being the chief resort for bathers, and of growing repute. The town
of Margate is in a very increasing state, and its principal ornaments
consist of its late additions. The chief concern of the publick seems
to render it as much a place for pleasure as utility, as, under colour
of utility, persons can pursue pleasure without censure. A mother,
for instance, might be highly blamed by her acquaintance for leaving
her family for a month, and going to spend her husband’s money; but
who can blame her when her health requires it? They are modelling
it according to the taste of the times. They have, indeed, built one
place of worship, but a playhouse nearly four times as large. Thus,
when ill-health does not interrupt the company’s pursuit of amusement,
they are likely soon to be accommodated to their minds. Such is the
provision already made, that the consumptive cough of a delicate
lady may be furnished with the relief of the fumes of a smoking hot
assembly-room, and the embarrassed citizen may drown his anxiety in the
amusements of the Card-table....
‘The libraries are decently furnished, and may serve as a kind of
lounging Exchange, where persons overburdened with money and time may
ease themselves with great facility. The most healthful amusement, and
best suited to invalids, that is pursued at Margate, is that of the
bowling-green, where, upon the top of a hill, and in full prospect of
the sea, in a free open air, gentlemen may exercise their bodies, and
unbend their minds; this, if pursued for the benefit of health and
innocent recreation, with a serious friend, appears to have no more
criminality in it than Peter’s going a fishing....
‘Having staid as long at Ramsgate as our affairs at home would, with
prudence, admit; we went on board the same ship, and re-embarked for
London. In order, I suppose, to take the better advantage, we sailed
some leagues right out to sea; but, it being a dead calm, we hardly
experienced any other motion than was occasioned by the tide and swell
of the sea for that night. The cry of the sailors, Blow! Blow! reminded
me of that pathetick exclamation of the ancient Church! The next day
proved equally calm, so that we had little else to divert us but walk
about the deck, and watch the rolling of the porpoises in the sea.
We had an old sailor on board, whose patience being tired, declared
he preferred being at sea in a storm to being becalmed on the ocean,
which struck me with the propriety of the observation, when applied to
Christian experience; for a storm, under Divine direction, is often
made the means of hastening the Christian’s progress, while a dead calm
is useless and unsafe.’
It took them two days to get to Margate, and another day to reach
Gravesend. On their way they passed a vessel cast on shore, which ‘cut
a dismal figure, such as they make, to an enlightened eye, who make
shipwreck of faith, whom Christians see, as they pursue their course,
run aground, and dash to pieces.’
By the time they came to Gravesend some of the passengers had had
enough of the Hoy--so they hired a boat and four men to row them to
London, but the wind getting up, the river became rough, and the
boat being over-loaded, the boatmen begged them to get on board a
fishing-smack, which they did, and arrived at Billingsgate safely.
We can hardly imagine, in these days of steam, that a journey from
Ramsgate to London would last from Monday morning to Wednesday night,
but people did not hurry themselves too much in those days.
QUACKS OF THE CENTURY.
In all ages there have been pretenders to medical science, and it has
been reserved to the present century to elevate the healing art into
a real science, based on proper physiological facts, aided by the
searching analyses of modern chemistry. The old alchemists had died
out, yet they had some pretensions to learning, but the pharmacopœia
at the commencement of the eighteenth century was in a deplorable
condition. Surgery, for rough purposes, had existed since the earliest
ages, because accidents would happen, then as now; and, moreover,
there were wars, which necessitated the amputation of limbs, etc., but
medicine, except in the knowledge of the virtue of herbs and simples,
was in more than a primitive state. Anyone who chose, could dub himself
Doctor, and, naturally, the privilege was largely taken advantage of.
