Buck-
worth was convicted by a Legal tryal, and that he was
indicted at Sessions and durst not appear to justifie
himself, but this is notoriously False.
“ It is true, they contrived, an arrest against me and
prosecuted by Richard Adrian, a Minister (such a one
as ’tis) who is brother-in-law to John Piercy, who for
his mischievous acting therein, was, the last General
Sessions, Indicted, and by the Court committed to the
New-Prison, and at the next Sessions will receive punish¬
ment according to his deserts.”
Thus apparently ended the bitter dispute of the three
rival makers of lozenges, now long forgotten.
The “ Metallick Eagle,” was the name of a wonderful
chymical powder, that was sold by R. F. Philalethes who
lived at the Sun in Gutter-lane near Cheapside.
In his address he states, “ whereas about four months
last past, there was published a little paper in these
words, viz :
“ The Rich may command, be bowed unto and flat¬

tered for rewards, but the Poor may intreat and be
rebuked with a scornful look.
“ Therefore, these are to give notice to all that are
poor in City or Country, that are either sick or lame,
may under God, have cure of the worst diseases, curable
for nothing, if they repair to the Sun in Gutter-lane.
“ Yet, Nothing without God. Since which, there hath
been many wonderful cures performed by a Chymical
Powder called the £ Metallick Eagle,’ the which medicine,
and cures hath given great cause of admiration and
brought great resort to the place.
“ I believe, there is not the like medicine extant,
unless the Grand Medicine of the Philosophers, and I
know not any that dares to pretend to have obtained it
yet. Thus, I thought good to warn the innocent and
detect the presumptious, in the world, as now it is time,
may no longer be deceived or imposed upon.
Farewell, your friend
R. F. Philalethes.”
The marvellous properties of Fletcher’s Powder,
which is described as a “ Noble and Excellent Panacea ”
are set forth in a bill also issued by the originator in
1679 from his House at the Sun in Gutter-lane near
Cheapside.
Fletcher states that his “ powder is so wonderful a
Friend unto Decaying Nature, that whatever unnatural,
destructive and health-opposing matter it shall meet
with in the body of man, it will radically exterpate, and
drive out, and in its place constitutes a Healthy Body,
as hath been proved by thousands in the City of London.
“ It powerfully cures that disease, A la mode d? Engle-
terre, with all its symptoms, and there is nothing able
to withstand its power, against all other diseases but
against death.”
Fletcher then waxes eloquent as to the nature of his
great remedy.
“ It is,” he says, “ a medicine of a Solar (or Gold like)
nature made by Art most subtile, penetrable and cap¬
able by its splendent beam, to dispel those mists in the
air, which cloud and darken the Sun of the little world
of man ; and he that hath such medicine as this, need
not so much mind the uncertain indications, diagnos-
ticks and the like verbal impertinences, which serve
only for ostentation.”
Fletcher recommends his powder for Madness, In¬
flammation of the Brain and all violent pains in the
head, and the dose was a spoonful taken in Wine, Ale,
Beer, Sider or Mead. He makes an interesting allusion
to the use of medicine chests on ships at sea, and says,
“ this medicine is of great value and may save life at
sea when the doctor's chest may fail.” He further gives
a list of people in various parts of the city who sell it.
These include Captain Newman at his Coffee-house in
Talbot Court, in Grace-church-street ; Mr. Blunt at
the Black Raven, over against Bedford House, and Mr.
Jer. Howes, Scrivener, near the Spittle in Bishops-gate-
street.
A Physician who issues a bill from the Heart and Star
at the Dyers’ Arms, next to John’s Coffee-house in the
Great Old-Bailey, relates some cures that have resulted
from taking his Special “ Elixir Proprietatis,” or Chymi-
cal Balsamick Spirit. Thus, Mrs. Parker, a Ribbon-
weaver in Nicholas street on Shore-ditch, “ who was in
a languishing condition for two years and given over by
many Physicians, some affirming that she had a Devil
in her, by the Blessing of God, was perfectly restored to
health in three months. John Wooton of Puddle-Dock
of the dropsey in three weeks, and the son of Mr. Hunt,
a Tobacco-pipe maker, over against the Sugar-loaf, in
Salisbury Court, of rickets, wherewith he became a
cripple, was cured in two months.”
“ Lady Moor’s Drops,” recalls the period when
many ladies kept a manuscript book, containing
recipes for domestic ailments with which they doc¬
tored their dependants or lent them to their friends.
Mr. Wells who lived against the Blew Bell in Long-acre
near Drury lane, claimed that he was “ the only one
that hath the true receipt from the Lady’s son.”
“ The Super-excellent vertue of these Most Famous
drops,” he states, “ universally known throughout this
kingdom, by persons of all ranks who have us’d the same;
the great effects wrought by them has obliged me (for
publick good) to make them as noted as I can to the
world. They never fail in curing consumptions, dropsies
and all manner of coughs.
“ When people look yellow, black, green, or of several
other sickly colours, by taking these Drops they’l look
for the future of a young, brisk and lively complexion.
“ Beware of a Gentlewoman who pretends to have the
true receipt of these inestimable Drops. It is prov’d
she never had the true receipt.
“ The price of one shilling and sixpence a bottle is
charged ; being known to prevent counterfeits by my
coat-of-arms. That is Vert a Cheveron Ermin between
three martlets argent.
“ They are sold at the ‘ Golden-candle stick ’ in Cheap-
side, at Mrs. Unwins, Perfumer, under the Piazza in the
Royal Exchange, against the Star Coffee-house ; and
Mr. Harbarts, a Perfumer, next door to the Horse-shoe
in German street, St. James.”
“ Glad tidings to unfortunate patients and to all
persons languishing under any stubborn distemper,” is
the greeting of a “ Proficient in Physick, Surgery and
Chymistry, at the Golden Ball and Surgeons Arms, in
White-Lyon street, near the Seven-Dials in St. Gile’s-in-
the-Fields.
“ The like has never been offer’d to the world before,
for by his diligent study and practice in Their Majesties
Service, both by Sea and Land, he hath obtained to many
great secrets in Nature, relating to the cure of all Dis¬
tempers incident to Human Bodies.
“ His ‘ Elixir Mineral,’ erradicates and carries off
most stubborn distempers, and is the most Infallible
remedy yet known for the King’s Evil, Tetters and
Ringworms. He likewise hath the greatest secret yet
known for the gout, by which he will engage to bring
a person to walk about in 3 or 4 days, or a week’s time
at the furthest, and desires no reward till it is per¬
formed.”
“ The Olbion,” popularly known as Badger’s Cordial
appears to have been a pioneer effort in preventive
medicine, as it is extolled not so much as a “ Cure-all ”
as a prevention “ against all Contagious, Pestlential
and Epidemick diseases.”
John Badger, the inventor, who calls himself a “ Doctor
in Physick,” lived in St. Swithin’s-lane, over against
the sign of the Carpenter, next door to the Crown. He
claims his “ Cordial to be a Specifick for the cure of
Agues and Intermitting Fevers of all sorts viz., Quoti¬
dian, Tertian, and Quartan, if prudently and seasonably
made use of.
“ It encreaseth appetite, cures cold and pains in the
head, coughs and Rheums. For all these, there is not a
more Noble Medicine to be found, and is more safe and
by far exceeds the ancient compositions of Mithradate
and Venice Treacle, those grand medicines of the
Apothecaries, which no one of them ever did or could
make true.
“ It deserves to be treasured up by all families in the
room of those adulterate and vicious compositions, which
the Company of Apothecaries are now going to prepare
at their Common Hall, to the scandal of their fraternity
and the future ruin of this Society.”
Reference is here made to the Laboratory for the pre¬
paration of medicines, the Society of Apothecaries
decided to set up at their Hall in Water Lane in 1690,
with the object of securing the purity of drugs employed
in the making of medicinal compounds.
It is very probable that Badger’s cordial was a pre¬
paration of Peruvian bark, which, about this time, was
being used in the treatment of ague and intermittent
fevers.
A quack who lived next to the Two Black Posts in
Old-street Square, announces that he sells a “ Great
Cordial Antidote ” against all Pestilential Diseases and
Venoms, called Elixir Vitae. He also has an Es¬
sence of Honey endowed with many vertues, which
cures Fainting or Sounding Fits and the Falling sickness.
His “ Laudanum of Cordial Pill against Surfeits,
Small-pox, and Melancholey, causeth pleasant sleep,
giving rest and ease in those in trouble or in pain.”
“ Panchimagogum Febrifugum ” was the name given
to another fever cure, which also probably contained
Peruvian bark. Its inventor directs that, “ you
must take it all at once, that is one sealed paper,
in the pap of a roasted apple, as big as a hazel nut ;
before you rise in a morning fasting, and within one
hour after, drink some posset-drink or some broth made
of fresh meat or fresh butter, and then keep your bed
for three hours, if you wish to be cured of all kinds of
Tertian Agues or other Intermittent feavers. All the
operation of it is done in 3 hours. This remedy will keep
good during the whole life of man.”
CHAPTER XV
Jesuit’s bark—a quack’s company
C INCHONA, or as it was originally called Peruvian

or Jesuit’s Bark, was first introduced into
England about 1658, and like several other drugs
which afterwards came to be recognised as of great
value, was originally exploited as a secret remedy as a
cure for ague.
At first it naturally commanded a very high price
and the apothecaries made large profits from its sale.
During the latter part of the XVIIth century, the
Physicians were involved in a long and acrid dispute
concerning the charges made by the apothecaries for
their drugs, and this is reflected in a bill, apparently
issued by Dr. Charles Goodal, who was a regular prac¬
titioner.
It states : “ Whereas it hath of late been the En¬
deavour of several members of the Physicians Colledge
to reform the abuses of the Apothecaries, as well as in
the prizes as in the composition of their medecines;
this is to give notice for the Publick Good, that a super¬
fine sort of Jesuit's Bark, ready powdered and paper’d
into doses, with or without directions for using it, is to
be had at Dr. Charles Goodal’s at the Coach and
Horses in Physicians Colledge in Warwick Lane, at
233
4s. per ounce, or for a quantity together £3 per pound ;
for the reasonableness of which prizes (considering the
loss and trouble in powdering) we appeal to all the
Druggists and Apothecaries in Town, and particularly
to Mr. Thair, Druggist in Newgate-street, to whom we
paid full 9s. per pound (? ounce) for the use of ourselves
and our friends. And for the Excellency and Efficacy
of this particular Bark, inquire of Dr. Morton in Grey-
Fryers.
“ I am to be spoken with at prayers at S. Sepulchre’s
every day, but the Lord’s Day, at Seven in the morning
and at home from eight in the morning till ten at night.
“ The Poor may have advice (that is nothing for
nothing).”
Dr. Goodal certainly employed an ingenious method
of advertising himself, but it is obvious that the 9s.
per pound, is an error and should have been 9s. an
ounce.
To this bill, Mr. Thair or some wag, ever ready to take
advantage of a quarrel between the physicians and the
apothecaries, thus replied : £C Whereas there has a scan¬
dalous paper been lately dispers’d abroad, reflecting
upon the honour and conscience of a member of the
Colldge of Physicians, as if the Prizes he exacts for his
medicines were more exhorbitant than any he complains
of in the Apothecaries.
“ This is to inform the world ; that ’tis resolved by
the Secret Committee of the said Coll. nem. con. that
it is as unsuitable to the Dignity of one of his character
to be contented with the humble profit of Ten pence
in the shilling, as ’tis insolent and unreasonable in their
JESUIT’S BARK 235
vassels, the apothecaries, to demand it. But because

he designs for the future (out of his condescending
temper of mind) to obviate all clamors of that nature,
he has determined to take down the ‘ Coach and Horses ’
and to dispose of them to the first chapman, so that
being at no other extraordinary expense, but mending
shoes and stockings, he may be enabled to afford the
better pennyworths, and therefore henceforward, all
that have occasion for any of his Superfine Bark, may
be furnished at Physician’s Hall with what quantity
they please at 3s. per ounce, or allowing for his great
trouble and pains in powdering it, id. per drachm !
“ WHICH IS TOO CHEAP IN ANY MAN’S OWN
SENSE. As the Colledge Tributary, Dr. Saffold, has well
expressed it in his immortal poem : It infallibly cures
the Stone, Dropsie and Gout, taken inwardly and out¬
wardly, Rubb’d on the gums it hastens the cutting of
the Teeth. It cures Convulsions, Botts, Kib’d heels,
Farcy, Childblains, Corns, the Mange, Spasms, also
Religious and Love Melancholey, Meazle in swine,
Christians and Prating in Elderly Persons, and makes an
admirable Beauty Water.
“ But what should here repeated be by me

The vast and barbarous Lexicon
Of Man’s Infirmity.”
Cotgrave in his “ Treasury of Wit and Language,

(1655) ” has left us a picture of the quack of his time
in his description of “ Dr. Pulsefeel ” :
“ My name is Pulsefeel, a poor doctor of Physick
That does wear three-pile velvet in his hat,
He paid a quarter’s rent of his house beforehand,
And (simple as he stands here) was made doctor
beyond the sea.
I vow, as I am right worshipful, the taking of my
degree cost me twelve French crowns and Thirty
five pounds of butter in Upper Germany.
I can make your beauty, and preserve it,
Rectifie your body, and maintaine it,
Clarifie your blood, surfle your cheeks, perfume
your skin, tincture your hair, enliven your eye,
Heighten your appetite ; and as for jellies,
Dentifrizes, dyets, minerals, fricaseas,
Pomatums, fumes, Italian masks to sleep in,
Either to moisten or dry the superfices,
Faugh !
Galen was a goose and Paracelsus a Patch,
To Doctor Pulsefeel.”
Among the quacks who set up their stages on Moor-

fields, w7as Thomas Rands, who after he had gathered
a sufficient number of spectators would thus deliver
himself :
“ My business in this famous City is to let my Fellow

Christians know the excellent qualities of my medi¬
cines, which I sell to the Rich but give to the Poor.
“ Imprimis. Is there any old woman amongst you
troubled with the Pimple-Pamplins, whose skin is too
short for their bodies. See, here is my ‘ Anti-pamphas-
JESUIT’S BARK 237
tick Powder 5 or my 4 Sovereign Carminick,’ which
discharges Ventiferous Humours of what kind soever
and will reduce you to soundness of body in the Twink¬
ling of a Hobby-Horse.
“ Then, see here is my ‘ Balsamum Stobule Swordum’
or an Ointment that’s good against all cuts, green or
canker’d wounds.
“ Now suppose any honest man amongst you has
hurt or cut himself with either sword, gun, or musket,
spit, Jack or Gridiron, glass bottle or pint pot ; by the
help and application of this my celebrated Balsam, they
are immediately cur’d without giving themselves the
trouble of sending for an illiterate surgeon, who will
sooner cleanse their pockets of money than the wound of
its infection.
“ Then Gentlemen, see here is my ‘ Purando’s Tanka-
pon Tolos,’ that is to say in the Arabian language, the
4 Wonderworking Pills,’ the excellent quality of which
is hardly even known to myself. They purgeth the
brain from all Crassick, Cloudifying Humours, which
obstruct the senses of all superanuated maids. They
make the Curratick Directick and the Directick In-
directick in their lives and conversations. Then take
three of these pills in a morning Jejuno stomacho, with
two quarts of Aqua Gruellis. I am none of those fellows
that set an extravagant value upon themselves, merely
because they ride upon spotted horses, but my medicines
have made themselves and me famous throughout Asia,
Africa, Europe and America.
£t It was I, cur’d Prester John’s Juggler’s wife of a
fistula in her elbow of which she died. It was I, pre-
vented the old woman at Exeter from running headlong
into a Wine-cellar. It was me, and only me, that cur’d
the French Dancing Man at Amsterdam of the Consump¬
tion in his pocket. It was me, who perform’d an excel¬
lent cure upon Captain Nonsuch, Commander of the
Nonnomen Galley, who had a Cannon ball lodg’d in
his little finger, likewise the carpenter of the same ship
who had swallowed a handspike.”
(The Zany’s Song)

“ Here then of great sense
At a little expense,
May furnish themselves with a packet,
Or if any one’s poor
That has been with a W-
For sixpence he need not lack it.
Though money be scant,

Yet physick you’ll want,
If ever you come into danger,
Then Beaus come and buy it,
Prove, judge and try it,
Or privily come to my chamber.”
Gilbert Anderson was a notorious quack well-known

in the neighbourhood of St. Gile’s between 1665 and
1680, who lived near the Inn significantly called the
Cradle and Coffin, in Cross-street. He was a canting
rascal who turned religion to account whenever he
could get the chance. He had evidently travelled abroad
and gained some experience as a surgeon’s mate on a
ship.
JESUIT’S BARK 239
“ All praise and glory to be given to God alone,” is the
heading of his bill, in which he states : “ he hath travell’d
through the most part of the known world, and so
acquired the most rare secrets of Physick and Chyrurgery
during 35 years, 12 of which he spent in the quality
of Chyrurgeon to a ship, in the wars of Candia, in which
time he never made a voyage without fighting ; and yet
was so happy in his undertaking, that he never dis¬
membered any man, neither did any dye under his cure
of their wounds ; but on the contrary, he cured many
that were to have been dismember’d by others.
“ He can speak indifferently the languages of the
Turks, Moors, Italians, Spaniards, Portugues, French,
Dutch, Swedes and Danes, and for the truth of his great
skill, has the three following certificates. The first states
that 4 the Rector, Church-wardens and others, ancient in¬
habitants of the Parish of St Gile’s-in-the-Fields do
certify that Mr. Gilbert Anderson, hath by God’s blessing
performed many eminent cures upon the sick, lame and
diseased, to his great commendations, and we never
heard that any of the patients which he undertook to
cure, either missed of cure or died, by reason of any
miscarriage of his cure.
“‘For which miraculous operation and his singular
charity to the Poor, we humbly conceive him to be very
deserving of employment.’”
This is signed by Nathaniel Stratton and Henry
Hobgood, Church-wardens. 18th of April 1673.
He also prints a similar certificate from the Church¬
wardens of the Liberty of East Smithfield of St. Botolph,
without Aldgate, signed by Duell Pead, Minister, and
Thomas Fryer and Henry Fletcher, Church-wardens.
Dated 30th of March 1679.
His third testimonial purports to be from the Burgo¬
master and Councillors of the City of Congal in Sweden,
who testify, that “ the Respectful person, Doctor and
Physician, Gilbert Anderson, lived in Congal for two
years, and has cured many persons both there and in
Gottenburg and Melstrand. This certificate is for his
safety in his travels to Denmark. Sealed by the Town
Seal on the 18th September 1665.”
He says, “ he hath no remedies that cure all Diseases,
but he hath for each several disease a proper remedy,
and undertakes to cure Rheums that fall from the head
to the teeth, the black and blue marks caused by blows,
in 48 hours, and hath a plaister for the sciatica or huckle-
bone gout which will banish the pain in a wonderful
short time.
“ He solemnly promises in the Presence of Almighty
God and the Holy Host of Heaven, not to undertake
any but such as he hath good hopes are curable by him.
“ He hath lived ever since 1665 in the Parishs of St.
Martin’s and St. Gile’s, where the ablest Doctors of all
Nations converse, who have thought it no disgrace both
here and abroad, to ask his advice in difficult matters
and have found it good to admiration.”
He adjures his patients, to “ be not scrupulous in
observing times, lest you provoke God to wrath, for
with Him, all seasons are proper for restoring his people
to Health.”
Anderson thus advertises for an apprentice. “ If any
good honest man have a well-educated son, that he would
JESUIT’S BARK 241
have instructed in Physick, this doctor is willing, upon

any reasonable terms, to undertake it, and make him
equal with the best Outlandish Physicians. He can be
spoken with at his dwelling at the lower end of Cross¬
street in Hatton Garden, near the Cradle and Coffin, next
door but one to a Carpenter’s yard, and right over
against a Meal shop.”
“ The Famed and True Lozenges of Blois,” a popular
remedy for coughs and colds, were sold at most of the
Coffee-houses in the city at the end of the XVIIth
century.
A bill recommending them states : “ The Salt and
Sulphurous Vapours particularly in London, joined with
a foggy and moist air which begets Rheums and Coughs,
lead many learned physicians to seek divers Remedies,
amongst which the particular preparation of the Juice
of Licorish is rightly called the True Balsam of the
Lungs.
“ I do not pretend,” says the maker, “ to have been
the first to make this excellent remedy, but I have highly
improved it with the full approbation of their Majesties
and most of the Nobility attending the Court.
“ The White juice thus prepared, hath been shown
unto and been both recommended by word of mouth and
approved in practice by many eminent physicians, and
sold at most of the great Coffee-houses about the City.
They bear my Coat of Arms on the box, being the Three
Boars Heads and a Bloody Sword.”
“ Drops of Comfort,” was the soothing name given to
a quack remedy that was recommended to give “ im¬
mediate relief and to effect a perfect cure, in the tor-
16
meriting pains of the Chollick, and makes those that
take it Fresh, Fair and Lively for many years.”
<£ Drops of Comfort ” were distributed at 5s. a bottle
by Mr. John Paradise, perfumer, next door to the
Cross-Kea Tavern ; Mr. Robert Chilcott, perfumer, in
Westminster Hall, and Mrs. Ann Farmer at the Unicorn
in Fleet-street.
Richard Mathew, the originator of the “ Famous
Pills,” lived at a house by the Lyons Den at the Tower
and next gate to the By-ward.
In 1662 he published a book entitled, “ The Unlearned
Alchymist, his antidote, or a full and ample explanation
of the use, virtue and benefit of my Pill; with direc¬
tions to make and prepare the drink now in use called
coffee.”
He dedicated it, “ to all that are sick under pains,
aches, gripings, and divers diseases, but more especially
such as are poor and have no money, Rich, Mathew, your
brother and companion in the Kingdom and patience
of Jesus Christ.”
In a long preliminary epistle, he describes the won¬
derful virtues of his pill and states that “ a man of
middle strength should take about the bigness of a
grey pease and drink a little sack after it.”
He claimed the pill to be a great antidote to poisons,
and relates the case of “ a gentleman who drank 200
grains of Opium at one draught, then swallowed a pill
and yet is in very good health.”
His account of “ the drink called coffee, now so much
used ” is interesting at this period. “ The Coffee
berries,” he says, “ are to be bought at any Druggist,
JESUIT’S BARK 243
about three shillings a pound. Roast them in an old

