ather became so amazed that he threw
off his Nonconformity, and expressed his thanks in this manner:
'Farewell to all dissenters, and to all nonconformists; if God
can put so much virtue into the king's hand as to heal my child,
I'll serve that God and that king so long as I live, with all
thankfulness.'"[176] It is unfortunate that we have a change of air
and food to consider in this case, else we might have a good example
of a real miracle.

Friday was usually set apart in this reign as the regular day for
healing, but, in addition to this, special portions of the church year
were reserved for the exercise of this gift. Very careful examinations
were made by the surgeons, and those who were found to be suffering
from the evil were presented with a ticket by the surgeon which
entitled them to receive the healing touch of the king. If the king's
touch were really efficacious, one might think that the disease should
have been wholly exterminated during this reign, so great were the
number touched. On the contrary, the deaths were more numerous, and on
account of the neglect of medical and surgical means it spread very
widely.

James II, it is said by Dr. Heylin, also wrought cures upon babes in
their mothers' arms, and the fame of these cures was so great that the
year before James was dethroned, a pauper of Portsmouth, New
Hampshire, petitioned the general assembly to enable him to make the
voyage to England to be healed by the royal touch. In one of his
progresses James touched eight hundred persons in Chester Cathedral.

William III evidently thought of the matter as a superstition, and on
one occasion he touched a patient, saying to him, "God give you better
health and more sense"; notwithstanding the incredulity of the
sovereign, Whiston assures us that the person was healed. With honest
good sense, however, William refused to exercise the power which most
of his subjects undoubtedly thought he possessed, and many protests
were made, and much proof was adduced concerning "the balsamic virtues
of the royal hand." This refusal to continue the practice of touching
brought upon him the charge of cruelty from the parents of scrofulous
children, while bigots lifted up their hands and eyes in holy horror
at his impiety.

Dr. Samuel Johnson was one of the last persons to receive the
imposition of royal hands; when a boy of four and a half years, he was
touched by Queen Anne, together with about two hundred others, on