remove presentments upon which process may be awarded in this Court The Reason why 't is not sufficient to plead the Tenor of Letters Patents or to shew or produce to the Court the Tenor of Letters Patents as in Pages case is resolved is because the Letters Patents are the private conveyance of a particular person and therefore he must plead and shew forth and produce to the Court the Letters Patents themselves and the Tenor thereof was not sufficient at the Common Law But upon nul tiel Record pleaded a Certificate of the Tenor onely and not of the Record it self hath always béen held a sufficient proof of that issue and the Tenor certified is to be filed in this Court and to remain here always to this purpose onely viz. as a proof of this issue but the Record it self remains where it was before to be made use of for any purposes that may happen hereafter The rest of the Iudges were of the same opinion and so Iudgment was given for the Plaintiff De Termino Sanctae Trinitatis Anno 28 Car. secundi 1676. Banco Regis The King and the President and College of Physicians Plaintiffs against Marchamont Needham Defendant THe President and the College qui tam c. brought an action of debt upon the Statute of 14 H. 8. cap. 5. for so much money against the Defendant for practising Physick for so many months without licence of the College whereby he was to forfeit 5 li. per month one moiety thereof to the King and the other moiety to the President and College The Defendant pleaded as to part of the money in the Declaration mentioned nul tiel Record as the said Act of Parliament and as to the Residue of the money the Defendant pleaded nil debet The Plaintiffs demurred to the Barr. The cause of the demurrer was for that the Defendant's plea was double viz. it contained two matters one whereof alone would go in answer to the whole money in the Declaration mentioned and would of it self be a good and full Barr to the Plaintiffs Action in case the said matter be true as the Defendant alledgeth and that is the matter of nul tiel Record and therefore the pleading of nul tiel Record to part onely and the pleading of other matter viz. nil debet to the residue makes the Defendant's plea in Barr to be vicious and to be an ill plea in Law The Councel for the Defendant did then object that the Plaintiffs Declaration is naught 't is an action of debt brought by the President and College qui tam c. upon the Statute and an action of debt doth not lie the Plaintiffs should have brought an information upon the Statute and not an Action of debt upon the Statute for the Statute doth not give an action of debt and therefore an action of debt doth not lie Twisden Iustice answered that an action of debt doth lie by equity and construction of the Statute Jones Iustice said that in the Statute of Tithes in 3 Ed. 6. no action of debt is mentioned and yet an action of debt lies upon that Statute and so here Thereupon Rule was given by the Court that Iudgment should be entred for the Plaintiffs In Mich. Term. Anno Car. secundi xxvi THe College brought their Action against John Bourne to which he pleaded nil debet and upon tryal of the Cause at Guild-Hall before Iudge Twisden the Plaintiffs recovered 40 li. Trin. xxxv Car. secundi THe President and College c. brought an Action of Debt upon the Statute of the 14 of H. 8. against Frederick Harder for practising Physick and thereupon had a Verdict against him at Westm for 25 li. which he paid and the Costs that were taxed The same Term they had a Verdict against Nathaniel Merry for 40 li. and against Richard Stone for 45 li. College Questions resolved by the Lord Chancellor and Judges in the fifth of King James his Reign An. Dom. 1607. THe King 's most Excellent Majesty having directed his Letters to the Right honourable Thomas Lord Ellesmere Lord Chancellor of England and to Sir John Popham Knight Lord Chief Iustice of England and one of his Highness's most honourable Privy Council They the said Lord Chancellor and Lord Chief Iustice by virtue of the same Letters called unto them Sr. Thomas Fleminge Knight then Lord Chief Baron of his Majestie 's Court of Exchequer Sir Thomas Walmesley and Sr. Peter Warburton Knights two of his Majestie 's Iustices of the Court of Common Pleas and Sir David Williams and Sir Laurence Tanfield Knights two of his Majesties Iustices of the King's Bench and after due consideration had both of the Charter of King H. 8. made unto the said President and College of Physicians in the tenth year of his Raign and several Acts of Parliament thereof made one in the 14 year of the same King and the other in the first year of Q. Mary for the ordering and governing of the said College and of all the Practisers in London and 7 Miles compass did on the first of May 1607. at the house of the said Lord Chancellor called York house resolve the several questions hereafter mentioned as is expressed under every Question Tho. Harries These Questions were resolved as is expressed under every question by the right honorable the Lord Chancellor of England Lord Chief Iustice of England the Lord Chief Baron of the Exchequer Iustice Walmesley Iustice Warburton Iustice Williams and Iustice Tanfield being assembled by the King's Majestie 's appointment to examine view and consider of the Charters Statutes and Laws made for the government of the College of Physicians in London and the Practisers of Physick there the first day of May 1607. at the house of the Lord Chancellor Quest 1. Whether Graduates of Oxford and Cambridge may practise in London or 7 miles compass of the same without licence under the said College Seal by virtue of the clause in the end of the Statute of 14 H. 8. and whether that clause hath not relation to the Statute of 3 H. 8. onely or how far it doth extend Resp All resolved that no Graduate that is not admitted and licensed by the President and College of Physicians under their Common Seal could practise in London or within 7 miles compass of the same Quest 2. Whether by Graduates Graduates in Physick onely are to be understood Resp They resolved That the exception in the Statute of 14 H. 8. cap. of Graduates in the two Vniversities is to be understood onely of Graduates of Physick and of no others And all resolved That by that exception those Graduates may practise in all other places of England out of London and 7 miles of the same without examination But not in London nor within the said Circuit of 7 miles Quest 3. If Graduates not admitted to practise in London practise there whether for evil practice or misdemeanour therein they be not subject to the Correction and government
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