frying-pan, then beat them to powder and pour through
a lawn sive. To a quart of boiled water put in one ounce
of your coffee and boil gently for a quarter of an hour,
and it is fit for your use.”
Mathews died the year after the publication of his
book, for in 1663, we find that his wife issued an ad¬
ditional treatise called : “ A pretious Pearl, in the midst
of a Dung-hil, being a true and faithful Receit of Mr.
Richard Mathew’s Pill, according to his own practice,
recorded in writing under his own hand in 1659, an<^
Presented to the world by Mris Anne Mathews, amongst
many sad complaints of wrongs done her and the com¬
monalty and her deceased Husband.”
Her chief complaint is the wrong done to her as a
widow by imitators, who declare “ Palpable untruths,
saying my husband put Jollop and such-like in his pills
and to prove these statements she publishes his receit,
which shows they consisted of the best Tartar, Salt¬
peter, heated together in an iron kettle, stirred well and
allowed to cool. This salt is then mixed with Oyl of
Turpentine and stirred, and allowed to stand for six
months, then opium and hellebire added, the whole
being then well beaten into a paste with a little more
turpentine.” This she declares was the true receipt
for the “ Famous Pills ” made by Richard Mathews.
After the widow’s death, the pill business was carried
on by “ James Monk of the Three Neats Tongues in
Bull and Mouth-street at Butcher-Hall Lane end.”
According to his bill, the pills had been made there for
1 thirty years by the late widow, “ who imparted her
secret only to my wife, her Grand-daughter, who assisted
her for many years.
“ This pill being composed of simples of a very power-
full operation, extracted from their churlish and malig¬
nant quality by long preparation, is by it made amicable
to nature.”
The dosage forms the quaintest part of the bill, thus
the ordinary dose for men or women is “ the bigness of a
great gray pea ; to children of two years old, the quan¬
tity of a barley corn and to them newly-born, the
littleness of a pin’s head.”
It is evident from a bill issued by J. Sintelaer, who
exploited the “ Royal Decoction,” that he was a firm
believer in his own nostrum, for he offers to enter into
an engagement from £100 to £500 for the performance of
his promises, which are as follows : “ If any patient
whatsoever, tho’ left olf by all other Physicians and
Surgeons and salivated ten or twelve times, will come
to his House, where they shall be furnished with all
necessaries, as well as physick, for the space of eight days,
in which time if they are not so miraculously recovered
as not to doubt of a perfect cure within thirty days limit,
they are free to return to their own homes, without
giving him a penny either for Lodging, Diet or his
Physick, which fair proposal is sufficient to convince
the world he is no Impostor. The Doctor or his wife are
to be spoken with at his house (late the Duke of Leeds)
over against the Red Bull lnny near Little Turnstile
in Holbourn.”
“ No Pocky Bill,” is the heading of a sheet issued by
a quack and his wife who lived at the next house to the
A COMPANY OF QUACKS 245
Green Dragon on the right-hand side of Scroop’s Court,
upon the Freestones, over against St. Andrew’s Church
in Holbourn.
Their remedy was the “ Most pleasing, easie and
agreeable Cathartick Potion, having no smell nor taste,
but LIKE THAT OF BRANDY, which is but 2s. 6d.
a bottle. They have likewise such remedies for any
cancerated breast, without any maner of Butcherey or
Ruff means us’d, which the world affords not the like.”
“ A New Dispensary to save Patient’s money and
the Publick health,” was the name given to a company
of quacks who thus sought to combat the institution
in Warwick. Lane established by the College of Phy¬
sicians.
“ This Dispensary,” they announce, “ is not set on
Foot by a Society of Physicians, but is where instead of
large Fees, long Bills and Quacks more dangerous
practice, all persons, in what circumstances whatsoever
that are curable by physick, may be undertaken and
managed, with as much safety and judgment and
integrity, as if they had the advice of a whole Colledge,
but with much less expense than the meanest pre¬
tender. For which purpose the Society have provided a
Collection of the Choicest Specificks yet known, which
we call our SECRET CABINET adapted to all dis¬
eases. Therefore be it known, we have always ready,
The ‘ Green Cathartick Elixir,’ far exceeding any other
for gripes and cholick ; The ‘ Hysterical Tincture ’ ;
The ‘ Great Balsamick Spirit ’ ; The ‘ White Cardial-
gick Powder ’, which in all cases excels Crab’s eyes,
Pearl, Coral and all the Testaceous Powders ; The
£ Grey Ointment 5 and £ The Black Cerecloth ’ or Plaister
for the Rickets call’d £ The Jewel,’ a secret left by a
Famous Jew, who got a vast estate by it, which since
his death has been communicated to one of the Society
as the most valuable thing in the World for all wounds.
£<Note. The Society have taken care to provide par¬
ticular specificks for all the modish diseases.”
Another new departure in quackery, was the intro¬
duction of a nostrum through the medium of a lecture
on a curious subject, and thus the maker of the “ Elec-
tuarium Mirable ” sought to attract attention to his
remedy. He announces in a bill addressed to “ All
curious Gentlemen, Physicians and others, who shall
think themselves concern’d, that on Thursday the 28th
of this instant July, will be read at Stationer’s Hall, a
Lecture of £ Anatomy on the Caul and its use in infants ’ ;
wherein it will be plainly proved, that that membrane
in brutes vulgarly called the Leaf and by Physicians the
Caul, is generally consum’d or wasted away in newly
born children that die afterwards of gripes and convul¬
sions, which proceed from this Tabes Omentalis or
Consumption of the Caul ; and further, it will hereby
be manifested that the wTant of that Part is the real
cause that this disease becomes so universally mortal,
and is now grown as it were Epidemical in London.
££ The Author designs to satisfie the Publick at once
in the Truth of this discovery by Evident Demonstra¬
tion, and he has delivered out Tickets at a guinea each,
to be had at White’s Chocolate-House and the Smyrna
Coffee-house near St. James’, Tom’s Coffee-house in
Covent Garden and Batson’s Coffee-house in Corn-hill.”
A COMPANY OF QUACKS 247
He concludes by announcing that his “ Electuarium
Mirable ” may be had at the Golden Ball in Princes-
street, near Stocks Market.
The “ New Worlds Water,” was the name given to
a “ Wonderful Secret not known in all the three parts
of our Continent, but only by the “ Gentleman ” that
prepareth it himself. Lived 20 years in that Misery
when by the Great mercy of God, he met in one part of
America with a native of Mexico, who cured him with
this water. And it happening that the Plague did rage
there, his dear Physician died in his house. But before
his death he presented him with this Precious Secret
saying, he valued it above all the riches of his country.
It is to be had only at Mr. William Chandler’s between
the Go at-Ale-House and the Crown, over against Ser¬
geant’ s-Inn in Chancery lane.”
CHAPTER XVI
AN ELIXIR FOR RENEWING YOUTH-OLD QUACK MEDICINES
M OSES Stringer, a well-known London quack

who flourished at the end of the XVIIth
century, claimed to have discovered a cure for Old Age
which he called “ Elixir Renovans.” He chose an
ingenious method of advertising both himself and his
nostrum, in the form of letters which he addressed to
the “ Learned Dr. Woodrofe, Master of Worcester
College in Oxford.”
These effusions he had printed and distributed as
bills. The first reads as follows :
“ Sir,
“ Since I had the honour of your Instructions in the
University concerning physick and chemistry, I have
in a particular manner, apply’d myself to the study of
those sciences. I have considered the nature of Humane
Bodies and consulted the History of the Ancients, tho’
I can’t give credit to what the Poets record of Êson ;
yet, what Paracelsus reports concerning the force of
medicines in Recovering Old Age, affects me very
much.
“That Learned Chymist made his first experiment
upon a Hen, so very old, that nobody would kill it,
248
AN ELIXIR FOR RENEWING YOUTH 249
either out of a sense of profit or good-nature. He
mingled some of his medicine, which he called Renovat¬
ing Quintessence, with a quantity of Barly and gave it
to the Hen, fifteen days together. The effects were
wonderful, and the Hen recovered Youth and New
Feathers, and what is still more surprising, LAID
EGGS and Hatcht chickens as if she had lost a dozen
years of her age.
“ But this small experiment in Animals did not content
the inquisitions of that Scrutinous Chymist, who turned

his skill to the relief of mankind. An ancient woman
that kept his house, with the consequences of Old Age,
was upon the very margin of Death. He gave her the
same medicine, fifteen days together, as he had pres¬
cribed to his feathered patient and the success was the
same. She recover’d her Health, Youth, Hair and Teeth
again. Her complexion lookt florid and vigorous,
and Nature exerted itself as it generally does in Young
Women.
“ Reflecting upon these Cures, and the probity and
candor of the Physician from whence they proceeded,
I thought such a remedy might be formed as might
renew youth very much and help Old Age.
“ Some years since, with considerable cost and pains,
I had the good fortune to find out two medicines of

general use, the £ Elixir Febrifugum Martis ’ and ‘ Salt
of Lymons,’ but finding (tho? the cures effected by them
were surprising) yet they did not extend to renew Age
so much as I could have wish’t, I therefore, a second time,
endeavoured and I hope have found, a Medicine which
very much lessens the Infirmities of Age, renders Nature
vigorous and Stretches the Span of Human Life as far
as Heaven permits.
“ ‘ THE SAME MEDICINE CURES THE GOUT.’
“ Sir,
“ I am sensible that this letter proves very long, and
I shall take another time to acquaint you with anything
remarkable that shall occur to the knowledge of, Sir,
“ Your most Humble and Faithful Friend
Moses Stringer.”
In a second letter, Stringer has more to say of his

discovery and the cures he has performed with his
remedy.
“ Sir,
“ My method of curing Old Age and the Gout is thus,
I prescribe them, these drops, which are called ‘ Elixir
Renovans, quia a fatigatione renovat,’ because it doth
refresh them and make them young again. And to be
had only at my House, for fear of Counterfeits, at a
Guinea a Bottle, sealed with Three Eagles displayed.
“To be taken from 15 drops to 60 at a time, four or
five times a day in Wine, Ale, Beer or Water or in other
proper Infusion.”
He describes the wonderful effects of the Elixir in a
note in which he relates, how he “ first cured his Mother,
who was extremely swelled with the Dropsie, having
born eleven children, and was given over by the phy¬
sicians.” Then he cured his “ Wife’s Father who had his
arm Palsy-struck.”
“ Another remarkable case was the cure of one who
had been a slave in Algiers in the year 1678, and by the
ill-usage he had received, had a Fever and Calenture,
Scurvy, Dropsie and Palsy, one succeeding another. He
was near 55, and continued a year in St. Thomas’s
Hospital but could find no remedy. In this wretched
condition he languished 20 years, until he took my
£ Renovating Elixir ’ and he is now absolutely recovered,
and more plump and fat than ever he was in his life.
His name is Philip Becket, late Commander of a Mer¬
chantman, and lives in Shadwell Parish near the Market,
where all curious persons may be satisfied of the truth
of these occurrences.”
The fact that his death was prematurely announced by

a rival, led Stringer to issue another bill from his House
in Black Fryers, near Puddle-Dock, in which he states:
“ The Spreading Error that Sir Moses Stringer (com¬
monly call’d Dr. Stringer) Her Majesties Chymist and
Mineral-Master-General is Dead, was occasioned by the
death of Dr. Salmon in Black Fryers.
“ Dr. Stringer yet remains in Health (thanks be to
God) to execute his office, and finds time to prepare his
Secret Chymical, Mineral, Medicines as hereto-fore, which
are sold at his Laboratory in the Mineral Office Royal in
Black Fryers, with a book of ample directions.”
“ Beware of Quacks, Mercury and all such Foes

Lest need ye require a supplemental Nose !
is the warning of a quack who lived in Plough Yard in

Fetter-lane, at the Green Door and two Golden Spikes.
“ For the real good of the Publick he is willing to give
his advice in all diseases gratis, and claims that his
medicines will restore a good temperature of body,
whereby perfect health may be gained to the Prolonga¬
tion of Life and Felicity of a most healthful Constitution
without salivation, danger of mercury or confinement,
and for less charge and in less time and fewer doses, than
is usual for the perfection of a cure.”
From early times linseed has had a reputation as a
domestic remedy for coughs and colds, but J. L. who
frequented Batson’s Coffee-house near Change time,
claims to have been the first to sell the oil for use as an
internal remedy. According to his bill, “ The Right,
New, Cold-Drawn Linseed-Oyl, which is so famous for
the distempers, phthisick, colds, and the only remedy
for the Plurisie, is drawn by J. L., being the first author
who put the same Oyl to be sold, at first at the Rain¬
bow Coffee-house by Fleet street, but is now sold at
Mr. Batson’s and at Sam’s Coffee-house by the Custom
House, and Say’s on Ludgate Hill, at Two shillings a
pint bottle.”
Another remedy called the “ British Oyl ” and the
“ Strong Rock Oyl ” was sold by Mrs. Moreton at the
Blew Bodice in the Long-walk near Christchurch Hos¬
pital, which she extolled for its virtues in healing Con¬
tusions, Bruises, Rheumatism, Gout, King’s Evil and
Broken Bones.
It was to be taken inwardly in doses of 50 to 60 drops
in wine, ale, or sugar and was recommended as a good
antidote against poisons. According to Mrs. Moreton,
“ Madamoiselle, Daughter of the Marquis of Harcourt
in Kensington Square, was cured of a rheumatick pain
in her stomack by bathing the same with this oyl.”
The “ Electuary of Balm of Gilead 55 and likewise the

“ Salt of the Balm of Gilead ” were sold by one John
Gray at the Golden Head on the Balcony, betwixt Craven
House and the Three Bowls, in Drury-lane. “ These
two of the Famousest medicines in the world, by the
blessing of God, cure Fevers of all kinds, rheumatisms,
dropsie, cholick and consumptions. It is a very good
medicine to carry to the East and West Indies, for it
cures the distempers of the country, likewise all that
travel by land or water, as it is good for any green wound
bruise, scald or any inward distemper in men, women
or children.5’
A quack who “ returned to his lodgings at the house of
Mr. Gwins, a Cloath-worker, in Little Trinity-lane, near
Queen-Hithe, after his travels,” thus addresses his
friends: “ After my Travels, the Lord hath been pleased
to bring me safe to this former place of my habitation ;
He hath also been good unto me to answer me that, in
that I have sought after, and as He hath given to me
many large talents. I desire with the assistance of Him
to put them forth to the best use for the good of the
world, that when my Lord cometh to inquire of me
what use I have made, He may find them doubled,
and then will He say, £ Well done good and faithful
servant.5
“ If any be diseased let them repair to me and I
shall be free in my advice or direction to all for the
Lord hath called and I must hear. When the poor cry
shall I stop my ears ? No, God forbid, the poor of the
World are Rich in God.
“ I will not be like the physitians of the times. Look
into the 5th chapter of Jeremiah, verse 28, that agrees
with them. If any of the world be troubled or offended
at my good will to all, let me satisfie them with the wise
sayings of Solomon. Proverbs 3 chap. 32 verse. ‘ For
the froward is abomination to the Lord, but his secrets
is with the righteous.’
“ As the Lord hath given me a Healing Hand, I am
willing to employ it with thankfulness. Farewell.
SOLI DEO GLORIA.”
An interesting foreshadowing of the cause of a disease
comes to light in a bill emanating from “ A Physitian at
the New-House in the Wash Garden, in Haydon Yard in
the Little Minories.” In it he states, that by his “ Studies
he hath experimentally Attained to the Perfect and
Speedy Cure of the Pox, his medicines being of such an
efficacious quality that they totally eradicate all venerial
A tomes, which infect and vitiate the blood, extracting
the malignity although it be settled in the Bones.”
Another cure for ague, with special reference to Kent,
was advertised by a quack who lived in “ White-cross
street in Cripple-gate Parish, almost at the further end
near Old Street, turning in by the sign of the Black
Crow in Goat Alley, straight forward down three steps
at the sign of the Globe, where he hath dwelt almost
Twenty years. He hath a Cure for an Ague, either in
man, woman or child in London or in Kent, which never
yet failed, at once or three times taking. Either liquor,
pill or powder, the dose no bigger than a Pin’s head, it
hath neither smell nor tast and the price of each dose
is one shilling.”
One of the most popular proprietary remedies of the
XVIIth century was Elixir Salutis or Daffy’s Elixir,
which is said to have been originated by the Rev.
Thomas Daffy the rector of Redmile about 1660.
In a bill issued by his daughter Katherine Daffy,
who carried on its manufacture after his death, she
states : “ it is prepared by me from the best druggs
according to Art and the original receipt which my
Father the Rev. Thomas Daffy, late Rector of Redmile
in the Valley of Belvoir, imparted to his kinsman Mr.
Anthony Daffy, who published the same to the benefit
of the community.
“ The very original Receipt is now in my possession,
left to me by my father. My own brother, Mr. Daniel
Daffy, formerly Apothecary in Nottingham made this
Elixir from the same receipt, and sold it there during his
life. Those who know me will believe what I declare.
“ The true Elixir is sold at the Hand and Pen in
Maiden-lane, Covent Garden and at many Coffee¬
houses, also at Mr. John Waters, Perfumer at the Naked
Boy and Orange Pree, near the Maypole in the Strand.”
There were several makers of this remedy and among
them was “John Harrison of Prujeans Court in the Old
Baily, who in 1709, charged Mrs. Elizabeth Daffy with
making Invidious remarks upon his Elixir Salutis.”
She charged him, with taking the “ House in Prujeans
Court Clandestinly and with pretending to be her
husband’s assistant in preparing the Elixir.” Harrison
on his part declared, that “ he knew the secret sometime
before the death of his father, Dr. Anthony Daffy, which
he presumes was before the said Elias Daffy was privy
to the preparing of the said Elixir (he being then a Cam¬
bridge scholar) and the same was communicated to him
in the year 1684, at the time when he was going to
travel beyond the sea.”
Harrison, after denying Mrs. Daffy’s allegations con¬
cludes, “ I am well assured that those who have tried
mine will apply themselves to nobody else for Elixir
Salutis.”
Daffy’s Elixir is said to have been composed of Senna,
Jalap, Aniseed, Caraway seeds and Juniper berries,
macerated in alcohol, to which treacle and water were
afterwards added.
It is still sold in London and the bills wrapped round
the bottle state that, “ The Elixir was much recom¬
mended to the public by Dr. King, Physician to King
Charles II, and the late learned and ingenious Dr.
Radcliffe.”
Another early patent medicine that attained great
popularity in the XVIIth century, especially in Scotland
and France, were Anderson’s Scots Pills.
Their originator was Dr. Patrick Anderson, a well-
known physician of the Stuart period, who in 1635,
published a treatise on his pills, the recipe for which
he says he obtained in Venice.
After his death, they were made and sold by his
daughter, Katherine Anderson, and she by deed, in 1686,
transferred the secret to Thomas Weir a surgeon of
Edinburgh, who obtained a patent for their preparation
in 1687.
OLD QUACK MEDICINES 257
A few years later, the formula came into the hands
of Mrs. Isabella Inglish who declares in a bill, that she
was authorised by their Majesties, to prepare and
publish them at the Hand and Pen near the King’s
Bagnio in Long Acre.
There were apparently rival preparations in the field
for Mrs. Inglish states that, “ she alone makes Dr.
Anderson’s Grana Angelica or the famous true Scots
Pills and no others are genuine.”
She stigmatises in particular one Mogson, whom she
says by his advertisements, “ pretends to have the
Receipt from Mrs. Katherine Anderson as being in¬
timately acquainted with her in Scotland, and hath
had the impudence to counterfeit my printed directions
verbatim.
“ Nor can he make appear he was ever in Scotland
as he falsely pretends,” she continues, “ Nay, so little
truth is in his assertions, that in March last, he himself
did meet with me at Mr. Lloyd’s Coffee-house in Lom¬
bard street, and desired him to vend my pills there, but
since then he hath trick’d him and me both, which can
and may perhaps be made appear in as publick a man¬
ner, as he hath made himself a Lyar to the view of the
world. I offer to prove out of all doubt, as I have
already done before the King’s Physicians, that the
said Mogson discovered the cheat himself on the 16th
day of September last to two gentlemen, to whom he
pretended that he was intimately acquainted with Dr.
Anderson at Edinburgh, who admitted him into his
closet whence he stole the said Receipt out of a book of
the Doctor’s; whereas the said Doctor has been dead
17
above fifty years, being long before Mogson was
born.55
John Gray of the Golden Head, between the Little
Turnstile and the Bull Inn in High Hobourn, also
claimed to make the pills “ according to the doctor’s
method during his life-time ” and sold them at 5s. a
box in 1699.
Gray sealed his boxes with his coat of arms in red wax
with his motto “ Remember you must die ” wrapped
round them, and still another claimant named Man,
made and sold the true Pills at “ Old Man’s Coffee¬
house ” at Charing Cross in 1703.
Anderson’s Scots Pills are said to have been composed
of Aloes, Jalap and Oil of Aniseed and are still made and
sold in London.
Mr. Lewis of the Blew Ball in Little Bridges street
and Russell street, Covent Garden, sold a number of
these old quack medicines, and in a bill he issued in 1711,
declares the Dr. Anderson’s Scots pills, “ are the nicest
thing in the World to sweeten, purifie, and cleanse the
blood and of great use to Sea-men, Travellers and Fast-
Livers.”
He also sold Daffy’s Elixir Salutis, “ richly prepared
with Venice Treacle, the greatest preservative that art
or nature can suggest.”
He was the maker of the “ True Friars Balsam, suffi¬
ciently known to the Nobility and Gentry, which has
gained the reputation of the greatest Balsamick in the
world. ’Twas never published ’till now, but has been
kept by the Gentry, who were at the expence of making
it as a Closet Jewel. Sold in Flint bottles at 10s. each.”
Lewis also sold a “ Comforting Stomack Plaister for
coughs, colds and wheesings. ’Tis worn by several per¬
sons as a Stomacher all the winter for a preservative.”
He further warranted that his “ Ague and Intermitting
Fever powder had no Jesuit’s Powder in it.”
Another Apothecary who billed his own medicines,
was Robert Rotheram of the Golden Ball in Sweetings
Alley, in Corn hill, near the Royal Exchange, in 1678.
Rotheram made an Elixir of Saffron, “ a great
Cordial,” which he claimed would “ expel Poyson, cure
feavors and wonderfully inlive Nature.” He also sold
an “ Elixir of Balme and Mint,” which he declared would
“ quicken all the faculties of Nature, make a cheerful
heart and a lively countenance ; each glass being sealed
with the Bleeding Pelican.”
John Coniers, an apothecary who lived in Shoe Lane
and afterwards at ye White Lyon in Fleet street, appears
to have been the first to sell an artificial mineral water.
In a bill dated May 12th 1679, h-e states that, he prepares
and sells “An essence made of ye Minerall which quicklie
you can make Tunbridge Waters. Any soft spring water
mixt with a little thereof, becomes in nature a True
Tunbridge Water of great use to those who desired to be
spared ye journey to ye Wells.
“ Mixt with Tunbridge Water itselfe, makes it so
much stronger as you please. A great advantage to
those, especially who cannot beare much mixt with
Epsom or other purging waters, makes it ye nature of
Astrop Waters.”
Coniers was an interesting man and had a Museum
which he had “ collected with much assiduity and at
great expense,” and in 1691 made a proposal to open
it to the public for general inspection.
Snuff, like tobacco, was originally recommended as a
medicinal agent, and among those who first exploited
it was Edwyn Salter, who introduced a “ Sternutatory
Snuff ” to “ fortify the brain and its animal faculties.”
It was sold at the house next door to the Sugar loaf in
Nevill’s Alley, Fetter-lane.
“ Lisbon Snuff, strongly recommended to improve
the eyesight,” was sold by Mr. Harrison at the West
End of the Royal Exchange, at 23s. a pound or 6s.
an ounce.
Snuff was also used as a remedy for toothache, and
for that purpose there was the “ best Orangare, fine
Burgamot, Tongcar, Germany and Itallian snuffs at
2s. and is. an ounce. The best Spanish, Havana and
Sevile Snuffs were sold at 5s. a pound,” and any of
these are recommended in a bill dated 1706, “ as a
present remedy for the most violentest Headache or
Toothache, and as infallible curers of Coughs or Ptsicks,
and a preventer of those distempers.”
Jatropoton was the name given to a liquid or powder
for adding to Wines, Beers, Cyders or other drinks, “ as
a corrective of all noxious aigre or that were too sharp,
sour or flat, that was sold by Mr. Walford at John’s
Coffee-house in Birchin lane, near the Royal Exchange.
“ By a few drops of the Liquor or Salt, in an instant, the
drink retaining its full taste, vertue and colour, except
that it renders all such too sharp, and flat drink softer
and brisker, to any degree required. All Rhenish wines
without the Clary flavour, seem converted into perfect
Burgundy. In wines mixt with water, it has the full
effect of the German Spaws.
“ This liquor or salt is an Occult Alcali that is to taste
perfectly saline, and is qualified to penetrate and pass
deep into the Digestions and must of necessity absorb
and dulcify all noxious
acids, and dissolve all
preternatural coagula¬
tions there as in a glass
vial.
“ It will dulcify the
strongest hard cheese,
instantly qualifies for
digestion, as it was used
by the Romans after a
late Debauch or Surfeit.”
There were several
quacks who advertised
to treat ruptures and
prominent among them
was Bartlett of Good-
mans-fields, who was
one of the oldest makers
of “ Spring Trusses, Col¬
lars, Swings and other
inventions.”
In his bill, he claims to be able to cure “ men from
forty to seventy nine of this malady, and reduce desper¬
ate Ruptures in a few minutes, likely to be mortal in a
few hours. I can make the weak strong, and the crooked
straight.” Bartlett carried on his business at the Golden
Ball by the Tavern in Prescot street, and at the Golden
Ball and Naked Boys, against the Rainbow Coffee-house.
Another orthopaedic quack named Nathaniel Baker,
who lived at the Golden Spurr in Round Court in St.
Martin’s-Legrand, near Newgate street, informs the pub¬
lic that, he has “ lately come to England (by the Help
of God) and undertakes to set all children straight that
are growing awry, either in body, legs, or feet.
“ It has been my business,” he states, “ for upwards of
thirty years having perfected the cure of some hundreds,
who for want of timely application, would have been
deformed and cripples all days of their lives ; the
sooner I am applied to the better. I do it without
putting to any pain.”
CHAPTER XVII
BAGNIOS AND CUPPERS-VIRTUES OF COFFEE AND TEA
U NTIL the close of the XVIIth century, baths were

