panied with a drawing, of the touch-piece supposed to have
been given by this monarch. James I.'s practice of touching for the evil
is frequently mentioned in Nichols's "Progresses." Charles I., when at
York, touched seventy persons in one day. Indeed, few are aware to what
an extent this superstition once prevailed. In the course of twenty
years, between 1660 and 1682, no less than 92,107 persons were touched
for this disease. The first English monarch who refused to touch for the
king's evil was William III., but the practice was resumed by Queen
Anne, who officially announced, in the _London Gazette_, March 12, 1712,
her royal intention to receive patients afflicted with the malady in
question. It was probably about that time that Johnson was touched by
her majesty, upon the recommendation of the celebrated physician Sir
John Floyer, of Lichfield. King George I. put an end to this practice,
which is said to have originated with Edward the Confessor, in
1058.[615] The custom was also observed by French kings; and on Easter
Sunday, 1686, Louis XIV. is said to have touched 1600 persons.

[614] See Beckett's "Free and Impartial Enquiry into the
Antiquity and Efficacy of Touching for the King's Evil," 1722.

[615] See "Notes and Queries," 1861, 2d series, vol. xi. p. 71;
Burns's "History of Parish Registers," 1862, pp. 179, 180;
Pettigrew's "Superstitions Connected with Medicine and
Surgery," 1844, pp. 117-154.

_Lethargy._ This is frequently confounded by medical men of former
times, and by Shakespeare himself, with apoplexy. The term occurs in the
list of diseases quoted by Thersites in "Troilus and Cressida" (v.
1).[616]

[616] Bucknill's "Medical Knowledge of Shakespeare," p. 235.

_Leprosy._ This was, in years gone by, used to denote the _lues
venerea_, as in "Antony and Cleopatra" (iii. 8):

"Yon ribaudred nag of Egypt,--
Whom leprosy o'ertake!

* * * * *

Hoists sails and flies."

_Leech._ The old medical term for a leech is a "blood-sucker," and a
knot would be an appropriate term for a number of clustering leeches.
So, in "Richard III." (iii. 3), Grey, being led to the block, says of
Richard's minions:

"A knot you are of damned blood-suckers."

In "2 Henry VI." (iii. 2) mention is made by Warwick of the
"blood-sucker of sleeping men," which, says Dr. Bucknill, appears to
mean the vampire-bat.

_Measles._ This word ori