kings (or queens) English

The English language playfully regarded as under the direct guardianship of the sovereign. king's (or queen's) evidence, s. Eng. Law: Evidence given by an accomplice in a crime, when other evidence is deficient, on condition that he himself shall go free for his share in the crime. Called in this country, "state's evi dence." *king's-evil, 8. Pathol .: An old name for scrofula, which was believed to be cured by the royal touch. The practice began with Edward the Confe or, in 1051. It reached its maximum in the ultra-loyal days of Charles II., when it is said that 92, 107 persons were touched. In 1712, Queen Anne officially intimated her intention of touching persons afflicted; but two years later (in 1714), George I. discontinued the practice. In 1719 the office for the ceremony was expunged from the litany. Charles Edward touched a child for the king's-evil at Holyrood, in October, 1745. In 1775, Louis XVI. touched 2,400 people for the disease, and, it was alleged, succe fully. The distinguished Dr. Johnson is said to have sought the royal touch to deliver him from scrofula.