stubbornness and contumaciousness of our late diseases with their great and main alterations than the Chimerical Ternary of your unanswerable friends viz. the Pox Scurvy and Worms whereby many of his Majesties subjects have not only been deprived of the Cure of their distempers but sacrificed their lives to the forementioned detestable prescriptions 'T is therefore likewise to be hoped that our Soveraign Lord the King who hath been so great an Encourager of all liberal Arts and Sciences will imitate his Royal Predecessor King Henry the Eighth in confirming that Charter by Act of Parliament which out of his Royal bounty he hath lately bestowed upon his Colledge of Physicians whereby the mechanical successors of those old Empiricks exactly described and characterized in 3 H. 8. may be prevented for the future from trying experiments upon his Majesty's Subjects to the high displeasure of God great infamy of the Faculty and the grievous hurt damage and destruction of the Kings liege people c. Nay further 't is to be hoped that the Chancellors of our Universities with the grave Judges of our Land and all other persons of ingenuous or Academick educations will be exemplary in the encouragement of this no less famous than worthy Colledge that so the Laws already made and established by the Parliaments of England being diligently prosecuted by them may give some check to their Empirical pride and insolency as well as their bold invasion of this noble Art of Medicine whereby so many of the worthy Professors of it have met with no small discouragement I shall therefore crave leave to conclude this subject with what hath been no less ingeniously than judiciously observed by a very curious and inquisitive person viz. That if Physicians who are men of so clear judgments so unparallel'd for industry have no more respect or consideration than mean empty shallow pretenders we may have reason to fear that hereafter persons of so great abilities and liberal education will scorn to look towards a Faculty which though honourable in its own nature is so low and mean in the esteem of the world that every person who hath confidence to affirm he is a Physician although perfectly ignorant of the Rudiments of Physick shall yet have no less countenance from the publick than those gallant persons who after a long courtship have rendred Nature familiar are acquainted with the causes and Cure of diseases and who have so deserved of mankind that I cannot but marshal them next to those divine persons who also as these are often slighted and neglected although of them the world is not worthy FINIS POSTSCRIPT SInce the writing of the first part of my Book which relates to the establishment of the Colledge of Physicians by Law I understood that the Records of the Parliament in 14 and 15 H. 8. were to be seen at the Rolls Chappel which ingaged me to make a very diligent search into that Act and the rest which concerned the Colledge of Physicians where I found upon that Parliament Roll 36 Acts publick and private whereof 26 were signed at the bottom with Respons Regis le Roy le veult and ten others stitched to these on the same Roll without le Roy le veult But at the end of the Roll there is affixed a Commission granted by the King to Cardinal Woolsey to Prorogue and Adjourn the Parliament from Blackfryers to Westminster and there to continue and hold it immediately after which Commission we may find that upon the 13 day of August about six in the evening the King being present the House of Commons was sent for and Sir Thomas Moore their Speaker having made a very elegant and learned Speech he presented the King with a very large Subsidy given by the Commons as a Testimony of their great devotion to their Prince which being done and the Lord Chancellor having according to the usual custom privately conferr'd with his Majesty he commanded that all those Acts which were made in that present Parliament for the publick good should be recited and published Quibus ex ordine per initia recitatis lectis singulis publicavit Parliamento respons secundum Annotationes Regiae voluntatis Declarativas à dors script fact dictus reverendissimus dominus Legatus Cancellar exhortando admonendo nomine Regis omnes Dominos Communes supradictos ut diligenter ordinata Statuta pro bono publico in hoc Parliamento observarent ab aliis observari procurarent c. Now 't is evident that the Titles of all Bills that were agreed upon by both Houses were read in the Kings presence and received the Royal Assent though it was not ingrossed by the Clerk of the Parliament upon Ten of those Acts which are to be seen in the forementioned Roll which are but Transcripts of the Original Records and therefore as far as can be proved Roy le veult might be ingross'd at the top or bottom of these Ten as well as the other 26. in the Original Records But however 't is plain that the Form and Essence of a Statute Law doth not consist in the Clerk of the Parliaments engrossing the Royal Assent at the top or bottom of an Act that not being done until the Session is over but in the Clerk of the Crown 's pronouncing of it after he hath read the Title of each Act according to certain instructions given from the King Now the Clerk having in the audience of Lords and Commons pronounced aloud to every publick Bill le Roy le veult to every private Bill soit fait comme il est desire and to every publick Bill the King refuseth to pass le Roy se avisera 't was no difficulty for the Judges and Lawyers Lords and Commoners to know what Acts passed that Session and that