_Charm for the Cure of the King's Evil._--Acting on the advice of your able
correspondent EMDEE (Vol. i., p. 429.), I beg to forward the following
curious and cruel charm for the cure of the king's evil, extracted from a
very quaint old work by William Ellis, farmer of Little Gaddesden, near
Hempstead, Herts, published at Salisbury in 1750:--
"A girl at Gaddesden, having the evil in her Feet from her Infancy, at
eleven years old lost one of her toes by it, and was so bad that she
could hardly walk, therefore was to be sent to a London Hospital in a
little time. But a Beggar woman coming to the Door and hearing of it,
said, that if they would cut off the hind leg, and the fore leg on the
contrary side of that, of a toad, and she wear them in a silken bag
about her neck, it would certainly cure her; but it was to be observed,
that on the toad's losing its legs, it was to be turned loose abroad,
and as it pined, wasted, and died, the distemper would likewise waste
and die; which happened accordingly, for the girl was entirely cured by
it, never having had the evil afterwards. Another Gaddesden girl having
the evil in her eyes, her parents dried a toad in the sun, and put it
in a silken bag, which they hung on the back part of her neck; and
although it was thus dried, it drawed so much as to raise little
blisters, but did the girl a great deal of service, till she carelessly
lost it."