Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The patients were often poor women, blindfolded for their own modesty. The doctors
donated their time to help, practice, and teach (see the motto
Miseratione non Mercede:
“Out of compassion, not for profit”). The surgeries, usually amputations, were performed
under very crude working conditions—under the skylight or by gaslight, with no sink, and
only sawdust to sop up blood. (A false floor held another layer of sawdust to stop the
blood before it dripped through to the ceiling of the church below.) The wood still bears
bloodstains. Nearly one in three patients died. There was a fine line between Victorian-era
surgeons and Jack the Ripper.
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Farther down Borough High Street (on the left-hand side), you'll find...
The George
is the last of many “coaching inns” that lined the main highway from London
to all points south. Like Greyhound bus stations, each inn was a terminal for far-flung jour-
neys, since coaches were forbidden inside The City. They offered food, drink, beds, and
entertainment for travelers—Shakespeare, as a young actor, likely performed in The Ge-
orge's courtyard. On a sunny day, the courtyard is a fine place for a break from the Bor-
ough High Street bustle (food served all day long, five ales on tap including their own
brew).
