privileges they deputed some of their Members to wait upon the Right Honourable Sir Francis Walsingham Secretary of State humbly to beg the favour of him to write his Letter to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen to require them that they should give the College no farther trouble but suffer them to live free and undisturbed they being freed from finding Arms by virtue of Royal Charters given to them by the Royal bounty of their Princes and Acts of Parliament made in their favour Which the Honourable Secretary was pleased to doe and the College thereupon discharged from farther charge or trouble Paul Fairfax a foreign Empirick gave out Bills stuffed with arrogance and ostentation of the admirable virtues of a Water which he called his Aqua Coelestis with which he cheated the People He confessed that he had practised Physick in London for 4 months and pretended that he had done several Cures with his water and other remedies for which he was fined 5 l. and required to give bond that he should not practise for the future which if he refused he was to be committed to prison Upon this he procured a Letter from the Lord Chamberlain directed to the President and College which he delivered with Letters testimonial of having taken his Degree at Frankfort which seeming to be fictitious they were kept by the College and he forbidden to practise Physick However the following Letter was presented by the President and College in answer to the Lord Chamberlain's To the Right Honorable our very good Lord the Lord Hunsdon Lord Chamberlaine one of the Lords of her Majesties most honorable Privy Councill RIght Honorable and our very good Lord Having received a Letter from your Lordship in the behalf of one Paul Fairfax for the liberty of his practice in Physick here in London and understanding by the Contents of the same that your Honor hath been misinformed as well of the quality of the man as also of our dealings towards him We most humbly beseech your good Lordship to accept of our answer which we here present in most dutifull wise Touching the Man albeit by some travell he seemeth to have gotten some kind of Language and therewithall hath boldly put himself into some Empirical practice more daungerous in trueth to the Patient then any-wise commendable to the Practitioner Yet upon just examination we find the man very weak in the substance of all kind of good learning and rather to be pitied for his fantasticall conceits and well weening of his owne ignorance then any wise to deserve toleration in so daungerous a function A man never trained up in any good Schoole of Learning ignorant in the very principles of the Art and for lack of other good matter furnished with certain ridiculous termes and childish phrases invented onelie to entertain the simple hearer and to delude the unlearned multitude withall And whereas he laieth some challenge to a Doctorship He hath in deed shewed unto us the Letters Testimoniall for the same Yet we being better acquainted with the coorse of Universities then he have a better opinion of Frankfort then to think that wittinglie and willinglie they would commit so foul an errour as to admit either him or the like And having made good survey of the Letters find by evident proofs that they are vehemently to be suspected to have been rather by some sinister means devised than by any ordinary course obtained Touching us and our hard using of him as he termeth it to your Lordship as well by imprisoning his body as by exacting the paiment of money to his great impoverishing Maie it please your good Lordship to understand that as yet he hath paied no one penny but standeth bound indeede and that for a very small summe considering the quality of the offence and the straightness of our Lawes in that behalf and yet for the paiment thereof hath as long a day as himself requested And as for his imprisonment it was rather procured by his owne undiscreet frowardness then ment by us at all if he had shewed any conformitie in time For being a Gentleman as himself saieth and having so good acquaintance as he protested being offered to be set at liberty if he would have put in but any one sufficient surety a matter of great ease for him to do if the rest of his talk had been to be credited He as one rather contemning us and our friendly dealing then not able to satisfie our reasonable request more upon stomach then discretion made choice of imprisonment Thus have we delivered unto your good Lordship a truth beseeching your Honor so to interpret of our dealing toward him and all other in the like degree as of men altogether abhorring from all extremity but enforced to do that little which we do even by the very duetie that we owe to our Lawes and good orders and by the consideration of our strict solemne Oth and conscience in that behalf And so praying for your Lordships most prosperous estate we most humbly take our leave At our College this last of Ianuary 1588. Your Lordship 's most humble The President and Society of the College of Physitions in London Iohn Halsey appearing before the College confessed that he