practically unknown in the palace or private
house. It was not until about 1679, that the public
bagnios or sweating houses began to be established in
London, on the lines of the Hummums, which had been
common in Turkey and the near East from an early
period.
One of the first to be opened was the Duke’s Bagnio
and Bath in Salisbury Stables, Long Acre, for which Sir
William Jennings in 1679, procured his Majesty’s patent
“ for making all public bagnios and baths, either for
sweating, bathing or washing.”
An interesting description of this establishment from
which we can picture the Bagnio of the period, is given
in a bill issued at the time of the opening and reads as
follows:
“ Entering the Hall, where the porter stands to take

the money, you pass into a room furnished with a pair
of scales, and thence into the dressing room with private
boxes on each side, the middle walk of which is paved
with black and white marble. This room is moderately
warm. Then you pass into the bagnio, over which is a
263
cupula supported by eight stone pillars within which
you walk. This is paved with marble, the sides lined
with white gally-tiles, and in the walls are ten seats as
in the baths at Bath, and nitches, holding marble basins
for washing.
“ On one side hangs a very handsome pendulum clock
to tell exactly how the time passes. Adjoining, are four
little round rooms, each about eight feet in size, of
various temperatures and in each is a leaden cistern
or bath, six feet long by Two feet wide.
“ The visitor is received by the barbers in the
dressing room and later a rubber brings him wooden
clogs in exchange for slippers. He may then lounge or
walk, or take a bottle of ‘ diaphoretick liquor.’
“ After about an hour, his rubber dry-rubs him with
a hair-chamolet glove, then having filled a cistern (bath)
the patient lies in it, the water being gradually made
colder.”
At the Duke’s Bagnio, four days a week were allotted
for men and two days reserved for women only. The
large bath was in a separate apartment, which was filled
with water impregnated with salt. It measured ten
feet long, seven feet broad and was five feet deep.
At the Royal Bagnio in Newgate street, the charge was
four shillings for each person, and the bill goes on to
state, “ there is lately found out a good and clear water
for bathing, and any persons that have no mind to
sweat, may be cup’d either the old way or according to
the modern invention for 2s. 6d.”
It was a common practice, when bleeding was so much
in vogue to be “ cupped ” at the baths where a cupper
BAGNIOS AND CUPPERS 265
was generally in attendance as at the Thermae of ancient
Rome. He had a regular trade and usually carried his
instruments with him for performing the wet or dry
operation, which was then believed to be beneficial to
health. His apparatus comprised a set of glass or metal
cups, a spirit lamp and a lancet. By the method gener¬
ally employed, the air was first exhausted from one of
the cups by means of the lighted lamp, or a piece of
wool soaked in spirit, and after an incision was made
with the lancet the cup was pressed over the spot to
receive the blood. The dry method was carried out by
means of a spring scarificator, an instrument with six
or more sharp blades which were released on pressing
a trigger. This instrument, which was invented towards
the end of the XVIIth century, consisted of a metal
box in which the blades were concealed, it was pressed
close to the skin and when the blades were released by
pressing the trigger, they penetrated the skin about the
eighth of an inch.
The Queen’s Bagnio in Long Acre, was kept by a
surgeon named Henry Ayme, who states in a bill he
issued in 1706, “ The Queen’s Bagnio is lately beautified
and divided into several rooms and is more convenient
than before for the reception of both sexes, where they
may sweat and bathe every day in the week and be
private to themselves.
“ This Bagnio is well known for to exceed all others,
and to be more frequented by the Nobility and Gentry,
by reason there is added a lesser Bagnio of a lower rate
for the Diseased and meaner sort.
“ Those that desire, may be Bath’d without sweating,
either in cold or hot bath, and cupt after the newest and
easiest way with an instrument that scarifies all at
once, with little or no pain, being the best of that kind
ever yet invented. The price for one single person is
five shillings, but if two or more come together, four
shillings each.
“ There is no entertainment for women after twelve
of the clock at night, but all gentlemen that desire beds,
may have them for two shillings a night for one single
person, but if two lie together, three shillings both ;
which Rooms and Beds are fit for the entertainment of
persons of the highest quality.”
The Hummums in Brownlow street, Drury-lane was
kept by John Evans, where he says, u persons may
sweat to what degree they please.” There were
several apartments with varying degrees of heat, where
“ private sweating, bathing and fine cupping, after the
new German manner were performed with greater
ease than ever yet known with good and clean
linnen.”
The Germans employed a small spring fleam for cup¬

ping with a single lancet-shaped blade which on being
released, penetrated the vein it was desired to open.
Evans informs his customers, that he has “a diligent
attendance of both sexes attending every day. Like¬
wise he had good conveniences for cold bathing, which
was highly approved of all persons.
“ The price for one person alone is three shillings, two
persons together five shillings. Every person that comes
single, hath a private apartment to him or herself.
It is also accommodated with good lodgings for such as
desire to Lie all night.
“ If any persons desires to be Cupt at their chambers,
he will wait on them.” He particularly warns visitors
that there are Two Spikes before the door, to prevent
mistakes.
A Sweating House was kept at the sign of the Black
Prince in Duck-lane near West Smithfield, “ where all
persons of both sexes may be sweated every Tuesday,
Wednesday, Friday and Saturday, without fail. The
Prices for men and women is one shilling and sixpence
and those that are cupp’d the whole charge will be two
shillings.
“ There is likewise a back door that comes into Bartho¬
lomew Close between the Chequer and the Red Ball where
you will see over the door The Sweating and Cupping
House P
There was another Bagnio or Sweating house in the
Old Bailey next door to the sign of the Black Bull,
“ where both men and women may be well accom¬
modated at convenient seasons, being three days for
men and three days for women.”
The bill states that “ Sweating is as useful as Bathing.
It eases pains in the limbs, opens the pores of the Body,
evacuates superfluous Humours, cleanses the blood,
prevents and cures the scurvy, and is most excellent
in expelling those infectious and venomous humours,
and ’tis the best antidote in the world against all con¬
tagious distempers.
“ In the same house there is a Bath, for such as desire
it, upon timely notice given, and this shall be artificially
composed according as the necessity of the patients
distemper requires. Probatum bonum.”
The card of Wilcox, the Cupper at the Royal Bagnio
informs the public that, “he now liveth at the Turk's
Head in Newgate street over against Butcher-Hall-lane
where he hath very good conveniences for sweating,
bathing, shaving and cupping after the best manner.”
The China Hummum was kept by P. Brook in New
Red-Lyon-Street in Holborn, against great Turnstile.
‘ THE TURK’S HEAD 5

From the card of Wilcox the Cupper
Here he says he carries on “ sweating and bathing both

at once, after the China Manner by a “ Dew Bath55 with¬
out entering into water or heat of fire, or breathing the
air wherein the body sweats. This is only performed by
the heat and moisture of a continued warm vaporous
Dew or Steam arising from Decoctions of all sorts of
Drugs, as Herbs, flowers, seeds, woods, waters, wines, etc.,
of various properties and qualities according to each
one’s occasion, which continually flowing and distilling
on the body during all the time and is always prepared
anew peculiarly for every one that uses it.
“ The Physicians Arms are over the door.”
Cupping was also carried on by women, and we learn
from a bill that, “ At Canbury Cold Bath at Islington,
Mary Lucas ‘ cups 5 Ladies at Home and abroad when¬
ever required. She hopes those ladies she has had the
Honour to guide at the late Mr. Jones’s Cold Bath in
Newgate-street, will be pleased to employ her, and that
those who have since honoured her with their favours,
will continue the same.”
Lacy’s Bagnio in Leicester Fields, was the scene of
the final episode in the career of that extraordinary
impostor Mary Toft, the “ rabbit-breeding woman of
Godliman,” and where she made a full confession of the
fraud which had deceived some of the most distinguished
medical men of the time.
Among the frequenters of the Bagnios were the chiro¬
podists or corn-cutters, many of whom came from Holland
where the practice of their art was more common than
in England.
One of the best known was Thomas Smith of King
street, Westminster, who describes himself, as the “ first
Master Corn-cutter of England.” He states in his bill,
that he “ learnt the art of taking out and curing all
manner of corns without pain or drawing of blood, by
experience and ingenuity in a way no man in England
can do the like.
“ I wear a silver badge with three verses, the first in
English, the second in Dutch and the last in French,
with the States General of Holland for the many cures
I there did and many more in London, by several persons
of quality and others which are too tedious here to
relate, and my name on the Badge underwritten, Thomas
Smith, who will not fail (God willing) to make out every
particular in this bill.”
Smith appears to have been ubiquitous and periodi¬
cally visited all the best known Coffee-houses in town.
He says, “ I am to be spoken with till 8 in the morning
and at 6 at night at Home, and every day at these
Coffee-houses following, morning and evening. The
‘ Rainbow 5 at Fleet-bridge and at Richards, Nandos,
Temple, Mannaring’s, ‘ The Grecian ’ and Brown’s, all
in Fleet-street near the Temple. From i to 4, at
Grigby’s in Threadneedle-street, the backside of the
Royal Exchange, or at the Lisbon Coffee-house next
door and at the Amsterdam Coffee-house, the London
Coffee-house by the Antwerp Tavern, and each evening
going home, I call at all the Coffee-houses above Toms
and Wills near Covent Garden, Squire’s in Fuller’s
Rents, Holborne, Ormonde-street at Mr. Man’s, the
Royal Coffee-house near Whitehall, Mrs. Wells under
Scotland-Yard gate, Alice’s, Waghorn’s, and all the
Parliament Coffee-houses all adjoining to the Parliament
House, where I am ready to serve any Gentlemen or
Lady.”
Another corn-curer was Thomas Shadells, who lived
in Sea-Coal-lane in Bear Alley near the Old Bailey. He
declares that, “ he hath an infallible remedy to cure
corns so that they will never grow or offend again,
putting a drop of falling spittle upon a thin bit of
leather, and then two drops out of the bottle, every
morning till the bottle is out. He has likewise a ball for
the bottoms of the feet, putting it on a plaster every week
till cured. He sells it for 3d. at delivery and 3d. when
cured. Enquire at the Glover’s shop under Ludgate,
and there you may be informed of him, otherwise you
may have them at the Black Lyon in Cree-lane. I also
cut corns to all Gentlemen’s satisfaction. I have a
green plaister for a hard corn and a white plaister for a
soft corn, both of them id.”
Both tea and coffee, when first introduced into
England, were originally recommended for their remedial
properties.
The first Coffee-house opened in London was estab¬
lished by Pasqua Rosee, a Ragusan, in St. Michael’s-
Alley, Corn-hill in 1652. He issued a bill describing the
“ Vertue of the Coffee Drink. First made and publickly
sold in England by Pasqua Rosee.”
In this he describes how the berries should be dried
in an oven, then ground to powder and boiled up with
spring water, half a pint to be drunk an hour before
eating.
“ It is a very good help to digestion, quickens the
spirits and is good against sore eyes. Is good against
headache, helpeth consumptions and the cough of the lungs.
It is also excellent to prevent dropsy, gout and scurvy,
and will prevent drowsiness and make one fit for busi¬
ness. It is made and sold in St. Michael’s-Alley in Corn-
hill by Pasqua Rosee, at the Sign of his own head”
Thus coffee, which soon became a favourite beverage,
was first recommended for its medicinal virtues.
It was at Garraway’s Coffee-house, that tea was first
sold as “ a cure for all disorders,55 at 16s. to 50s. a pound.
Tea drinking was originally introduced into Europe by
the Dutch in the early part of the XVIIth century, and
it was not until after 1650 it first began to be used in
England. The earliest known advertisement concerning
it appeared in the “ Mercurius Politicus 55 in 1658, in
which it is alluded to as, that “ Excellent and by all
physitians approved Chinese drink called Tcha, by other
nations Tay or Tee sold at Sultaners Head Cophee-house
in Sweeting’s-Rents by the Royal Exchange.55
“ The Volatile Spirit of Bohee-Tea 55 is the subject
of a bill that was issued shortly afterwards, in which it
is recommended as “ the most absolute cure for consump¬
tions, and all other decays of Nature whatsoever incident
to mankind ; being infinitely more Balsamick and heal¬
ing to the Lungs than the common Infusion of the leaf
in water.
“ It is likewise a very rich cordial for clearing the
heart when oppress’d with melancholy and Vapours.
“ This spirit, the first of its kind that was ever made in
England, mix’d with Punch makes one of the most
agreeable liquors in the world.
“ It is also a special Antidote against any Infection of
the Air and if 15 drops be taken going to bed in a glass
of spring water, it never faileth to procure a sound sleep.
It is sold at 2s. 6d. a bottle at Batson’s Coffee-house
against the Royal Exchange and at no other place.55
Mr. Lattese, a Piedmontese gentleman, astonished
the Town by an advertisement, concerning what he
claims to be, an “ Extraordinary Discovery.” He states,
VIRTUES OF COFFEE AND TEA 273
that by “ a long course of experiments, he has discovered
the wonderful secret of procreating either sex at the
joint option of the parents. Should they desire to have
a daughter, the success cannot be warranted with ab¬
solute certainty, but should they concur in their wishes
to have a son, they may rely that by strictly conforming
to a few easy and natural directions, they will positively
have a boy.”
This had not failed in a single instance during 16
years that this SECRET ARCANUM had been known to
him.
“ As to conditions and terms,” he continues, “ these
must in a great measure depend on circumstances to be
considered and settled at an interview, but to prevent
trouble and fruitless applications, Mr. Lattese thinks
fit to premise, that he will pay no attention but to
letters post paid and signed with real names, directed to
him at the Antigallican Coffee-house by the Royal
Exchange.”
Nothing more is known of Mr. Lattese’s discovery and
he fails to produce any testimonials as to its success.
Contraceptives were not unknown in the XVIIth
century and Colonel Condum, who lived in the reign
of Charles II, is credited with their invention.
They were originally made from the dried gut of a
sheep and were first sold at two taverns near Covent
Garden viz., the Rummer and the Rose, the latter
hostelry in Russell-street, being a famous meeting place
in Stuart times.
They were afterwards made and sold by Mrs. Philips
at the Green Canister in Half-Moon-street, near the
is
Strand, who is said to have made a fortune from her
business and retired.
From a bill issued some years afterwards, Mrs. Philips
announces, that “ after ten years leaving off business,
she had been prevailed on by her friends to re-assume
the same, and she has taken a house at No. 5 Orange
Court near Leicester Fields. To prevent mistakes, over
the door is the sign of the Golden Fan and Rising Sun, a
lamp adjoining the sign, and fan-mounts in the window.”
She defies anyone in England to equal her goods, as
she has had 35 years experience in the business of making
and selling these “ implements of safety.” She has
likewise a great choice of skins and bladders for apothe¬
caries, chymists, and druggists, and also sells all sorts of
perfumes.
Flowever, during her retirement, a rival had set up
business at the Green Canister, and issued a bill stating,
that, “ the woman who pretended the name of Philips
in Orange Court is now dead,” and the business is carried
on, that has been for forty years at the Green Canister
in Bedford (late Half-Moon) Street seven doors from the
Strand on the left-hand side, “ where all gentlemen may
be supplied with those bladder policies or implements
of safety.”
In a significant postscript she adds, “ Ambassadors,
Foreigners, Gentlemen and Captains of Ships, may be
supplied with any quantity.”
Mrs. Philips however in another bill indignantly denies
that she had departed this life, and states that, “ It
has been industriously and maliciously reported, that
the original Mrs. Philips is dead, which is entirely false
VIRTUES OF COFFEE AND TEA 275
and without the least foundation, as she can be seen
behind the counter, daily.”
Later on, after her undoubted death, she was suc¬
ceeded by Mary Perkins at the Green Canister, who sold
“ all sorts of fine machines, otherwise called c Cundums,’
and also washballs, soaps, essences, snuffs, cold cream,
lipsalves, sealing wax and ladies black sticking-plaister.”
A bill announcing the discovery of the mineral spring
discovered at Norwood, thus extols its virtues : “ There
is lately Found out at Norwood in the Parish of Croyden
in the County of Surrey, at Biggen Farm at Richard
Jackson’s, an excellent Purging Water which hath been
approv’d by several eminent Physitians of the Colledge
and is found to be one of the best and gentlest Purging
Waters that have yet been discovered.
“ You may have it at Mr. Timothy Robert’s, Fish¬
monger at the Cheshire Cheese in Stock’s Market, and
at Mr. John Hilliard’s at the Strong Water Shop, over
against Sir Thomas Lane’s, near Milk-street Market,
London.”
CHAPTER XVIII
QUACKS WHO RECEIVED ROYAL PATRONAGE
T HE eighteenth century has well been called the

golden age of quackery and England the ‘Paradise
of Quacks,’ for they found patrons in all classes of
society, from the highest to the lowest.
The bold and unblushing assertions of their never-
failing remedies, constantly reiterated by these charlatans
always inspired confidence in the sick and ailing.
“ Man,” says Southey, “ is a dupeable animal. Quacks
in medicine, quacks in religion and quacks in politics,
know this and act upon that knowledge. The credulity
of man is unfortunately too strong to resist the impudent
assertions of the quack. Credulity has been justly
defined as belief without reason. It diffuses itself
through the minds of all classes, by which the rank and
dignity of science are degraded, and its valuable labours
confounded with the vain pretentions of empiricism.”
One of the most successful quacks of his time was
William Read, who began his career as a jobbing tailor.
He was eventually knighted by Queen Anne and became
one of the most fashionable practitioners of his day.
He was born in Aberdeen and after forsaking his
original calling for the more lucrative trade of quackery,
he travelled the country from Yorkshire to Devonshire.
WILLIAM READ
Oculist in Ordinary to Her Majesty
From an engraving bg W. Faithorne in the British Museum
To face page 276