this Act relating to Physicians did then pass by this Royal Assent seems very clear because as I before intimated in page 8. of my book a Parliament within 17 years after in the same Kings Reign owned the Colledge as a Body Corporate and gave them several priviledges which they maintain and enjoy to this day and about 28 or 30 years after another Parliament confirmed the 14 and 15 H. 8. with every Article and Clause therein contained as you may see more at large page 9 10. And that the giving the Royal Assent to these two Acts last mentioned in 32 H. 8. and 1 Q. M. might not be questioned you may see it thus ingross'd upon the top of the first Item alia quaedam Billa formam cujusdam Actus in se continens exhibita est suae Regiae Majestati in Parliamento praedicto cujus tenor sequitur in haec verba And then the whole Statute is recited And at the bottom you will find it thus engrossed Cui quidem Billae perlectae ad plenum intellectae per dictum Dominum nostrum Regem ex authoritate assensu Parliamenti praedicti sic respons est Soit fait comme il est desire And at the bottom of the second of the two last mentioned Statutes you will find it thus engross'd Cui quidem Billae perlectae ad plenum intellectae per dictam Dominam Reginam ex authoritate Parliamenti praedicti sic respons est le Reigne le veult Now 't is plain that these Sessions of Parliament were not so long distant from the former but that some that were in both Houses of Parliament in these two Sessions might be in that and therefore would not have own'd the forementioned for an Act if they had not heard the Royal Assent given to it But besides this Act of Parliament with some others of the Ten were ever owned as Acts of Parliament As for instance an Act that the Sir Clerks of Chancery might marry an Act concerning Cordwayners an Act of Tracing Hares an Act for the Clothiers in Suffolk an Act for the payment of Custome an Act for the Haven or Port of Southhampton all which with two or three private ones were passed by the same authority that the Physicians was and if that be invalid all the former are much more Nay further these Acts were publickly printed and bound up after that Session which hath been in use ever since Printing hath been common in England so that they may be found not only in the Rolls Chappel but in Mr. Pulton's statute-Statute-book and in old Books that are bound up with Acts of Parliament that were made in particular Princes Reigns which may be seen at Mr. Millers in St. Paul's Church-yard But suppose that this Testimony were not sufficient I would desire Mr. H. to resolve me whether the forementioned Parliaments owning and declaring it as an Act and the Judges upon several Tryals giving their opinions for it and the receiving it as a Record into the Rolls Chappel be not evidence enough to prove this very Statute an Act of Parliament for I am credibly informed that a Record being brought into the Rolls Chappel and received as such by the Master of that Court who is termed sacrorum scriniorum Magister is so far from being question'd that it is a full and sufficient evidence in any Court
Art except they were first examined approved and admitted by the Bishop of London or Dean of Pauls upon pain of forfeiting five pounds for every moneth Now is it probable that the King and Parliament should abrogate the latter part of this Act for the Chirurgeons and Barbers in London and that as far as I can observe unrequested and yet the former part of that very same Act should still remain in force against the Physicians when the reason of both was but one and the same which you may read in the beginning of that Act as follows for asmuch as the Science and cunning of Physick and Chirurgery is dayly within this Realm exercised by a great multitude of ignorant persons therefore it was enacted that no Physician or Chirurgeon should practise Physick or Chirurgery without the Bishops Licence c. Now I wish that Mr. H. would give us some instances of Chirurgeons since this Charter of theirs that have taken Licences of the Bishop or Dean of Pauls refusing obedience to their own Corporation and pleading the Act of 3 H. 8. which they may as justifiably and legally do as any that practise Physick by the Bishops Licences and refuse submission to Collegiate establishments but I am apt to believe he cannot and then I will leave it to the judgment of any sober man whether Mr. H. hath not more rudely treated the Faculty of Physick than any other profession allowing Chirurgeons and Barbers a greater priviledge than he would Physicians although a man would have thought that his having been bred an Apothecary should have taught him better manners towards his Masters but alas poor man he hath been so long vers'd in the Quacking profession that as far as I can learn by the character he hath given of himself 't is a Chronical distemper so that doubtless had he consulted the Lawyers about justifying his practice against the Colledge they would rather have advised him to plead prescription for his doing so than the abrogated Statute of 3 H. 8. I wish therefore that the good man would be so kind to himself as seriously to read over the Statutes I have mention'd and consider of the circumstances I have propos'd against his to prove that the Collegiate Charter is established by Act of Parliament and then I doubt not but he will leave discoursing so impertinently and like an Apothecary if not I know not what can better help him out of this dangerous malady of his than a dose of his own Coelestial Liquor which as he saith is suited