had practised Physick in London for several years wherefore the College ordered that he should pay 20 l. for his former practice and take a licence for the future if found fit or else give bond of 100 l. that he should not practise hereafter in London which if refused then to be committed to prison He desired time to consider and then promised forthwith to enter into bond as required by the College Tomazine Scarlet a Woman so egregiously ignorant that she confessed she understood nothing in Physick neither could reade or write yet had hundreds under her cure to whom she gave purging Medicines Stibium c. For which she was required to give a bond with good security that she would not practise for the future which accordingly she did But after some years practising again and refusing to give bond as before she was committed to prison but then procured Letters from Court to the President of the College that she might be released but by Order of the College she was continued And after some short time being sent for she refused to desist from practice or to give bond for her due observance of the Laws as before demanded wherefore she was for this contumacy of hers remanded back to prison About 3 years after she was again committed to prison and fined 10 l. for practising Physick and using dangerous Medicines as Stibium Antimony Mercurial Unguents c. all which she confessed Five years after she was a third time sent to prison and fined 5 l. upon the same account In the 31 th of the Queen Paul Buck a very impudent and ignorant Empirick appeared before the President and Censors and then confessed he never had any liberal education yet had practised Physick
College of Physicians who Anno 1680. was summoned to appear before the Lieutenancy of London for not bearing and providing Arms. Upon which Summons attending with the Patent of 15 Car. Secundi Regis nunc The Lieutenancy upon a long debate of this matter desired him to leave a Copy of that part of the Patent which exempted the Members of the said College from bearing and providing of Arms and they would advise with their Councell thereupon ordering the Dr. to attend them their next Committee day in which they promised to give him their positive resolution Accordingly he attended and they told him that they were satisfied that the words of the Patent were sufficient to exempt the Members of the College from bearing and providing Arms and desired that a List of them might be given in under the College Seal which was accordingly done The Opinion of Sir Francis Pemberton late Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas as to the College's finding Arms given under his hand April 1680. Quest Whether the King may not excuse the College from finding Arms by virtue of his Letters Patent granted after an Act of Parliament which requires all persons to find Arms without exception Ans I conceive his Majesty may by his Patent excuse the College from finding Arms if he think sit The Opinions of Sir Edmund Saunders late Lord Chief Justice of England and Mr. Holt given under their hands upon the same account An. Dom. 1682. Quest Whether the general clause of Non obstante in the King's Letters Patent concerning the College of Physicians expressed in these words And we will and by these presents for Vs Our Heirs and Successors do give and grant unto the said President Fellows and Commonalty of the King's College of Physicians and their Successors that all and every Physician and Physicians that now is or are or that hereafter shall be elected admitted and made a member of the same College shall from time to time be wholly and absolutely fréed exempt and discharged of and from bearing and providing Arms within our Cities of London or Westminster or either of them or any of the Suburbs or Liberties of the same Cities or either of them or within 7 miles compass thereof Any Statute Act Ordinance Constitution Order Custome or Law to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding doth operate upon the Acts of Parliament of the 13 14 and 15. years of his now Majestie 's Reign for regulating the Militia and thereby exempt the Members thereof from bearing or providing Arms according to the purport of the said Acts they being not by name mentioned in the said clause of Non Obstante Sir Edmund Saunders his Opinion The Patent doth discharge the Physicians from bearing or providing of Arms notwithstanding the Militia Act. Mr. Holt his Opinion I conceive by the Patent all the Members of the College are exempted from being at any charge to wards the Militia FINIS AN HISTORICAL ACCOVNT OF THE COLLEGE'S Proceedings AGAINST EMPIRICKS AND Unlicensed Practisers c. In every Prince's Reign from their first Incorporation to the Murther of the Royal Martyr King Charles the First By CHARLES GOODALL Dr. in Physick and Fellow of the said College of Physicians LONDON Printed by M. Flesher for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1684. TO THE RIGHT WORSHIPFULL Dr. Whistler PRESIDENT The Censors and Fellows of the College of Physicians in London 'T Is now about 165 years since your College was first