QUACKS RECEIVE ROYAL PATRONAGE 277
In 1684 he was in Dublin where on March 7th, he
issued the following bill:
“ Though the Art, experience and reputation of Mr.
William Read, practitioner in physick, chyrurgy and a
great occulist, be sufficiently known in England and
Scotland, where he has long exercised his skill with very
good success ; yet since he has but lately come into
His Majesty’s Kingdom of Ireland and has desired our
testimonial concerning his performance here. We do
certify, that he has done several remarkable cures with
great dexterity and success, as the couching of cataracts,
cutting off cancerated breasts, mortified arms and legs
(and very little effusion of blood by vertue of his excel¬
lent Styptic Water) several of which operations, we have
with very much satisfaction ourselves seen him per¬
form, as we do testify under our hands and seals the day
and year above written.
Signed. Narcissus (Lord Bishop of) Ferns.
And. Leighlin. Robert Huntingdon, provost, Allen
Mullin, M.D.”
On his return to London, he settled in York build¬

ings in the Strand and by persistent advertising,
attracted the attention of some influential personages
who eventually brought him to the notice of the Queen.
Queen Anne who suffered from a chronic weakness of
the eyes, fell an easy victim to the quacks who offered
to cure her infirmity. Once having gained her Majesty’s
favour it proved an easy road to fortune and Read
was appointed Oculist-in-Ordinary. He was knighted
by the grateful monarch in 1705, it is stated, “ on
account of his services to soldiers and seamen for
blindness which he gave gratis.”
Inflated by the honour thus bestowed upon him, Read
hired a Grub-street poet to immortalise the great event,
which resulted in the publication of a poem entitled
“ The Oculist ” in 1705. It began thus :
“ Whilst Britain’s Sovereign scales such worth has

weighed
And Anne herself her smiling favours paid,
That Sacred hand does your fair chaplet twist,
Great Read her own entitled oculist ! ”
Addison says, “ Read seems to have been the most

laborious advertiser of his time and the most successful
practitioner in his way. There was an epigram current,
that Sir William could hardly read, but he seldom suffered
any periodical to make its appearance in public without
some testimony under his own hand that he could
hardly write.
“ It appears he was a very comely person and a man
of fashion, rich and ostentatious. For thirty five years
he had been in the practice of couching cataracts, taking
off all sorts of wens, curing wry-necks and hair-lips,
vending styptick water and a variety of nostrums.”
He kept an excellent table and was noted for his special
brew of punch, which he served out to his guests in
golden goblets.
Sir Richard Steele and Nicholas Rowe accepted his
hospitality, but Swift who disliked him and called him a
mountebank, always declined his invitations.
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hisdll51 JCJ-J7/-T Oculi st m Chaf. andm that.. &
, O'' *
'■ûaUtu (aiazrrn there/ant tn.Ordtnary.10h0 give# her

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you: wuhproper ^K^cdccamcritjJ'ar all±Z)u xmperr ^
uixuLz.ru: to tJuY.yoshn'CC^ncticc heazy era Co rumcrab IS
that it recjuirej, hu return, to fus llouê m Great *$4 .Bar
■tholotnew-Close L on don dCTldh&w ue performs mam/
other Op erotic no. as Wen $. Hare Pips Wry ~N edkx and
PoJipus m the K ose .S&eTalscr cur err Deafneik|f hath art
Injalihlt. Sde needy tor the Corop/uilourJh. is temper or j
Knio-j Pvilerr one/ Cancerous hi: amours . • I
rLYdiTh 'hde/s theSamehB&rwn thatTlaton) ak>m:oiXQH 1) at,i ipfcip^

I m E i’&ex toSujht ojaQutta Srrena/v/fZt manic others in fahon/hih
WILLIAM READ’S BILL
To face page 278

Radcliffe alludes to him as “ Read, the mountebank
who has assurance enough to come to our table upstairs
at Garraways ; swears he’ll take his coach and six
horses, his two blacks and as many silver trumpets,
against a dinner at Pontacks.”
After Read and Hannes had been knighted, the follow¬
ing lines appeared :
“ The Queen, like Heav’n, shines equally on all,

Her favours now without distinction fall,
Great Read and slender Hannes, both knighted
show,
That none their honours shall to merit owe.”
Read never lost an opportunity of keeping himself

before the public, and after the battle of Malplaquet, he
issued the following advertisement on September nth
I7°9*
“ Sir William Read, Her Majesty’s Oculist, being very

sensible that many of her Majesty’s soldiers must have
received damage in their eyes or visive faculty in the
late bloody and unparalled battle, thought fit to give
public notice for the benefit of all such persons, that he
will constantly attend at his house in Durham Yard,
where all such persons bringing certificates from their
respective officers, shall be kindly received, and all due
care taken in order to their speedy cure GRATIS, as
it has been his constant practice ever since the beginning
of the war.”
He was very jealous of anyone practising in his name,

and he trained his wife to assist him, which she did for a
considerable time. After the death of Queen Anne, he
became sworn-oculist-in-ordinary to King George I,
in 1714, but did not long enjoy the office, for he was
taken ill and died at Rochester on May 24th 1715.
After his death, his wife carried on the business and
issued the following bill :
“ The Lady Read in Durham-yard in the Strand,

having obtained a peculiar method of couching cataracts
and curing all diseases of the eyes, by Sir William Read’s
method and medicines, and having had above 15 years
experience and very great success in curing multitudes
of blind and defective in their sight, particularly several
who were born blind ; she may be constantly advised
with at her house as above, where the poor, Her Majesty’s
seamen and soldiers may meet with relief gratis.
“ Note, Sir William Read has left only with his Lady,
the true receipt of his Styptick Water, so famous for
stopping all fluxes or effusions of blood and all other of
the medicines he frequently used in his practise, which
may also be had at the place above mentioned.
“ N.B. The Lady Read since the death of Sir William,
hath couched several persons and one in particular, who
was above 60 years of age, all with very good success
and brought them to perfect sight.”
Read was succeeded in Royal favour by Roger Grant,
who was appointed Sworn-Oculist-in-ordinary to Her
Majesty. Grant began life as a tinker and Anabaptist
preacher, and gained notoriety by publishing glowing
accounts of his cures. He was even more vain than his
colleague Read, and delighted to distribute engraved
portraits of himself among his friends and patrons.
On one of these a wag wrote :
“ A tinker first his scene of life began ;

That falling, he set up for cunning man,
But wanting luck, puts on a new disguise,
And now pretends that he can mend your eyes ;
But this expect, that, like a tinker true,
Where he repairs one eye he puts out two.”
He boasted that he could give sight to those born

blind and produced testimonials to that effect. His
method was to find some poor and illiterate person with
imperfect vision, and after treating him with medicines
and half-crowns for six weeks, induce him to sign
a testimonial to the effect, that he had been born stone-
blind and that Dr. Grant had cured him in little more
than a month. The way in which he carried out these
frauds, is described in a pamphlet published in 1709,
entitled “ A Full and True Account of a Miraculous Cure
of a young man in Newington that was born Blind.”
In one bill he states, “ Having observed that multi¬
tudes of persons, blind and distemper’d in the Eyes
have been imposed upon by silly women and such-like
ignorant pretenders to the Opthalmick Art, this is
therefore to give notice, that at the Blue Ball in St.
Christopher’s Court in Threadneedle-street, behind the
Royal Exchange, lives R. Grant, an approved and
Sworn-Oculist, whose knowledge in distempers of the
eyes has been sufficiently demonstrated, by the many
cures he has performed, which are too numerous to be
inserted here. He has for many years made the eye
of man the only subject of his study and practice, and
you are desired to forbear your application to him upon
other occasions, for he meddles in nothing but what
relates to the Eyes.
“ And whereas many persons by Blindness are
become a burthen to their Parishes, any such may
apply themselves to Mr. Grant with a certificate from the
Minister and Church-wardens of their respective parishes,
and he will couch them Gratis, as he doth all poor sea¬
men and soldiers in Her Majesties service.55
In his earlier days Grant lived at the Golden Ball in
Gravel-lane, Southwark, where he sold an “ Astringent
Sear-Cloth or plaister, good for all sorts of sprains
and wrenches. This cloth giveth immediate ease in
Gout and prevents it returning with so much violence
as formerly, nay, if it not be inveterate gout, it presently
cures it, and the price of the Sear-cloth is from one
shilling to half-a-crown according to the largeness.55
Another quack oculist who achieved considerable
notoriety about this period was John Taylor, who styled
himself “ The Chevalier John Taylor, Ophthalmiator,
Pontificial, Imperial, and Royal, who treated Pope
Benedict XIV, Augustus III, King of Poland, Frederick
V, King of Denmark and Norway and Frederick Adol¬
phus, King of Sweden.55
Taylor was a very plausible and cunning charlatan
who had a natural gift of speech and a knowledge of J
several languages. According to Dr. King, “ no quack
ever appeared with fitter and more excellent talents.
He has a good appearance, a fine hand, good instruments
and performs all his operations with great dexterity.
He has travelled all over Europe and has always with
him an equipage suitable to a man of the first quality,
and has been introduced to most of the sovereign
princes.”
His chief method of advertising was by delivering a
lecture on “ The Eye,” in every place he visited. These
harangues were characteristic of quack oratory and full
of grandiloquent phrases, as instanced in the one he
declaimed to the University of Oxford, which began as
follows :
“ The eye, most illustrious sons of the muses, most

learned Oxonians whose fame I have heard celebrated
in all parts of the globe—the eye, that most amazing,
that stupendous, that comprehending, that incomprehen¬
sible, that miraculous organ the eye, is the Proteus
of the passions, the herald of the mind, the interpreter
of the heart and the window of the soul. The eye has
dominion over all things. The world was made for the
eye, and the eye for the world.
“ My subject is Light, most illustrious sons of liter¬
ature—intellectual Light. Ah ! my philosophical, meta¬
physical, my classical, mathematical, mechanical, my
theological, my critical audience, my subject is the eye.
“ You are the Eye of England !
“ England has two eyes—Oxford and Cambridge.
You are the right eye of England, the elder sister in
science and the first fountain of learning in all Europe.
“ The eye is the husband of the soul!
“ The eye is indefatigable. The eye is an angelic
faculty. The eye in this respect is a female. The eye
is never tired of seeing and enjoying all Nature’s vigour.”
Taylor was fond of transposing his words in a peculiar

manner so as to attract attention, and would sometimes
speak of “ the eye, on the wonders lecture will I.”
On the occasion of his lectures, he generally dressed in
black, with a long, light flowing ty’d wig. “ He ascended
the platform and stood behind a large table covered with
a piece of old tapestry, on which was laid a dark coloured
cafoy chariot-seat, with four black bunches (as used on
hearses) tyed to the corners for tassels. Four large
candles were placed on each side of the cushion, and a
quart decanter of drinking water, with a half pint glass
to moisten his mouth.”
Taylor’s autobiography, which he published himself,
contains some amusing passages. In one part, he de¬
clares his allegiance to the “ two most amiable ladies this
age has produced viz. Lady Inverness and Lady Mac¬
kintosh, both the sweetest prattlers, the prettiest
reasoners and the best judges of the charms of high life
that I ever saw.”
He says, “ I have lived in many convents of friars of
different orders and have been in almost every female
nunnery in all Europe (on account of my profession)
and could write many volumes on the adventures of
these religious beauties. I have been present at the
making of nuns of almost every order, and assisted at
their religious feasts. I have been present at many
extraordinary diversions designed for the amusement of
THE CHEVALIER JOHN TAYLOR
From an engraving by P. Endlich in the British Museum
To face page 28h

the sovereign viz. the hunting of different sorts of wild
beasts, as in Poland, and bull-fighting in Spain.
“ I am well acquainted with all the various punishments
for different crimes, as practised in every nation, and I
am also well instructed in the different ways of giving
the torture to extract confessions. I have assisted, and
seen the manner of embalming dead bodies of great
personages, so all must agree that no man ever had a
greater variety of matter worthy to be conveyed to
posterity.”
Taylor reached the height of his ambition when he was
appointed Oculist to King George II, and his son, who
called himself John Taylor Junior, who wrote a eulogis¬
tic biography of his father, declares that he numbered
fifty other Royal personages among his patients.
The son survived the father over fifteen years and
carried on a lucrative business as a quack oculist in
Hatton Garden. He is described as “ an illiterate and
cunning scoundrel, without the redeeming qualities
which made his parent amusing.”
The Chevalier boasting of his knowledge of languages,
once challenged Samuel Johnson to talk Latin with him.
The Doctor responded with a quotation from Horace,
which Taylor took to be “ something of his own com¬
position.”' “ He said a few words well enough,” Johnson
afterwards remarked when relating the story to Boswell.
“ Taylor is the most ignorant man I ever knew, but
sprightly ; Ward the dullest.”
Joshua Ward, to whom Johnson refers, was another
successful quack who flourished under Royal Patronage
in the first half of the XVIIIth century. He was born
in 1685 and began his career with his brother, in Thames
Street, where they carried on business as drysalters.
He apparently had political aspirations, for in 1717
he was returned to Parliament as member for Marl¬
borough, but owing to some error about his election, the
Committee that was appointed to enquire into the
matter discovered, that he had not received a single vote
and he was therefore unseated.
Owing to some further political trouble in which he
became involved, he fled to France, and there first
began to make the pills and drops for which he after¬
wards became famous.
Through the intervention of his friend John Page,
who was a member of Parliament, he obtained a par¬
don from George II and returned to London in 1733,
where he started his career as a quack-doctor.
By constantly advertising the wonderful cures per¬
formed with his nostrums, he soon became the talk of the
Town.
His introduction to the King, which set the seal on his
success according to Dr. Henning, came about in the
following manner.
“ George II being afflicted with a violent pain of the
thumb which baffled the skill of the faculty, sent for the
noted Dr. Joshua Ward ; who having ascertained the
nature of the complaint before he was admitted, pro¬
vided himself with a suitable nostrum which he con¬
cealed in the hollow of his hand. On being introduced,
he requested permission to examine the affected part
and gave it so sudden a wrench, that the King cursed
him and kicked his shins. Ward bore this very patiently
JOSHUA WARD
From a print, in the British Museum
To face page %H6

and when the King was cool, respectfully asked him to
move his thumb, which he did easily and found the
pain gone.”
The delighted King asked Ward if he could do anything
for him, to which the quack replied, that the pleasure
of serving his Majesty was adequate reward for him, but
he would be grateful if the King would do something for
his nephew. The result was, the nephew was made an
ensign in the Guards and Ward was presented with a
carriage and pair of horses, together with the privilege
of driving it through St. James’s Park. He further
received a vote of thanks from the House of Commons,
and protection from interference in his practise from the
College of Physicians.
The qualified medical practitioners were naturally
much incensed at such favours being accorded to a
quack, but nothing transpired to interfere with Ward’s
prosperity.
The grateful Monarch next provided him with a room
in his almonry at Whitehall for treatment of the poor,
besides which, Ward bought three houses in Pimlico
which he turned into a hospital, where he treated the
sick with his remedies with the assistance of several
ladies of quality.
Among his patients were the Lord Chief Baron Rey¬
nolds, Lord Chesterfield, Gibbon and Fielding, while
Horace Walpole also sounded his fame. According to a
report in the Daily Advertiser on June 10th 1736, “ By
the Queen’s appointment, Joshua Ward Esq., attended at
Kensington Palace with eight or ten persons, who in
extraordinary cases had received great benefit by taking
his remedies. Her Majesty was accompanied by three
surgeons and several persons of quality, the patients
were examined, money was distributed to them and
Mr. Ward was congratulated on his success.”
It is said, that Queen Caroline once asked General
Churchill, if it was true that Ward’s medicines had
made a man mad ?
“ Yes, Madam,” was the General’s reply, “ and his
name was Mead,” alluding to the famous Dr. Mead,
the King’s Physician.
Pope refers to Ward in the lines :
“ Of late, without the least pretence to skill,

Ward’s grown a famed physician by a pill.”
His remedies were numerous, the principal ones being

the pills, which were composed of antimony and dragon’s
blood, while the drops consisted of a small quantity
of antimony dissolved in Malaga wine. Besides these,
he made a “ White Drop ” which consisted of an am-
moniated solution of mercury, and two “ sweating
powders ” composed of ipecacuanha and opium, with
the addition of hellebore or liquorice. He also had a
“Paste”, a “Dropsy purging powder” and an “Essence
for headache.” Two of these at least were effective
and useful preparations, for they afterwards became
incorporated in the London Pharmacopoeia. The
“ Paste ” which consisted of elecampane, fennel and
black pepper, became officially recognised as the con¬
fection of black pepper, and his “ Headache essence ”
was the original of the compound camphor liniment.
It was the latter application, he afterwards told Mr.
Page, that he used to King George’s thumb.
Ward who was popularly known as “ Spot Ward,”
on account of a birthmark on one side of his face, be¬
queathed his book of secret formulae to his friend Mr.
Page, who afterwards published it. A depot for selling
the medicines was established, the profits from which
were to be divided between an Orphan Asylum and a
Magdalen Institution.
Ward died in 1761, but was not buried in Westmin¬
ster Abbey in front of the altar, as he expressly desired,
according to his will.
An explanation of the marvellous and sudden cures
he witnessed by a celebrated quack behind the Royal
Exchange, relates a writer of the XVIIIth century, was
due to the discovery, that numbers of poor people came
up from the remotest parts of the country whose ailments
had been pronounced incurable in several hospitals.
“ A surgeon assured me, that these wretches I had
seen were by way of decoy ducks, hired alternately to
attend there and near the Horse guards, twice a week
and half-a-crown a week, to pretend to be cured of such
diseases as they were instructed to personify ; and
that the better-dressed people who came in coaches,
and were shown occasionally as private patients up¬
stairs, were hired at a crown each, exclusive of the
coach.”
19
CHAPTER XIX
THE WITS AND THE QUACKS-HOW THE BRITISH GOVERN¬
MENT WAS DUPED
A GENTLEMAN who made it his business to

