The King's Evil

O! lay that hand upon me

Adored Caesar! and my faith is such,

I shall be heal'd, if that my KING but touch.

The Evill is not yours: my sorrow sings,

Mine is the Evill, but the cure, the KINGS.

— Robert Herrick

I was yesterday in many meetings of the principal

Cittizens, whose houses are laid in ashes, who instead of

complaining, discoursed almost of nothing, but of a

survey of London, and a dessein for rebuilding.

—Henry Oldenburg's letter to Robert Boyle 10 September, 1666