The name of quack, or quacksalver, does not seem to have been much
used before the seventeenth century, and its derivation has not been
distinctly settled. In the ‘Antiquities of Egypt,’ etc., by William
Osburn, junior, London, 1847, p. 94, he says: ‘The idea of a physician
is frequently represented by a species of duck, the name of which is
CHIN: the Egyptian word for physician was also CHINI.’ But neither
Pierret, in his ‘Vocabulaire Hieroglyphique,’ nor Bunsen, in ‘Egypt’s
Place in Universal History,’ endorse this statement. Still the Egyptian
equivalent for cackling, or the noise of a goose, was _Ka ka_, and in
Coptic _Ouok_, pronounced very much like quack.
The Germans also use the word _Quacksalber_, and the Dutch
_Kwaksalver_, a term which Bilderdijk, in his ‘Geslachtlijst der
Naamwoorden,’ (derivation or gender of men’s names) says, ought more
properly to be _Kwabsalver_, from _Kwab_, a wen, and _Salver_, to
anoint. Be this as it may, the English word quack certainly means an
illegitimate medical practitioner, a pretender to medical science,
whose pretensions are not warranted by his knowledge.
The seventeenth century was prolific in quacks--a notable example being
John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester. Both Bishop Burnet and De Gramont agree
that, during one of his banishments from Court, he lived in Tower
Street (next door to the sign of the ‘Black Swan,’ at a goldsmith’s
house), and there practised as a quack doctor, as one Alexander Bendo,
newly arrived from Germany. There is a famous mountebank speech of his
extant, copies of which exist not only in broad sheets, but in some of
the jest-books of the seventeenth century, which, genuine or not, is
very amusing. It is far too long to transcribe here, but perhaps I may
be pardoned if I give a short extract.
‘The knowledge of these secrets I gathered in my travels abroad (where
I have spent my time ever since I was fifteen years old to this, my
nine and twentieth year) in France and Italy. Those that have travelled
in Italy will tell you what a miracle of art does there assist
nature in the preservation of beauty: how women of forty bear the
same countenance with them of fifteen: ages are no way distinguished
by faces; whereas, here in England, look a horse in the mouth and a
woman in the face, you presently know both their ages to a year. I
will, therefore, give you such remedies that, without destroying your
complexion (as most of your paints and daubings do) shall render them
perfectly fair; clearing and preserving them from all spots, freckles,
heats, pimples, and marks of the small-pox, or any other accidental
ones, so that the face be not seamed or scarred.
‘I will also cleanse and preserve your _teeth_ white and round as
pearls, fastening them that are loose: your gums shall be kept entire,
as red as coral; your lips of the same colour, and soft as you could
wish your lawful kisses.
‘I will likewise administer that which shall cure the worst of breaths,
provided the lungs be not totally perished and imposthumated; as
also certain and infallible remedies for those whose breaths are yet
untainted; so that nothing but either a very long sickness, or old age
itself, shall ever be able to spoil them.
‘I will, besides, (if it be desired) _take away_ from their fatness
who have over much, and _add_ flesh to those that want it, without the
least detriment to their constitutions.’
By his plausible manners and good address, he soon gathered round him
a large _clientèle_ of servants, etc., for he told fortunes as well
as cured diseases. These told their mistresses, and they too came to
consult the wise man. Even the Court ladies came _incognito_ to see
him, and _la belle_ Jennings, sister to the famous Sarah, first Duchess
of Marlborough, went, with the beautiful Miss Price, to have their
fortunes told, disguised as orange-wenches, and in all probability
their visit would never have been heard of, had they not met with
a disagreeable adventure with a somewhat dissolute gentleman named
Brounker, who was gentleman of the chamber to the Duke of York, and
brother to Viscount Brounker, President of the Royal Society.
John Cotgrave[87] thus describes the quack of his time:
‘My name is Pulse-feel, a poor Doctor of Physick,
That does wear three pile Velvet in his Hat,
Has paid a quarter’s Rent of his house before-hand,
And (simple as he stands here) was made Doctor beyond sea.
I vow, as I am Right worshipful, the taking
Of my Degree cost me twelve French Crowns, and
Thirty-five pounds of Butter in upper _Germany_.
