their being touched by any contagious
distemper whatsoever. He directs the poor gratis.'

I take notice of these by way of specimen. I could give you two or three
dozen of the like and yet have abundance left behind. 'Tis sufficient
from these to apprise any one of the humour of those times, and how
a set of thieves and pickpockets not only robbed and cheated the poor
people of their money, but poisoned their bodies with odious and fatal
preparations; some with mercury, and some with other things as bad,
perfectly remote from the thing pretended to, and rather hurtful than
serviceable to the body in case an infection followed.

I cannot omit a subtility of one of those quack operators, with which
he gulled the poor people to crowd about him, but did nothing for them
without money. He had, it seems, added to his bills, which he gave about
the streets, this advertisement in capital letters, viz., 'He gives
advice to the poor for nothing.'

Abundance of poor people came to him accordingly, to whom he made a
great many fine speeches, examined them of the state of their health and
of the constitution of their bodies, and told them many good things for
them to do, which were of no great moment. But the issue and conclusion
of all was, that he had a preparation which if they took such a quantity
of every morning, he would pawn his life they should never have the
plague; no, though they lived in the house with people that were
infected. This made the people all resolve to have it; but then the
price of that was so much, I think 'twas half-a-crown. 'But, sir,' says
one poor woman, 'I am a poor almswoman and am kept by the parish, and
your bills say you give the poor your help for nothing.' 'Ay, good
woman,' says the doctor, 'so I do, as I published there. I give my
advice to the poor for nothing, but not my physic.' 'Alas, sir!' says
she, 'that is a snare laid for the poor, then; for you give them advice
for nothing; that is to say, you advise them gratis, to buy your physic
for their money; so does every shop-keeper with his wares.' Here the
woman began to give him ill words, and stood at his door all that day,
telling her tale to all the people that came, till the doctor finding
she turned away his customers, was obliged to call her upstairs again,
and give her his box of physic for nothing, which perhaps, too, was good
for nothing when she had it.

But to return to the people, whose confusions fitted them to be imposed