Another case of "three pair, back," occurs in the memoirs of Dr. Lettsom,
who is already made mention of in this work. On one of his benevolent
excursions, the doctor found his way into the squalid garret of a poor old
woman who had evidently seen better days. With the refined language and
the easy deportment of a well-bred lady, she begged the physician to
examine her case, and give her a prescription. (Alas! how often is poverty
mistaken for disease, and does want foster malady!) But the kind doctor,
after a careful inquiry, formed a correct diagnosis, and wrote on a slip
of paper he chanced to have about him, the following brief note to the
overseers of the parish:--
"A shilling per diem for Mrs. Moreton. Money, not physic, can cure
her.