I can make your beauty and preserve it,
Rectifie your body and maintaine it,
Clarifie your blood, surfle[88] your cheeks, perfume
Your skin, tinct your hair, enliven your eye,
Heighten your Appetite; and, as for Jellies,
Dentifrizes, Dyets, Minerals, Fucusses,[89]
Pomatums, Fumes, Italia Masks to sleep in,
Either to moisten or dry the superficies, _Paugh_, _Galen_
Was a Goose, and _Paracelsus_ a patch
To Doctor _Pulse-feel_.’
Then there was that arch quack and empiric, Sir Kenelm Digby, with his
‘sympathetic powder,’ etc., and Dr. Saffold, originally a weaver, who
distributed his handbills broadcast, advertising his ability to cure
every disease under the sun.
Also in this century is a poem called ‘The Dispensary,’[90] by Sir
Samuel Garth, who lived in Queen Anne’s time, which gives the following
account of a quack and his surroundings:
‘So truly _Horoscope_ its Virtues knows,
To this bright Idol[91] ’tis, alone, he bows;
And fancies that a Thousand Pound supplies
The want of twenty Thousand Qualities.
Long has he been of that amphibious Fry,
Bold to prescribe, and busie to apply.
His Shop the gazing Vulgar’s Eyes employs
With foreign Trinkets, and domestick Toys.
Here _Mummies_ lay, most reverently stale,
And there, the _Tortois_ hung her Coat o’ Mail;
Not far from some huge _Shark’s_ devouring Head,
The flying Fish their finny Pinions spread.
Aloft in rows large Poppy Heads were strung,
And near, a scaly Alligator hung.
In this place, Drugs in Musty heaps decay’d,
In that, dry’d Bladders, and drawn Teeth were laid.
An inner Room receives the numerous Shoals
Of such as pay to be reputed Fools.
Globes stand by Globes, Volumns on Volumns lie,
And Planitary Schemes amuse the eye
The Sage, in Velvet Chair, here lolls at ease,
To promise future Health for present Fees.
Then, as from _Tripod_, solemn shams reveals,
And what the Stars know nothing of, reveals.’
Medicine in the last century was very crude. Bleeding and purging were
matters of course; but some of the remedies in the pharmacopœia were
very curious. Happy the patient who knew not the composition of his
dose. Take the following:[92]
‘Or sometimes a quarter of a pint of the following decoction may be
drank alone four times a day:
‘Take a fresh viper, freed from the head, skin, and intestines, cut in
pieces; candied eryngo root, sliced, two ounces. Boil them gently in
three pints of water, to a pint and three-quarters, and to the strained
liquor add simple and spiritous cinnamon waters, of each two ounces.
Mix them together, to be taken as above directed.
‘The following viper broth (taken from the London Dispensatory) is a
very nutritious and proper restorative food in this case, and seems to
be one of the best preparations of the viper: for all the benefit that
can be expected from that animal is by this means obtained:
‘Take a middle-sized viper, freed from head, skin, and intestines; and
two pints of water. Boil them to a pint and a half; then remove the
vessel from the fire; and when the liquor is grown cold, let the fat,
which congeals upon the surface, if the viper was fresh, be taken off.
Into this broth, whilst warm, put a pullet of a moderate size, drawn
and freed from the skin, and all the fat, but with the flesh intire.
Set the vessel on the fire again, that the liquor may boil; then
remove it from the fire, take out the chicken, and immediately chop
its flesh into little pieces: put these into the liquor again, set it
over the fire, and as soon as it boils up, pour out the broth, first
carefully taking off the scum.
‘Of this broth let the patient take half a pint every morning, at two
of the clock in the afternoon, and at supper-time.’
