ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the contemporary context against which William Shakespeare sketched his description of this unhappy Veronese apothecary: medicine in early modern London. It examines several aspects of the range, depth and organization of medical retailing in the metropolis. The chapter argues that the intimate relationship apparent in the scene in Romeo and Juliet between dubious consumption, honesty and the apothecary's shop interior was an essential element of early modern medicine. Medicines named for their application rather than their ingredients were qualitatively little different to branded proprietary medicines. Metropolitan medicine in early modern London cannot be conveniently sliced into tidy sectors: production sat cheek by jowl with retailing; customers might seek to purchase anything from a full package of healing services to a few ingredients for a remedy they were making up and administering in their own home. Apothecaries' shops formed one of the central arenas in which this disparate medical economy operated.