founded by Royal Authority The causes which moved the renowned Princes King Henry 8. Q. Mary Q. Elizabeth King James and our present Sovereign whom God long preserve to stamp such eminent characters and signal marks of their Royal favour and bounty upon you cannot be unknown to those who have read over the Acts of Parliament passed in two Princes Reigns with the Charters granted by others and Printed in this Book In which you may find it thus expressed That they out of their Princely wisedom deeply considering and by the example of Foreign well-governed States and Kingdoms truly understanding how profitable beneficial and acceptable it would be unto the whole body of this Kingdom of England to restrain and suppress the excessive number of such as daily professed themselves learned and profound Practisers in the faculty of Physick Whereas in truth they were men illiterate and unexperienced rather propounding unto themselves their private gain with the detriment of this Kingdom than to give relief in time of need And likewise duly considering that by the rejecting of those illiterate and unskilfull practisers those that were learned grave and profound practisers in that faculty should receive more bountifull reward and also the industrious Students of that profession would be the better encouraged in their studies and endeavours c. Vpon these and many other weighty Motives causes and considerations recited at large in the forementioned Acts and Charters did our Kings and Queens of England erect found and establish a College Commonalty or Incorporation of Physicians in the City and Suburbs of London and for 7 miles every way in distance from the same to be remain and have existence for ever Now much honoured Collegues How far you have answered the great and noble ends of these Princely favours and Royal Grants will fully appear in this book I mean as to the primary cause of your Incorporation viz. The restraining and suppressing illiterate unexperienced and unlicensed practisers As to the Second viz. How far you and your predecessors have answered the Character of learned grave and profound practisers in the faculty of Physick will in some measure appear in this Epistle wherein I have endeavoured to give a true though brief account of several memorable passages relating to the Lives and Works of some of the eminent Physicians of this College This is a work I must confess more fit for a large Volume than an Epistle a work which I hope in due time may be attempted by a more able and elegant pen than I can pretend to and that because I know there want not good materials to encourage such an honourable and worthy undertaking several Authours having already written somewhat memorable of the Worthies of this our Royal College our own Annals acquainting us with much more and the learned Dr. Hamey having left behind him in a Manuscript of his own writing the lives of above 50 of them Some of which were highly valued for their knowledge in the learned Languages others for being general Scholars polite Latinists accurate Grecians eloquent Oratours great Antiquaries and deep Philosophers Others for the improvement of their own faculty in the Theoretick and Practick Anatomick and Spagirick parts thereof that they were and are no less valued and esteemed in other Countries than in their own having by their matchless and most incomparable works not onely merited but obtained the name of immortal Some are admired and read in foreign Vniversities as Hippocrates and Galen
LIbrum hunc cui Titulus The Royal College of Physicians of London founded and established by Law c. dignum censemus qui typis mandetur D. Whistler Praeses Tho. Witherley Johan Atfield Edvardus Browne Tho. Alvey Censores THE Royal College OF PHYSICIANS OF LONDON Founded and Established by Law As appears By Letters Patents Acts of Parliament adjudged Cases c. AND An Historical Account of the College's proceedings against Empiricks and unlicensed Practisers in every Princes Reign from their first Incorporation to the Murther of the Royal Martyr King Charles the First By CHARLES GOODALL Dr. in Physick and Fellow of the said College of Physicians LONDON Printed by M. Flesher for Walter Kettilby at the Bishop's Head in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1684. To the Right Honourable FRANCIS LORD GVILFORD Lord Keeper of the Great Seal of England and one of his Majestie 's Most honourable Privy Council My Lord 'T Is now no less than seven years since I adventured the prefixing of your Lordship's name to a Book written in defence of the College of Physicians against a bold and impudent Libell published with design to expose that Learned Society to contempt Since which time I have not onely had the honour of being made one of their Members but have been entrusted with the search of their Records and received encouragement to publish a Collection of their Royal Patents Acts of Parliament Trials with and proceedings against Empiricks that so the Adversaries of this Society might be convinced of the reason and Justice of their actings against those illiterate and vile Impostors