EnlargeThe speech of the 'infallible Mountebank' is in the form of a rhyming poem.
'Here, take my bills, I cure all ills,
past, present, and to come
The cramp, the stitch
The squirt, the itch,
The gout, the stone, the pox
The mulligrubs
The bonny scrubs, And all Pandora's box.'
About The Harangues or Speeches of Quack Doctors
This comical book pokes fun at quack doctors - those medical amateurs who earned their living by selling dubious remedies to the public. Published in 1762, the book contains a series of parodied speeches in which quack doctors offer all manner of magical cures: ointments that must be applied by 15 year old maids; powders to cure uncontrollable farting; 'wonder-working' pills to treat melancholy; and sticking plasters to heal the hearts of jealous husbands.
