[584] The Diary of John Evelyn, under the date 4 Feb. 1685.
[585] The popular imagination at the time appears to have been most impressed by Dr King’s promptitude in whipping out his lancet. Roger North must have had it incorrectly in his mind when he wrote: “About the time of the death of Charles II., it grew a fashion to let blood frequently, out of an opinion that it would have saved his life if done in time.”
[586] Obs. Med. 3rd ed. 1675, V. 5.
[587] Ralph Thoresby, Ducatus Leodiensis, ed. Whitaker, App. p. 151. Brand, Hist. of Newcastle, under the year 1675, says that “the jolly rant” caused 724 deaths in that town, the authority given being Jabez Cay, M.D., who left his papers to Thoresby. The number given is probably the mortality from all causes.
[588] Patrick Walker’s Life of Cargill, pp. 29, 30.
[589] Synopsis Nosologiae. 3rd ed. Edin. 1780, II. 173.
[590] Epist. respons. ad R. Brady, § 42.
[591] Luttrell (Diary, I. 23) enters under Oct. 1629: “About the middle of this month vast great rains fell which have been very prejudiciall to many persons.”
[592] Christopher Love Morley, M.D., De Morbo Epidemico tam hujus quam superioris Anni, id est 1678 et 1679 Narratio. Preface dated London, 31 Dec. 1679.
[593] Lady Chaworth to Lord Roos, Calendar of the Belvoir MSS. II. 47.