investigate the practises of some of the female
quacks in London in the early part of the XVIIIth
century, has left an account of his experience, which is
not without interest. Let us follow him in his visits.
He first called on Madam S- formerly of Moor-
fields, “ the most frightful Piece that ever eyes beheld
in the shape of an old woman, having more antiquity
in her face than all Italy and Greece can pretend to
show, the crow’s feet have taken hold of her cheeks, and
wrinkly-age supplies the place of former charms. Her
eyes are so far sunk in their sockets, that they look like
a pair of dice in the bottom of two red boxes. She is as
toothless as a lamprey, yet she knows how to put the
bite upon you for all that. She abounds with pomatums
and sweet waters, all little enough to qualify the poison¬
ous whiffs about her, which would otherwise out-stink
ten thousand pole-cats. She cannot chuse but kiss well,
for her lips are perpetually bath’d in oyl and grease,
and one would think, that not a drop of water had been
laid upon her since the parson sprinkled her at the font.
“ We have many other ladies that far excel this old
290
THE WITS AND THE QUACKS 291
mumsimus, being as they tell us, not only students in
Physick, but in the noble science of astrology.
“Mrs. M- whom it seems some envious people
reported to be dead, acquaints the world that she is
still living and where she did in Ayres-street Pickadilly.
She’ll cast your water and calculate your nativity.
Her rattlesnakes, crocodiles and squirrels, will fill you
with strange ideas of learning ; her velvet scarf, gold
watch and diamond rings will convince you of her great
skill in the art of gulling.
“Add to these Susanna K—leus, original daughter, not
an imperfect copy, as she calls herself, of Dr. K—leus
in Fetter-lane and some hundred more of such female
students up and down the Town many of whom have
the confidence to put out bills.
“ On Southwark side, is a wonderful old fellow who
might have been Bucephalus by the size of his head.
The hair on his face is sufficient to stuff a couple of
cushions, and there is room enough in his beard for
birds to build nests. He walks about the streets with a
bag of medicines as big as a tinker’s budget, and rather
than turn a customer away, he will exchange a dose of
physick for a consideration of meat and drink. After
him is the great Dutchman, Mynheer van Dunder, well-
known by his blew coat and red whiskers, all over the
town. By the help of his fellow labourer, Jack Pudding,
he first gathers a mob, then harangues them in the usual
quack language. Then he shows a number of bottles and
boxes and shouts, ‘ Here be de fat of de wild cock, and
here be de grease of de dead man, dis be good for dat,
and dat for d’other.’ ”
Addison, who gives his experience of quack-doctors’
bills in the Tatler in 1710, observes, “ If a man has
pains in his head, colics in his bowels, or spots in his
cloathes, he may meet with proper cures and remedies.
If a man would recover a wife, or a horse that is stolen
or strayed, if he wants new sermons, electuaries, asse’s
milk or anything else either for his body or his mind,
this is the place to look for them.
“ About twenty years ago, it was impossible to walk
the streets without having an advertisement thrust
into your hand of a doctor, who had arrived at the
knowledge of the Green and Red Dragon, and had dis¬
covered the female fern seed.
“ Nobody ever knew what this meant, but the Green
and Red Dragon amused the people, that the doctor
lived very comfortably upon them.
“ About the same time, there was pasted a very hard
word upon every corner of the streets ; TETRACHY-
MAGOGON, which drew great shoals of spectators
about it who read the bill that it introduced with un¬
speakable curiosity, and when they were sick, would
have nobody but this learned man for their physician.
“ I once received an advertisement, of one who had
studied 30 years by candle light for the good of his
countrymen. He might have studied twice as long by
daylight and never have been taken notice of.
“ There are some who have gained themselves great
reputation for physic by their birth, as the 4 Seventh
son of a seventh son,’ and others by not being born at
all, as the {unborn doctor,’ who I hear has lately gone the
way of his patients.
“ Kirleus, the 4 unborn doctor,5 did a brisk trade in
consideration of his being £ unborn.5
“ There were two male and two female quacks of the
name of Kirleus ; Thomas the father and his son John,
Susannah the widow of Thomas, and Mary the relic of
John.
“One woman rested her reputation on being the
daughter of a 4 seventh daughter,5 but it is said she was
foreclosed in her business and blasted in her fame by a
younger twin-sister, who claimed and carried the pre¬
ference, on the score of her being actually the 4 seventh 5
in the second order of 4 sevens.5
44 The walls of the Coffee-houses were hung round
with gilt frames containing the bills of 4 Golden Elixirs,5
4 Popular Pills,5 4 Beautifying Waters,5 4 Drops and
Lozenges,5 all as infallible as the Pope. The 4 Rainbow 5
in particular, I should have taken for a Quacks Hall or
the parlour of some eminent mountebank.
44 I have seen the whole front of a mountebank’s stage,
from one end to the other faced with patents, certificates,
medals and great seals, by which the several princes of
Europe, have testified their particular respect and
esteem for the Doctor. I believe I have seen twenty
mountebanks that have given physic to the Czar of
Muscovy. The Great Duke of Tuscany escapes no
better. The Elector of Brandenburg was likewise a
very good patient.
44 As physicians are apt to deal in poetry, apothecaries
endeavour to recommend themselves by oratory, and
are therefore without controversy, the most eloquent
persons in the whole British nation.
“ As for myself, the only physic which has brought
me safe to almost the age of man, and which I pre¬
scribe to all my friends, is ABSTINENCE.
In short, my Recipe is ‘ Take nothing.’ ”
Among the female quacks who flourished in the
XVIIIth century, the most notorious and certainly the
most successful, was Joanna Stephens. There is pro¬
bably no more astonishing proof of human credulity in
the annals of quackery, than is instanced in the historic
coup of this ignorant and vulgar woman, who succeeded
in inducing the British Parliament to pay her the sum
of five thousand pounds, for the secret of her quack
remedy for the Stone.
The story of this fraud, now almost forgotten, is worth
recounting. She began her operations about 1736,
by advertising that she had discovered a sovereign
remedy for calculus. She was sufficiently cunning
to ingratiate herself with a number of aristocratic and
influential persons including peers, duchesses and
bishops, and prevailed on them to testify, to the won¬
derful cures she was supposed to have effected by her
remedy, and even to allow her to use their names to
further her ends.
After enriching herself for some years by the large
fees she induced her dupes to pay, and probably anti¬
cipating that her popularity would soon be on the wane,
she advertised that she was willing to disclose the secret
of her nostrums, for the sum of five thousands pounds.
This announcement appeared in the Gentlemen’s Maga¬
zine for April 173 8.
“ Mrs. Stephens has proposed to make her medicine
publick on Consideration of .£5,000 to be raised by con¬
tribution, and lodged with Mr. Drummond, banker;
he has received since the eleventh of this month about
^500 on that account.”
The newspapers and journals of the time were at once
besieged with letters appealing to the charitable and
benevolent, not to allow such an opportunity of ac¬
quiring this blessing to humanity to pass.
The list of subscribers increased daily, and in it ap¬
peared the names of the Bishop of Oxford 10 guineas,
the Bishop of Gloucester 10 guineas, the Earl of Pem¬
broke ^50, Countess Deloraine 5 guineas, the Earl of
Godolphin ^100, the Duchess of Gordon 5 guineas,
Viscount Lonsdale £52 10s., the Duke of Rutland ^50,
Lord Cardogan 2 guineas, Lord Cornwallis .£20, Earl of
Clarendon ^25, Lord Lymington^5, the Duke of Leeds
£21, Lord Galloway £^30, the Duke of Richmond £^30,
together with many others.
These names are mentioned to show the distinguished
dupes the wily Joanna had drawn into her net.
In spite of all appeals however, the amount subscribed
did not reach more than £1,356, which was not enough
to tempt Joanna to part with her secret.
Her next move was to get her influential friends to
apply to Parliament to grant the full amount she de¬
manded, and strange to state, their request to the
Government was successful. A Commission was duly
appointed to inquire into the cures performed by Joanna
Stephens, and the result of their labours is embodied in
the following award, which deserves to be handed down
to posterity as evidence of a Nation’s gullibility.
“ We, whose names are underwritten, being the major

part of the justices appointed by an Act of Parliament
entitled : ‘ An Act for providing a reward to Joanna
Stephens upon proper discovery to be made by her, for
the use of the publick, of the medicines prepared by
her 5 ... do testify, that the said Joanna Stephens,
did with all convenient speed after the passing of the
said Act, make a discovery to our satisfaction, for the
use of the publick of the said medicines and of her
method of preparing the same, and that we have ex¬
amined the said medicines and of her method of pre¬
paring the same, and are convinced by experiment, of
the utility, efficacy, and dissolving power thereof.
“Jo. Cant, G. Hardwicke, P. Wilmington, C. P. S.
Godolphin, Dorset, Montague, Pembroke, Baltimore,
Cornbury, M. Gloucester, Tho. Oxford, Ste. Poyntz,
Stephen Hales, Jo. Gardener, Sim Burton, Peter
Shaw, D. Hartley, W. Cheselden, C. Hawkins, S.
Sharp.”
How such men as Cheselden and Hawkins were so
deceived, it is difficult to comprehend.
And so Joanna, after extracting all she could from her
wealthy supporters, succeeded in making the British
nation the biggest dupe of all, and pocketed .£5000 from
the public funds.
The great secret was revealed and published in the
London Gazette on June 19th 1739 and was as follows :
“ A full discovery of the medicines given by me

Joanna Stephens, and a particular account of my
method of preparing and giving the same.
The medicines are a Powder, a Decoction and
Pills.
The Powder consists of Egg-shells and Snails—both
calcined—
The Decoction is made by boiling some herbs (together
with a ball, which consists of soap, swine’s cresses burnt
to blackness and honey) in water.
The Pills consist of Snails calcined, wild carrot seeds,
burdock seeds, ashen keys, hips and hawes—all burnt
to blackness—Alicant soap and honey.”
The manner in which these ingredients were to be

prepared follows and need not be recapitulated. It is
sufficient to state that the dose was a drachm of the
powder three times a day, mixed in Cyder or other
liquor, to be followed by half a pint of the decoction.
If the decoction disagreed, the pills were to be sub¬
stituted.
This is what the country got in return for its money.
Surely no greater piece of effrontery is recorded in
history.
The success of Joanna Stephens, naturally brought
forth hosts of imitators who also professed to have
discovered similar cures for the Stone.
Sir Robert Walpole became a victim to the soap
treatment, and took a course, consisting of one ounce
of alicant soap, in three parts of lime-water daily. He
continued this treatment for several years and at the
time of his death it was calculated, that he had con¬
sumed at least 180 pounds weight of soap, and 1200
gallons of lime-water. After his death, a necropsy was
made by Sergeant-Surgeon Ranby and Caesar Hawkins,
who found three stones in his bladder !
Horace Walpole referring to instances of distinguished
persons who fell victims to quackery, says, “ Sir Robert
was killed by a lithontriptic medicine, Lord Bolingbroke
by a man who pretended to cure him of a cancer in his
face, and Winnington was physicked and bled to death
by a quack in a few days for a slight rheumatism.5’
CHAPTER XX
THREE GREAT QUACKS
C ONTEMPORARY with Joanna Stephens was

Mrs. Mapp, or “ Crazy Sally ” as she was
popularly called, who was a highly successful bone-
setter. Bone-setting in this country, was for centuries
regarded more on a level with farriery than part of the
surgical art. In some districts it was commonly be¬
lieved, that it could be transmitted from father to son,
on the presumption, that one having acquired the
“ knack,” he could communicate it to the other and so
impart the secret of his manipulative skill.
Sarah Wallin was the daughter of a bone-setter, who
lived at Hindon in Wiltshire. Her sister is said to have
been the original of the famous Polly Peacham who
afterwards married the Duke of Bolton.
Crazy Sally, as she came to be called, soon tired of
village life and leaving home, she wandered for a time up
and down the country. She eventually settled at Epsom,
where she practised her art and so gulled the people
of that district in the belief of her powers as a bone-
setter, that they raised a subscription to keep her among
them. Here she flourished, and her fame extending to
London many journeyed down from town to see ‘ Crazy
Sally.’ Her strength was so great, she is said to have been
299
3oo THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
able to reduce a dislocated shoulder without assistance.
In 1736, she resolved to get married and espoused one
Hill Mapp, who was footman to a mercer in Ludgate
Hill. The ceremony took place on August 17th of that
year, but differences soon broke out between the couple,
and the husband ran off a week after the wedding,
taking with him a hundred guineas belonging to Sally
and some of her portable property. She appears to have
been glad to have got rid of him at the price, and did
not grieve long over her loss.
Once a week she drove to London in her chariot
drawn by four horses, accompanied by outriders and
footmen in splendid liveries. It was on one of these
journeys, when passing through Old Kent Road she
was mistaken by the onlookers for a distinguished
but unpopular lady of quality from Germany.
A crowd gathered round the carriage with menacing
gestures, but Sally rising to the occasion, let down the
windows and thrusting out her head shouted, “ Damn
your bloods. Don’t you know me ? I’m Mrs. Mapp
the bone-setter ! ” This so amused the mob that they
cheered her lustily and allowed her to proceed on her
way.
When in London, she made her headquarters at the
Grecian Coffee-house, where she operated on her patients.
In the Gentlemen’s Magazine October 1736, some sur¬
prising cures are related, which she is said to have per¬
formed before Sir Hans Sloane at the Grecian Coffee¬
house where she came twice a week from Epsom. One
of these was “ a man of Wardour Street, whose back had
been broken nine years and stuck out two inches. A
From a print after Ct. Cruikshank in the British Museum
To face page 300

THREE GREAT QUACKS 301
niece of Sir Hans Sloane who was in like condition, was

cured, also a gentleman who went with one shoe heel
six inches high, having been lame twenty years of his
hip and knee, whom she set straight and brought his
leg down even with the other.”
Sally Mapp, although she was enormously fat and
ugly, became the talk of the Town. One account states,
“ the cures of the woman bone-setter of Epsom are too
many to be enumerated ; her bandages are extraordinary
neat and her dexterity in reducing dislocations and
setting fractured bones wonderful. The lame come to
her daily and she gets a great deal of money, persons of
quality who attend her operations, making her presents.”
Hogarth introduced her into his print “ The Under¬
taker’s Arms or Consultation of Physicians,” where she
is placed between two other notorious quacks of the
time, already referred to viz., Taylor and Ward.
Poets sang her praises and ballads were written in
her honour. The following lines were published in
1736.
“ Let these, O Mapp, thou wonder of the age !

With dubious arts endeavour to engage ;
While you, irregularly strict to rules,
Teach dull collegiate pedants they are fools
By merit, the sure path to fame pursue—
For all who see thy art must own it true.”
Her practise so increased, that later on she removed

to London and took up her abode in Pall Mall. She
attended the first night of the “ Husband’s Relief ”
at the playhouse in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, when the
following ballad was sung in her praise.
“ You surgeons of London, who puzzle your pates,

To ride in your coaches, and purchase estates,
Give over for shame, for pride has a fall,
And the Doctress of Epsom has out-done you all,
Derry down.
“ In physic, as well as in fashions, we find,
The newest has always its run with mankind ;
Forgot is the bustle ! ’bout Taylor and Ward,
And Mapp’s all the cry, and her Fame’s on record.
Derry down.
“ Dame Nature has given a doctor’s degree—
She gets all the patients, and pockets the fee ;
So if you don’t instantly prove her a cheat,
She’ll loll in her carriage, whilst you walk the
street.
r Derry down.”
Sally Mapp gave a plate of ten guineas to be com¬

peted for at Epsom and went to see the race run. Cur¬
iously enough, the first heat was won by a mare called
“ Mrs. Mapp,” and she was so delighted, that she gave
the jockey a guinea and promised to make it a hundred,
if he won the plate, but unfortunately for him he lost.
In the end, she took to drinking heavily and is said
to have been rarely sober. Patients and friends alike
began to fail her, thus she sank into poverty and died
in miserable lodgings near the Seven Dials.
Percival Pott a famous surgeon of the time commenting
on Sarah Mapp says : “ Even the absurdities and imprac-
tibility of her own promises and engagements, were by
no means equal to the expectations and credulity of
those who ran after her, that is, of all ranks and degrees
of people from the lowest labourer up to those of the
most exalted rank and station, several of whom not
only did not hesitate to believe implicitly, the most
extravagant assertions of this ignorant, illiberal, drunken,
female savage, but even solicited her company or at
least seemed to enjoy her society.”
The following account of the “ Three Great Quacks,”
Mapp, Taylor and Ward, satirising the foibles of the
age is contained in an epistle “ To a young student
at Cambridge, written by a friend in Town.”
“ Whilst you dear Harry, sweat and toil at College,

T’acquire that out-of-fashion Thing call’d Know¬
ledge.
Your time you vainly mis-employ, my Friend
And use not proper means to gain your end,
If you resolve Physician to commence,
Despise all learning, banish common sense ;
Hippocrates and Galen never follow,
Nor worthy Aesculapius or Apollo ;
But to bright Impudence oblations pay,
She’s now the goddess, bears resistless sway,
Instinct by her, vile Ign’rance gains applause,
And baffles Physick, Churchmen and the Laws.
By her such quacks as Ward have cur’d and slain,
How ! Cur’d you cry. Yes, daring Ignorance
Can cure, as well as kill by perfect chance,
As fools by prating, such have often hit
Upon a Thought, and blunder’d into wit ;
So Drugs, that learned Mead would not endure,
Dispensed by Ward incautellous may cure ;
From dangerous Revulsions now and then
May save one wretch, and next day poison Ten ;
That one in ten, perhaps may be enough
To raise a name and furnish out a Puff.
And when a quack or thief gets once in vogue,
There still are Idiots to caress the Rogue,
Nay in this wise, polite and well-bred Nation,
Some Fops will poison take to be in fashion.
Come up to Town then Harry, leave the schools,

Your gilded coach shall be upheld by fools,
Come up a novice, get a House and Chariot,
Chuse this, or learnedly to starve in garret,
Pall Mall be thy abode or Grov’nor Square,
An ample crop of fools you’ll harvest there.
Here then be ready, with thy nostrum new,
Ting’d like the charlatans, with Red or Blue.
The composition may be any stuff,
Hire people to be cur’d who have no ills,
Then swear ’twas done by thy new Persian Pills,
With care and cost brought o’er from Ispahan,
The only Physick of Great Kouli-Kan.
But this, you say’s against the plainest sense,

The more is due to glorious Impudence,
Here in Pall Mall, her rising Honours grow,
Her country seat’s not far—at Pimlico ;
Observe the crowd still press about the door,
The Great, the Rich, the Wretched and the Poor.
Hither the Mob with Coronets and Crutches,
Eager alike the Cinder-wench and Dutchess.
Garters and Rags, from Palace and from Stall
Advance, the Mighty, Vulgar and the Small!
Taylor and Mapp too here her reign exalt,
And to her footstool lead the Blind and Halt.
Taylor with learning, wise as any Grandam,
Brushes away and ventures all at Random.
With Lady’s hand and playthings bright and keen,
Can cataracts remove and drop serene.
Values no threats nor popular reproach.
Tho’ once he’scaped so hard in Dover coach.*
Madam performs her work by pulling, hawling,

And graces all with cursing and with bawling,
The apparatus made with oaths and din,
The Bones pulled sometimes out and sometimes in.
Ladies their lap-dogs, some their monkeys bring,
Each dislocated part ty’d up in sling,
Courted by all, by all admir’d these quacks,
Keep equipages, laugh at dirty hacks,
Here Harry, view the Arts to get a name,
’Tis chance and Impudence must raise your fame,
Assisted by a Paper kept in fee,
That shall displace the News to puff for thee.
What blear-eyed Beggar last he took in hand
And how Mapp made a limping footman stand,
But if through spleen the learn’d on t’other side,
*Taylor was once mobbed at Canterbury when travelling on the Dover

coach.
20
Your nostrums and your packets should deride,
Hire Bravos to way-lay them in the street
And all who will not like your physick beat.
Or bring from Westminster an Information.
So purge and beat and sue and cheat the Nation.
In this bright Age, three wonder-workers rise,

Whose operations puzzle all the wise,
To lame and blind, by dint of manual slight,
Mapp gives the use of limbs and Taylor sight,
But great Ward, not only lame and blind
Relieves, but all diseases of mankind.
By one sole Remedy removes, as sure
As Death by arsenic, all disease can cure.”
Foote, in a satire on the quack and his bills says,

“ Jaundice proceeds from many myriads of little flies of
a yellow colour which fly about the system. Now to
cure this, I make the patient take a certain quantity
of the ova or eggs of spiders. These eggs when taken
into the stomach, by the warmth of that organ, vivify
and being vivified, of course they immediately proceed
to catch the flies ; thus the disease is cured, and I
then send the patient down to the seaside to wash all
the cobwebs out of his system.”
There were several amusing skits on the speeches of
quack-doctors published in the Georgian era and one
of the best has been preserved.
“ Gentlemen,
“ I am the famed Paracelsus of this age by name
Seignior Doloso Effrontero, native of Arabia Deserta,
natural son of the wonderworking Chimist-Doctor
lately deceased at the Devil’s Peak in Silesia, and famous
throughout Europe, Asia, Afrique and America, who
in pitty to his own dear self and languishing mortals has
by the earnest prayers and solicitations of divers Princes,
Lords and other honourable personages, been pre¬
vailed with to oblige the world with this notice, that all
persons, young or old, deaf or lame, blind or dumb, may
know whither to repair for present cure in all Cephalal-
giers, Paralytical paroxismes, Odontalgias, Apoplexices,
Peripneumonias, Empyemias, Palpitations of the Peri¬
cardium, Syncopes, Nanseties, arising either from
Plethory or a Cacochymy, Disenterias, Iliacal passions,
the Scurvies Exanthemata, the Hog-pox, the Hen-
pox, the Small-pox, or the Devil’s-pox, the scaldheads,
warts, corns, and all other diseases, griefs, wounds,
fractures, dolors, pains, and distempers of Nature.
“ My medicines are the Quintessence of Pharmapeuti-
cal Energy and the cures I have done are above the Art
of the whole world.
“ Imprimis. I have a wonderful universal, unheard of,
neverfailing Hypnotical, Cordiacal, Cephalical, Hepati-
cal, Anodynous, Odoriferous, Renorative, Styptical,
Corroborating Balsam of Balsams (made of dead men’s
fat, rosin and goosegrease) that infallibly restores lost
maidenheads, raises demolished noses, and by its ab¬
stersive, cosmetick quality, preserves superanimated
bawds from wrinkles.
“ I have the true Catharmapophora of Hermes Tris-
megistus, an incomparspagyrical tincture of the Moon’s
Hornes. I have the Pantimagogon of the Triple King-
dom, that works seven several ways and is seven years
in preparing, being last exactly compleated secundum
artem by Fermentation, Purification, Distillation,
Rectification, Cohobation, Circulation, Calimation, Sub¬
limation, Solution, Precipitation, Coagulation, Filtra¬
tion, and Quidlibetification both in Balneo Marie, the
Crucible and the Fixatory, the Athanor, the Cucurbite
and the Reverboratory.
“ A drachm of it is worth a bushel of March dust and
if any person happen to have his brains beat out or
his head chopt off, two drops seasonably applied, shall
recall the fleeting spirits, re-enthrone the deposed
Archeus, cement the discontinuity of the parts and in
six minutes, restore the lifeless trunk to its pristine
vigour.
“ I have also an excellent Antipudengragrian Speci-
fick, the choicest Jewel amongst Venus’s Regalia, which
perfectly cures the Modish disease. I have it under the
hands and seals of the greatest Caliphs and Moguls in
Christendome. To verificate the reality of my opera¬
tions—I cured Prester John’s God-mother of a stupen¬
dous dolour about the Os Sacrum, so that the good lady
feared the perdition of her Hucklebone. I did it to the
great admiration of that Court, by fomenting her with
the Mummy of Nature otherwise called Pilgrim Salve,
and the Spirit of Mugwort, Terragraphocated through a
Limbeck of Chrystalline transfluences.
“ I cured the Duchess of Promolpho of the cramp in
her tongue, an Alderman of Grand Cairo, that had lain
seven years sick of the Plague, I cured him in two and
forty minutes, from whence I was sent for by the Sultan
of Gilgal, Despot of Bosnia, who being violently afflicted
with spasms, came 600 leagues to meet me in a Go-cart.
I gave him such speedy acquittance with his dolour, that
next night he danced a Saraband with Flip-flaps and
Sommersets, and for my reward presented me with a
Persian Horse, a Turkisk Scymitor and 300 Hungarian
ducats. I restored virility and the comfort of generation
to 150 Eunuchs in the Grand Seigniors Seraglio, and by
a pair of my Prolifick Pills, lately caused a virtuous
widow that had all her time been barren, to bring forth
a lusty boy without the help of a husband, when she
was entered the twelfth Luster of her age.
“ In a word, the cures I have done are no less in¬
numerable than incredible, for I willingly undertake
none but desperate mortal diseases, and love to signalise
my practice by performing impossibilities, and therefore
if any have occasion to make use of me and render
themselves immortal, let them hasten to our habitation.
“ Down with your Dust !
“ For I am just now sent for, by an extraordinary
Courrier to the Mighty Empress of Bomfeze upon im¬
portant occasions nearly concerning her Royal person.
“ Be not sick, too late.
“ No money, no cure.
“ Gentlemen, That all may know where to repair to
me, I live at the Sign of the Golden Ball in Fop-alley,
next door to the Flying Hedgehog where I devote
myself wholly to serve the publick, so that when you
find me not there, you will be sure not to find me
here.”
“ I made it my business,” says an inquirer into quack-
3io THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON
ery and quack-medicines about the middle of the
XVIIIth century, “ to get the best intelligence I could
of the authors of these medicines, as well as of the
medicines themselves. I found some of them were
professed quacks or sorry chymists, both alike ignorant
in the practice of physick. Others simple tradesmen and
foolish but bold women. Others again, from some family
receipt many years together handed down as some
sacred relic, by way of tradition for many ages, till at
length falling to the share of one unwilling the mighty
treasure should be longer concealed, the same is exposed
with some hard name and a large catalogue of its ad¬
mirable virtues. Thus for the diseases of the head and
brain, we have Cephalick Tinctures and Head Pills of
divers kinds, Apoplectick Spirits, Balsams and Vapour
Drops. For the eyes we have salves and waters without
number, not forgetting the good oyster-woman’s most
excellent ointment, revealed to her husband’s great¬
grandfather in a dream.
“ For the gout, we have a Coal-heaver’s Decoction, an
Old Woman’s Plaister and Ointment, a Tarpaulin’s East-
India Oil, besides the Atyla of a Quacking Surgeon and
twenty of the same goodness, good for nothing except to
cheat men some of their money and others of their lives.
“ We have Consumptions of all sorts pluck’d up by the
roots, we have the King’s Evil cur’d by that eminent
Physico-chyrurgical Parson and you have Mother B—t’s
Drink for the dropsy and jaundice ; she good woman
used to open the pews at St. Sepulchre’s when she could
spare time from visiting her patients.”
CHAPTER XXI
QUACKS OF COVENT GARDEN AND PICCADILLY
A WELL-known figure among the quacks of London

in the XVIII century was Colonel Dalmahoy,
who sold his nostrums in Water Lane close to the
Apothecaries Hall.
He had specifics for every ill, as well as face-washes,
love-philtres and charms. He was famous for a wonder¬
ful wig he affected, which attracted general attention
whenever he took a walk down Ludgate Hill, and was
celebrated in a ballad that was sung in the streets at the
time. It began :
“ If you would see a noble wig,

