A most successful "wise woman" was Joanna Stephens, an ignorant and vulgar creature, who, just before the middle of the last century, proclaimed that she had discovered a sovereign remedy for a painful malady, which, like the smallpox, has become in the hands of modern surgery so manageable that ere long it will rank as little more than "a temporary discomfort." Joanna was a courageous woman. She went straightway to temporal peers, bishops, duchesses, and told them she was the woman for their money. They believed her, testified to the marvellous cures which she had effected, and allowed her to make use of their titles to awe sceptics into respect for her powers. Availing herself of this permission, she published books containing lists of her cures, backed up by letters from influential members of the nobility and gentry. In the April number of the _Gentleman's Magazine_ for the year 1738, one reads--"Mrs. Stephens has proposed to make her medicine publick, on consideration of £5000 to be raised by contribution and lodged with Mr. Drummond, banker; he has received since the 11th of this month about £500 on that account." By the end of the month the banker had in his hands £720 8_s._ 6_d._ This generous offer was not made until the inventor of the nostrums had enriched herself by enormous fees drawn from the credulity of the rich of every sect and rank. The subscription to pay her the amount she demanded for her secret was taken up enthusiastically. Letters appeared in the Journals and Magazines, arguing that no humane or patriotic man could do otherwise than contribute to it. The movement was well whipped up by the press. The Bishop of Oxford gave £10 10_s._; Bishop of Gloucester, £10 10_s._; The Earl of Pembroke, £50; Countess of Deloraine, £5 5_s._; Lady Betty Jermaine, £21; Lady Vere Beauclerc, £10 10_s._; Earl of Godolphin, £100; Duchess of Gordon, £5 5_s._: Viscount Lonsdale, £52 10_s._; Duke of Rutland, £50; the Bishop of Salisbury, £25; Sir James Lowther, Bart., £25; Lord Cadogan, £2 2_s._; Lord Cornwallis, £20; Duchess of Portland, £21; Earl of Clarendon, £25; Lord Lymington, £5; Duke of Leeds, £21; Lord Galloway, £30; General Churchill (Spot Ward's friend), £10 10_s._; Countess of Huntingdon, £10 10_s._; Hon. Frances Woodhouse, £10 10_s._; Sir Thomas Lowther, Bart., £5 5_s._; Duke of Richmond, £30; Sir George Saville, Bart., £5 5_s._