Others set up bills to summon people to their lodgings for directions and advice in the case of infection.  These had specious titles also, such as these:—­

’An eminent High Dutch physician, newly come over from Holland, where he resided during all the time of the great plague last year in Amsterdam, and cured multitudes of people that actually had the plague upon them.’

’An Italian gentlewoman just arrived from Naples, having a choice secret to prevent infection, which she found out by her great experience, and did wonderful cures with it in the late plague there, wherein there died 20,000 in one day.’

’An ancient gentlewoman, having practised with great success in the late plague in this city, anno 1636, gives her advice only to the female sex.  To be spoken with,’ &c.

’An experienced physician, who has long studied the doctrine of antidotes against all sorts of poison and infection, has, after forty years’ practice, arrived to such skill as may, with God’s blessing, direct persons how to prevent 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