THE WONDER of ART: OR, Dr. L-n's METHOD of CURING THE SMALL POX For Three Pence. Come an, Half-Penny a piece. Ridiculum acri. Hor. LONDON: Printed in the Year 1715. (3) THE WONDER of ART, &c. YOU know, Gentlemen, I am no banterer, and you cannot expect many good things for an half-penny, not near so many com- monly as for Three Pence, which is six times the value. I must be very short wi' you therefore, and tell you, that except one little Bag of Herbs to stop bleeding, you must have never a Medicine in this whole Book. 'Tis true, I put you into a way how you may get cur’d of this Distemper for al- most nothing, but then you must nei- ther Bleed, Purge, Vomit, Sweat, Bli- ster, nor have any Cordial Draughts; and where’s the Delight of living at this Rate? Why that’s true; and none but the poor simple Folks are now wil- ling to be cur’d at it. I wonder how A2 the (4) the Old (1) Doctor I mention’d did to manage all sorts of persons in such a way, and make ’em live, whether they would or not, without one Dram of Physick sometimes, tho’ they thought it would save their lives. Surely he had the only Knack of prescribing the herb patience in doses that were large e- nough, and which he had made full tri- als of himself, as to its virtues, which our modern prescribers not knowing, or not caring for the use of, are forc'd to put worse drugs in its room. He had an hard task of it (as well as his best (2) friend) that’s certain, and could not possibly continue his practise any longer than six Years; for his own (3) Brothers began to oppose him, and would doubtless have accus’d him of un- fair dealing, because no body dy’d un- der his hands: and he to fit quietly by too, and suffer all this, and to do no- thing in the mean while. Well, this same Practise of his has pleas’d me ever since; for you must know, (5) know, I have been always reckon’d by those who pretend to know my consti- tution from a child, to be of a lazy, in- dolent temper; no very great lover of mischief, even tho’ they would hire me to it. I once refus’d a place of being Sub-(4) to an Apo—y (for such I must have been) chiefly because I thought I should have done more harm than good, both to myself and others, by it. I found it was a sort of a lucky escape for me, tho’ some of my friends think the contrary still. I have grounded one very (5) odd Notion, and the proudest one that ever I had in my life (but you must not laugh, for I don’t banter, but hate all banterers mortally) upon this matter. and it is, that I am the only person in the world fit to write a treatise of a certain distemper, not the great P—x, (for that I shall yield to my great cousin Sir S-m-lm) but the Petit sort, which needs no prescription, but (6) Abstine a Phlebotomia, a Purgantibus, ab Emeticis, &c. I (6) I shall not trouble my Reader, nor I can’t afford to trouble my self for an Half-penny, with the reasons I have to adhere to this Prescription only. As I told you it serv’d that old doctor (who lives still with the (7) Bishop yonder in Westminster) about forty years ago, and I believe it is a better than any has been found out since. He had it it’s true out of an old (8) book, almost as old as the Bible, some of it; and all of it reckon’d either Greek or Egyptian, which is as hard as Hebrew: for which Reason our astrologers will learn none on’t. Besides they say they can’t make their own (9) Fortunes by it, tho’ they may tell others, especially how long they shall live, bating accidents and ill play. But this Aud Way of (10) foreknowing the Destinies Will, and leaving things to them, is quite out of fashion; and the Gude Doctor (tho’ he was once thought a Conjurer) durst scarce own that he ever made use of it, for fear of being laught at by the prefent Astrologers; tho’ they can’t predict half so (7) so well as he could, but generally foreto- ken to the ladies either the loss of their lives, or their beauties at least, and yet they are paid well for their pains, and might afford better comfort. I could recommend them to an old Irish (11) Sybil, that if they would be guided by her, tho’ they were drove by Harpyes, (12) Cats, and Furies, even to Hell-gates, should bring them safe back again. She has a great deal of the know- ledge of that old doctor howe’er she came by it, and will go her own way, except she be downright forc’d from it, and then it grieves the Dear Joy sore: But the Conjurers are too powerful for her. The last time I visited her, I found her alone in her cave ; and after we had compar’d our Schemes (14) together, and found them exactly agreeing, and with the known Methods of Art us’d by the