“‘All sorts of cardials were sent. Sir Walter Rawleigh sent one from the Tower.’”
“MRS. MAPP.
“No part of surgery is supposed to be so easy to understand as bone-setting; it is regarded by a considerable part of the people as no matter of science, an affair on a level with farriery, as easily learnt, and like a heritage, to be transmitted from father to son; in short, the pretensions of these people are very like those of the man who set up as an oculist, because he had lost an eye, or the rupture doctor, who cured bursten children, because his grandfather and grandmother were both bursten.
“We are not without plenty of ignorant and impudent pretenders at the present day, but the celebrated Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter of Epsom, surpasses them all. She was the daughter of a man named Wallis, a bone-setter at Hindon, in Wiltshire, and sister to the celebrated ‘Polly Peachem,’ who married the Duke of Bolton. Upon some family quarrel, Sally Wallis left her professional parent, and wandered up and down the country in a miserable manner, calling herself ‘Crazy Sally,’ and pursuing, in her perambulations, a course that fairly justified the title. Arriving at last at Epsom, she succeeded in humbugging the worthy bumpkins of that place so decidedly, that a subscription was set on foot to keep her among them; but her fame extending to the metropolis, the dupes of London, a numerous class then as well as now, thought it no trouble to go ten miles to see the conjuror, till at length, she was pleased to bless the afflicted of London with her presence, and once a week drove to the Grecian Coffee-house, in a coach and six, with out-riders! and all the appearance of nobility. It was in one of these journeys, passing through Kent-street, in the Borough, that being taken for a certain woman of quality from the Electorate in Germany, a great mob followed, and bestowed on her many bitter reproaches, till Madame, perceiving some mistake, looked out of the window, and accosted them in this gentle manner: ‘D—— n your bloods, don’t you know me? I am Mrs. Mapp, the bone-setter!’ upon which, they instantly changed their revilings into loud huzzas.
“That she was likely enough to express herself in these terms, [p342] seems very natural from her origin and history; but that she should be on visiting terms with decent people, and keep quality company, is as unnatural. Mr. Pott, who wrote with the pen of a master, has noticed this in no very gracious terms:—‘We all remember,’ says he, ‘that even the absurdities and impracticability 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 or mechanic, 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 an ignorant, illiberal, drunken, female savage, but even solicited her company; at least, seemed to enjoy her company.’”
“TAR WATER.
“Bishop Berkeley, who brought this remedy into fashion, was greatly aided by the faith of the clergy, who preached it up in all quarters. Among these, none was more strenuous than Dr. Young, the author of the ‘Night Thoughts.’ ‘They who have experienced the wonderful effects of tar water,’ says he, ‘reveal its excellencies to others. I say reveal, because they are beyond what any can conceive by reason or natural light. But others disbelieve them, though the revelation is attested past all scruple, because to them such strange excellencies are incomprehensible. Now give me leave to say, that this infidelity may possibly be as fatal to morbid bodies, as other infidelity to morbid souls. I say this in honest zeal for your welfare. I am confident, if you persist, you’ll be greatly benefited by it. In old obstinate chronical complaints, it probably will not show its virtue under three months; tho’ secretly, it is doing good all the time.’
“Such was the universality of its power, that it was good for man and beast, and a sure remedy for the plague!”
After this miscellaneous and amusing collection, we arrive at the Memoirs, which is not a dry, biographical record of birth, death, parentage, and education, but a lively sketch of characteristic particulars of eminent medical men. We will select a few of them.
“BUTTER.