Part 2

The first is, That many People imagine they are dead in Winter. This is a Notion so absurd, that it would hardly be worth mentioning, had I not by Experience found it had prevail’d with many People of Sense and Learning, as well as the Vulgar and Illiterate. The many Experiments by me shown at the Hospitals in the hardest Frosts last Winter, and in the Houses of the Nobility and Gentry, and to Sir HANS SLOANE the 30th of _December_ 1729, will, I hope, be deem’d a sufficient Refutation of that Error: For in the coldest Seasons the Application of my Liquor with a Feather only, made the Vermin bolt out of their Holes, and die before their faces.

This they will do all the Year round in the coldest or hottest Weather. And I have seen, and do assert, they do bite in the cold as well as hot Seasons: but as our Blood is not so apt to inflame in Winter as in Summer, their Bites make but little Impression, and are consequently the less regarded.

The second and most prevailing Error is, That Buggs bite some Persons, and not others: When in Reality they bite every Human Body that comes in their way; and this I will undertake plainly to demonstrate by Reason.

It is generally observ’d and granted, that a Person under an ill Habit of Body, if he receives a small Cut or Wound, so slight as to be at first thought a Trifle, such Person’s Wound by reason of such ill Habit shall be attended with Inflammations and other dangerous Symptons, and be longer under Cure than Wounds, which when first receiv’d were larger, and consequently thought more dangerous. These Wounds shall be immediately healed on Persons in good Habit of Body, such good Habit preventing any Inflammations.

And as Fevers, and Swellings attending and prolonging the Cure of Fractures, are accounted for the same way; why may it not by the same parity of Reason be admitted, that the Bite or Wound of a Bugg should swell and inflame such only whose Blood is out of order; and tho’ they do bite, cause no Inflammations on any in right order of Blood?

The best Reason which can be given in support of this Error, is, That where two Persons lie in one Bed, one shall be apparently bit, the other not.

Buggs indeed, where there are two Sorts, may feed most on that Blood which best pleases their Palate; but that they do taste the other also, to me is apparent: And whenever that Bedfellow who is most liked by Buggs shall lie from home, the other will so sensibly feel the effects to be as above, that they will no longer think themselves bite-free.

Of this I am sensible, that I daily am bit when practising and at work in my Business, destroying them; and as they never swell me but when out of order, from thence I infer, that not only myself, but all such who are among Buggs, and do not swell with their Bites, are certainly in good Habit of Body. But to return to my Subject.

Having shewn that they not only live in Winter, but asserted that to be the best Season for their total Destruction, I must further observe, that few People caring to trouble themselves about Buggs but when they themselves are troubled by them, having confin’d the Attempts for their Destruction chiefly to the Breeding-Season, has been the sole Reason why the best Efforts for their Destruction have fail’d.

I do admit innumerable Quantities have been destroy’d, and much good has and may be done in Summer: but should every old Bugg then be destroy’d, you are yet not safe; for the Nits behind Wainscot and in Walls, which cannot be come at, will by heat come to life, and your work is partly to be done over again.

Whereas, on the contrary, if cleared out of Spawning-time, there is a certainty, as there is then no Nits, that their Offspring cannot plague you thereafter.

’Tis for this Reason I warrant what I do in Winter; which I cannot pretend to do in Summer.

In Summer indeed I do destroy all Buggs and Nits too in Beds and their Furniture, but Buggs only behind Wainscot and in Walls: for tho’ my Liquor has an attractive as well as the destructive Quality, and thereby does bring out and destroy every live Bugg; yet their Nits being inanimate, cannot come to the Liquor, nor the Liquor at them. Such Nits therefore will come to life by heat, and quit the Walls and Wainscot for better Quarters and Food in the Bed, and so become troublesome to you.

* * * * *

Having thus given, I hope, a satisfactory Account of this nauseous, venomous Vermin, I shall proceed to shew how they are daily brought to _England_, and into Houses commonly; then give some necessary Cautions how to avoid them, and Directions how to destroy them.