Antient Copti or Egyptians, (which few go by at this day) I ask’d her how long the Bloody (15) Regency for the Corporal Estate (8) Estate would bear sway ;she groan’d dis- mally, and wreath’d her whole body as if the periods of things were all revol- ving within her own bowels ; at length she utter’d, but in such a dark mysteri- ous manner, that I could not learn how many Revolutions that nearest and most powerful planet over us, the Moon, would make, before this was accom- plish’d, and had an end, (for that she gave apparent hopes of) tho’ she took notice of strange Oppositions of all par- ties to it, from secret causes, hid as yet within the Book of Fate. To be continu'd. The reader way observe several figures interspers'd a- mongst the Lines, which are for the sake of a key that will be sold with this and the following parts, at the Pamphlet-Shops. Price one penny together. (9) PREFACE TO THE NOTES, or KEY. The Author of this having been sometime engag'd in a design which is judg’d by per- sons of the higbest sense and honour (and who have seen more of his proposal too than has yet appear'd in print) to be very much conducive to the publick good and Benefit; but meeting with Opposition un- derhand, by those who are pleased to suppose his in- tentions to be against their private interest ; this has produc'd, by sinister insinuations of others, a neglect, or prejudice, in those who are really of themselves properest judges of his works (and there- fore shou'd not take it from any) and who would otherwise believe it to be their own true concern, if matters were not misrepresented. to them. The author has now chose this way (by the advice of the best of criticks, Horace) of adding Farce and Satire to his writings, to give them a better Relish with those for whose good they were really design'd; and to try too if by an Antiperistasis of Mirth and Satire, against craft and ignorance, he can bring, some, who are averse to it, to right reason. B The (10) The KEY (1) Old doctor. Dr. Mapletoft. (2) Best Friend. Sydenham, who complain’d both publickly and privately, of the Hardships he receiv’d from those of his own profession. (3) Own Brothers. Those of the Faculty, who would not concur with him in those easy and safe methods that he had found most effectual. (4) Sub to an Ap-y. I was invited to Wi'sbitch by an apothecary to settle there about ten years since, but refus’d upon the account of my health, and a disinclination upon other accounts to practice. This I count a fortunate escape, for the person that came in my room (who is now one of the Royal Society) was forc’d to turn apothecary himself for a Subsistance; tho’ he is now esteem’d one of the best Practi- fers in those parts. (5) Odd and Proud Notion. ’Tis plain from both Dr. Sydenham's and Mapletoft's Experience, that few remedies are to be us’d in this Di- stemper; (11) stemper; and that one of the greatest tasks, either for a Writer or Practiser upon it, is to use caution; and of the former to shew rea- sons for it, which I both have and shall still do. This a practiser is not so fit for, except he be above the common rank, and can oblige the apothecaries to submit to him. (6) Abstine a phleboto-, &c. is, Omit Bleed- ing, Purging, Vomits, &c. for the most part. (7) Still lives with the Bishop. Bishop of Chester his Son-in-Law. (8) Old Book. Hippocrates's works; some of which is reckon’d by the criticks to be of a much older date than other, and to be bor- row’d from the Egyptians. (9) Can't make their own fortunes by it. ’Tis too plain and simple, and leaves too much to nature to be lik’d by the present practisers, who are not so well paid for forbearance as for acting, tho’ ’tis often worth most. (10) Foreknowing the Destinies Will, &c. The Prognosticks of Hippocrates relating to the death or recovery of his patients, were reckon’d ad- mirable, and imputed very much to his For- bearance of many Medicines; in which he was certainly a pattern worthy of imitation in the pre- (12) present case of the small pox, tho' not always in other Distempers. (11) Irish Sibil. A famous nurse, who fol- lows Dr. Mapletoft's way with great success. (12) Harpies, Cats and Furies. The small pox, which are as terrible. (14) Schemes. My books, which agree with her Experience, and with the antient general Practice, tho’ not with the Modern. (15) Bloody Regency, &c. Method of Bleed- ing, too much now in use, and which she is very averse to, as knowing it destructive, and that other methods will answer the same In- tentions, most of them with less hazard. LONDON: Printed by F. Chamberlain in Pye- Corner. 1715.