. The truth of
the former of these assertions has now been proved _in thousands upon
thousands of instances_. For a long time, for _ten years_, the contrary
was boldly and brazenly asserted. This nation is fond of quackery of all
sorts; and this particular quackery having been sanctioned by King,
Lords and Commons, it spread over the country like a pestilence borne by
the winds. Speedily sprang up the 'ROYAL _Jennerian Institution_,' and
Branch Institutions, issuing from the parent trunk, set instantly to
work, impregnating the veins of the rising and enlightened generation
with the beastly matter. 'Gentlemen and Ladies' made the commodity a
pocket-companion; and if a cottager's child (in Hampshire at least),
even seen by them, on a common, were not pretty quick in taking to its
heels, it had to carry off more or less of the disease of the cow. One
would have thought, that one-half of the cows in England must have been
_tapped_ to get at such a quantity of the stuff.

263. In the midst of all this mad work, to which the doctors, after
having found it in vain to resist, had yielded, the _real small-pox_, in
its worst form, broke out in the town of RINGWOOD, in HAMPSHIRE, and
carried off, I believe (I have not the account at hand), _more than a
hundred persons_, young and old, _every one of whom had had the cow-pox
'so nicely_!' And what was now said? Was the quackery exploded, and were
the granters of the twenty thousand pounds ashamed of what they had
done? Not at all: the failure was imputed to _unskilful operators_; to
the _staleness of the matter_; to its not being of the _genuine
quality_. Admitting all this, the scheme stood condemned; for the great
advantages held forth were, that _any body_ might perform the operation,
and that the _matter_ was _every where abundant_ and cost-free. But
these were paltry excuses; the mere shuffles of quackery; for what do we
know now? Why, that in _hundreds_ of instances, persons cow-poxed by
JENNER HIMSELF, have taken the real small-pox afterwards, and have
either died from the disorder, or narrowly escaped with their lives! I
will mention two instances, the parties concerned being living and
well-known, one of them to the whole nation, and the other to a very
numerous circle in the higher walks of life. The first is Sir RICHARD
PHILLIPS, so well known by his able writings, and equally well known by
his exemplary conduct as Sheriff of London, and by his life-long labours
in the c