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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Bart9349, post: 1902694, member: 5682&quot;]I&#039;m reading an entry from that rogue Samuel Pepys&#039; diary tonight (dated 13 April 1661):</p><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1661/04/13/" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1661/04/13/" rel="nofollow">http://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1661/04/13/</a></p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;I went to the Banquethouse, and there saw the King [Charles II] heal, the first time that ever I saw him do it; which he did with great gravity, and it seemed to me to be an ugly office and a simple one.&quot;</i></p><p><br /></p><p>Sovereigns at that time were thought to have the God-given ability to &quot;cure&quot; scrofula (swelling of the cervical lymph nodes of the neck caused by infection, frequently tuberculosis) by their mere touch (known as the royal touch). <b>They would frequently give a coin known as a &quot;touch piece&quot; to the sufferer</b> (either to continue the supernatural healing of the royal touch or to even avoid touching the diseased individual completely). Scrofula was thus known as the &quot;King&#039;s Evil.&quot;</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]325493[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>Queen Anne was the last British sovereign to actually perform this ritual. She gave the famous English writer Samuel Johnson such a medal when he was two and he wore it on him all his life.</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]325495[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p>[ATTACH=full]325496[/ATTACH]</p><p><br /></p><p><i>&quot;Queen Anne, amongst many others, touched the 2-year-old infant Dr. Samuel Johnson in 1712 to no effect, for although he eventually recovered, he was left badly scarred and blind in one eye. He wore the medal around his neck all of his life and it is now preserved in the British Museum. It was believed that if the touch piece was not worn then the condition would return. Queen Anne last performed the ceremony on 14 April 1714. George I put an end to the practice as being &quot;too Catholic&quot;, but the kings of France continued the custom until 1825. William of Malmesbury describes the ceremony in his Chronicle of the Kings of England (1120) and Shakespeare describes the practice in Macbeth.&quot;</i></p><p><i><br /></i></p><p><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_pieces" target="_blank" class="externalLink ProxyLink" data-proxy-href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_pieces" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touch_pieces</a></p><p><br /></p><p>Coins are always more interesting when one remembers that there may be some history behind them.</p><p><br /></p><p><br /></p><p>guy[/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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