ob raram praxin and that by the prescription of others he should have so severe a fine inflicted upon which the College Register was searched and there it appeared that before this Fine he had been 6 times accused for practice and several times had been fined in small mulcts Upon which account the Chief Justice declared that he thought it most reasonable that after he had been treated with so great clemency and yet render'd himself incorrigible he should have a severe Fine inflicted upon him And by reason that Physicians bills were often pleaded to justifie illegal practice he thought it most advisable that all Physicians for the future should write upon all their bills their Patients names and day of the month and year by which means the Cheats of Empiricks and other Impostors might more easily be detected Thus the Chief Justice having heard this cause and well approved of the censure of the College ordered that Ienkins should be forthwith returned back to Prison untill he had given satisfaction to the President and Censors Some friends of Ienkins moving that he might give security for his appearance and not be reimprisoned the Chief Justice answered that it was not in his power to grant their request for the Laws of the Kingdom had determined that as a Privilege belonging to the President and Censors It was then objected that by the Law no Citizen of London could be imprisoned per forinsecum aliquem The Chief Justice reading the words of the Statute and observing that they would bear no such sense replied that by such interpretations they might likewise infringe his authority As to Read he complained that the College had fined him more than the Statute would allow upon which complaint the Chief Justice diligently looked over the words of the Statute and declared that the College might inflict what penalty they pleased but the Keeper of the Prison was not obliged to detain his prisoner if they exceeded the fine of 20 l. He then justified his practice by a Statute made in the 34 35 H. 8. C. 8. By which it was lawfull for any person having the knowledge of herbs c. to practise at least in some diseases to which the Chief Justice answered that this he ought not to do because he was not admitted by the College In short the sum of the Chief Justice's opinion in hearing and deciding this cause was the following 1. There is no sufficient Licence without the College Seal 2. No Surgeon as a Surgeon may practise Physick no not for any disease though it be the great Pox. 3. That the authority of the College is strong and sufficient to commit to prison 4. That the censure of the College rising from lesser mulcts to greater was equal and reasonable 5. That it were fit to set to Physicians bills the day of the month and the Patient's name 6. That the Lord Chief Iustice cannot baile or deliver the College prisoner but is obliged by Law to deliver him up to the College censure 7. That a Freeman of London may lawfully be imprisoned by the College 8. That no man though never so learned a Physician or Doctour may practise in London or within seven miles without the College Licence Upon this the President and College presented the following Letter to the Lord Chief Justice To the Right Honorable Sir John Popham Knight Lord Chief Justice of England and one of her Majestie 's most honorable Privy Councill RIght honorable Albeit we acknowledge our selves to be most infinitely bound already to your good Lordship for many your most honorable favours extended to us and our Society heretofore for the which we render your Lordship most humble thanks Yet such is your Lordship's great care and continual good inclination to the maintenance of learning good orders and vertue That not onely we and our Societie that now is are now again more deeply obliged to your honor but also all our posterity in time to come shall have just cause to pray for your Lordship 's long lief and prosperity whose unspottable Integrytie hath been so well knowen to all England these many yeares and many moe shal be as we hope to the great good of our Countrie and to your Lordship's everlasting prayse and Memory and whose tender particuler favours have been so honorably and so willingly perfourmed to us of late in defence of our privileges against one Ienkins and Reade two ignorant intruders into the profession of Physick and two daungerous infringers and abusers of her Majestie 's Laws and Leege people as while the memory of the Society and College of Physitions of London shall remaine so long shall your Lordship's honorable most worthy name be celebrated and recorded among all such as ether love or professe the title of Learning And heere for our parts we protest we are right sorrie that our weaknesse is such as we are not any otherwise able moore then only by bare wordes and speeches to make manifest our inward affections and dutifull good meaning to your honor But yet all that lyttle whatever it is that lieth in our poore powre to perfourme we heere offer and present unto your Lordship with most humble devoted mynds to do your good Lordship any service that we can And so desiring to rest in your honor 's good conceyt and opinion we most humbly take our leave and praie for your Lordship 's long lief and prosperytie This 10th of Aprill 1602. Your Lordship 's most humble The President and Society of the College of Physitions in London After this upon the submission of Ienkins and request of the Chief Justice a third part of the fine of 20 l. imposed upon Ienkins by the Censors was remitted and he discharged from Prison Read likewise by the interest of the Bishop of London procured his discharge About 2 years and 4 months after Ienkins was again charged for practising of Physick which he denied but several instances of it being given he confessed that to some few Patients of Fevers c. he had prescribed purging physick c. Being then charged with selling of one sort of drink to all that came for it he confessed that he had sold such a Medicine but for the future would never do it and if in this manner or any other hereafter he should act contrary to the privileges of the College he would readily submit to the severest punishment Upon this modest confession of his and promise of not offending for the future but more especially out of respect to the Lord Chancellour in whose service he was the Censors inflicted no punishment upon him but onely interdicted him practice and then order was given by the College that 2 of their Members should wait upon the Chancellour to acquaint him how ill Ienkins had behaved himself towards the College and how candidly they had dealt with him upon his Honour's account This was taken very kindly by the Lord Chancellour who returned the College thanks for their
was with her no body but he did prescribe any thing unto her are greatly suspected if not to have procured yet to have much hasten'd her end Of this no man can better speak than three of your owne College Dr. Gifford Dr. Fox and Dr. Poe who came unto her when she left the other and took great pains with her Likewise at her death and some days before Mr. Abraham Allen the King's Surgeon did attend her My request is that you will heare what they will say and accordingly call the said Mr. Talbott afore you and if you doe find that either by presumption in him or unskilfulnesse for from any malice I do absolutely discharge him that noble Lady's end were procured or hastned you will take such course in censuring and punishing of him that the respect due unto a person of her estate departed as she is may be observed and that his example may be a warning to others to proceed with conscience and discretion when they take the charge of the life of any upon them I have lost a most beloved and kind Kinswoman in the flower of her age and therefore do greatly desire a true accompt of the reason of her death And so I commit you to the protection of the Almighty At Baynard's Castle the 2d of August 1612. Your very loving friend R. Lisle In the 12th year of King James his Reign some of the Members of the College being required to find Arms the College appointed two of their Fellows viz. Sir William Paddy and Dr. Lister to solicite their cause with the Recorder of London the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen in the behalf of the Fellows Candidates and Licentiates for immunity from the charge of service for Men