And in that wig a man look big,
To Ludgate Hill repair, my joy,
And Gaze on Col’nel Dalmahoy.”
Another poet thus commemorates him :
“ Dalmahoy sold infusions and lotions,

Decoctions and Gargles and pills,
Electuaries, powders and potions,
Spermaceti, salts, scammony, squills.
Horse-aloes, burnt alum, agaric,

Balm, benzoin, blood-stone and dill,
Castor, camphor, and acid tartaric,
With £ specifics ? for every ill.
311
But with all his ‘ specifics 5 in store,
Death on Dalmahoy one day did pop ;
And although he had doctors a score,
Made Dalmahoy shut up his shop.”
Another quack who frequented the neighbourhood

of St. Paul’s was “ Dr.” Rock. The story is told, that
one day when sitting in a Coffee-house on Ludgate Hill
he heard a man close by express surprise, that a certain
physician of great ability had but little practice, while
such a fellow as Rock was making a fortune.
“ Oh ! ” said the quack, addressing the speaker, “ I
am Rock, and I shall be pleased to explain the matter
to you.”
“ How many wise men think you, are among the
multitude that pass along this street ? ”
“ About one out of twenty,” was the reply.
“ Well then,” said Rock, “ the nineteen come to me
when they are sick, and the physician is welcome to
the twentieth.”
In the latter part of the XVIIIth century, Covent
Garden became a happy hunting ground for the quacks,
and prominent among those who frequented it was a
German Jew known as Dr. Bossy. Every Thursday his
stage was erected opposite the north-west colonnade
from which he would address the crowd.
The platform was about six feet from the ground, open
in front, to which access was obtained by means of a
broad step-ladder. On one side a table was placed,
upon which stood his medicine chest, surgical instru¬
ments and other apparatus. In the centre of the stage
dr. bossy on his stage in covent garden
From a contemporary water-colour drawing
o
O
30
Ci
a.
QUACKS OF COVENT GARDEN 313
was a chair, and before seating the first patient in it and
commencing his operations, Bossy doffing his gold-laced
cocked hat, would advance to the front and bow right
and left, to the people who had collected round about.
A very old woman would then be helped up the ladder
by his assistants and placed in the chair, after which
Bossy would thus begin.
“ Dis poor voman vot is . . . How old vosh you ? ”
“ I be almost eighty Sir. Seventy nine come last
Lady Day.”
“ Ah dat is an incurable disease.”
“ O dear, O dear, say not so Sir—Incurable ! Why
you have restored my sight. I can hear again and I can
walk without my crutches.”
“ No, no, good vomans, old age is vot is incurable,
but by the blessing of Gote, I vill cure you of Vot is
ilshe. Dis poora voman vos lame and deaf and almost
blind. How many hosipetals have you been in ? ”
“ Three Sir, St. Thomas’s, St. Bartholomew’s, and
St. George’s.”
“ Vot, and you have found no reliefs ? Vot, none—
not at alls ? ”
“ No, none at all, Sir.”
“ And how many professioners have attended
you ? ”
“ Some twenty or thirty, Sir.”
“ O mine Gote ! Three sick hosipetals and thirty
doctors ! I should vonder vot you have not enough
to kill you twenty times.
“ Dis poora voman has become mine patient. Dr.
Bossy gain all patients bronounced incurables ; pote wid
de blessing of Brovidence, I shall make short work of
it and set you upon your legs again.
“ Goode peoples, dis poora voman vos deaf as toor
nails (Bossy holds up a great watch to her ear)
“ Can you hear dat ? ”
“ Yes, Sir.”
“ O den be thankful to Gote. Can you valk round dis
chair ? ”
“ Yes, Sir.”
“ Sit down again goode vomans. Can you see ? ”
“ Pretty so, so, Doctor.”
“ Vot can you see, goode vomans ? ”
“ I can see the baker there ” (pointing to a mutton-
pie man with his board on his head)
“ And vot else can you see goode voman’s ? ”
“ The poll-parrot there ” (pointing to a parrot
hanging in a cage outside Richardson’s Hotel)
“ Lying old-” screamed back the parrot.
At this the crowd would shout with laughter.
Bossy would wait until the noise subsided, then
looking across and shaking his head at the bird, with his
hand on his breast would solemnly say, “ ’Tis no lie,
you silly pird, ’tis all true as de gospel.”
Richardson’s grey parrot was as well known in Covent
Garden as Bossy, and was much addicted to lurid
language which she picked up from the basket-women
who frequented the market.
The following story of this remarkable bird is related
by the elder Edwin : “ One day, the nail on which the
cage was hung on the front of the house suddenly gave
way, and poor Polly, cage and all, crashed down on the
pavement. People ran to the spot expecting to find the
bird dead, and so apparently it was, but in a few moments
suddenly rising and stretching her wings she cried,
£ Broke my head by-’, and immediately after climbed
up the side of the cage with a shriek of mirth.”
A fashionable quack who used to travel the con¬
tinent in great style was an Italian called Mantacinni.
A young plausible and loquacious person, he always
dressed in the latest fashion and attended by a lackey
in gold-braided livery, rode in a splendid chariot drawn
by a fine pair of horses. Arriving once at Lyons he
boldly announced to the public, that he was able and
ready to revive the dead at will. He further declared,
that in fifteen days, he would go to the common grave¬
yard, and bring to life all who had been buried there for
the preceding ten years. This statement naturally
aroused great excitement in the city, and he was so
mobbed by the people in the streets, that he applied
to the magistrates to put him under guard, so that he
could not leave the town until he had fulfilled his
promise.
This proposition had the effect he expected, which was
to inspire confidence, and his door was thronged daily by
people anxious to consult him, and to buy his celebrated
“ Baume de Vie ” which he declared to be unrivalled for
prolonging life.
As the day approached on which the great event was
to take place, the faithful lackey began to get nervous
about his master, and feared the result.
“ You know nothing of mankind,” said the quack to
his servant, “ Be quiet and wait.”
Shortly afterwards, a letter arrived addressed to Dr.
Mantacinni which read as follows :
“ Sir,
The great operation which you are going to perform
has broken my rest. I have a wife buried for some time
who was a fury and I am unhappy enough without her
resurrection. For Heaven’s sake do not make the
experiment. I will give you 50 louis to keep your secret
to yourself.”
Soon afterwards, two young men called and besought

Mantacinni not on any account to raise their old father,
who had been the greatest miser in the city, or they
would be reduced to poverty.
They were followed by a young widow who was
about to be married. She threw herself at the feet of
the quack, and with sobs and sighs, implored him not to
bring her late husband back to life.
This kind of thing went on and Mantacinni chuckled
as the fees flowed in, but as the day approached the
citizens became so agitated, that the chief magistrate
intervened and sent for the quack.
“ I have not the least doubt,” he said to Mantacinni,
“ that you will be able to accomplish the resurrection
in the grave-yard the day after to-morrow, but I pray
you to observe, that our city is in the utmost excitement
and confusion, and to consider the dreadful revolution
the success of your experiment must produce in every
family. I entreat you therefore, not to attempt it but
go away, so that tranquillity can be restored to our city.
“ In justice however to your rare and divine talents,
I shall give you an attestation in due form under our
seal, that you can revive the dead and that it was our
fault we were not eye-witnesses of your powers.”
Mantacinni, concealing his satisfaction, at once con¬
sented to the proposal, the certificate was duly prepared
and signed, and he left Lyons exultant, his pockets well-
lined with the gold of his dupes.
Among the eccentric quacks who were prominent
during the latter part of the XVIIIth century was
Katterfelto, who used to travel about the country in a
large caravan accompanied by a number of black cats.
He first sought notoriety by advertising a remedy for
influenza, which in 1782 was very prevalent in the
country. After reaping a golden harvest he settled in
London, and combined the sale of “ Dr. Bato’s medi¬
cines ” with a quashi-scientific exhibition, which he
opened at 22 Piccadilly.
He was a clever and astute advertiser, as may be
judged from the following, which appeared in the
Morning Post, on July 22nd 1782.
“ Mr. Katterfelto has in his travels had the honour
to exhibit with great applause before the Empress of
Russia, the Queen of Hungary, the Kings of Prussia,
Sweden, Denmark and Poland ; and since his arrival,
in London he has been honoured with some of the Royal
Family, many Foreign Ministers and Noblemen, and a
great many Ladies of the first rank.
WONDERS ! WONDERS! WONDERS ! WONDERS !
Are now to be seen by the help of the Sun and his new
invented Solar Microscope, and such wonderful and
astonishing sights of the Creation, was never seen before
in this or any other kingdom, and may never be seen
again.
“ The admittance to see these wonderful works of
Providence is only, Front seats 3s., Second seats 2s.,
Back seats is. only from 8 o’clock in the morning till
6 in the afternoon, at 22 Piccadilly, this day and every
day this week.
“ Mr. Katterfelto has likewise, by a very long study,
discovered at last, such a variety of wonderful experi¬
ments in natural and experimental philosophy and
mathematics, as will surprise all the world.
“ The apparatus he has received only but a few days,
and are not to be equalled in Europe, can be seen every
day with his greatly admired and new improved Solar
Microscope.
“ The insects on the hedges will be seen larger than
ever, and those insects which caused the late influenza
will be seen as large as birds, and in a drop of water the
size of a pins head, there will be seen above 50,000 insects;
the same in beer, milk, vinegar, flour, blood, cheese, etc.,
and there will be seen many surprising insects in different
vegetables, and above 200 other dead objects.
“ N.B. After his evening lecture, he will discover all
the various arts on dice, cards, billiards andE.O. tables.
“ Mr. Katterfelto likewise makes and sells 4 Dr.
Bato’s medicines ’ at 5s. a bottle, which has cured many
thousand persons of the late Influenza.”
A later advertisement reads as follows :

“ Dr. Wall of Oxford will be very glad if his friends
KATTERFELTO AND ONE OF HIS BLACK CATS
From a contemporary print,
To face page 318

in town will meet him at Mr. Katterfelto’s Exhibition
Room at 22 Piccadilly at 12 o’clock.”
On March 7th 1783 he announced in the Morning
Post:
“ At Katterfelto’s Exhibition Room, last Wednesday,
between 12 and 1 o’clock, a Gentleman dropt a white
purse with three guineas in gold and a note of hand
for £2,000, payable to Captain Paterson, after the
26th of March, from G.H. at Cavendish Square. If
the gentleman who dropt the above purse will call per¬
sonally on Mr. Katterfelto, and give a further description
of that purse and note of hand, which is payable to him,
he will be very glad to return the same to the gentle¬
man.
“ Mr. Katterfelto will, this and every day till the
22nd of March next, from 10 in the morning till 5 in the
afternoon, shew his Occult Secrets and his new improved
Solar Microscope, if the Sun appears ; which has sur¬
prised the King and the whole Royal Family. And Mr.
Katterfelto as a Divine and Moral Philosopher, begs leave
to say, that all persons on Earth live in darkness, if they
are able to see, but will not see his wonderful Exhibition.”
“ After his Lecture this evening, he will surprise
the Company beyond description.”
In his last advertisement he announces that :
“ The King of Prussia has given orders, that 100,000
men of his best troops, are to hold themselves in readi¬
ness to march at 24 hours notice, and if so, we are to
expect that the noted philosopher Mr. Katterfelto, as he
belongs to the Death’s Head Hussars, will be obliged to
depart from England sooner than he expected. Before
he goes abroad, he is to exhibit once more before the
Royal family.55
Whether Katterfelto marched off with the Death’s
Head Hussars accompanied by his black cats, is not
recorded, but that is the last we hear of him.
CHAPTER XXII
a quack’s embalmed wife
A BOUT 1770, there might have been seen riding in

the Row on a fine morning, a weird-looking little
man with a long grey beard, armed with a large white
bone and mounted on a white pony painted with purple
spots. His name was Martin van Butchell, who after a
small beginning as a quack-doctor, blossomed out as a
Super dentist in a large house in the upper part of Mount
Street, Mayfair.
He was an expert advertiser and his eccentricities
brought him into further notoriety. In the St. James's
Chronicle, May 18th, 1776, he announces, that he makes
“ Real or Artificial Teeth from one to an entire set, with
superlative gold pivots or springs ; also gums, sockets
and palate formed, fitted, finished and fixed without
drawing stumps or causing pain.
“ The Nobility and Gentry sending a guinea with writ¬
ten notice are assured of Mr. van Butchell’s punctual
attendance, if the fee is taken at his house in the upper
part of Mount Street, Grosvenor Square, who (keeping
strict honour and profound secrecy) neither goes journies
nor gives credit, but aims and is acknowledged to excel
in performing the various operations with instruments
321 21
peculiarly his own, invented through a series of close
applications, extensive study and much experience.
“ Mr. van Butchell having made all his employers;,
happy (though many had been hurt by dentists esteemed
famous) hopes discerning, generous minds, when others
cannot please will apply to him.
VAN BUTCHELL IN WHITE MARBLE IS ON THE
DOOR.”
“ On March 23rd 1769 a noble Earl graciously wrote,
dated and subscribed four weighty lines, to declare the
ability and uprightness of Mr. van Butchell, which those
in doubt may see.”
On the death of his wife in January 1775, he had her
body embalmed. This was carried out by Dr. William
Hunter and Mr. Cruickshank, the surgeon, by injecting
the vascular system with oil of turpentine and camphor¬
ated spirit of wine and packing camphor into the cavity
of the abdomen.
Arrayed in a garment of fine linen and lace, the body
was then placed in a case with a glass lid, covered with
a curtain, and was kept thus by van Butchell in his
sitting room. He usually introduced the embalmed wife
to his visitors as his “ dear departed.”
On this becoming known, his house for a time was
besieged by curious people who wished to be introduced
to the “ preserved lady,” until van Butchell was at
length obliged to issue the following notice, which ap¬
peared in the St. James’s Chronicle, Oct. 21st, 1775.
“ Van Butchell (not willing to be unpleasantly cir¬
cumstanced, and wishing to convince some good minds
they have been misinformed) acquaints the Curious, no
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MARTIN VAN BUTCHELL ON HIS SPOTTED PONY

From a print in the Royal College of Surgeons
To face page 322

A QUACK’S EMBALMED WIFE 323
stranger can see his embalmed Wife, unless (by a Friend
personally) introduced to himself, anyday between
Nine and One, Sundays excepted.”
The following epitaph was written on the preserved
lady, who was never buried, and whose remains are now
in the Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons.
CC
Here unentombed van Butchell’s consort lies,
To feed her husband’s grief or charm his eyes,
Taintless and pure her body still remains,
And all its former elegance retains,
Long had disease been preying on her charms,
Till slow she shrank in death’s expecting arms,
When Hunter’s skill in spite of Nature’s laws,
Her beauties rescued from corruptions jaws ;
Bade the pale roses of her cheeks revive
And her shrunk features seem again to live.
Hunter who first conceived the happy thought,
And here at length to full perfection brought.
0 lucky husband ! blest of Heaven,
To thou the privilege is given,
A much-loved wife at home to keep,
Caress, touch, talk to, even sleep
Close by her side, whene’er you will,
As quiet as if living still
And strange to tell, that fairer she,
And sweeter than alive should be ;
Fair plump and juicy as before
And full as tractable, or more.
Thrice happy mortal! Envied lot,
What a rich treasure hast thou got;
Who to a woman can lay claim,
Whose temper’s every day the same.”
According to a contemporary account, Hunter was

successful in injecting a carmine fluid into the blood¬
vessels of the body which give it a life-like appearance.
Thus the lips and cheeks retained their colour, and glass
eyes were inserted which added to the effect.
For some years, van Butchell enjoyed a period of
domestic tranquillity which he had never previously ex¬
perienced, but in spite of this happy state of affairs and
his declared fidelity to his ‘ dear departed,’ he again
became smitten with the charms of another fair lady
and married her. The new Mrs. van Butchell was not
long in raising a very natural objection to having the
body of her predecessor in her sitting room, which ended
in the removal of the embalmed remains of the first
wife to another place, and so peace was again restored.
A quaint walking stick which belonged to van
Butchell, bearing a silver band offering five shillings
reward to the finder, is still preserved in the Museum
of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Another curious character, but a man of considerable
ability, was John Hill who was born about 1761. After
beginning life as an apprentice to an apothecary, he
eventually pushed his way to a prominent position in
the fashionable world of his time.
Quack and charlatan though he was, he had undoubted
literary talent, and wrote a work on botany which
extends to twenty-six folio volumes and contains 16,000
plates. He was also the author of several books on
A QUACK’S EMBALMED WIFE 325
history and romance, and wrote a number of plays and
poems.
Garrick alludes to his work as a playwright in the
following lines :
“ For physic and farces, his equal there scarce is—

His farce is his physic, his physic a farce is.”
He is said to have had an intolerable temper and be¬

came obsessed with the idea that everyone was his enemy.
Finding his literary efforts unremunerative, he started
a journal called The Inspector, in which he advertised his
medicines, and once a week contributed to it a “ lay
sermon.”
The journal met with success and growing wealthy
through the sale of his herbal remedies, he took a town
house in St. James’s Street and a country residence at
Bayswater, between which he travelled in a smart
carriage and pair.
Once thus established, he made several influential
acquaintances and married a sister of Lord Ranelagh.
He is said to have been a frequent guest of the Duchess
of Northumberland and a friend of the Earl of Bute.
His remedies chiefly consisted of tinctures, prepared
from certain herbs such as sage, valerian, and water-
dock, which he declared were infallible panaceas for all
diseases.
A wit once sent Hill these lines :
“ Thou essence of dock, valerian and sage,

At once the disgrace and the pest of this age.
The worst that we wish thee, for all of thy crimes,
Is to take thy own physic and read thy own rhymes.”
To this Hill replied :
“ I’ll take neither sage, dock, nor balsam of honey,

Do you take the physic and I’ll take the money.”
John Hill died of gout in 1775, a disease he had

professed to cure by means of his tincture of dock, and
his end is thus referred to in a ballad of the time.
“ Poor Dr. Hill is dead ! Good lack !