whose practice by Act of Parliament is declared to be To the high displeasure of God great infamy to the faculty and destruction of many of the King's Liege people Your Lordship knows very well the grounds which first moved that noble and renowned King Henry 8. in the tenth year of his Reign to constitute this Royal foundation whose Princely wisedom herein was highly approved by Act of Parliament in the 14 15. years of his Reign in which the King's Letters Patents and all and every Graunt Article and other thing contained and specified therein were approved graunted ratified and confirmed About seventeen years after a second Act of Parliament was granted to this Society by the same King of glorious memory for enlarging of their Privileges with the addition of many new ones In the first of Q. Mary being but 29 or 30 years from the 14 15 H. 8. a third Act of Parliament was made in confirmation of the forementioned Statute and many more privileges of great moment were added to the former Queen Elizabeth and King James of ever glorious memory and his Sacred Majesty now Reigning whom God long preserve from all traiterous Associations and Conspiracies of bloud-thirsty and malicious men have by their several Royal Patents granted them farther Liberties Powers and Privileges by reason of the great increase of unskilfull illiterate and unlicensed practisers of Physick in London and within 7 Miles thereof who now my Lord are arrived to that height of impudence not onely in their publick writings but even in the King's Courts of Judicature that they dare adventure to question the Authority of an Act of Parliament though owned as such by those Royal Testimonies already named by the Chief Justices and Judges of the King's Bench and Common Pleas such as Popham Coke Fleming Foster Walmesly Warburton Daniel Williams Tanfield Crook Littleton c. in their several Books of Reports and in their resolutions of several questions relating to the College of Physicians wherein they gave their opinions by an order from K. James directed to the Right honourable Thomas Lord Ellesmere Lord Chancellour of England which opinions are inserted in this book c. by its being printed in several Statute books and Abridgments of the same which were published even in that King's Reign in which they were enacted by Robert Redman Thomas Berthelet Wyllyam Mydylton Thomas Petyt and Thomas Powel Printers to his Most Excellent Majesty and since in all the Statute books and Abridgments that have been Printed to this time Nay more than this In the Rolls Chapel and in the Journal books formerly collected by that famous Antiquary Sir Robert Cotton and preserved by Sir John in his Father's Library and in the Journal books of the Right honourable the Earl of Clarendon which I had the honour to look over I find 36 Acts of Parliament passed in that Session of 14 15 Hen. 8. At the end of the twenty fourth this is inserted Item diverse communes petitiones rem publicam concernentes exhibite erant dicto Domino Regi in Parliamento predicto cum suis responsionibus quarum tenores sequuntur sunt tales Amongst which upon the same Roll the 33th is an Act concerning Physicians and after the 36th is entred the King's Commission to Cardinal Wolsey Printed p. 12. of this book which finisheth that Roll of Parliament In which it is thus expressed Reverendissimus Dominus Legatus Cancellarius Acta omnia in presenti Parliamento pro bono publico edita facta ex mandato Domini Regis recitari publicari jussit Quibus ex ordine per inicia recitatis lectis singulis per Clericum Parliamenti responsione secundum annotationes Regie voluntatis declarativas à dorso scriptas facta c. Add to this that excellent and learned account given by the Lord Chief Justice Hales why the Royal Signature might not be entred by the Clerk of Parliament in his transcript of the Original Rolls under this Act of Parliament and nine others passed in that Session in a late Judgment given against Huybert As likewise the testimony of the Lord Herbert of Cherbury in his excellent book of the Life and Reign of King Henry 8. drawn out of his Majestie 's Records In which he acquaints us with the more famous Statutes enacted in the Parliament of 14 15 Henry 8. amongst which we find this relating to the College of Physicians Now my Lord from these Authorities and many others of the like kind We should be in some hopes that these men being formerly driven from their old plea of 34 35 of Hen. 8. c. 8. An Act made against Surgeons for their unconscionable dealing with their Patients and for giving liberty to all such who practise for Piety and Charity without taking money or gain as appears by a Judgment given against Butler p. 258 and from this their late Plea of Nul tiel Record that our profession might flourish and that as King James hath expressed it in his Royal Patent by rejecting such illiterate and unskilfull Practisers those that were Learned Grave and Profound Practisers in that Faculty should receive more bountifull reward and also the industrious Students of that profession would be the better encouraged in their Studies and endeavours But that we have to deal with a sort of men not of Academical but Mechanick education who being