or Armour Whereupon Sir William Paddy accompanied with Dr. Lister before Sir Tho. Middleton Knight then Lord Mayor and a full Court of Aldermen upon the fourth of October 1614. after a short preamble made that is to say that the Fellows of the College of Physicians of London became Suiters unto the Lord Mayor and that honourable Court that it would please them to take into their considerations the privileges granted unto the College by Acts of Parliament whereby they were as heretofore they have been exempted from the charge of service proceeded to the Reasons following First applying his speech to Sir Henry Montague Recorder for the City he desired him that he would indifferently peruse the words in the preamble of the Act of Parliament recited thus In consideration c. Herein may it please this honourable Court not onely all Articles Graunts and other things contained in the Letters Patents but also for enlargement of further Articles for the said College are to be interpreted available to the said College in as large and ample manner as may be taken thought and construed by the same 14 Hen. 8. Then may it please you to observe that in the 32d of H. 8. they and every of them of the said Body Corporate or Fellowship and their Successours shall at all time and times after the making of the said Act be discharged to keep any Watch or Ward in the said City of London or the suburbs of the same And here the said Sir William requested them to note the word any which in true weight of construction was to be extended as if that Clause had been in more words expressed Then he farther urged that for the Chirurgeons where in the first entrance of the Act it was thought expedient by the wisedom of the Land to provide for men expert in the Science of Physick and Chirurgery And therefore when it followeth that in this Act of Parliament the Chirurgeons by express word are exempt from the bearing of Armour it may truly inferr that Physicians are exempted as before from any Watch or Ward as also Physicians here recited in the preamble should receive a greater or at least the same immunity especially since Physicians are by their Science Chirurgeons without further examination and approbation to be had from the Bishop of London whereunto mere Chirurgeons are subject Then a grave and reverend Knight an Alderman of the Bench replyed That he took the words in the Act of Parliament for the Chirurgeons viz. bearing of Arms were to free their persons and not to exempt them from the charge of the service Whereunto Sir William Paddy answered under his favour and the Judgment of the Bench and Mr. Recorder that the difference between bearing and wearing of Armour was such that the very Etymon of the word bearing as in many other cases comprehended both and therefore should give immunity from both And therewithall Sir William Paddy added this Reason that by the wisedom of the Land it must needs be intended Physicians of the College should be exempted from this and other like services for that in the time of all outward War or domestick they or some of them do attend the Armies in person whereof he there exhibited a Catalogue of divers he had from the Register And now may it please you my Lord Mayor and this honourable Court we address our selves onely to you under whose government we are seated and with love we seek from you favourable construction for just relief which as in your worth you have always afforded to all so do we assure our selves you will dispense unto us who live best by your love and will ever be ready to do you service Then Mr. Recorder perusing every branch of the Statutes recited and the reasons urged and opening every part thereof at large did gravely and judicially conclude that the Acts of Parliament did surely intend to give to the College as much immunity as in any sort to the Chirurgeons Whereupon the Court desired to have a true Catalogue of the Fellows Candidates and Licentiates of the College in number then forty and one which Sir William Paddy and Dr. Lister from the Register did immediately deliver up unto them Which Catalogue the Court then upon this reason required lest others not of the College should delude them and so claim privilege Hereupon was ordered a dispensation for the College from bearing of Arms and immediately after a Precept was awarded by the Lord Mayor and Court to commit all other Physicians or Chirurgeons refusing to bear or find Arms who were not by the College allowed or Chirurgeons licensed according to form In the 13th the following Letter was sent to the President of the College concerning the death of the Lady Arabella To my very loving Friend the President of the College of Physicians in the City of London AFter my heartie commendations Whereas the Lady Aâ—â—bella is lately deceased in the Tower and that it is his Majestie 's pleasure according to former custome upon like occasions when persons of great quality do dye in that place her body should be viewed by persons of skill and trust and thereupon Certificate to be made of what disease she dyed as to their Judgment it
his hand and not by the drinks and liquours he gave This he understood by his mother who wished him having a scald head to stroke his head with his own hand whereby he was cured And therefore sometimes he used onely his hand sometimes he gave Wine whereinto he dipped his finger that the people might have somewhat to take but the virtue came from his hand Barton was censured to pay 20 l. and to remain a prisoner in Woodstreet Compter till released by the President where he continued till the 19th of October following never having all that time petitioned the College for his liberty And then by virtue of a Writ of Habeas Corpus which he had sued forth of the King's Bench he was carried with his cause to the King's Bench Bar at Westminster The Copy of which Warrant and the Return thereof here immediately ensue NOs Johannes Warner Thomas Adams Vic' Civitat ' London Serenissimo Domino Regi in brevi huic schedul ' annex ' nominat ' ad diem locum in eodem brevi content ' Certificamus quod ante adventum nobis praedict ' brevis scil ' duodecimo die Septembris Anno regni dicti domini Regis nunc Anglie c. decimo quinto Christoferus Barton in dicto brev ' nominat ' commissus fuit Prisone dom ' Regis scil ' Computator ' scituat ' in Woodstreet London praedict ' in eadem Prisona sub custodia Isaaci Pennington Johannis Woollaston tunc vic' Civitat ' praedict ' in eorum exit ' ab officio suo sub custodia nostra detent ' virtute cujusdam Warranti Otwelli Meverell Laurentii Wright Edmundi Smith Willielmi Goddard in Medicinis Doctor Censor ' Collegii Medicor ' in London sub sigillo communi Collegii Medicor ' London praedict ' custodi praedict ' Computatorii London praedict ' vel ejus deputat ' direct ' Cujus quidem Warranti tenor sequitur in hec verba ss We Otwell Meverell Laurence Wright Edmund Smith and William Goddard Doctors in Physick and Censors of the College of Physicians in London being chosen by the President and College of Physicians aforesaid to govern and punish for this present year all offenders in the faculty of Physick within the City of London and the Suburbs thereof and seven miles compass of the said City according to the authority in that behalf to us duly given by certain Letters Patents under the great Seal of England made and granted to the said College and Comminalty by the late King of famous memory King Henry the Eighth bearing date the 23th day of September in the Tenth year of his Raigne And