Page:Notes and Queries - Series 11 - Volume 1.djvu/427

 ii s. i. MAY 21, 1910.] NOTES AND QUERIES.

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'ALONZO THE BRAVE ? (11 S. i. 167, 215, 254, 331). Although it is not entirely relevant to this discussion, permit me to call attention to Sam. M. Harrison's ' Alonzo ye Brave and ye Fayre Imogene : an Hysterical Drama in Three Acts/ published at Liverpool in 1876. This is a farce with topical songs and badly riming recitative, much after the style of Planche, Reece, Byron, and Burnand.

AJLECK ABRAHAMS.

0tt

The Mediceval Hospitals of England. By Rotha

Mary Clay. (Methuen & Co.)

WE welcome heartily this carefully compiled book. It has long been known that in the Middle Ages hospitals existed in some of our smaller towns as well as in larger cities ; indeed, that they grew in number from the Anglo-Saxon time until the middle of the fifteenth century, if not to a some- what later period. But the subject has been much neglected. Thus it has been left for Miss Clay to devote her attention to it in an exhaustive manner. She supplies not only an approximate estimate of their number, but also an account of the methods by which many of them were worked. The task must have been one of great labour, and the research needed very discursive, for there were at least seven hundred hospitals, and pro- bably somewhat more, since it is unlikely that, notwithstanding the diligent care of the author, she has identified all of them.

It was the duty of those who ruled the religious houses not only to give kindly attention to their poor neighbours, but also to relieve pilgrims and destitute wanderers. Pilgrimages to Rome, as early as the Saxon time, were frequent, and Miss Clay incidentally points out that the houses on the way in which the pilgrims received shelter were of English foundation. Though these hospitals, as they undoubtedly were, are not included in her work; it is important that our attention should be called to a subject of such great interest.

There cannot be any question that some of the wanderers who desired food and a temporary home in our hospitals were idle loiterers like many of the beggars of our own day. The propensity In live on other people's earnings is not by any means limited to any one age or country. In the small towns and villages of England much trouble was caused by these worthless people and in many instances, probably nearly in all, the Manor Courts did the best they could to protect those whom they represented ; but the protection, so far as it could be afforded, was not limited to local effort. Parliament intervened on several occasions to supply additional restraint, yet neither the one nor the other was successful, and more stringent. In the first year of Edward VI. tlic laws against beggars reached their climax. When captured, beggars were virtually reduced to the condition of slaves. Tin- owner had rings put round their necks or limbs, and could force
 * ts time went on Parliament became more and

them by beating to do such work as he ordered ? while any one who* ran away might be branded on the face by a hot iron. It is satisfactory to learn that this inhuman law continued for 'but two years. Nothing can, however, be said to excuse such cruelties while they lasted, for it must never be forgotten that among the multitudes: were not a few who had long suffered from dire want for which they were in no way responsible.

There we're clergy homes established in the thirteenth century in most dioceses. At Canter- bury one was provided by the Archdeacon before 1225. St. Richard of Chichester founded a similar charity in his diocese ; and several others can be identified for the service of ecclesiastics whose strength had failed, and sometimes also their servants were included in the benefits of these establishments.

It is almost certain that by far the greatest, reason for the increase of hospitals was the spread of leprosy. Some persons have persuaded them- selves that the number of sufferers from that terrible disease has been much exaggerated, but there seems no reason for thinking so, though the multitude of victims willprobably remain unknown. The author has no doubt that leprosy raged from the eleventh century to the middle of the thir- teenth, when it slowly died out ; it was, however, virtually extinct by the sixteenth century, though a few cases are said to have continued even later- in the far South-West of England.

There are still a few people who think that in the Middle Ages bathing, and even washing, was not regarded as so necessary as it is in these days.. We believe this to be a mistake, and we have no doubt that if the life in our old English hospitals could be analyzed, personal cleanliness would be found rigidly insisted on. It is plain that as regards the lepers at Sherburn in Yorkshire atten- tion was given to this manifest duty. Two bath- tubs were provided for them ; their heads were washed weekly, and a couple of laundresses washed their raiment twice in the week. Descrip- tions of hospital life are scanty, so it is important, when the indoor treatment of sufferers is found recorded, that full details should be furnished.

Though it cannot be said that there was a general confiscation of hospitals, as of monasteries,, many were swept away in the time of Henry VIII. and his son. Miss Clay comes to the conclusion that, " speaking generally, institutions in private hands were suppressed, those in the possession of corporate bodies retained."

The work is in every respect of great value, and' we trust that Miss Clay will soon give us an enlarged edition.

The Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri. Trans- lated by the Rev. H. F. Gary. Revised, with an Introduction, by Marie Louise Eeerton' Castle. (Bell & Sons.)

GARY'S rendering of Dante's masterpiece retains its pre-eminence in spite of the ever-increasing roll of new translators, and deserves the praise of Ruskin and many another enthusiast. We welcome, therefore, in the new series of " Bohn's Libraries," which does so much for the student,, a revision of Gary's version, which has been made with exemplary diligence. The ' Chronological View of the Age of Dante ' and the additional notes at the bottom of the page will be found useful. There is a good index ; and the Intro- duction is brief, but pertinent.