And the said Roger Clerk personally appeared, and the said parchment was shown to him by the Court, and he was asked what the virtue of such piece of parchment was; whereupon, he said that upon it was written a good charm for fevers. Upon being further asked by the Court what were the words of this charm of his, he said;--“Anima Christi, sanctifica me; Corpus Christi, salva me; in isanguis Christi, nebria me; cum bonus Christus tu, lava me.”[40] And the parchment being then examined, not one of those words was found written thereon. And he was then further told by the Court, that a straw[41] beneath his foot would be of just as much avail for fevers, as this said charm of his was; whereupon, he fully granted that it would be so. And because that the same Roger Clerk was in no way a literate man, and seeing that on the examination aforesaid, (as well as on others afterwards made,) he was found to be an infidel, and altogether ignorant of the art of physic or of surgery; and to the end that the people might not be deceived and aggrieved by such ignorant persons, etc.; it was adjudged that the same Roger Clerk should be led through the middle of the City, with trumpets and pipes, he riding on a horse without a saddle, the said parchment and a whetstone, for his lies, being hung about his neck, an urinal also being hung before him, and another urinal on his back. [_Letter-Book H. 145._] [40] “Soul of Christ, sanctify me; body of Christ, save me; blood of Christ, saturate me; as Thou art good, Christ, wash me.” [41] In allusion, perhaps, to the custom of men who were ready to perjure themselves, as false witnesses, to go about with a straw sticking out from between the foot and the shoe--“men of straw.” [Riley.] 1390. In connection with the Surgeons’ Guild, four Master Surgeons of the City were sworn before the Mayor, etc., in this year, and _they_ were to make scrutiny amongst persons practising the art of Surgery, and to present defaults. [_Letter-Book H._ 248.] It will be remembered that in 1369 a somewhat similar Ordinance was made for the Surgeons’ Guild, and this one in 1390 was probably obtained as a set off to the powers vested in the Barbers by their Ordinance of 1376, and by way of assertion of equal rights with them in matters surgical. Anyhow it is very clear that there were two distinct bodies within the City ruling the craft of Surgery at this period, each, no doubt, claiming jurisdiction over its own members, and both anxious and ready to interfere with outsiders, and probably with each other. It is curious to note that in the Ordinance of 1390, above referred to, the Masters inspecting are authorised to make scrutiny not only of men, but of “women undertaking cures, or practising the art of Surgery”; and here, in the 19th century, we find history repeating itself, and women again “intermeddling in matters surgical.”