In the same book, also (p. 97), we find the following remedy for cancer:
‘Dr. Heister, professor of physic and surgery in the university of
_Helmstadt_ in _Germany_, with many others, greatly extols the virtue
of millepedes, or wood-lice, in this case; and, perhaps, the best way
of administering them is as follows:
‘Take of live wood-lice, one ounce; fine sugar, two drams; a little
powder of nutmeg; and half a pint of alexeterial water. Let the
wood-lice and sugar, with the nutmeg, be ground together in a marble
mortar, then gradually add the water, which being well mixed, strain it
with hard pressing. Two ounces of this expression are to be taken twice
a day, shaking the vessel, so that no part of it may be lost.’
And it also seems that much virtue was attached to the great number
of component parts in a medicine, as may be seen in the recipe for
_Arquebusade Water_[93] (from the same book, p. 101).
‘Take of comfrey leaves and root, sage, mugwort, bugloss, each four
handfulls; betony, sanicle, ox-eye daisy, common daisy, greater
figwort, plantane, agrimony, vervain, wormwood, fennel, each two
handfulls; St. John’s wort, long birthwort, orpine, veronica, lesser
centaury, milfoil, tobacco, mouse-ear, mint, hyssop, each one handfull;
wine twenty-four pounds. Having cut and bruised the herbs, pour on them
the wine, and let them stand together, in digestion, in horse dung, or
any other equivalent heat, for three days: afterwards distill in an
alembic with a moderate fire.
‘This celebrated water has for some time been held in great esteem, in
contusions, for resolving coagulated blood, discussing the tumors that
arise on fractures and dislocations, for preventing the progress of
gangrenes, and cleansing and healing ulcers and wounds, particularly
gunshot wounds....’
Amongst the empyrical medicines, the following is much cried up by many
people, as an infallible remedy:
‘Take two ounces of the worts that grow dangling to the hinder heels
of a stone horse,[94] wash them in common water, then infuse them in
white wine all night, and afterwards let them be dried, and reduced to
powder. The dose is half a dram twice a day, in any proper vehicle. A
dram of Venice soap given twice a day, either in pills, or dissolved in
some proper liquor, is likewise said to cure a Cancer.’
In the early part of the eighteenth century, the regular physicians
were very ignorant. Ward[95] thus describes them, and, although his
language was coarse, he was a keen observer.
‘They rail mightily in their Writings against the ignorance of _Quacks_
and _Mountebanks_, yet, for the sake of _Lucre_, they Licence all the
Cozening Pretenders about Town, or they could not Practise; which
shows it is by their Toleration that the People are Cheated out of
their Lives and Money; and yet they think themselves so Honest, as to
be no ways answerable for this Publick Injury; as if they could not
kill People fast enough themselves, but must depute all the Knaves
in the Town to be Death’s Journeymen. Thus do they License what they
ought carefully to Suppress; and Practise themselves what they Blame
and Condemn in others; And that the Town may not be deceived by
_Apothecaries_, they have made themselves _Medicine-Mongers_,[96] under
a pretence of serving the Publick with more faithful preparations; in
order to perswade the World to a belief of which, they have publish’d
Bills, where, in the true _Quack’s_ Dialect, they tell you the Poor
shall be supply’d for nothing; but whoever is so Needy as to make a
Challenge of their promise empty-handed, will find, according to the
_Mountebank’s_ saying, _No Money, No Cure_. The disposal of their
Medicines they leave to a Boy’s management, who scarce knows _Mercurius
Dulcis_ from _White Sugar_, or _Mint Water_ from _Aqua Fortis_: So that
People are likely to be well serv’d, or Prescriptions truly observed by
such an Agent.’
If this was a faithful portrait of a physician in the commencement
of the century, what must a charlatan have been? They sowed their
hand-bills broadcast. Gay, in his ‘Trivia,’ book ii., says,
‘If the pale Walker pants with weak’ning Ills,
His sickly Hand is stor’d with Friendly Bills:
From hence he learns the seventh born[97] Doctor’s Fame,
From hence he learns the cheapest Tailor’s name.’
