any Dentist whatever. And as a Confirmation of the same, please to observe the following:

October 5. A Gentleman who had lost all his Teeth, his Gums ulcerated and scorbutic, in five Days made a perfect Cure, fixed him in a whole set of natural Teeth, without Springs or any Fastening.

October 16. A Lady whose Jaw was fractured by a Barber, her Teeth loose, her Gums ulcerated, attended with a running Matter, and an inflammation in her Cheeks, with a callous Swelling, cured without poulticing or cutting.

October 20. A Lady that had lost all her upper Teeth by using Powders and Tinctures that are advertised to cure Everything, her Mouth ulcerated, and her Breath nauseous, is now delicately Clean, and replaced the Teeth with those that never change their Colour.

Sunday, October 29. Perfectly relieved a Person that had lost both Palate and Speech; when he drank or eat it came out at his Nostrils, and had been in that state three Years; he had applied to Surgeons and several Hospitals, who deemed him incurable, and told him, one and all, he could have no Relief; he now speaks articulate, eats and drinks with Pleasure, which if any one should doubt, he can refer them to the Man. These, with upwards of three thousand Operations and Cures, have been accomplished by your humble Servant, M. PATENCE.

At No. 403, in the Strand, near Southampton Street, London. Where the Teeth, though ever so foul, are made delicately white in six Minutes, and Medicines given for their preservation, for half a Guinea, any hour after ten in the Morning. Advice gratis, and profound Secrecy if required.

Envy may snarl, but superior Abilities assists the Afflicted.

There must be something very ambitious about a man who, not satisfied with being dentist and dancing-master, assumes the title of "surgeon by birth." It is noticeable that though Patence was born a surgeon, he did not discover it till he had been at dentistry and dancing for some years. But in 1775 and thereabouts quacks were not very particular as to their statements. In September 1776 the Morning Post contains a very lengthy advertisement, put forth by one Lattese, a Piedmontese,

* After all Patence was only an imitator in this particular. In the Gentleman's Magazine of 1735, there is a reference to the "Unborn Doctor of Moorfields," who flourished very early in the eighteenth century. This man upon being asked to explain his mysterious title, replied, "Why, I was'nt born a doctor, was I?"

who states that he has "by a long course of experiments discovered the wonderful secret of procreating either sex at the joint option of the parents. Should their desire be to have a girl, the success cannot be warranted with absolute certainty, though the chances will be highly in favour of such an event; but should they concur in their wishes to have a son, they may rely that by strictly conforming to a few easy and natural directions, they will positively have a boy." Mr Lattese is so satisfied with the result of his experience that he is satisfied to await the result, and, no satisfaction, no pay. However much we may have advanced in some directions since the days of Patence and Lattese-though we now have railroads, steamboats, tramways, electric telegraphs, a penny post, vote by ballot, asphalt pavement, and good-templarism-it must be admitted that we have, in grasping at mere bubbles, lost many true arts. Among those unfortunately forgotten must, we are sorry to assume, be ranked those of breeding boys at will and surgeons à discretion.

It is curious how anxious many of the quacks are that they shall not be confounded with their rivals, and their addresses are often given with wonderful exactness. Of this we will add another example, which, though some years later than the one about Baldwin's Gardens, is in no way less distinct. It would seem, from many references in old newspapers, that the term Maypole was used for a certain portion of the Strand long after the shaft itself had been removed :

IN

IN the Strand, over against the Maypole, on the left Hand coming from Temple-Bar, at the Sign of the Golden Cross, between a Sword Cuttlers and a Milliner's Shop, the Sign of the Sugar Loaf and Barber's Pole, within four Doors of the Mitre Tavern: Where you may see a large Red coloured Lanthorn, with Eleven Candles in it; and a white Sign written upon with red Letters DUTCH DOCTOR, Licensed by his most Excellent Majesty: and a long Entry with a Hatch and a Knocker on it. Where you may come in privately, and speak with him, and need not be ashamed, he having not any in his House but himself and his Family.

The sign of the Sugar-loaf and Barber's Pole must have been unique even in the days of signboards, when incongruity was an advantage. Signs remind us of a noted quack of last century, Van Butchell, who painted a wonderful inscription over the front of his house. He was a great advertiser, too, and his effusions are found in most of the papers. When his wife died he had her embalmed, and used to let his patients see the body. He made her very useful as a means of publicity, one of his notices-in the St James's Chronicle for October 1776-running thus:

VAN

AN BUTCHELL (not willing to be unpleasantly circumstanced, and wishing to convince some good Minds they have been misinformed) acquaints the Curious no Stranger can see his embalmed Wife, unless (by a Friend or personally) introduced to himself, any Day between Nine and One, Sundays excepted.

