for, whether sleeping or waking, I had this impulse. But her reply was, that it was an idle imagination. But to prove the contrary, one William Maher, of the parish of Lismore, brought his son to my wife, who used to distribute medicines in charity to the neighbours; and my wife came and told me, that I had now an opportunity of trying my impulse, for there was one at hand that had the evil grievously in the eyes, throat, and cheeks; whereupon I laid my hands on the places affected, and prayed to God, for Jesus' sake, to heal him. In a few days afterwards, the father brought his son with the eye so changed, that it was almost quite whole; and, to be brief (to God's glory I speak it), within a month he was perfectly healed, and so continues.'

Another person, still more afflicted, was soon after cured by Mr Greatrakes in the same manner; and he then began to receive an impulse,' suggesting that he could cure other diseases. This he soon had an opportunity of proving, for there came unto me a poor man, with a violent pain in his loins, that he went almost double, and having also a grievous ulcer in his leg, very black, who desired me, for God's sake, to lay my hands on him; whereupon put my hands on his loins and flank, and immediately went the pains out of him, so that he was relieved, and could stand upright without trouble; the ulcer also in his leg was healed; so that, in a few days, he returned to his labour as a mason,'

He now became extensively known for his gift of healing, and was resorted to by people from greater distances, with the most of whom he was equally successful. Wounds, ulcers, convulsions, and dropsy, were among the maladies which he cured. In an epidemic fever, he was also eminently successful, healing all who came to him. So great was the resort to his house, that all the outhouses connected with it were usually filled with patients; and he became so much engaged in the duty of healing them, as to have no time to attend to his own affairs, or to enjoy the society of his family. The clergy of the diocese at length took alarm at his Proceedings, and

he was cited by the Dean of Lismore before the Bishop's Court, by which he was forbidden to exercise his gift for the future- an order which reminds us of the decree of Louis XIV., commanding that no more miracles should be performed at the tomb of the Abbé Paris. Mr Greatrakes, nevertheless, continued to heal as formerly, until his fame reached England. In August 1665, he received a visit from Mr Flamstead, the astronomer, who was afflicted with a constitutional weakness; but he failed in this case. Early in the ensuing year, he went to England for the purpose of curing the Viscountess Conway of an inveterate headache, in which also he failed. But, while residing at Ragley with the Conway family, he cured many hundreds afflicted with various diseases. Lord Conway himself, in a letter to his brother, thus speaks of the healer :-'I must confess, that, before his arrival, I did not believe the tenth part of those things which I have been an eyewitness of; and several others, of as accurate judgment as any in the kingdom, who are come hither out of curiosity, do acknowledge the truth of his operations. This morning, the Bishop of Gloucester recommended to me a prebend's son in his diocese, to be brought to him for a leprosy from head to foot, which hath been judged incurable above ten years, and in my chamber he cured him perfectly; that is, from a moist humour, 'twas immediately dried up, and began to fall off-the itching was quite gone, and the heat of it taken away. The youth was transported to admiration. . After all, I am far from thinking that his cures are at all miraculous. I believe it is by a sanative virtue and a natural efficiency, which extends not to all diseases, but is much more proper and effectual to some than to others, as he doth also despatch some with a great deal of ease, and others not without a great deal of pains.'

He was now invited by the king to come to London, whether he accordingly proceeded; and as he went along through the country, we are told that the magistrates of cities and towns begged of him that he would come and cure their sick. The king, though not fully persuaded

