(_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.