nt by
making the sign of the cross upon his face, exclaiming, 'May God heal
thee! The king touches thee.' The whole two thousand four hundred
having been healed in a similar manner, and the grand almoner having
distributed alms to each in succession, three attendants, called _chefs
de goblet_, presented themselves with golden salvers, on which were
three embroidered napkins. The first, steeped in vinegar, was then
offered to the king by Monsieur; the second, dipped in plain water, was
presented by the Count d'Artois; and the third, moistened with orange
water, was banded by the Duke of Orleans."[26]

The power of the seventh son to heal the evil (mentioned in the MS. I have
cited) is humourously alluded to in the _Tatler_ (No. 11.). I subjoin the
passage, which occurs in a letter signed "D. Distaff."

"_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."

I imagine that by the seventh son is meant the seventh son of a seventh
son.

C. H. COOPER.

Cambridge, Feb. 4. 1851.

P.S. Since the above was written, I have observed the following notice of
the work of Laurentius in Southey's _Common Place Book_, 4th Series, 478.
(apparently from a bookseller's catalogue):

"Laurentius (And.) De Mirabili Strumas Sanandi VI. Solis Galliae Regibus
Christianissimis divinitas concessa, (_fine copy_,) 12s. Paris, 1609.

"This copy possesses the large folded engraving of Henry IV., assisted
by his courtiers in the ceremony of curing the king's evil."

[Footnote 18: _Dd._ 2. 41. fo. 38 b.]

[Footnote 19: Fuller, _Church History_, edit. 1837, i. 228.]

[Footnote 20: Danett's Translation. edit. 1614, p. 203.]

[Footnote 21: Monstrelet edit. 1845, ii. 471.]

[Footnote 22: Ibid. 476.]

[Footnote 23: Fuller, _Church History_, edit. 1837, i. 227.]

[Footnote 24: Cavendish, _Life of Wolsey_, edit. Singer, 1825, vol. i. p.
104.]

[Footnote 25: Fuller, _Church History_, edit. 1837, i. pp. 227, 228.]

[Footnote 26: _New Monthly Magazine_, vol. liii. p. 160.]

* * * * *

Replies to Minor Queries.

_Forged Papal Bulls_ (Vol. ii., p. 491.).--In your Number, 20th Dec., J. E.
inquires where is the instrument for counterfeiti