Of what disorder ? An Attack
Of Gout. Indeed ! I thought that he
Had found a wondrous remedy ;
Why, so he had and when he tried
He found it true—the Doctor died ! ”
CHAPTER XXIII
BRODUM, SOLOMON AND GRAHAM
A T a period when several medical men of eminence

were not above selling their own remedies, the
composition of which they kept secret, it is not to be
wondered that they had imitators among practitioners
of another kind.
Sir Hans Sloane sold an eye salve and his name was
associated with a “ Milk Chocolate,” while the famous
Sir Richard Mead made a secret powder for the bite of a
mad dog.
Others did not scruple about using quack remedies,
as in the case of the celebrated surgeon Sir Charles
Blicke, to whom Dr. Abernethy served his apprentice¬
ship. He is said to have favoured an application called
“Plunket’s Caustic” in cases of cancer, which is said
to have been composed of white oxide of arsenic, and
sulphur, mixed with some innocuous herbs.
Richard Guy is said to have purchased the secret
recipe for its preparation, which was published in
Lloyd’s Evening Post about 1754.
It consisted of “ Crowsfoot, Dog Fennel, Crude Brim¬
stone of each 3 middling thimblefuls and white arsenic
the same quantity. Beat well and mix in a mortar, and
327
make into small balls the size of nutmegs, and dry in the
sun.”
A quack who attracted the attention of the College
of Physicians but who eventually got the best of the
encounter, was Dr. Brodum, a German Jew, who is said
to have begun life as footman to Dr. Bossy, the mounte¬
bank of Covent Garden.
He started business by selling two nostrums, one of
which he called his “ Nervous Cordial ” and the other
“ Botanical Syrup.”
He first lived in Albion Street, Blackfriars Road,
and put a plate inscribed “ Dr. Brodum ” on his door
like a regular practitioner, but afterwards removed to a
large house in a fashionable square in the West-end.
One of his pamphlets, advertising his remedies, is
dedicated to the King, and is entitled, “ A Guide to
Old Age or a cure for the Indiscretions of Youth.” In
this he states, “ the efficacy and virtues of Brodum’s
medicines are supported by a cloud of witnesses,” and
offers magnanimously, “ to wait upon any lady or gentle¬
man for a fee of five guineas a week.”
On the attention of the College of Physicians being
called to his operations, he was summoned to appear
before the President and Censors to explain his mode of
practice. Brodum appeared, and when questioned as to
his knowledge, declared that he was only acquainted with
Hebrew and English. He explained that he did not
attend patients at their residences, and prescribed only
his own medicines, for which he had obtained the Royal
patent.
The President observed that they did not want to
BRODUM, SOLOMON AND GRAHAM 329
interfere with the sale of his medicines, but he must stop
using the title of doctor on his door-plate and must not
take fees.
Brodum however declared, that he had a medical
diploma from the Marischall College of Aberdeen, and
was entitled to style himself doctor. When asked when
and how he got it, he replied, he paid for it like others
did, and his certificate had been signed by a Fellow of
their own College. He refused to remove his brass-plate
from the door and so the matter ended.
Contemporary with Brodum was another Jewish quack
called Dr. Solomon who originally hailed from Liverpool.
His great nostrum was the “ Cordial Balm of Gold,”
which he declared contained “ no other mineral but
Gold, £ Pure virgin gold ’ and the £ true Balm of Mecca.’ ”
According to a book he wrote called ££ the Guide to
Health ” which he dedicated to the Earl of Mansfield, his
Balm was ££the real pure essence of gold, together with some
of the choicest balsams and strengtheners in the whole
materia medica. The process is long and laborious and
not a single drop can be produced under nine weeks
digestion, and the elements of which it is composed are
only obtained with still greater labour, being extracted
from the seed of gold, which our alchemists and philo¬
sophers have so long sought after in vain.”
The preparation which he called ££ Anti-Impetignes
or Balm of Gold,” is said to have been nothing more
mysterious than brandy, while his ££ Cordial Balm of
Gilead ” consisted of rosemary, sage, mace and tur¬
pentine, flavoured with lemon.
Solomon was a well-known figure in the streets and
when taking his daily promenade, always carried an
imposing gold-headed cane in his hand.
In 1805, Solomon built himself a fine house in a suburb
of Liverpool surrounded by a large garden and shrub¬
beries, where he lived in great style and kept a coach,
which he drove with a fine team of horses.
When Madame Tussaud was forming her original
collection of wax works, she asked Solomon’s per¬
mission to add his effigy with other celebrities. The
quack was greatly flattered and invited Madame to
visit “ Gilead House ” to carry out the operation of
making the mask.
Solomon was directed to lie on his back, while Madame
proceeded to mould the wax to his features. Either
through nervousness or forgetfulness, she forgot to
leave any air-holes over the mouth and nose. The
unfortunate victim bore the agonies of suffocation for
some time, until he found it unbearable, and jumping
up tore off the mask and flung it across the room,
exclaiming, “ By Heaven, Madame, do you wish to
stifle me ? ”
By no persuasion however, could Madame Tussaud
induce him to let her repeat the operation.
Solomon was fond of entertaining his friends and some
of his patients to dinner, and the story is told that on
one occasion, a local wag wishing to draw him, after
the wine had gone round, suggested that he should give
his guests something more delicious than anything that
had yet been offered to them.
“ Anything I have in my house is at your disposal,”
replied the genial host.
“ Then dear Doctor, let us taste your c Balm of
Gilead.5 55
Solomon at once ordered his servant to bring each
guest a bottle of the famous Balm. These were un¬
corked, and on tasting the liquid, the company pro¬
nounced it more palatable than any of the wines pre¬
viously offered to them. The evening passed and the
guests rose to depart. At a signal from the “ doctor,55
the servant again appeared bearing on a silver salver
a number of small envelopes, which he passed round to
each person. On opening them, they found they each
contained a bill for two guineas, the price per bottle of
the Balm they had recently consumed and so much
appreciated.
On their remonstrating with their host, Solomon
replied with a bow,
“ Gentlemen, I invited you here as my guests. The
Balm is my business, you must therefore each pay me
two guineas.55
Whether he got paid or not, is unrecorded.
A story is also told of one of his lady patients whose
husband discovered that she was constantly consulting
the quack and consuming bottle after bottle of his
“ Balm of Gold.55 She had conceived such a liking
for the nostrum that he could not get her to cease taking
it. Finding that many of her friends had acquired the
same habit, he took counsel with their husbands and
together they concocted a plot to take their revenge
on Solomon.
On a certain dark night they despatched a messenger
to his house, asking him to come at once to see a sick
patient who lived a little way out in the country, and he
was to be sure to bring with him several bottles of his
celebrated Balm.
The quack set out on foot along the country lanes
towards the patient’s house and at a very lonely part
of the road, he was suddenly pounced upon by four men
enveloped in cow hides who had been hiding behind a
hedge. With long horns and tails they looked like devils
incarnate and frightened the unfortunate Solomon out
of his wits. He sank on his knees and begged for mercy,
but his tormentors seized him and dragged him into a
field close by. After making him swallow the contents
of the bottles of his nostrum that he had brought with
him, they ducked him in a pond and finished by tossing
him in a blanket.
The plot was successful in so far that Solomon incensed
at the outrage (the story of which had spread abroad)
left the town and for a time settled in Birmingham. He
died in Liverpool and was buried according to his wish
in the front garden of his house.
A popular ballad of the time referring to the two
quacks ran :
“ Brodum or Solomon with physic,

Like death, despatch the wretch that’s sick,
Pursue a sure and thriving trade ;
Though patients die, the doctors paid !
Licensed to kill, he gains a palace,
For what another mounts a gallows.”
“ While Solomon flies on the wings of the wind,

His magical Balm of Mount Gilead to find,
Little Brodum stands stewing his herbs in a copper,
And to vend his decoction for gold he thinks proper.
Derry down.”
A brief allusion here must be made to James Graham

called the “ Emperor of Quacks ” who became notor¬
ious in London about 1780, and was one of the most
extraordinary charlatans of his day.*
Born in Edinburgh, where he obtained some medical
training, after travelling in America and practising as an
oculist in Bath, he established himself in a fine house in
the Royal Terrace, Adelphi. It was known as the
“ Temple of Health ” and there he gave advice and
sold his nostrums, which included an “ Electrical
Aether ” “ Nervous Aetherial,” t£ Elixir of Life,” and
his “ Imperial Pills.”
The “ Temple of Health,” which was lavishly decor¬
ated and furnished regardless of expense, owing to his
glowing advertisements soon became a fashionable resort.
On the ground floor was a Central Hall the walls of
which were hung with offerings such as crutches, ear-
trumpets and other appliances left by grateful patients.
In the basement was the laboratory, where the medicines
were prepared and dispensed. In the first room above
was Graham’s cabinet, where he sat for consultation,
and close by, the most wonderful place of all, called the
“ Great Apollo Apartment ” where stood the “ Temple
Sacred to Health.”
In another room, the chief attraction was the “ Grand
Celestial Bed,” an extraordinary piece of furniture,
*For a full account of Graham’s career and operations see “ Mysteries of
History ” page 260, by the same author.
by means of which, according to Graham, “ Children of
the most perfect beauty could be begotten.” A fee of
five hundred guineas a night was charged to those who
wished the privilege of occupying it.
On special occasions, an “ Ode set to music was per¬
formed in the ‘ Great Apollo Apartment ’ by a selected
choir, accompanied by the organ and a band of instru¬
mentalists.”
Here also in the evenings, Graham delivered his
lectures and displayed his medico-electrical apparatus,
which included a “ Magnetic Throne ” on which patients
were seated to receive electrical treatment. Graham
charged a fee of a guinea for his first consultation, and
five shillings and half-a-crown for admission to his
lectures.
For a time the “ Temple of Health ” became the vogue
and was crowded every day by people of fashion, many
of whom doubtless came out of curiosity.
It was so successful, that in 1781, Graham took
Schomberg House in Pall Mall, and after fitting it up at
considerable expense, opened it as the “ Temple of
Health and of Hymen,” where he installed another
“ Celestial State Bed ” of greater magnificence than the
one in the Adelphi.
But in spite of his flamboyant advertisements, bills
and pamphlets, the new establishment did not prove the
success he anticipated ; creditors began to press for
payment, and eventually he had to shut it up.
The failure of his Temples caused Graham to seek
pastures new, and for a time he left London and travelled
the country, lecturing at Liverpool, Newcastle and Edin-
burgh. While in the latter city he offended the authori¬
ties through one of his lectures, and was arrested and
thrown into prison until he had paid a fine.
On his return to London, he attempted to found a
new religious sect which he set out in a pamphlet
entitled :
“ Proposals for the establishment of a new and true
Christian Church,” but this met with little support.
Southey says, that “ Graham was half-mad and his
madness at last got the better of his knavery. He would
madden himself with ether, run out into the streets,
and strip himself to clothe the first beggar he met.”
There is little doubt in the end his mind became un¬
hinged and he died suddenly at the age of 49, in Edin¬
burgh, in the year 1794.
CHAPTER XXIV
THE ARTIST QUACK—THE DANCING-MASTER QUACK
A LTHOUGH the quack-doctor often styled himself

an artist, it is rarely we find an artist who turned
quack-doctor, as in the case of Philip James Louther-
bourgh, a well-known painter of the XVIIIth century.
He was born in Germany in 1740 but leaving his native
country early in life, he began to study art in Paris and
became a pupil of Vanloo and of Causanova.
After travelling in Switzerland and Italy, he came to
England in 1771 and was engaged by David Garrick
as chief designer of scenery at Drury Lane Theatre, and
also assisted him in a reform in theatrical costumes. He
was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1781 and
painted many marine and battle pictures of large size.
One of his principal works, “ Earl Howe’s victory on
June 1st, 1794 ” now hangs in Greenwich Hospital.
In 1783 he settled at Chiswick and there he came under
the influence of Richard Brothers and began seriously
to study the occult. In the end he became convinced
that both he and his wife, were gifted with the power of
prophecy and of healing disease without medicine.
As soon as this became known, the Loutherbourgh’s
house was besieged by crowds of sick and ailing people,
in so much he found it necessary to issue tickets to admit
336
THE ARTIST QUACK 337
the would-be patients to his consulting room. He
charged no fee and distributed the tickets gratuitously,
until it was discovered that they were being sold outside
the house in the crowd to those tired of waiting, for as
much as five guineas each.
In a publication of the time it is stated, “ that Mr. De
Loutherbourgh who lives on Hammersmith Green has
received a most glorious power from the Lord Jehovah
viz ; the gift of healing all manner of diseases incident
to the human body, such as blindness, deafness, lame¬
ness, cancers, loss of speech and palsies.”
A Miss Mary Pratt, who constituted herself a kind of
advertising agent for the Loutherbourghs, published an
account of the cures the artist-quack and his wife had
performed, from which the following is extracted.
One case was that of Mary Ann Hughes, “ whose
father is chairman to her Grace the Duchess of Rutland
who lives at No. 37 in Ogle Street. She had a most
violent fever, fell into her knee, went to Middlesex
Hospital, where they made every experiment in order
to cure her but in vain ; she came home worse than she
went in, her leg contracted and useless. In this deplor¬
able state she waited on Mrs. Loutherbourgh who, with
infinite condescension, saw her, administered to her and
the second time of waiting on Mrs. Loutherbourgh she
was perfectly cured.”
Another case was that of Mrs. Hook of Stable Yard,
St. James’s, who had two daughters born deaf and dumb.
She waited on Mrs. Loutherbourgh who looked on them
with an eye of benignity and healed them.
“ I heard them both speak,” remarks Miss Pratt. “Let
22
me repeat with horror and detestation,” she concludes,
“ the wickedness of those who have procured tickets of
admission and sold them for five and two guineas a-
piece !—whereas this gift was chiefly intended for the
poor. Therefore Mr. Loutherbourgh has retired from
the practice into the country (for the present) having
suffered all the indignities and contumely that man
could suffer, joined to ungrateful behaviour and tumul¬
tuous proceedings. I have heard people curse him and
threaten his life, instead of returning him thanks, and
it is my humble wish that prayers may be put up in all
churches for his great gifts to multiply.”
The tumultuous proceedings mentioned, no doubt
refer to the fact that one day owing to a disappointed
patient, Loutherbourgh was severely handled by the
crowd outside his house and this happened on several
occasions.
He gave asylum to Cagliostro and his wife, when the
couple fell on evil days during their last visit to London,
and Mrs. Loutherbourgh accompanied Madame Cag¬
liostro to Switzerland when she finally left England to
join her husband.
A quack appliance, by means of which the inventor
declared, that “ disease could be drawn from the
human body,” first exploited in America and eventually
exploded in England, was the so-called “ Metallic
Tractors.”
They were the fore-runners of the many electrical
and magnetic appliances of a later period, by means of
which the public have been gulled.
The inventor of the “ Tractors,” Elisha Perkins, was
THE DANCING-MASTER QUACK 339
originally a student of Yale, and afterwards practised
medicine at Norwich, Connecticut, in the United States.
About 1795, he conceived the idea that metals had an
influence if applied to the body externally, and after
carrying out experiments, he perfected an appliance
which he called his “ Tractors.”
They consisted of two rods composed of brass and
iron, about three inches long, rounded at one end and
pointed at the other. One side of each rod was half
round, while the other was flat, and on the latter were
stamped the words “ Perkins Patent Tractors.”
He is said to have made them in a small furnace,
concealed in the wall of one of the rooms of his house.
According to his own account, one rod was composed of
copper, zinc and gold, while the other was of iron mixed
with silver and platinum.
They were probably made of brass and iron which
cost him about sixpence, but he managed to sell them
at five guineas a pair.
Perkins claimed by the use of his Tractors, that the
body could be freed from disease without any other
treatment. When applied, it was necessary they should
always be drawn downwards, and in obstinate cases
friction was to be used until the skin became red.
Finding the local medical society sceptical of his
claims for the virtues of his tractors, Perkins left Nor¬
wich for Philadelphia, where he was received with en¬
thusiasm at the various hospitals and infirmaries he
visited to demonstrate his wonderful appliance.
The members of the Congress then in Session, fully
believed his story, and George Washington purchased
a pair of the Tractors for his family, and he also found a
patron in the Lord Chief Justice.
Perkins patented the Tractors on February 19th, 1796
and they had a very large sale throughout the United
States, but his old colleagues in Norwich were still
unbelievers, and the Medical Society of Connecticut
eventually passed a resolution that, “ Perkins’ theories
respecting his tractors were delusive quackery, and
called upon him to appear at their next meeting to
answer for his disgraceful practices.” He was shortly
afterwards expelled from the Society.
Finding his popularity beginning to wane in America,
he decided to send his son, Benjamin Douglas, to England
to introduce the Tractors to Britishers. On his arrival,
he established himself in a house in London that was
formerly occupied by John Hunter the famous surgeon,
and began operations by publishing a book dealing with
the scientific aspects of his father’s discovery.
About this time, an epidemic of yellow fever broke out
in New York, and Elisha Perkins again came before the
public, with a remedy he declared to be infallible for
that disease. It is said to have consisted of common
salt and vinegar diluted with three parts of hot water,
however, it failed to save the life of the originator of the
remedy, who contracted the disease and died shortly
afterwards.
Meanwhile, Benjamin succeeded in launching the
Metallic Tractors in London and was selling hundreds at
five guineas a pair. They were sent over from America
in parcels each containing two hundred. Many Clergy¬
men, including the Chaplain to the Prince of Wales,
Lord Henniker and other influential personages, testified
to their wonderful power.
The caricaturists seized on the rage, and Gilray
published an amusing drawing of the results of using the
“ Tractors,” which were said to cure a burn or a scald
in five minutes. Poets and ballad singers sang their
praises, and even Byron, immortalised them in the
following lines in his “ English Bards and Scotch Re¬
viewers.”
“ What varied wonders tempt us as they pass !

The Cow-pox, Tractors, Galvanism, Gas,
In turns appear to make the vulgar stare,
Till the swoll’n bubble bursts—and all is air.”
They were also thus alluded to in a popular song :
“ Arm’d with twin skewers see Perkins by main force.

Drag the foul fiend from Christian and from horse.”
The Royal Society accepted a pair of the famous

appliances and a copy of Perkins’ book, while a “ Perkins
Institute and Dispensary ” was established for the poor,
with Lord Rivers as president and a committee of other
misguided persons.
All was going well, until Dr. John Haygarth, a medical
practitioner of Bath, who had strong suspicions of their
value, suddenly exposed the fraud.
He shaped a pair of tractors out of two pieces of wood
and painted them to appear like the metal appliances,
and with these he produced even greater cures than with
the originals. Together with a friend, Dr. Falconer, he
sent these wooden imitations to other physicians, who
forthwith reported astonishing results, which they pub¬
lished.
The bubble was thus burst and Benjamin Douglas
Perkins packed up his trunks, together with a rich
harvest of some 50,000 dollars which he is said to have
reaped in London, and returned to his native country.
A quack-doctor who combined the callings of a dentist
and dancing-master was Mr. Patence, who carried on his
various activities in Bow Court, Fleet Street, at Ludgate
Hill and the Strand, between 1771-76.
He announces in the London Gazette, “ that his in¬
genuity in making artificial teeth and fixing them with¬
out the least pain, can be attested by the Nobility, and
he hopes to be honoured by the rest of the great.
“ His medicines preventing all infections and sore
throats, have been experienced by several and as for
dancing, he leaves that to the multitudes of the ladies
and gentlemen whom he has taught and desires to be
rewarded no more than his merit deserves, nor no
less.”
As an instance of his skill as a dentist, he cites the
case of a lady who applied to him with her jaw-bone
broken, by having a tooth extracted by another lady.
She had a sound front tooth in her hand and two others
just ready to drop from their sockets, but he put them all
back again.
Later on, he announces in a bill that, “ Patence,
whose works, cures and operations form his supremacy
over every dentist in the Kingdom, also all physicians,
curing man, woman and child, when no one of them can
give relief ; demonstrates by his daily replacing black,
nauseous teeth, with those comprising six different
enamels, which are warranted never to turn black.
“ He also cures by occult demonstrations, all diseases
of the glands and King’s hereditary Evil.”
In the Morning Chronicle of 1776, he boldly an¬
nounces his discovery, of a marvellous cure-all, which
he calls his “Universal Medicine or Supreme Pills,
invented by Patence, Dentist and Physician to several
of the Royal family.” In introducing this arcana, he
says, “ I shall offer no apology for my medicine, which
is well-known to give ease and satisfaction in palsies,
gout, rheumatism, piles, fistulas, cancers of any sort,
King’s Evil, hereditary infections, jaundice, green sick¬
ness, St. Anthony’s Fire, convulsions, consumptions,
scorbutic diseases, pains in the head, brain, temple,
arteries, face, nose, mouth, and limbs, for which there
is nothing upon the earth surer, softer or better.
“ The Universal Medicine also restores lost hearing
and sight, renews the vital and animal vitalities, gives
complexion to the face, liveliness to the whole structure,
and many times has given unexpected relief on the
verge of eternity.”
He concludes by stating, “ they require no confine¬
ment, eat and drink what you please, and if they do not
answer the end proposed, I will return the Money. The
real worth of a box is Ten Guineas (curiously reminiscent
of a well-known pill advertised at the present time)
but for the benefit of all, with proper directions, it
is sold for three shillings ; with personal advice, ten and
sixpence.”
As late as 1776, Patence was still flourishing, for in an
announcement he makes in that year which is headed,
“To be sold for Five thousand pounds,” he states that,
“ He still has the unspeakable happiness of relieving
all who come under his care. His medicine was never
gained by book knowledge, nor was it ever known to the
faculty, ancient or modern, but acquired by real in¬
genuity and work.
“ To show its safety, sovereignty and efficacy, either
when in health or sickness, Mr. Patence constantly takes
his own pills to preserve his own health, and gives
them to children even in the mouth, in all cases.”
What greater proof of their virtues could one have
than this personal testimonial from the inventor ?
Towards the close of the XVIIIth century, when the
old types of quack and mountebank were beginning to
pass away, came the development of the quack medicine,
which largely owed its popularity and success to the
increased facilities for advertising. Whereas in earlier
times, the quack had to rely upon his vocal powers and
bills to sell his wares, by means of the press, the
quack-medicine vendor was able to address thou¬
sands.
Even in those days, fortunes were amassed from the
sale of quack nostrums such as Godbold’s “ Vegetable
Balsam.” The originator of this concoction began life
as a ginger-bread baker, and it is stated, that for ten
years after launching it, he cleared £10,000 a year from its
sale. He had a fine house standing in a park near Godai¬
ming in Surrey, which is said to have cost him £30,000.
Heath says he “ was a sociable, hospitable fellow, but
illiterate and vulgar in conversation.”
A tablet in Godaiming Church perpetuates his memory
and is thus inscribed :
“ Sacred to the memory of Nathaniel Godbold, the

