a patient suffering under king's-evil touch
the fleur-de-lis, or if the marcou breathe
upon him, the malady disappears. Or at
least there is so great a popular faith that
it will do so, that the country people will
come from places far and wide to visit a
marcou. About fifteen years ago there
was one of these persons named Foulon, a
cooper, at Ormes, who was greatly sought
for his reputed healing powers, especially
in Holy Week, and more especially on Good
Friday, when his patients reached the
number of four or five hundred. As to the
origin of the name king's-evil, a manuscript
in the University library at Cambridge
tells us that "The Kings of England and
Fraunce by a peculiar guift cure the king's-
evill by touching them with their hands;
and so doth the seaventh sonne." It is
something to say that a seventh son, in
this matter, is as good as a king. Mr.
Keightley has found among the Welsh
folk-lore an account of a family famous
in this way. "Jones was their name,
and they lived at a place called Muddfi.
In them was said to have originated the
tradition of the seventh son, or Septimus,
being born for the healing art; as
for many generations seven sons were
regularly born in each family, the seventh
of whom became the doctor, and wonderful
in his profession." Steele jested
at this belief a century and a half ago,
in sarcastic relation to another of the
troubles with which men are occasionally
visited: "Tipstaff, being a seventh son,
used to cure the king's-evil, but his
rascally descendants are so far from having
that healing quality, that by a touch upon
the shoulder they give a man such an ill
habit of body, that he can never come
abroad afterwards."

But if there happen to be a seventh son
of a seventh son, the curative powers are
much more marvellous. Mr. Carleton, in his
story of the Black Prophet, says that the
Irish peasantry entertain a very undoubting
faith in the reality of these powers. In
Cornwall the belief is, in like manner,
entertained; the ordeal being that the gifted
person should thrice gently stroke the part
affected, thrice blow on it, and repeat
certain words. At Bristol, some years ago, a
tradesman was regularly called Dr. So-and-
so, simply because he was the seventh son of
a seventh son, and without any relation to
his actual trade. Early in the present
century, a man perambulated the rural districts
of Hampshire to cure the blind, the sick, and
the lame. Numerous cures were ascribed to
him, and he had quite a large collection of
crutches and walking sticks, said to have
been left by his patients who had no longer
any need for them. How much was
deception, and how much due to the implicit
faith placed in him by the ignorant, it
might have been difficult to decide; but he
was held in much awe and respect on
account of his claim to be the seventh son of
a seventh son. At Plymouth, not very
long ago, was to be seen this inscription on
a board:

A. SHEPHERD,
The third seventh daughter,
Doctress.

A Yorkshire lad at a school was
purposely intended to study afterwards for the
medical profession, because, as he told his
school-fellows, "The seventh of the seventh
maks the bigg'st o' doctors." Another
story is told of an Irish lad who, as an
errand boy, was frequently censured for
being late in his arrival, and dilatory when
on his errands. His excuse on one occasion
took the following form: "I'm sure I
wouldn't help it, sir, I'm sure I wouldn't.
I've only bin on an act o' mercy. Ye see,
sir, I'm a seventh of a seventh, an' I
touches for sickness, sir, an' I've bin to
two childer this morn, sir, a long way."
It appeared that he had to touch, fasting, in
order that his wonderful properties should
be developed; and his palm was crossed by
a piece of silver varying in value from a
fourpenny piece to half-a-crown, according
to the social position of his patients.

THE ROMAN DRAMATISTS.

FOR the sake of completeness, it has been
suggested to us as desirable, that to the
succinct account which we have rendered
of the Latin poets, some notice of the
Roman dramatists should be added. The
subject is interesting, and might lead us
into much discursive illustration, but we
shall restrain all tendency to wander, and
confine our remarks within the narrowest
limits. We shall seek to give information,
not to display the ingenuity of criticism or
the felicities of rhetoric. The knowledge
we wish to impart is purely elementary.

The first form of literature derived
by the Romans from the Greeks was the
dramatic; but the regular drama was
preceded by rude sports, shows, and
recitations, and the singing of national
ballads in street processions by the soldiers
as they marched, or as they sat at convivial