MINOR NOTES.
Sermon's Pills.—In Guizot's Life of Monk, Duke of Albermarle, translated and edited by the present Lord Wharncliffe, it is stated (p. 313.) that when the Duke was suffering from the diseases which afterwards proved fatal to him,
"One of his neighbours, at New Hall, formerly an officer in his army, mentioned to him certain pills said to be sovereign against the dropsy, which were sold at Bristol by one Sermon, who had also served under his orders in Scotland as a private soldier. This advice and remedy from ancient comrades, inspired the old general with more confidence than the skill of the physicians. He sent for Sermon's pills, and found himself so much recovered by them for a time, that he returned to London at the close of the summer."
Having "found," in the newspapers of the day, the following paragraphs illustrative of this passage in the great General's history, I think them sufficiently interesting "to make a Note of."
"London, July 13. 1669.—His Grace the Lord General, after a long and dangerous distemper, is (God be praised) perfectly recovered and restored to his former health, to the Great rejoycing of their Majesties and the whole court, by the assistance of one William Sermon, of Bristol, whose pills have had that excellent success as to restore him perfectly to his sleep and appetite, and wholly abate all the symptoms of his disease. Yesterday his Grace, as being perfectly cured, dismissed his physicians from their farther attendance."
"London, July 17. 1669.—The 13th instant, Mr. William Sermon, the practitioner in physick, who so happily performed that excellent cure upon his Grace the Duke of Albermarle, was presented to His Majesty in St. James's Park, where he had the honor to kiss His Majesty's hand, and to receive his thanks for that good service."
September 9. 1669.—"Advertisement: These are to give notice that William Sermon, Dr. of Physick, a person so eminently famous for his cure of his Grace the Duke of Albermarle, is removed from Bristol to London, and may be spoken with every day, especially in the forenoon, at his house in West Harding Street, in Goldsmith's Rents, near Three Legged Alley, between Fetter Lane and Shooe Lane."
Can any of your correspondents give an account of the subsequent career of Dr. Sermon?
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An Infant Prodigy (Vol. ii., p. 101.).—There are parallel cases in the hagioloists (Hist. de l'Eglise Gallicane, par Longueval, tom. iii. p. 430. 1782):
"S. Amand après cette mission étant repassé dans la Gaule, eut bientôt occasion de montrer l'intrépidité de son zèle ... L'amour des femmes, écueil fatal des jeunes princes, fit en peu de temps oublier à Dagobert les leçons qu'il avoit reçues de S. Arnoux et de S. Cunibert. Il se livra à cette passion avec tant de scandale, qu'il eut jusqu'à trois femmes à la fois qui portoient le nom de reines, sans parler d'un grand nombre de concubines ...