ABSTRACT
Queen Anne reigned in England from 1702 to 1714 and gave birth to 17 children, none of whom survived her. She died grossly overweight at 20 stone due to overeating in the belief that this would produce healthy children. In addition, she had weak eyes and it is reported 1 that her favourite oculist was William Read, a tailor who, ‘having failed as a mender of garments, set up as a mender of eyes’. Another of Queen Anne’s oculists was ‘Dr’ Grant who started life as a tinker, tried preaching, and drifted into his medical specialty after failing at these two ventures. The following is an epigram of the time.