of the College Resp They all agréed That they are subject to the government and correction of the College by an express clause of the said Charter enacted which giveth to the President and College Supervisionem Scrutinium Correctionem Gubernationem as well of all persons using the practice of Medicine within the City c. Quest 4. If they may not practise without admission of the College as their Letters Patents plainly import Then whether such Graduates are not subject to the examination without which there were never any admitted and without which the admission cannot be approved because every Graduate is not absolutely good ipso facto Resp It was resolved by all That all that practised or should practise Physick either in London or within the compass of 7 miles of the same must submit themselves to the examination of the President and College if they be required thereunto by their authority notwithstanding any licence allowance or privilege given them in Oxford or Cambridge either by their degrée or otherwise Concerning Punishment and Correction against Offenders Quest 1. Whether the President and four Censors together or the Censors alone may not commit to Prison without bail or mainprize all Offenders in the practice of Physick according to the Statute of primo Mariae and how long whether till he have paid such Fine as shall be assessed upon him or have submitted himself to their Order and in what manner Resp They all resolved That for not well doing using or practising the faculty or Art of Physick or for disobedience or contempts done and committed against any Ordinance made by the College by virtue and according to the power and authority to them granted they may commit the Offenders without bail or mainprize as the words of the Statute are Which they all resolved could not be altered or interpreted otherwise than the express words of the Statute are Quest 2. Whether they may not commit to prison for disobedience and contempt of the private Statutes and Ordinances of the College made for the better government thereof and for not payment of such reasonable Fines as shall be imposed by the President and Censors for maintenance of the said College among the Members of the same College Resp They all resolved That the President and College might commit to prison for offences and disobedience done or committed against any lawfull ordinance made by the said College and might impose reasonable Fines for the breach thereof and detain the parties committed till these Fines were satisfied Quest 3. Whether they may not justly take upon every admission a reasonable sum of money for the better maintenance and defraying of necessary expences as in other Corporations Resp They all held That they might take such reasonable sums Quest 4. Whether those onely are to be committed that are offenders in Non bene exequendo faciendo utendo facultate Medicinae as in the Letters Patents and such as are sufficient and not admitted are to be sued for 5 li. a month and not be committed Resp They all held That by the Charter and Acts of Parliament they might commit Offenders and Practisers that offended in Non bene exequendo faciendo utendo facultate But for the committing to prison of such as practise not being admitted by the College they held it doubtfull for that the Charter and Statute do in that case inflict a punishment of 5 li. a month against such practiser without admittance by the College But they all resolved That if the President and College made an Ordinance to prohibit the practising of all without admittance under the Common Seal of the said College That for breach and contempt of this Ordinance the President and College might both impose a reasonable Fine upon the Offender and commit him without bail or mainprise Quest 5. Whether refusal to come to be examined upon warning given be not a sufficient cause of Commitment Resp They all resolved That if the College do make an Ordinance That if any practiser of Physick in London or within 7 miles of the same shall obstinately or wilfully refuse to be examined by the Censors of the College in non bene exequendo faciendo utendo the art of Physick or his Medicines or Receipts that the said President and Censors may commit him to prison there to remain without bail or mainprise untill he be delivered by the President and Censors and to forfeit and pay to the said College some reasonable sum of money That the same Ordinance will be good and lawfull And if any after shall offend contrary to the said Ordinance the President and Censors may lawfully commit such Offender to prison there to remain without bail or mainprise untill he shall be delivered by the said President and Censors It pleased the Lord Chancellor to move these questions to the Judges as material for the execution of the Statutes 1. Quest Whether the party committed for unskilfull or temerarious practice may have an Action of false imprisonment against them and thereby draw in question or issue the goodness or badness of the Physick Resp