to all palates and constitutions But to proceed and give the Gentleman all the scope I can let me tell him that in his beloved Statute though the power of licensing Physicians in London was invested in the Bishops hands yet that of examination was lodg'd in the Physicians else 't is difficult to give a satisfactory reason why the Bishop or Dean are obliged to call to him or them four Doctors of Physick unless it were upon the forementioned account which having been I conceive seldom or never observed of late 't is a question to me whether any of the Licences given without this material clause be current in Law if this beloved Act of his were now in full force and power seeing 't is plain that in Doctor Bonham's Case the Justices of the Common Pleas gave it against the Colledge for their not pursuing their power given them by the Statute And then 't is probable that Mr. H. and most of his Tribe might find it a greater trouble to obtain their Licences than yet they have done and would then as little approve of the Bishops as they do of the Physicians Statute for 't is not that they respect one more than the other they being as truly State-Fanaticks as any can be term'd Ecclesiastick ones but that they hope their Certificates may pass for examination a test they more hate than Physicians themselves But however it be I am sure it is scarce worth Mr. H's so zealous contending for this Act seeing that in all points it suits not with his apprehension that Certificates of the integrity of mens lives and good success in practice are the surest evidence of a mans learning and knowledge proper for his Faculty the Act well fore-seeing that the greatest number of Smiths old Women and Weavers might readily procure those testimonials of their ability to practise and therefore as the preamble of that Act tells us that forasmuch as to the Science of Physick there is required both great learning and ripe experience it hath made provision of a much better test of mens abilities in that profession viz. Such as have been educated in the same Faculty and by their great learning and experience have arrived to some perfection in that noble and honourable Art The fourth Circumstance Mr. H. hath mention'd to prove the Collegiate Statute not confirmed by Act of Parliament abounds with such manifest contradictions that it needeth not any other confutation but barely its reading over which the Reader may find in the 14 pag. of his book CHAP. II. SECT 1. The Second question was this Whether the proceedings of the Colledge against Empiricks and unlicensed persons be oppressive TO the clearing of this question I have done much already in proving that the Colledge hath been established by 3 Acts of Parliament own'd as such by all the grave Judges and Lawyers of the Kingdom and therefore acting by those Statute Laws that were made ratified and confirmed by England's Sovereigns and Parliaments 't is very rude if not audacious to term their proceedings according to these Laws oppression and persecution as Mr. H. hath done in the title of his book and in the first page thereof I shall therefore for the clearing of this Question and the full satisfaction of all ingenious and inquisitive persons give them a true and faithful account of the excellent government of this learned Society After that King Henry the VIII had constituted a Colledge of Physicians and granted them power of chusing a President Elects and Censors and invested them with power of making Statutes and Ordinances pro salubri gubernatione super-visu correctione Collegii omnium hominum eandem facultatem in dicta civitate seu per septem milliaria exercentium i. e. for the safe or wholsom government oversight and correction of the Colledge and of all men practising Physick in the said City or within seven miles of the same They accordingly made these following Statutes And first as to the Electors in the Colledge Who were by the Letters Patent in number six but by the Statute of the 14 15 H. 8. were encreased to eight which number have been ever since continued and by the by may afford us another argument of the legality of that Statute and have the sole power of choosing the President and succeeding Elects yet this power of theirs is so far from an arbitrary one that they are by Statutes of their own obliged
bestowed upon the Reader to acquaint him with a suit at Law commenc'd against him by the Colledge of Physicians Now whether this was Oppression on the Colledges part or stubbornness and refractoriness on Mr. H. I will leave it to the judgment of all indifferent persons who understand the nature of Oppression which I take to be as it hath relation to this present controversie an unlawful seizing upon the possessions of others owning and avowing the doing so and this by pretending a claim to them corrupting justice by bribes and gifts or else over-ruling it by Authority But how little the Colledge can be charg'd with this so heinous a crime and how much Mr. H. with refractoriness will be very evident to any person that pleaseth to peruse the former part of this book where he may find that the power which they exercise towards Mr. H. and the rest of his companions is established in them by Act of Parliament and this not by one single Act but by three successively in which are declared the penalties that would necessarily ensue upon the violation of them which Mr. H. so little regards that he tells you that he will be in the seent of the Colledge and his house shall be open to receive Patients and furnish them with Medicines and as if this was