As these Insects abound in all foreign Parts, especially in hotter Climates more than they do here; ’tis on that account all Trading Ships are so over-run with them, that hardly any one thing, if examin’d, will be found free.

And as by Shipping they were doubtless first brought to _England_, so are they now daily brought. This to me is apparent, because not one Sea-Port in _England_ is free; whereas in Inland-Towns, Buggs are hardly known.

This Metropolis therefore, as having the greatest Number of Shipping, has had the greatest Number imported, and consequently bred in it.

You that are free, and would avoid a foreign Supply in your Houses, examine well all things from on board Ships before you admit them into Lodging-Rooms. Chests and Casks, Linnens, and Paper, being stiffened with Paste, afford them Food, and are consequently most dangerous.

If you have occasion to change Servants, let their Boxes, Trunks, _&c._ be well examin’d before carried into your Rooms, lest their coming from infected Houses should prove dangerous to yours.

Examine well all Furniture that comes in, before you set it up, Beds especially; which I recommend should be plain, and as free from Wood-work as possible, and made to draw out, that the Wainscot and Walls may be better come at, to clear them from Buggs and Dirt.

Deal Head-Boards, and Head-Cloths lined with Deal, or Rails of that Wood, avoid.

Also Beach-Bedsteds, for all such afford them much Harbour and Food.

If for Ornament you use Lace, let it be sewed, not pasted on, for Paste they love much.

Oak-Bedsteds, and plain Wainscot Head-Boards, and Tester-Rails of that Wood, allow them the least Harbour, and no Food; such therefore I recommend.

If you put out your Linnen to wash, let no Washer-woman’s Basket be brought into your Houses; for they often prove as dangerous to those that have no Buggs, as Cradles, and Bugg-Traps made of the same Wood, often do to those that have them: for the Wood they are made of, affords them much Convenience of Harbour, and great Nourishment.

Upholsterers are often blamed in Bugg-Affairs; the only Fault I can lay to their Charge, is their Folly, or rather Inadvertency, in suffering old Furniture, when they have taken it down, because it was buggy, to be brought into their Shops or Houses, among new and free Furniture, to infect them.

Builders are more blameable than they: for in Houses built for Sale, old Wainscot-Doors, Chimney-Pieces, &c. are oft put up for Cheapness, painted over, and pass for new; thus the Houses in _Hanover_ and _Grosvenor-Squares_, _&c._ were supplied before inhabited.

In taking of Houses, new or old, and in buying Bedsteds, Furniture, _&c._ examine carefully if you can find Bugg-marks. If you find such, though you see not the Vermin, you may assure yourself they are nevertheless infected.

* * * * *

To such as have, and would destroy them, I shall now proceed to give full Directions. In order to do it effectually, and to lessen your trouble, the first necessary thing to be known, is their Marks.

Buggs, tho’ nasty to us, are so cleanly to themselves, that they quit their places of Harbour to come out and dung, and their Excrements leave a Mark or Stain like that of a Fly, but somewhat blacker; and wherever you see such Marks, if on Wood, look for the nearest Crevise, Knot, or Streak; if on Walls, for the nearest Crack or Hole; if on Furniture, for the nearest Seam, Lace, Tape, or Fold, and there assuredly are the Vermin, and there apply the Remedy.

In Winter-time, few, if any, are to be found by day-light in the Furniture of a Bed; but in the Wood-work, Wainscot, or Walls only.

In the Summer they are all over, and every Lace, Tape, Seam and Fold must be examin’d, as well as the Crevises, Joints, and Carving in the Wood-work, for the Marks, and the Remedy applied accordingly.

In Winter-time, though they lie in pretty close Quarters, yet are they easily destroy’d with any thing that will attract or entice them to it.

If no such thing you have, give me leave to recommend my Liquor; on the Application of which, at all Seasons of the Year, they will come out, and immediately die before your Face.