So universal was this practice of advertising that, to quote Ward[98]
once more, when talking of the Royal Exchange, he says,
‘The Wainscote was adorn’d with Quacks’ Bills, instead of Pictures;
never an Emperick in the Town, but had his Name in a Lacquered Frame,
containing a fair Invitation for a Fool and his Money to be soon
parted.’
The newspapers teemed with quack advertisements. These, of course, we
have; but we also have preserved to us a quantity of the ephemeral
hand-bills, which, presumably, were kept on account of the intrinsic
merits they possessed. They are a curious study. There was the ‘Oxford
Doctor at the Fleet Prison, near Fleet Bridge, London,’ who would sell
ten pills in a box for sixpence, warranted a cure for the ‘_Scurvy_,
_Dropsie_, and _Colt-evil_,’ would provide a remedy for ‘_Headach_,
_Sore Eyes_, _Toothach_, _Stomachach_, _Bleeding_, _Scorbutick Gums_,
_Black_, _Yellow_, _foul Teeth_, _Cramp_, _Worms_, _Itch_, _Kibes_,
_and Chilblains_; the Price of each proper Specifick, Twopence. Teeth
or stumps of Teeth, Drawn with Ease and Safety, Let Blood neatly,
Issues or Setons Curiously made; _For Two Pence each, and welcome_.
By the Doctor that puts forth this paper, you may be Taught Writing,
Arithmetick, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, at reasonable Rates by the
great, _Or Two Pence each of them by the Week_.’ Presumably, as he does
not advertise it, he could not teach manners at the same traditional
price.
There was another who sold the _Elixir Stomachum_ which was sold at the
various coffee-houses about town, and he complains thus: ‘☞ Garrowaye,
the Apple-man at the Exchange, who had it of me, to sell, for five or
six years, I have lately found out, is Counterfeiting it, and have
removed mine from him; and what he now sells is a Counterfeit sort, and
not the Right, as was formerly Sold there.’
There was a man, living in Blackfriars, who was so modest that he
veiled his identity under the initials R.C., who, from two in the
afternoon till night, ‘will give to all People a Secret how they may
utterly destroy _Buggs_ without injury to their Goods, at reasonable
rates; do as you are Taught, and if any be doubtful of the truth of it,
they may have full satisfaction of them that have Experienced it.’
Here is a gentleman who gives a minute address. ‘_In Petty France,
Westminster, at a house with a black dore_, and a Red Knocker, between
the Sign of the _Rose and Crown_ and _Jacob’s Well_, is a _German_ who
hath a Powder which, with the blessing of God upon it, certainly cures
the Stone, &c.... If any person of known Integrity will affirm that
upon following their directions the cure is not perfected, they shall
have their Money returned. Therefore be not unwilling to come for help,
but suspend your Judgment till you have try’d, and then speak as you
find.’
There is another, which may belong to the previous century--but it is
so hard to tell, either by means of type or wood blocks--put forth
by ‘_Salvator Winter_, an _Italian_ of the City of _Naples_, Aged 98
years, Yet, by the Blessing of God, finds himself in health, and as
strong as anyone of Fifty, as to the Sensitive part; Which first he
attributes to God, and then to his _Elixir Vitæ_, which he always
carries in his pocket adayes, and at Night under his pillow; And when
he finds himself distemper’d, he taketh a Spoonful or two, according
as need requireth.‘ It is needless to say that the _Elixir_ was
warranted to cure every evil under the sun, including such diverse
maladies as catarrhs, sore eyes, hardness of hearing, toothache, sore
throat, consumption, obstructions in the stomach, and worms. The net
was arranged to catch every kind of fish. In fact, his business was so
profitable that he had a successor, ‘_Salvator Winter, Junior_,’ who
says thus: ‘My father, aged 98 years, yet enjoys his perfect health,
which, next to the blessing of God, he attributes to the _Elixir Vitæ_
having alway a bottle of it in his pocket, drinking a spoonful thereof
four or five times a day; snuffing it very strongly up his Nostrils,
and bathing his Temples; thus by prevention, he fortifies his vital
Spirits.’