one Act of Parliament made in the 14th year of the said late King Henry the Eighth concerning Physicians Whereby the Letters Patents aforesaid and every thing therein are granted and confirmed And by virtue of the said Act of Parliament and Letters Patents aforesaid and one other Act of Parliament made in the first year of the Raigne of our late Soveraigne Lady Queen Mary intituled An Act touching the Corporation of Physicians in London did cause to be brought before us the sixth day of this instant September at our College house in Pater noster Rowe in London one Christofer Barton and we have examined the said Christofer Barton and upon his examination and other due proofs we have found that the said Christofer Barton hath unskilfully practised the Art of Physick within the City of London and Precinct aforesaid upon the bodies of Richard Ballady of Aldermary Parish London Michael Knight of St. Buttolphs Parish Aldgate London and the child of one Iane Bigge and some others in the month of Ianuary in the year 1638. contrary to the Laws in that behalf made and provided whereupon we have imposed upon the said Christofer Barton a fine of 20 l. for his evil practice in Physick aforesaid and we have also for the same cause sent you the body of the said Christofer Barton Willing and requiring you in the Kings Majesties name to receive and keep him in safe custody as Prisoner there to remain at his own costs and charges without bail or mainprize untill he shall be discharged of his said imprisonment by the President of the said College and by such persons as by the said College shall be thereunto authorised according to the Statute in that behalf made And this our Warrant shal be your discharge Given at the said College the eleventh day of September in the 15th year of the Raigne of our Soveraigne Lord King Charles Otwell Meverell Law Wright Edm. Smith William Goddard To the Keeper of Woodstreet Compter London or his Deputy To Mr. John Penyall one of the Messengers of his Majestie 's Chamber in Ordinary to execute this Warrant ET hec est causa acceptionis detentionis praefati Christoferi Barton in Prisona praedict ' sub custodia nostra Corpus cujus quidem Christoferi coram praefat ' domino Rege apud Westm ' parat ' habemus Being at the Bar the said 19th of October for that the Lord Chief Justice Sir Iohn Brampston was not present the other Judges present would not accept of bail which the said Barton tendered but suspended the matter untill Tuesday the 12th of October following Barton for that time was returned back and coming to the Bar again on the said Tuesday with his Councel and Bail the Lord Brampston being then present my Lord demanded the return of the Warrant which was neglected by the Clerks of the Court and left in the Crown Office in the Temple so my Lord would not proceed but respited the cause untill Thursday the 24th of October following when all parties appearing with Councel on both sides the Warrant and Return was read and the Cause debated and there the Court plainly declared that he should not be Bailed it being against the Law and the Letter of the Warrant grounded upon the Statutes Then it was desired by Barton's Councel that he might go over to the King's Bench which also was denied because he was committed originally to the Compter and willed if he would have liberty to submit to the College and make his peace there Barton being in custody of the Serjeant that carried him up to the Bar exhibited his humble Petition to the President and Censors the 25 of October signed with his own hand for abatement of part of his fine and for his enlargement submitting in all things unto them Whereupon the President and Dr. Meverell one of the Censors were contented to abate the half of his fine of 20 l. and to accept of 10 l. the one half to be paid in hand which was paid and the other half at our Lady day next And so upon the 29th of October signed his discharge and set him at liberty he being put again before his enlargement into the said Prison Mr. President gave order that upon the commitment of any Offender the name of the
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
were of old and others so much valued for their late incomparable and sagacious Medical observations that the Disciples of foreign Professours are obliged to a diligent reading and carefull practice of them No wonder therefore that Emperours and Princes have courted these Aesculapii of their several Ages to attend them in their Courts and foreign Vniversities have been so ambitious of encouraging them to ascend their Chairs their excellent learning and parts being of such an illustrious extraction And that I might not seem by this their due character to impose upon the World or flatter them I will as I promised give a short Essay of a future History intended of the Memoirs of some of the worthy Members of this honourable Society The first of which I shall mention was the most famous Dr. Thomas Linacer who was born at Canterbury educated under the Learned Sellingus and from him sent to Oxford where after a short stay he was An. Dom. 1484. chosen Fellow of All-Souls College In which he made great proficiency in Learning and then travelled into Italy residing chiefly at Rome and Florence where he highly improved himself by daily conversation with the Learned men of that Age. No English man saith Dr. Fuller in those times had so learned Masters viz. Demetrius and Politian at Florence and Hermolaus Barbarus at Rome So noble Patrons viz. Laurence Medices Duke of Florence who whilst he was beyond the Seas was intimately familiar with him admiring him for the greatness of his Wit and Learning K. Henry 7. and K. Henry 8. upon his return into England to both which he was chief Physician So high-born Scholars Prince Arthur eldest Son to Hen. 7. with many Lords Sons his contemporaries So learned friends Erasmus Melancthon Ludovicus Vives Grocinus Latimer Tonstal Sir Tho. More c. who for his accurate skill in the Greek and Latine Languages in other Sciences and in his own profession esteemed him the ornament of his Age upon which account he gives him this following character viz. That upon his return into England he brought Languages along with him and was the first restorer of Learning in our Nation It is a question whether he was a better Latinist or Grecian a better Grammarian or Physician a better Scholar or man for his moral deportment He was created Doctour of Physick in Oxford and made publick Professour of that faculty in which Vniversity he afterwards founded 2 Physick Lectures and one in Cambridge From Oxford he was commanded to Court by K. Hen. 7. to take the principal care of his own and the Prince's health He was highly instrumental with K. Hen. 8. in the tenth year of his Reign for obtaining his Letters Patents for the founding of a College of Physicians in London c. In which he was named with great honour as one of those 6 whom the King first made choice of for constituting this Royal foundation He was chosen the first President of the College by the Physicians named in the King's Patent and continued in that office by an annual choice of the Electors for 7 years together he being by them highly valued for his profound Learning great prudence and excellent government He kept all the College Comitia in his own house during his life died President of the College and at his death gave them for ever his house in Knight-rider street for a College and Library He translated several of Galen 's works as De inaequali temperamento