All resolved That the party so committed was concluded by the sentence and Iudgment of the 4 Censors of the College of Physicians 2. Quest Whether if any not admitted do practise Physick within London or 7 Miles of the same but once twice or thrice in one month be an offender against the Charter and Statutes of the College Resp All resolved he was if he be a professed Physician These I conceive to be the resolutions of their Lordships and the Judges upon the Questions which I humbly refer to themselves to affirm or disaffirm John Crook Tho. Foster Tho. Harries A brief account of the College of Physicians Case drawn up in relation to their finding of Arms keeping of Watch and Ward or bearing any Parish offices IN the roth year of King H. 8. the Physicians of London and within 7 miles of the same upon many important reasons mentioned in their Royal Patent were made a Body Corporate and endowed with many privileges which in the 14th and 15th of his Reign were confirmed by Act of Parliament In the 32th of the same King's Reign several additional privileges were granted them by a second Act of Parliament by which they were discharged from keeping any Watch and Ward or being chosen to any Office in London or the Suburbs thereof and were thereby enabled to practise Surgery as well as Physick in the said City c. By which clause they were entituled to the privilege granted the Surgeons of being discharged from bearing Arms c. by the 5 H. 8. 6. In the 1 Q. M. 9. their Charter was a second time confirmed by Act of Parliament and additional Privileges granted to them Which privileges with a freedom from finding Arms were continued to them without interruption till 1588 and it being then a time of most imminent and publick danger the Lord Mayor of London and Court
of Aldermen charged the College with Arms whereupon they applied themselves to Queen Elizabeth and her Council upon which Secretary Walsingham wrote a Letter to the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London that they should no more trouble the College but permit them to live quietly and free from that charge After this they met with no farther trouble or molestation till the Reign of K. James at which time the College being charged with Arms Sir William Paddy pleaded their Privilege before Sir Thomas Middleton Lord Mayor and a full Court of Aldermen and Sir Henry Mountague Recorder an account of which is at large Printed in this Book But the issue thereof was in short the following viz. That the Recorder then perusing every branch of the Statutes recited by Sir William Paddy with the reasons by him urged and opening every part thereof at large did conclude that the Act of Parliament did extend to give the College as much immunity as in any sort to the Chirurgeons Whereupon the Court desired a List of the Members of the College which was immediately given them and an Order entred for a dispensation to the College from bearing of Arms and also a Precept was then awarded by the Mayor and Court to commit all other Physicians or Surgeons refusing to bear or find Arms who were not of the College allowed or Chirurgeons licensed according to form About 3 years after this debate King James granted the College his Royal Charter wherein he confirms all former Statutes and Patents given them by his Royal Progenitors and therein granted To all and every Physician of the College to be wholly and absolutely free from providing or bearing of any Armour or other Munition c any Act or Statute to the contrary notwithstanding After this the College enjoyed this privilege without interruption during the Reign of King Charles the First of glorious memory untill the times of the late Rebellion in which Rights both Civil and Sacred were invaded and our College exposed to publick sale by mercenary Villains But upon the return of his Sacred Majesty He was pleased to take this Royal foundation into his protection and in the 15th year of his Reign gave them his Letters Patents confirming all their former Privileges and endowing them with many new ones amongst which this of being exempted from bearing and providing Arms c. is contained in the following words And we will and by these presents for Vs Our Heirs and Successors do give and grant unto the said President Fellows and Commonalty of the King's College of Physicians and their Successors that all and every Physician and Physicians that now is or are or that hereafter shall be elected and admitted and made a Member of the same College shall from time to time be wholly and absolutely fréed exempt and discharged of and from serving and appearing in any Iury or Iuries for the trial of any matter or cause or taking finding or executing of any Commission or inquisition whatsoever and of and from being or chosen to be Churchwarden Constable Scavenger or any such or the like Officer or Officers and of and from the undertaking execution or exercise of all and every the same and such like Office and Offices place and places and every of them and also of and from all Watch and Ward and of and from bearing and providing Arms within our Cities of London