inventor of that admirable medicine for consumptions
and asthmas, the Vegetable Balsam, who departed this
life, Dec. 17th 1799.”
Another quack remedy well-known about the same

period and from which the proprietor is said to
have made £5,000 a year, was “ Velno’s Vegetable
Syrup.” The inventor, whose name was Swainson was
originally a woollen draper, and a man of good education,
being well acquainted with Greek and Latin. He had a
house and grounds at Twickenham, where he made a
botanical garden of considerable extent containing many
rare plants.
“ It is a remarkable fact,” says a writer a century ago,
“ that England which claims to be the centre of civilisa¬
tion, should contain a population more quack-ridden,
more credulous as regards the efficacy of universal
secret specifics for the cure of disease, than any other
country in the world.”
Whether this is true or not to-day, it is extraordin¬
ary what an influence the mysterious still has on the
human mind. There appears to be in almost every
one, a vein of credulity and superstition against which
argument is useless. The disposition to be humbugged
often preponderates in our nature over reason and
common sense. The vast fortunes that have been made
from the sale of quack medicines in recent times and
the enormous amount spent in advertising them, prove
22*
that the same credulity that characterised our ancestors
still exists.
The advance of education has made little difference
in depriving people of this quality, in fact men of
education often fall easier dupes to the quack than those
who are ignorant.
A man may be able in politics, in art, in literature,,
in science or in business, and yet be a believer in quack¬
ery of one kind or another. If any one is bold enough
to assert that he has a remedy which cures certain
diseases and reiterates it often and loudly enough, he
is sure to get a following of believers among whom will
be found persons of ability and position. This is con¬
firmed again and again in the history of quackery.
One has but to compare the bills of the charlatans-
and beauty-doctors recounted in the preceding pages,
with the advertisements of their modern successors
that abound in our daily and weekly papers, to realise,
that human vanity and folly have not altered, and that
the quacks of to-day vary but little in their methods,
from the quacks of old London centuries ago.
INDEX
A
Act to regulate Medical Practise in 1511 - - - - - 25
Addison on Read - -- -- -- -- 278
Addison’s experience of Quack-doctors - 292
Agnodice, the Woman Physician - - - - - - 151
Alchemical Philosopher, An - - - - - - -187
Anatomy of the Caul - -- -- -- - 246
Anderson, Gilbert, the “ Ship’s Chyrurgeon ” 239
Anderson’s Scots Pills - - - - - - - -256
“ Angier’s Fume” - - - - - - - - - 219
Andrews, Dr. Edward - - - - - - - -136
Anodyne Necklace - - - - - - - - -104
Antimony Cups --------- 41
Anthony and his “ Aurum Potabile ” - - - - - 32
Anthony’s Secret published - 32
Arab Quack-doctors - -- -- -- - 21
“ Arcanum Magnum ” - - - - - - - 117
Artist and Quack - -- -- -- -- 336
Atkins, Will - -- -- -- -- - 92
B
Babylonian Priest-physician - -- -- -- 2o
“ Bacchus Turn’d Doctor ” - - - - - - -184
Badger’s Cordial - - - - - - - - 231
Baker, Nathaniel, “ Who Sets all Children Straight ” - - 262'.
Bartlett the Trussmaker - - - - - - - -261
Bateman, Robert, and his “ Spirit of Scurvy-grass ” - - 176
Bate’s Medicines - - - - - - - - -317
Baynham, who “ Tells the Winner ” ----- 68
Beauty Specialists - - - - - - - - -201
Beauty Specialist of Bond Street - - - - - -201
Beauty Specialist, Beautifies without Paint - 202
Beauty Specialist, who is a “ Pearl and a Treasure ” 203
347
34« INDEX
Bellon, Anthony, a French Quack - - - - - - 121
Ben Johnson’s Ballad on Wine and its Virtues - - - - 184
Bewley Arrested - -- -- -- -- 27
Bill issued by Dr. Case - -- -- -- - 51
Bill of Master Gernaes, ca. 1525 ------ 27
Blagrave’s Ravings - - - - - - - - -176
Blood of the Grape - - - - - - - - -184
Bohee-tea, Volatile Spirit of------ - 272
Borde, Dr. Andrew -------- - 74
Borri, The Italian Alchemist - -- -- -- 98
Bossy, Dr. - - - - - - - - - - 312
Bossy, Dr., and the parrot - - - - - - - 314
British Oyl - -- -- -- -- - 252
Brodum, Dr. - -- -- -- -- - 328
Bromfield’s Pills Against all Diseases - - - - - 192
Buck, “ a Very Impudent Quack ” - - - - - 30
Buckworth’s Lozenges - -- -- -- - 225
Butchell, Martin van - - - - - - - -321
Butchell, Martin van and his Embalmed Wife - - - - 322
Butchell, van Mrs. and her Epitaph ------ 323
Bagnio, The Duke’s - -- -- -- - 263
Bagnio, The Royal - -- -- -- -- 264
Bagnio, The Queen’s - -- -- -- - 265
Bagnio, Lacy’s --------- - 269
C
Case, John - -- -- -- -- - 47
Case, John, Books written by------ - 48
Case and the Oracle - -- -- -- - 32
Case and Dr. Radcliffe - -- -- -- - 54
Case and Addison - -- -- -- -- 54
Chamberlaine’s Wonderful Necklace - - - - - - 212
China Hummum, The - -- -- -- - 268
Choke, Major John - -- -- -- - 102
Clark’s Compound Spirit of Scurvy-grass - - - - - 174
Charlatan, Early mention of------ - 24
Coffee for Sore Eyes - - - - - - - -271
Coffee House, First opened - - - - - - -271
College of Physicians founded - - - - - - 25
Comport, Edward, who “ Letteth Blood ” - - - - - 195
Condurn, Colonel - -- -- -- -- 273
Corners, John, and his Artificial Mineral Waters - 259
Corn-cutters - -- -- -- -- 269, 270
INDEX 349
Cornet, An ‘ Impudent Buffoon 5. 28
Counterfeit Physician punished in London - - - - - 25
Court Beauties and the Dairymaids ------ 206
“ Crazy-Sally ” - -- -- -- -- 299
Cuppers - -- -- -- -- - 269
Cupping, Methods of - 265
D
Daffy’s Elixir and its history .255
Dalmahoy Colonel, and his Wig .3ii
Dee, a Mountebank Summoned .37
Detecting a Thief - - - .70
Dew Bath - .268
Doctor’s Wife, The - - - .149
Doctor of Physick from Poland - 164
Doctor of Physick from Italy .165
Draper, Dr. Stephen .215
Draper, Dr. Stephen, his addiess to ‘ Beloved Women ” - - 215
Drew, Widow - .iso
“ Drops of Comfort ” 241
Dutch Operator of Amsterdam - .163
Dutch Operator and his Cures - 119
E
Edwards, Jack - .138
Edwards, Jack, Elegy on Death of .139
“ Effectual Pills,” The .223
Electuary Balm of Gilead .253
Elixir Magnum Stomachicum - 100
Elixir of Saffron - .259
Elixir Proprietatis - - - 229
Elixir Mineral - .230
Empirics, Meaning of 24
“ Extraordinary Essence ” ------ 210
P
Fairclough George, Quack Oculist .199
Fairfax prosecuted - - - .29
Fernseed and Invisibility .66
Fletcher’s Powder - - - 228
Fool, The use of a - .73
Foote’s satire on Quackery .306
350 INDEX
Forehead Pieces - 207
Forman charged and imprisoned 3i
Friar’s Balsam, The true 258
Friendly Pills to Nature - 67
G
Gale and { Counterfeit Javils ’ 26
Gardiner, Sarah, and her “ Ague Cure ” 157
Gentleman from Louvain - 112
Gentlewoman at the “ Blew Ball ” 155
Gentlewoman with the “ Most Rare Secrets ” 205
Giant Worms ------ 197
Godbold’s Vegetable Balsam - 344
“ Golden Elixir ”. 182
Goodal’s, Dr. Bill ----- 233
Gordan, Madam - 152
Graham, James, and his “ Temple of Health ” 333
Graham, James, and his “ Celestial State Bed ” 334
Grant, Roger - - - - - - 280
Gray’s “ Caution to the Unwary ” 106
Great Cordial Antidote - 232
Greek Quack-doctors - 20
Green, Mrs. Mary ----- 145
Grig, Prophet and Healer in 1551 28
H
Halle describes the Javells in Maidstone 26
Haygarth, Dr., Exposes the Tractors - 34i
“ Health Procuring Pills ” 224
“ Herculean Antidote ” 169
Heusde, Sarah Cornelius de 152
High-German Doctor - 88
High-German Doctor’s Address 142
High-German Doctor and his Bill 123
Hill, John, and his Herbal Remedies 325
Hindu Quack-doctors 20
Hockogrocle, The - - - - no
Hummums in Brownlow Street 266
I
Infallible Mountebank, The - 76
“ Italian Pills ” - 182
INDEX 351
j
Jatropoton. 260
Jesuits’ Bark -------
235
X
Katterfelto and his Black Cats - 3i7
Katterfelto’s Exhibition -
3i7
Kirleus, Dr., and his “ Drink ” - 186
X.
“ Lady Moor’s Drops ” 229
Lady Read’s Bill - 280
Lambe, John, and his career - 38
Lambe, John, as a Magician - 38
Lambe, John, and the Duke of Buckingham - 39
Lambe, John, beaten in the streets - 40
Lattese, Mr., and his “ Extraordinary Discovery ” 272
Lattese, Mr., and his “ Secret Arcanum ” - 273
Laverenst, Anne, A German Gentlewoman 148
Lilly, William, the Astrologer - 57
Lilly, William, and his “ Prophetical Merlin ” 58
Lilly, William, and Elias Ashmole - 58
Linseed-oyl and its Virtues - 252
Lisbon Snuff for the Eyesight - 260
Lockyer, Lionel, and his Pills - 108
Lockyer, Lionel, his tomb and epitaph 109
“ London Pills ”. 193
Lopus, the Illustrious Spanish Doctor 113
Lopus, the Illustrious Spanish Doctor and his Address 113, 117
Loutherbourgh, Philip James, R.A. 336
Love affairs of Old Men and Women 199
Lownd’s Lozenges ------ 226
“ Lozenges of Blois ” 241
Luncatelli’s Balsam ------ - 185
Lufkin, a Quack in 1558 - 26
M
Mantacinni and his “ Baume de Vie ” i
3 5
Mapp, Sarah, the Bone-setter - 299
Mapp’s, Sarah, career - 300
Maris, Elizabeth ------ 159
Marthambles, The ------ no
Mathew’s Pills ------ 242
352 INDEX
Merry Andrew at Wisbeach Fair - 74
Merry Andrews --------- 74
Merry, Nat, and his Cure for the “ Dogmatical Incurables ” - - 96
“ Metalick Eagle 227
Miraculous Necklace - - - - - - - -103
Montague, Lady Mary Wortley, and inoculation - 207
Montespan, Madame de - -- -- -- - 209
Moon Pall, The - - - - - - - - - no
Morandi and his “ Sovereign Julep ” - - - - - 99
Mountebank, Early mention of------ - 24
Mountebanks, Account of, 1676 - 77, 78
Mountebanks and their Zanies ------ 73
N
Neurenburg, Frederick Van, “ A Faithful Physitian ” - - - 167
“ Never Failing Pills ” - - - - - - -221
Nevill, Widdow - - - - - - - - -158
New Dispensary - -- -- -- -- 245
“ New World’s Water ” - -- -- -- - 247
Newman, the Mountebank Chyrurgian - - - - - 221
Newton, James, and his treatment of Insanity - - - - 197
Night Masks - -- -- -- -- - 205
Norridge, Mrs., and her “ Great Secret ” - - - - 156
Norwood’s Mineral Spring ------- 275
O
“ Olbion,” The.-231
Old Made Young - - - - - - - - -199
“ Only Delicate Beautifying Cream ” - - - - - 211
Oxford Doctor, An ________ 93
P
Panchimagogum Febrifugum ------- 232
Partridge, John.59
Partridge, John, and Swift.59
Patence, Dentist and Dancing-master ------ 342
Patence and his Universal Medicine ------ 343
Pechey, John - - - - - - - - - -132
Pechey, John, his rules for patients - - - - - -133
Pechey, John and his Bills - - - - - - - 133
Pecune, Famous Italian Quack - - - - - - -213
Penny Post - - - - - - - - - -180
Perkin’s Metallic Tractors - - - - - - - 338
INDEX 353
Perkins, Benjamin Douglas, comes to England - 340
Perkins’, Institute and Dispensary ------ 34!
Perronet, David, and his “ Universal Dentifrice ” - - - 195
Philalethes, R. F. - - - - - - - - 227
Philips, Mrs., of the “ Green Canister ”----- 273
Piers sent to Prison, 1586- - - - - - - - 29
Piercy’s Lozenges - -- -- -- -- 225
Pilula Salutiferens - 224
Pilula Imperialis - - - - - - - - -108
Plague preservatives - - - - - - - - - 218
Plague Quacks - - - - - - - - - 218
Plunket’s Caustic - - - - - - - - - 327
Pontaeus, Dr., and his “ Orvietan ”------ 54
Pontaeus, Dr., and his challenge to the Oxford Physicians - - 55
Pordage, Dr., and his True Spirit of Scurvy-grass - - - 180
Powder of Talk - -- -- -- -- 208
Powel, a Notorious Mountebank fined - - - - - 31
“ Pretious Pearl in the midst of a Dung-hil ” - - - - 243
“ Princesses Powder ” - - - - - - - - 209
Proceedings against Quacks - -- -- -- 28
Pulsefeel, Dr. --------- - 235
Purl and Purl Royal -------- - 101
Q
Quacks in Tudor times - 34
Quack-doctors in the XIVth Century 21
Quack, Meaning of the word 23
Quack-salver, Derivation of 23
Quack’s costume and lodging 125
Quacks in London in the XVIIIth Century 290
Quackery in London in XVIth Century 34

Quackery practised To-day 345 , 346
Queen Anne’s Oculist - - - 277
R
Rand’s, Thomas, Speech - - - - - - - 236
Read, Sir William - - - - - - 276
Red Hair, Prejudice against - - - - - - 206
Red Pomatum for the Lips - - - - - - 206
Rent’s Secret - - - - - - - - - 209
Remarkable Person, A - - - - - - 69
Riverius and his “ Arcana ” - - m - - - Il8
Rock, Dr. ■m - - m - - 312
354 INDEX
Roman Quack-doctors ----- 21
Rose’s Balsamick Elixir ----- 188
Russell’s Bill ------- 220
Russell, Elizabeth, and her “ Famous Friendly Pill ” 154
S
Sabbarton, Joseph. 135
Saffold, Thomas - 4L 42, 43
SafFold, Thomas, and “ Christian Astrology ” 43
Saffold, Thomas, Death and elegy on 45, 47
Salmon, William, and his “ Elixir Vitae ” 126
Salmon, William, and his Books 127
Salmon, William, and his “ London Almanack ” 128
Salmon, William, and “ The Religious Impostor 129
Salmon, William, and his Library 131
Salmon, Mrs., and her Waxworks 131
Sandford “ Astrological Medicus ” 63
Schultius, John, High-German Operator 170
Scurvy-grass ------ 173
Scurvy-grass Drink at St. Barts 173
Scurvy-Quacks - - - - - 173
Searl, Margaret - - - - - 100
Secret Cabinet - 245
“ Secret that No One Else Hath ” 210
Seventh Child of a Seventh Child 71, 188, 189
Seventh Son of a Seventh Son - - - 189
Shadells, Thomas, Corn-curer - - - 271
Sintelaer’s “ Royal Decoction ” - 244
Skit on a Quack-doctor’s Speech 307
Smallpox disfigurement - 206
Smith, Thomas, “ Master Corn-cutter ” 269
Snuffs for the Toothache - 260
Solomon, Dr., and his “ Cordial Balms ” 329
Solomon, Dr., and Madame Tussaud 330
Solomon, Dr., and his guests - - - 330
Solomon, Dr., and the irate husband’s Revenge 331
Souburg, Abraham of Gronigen - - - 160
Southey on “ Quacks ” 276
Stephens, Joanna - - - 294
Stephens, Joanna, her Cure for the Stone 295
Stephens, Joanna, Her Secret disclosed 297
Sternutatory Snuff - - - - - 260
Stoughton, Richard - - - - 100
INDEX 355
“ Strong Fives,” The - - no
Strong Rock Oyl - -- -- -- -- 252
Strange Diseases - -- -- -- -- 110
Stringer, Moses, and his “ Elixir Renovans ” 248
Stringer, Moses, and his Experiments - 249
Stringer, Moses, and his Cures ------ 251
Sweating Houses --------- 267
Swift’s Broadside on the Death of Mr. Partridge - - - - 59
Sylva, An Italian Quack, 1570 ------- 29
T
Talc in cosmetics - -- -- -- -- 207
Taylor, The Chevalier John ------- 282
Taylor, The Chevalier John, his Lecture on “ The Eye ” - - 283
Taylor, The Chevalier John and Dr. Johnson - 285
Tea first sold at Garraway’s ------- 272
Three Great Quacks - 303
Til bourn, Cornelius a-------- 86
Tilburg -------- - 87 89, 91
Tomazine Scarlet, a Female Quack, 1588 ----- 29
Trigg, Doctor, and his “ Golden Vatican Pills ” - 94
U
Unborn Doctor, An - - 189, 191
“ Universal Scorbutick Pills ”------ - 222
V
“ Velno’s Vegetable Syrup ” - 345
“ Venus with her Crown ” 166
Vernantes, Sieur de - 175
“ Vine Tavern, The ” 99
Vizard Masks - 208
W
Ward, Joshua --------- - 285
Ward, Joshua, his Career ------- 286
Ward, Joshua, Introduction to George II. - 286
Ward, Joshua, his Room at Whitehall - - - - - - 287
Ward, Joshua, and his Remedies ------ 288
Ward, Joshua, and Queen Caroline ------ 288
Warrant Issued by James I. against Quacks - - - - 37
Wasse, James - - -- -- -- -- 97
“ Water of Talk and Pearl ”------ 207, 213
356 INDEX
Wilcox, The Cupper.268
Willmore’s, Ben, Speech - - - - - - - 81, 84
Willmore, Ben, and his Bill - - - - - - -199
Wine as medicine - - - - - - - - -184
Winter, Salvator, and his “ Elixir Vitae ”----- 95
“ Woman’s Prophecy,” The ------- 72
Woodward and his Famous “ Balsamick Pills ” - - - 61
“ World’s Beautifier ” - - 212
Worm Exterminator - - - - - - - - -196
Z
Zany’s, A., Speech ---- - - 140
Printed in Great Britain by Ebeneter Baylis # Son, Ltd,, The Trinity Press,
Worcester.
V
/
Riley Dunn & Wilson Ltd
EXPSPT CONSERVATORS & BOOK8INOERS
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Swjf* V

THE QUACKS OF OLD LONDON "

THE ORIGIN OF THE QUACK-DOCTOR-QUACK-

DOCTORS IN TUDOR TIMES - - - 23

Quack, Mountebank and Charlatan—Punishment

FAMOUS QUACKS IN THE TIME OF THE STUARTS - 36

James I and the prosecution of quacks—Arthur Dee,

Cornelius a Tilbourn of the “ Blue Flower Pot ”—He

A “ Caution to the Unwary ”—Gray’s diatribe

a quack’s costume, dr. salmon and some

A Quack’s costume—Description of his lodgings—

A QUACK-DOCTOR AND BALLAD-SINGER-A HIGH

GERMAN DOCTOR AND HIS MERRY ANDREW - 138

Jack Edwards the ballad-singing quack—His Elegy—

PLACE FOR THE GENTLEWOMEN - - -

MORE FOREIGN QUACKS -----

Moses Stringer and his “ Elixir Renovans ”—The

AND TEA ------- 263

Southey on Quacks—Sir William Read—Appointed

GOVERNMENT WAS DUPED - - - - 29O

A quack investigator—His experience of female

Mrs. Mapp, the Bone-setter—Crazy Sally’s career—

! QUACKS OF COVENT GARDEN AND PICCADILLY - 3 11

a quack’s embalmed wife - - - - 321

BRODUM, SOLOMON AND GRAHAM - - - 327

Physicians and quack remedies—Dr. Brodum and his

AN ARTIST-QUACK-A DANCING-MASTER QUACK -

Philip James Loutherbourgh R.A.—Scene designer

I ORIGIN OF THE QUACK-DOCTOR-QUACKS IN TUDOR TIMES

O UACKERY may of course be practised in various

Canfeer or the Colpcfe anb the

About the middle of the sixteenth century, the College

The female quack was not unknown in the sixteenth

FAMOUS QUACKS IN THE TIME OF THE STUARTS

D URING the seventeenth century quacks of every

the effects shortly afterwards.

THE ATTACK ON DR. LAMBE

Lambe’s fate showed the popular hatred of Buck¬

“ Let Charles and George do what they can,

“ Who rules the Kingdom ? —The King,

“Let the Duke look to it or he will be served as his

A few weeks later, Buckingham was assassinated.

“ It hath so pleased God the King of Heaven,

Saffold practised what he called “ Christian astrology,”

“ THE SICK MAY HAVE ADVICE FOR NOTHING 55

His Liquor or Elixir, which he recommended for the

“ Dear Friends, let your disease be what God will

“ Saffold Resolves, as in his bills exprest

If men will live intemperate and Sin,

In the spring of 1691, Tom was taken ill and when

“ Tom Saffold dead ? That famous Operator,

His skill in Physick did his fame advance,

Ye who now in sweating-tubs devoutly drivel,

Saffold’s business was carried on by John Case, who

44 At the Golden Ball and Lillies Head

Case was born at Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire about

u Within this place

Addison later declared in the Tatler, a Case made

“ Dear Friends, let your disease be what God will,

“ Case offers the Poor, Sore, Sick and Lame, advice