de temperamentis de naturalibus facultatibus de sanitate tuenda de pulsuum usu de methodo medendi c. into the Latine tongue with that admirable elegance and singular politeness and purity of style that he not onely exceeded all former Interpreters of the great Galen but deserved the following character for his translations which Erasmus hath given in one of his Epistles Mitto tibi libros Galeni operâ Th. Linacri melius Latinè loquentes quà m antea Graecè loquebantur Erasmus had that value for our famous Linacer that in other Epistles he often calls him Meum Linacrum intimum amicum praeceptorem patronum c. He wrote a Latin Grammar called Grammaticae rudimenta which he dedicated to the Princess Mary which Grammar is now of such account in some Vniversities in Poland that all Students are posed in it before they take their first degree He wrote a little before his death at the earnest and importunate request of some friends a most admirable book de emendata Structura Latini Sermonis Many other Books he left behind him extraneous to his faculty which for brevity sake I must now omit He died at London much lamented the twentieth of October 1524. and was buried under a stately Monument erected to his memory by Dr. Caius in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul 's a little above which was a Phoenix placed with the following inscription Vivit post funera virtus Dr. Richard Bartlot was admitted into the College of Physicians and made President thereof in the Reign of K. Hen. 8. in which he lived and flourished as likewise in the Reigns of K. Edw. 6. and Q. Mary He died An. Dom. 1557. with the following character given him by the Learned Dr. Caius in his Annals This good and venerable old man very famous for his Learning great knowledge and experience in Physick died in the 87th year of his age at whose funeral the President and College attended it being the first time that the Statute book of the College adorned with silver was carried before the President He was buried in great St. Bartholomew ' s. Dr. William Butte Fellow of Gonvile-hall in Cambridge and Physician to K. Hen. 8. was Anno Dom. 1529. admitted into the College of Physicians Vpon which he was required to subscribe to the due observation of the Statutes of the College and to give his promise to use his best endeavours for advancing the honour and perpetuity thereof He is mentioned by Bishop Parkhurst and Fox with honour Ascham in his Epistle Commendatory to Dr. Wende extolls him highly and the learned Dr. Caius hath dedicated most of his Books to him His esteem was such in the College of Physicians that he is entred in their Annals with the following Character Vir gravis eximiâ literarum cognitione singulari judicio summâ experientiâ prudenti consilio Dr. He died in the Reign of King Henry the Eighth and lies buried in Fulham Church with this Inscription Guil. Buttius Eq. Aur. Medicus Regis Henr. viij c. obiit Novemb. 17. 1545. c. Dr. William Freeman was admitted a member of the College Anno Dom. 1529. After which his Learning and eminency were such that he was made Censor Elect and President of that Society In the time of his Presidentship viz. Anno Dom. 1546. he with Dr. Bartlot Clement and Wotton procured from John Barker King at Arms the College Arms Manum videlicet è nube demissam aegri brachium complectentem dimidiatas
viri Doctoris Jacobi Medici nostri confirmata facit ut Serenitatem vestram vero animi affectu amemus eique fausta foelicia omnia ardenter optemus Ideóque de valetudine incolumitate vestra non solicitae esse non possumus Itaque non solùm quod à nobis amanter petiit Obstetricem expertam peritam misimus quae partûs dolores scientiâ leniat sed Medicum etiam nostrum qui nostram valetudinem curare solebat praedictum D. Jacobum unà amandamus hominem vobis anteà cognitum fide plenum ut Medicâ arte in qua excellit Obstetricis actiones dirigat vestrae valetudini fideliter inserviat c. Dr. Theodore Goulston was born in Northamptonshire bred in Oxford made Fellow of Merton College An. Dom. 1596. and after took his Degree in that Vniversity In the 8th year of King James his Reign he was chosen Candidate of the College of Phyficians being well approved by the President Censors and all the Fellows the year following he was made Fellow of the same and after Censor thereof His affection to the publick good and to the advancement of the faculty of Physick was such that by his last Will and Testament he gave 200 l. to purchase a Rent-charge for the maintenance of an annual Lecture within the College of Physicians London Which said Lecture was to be performed from time to time by one of the four youngest Doctors in Physick of the said College and to be upon 2 or 3 or more Diseases as the Censors should appoint or direct And this Pathological Lecture to be read yearly in some most convenient season betwixt Michaelmas and Easter upon some dead Body if possibly by any means such a Body could be procured upon 3 days together in the Forenoon and Afternoon of each of the said days There are several of his Works extant as his Paraphrasis Tabulae in Aristotelis lib. 3. de Arte dicendi 1619. and the same year Aristotelis de Rhetor. seu Arte dicendi libri tres Graeco-Latini c. Galeni quaedam Graeco-Lat Graeca recensuit Latina de novo fecit An. 1640. He died in the Parish of St. Martin's within Ludgate London in the late Reign of King Charles the First Dr. William Harvey eldest Son of Thomas Harvey was born at Folkston in the County of Kent bred up to Learning and sent from School to Caius College in Cambridge from whence he travelled into Italy studied at Padua 5 years then took his Degree of Doctor in Physick there and after in Cambridge His eminency and reputation were such that he was made Chief Physician to King James and King Charles the First He was admitted Candidate of the College An. Dom. 1604. and 3 years after Fellow Vpon the death of Dr. Davies Reader of the Surgery-Lecture Founded by the Lord Lumley and Dr. Caldwall the Elects of the College the week after chose Dr. Harvey into that place Who there Read those incomparable Lectures de motu Cordis Sanguinis in Animalibus which he 9 years after publish'd at Frankfort viz. An. Dom. 1628. and Dedicated to Dr. Argent then President of the College and to the rest of his Collegues who were not onely ocular witnesses of the truth of those experiments published in that Book but earnestly solicitous to have them printed as will appear by the following account taken out of his Epistle Meam de motu usu Cordis circuitu Sanguinis sententiam E. D. D. anteà saepius in praelectionibus meis Anatomicis aperui novam sed jam per novem ampliùs annos multis ocularibus demonstrationibus in conspectu vestro confirmatam ab objectionibus doctissimorum peritissimorum Anatomicorum liberatam toties ab omnibus desideratam à quibusdam efflagitatam in lucem conspectum omnium hoc libello produximus Quem nisi vobis transmissum E. D. D. minùs sperarem prodire posse integrum tutum cùm penè omnium illarum observationum ex quibus aut veritatem colligo aut errores redarguo è vobis plurimos fide dignos appellare possum testes qui dissectiones meas vidistis ocularibus demonstrationibus eorum quae hic ad sensum palam assevero assistere candidè astipulari consuevistis Persuasissimum habui quòd si coram vobis nostróque Collegio tot tantisque viris doctissimis nobilitato propositum sustinere potuerim ab aliis tum demum minus pertimescendum jam illud quod mihi à vobis ob amorem veritatis contigit unicum solatium ab omnibus