or Westminster or either of them or within 7 miles compass thereof And in case they or any of them shall at any time hereafter by any ways or means be designed appointed nominated or chosen into or to undergo or bear or perform any of the said Office or Offices place or places Duty or Duties or any of them within our said Cities or the Suburbs or Liberties thereof or limits aforesaid That all and every such designation appointment nomination or election shall be utterly void and of none effect Any Statute Act Ordinance Constitution Order Custome or Law to the contrary thereof in any wise notwithstanding In the Seventeenth of his Majestie 's Reign he was pleased pursuant to his Royal Patent to send the following Letter in behalf of the College by Sir Alexander Frazier his chief Physician the Superscription of which was To our trusty and well-beloved the Lord Mayor of our City of London for the time being and to the Deputy Lieutenants and Commissioners of the Militia of London and Westminster that now are and hereafter shall be and to all other Officers and Ministers whom it may concern CHARLES R. WHereas in conformity to several Grants and Charters made by our Royal Progenitors Kings of England unto the College of Physicians in our City of London We have béen pleased of our especial Grace and Favour to confirm all their ancient Privileges and Immunities with the addition of some further Powers and Clauses for the reguiation of that faculty by our Letters Patent bearing date the 26th of March in the 15th year of our Reign Wherein amongst other things it is exprefly provided and by us granted that every Physician who is or shall be a Member of the said College be frée and exempt and discharged of and from all Watch and Ward and of and from bearing and providing Arms within our Cities of London or Westminster or either of them or within 7 miles compass thereof We have thought fit hereby to acquaint you therewith and with our pleasure thereupon Willing and Requiring you in your several Places and Stations to give effectual orders from time to time that the said exemption from Watch and Ward and from bearing and providing Arms be now and hereafter punctually observed in favour of the Members of the said College within the limits aforesaid And that you suffer them not to be any wise molested on that behalf And for so doing this shall be your Warrant Given at our Court at Whitehall the 28th day of June 1665. in the seventéenth year of our Reign By his Majestie 's Command William Morice This is a true Copy of His Majestie 's Letter Will. Morice Thus by the especial grace and favour of the Kings and Queens of England the College of Physicians have been freed from bearing and providing Arms and though some particular Member may of late have been summoned upon that account by the Lieutenancy yet upon producing his Majestie 's Patent and asserting his Sovereign's Natural right in dispensing with a Corporation of men from bearing and providing Arms which was an inherent prerogative in the Crown and therefore an Act of Parliament was made in 13 Car. 2. 6. positively declaring That the sole and Supreme Power government command and disposition of all the Militia and of all Forces by Sea and Land c is and by the Laws of England ever was the undoubted right of his Majesty and his Royal Predecessors They were freed from any further trouble An instance of which we lately had in the case of Dr. Novell then Candidate of the
Bond to the College propter malam illicitam praxin which if he refused he was to continue in prison untill his Fine was paid Iohn Not an Empirick of the County of Kent appeared before the College propter audacem suam illicitam in medicinâ praxin He was ordered to give bond with sufficient security that he would not for the future practise Physick which refusing he was committed to prison After this he procured the following Letter in his behalf from Secretary Walsingham AFter my verie hartie commendacions Whereas I understand that you have caused one Not a practisioner in physick to be committed to prison in the Coumpter in Woodstreet where he presently remaineth Forasmuch as both my self have heretofore used him and divers other Gentlemen have also receaved good by him These are hartely to praie you that you will not deteine him any longer in prison to his great hinderance and utter undooing but rather at this my request to suffer him to go at liberty without putting him to farther trooble unlesse there be some great cause to the contrary wherein I will think my self beholding unto you and so do bid you hartely farewell From Westminster the 28th of September 1586. Your very loving frende Fra. Walsingham To this Letter the College returned the following answer To the Right honorable Sir Francis Walsingham Knight Secretary to her Majesty and one of her Highness most honorable Privy Council WHereas it hath pleased your Honor to direct your Letters unto us in the behalf of one Not to the end that we woold no longer deteine him in prison unless there be some great cause to the contrary Maie it please you to be advertized that we and