of his wonderful gift, recommended him to the notice of his physicians, and permitted him to do all the good he pleased in London. He went every day to a particular part of the city, where a prodigious number of people, of all ranks and of both sexes, assembled. The only visible means he took to cure them, was to stroke the parts affected. The gout, rheumatism, and other painful affections, were driven by his touch from one part to another, till he got them expelled at the very extremities of the body, after which the patient was considered as cured. Such phenomena could not fail, in the most superstitious era of our history, to excite great wonder, and attract universal attention. The Cavalier wits and courtiers ridiculed them, as they ridiculed everything else that appeared serious. St Evremond, then at court, wrote a sarcastic novel on the subject, under the title of The Irish Prophet. Others, including several of the faculty, defended him. It even appears that the Royal Society, unable to refute the facts, were compelled to account for them as produced by 'a sanative contagion in Mr Greatrake's body, which had an antipathy to some particular diseases, and not to others.? They also published some of his cures in their Transactions. A severe pamphlet by Dr Lloyd, chaplain of the Charterhouse, caused Mr Greatrakes at this time to publish the account of himself which has been already quoted. In it he says: Many demand of me why some are cured, and not all. To which question I answer, that God may please to make use of such means by me, as shall operate according to the dispositions of the patient, and therefore cannot be expected to be alike efficacious in all. They also demand of me, why some are cured at once and not all? and why the pains should fly immediately out of some, and take such ambages in others? and why it should go out of some at their eyes, and some at their fingers, some at their ears or mouths? To which I say, if all these things could have a plain account given of them, there would be no cause to count them strange. Let them tell me what substance that is which removes and goes out

with such expedition, and it will be more easy to resolve their questions. Some will know of me, why or how I do pursue some pains from place to place, till I have chased them out of the body, by laying my hands on the outside of the clothes only (as is usual), and not all pains? To which I answer, that—and others have been abundantly satisfied that it is so-though I am not able to give a reason, yet I am apt to believe there are some pains which afflict men after the manner of evil spirits, which kind of pains cannot endure my hand, nay, not my gloves, but fly immediately, though six or eight coats or cloaks be put between the person and my hand; as at the Lady Ranelagh's at York House, in London, as well as in Ireland, has been manifested. Now, another question will arise, whether the operation of my hand proceeds from the temperature of my body, or from a divine gift, or from both? To which I say, that I have reason to believe that there is some extraordinary gift of God.' At the end of his narrative are appended a number of certificates as to his cures, signed by the most respectable, pious, and learned persons of the day, amongst whom are the Honourable Robert Boyle, Bishop Rust, Dr Cudworth, Dr Patrick, Dr Whichcot, and Dr Wilkins. In 1667, he returned to Ireland, where he lived for many years, but without sustaining his reputation for curing. It appears, however, that, upon the strictest inquiry, no blemish could ever be found to attach to the character of this extraordinary man. All he did, was done in a spirit of pure piety and benevolence. The truth of the impressive words with which he concludes his own narrative was never challenged: Whether I have done my duty as a Christian, in employing that talent which God had intrusted me withal, to the good of people distressed and afflicted, or no, judge you and every good man. Thus far I appeal to the world, whether I have taken rewards, deluded or deceived any man. All further I will say is, that I pray I may never be weary of welldoing, and that I may be found a faithful servant when I come to give up my last account.'

William Read, who lived in the reign of Queen Anne, and had been originally a poor illiterate tailor, acquired a great reputation for a gift of curing blindness and defects in the eyesight. In time, he acquired a fortune, and Queen Anne, who gave him the care of her eyes, thought proper to knight him. A wretched woman named Mapp, of coarse masculine habits, became famous about the year 1736 for a wonderful gift of setting bones; and in 1748, the whole of England rang with the fame of Bridget Bostock of Coppenhall, in Cheshire, a poor, infirm, old creature, who cured multitudes afflicted with all sorts of diseases at first, by merely having the names of patients sent to her, that she might pray for them, but afterwards by rubbing the parts affected by her fasting spittle, and blessing and praying for them on the spot. The latest examples of wonderful cures are those performed by Prince Hohenloe in 1824, by prayers said at a distance of several hundred miles from the afflicted person.

These supposed miraculous cures certainly form a curious chapter in the history of the human mind. How strange to reflect, that the belief in the power of the royal touch existed, without so much as being questioned, for the better part of a thousand years, and only came into discredit within the recollection almost of people still living! That such impostors as Read, Mapp, and Bostock, should have so recently been able to practise a thriving trade of pretended miraculous healing, also shews how far the public mind, in even the most enlightened countries, is from being in a thoroughly enlightened state. The usual mode of accounting for such pseudo-miracles, by supposing imposture on the one hand, and credulity or the influence of imagination on the other, finds only a somewhat difficult application in the case of Mr Greatrakes. The obviously disinterested character of this man, the extent of his practisings, and the attestations which they obtained from some of the most astute persons of his age, make it difficult to suppose either wilful deception or a too easy belief; and yet in what other solution