Van Butchell, though he lost no opportunity of looking after the main chance, had a mad way of conducting his business, which caused people to regard him as quite out of the ordinary level of charlatans, and his eccentricities in time got him a reputation for both cleverness and conscientiousness. He lived in Mount Street, and on his house and part of the next the following strange inscription was painted :

AND FASTENINGS

Sometimes in six days, and always in ten-the Fistula in Ano.

rosy, the gigantic, the stupendous Goddess of Health to the Celestial Throne.

The blooming PRIESTESS of the TEMPLE will endeavour to entertain Ladies and Gentlemen of candour and good nature, by reading a Lecture on the simplest and most efficacious means of preserving health, beauty, and personal loveliness, and serene mental brilliancy, even to the extremest old age.

VESTINA, the GIGANTIC! on the Celestial Throne, as the Goddess of Health, will exhibit in her own person, a proof of the all-blessing effects of virtue, temperance, regularity, simplicity, and moderation; and in these luxurious, artificial, and effeminate times, to recommend those great virtues.

The Temple (which exhibits more riches, more elegance, and more brilliancy than any royal Palace in the world) will as usual be sweetly illuminated with wax, in the highest, most dazzling, and most celestial magnificence from 7 till 10 o'clock, This evening and every Evening this week, and the Lecture will begin precisely at eight. Both before and after the Lecture, one of Vestina's Fairy Train will warble forth sweet celestial sounds.-Admittance only ONE SHILLING.

The magnificent Electrical Apparatus, and the supremely brilliant and unique decorations of this magical Edifice-of this enchanting Elysian Palace! where wit and mirth, love and beauty-all that can delight the soul, and all that can ravish the senses, will hold their court. This and every Evening this week, in chaste and joyous assem blage.

**Ladies of rank and character are assured, that nothing will be said or seen, which can give even the smallest offence to the chastest and most delicate female eye or ear, and that every thing will be conducted with the most perfect decency and decorum.-Ladies are requested to come early, in order that they may be agreeably accommodated with seats.

A very few copies still remaining of Dr. Graham's Private Advisers (scaled up, price One Guinea) to those Ladies and Gentlemen who wish to have children, or to become snowy pillars of Health and Beauty, studded as it were with roses, and streaked with celestial blue, may now be had at only Half a Guinea; his other curious and eccentric works, containing full descriptions of his Travels, Discoveries, Improvements, Principles, Cures, Electrical Apparatus, etc.-formerly 3s. 6d., now only is. 9d., and VESTINA, the rosy Goddess's warm Lecture, price 2s. 6d.

All Dr. Graham's Medicines to be had as usual, at the Temple of Health.

Note. Ladies and Gentlemen Electrified.

All went well for a time, and the Temple was nightly crowded with silly people who paid their half-guineas, for

the shilling of the advertisements only just admitted to the "body of the hall." Sometimes there were magnificent illuminations and Elysian promenades for both ladies and gentlemen, to which persons in masks were also admitted. "The enchanting glory of these seemingly magical scenes," said the advertisements, "will break forth about seven, and die away about ten o'clock; during which time Oriental odours and ætherial essences will perfume the air, while the hymænal sopha blazes forth with the plenitude of the soft lambent celestial fire." Having opened such scenes to the eyes of the wondering world, the Doctor thus addresses his contemporaries in another advertisement :

IF

TEMPLE OF HEALTH AND HYMEN,

PALL MALL,

Near the King's Palace.

there be one human Being, rich or poor, Male or Female, or of the doubtful Gender, in or near this great Metropolis of the World, who has not had the good Fortune and the Happiness of hearing the celebrated Lecture, and of seeing the grand celestial Bed, the magnifi. cent electrical Apparatus, and the supremely brilliant and unique Decorations of this magical Edifice, of this enchanting Elysian Palace! -where Wit and Mirth, Love and Beauty-all that can delight the Soul and all that can ravish the Senses-will hold their Court, this, and every Evening this week, in chaste and joyous Assemblage-let them now come forth, or for ever afterwards let them blame themselves and bewail their irremediable Misfortune.

But the most important feature of Dr Graham's establishment was the Celestial Bed. This wonder-working piece of furniture was made by one Denton,* a tinman, who lived in Coventry Street, and subsequently kept a bookseller's shop in High Holborn, and it was said to have cost £12,000. It was beautifully carved and gilt, covered with silk damask,

* This Denton was a man of great mechanical skill, who made some very curious automaton figures. He was afterwards tried for coining, and acquitted on that charge, but was found guilty on a second count of having implements of coining in his possession. For this crime he was executed at Tyburn, on which occasion Dr Graham was present.