A page in the register book of Bisley, Surrey, is headed thus, “Certificates for the Evill commonly called the kings Evill.” Two entries occur as follow:—
“Elizabeth Collier and Thomas Collier the children of Thomas Collier, Senior, had a certificate from the minister and churchwardens of Bisley, August 7th 1686.”
“Sarah Massey, the daughter of Richard Massey, had a certificate from the minister and churchwardens of Bisley, 1st April 1688.”
Old parish accounts often contain entries similar to the following, from Ecclesfield, Yorkshire:—
| “1641. | Given to John Parkin wife towards her trauell to London to get cure of his Matie. for the disease called Euill which her soone Thom is visited withall | 0. 6. 8.” |
“The following extracts,” says a contributor to The Reliquary of January, 1894, “from the Minute Books of the Corporation of the city of York, show that general belief in the virtue of the touching by the King was unshaken at the end of the seventeenth century. It must be borne in mind that these Minutes do not record the acts of individuals, but were those of the Corporation of what was at that time one of the most important cities in the country, and that it was in administering Poor Law Relief that the grants were made.
In Vol. 38 of the Corporation Records, fo. 74b, under the date of February 28th, 1671, is the following:—
“Ordered that Elizabeth Trevis haue xs given her for charges in carrying her daughter to London to be touched for the Evill.”
A few years later, on March 12th, 1678 (fo. 156b), occurs the following:—
“Anne Thornton to haue xs for goeing to London to be touched for the euill.”