aliis qui similiter sint Philosophati non minus esse sperandum This Book was so judiciously wrote and solidly founded upon experimental demonstrations as well as learnedly defended against Riolan Primrose Parisanus c. that in a short time the Authour was no less styled than merited the name of immortal Harvey Some few learned men indeed were so invidious at the great reputation that this our learned Harvey had acquired that they endeavoured to eclipse his glory in pretending that Father Paul was the first Inventor of the Circulation and Honoratus Faber was so vain as to profess himself the Authour thereof The first of these was most solidly and ingeniously confuted by the learned Doctor Charleton in his Anatomic Lectures Read in the College Theatre An. 1682 3 and published An. Dom. 1683. And Honoratus Faber by the great Jo. Alph. Borellus in his Historia Meteorologia Incendii Aetnei Anno 1669. wherein he gives this short account about Faber's pretensions to this great discovery Cùm verò sit omnino incredibile impossibile hominem Nobilem religiosum pium ea quae vera non sunt asserere voluisse nil aliud in ejus excusationem dicendum restat nisi quòd cùm ingenio velocissimo praeditus sit à celeritate ipsa quâ aliena legit propria scribit multoties decipiatur Quod aliàs ei contigisse non erit supervacaneum ostendere ut inde pateat solemne ei esse Auctores alicujus nominis furti insimulare hâc solummodo de causa quia cursim oscitanter eorum opera legit Si enim patienter debitâ attentione dignatus fuisset legere ea quae spatio 38 annorum edita fuerant vulgatissima per Universam Europam erant proculdubio non scripsisset Anno 1666. lib. primo de Homine Prop. 2. se circulationem sanguinis invenisse docuisse ab Anno 1638. antequam Gul. Harveii exercitatio anatomica de motu Cordis prodiret quem pariter multa Fabri inventa in suis exercitationibus inseruisse affirmat Omnes enim sciunt Harveium Anno Dom. 1628. Francofurti typis Gual Fitzeri suam exercitationem primùm edidisse scilicet decem annos antequam Cl. Fabri sanguinis circulationem docuisset An. 1627. This great and learned Man was chosen one of the College Elects and in the year 1651 a second Book of his was printed viz. his
and streightly commandyng the said Grocers and Apothecaries and every of them not to faile herof as thei tendre our pleasure the health and securitye of our lovyng Subjects and as thei shall answere for doyng the contrarie before yow to their such losses damages and penalties as be prescribed in our Lawes and Statutes above mentioned aswell concernyng Physicians as also Grocers and Apothecaries Yeven under our Signet at our Manor of St. James the xxiiii daye of June in the fourthe and fivethe yeres of our Reignes PROCEEDINGS Against Empiricks c. In Queen Elizabeth 's Reign IN the first year of this Queen's Reign Thomas Glamfelde was committed to prison for practising Physick and Stalworth and Gylmyn Norwich Empiricks fined upon the same account In the second year of her Reign a Commission was given by the College to Walter Hawgh a Norwich Physician and to Hugh Glynne a Chester Physician to Prosecute all Empiricks of their own and neighbour Counties Several others were summoned before the College and severely rebuked for exposing Pills to sale without their approbation Others were punished for the ill preparation of Medicines Amongst whom one Edward Stephens a sweet Grocer that he might be released from his imprisonment for obstinately refusing to appear upon the President 's summons of his own accord fell down upon his knees before the President and humbly begg'd pardon of the Queen's Majesty for his disobedience to the President of her College the Lord Cobham and several others being present In the 6th year several Empiricks were prosecuted others were imprisoned for practising Physick In the 12th year the Wife of one Bomelins an Empirick having procured the Lord Treasurer's Letter to the College petitioned that her husband might be discharged from prison he having given satisfaction to the Queen's Majesty for his violation of the Statutes in practising unlearnedly and by Magical Arts. To this Letter the College answered that her husband must first pay 20 l. for his practice and 15 l. for expences in the suit and likewise give security that he would not practise Physick for the future After this the President of the College and Dr. Caius were appointed to wait upon Sir William Cecil Secretary of State he having wrote a Letter to the College in favour of Bomelins upon whose application the Secretary was pleased to express great respect to the College and all the members of it assuring them that he should be well pleased to have Bomelins banished the Kingdom Some time after Bomelins was released from prison by consent of the College having given Bond of 100 l. that he would not for the future practise Physick in London nor in any other parts of England It was ordered by the College that the President should enter an Action against Dr. Lewes Judge of the Admiralty for suffering William Rich an Empirick committed to his care in the Marshalsea to practise Physick against the Laws of the Kingdom his own trust in contempt of the College and to the great prejudice of the Queen's Subjects A foreign Physician who had taken his Degree at Lovain in Brabant was summoned before the President and Censors and examined by what authority he practised Physick in England without licence He pleaded his ignorance of the Laws and was dismissed upon promise of not practising in London nor any other parts of England being likewise ordered to return into his own Country in a few days Dr. Walker was summoned to appear before the College to answer several things objected against him by Dr. Corimbec he having examined and admitted some Physicians in Norwich and Norfolk and extorted above 100 Marks from several Empiricks in those parts whom he had licensed to practise He was Fined for not appearing and Letters were wrote by the College to Dr. Corimbec to authorize him to cite those Empiricks to appear before the College in order to their due punishment One Sylva an Italian was charged before the President and Censors for evil practice in that he undertook to cure an old woman by suffumigation with which she died and prescribed Stibium to another person troubled with an affection of his Lungs to his great prejudice He was afterwards examined and rejected by the whole College by reason of his egregious ignorance in Philosophy and Physick and was fined 20 l. for having practised Physick for half a year to the apparent hurt of the Queen's subjects and the year following was committed to prison in that he had practised without College licence Thomas Pennye was summoned for practising Physick but pleading that he had taken his Doctours degree he was dismissed and ordered that he should bring his Letters testimonial to the Censors which accordingly he did but upon examination was found so ignorant in the first principles of Philosophy and Physick that he was thought unfit for that employment and prohibited the practice thereof and afterwards imprisoned for contemning the Judgment of the College and adventuring to practise without their licence In the 13th year of this Queen a Surgeon was Fined 20 l. for practising Physick but upon the intercession of some persons of Quality the College forgave him 20 Marks of that Fine upon condition that he bound himself in a bond of 100 l. that he would not practise for the future which refusing he was forced to pay the forementioned 20 