Notes & Queries Archive
NOTE1850

Charm for the Cure of the King's Evil

By DAVID STEVENS. (Godalming)

Acting on the advice of your able correspondent Emdee (Vol. i., p. 429.), I beg to forward the following curious and cruel charm for the cure of the king's evil, extracted from a very quaint old work by William Ellis, farmer of Little Gaddesden, near Hempstead, Herts, published at Salisbury in 1750:— "A girl at Gaddesden, having the evil in her Feet from her Infancy, at eleven years old lost one of her toes by it, and was so bad that she could hardly walk, therefore was to be sent to a London Hospital in a little time. But a Beggar woman coming to the Door and hearing of it, said, that if they…

Topics: Historical Customs, Folk Medicine

Locations: Little Gaddesden, Hempstead, Herts, Salisbury, London