Towards the close of the year 1726, one of the most extraordinary and impudent impostures on record was carried into execution by a woman named Mary Tofts, the wife of a poor journeyman cloth-worker at Godalming, in Surrey. She is described as having been of "a healthy strong constitution, small size, fair complexion, a very stupid and sullen temper, and unable to write or read." Stupid as she was supposed to be, she had, however, art enough to keep up for a considerable time the credit of her fraud. She pretended to bring forth rabbits; and she accounted for this monstrous deviation from the laws of nature, by saying, that "as she was weeding in a field, she saw a rabbit spring up near her, after which she ran, with another woman that was at work just by her; this set her a longing for rabbits, being then, as she, thought, five weeks gone with child; the other woman perceiving she was uneasy, charged Her with longing for the rabbit they could not catch, hut she denied it. Soon after, another rabbit sprung up near the same place, which she endeavoured likewise to catch. The same night she dreamt that she was in a field with those two rabbits in her lap, and awaked with a sick fit, which lasted till morning; from that time, for above three months, she had a constant and strong desire to eat rabbits, but being very poor and indigent could not procure any."
At first sight, it would seem that so gross an imposition, as that which was attempted by Mary Tofts, must have been unanimously scouted. But this was by no means the case. So well did she manage, and so ready are some people to be deceived, that she actually deluded her medical attendant, Mr. Howard, a man of probity, who had practised for thirty years. There can be no doubt of his belief that, in the course of about a month, he had aided her to bring forth nearly twenty rabbits.
The news of these marvellous births spread far and wide, and soon found numerous believers. It attracted the attention of even George the First, who sent down to Godalming his house surgeon, Mr. Ahlera, to inquire into the fact. Ahlers went back to London fully convinced that he had obtained ocular and tangible proof of the truth of the story; so much so, indeed, that he promised to procure for Mary a pension. Mr. St. Andre, the king's surgeon and anatomist, was despatched in the course of a day or two, to make a further examination. He also returned to the metropolis a firm believer. The rabbits, which he and Ahlers carried with them, as testimonies, had the honour of being dissected before his majesty. An elaborate report of all the circumstances relative to their production and dissection, and to his visit to Godalming, was published by St. Andre, and the public mind consequently began to be agitated in an extraordinary manner. A furious controversy arose between the credulous and the incredulous, in which Whiston is said to have borne a part, by writing a pamphlet, to show that the miracle was the exact completion of a prophecy in Esdras. On the other hand, the caricaturists of the incredulous faction exerted themselves to cast ridicule on their opponents. Among these was Hogarth, who published an engraving called Cunicularii, or the Wise Men of Godliman. Though the report, by St. Andre, contained many circumstances which were palpably calculated to excite a suspicion of fraud, the multitude was as blind to them as he had been. The delusion continued to spread, and even the king himself was enrolled among the believers. The rent of rabbit warrens, it is affirmed, sunk to nothing, as no one would presume to eat a rabbit. The trick was, however, on the point of being found out. To Queen Caroline, then Princess of Wales, is ascribed the merit of having been active in promoting measures to undeceive the people.
The miraculous Mary Tofts was now brought to town, where she could be more closely watched than at Godalming, and prevented from obtaining the means of carrying on her imposture. Among those who took a part on this occasion, the most conspicuous was Sir Richard Manningham, an eminent physician and Fellow of the Royal Society; and he had at length the satisfaction of detecting her. She held out, however, till her courage was shaken by a threat to perform a dangerous operation upon her, which threat was backed by another from a magistrate, that she should be sent to prison. She then confessed, that the fraud had heen suggested to her by a woman, who told her, that she could put her into a way of getting a good livelihood, without being obliged to work for it as formerly, and promised continually to supply her with rabbits, for which she was to receive a part of the gain. The farce terminated by the Godalming miracle-monger being committed to Tothill Fields' Bridewell.
The reputation of St. Andre, who had previously been much in favour at court, was greatly injured by his conduct in this affair. The public attention had once before been directed to him by a mysterious circumstance ; and his enemies did not fail now to advert to that circumstance, and to charge him with having himself played the part of an impostor. It appears that in February, 1724, he was summoned to visit a patient, whom he had never before seen. The messenger led him, in the dark, through numerous winding alleys and passages, to a house in a court, where he found the woman for whom he was to prescribe. The man, after having introduced him, went out, and soon returned with three glasses of liquor on a plate, one of which St. Andre was prevailed on to take; but, "finding the liquor strong and ill-tasted, he drank very little of it." Before he reached his home he began to be ill, and soon manifested all the symptoms of having taken poison. The government offered a reward of two hundred pounds for the detection of the offender, but he was never discovered. It was now asserted, by the enemies of St. Andre, that the story of having been poisoned was a mere fabrication, for the purpose of bringing him into practice. This, however, could not have been the case; for the report, signed by six eminent physicians, who attented him, abundantly proves that he was, for nearly a fortnight, in the utmost danger, and that, according to all appearance, his sufferings were caused by poison. We may, therefore, conclude that, though he was an egregious dupe, with respect to Mary Tofts, he was not, in this instance, an impostor.
This story originally appeared in the book called Sketches of Imposture: Deception and Credulity by Richard Alfred Davenport.
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