l. Richard Reynold was examined and rejected as being very ignorant and unlearned But voluntarily confessing that he had practised Physick for 2 years the College ordered that he should be imprisoned untill he had paid 20 l. In the 14th year One Emme Baxter an impudent and ignorant woman was committed to prison for practising Physick the 7th of February Upon the 11th she was brought before the College where her husband William Baxter and Nicholas Staples a Citizen entring into bond to the College and their Successors that she should not practise for the future in London nor any other parts of England she was dismissed paying all Fees due to the Officers of the Prison c. In the same year it was argued in the Lord Mayor's Court before Sir William Allen then Lord Mayor Whether the Surgeons might give inward medicines in the Sciatica French Pox or any kind of Ulcer or Wound Many arguments were used by the Bishop of London Master of the Rolls c. for their practice in this manner Dr. Caius the President of the College being summoned by the Lord Mayor in his own and the Queen's Delegates names did defend the illegality of their practice upon the forementioned accounts After which it was agreed by all present that they ought not to practise In the 23th year of the Queen's Reign one Baptista an Empirick was fined by the President and Censors 6 l. 13 s. 4 d. which he paid to the President He afterwards paid 5 l. to the College ob rem malè gest am in praxi gave bond to pay 5 l. more at our Lady day and at Midsummer was required to pay
cases and in all other occasions that shall happen to women with Child presuming that he hath more exact skill than all the grave and learned Physicians in the Kingdom in those cases for he threatneth that he shall not repair unto such Women as are distressed whose Midwives have refused to conform themselves to him Your Petitioners have been enforced to Petition to his Majesty and the most Reverend the Arch-bishop of Canterbury his Grace for redress therein And his Majesty hath most graciously hearkened unto the complaint and referred the same unto the Lord of Canterbury and Bishop of London in whose Jurisdictions and by whose authority they are and have been always licensed to call the said Doctour before them and to take such course therein as shall befit And whereas they conceive the said Doctour hath erred and been short in his respect unto this grave and learned Society in such his peremptory assumption of skill beyond them in all cases concerning Women with Child And that as they are informed other practisers in Midwifery have been examined upon the like occasion by command from King Iames of ever blessed memory in the very business and Art of Midwifery They humbly desire your Worships to take the same now into consideration and so far to respect your Petitioners in this their humble and just complaint as to give them Certificate unto those Reverend Prelates that there is no such necessity of depending upon the said Doctour more than upon any other Physicians whom these Petitioners do desire to be free and at liberty to make use of in all occasions requisite for their advice and help as well as of the said Doctour who for ought as they can discern by his carriage would monopolize the whole practice among Child-bearing Women being a young man to the disparagement of all other Physicians and the enslaving of your Petitioners To this Petition the College returned the following answer which was delivered by the Midwives to the most Reverend the Arch-bishop of Canterbury and the Right Reverend the Bishop of London May it please your Lordships UPon consideration taken of this Petition hereunto annexed presented unto the President and College of Physicians by the Midwives We the College of Physicians conceiving the said complaint to be grounded upon just grievance and to conduce to a general good in the timely prevention of so growing an inconvenience Have particularly informed our selves concerning the said business and do certify that the like project was formerly attempted by another which is now intended by the Doctour and therefore was referred by K. Iames of blessed memory to the Lords of the Council and by their Lordships to the College of Physicians to certify their opinions thereof who upon mature deliberation made report to their Lordships of the unfitness of the said proposition there being no such custome ever used either here or in any other Kingdom Whereupon the same was rejected and died And whereas we understand that the said Doctour doth ground his complaint upon the insufficiency of Midwives whom he would undertake to teach though licensed by your Lordships Officers whom we do believe to be as carefull in admitting of Midwives as they are in other Kingdomes Onely we are informed that divers do practise without Licence and some are Deputies to others through whom we probably conceive some abuses to grow because their abilities and honesty of lives and conversations are not testified upon oath as others are who are licensed But for adding sufficiency to them by the Doctour's instruction he is not otherwise able to instruct them than any other the meanest Fellow of our College unless he understand it by the use of Iron instruments which Physicians and Chirurgions may practise if they please and some do and have done with as good success and dexterity as himself and therefore there is no necessity of a sole dependence upon him And it being true that is reported by the Midwives the Doctour doth often refuse to come to the poor they being not able to pay him according to his demands and for the rich he denies them his help untill he hath first bargained for great rewards which besides that they are in themselves dishonest covetous and unconscionable courses they are also contrary to the Laws and Statutes of our College to which by Oath he is bound We therefore for this and other reasons we can alledge conceive his suit to be unreasonable and inconvenient And so do humbly leave the same to your Lordships grave judgments unto whom his Majesty referred the consideration thereof Mr. Shambrooke one of the Wardens of the Apothecaries presented 2. Apprentices to be examined He was asked whether they had been examined and approved by their Company He answered they had not Whereupon Mr. President gave him to understand that the College would not hereafter examine any of their Apprentices except they were first examined and approved by their own Officers for so and no otherwise the College had decreed to proceed in that business Mary-Peak was complained of for undertaking the cure of one Major's daughter for which she had 20 l. and 10 s. per week for diet Yet was she so far from curing her that she had left her in a worse condition than when she undertook her Cure She was by the Censors fined 10 l. for her foolish and desperate practising Physick Her imprisonment was remitted for some considerations provided she gave security for the payment of her Fine within 26 days Mr. Shepheard appeared before the President and Censors upon summons he was rebuked for his practising upon Mad-men without calling any Physician to the cure according to the tenour of his permission granted him by the College and his own promise Upon some excuses made by him his submission to the College Censure with fresh promises of better conformity hereafter he was dismissed Physicians of the College of London are bound to write the day of the month and the year of our Lord upon their Bills or prescripts and to subscribe their proper names thereto and the Apothecaries should not make any such medicine as is not so noted and subscribed except they know the hand to be the hand-writing of some one of the Physicians of the College of London or that such Apothecaries with their own hands do first date such bills and note down the names of the Physicians so directing them Christopher Barton Weaver was accused for practising the Art of Physick unskilfully and to the hurt of many One charged him for taking money to cure an old Cough for which he gave him onely white Wine and Sugar which profited him nothing Another complained that she had given him money to cure her but was nothing the better Upon these complaints he was left to the Messenger till the next Censors day when appearing 4 persons more brought fresh accusations against him for his illegal and ill practice This Barton affirmed of himself that his Cures were by virtue of
