TOUCHING FOR THE CURE OF THE KING'S EVIL.
(For the Mirror.)
The author of a treatise on this subject, tells the following anecdote, which may in some degree account for the numbers registered at Whitehall, (who were touched) which were from the year 1660 to 1664 inclusive, a period of five years, 23,601; and from May 1667 to May 1684, 68,506; viz. an old man who was witness in a cause, had by his residence fixed the time of a fact, by Queen Anne having been at Oxford, and touched him while a child, for the cure of the evil. When he had finished his evidence, the relater had an opportunity of asking him whether he was really cured. Upon which he answered with a significant smile, "that he believed himself never to have had a complaint, that deserved to be considered as the evil, but that his parents were poor, and had no objection to the bit of gold."
When King Charles II. touched at Whitehall, he usually sat in a chair of state, and put about each of their necks a white ribbon, with an angel of gold on it. Query.—Was not this the original golden or angelic ointment?
Edward the Confessor is generally mentioned as the first possessor of this art; although the historians of France are disposed to maintain, that it was originally inherent in their kings.
Dr. Johnson's mother is said to have been instigated by the advice of a celebrated physician, Sir John Floyer, to bring her son to London for the purpose of receiving the remedy, and it is recorded that he was touched by Queen Anne.
P.T.W.