Note 215 — No. 257. [Addison and Steele. From Tuesday, Nov. 28, to Thursday, Nov. 30, 1710.
Reading edition
"At the sign of the Woolsack in Newgate Market, is to be seen a strange and wonderful thing, which is, an elm-board; being touched with a hot iron, it doth express itself as if it were a man dying with groans and trembling, to the great admiration of all hearers. It hath been presented before the King and his nobles, and hath given great satisfaction" (Advertisement of 1682, in Sloane MSS., 958).