not sufficient to discover his resolved opposition to the Laws of the Kingdom and Statutes of the Colledge he breaks out into opprobrious and vilifying terms calling them tipling Committees book Doctors masters of the stage c. and chargeth them for managing their Art under a great mystery of iniquity which mystery I have faithfully acquainted the world with in this Chapter where their most just excellent and equitable Government is faithfully represented to the view and judgment of all impartial Readers and though these men do so often Cant upon their monopolizing of Physick 't is so far from truth that they frankly offer to receive all to the practice of that Art who upon examination appear to be sober and learned and if their accomplishments will not arrive to so mean a character as this yet if it appears that they may any wayes be serviceable to the Common-wealth or promote the welfare of mankind although but in some cures as is expressed in their Statutes relating to Licentiates they do readily admit them to practise which I hope doth sufficiently prove that this worthy Society is so tender of the lives and health of the Kings subjects that they would discourage none from doing them service who by a fair examination appear any wayes qualified for such an undertaking and without this approbation how any man is able to satisfie others of his own Faculty of his abilities for that employment wherein the precious lives of so many men women and children are concern'd I do not yet understand SECT 2. Physick no Conjectural Art BUt Mr. H. being wiser than my self yea than all men but those of his own tribe hath found out a better and surer test of Physicians abilities viz. Certificates of their good success in practice which he saith is the surest evidence of a mans learning and knowledge proper for his Faculty and therefore he strenuously endeavours to discharge Physicians of that employment because Physick is conjectural having no certain rules to judge by c. and therefore Physicians no competent Judges therein To this I answer 1. That success in practice is a more uncertain evidence of a mans learning and knowledge in our Faculty than examination unless this success appear by sufficient circumstance to be the effect of judgment and knowledge and if so why should any person accomplished with those abilities refuse to give a satisfactory account of his proficiency in the Medical Science to those learned Physicians that are by Law deputed for that purpose And surely less reason we have of questioning the success of that mans endeavours who prescribes nothing to his Patients but what is consonant to the rules of reason and Art than an Empirick's that observes neither though life and health be not thereby obtain'd which is not to be attributed to the ignorance or mistake of the Physician but to divine providence interposing therein whilst the fortuitous prescription of Medicines though attended with success is no wayes to be allowed nor the person to be better esteem'd that directed them and that because they prescribed those remedies without understanding the nature of the disease or the proper time of their exhibition which though advantageous to some may prove ruinous to others as I have fully satisfied the world in the latter part of this Book relating to the methodus medendi and though sometimes we will allow that Patients hereby have recover'd yet seeing it hath been by accident and not by Art we might probably have seen the same if the Patients had solely committed themselves to Natures regimen which is usually attended with far greater success than their high applauded Chymical preparations especially if managed by the diligent attendance and judicious observation which were the great Arcana of divine Hippocrates of a prudent Physician who is as cautious of discomposing or tumultuating the bloud with Cordials and Elixirs as of weakning and impoverishing it with too cooling and refrigerating Julips and therefore rather waits her motions remembring that golden rule cunctando res agitur 2. If success in practice be the surest evidence of a mans learning and knowledge proper for his Faculty as Mr. H. asserts pag. 9. how comes it to pass that the event of diseases is ever an unequal Judicature as he tells us out of my Lord Bacon the very page after who farther saith as he quotes him that who can tell if a Patient die or recover whether it be by accident or by Art now pray Mr. H. what becomes of your Certificates in this case But to proceed to that part of Mr. H's assertion viz. the conjecturalness of our Art from whence he would perswade us that Physicians are no competent Judges because their Art is conjectural having no certain rules to judge by To this I Answer 1. If the Art of Physick be Conjectural why may not Physicians be as good if not better Conjecturers in their own Art than any other sort of men especially seeing they so well understand both the Theoretick and Practick part thereof for surely he that is the best Conjecturer is the best able to judge what conjectures are most rational and founded upon the fairest probabilities 2. If there can be no Judges in Physick how comes it to pass that Mr. H. so fiercely contends for the Reverend Bishops being so fit for that employment seeing that according to his own assertion they have no certain rules to judge by 3. I would gladly know of Mr. H. how Physicians in former Ages were so fit for that employment but in ours must by no means be allowed the reason he gives is this because the Art was then fixed and staked down