In Summer they lie in more open Quarters, and spread, and then are not in any measure to be reduced, but by such Liquors as you may safely touch the Furniture with all over: if none such you have, you may depend that mine will not stain or any way hurt the richest Velvet, Silk, or Stuff, not even Scarlet, which almost every thing else will do.

On account of these excellent Qualifications, the Liquor has its Name of _Nonpareil_, and of this, if minded to do it yourself, you may have a Bottle for 2 _s._ sufficient for a common Bed, with plain Directions how to use it effectually.

If the Trouble of doing it your selves be disagreeable to you, you may have it expeditiously done by me or my Servants, and your Beds, or such Part as is necessary, taken down and put up again in full as good, if not better Order, than they were before, and alter’d, (if I see Opportunity or Occasion) and made to draw out, on my usual easy Terms.

As I have occasionally mention’d what Sort of Beds I would have you avoid, give me leave to add and assure you, that Beds may be made full as warm as usual, and very ornamental, and yet be so very handy, as that any one of your own Servants might take all down and clear them of Buggs, Dirt, and Dust, and put them up again in a quarter of an Hour; and to this Fashion most Beds may be alter’d, several Persons having lately done so by my Directions to their very great Satisfaction.

Those that have a mind to have new Beds thus made, or old ones alter’d, are to observe, That the Head-posts of the Bedsted are to be no higher than just to support a Wainscot Head-board, the Tester-lath supports the Rod as usual; in the Rail are to be nine Holes drilled in, but not quite thro’; the two at the Head, to take off and hang on, (at Pleasure,) two Upholders drove into the Wainscot or Wall; in the other seven, thro’ Eye-let Holes, at proper Distances in the Tester-cloth, are to be seven Balls or carved Branches to keep the Tester-Cloth tight; to which the Head-cloth, and inside and outside Vallens are to be fixed: so that by taking the Lath of the Upholders, and taking out the Balls, they all come off together; and thus made, may be commodiously and immediately clear’d, clean’d, and put up again, to fasten on the Head-board: And keep your Head-cloth down tight in its Place and Form. You have Hooks and Eyes to take on and off at Pleasure.

* * * * *

Persons wanting to be clear’d and kept free of those nauseous venomous Vermin, shall be attended by the Author on the following Terms, _viz._

To clear a Bed-sted with Moulding-Tester, Wood Head-Cloth, Head-board and its Furniture, 10 _s._ 6 _d._

Bed-steds with single-rais’d Tester, Moulding, Head-Cloth, Board and Furniture, or Chair-beds and Furniture, 8 _s._ each.

Bed-steds with ditto Tester, plain Head-cloth, cover’d Head-board and Furniture; and Field-beds and Furniture, at 7 _s._ each.

Four-post Bed-steds, or Canopy-beds, with plain Furniture, 6 _s._ each.

Press-beds, Chest of Drawers Beds and Bed-steds, without Furniture, 5 _s._ each.

Wainscot Walls, Hangings, _&c._ behind and near the Bed-sted are clear’d with the Beds at the above Prices: but if spread all over the Room and Furniture, then an additional Price is expected.

For Expedition and Safety, and to prevent Trouble to his Customers, or Impositions on them or himself, the Author takes his own Servants with him, to take down and put up such Parts of Beds, Wainscot, Hangings, _&c._ as he finds necessary; and always puts them up in full as good, if not better Order, than he finds them. Of his Servants he has good Security, and will be answerable to his Customers, for their Fidelity.

_N. B._ If he any ways damages the Furniture, he will pay for the same.

* * * * *

Persons about taking Houses, Lodgings, or buying Furniture, paying for Surveying, shall be attended, and at first View be justly and truly inform’d if the Premisses be Buggy, or free from Buggs, by

JOHN SOUTHALL,

At the _Green-posts_ in the _Green-walk_ near _Faulcon-stairs, Southwark_.

_FINIS._

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Transcriber's Note

On p. 28, "seeond" has been changed to "second".

The book was printed using the "long s" (ſ), which has been replaced by a modern "s" in this transcription. Inconsistent or archaic spelling and punctuation have otherwise been kept as printed.