Nor did the sterner sex monopolise the profession of quackdom, for
‘At the _Blew-Ball_ in _Grays-Inn Lane_, near _Holborn Barrs_, next
Door to a _Tallow-Chandler_, where you may see my Name upon a Board
over the Door, _liveth_ Elizabeth Maris, _the True German Gentlewoman_
lately arrived.’ It seems that we were much indebted to Germany for
our quacks, for ‘At the _Boot_ and _Spatter dash_,[99] next Door but
One to the _Vine Tavern_, in _Long-Acre_, near _Drury Lane_, Liveth
a German D^r. and Surgeon, Who by the blessing of GOD on his great
Pains, Travels and Experience, hath had wonderful Success in the Cure
of the Diseases following,’ &c. There was also ‘_Cornelius à Tilbourg_,
Sworn Chirurgeon in _Ordinary_ to K. _Charles_ the II., to our late
Sovereign K. _William_, as also to Her present Majesty Queen _Ann_.’
A certain _John Choke_, whose motto was ‘NOTHING WITHOUT GOD,’ and
was ‘an approved Physician; and farther, Priviledged by his Majesty,’
advertised ‘an Arcane which I had in _Germany_, from the Famous and
most Learned _Baptista Van Helmont_, of worthy Memory (whose Daughter I
Wedded), and whose Prœscripts most Physicians follow.’
Curative and magical powers seem to have extended from seventh sons
of seventh sons to women--for I find an advertisement, ‘At the Sign
of the _Blew-Ball_, at the upper end of _Labour in vain-Street_, next
_Shadwell-New-Market_, Liveth a Seventh Daughter, who learn’d her
Skill by one of the ablest Physicians in _England_ (her uncle was
one of K. Charles’s and K. James’s twelve Doctors), who resolves all
manner of Questions, and interprets Dreams to admiration, and hath
never fail’d (with God’s Blessing) what she took in hand.’ Also there
was a book published late in the seventeenth century, called ‘The
WOMAN’S PROPHECY, or the Rare and Wonderful DOCTRESS, foretelling a
Thousand strange monstrous things that shall come to pass before New
Year’s day next, or afterwards--. She likewise undertakes to cure
the most desperate Diseases of the Female Sex, as the _Glim’ring of
the Gizzard_, the _Quavering of the Kidneys_, the _Wambling Trot_,
&c.’ A man who lived at the ‘Three Compasses’ in Maiden Lane, also
issued a hand bill that he would infallibly cure ‘several strange
diseases, which (though as yet not known to the world) he will plainly
demonstrate to any Ingenious Artist to be the greatest Causes of the
most common Distempers incident to the Body of Man. The Names of which
take as follow: The _Strong Fives_, the _Marthambles_, the _Moon-Pall_,
the _Hockogrocle_.’
Then there was a medicine which was administered to children even
in my young days, ‘DAFFY’S _famous_ ELIXIR SALUTIS, prepared by
_Katharine Daffy_. The finest now exposed to Sale, prepar’d from the
best Druggs, according to Art, and the Original Receipt, which my
Father, Mr. _Thomas Daffy_, late Rector of _Redmile_, in the Valley
of _Belvoir_, having experienc’d the Virtues of it, imparted to his
Kinsman, Mr. _Anthony Daffy_, who publish’d the same to the Benefit of
the Community, and his own great Advantage. This very Original Receipt
is now in my possession, left to me by my father aforesaid, under his
own Hand. My own Brother, Mr. _Daniel Daffy_, formerly Apothecary in
_Nottingham_, made this ELIXIR from the same Receipt, and Sold it there
during his Life. Those, who know me, will believe what I Declare;
and those who do not, may be convinc’d that I am no Countefeit, by
the Colour, Tast, Smell, and just Operation of my ELIXIR.’ This was,
however, disputed by one John Harrison--and the rivals of nearly two
centuries ago, remind us forcibly of the claimants to the original
recipe of Bond’s Marking Ink.