James Blair Historical Review Volume 9 Issue 1 James Blair Historical Review, Volume Article 2 9, Issue 1 2019 Interpreting the King’s Touch: Authority and Accessibility in the Reign of Charles II Audrey Spensley Princeton University,
[email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/jbhr Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Spensley, Audrey (2019) "Interpreting the King’s Touch: Authority and Accessibility in the Reign of Charles II," James Blair Historical Review: Vol. 9 : Iss. 1 , Article 2. Available at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/jbhr/vol9/iss1/2 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Journals at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in James Blair Historical Review by an authorized editor of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Spensley: Charles II and the King's Touch Interpreting the King’s Touch: Authority and Accessibility in the Reign of Charles II Audrey Spensley “’Tis call’d the evil:/ A most miraculous work in this good king;/ Which often, since my here-remain in England, I have seen him do./ How he solicits heaven,/ Himself best knows: but strangely- visited people, /All swoln and ulcerous, pitiful to the eye, /The mere despair of surgery, he cures,/ Hanging a golden stamp about their necks,/ Put on with holy prayers: and ‘tis spoken, To the succeeding royalty he leaves/ The healing benediction.”1 The above passage from Shakespeare’s Macbeth is typically omitted from readings of the play; it was