of Parliament wanting the Royal Assent 267. The Court replied and shewed the different method of passing Acts of Parliament with the difference betwixt Statute Rolls and Rolls of Parliament 268. The Royal Assent not entred till after H. 5. in the Statute Rolls ibid. The Record brought by the College was not a Transcript of the bill upon which the Answer of the King was written but a Transcript of the Entry which was made upon the Statute Roll upon which it is not necessary that the Royal Assent should be entred and why 269. The 14 15 H. 8. appears by the Record certified to be a good Act of Parliament 270. The Royal Assent was entred at the end of that Session 271. If the Certificate be false the Defendant may bring his Action against the Clerk of Parliament or the Clerk in Chancery 271. The court of Kings Bench cannot cause the Parliament Rolls themselves to be brought into Court ibid. The second objection made by Huybert's Council was That the Issue was whether there was such a Record and that is to be tried by the Record it self now here the tenour of the Record was only certified and not the Record it self ibid. The Court answered that upon the Issue of Nul tiel Record a Certificate of the tenour was sufficient to prove the Issue 272 273. Iudgment entred for the College against Huybert 273. Needham The College declares against him upon an Action of Debt 273. His plea double 273 274. The College demurred and why 274. Iudgment entred against him ibid. Empiricks how described in the 3 H. 8. p. 1 2. not known to the Law neither can they have action 252. One set in the Pillory 306. Another set on Horse-back with his face to the Horse-tail the same tail in his hand as a bridle with a collar of Iordans about his neck ibid. The President and College bound by solemn Oath and conscience to prosecute them 318 321 325 328 330 352 353 387 412. A warrant sent from K. James his Council to the Magistrates of London for their Attachment 370. The Kings Letter to the President and Censors requiring them to put the Laws in execution against Empiricks 372. the King's Letter directed to the Lord Mayor Aldermen and Iustices of London requiring them to assist the President and Censors in suppressing Empiricks and illegal Practisers 374. Keepers of Prisons prosecuted for suffering any of them to make their escape 329 361 403 421. they ought not to practise Physick in prison 314. they cannot be bailed 344 345 469 470. How the College proceeded against them when they procured protections 338 339 352 355 391 423 424. They were summoned to appear upon penalty 354 355 369. punished for exposing bills purging diet-drinks purging confections or tables of the virtue of their Medicines 333 363 364 365 368 369 442 470 471. Several of them examined and rejected 315 323 324 326 331 334 337 342 364 368. their dangerous and evil practice 315 323 331 332 333 334 335 351 355 357 365 367 368 389 391 392 402 421 425 441. their unconscionable dealings 335 352 366 369 391 394 397 419 420 439 445 446. their egregious ignorance and knavery 322 326 330 334 337 354 355 384 385 390 395 399 400 404 405 421 445 446 467. Interdicted practice 322 323 333 337 346 347 356 364 368 384 389 394 395 405 422. Required to give bonds not to practice 314 315 316 319 322 323 324 325 326 332 333 334 342 347 349 355 368 375 386 387 401 420. Letters testimonial granted against them 332 392 403 442. Some of them fined others fined and committed to prison 313 314 315 316 319 320 322 323 324 325 326 327 333 334 337 338 341 342 349 352 354 356 357 365 369 384 385 387 388 391 401 404 413 420 422 439 446 466 467. Sued or prosecuted by the College 147 161 162 221 225 229 259 261 273 275 305 308 310 313 314 319 339 356 387 388 391 393 394 421. they may be sued for 2 years practice 419. Countrey Empiricks sued or prosecuted by the College 309 310 313 314. What the Common Law against Empiricks was before Acts of Parliament were made against them 251. F. Fellows of the College Forty constituted by the last Patent 70. the names of them 40. they were to continue for life if not removed for cause 71. How to be chosen 77. Power to amove any of them 78. they are to be sworn duly to execute 80. to take the Oaths of Obedience and Supremacy ibid. Fines All fines forfeitures and amerciaments to be approved by the next College Court and registred before any levy is made c. the 10 l. and 5 l. excepted 100 101. An appeal may be made to Visitors appointed by the King within one month after the fine is approved 101 102. These Visitors are to receive and determine appeals c. 102 103 104 105 106. H. Hospital of Christ Church No Physician should be chosen into that Foundation but one approved by the College 418. L. Licence A Licence from the Elects will not justice practice in London 362 471. The Bishop's licence cannot do it 471 472. the College's licence not to be allowed to those who have been in Holy Orders 376 401 443. Their obtaining a Licence is a general detriment 443 444. M. Midwives A Petition presented by them to the College 463. The College's Answer to their Petition which was by them delivered to the Archbishop 465. O. Oaths of Obedience and Supremacy to be taken by the President Fellows and Officers of the College 80. Power given to the Elects or to any two of them to administer these Oaths to the President 81. The President to administer them to the Fellows and all Officers 82. P. Physicians By whom to be allowed for City and Countrey 2 3 8 12. All Physicians practising in the several Dioceses out of London Graduates excepted must be examined by the President and 3 of the Elects 12. they are to be licensed by the President and Elects or any four of them 96. they are first to be examined and if able to be approved by Letters testimonial under the hands of the Elects 97. Power given to the President and Elects to summon examine and give testimonials and to reject unfit persons 97. None are to practise in the Countrey till they be licensed under pain of 5 l. per mens and how to be recovered 98. None to practise in London or within 7 miles of the same without licence under their Seal 8 9 343 344 345. Practice of Physick what is to be esteemed such 281. President of the College His office and duty 7 8. Power allowed him to make a Vice-President 74 75. He is to be sworn duly to execute his office 80. to take the Oaths of obedience and Supremacy ibid. to administer them to the Fellows and all College Officers 80 81 82. R. Register made by Patent 55 109. He is to be
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
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