everie one of us being most desirous to shew our ready and dutifull good minds to your Honor immediately sent for the party to our College mynding in respect of your Honor's motion to have delt with him by all maner of curtesy And albeit we know him to be utterly ignorant in that profession and such one as hath been often heertofore convented before us and found subject to great punishments and yet released from all extreamity upon his own caution put in amongst us and earnest promisse that he woold never after that deale with the practice of Physick All which notwithstanding he now more stubbernly then heretofore upon what encouragement we know not of purpose infringeth our privileges and the holsome Lawes of this Realme which we by solemne Oth are bound to maintaine and therewithall protesteth openly and that most infamously as we think and offensively to the credit and good name of such as admit him to their persons that he dealeth with none but onely for the Pocks Yet seeing it hath pleased your Honor to deale for him so earnestly whose good opinion we are and ever wil be most willing to satisfie in what we maie we were fully resolved freely to remit all offenses and to set him at liberty onely upon his own small bond for the not abusing of himself hereafter in Phisick within this City of London according to the Statutes of the Realme provided for the same and our particuler Othes taken in that behalf Which most reasonable demand for that he so wilfully denieth to accomplish We have therefore sent the bearer hereof an officer of our College as well to make report of the truth as also seing the party himself hath refused this favour most humbly to intreat your Honor to accept of our good meaning minds and so most humbly take our leave Your Honor 's moste dutifully The President and Society of the Physitions of London London 2 Octob. 1586. After this Not entred into bond that for the future he would not practise Physick which being forfeited the College put it in suit whereby he was forced to flee into foreign parts But returning again in K. Iames's Reign He was complained of by Dr. Gulston and a Gentleman who had taken Physick of him whereby he fell into a great Vomiting and Loosness Hiccough and great pains complicated with a paralytical disposition And though this Gentleman sent for him when he was in great extremity yet he would by no means come About a month after he was summoned and brought by an officer to the College where before the President and Censors he confessed that he was no Graduate that he understood not Latine or Physick unless it were the Stone which he could so dissolve in the bladder that it might be discharged by gravell and Fevers which he could cure by external applications He denied what had been proved against him by the forementioned Gentleman and others However the whole business being examined the President and Censors fined him 14 l. and committed him to prison About 5 years after a poor woman complained that being ill of a stopping about her throat and breast she went to him who would and did see her Urine and thereon said she had an Imposthume there and would soon die if not cured before Spring her Spleen being come up into her Lungs For which he was summoned to appear at the College where he said that an Imposthume about the throat and breast might hold 3 months without growing worse that the Spleen was in the radical parts Being told of some of his professed tricks in Alchymy and examined therein his answers were all impertinent and ignorant For which and his ill practice he was fined 5 l. to be paid presently or committed to prison and he interdicted all practice for the future But his Son paying this fine and becoming Surety for him he was released In the 28th David Ward an Empirick was committed to prison propter suam in Medicina praxin illicitam and fined 20 l. He was afterwards discharged and prosecuted at Common Law In the 29th Henry Ieffry confessed his practising of Physick in London for 6 years being examined in the rudiments of that Art he was found very ignorant not onely in that but all other learning Wherefore he was prohibited practice and a small fine laid upon him to be paid to the College Godfrey Mosan was fined 20 l. at one time and 10 l. at another for his evil and illegal practice in Physick and for his egregious ignorance He gave bond to pay the forementioned sums upon several days limited therein Peter Piers was brought before the College and committed to prison for giving Pills of Antimony Turbith and Mercury Sublimate by which he had killed several persons One Bright being also summoned and not appearing a Warrant was issued out for seizing him and committing him to the Fleet Others were imprisoned for practising Physick and others had their Bonds put in suit against them upon the same account In the 30th year of the Queen being in the year 1588 a time of most publick and eminent danger the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen sent their Precept to the College of Physicians requiring them to find Arms. This being looked upon as an infringement of College