ANCIENT ESTABLISHMENTS.

vanished from this and other Countries of Europe, and an instance of it now is but seldom to be met with. In the East it still exists to a certain degree;—and there, in former ages, it had it's source and origin, and raged for a great length of time with extraordinary violence.3

The separation of Leprous persons from their fellow creatures, has been an established rule from the earliest antiquity. Among the Israelites, during their pilgrimage through the Wilderness, it was a solemn command, as mentioned in Leviticus, cap. xiii. ver. 45, 46.

"And the Leper in whom the Plague is, his clothes shall be rent, and his “head bare, and he shall put a covering 66 upon his upper lip, and shall "clean! Unclean!"— cry, Un

“All the days wherein the plague shall ❝ be in him, he shall be defiled,—he is “unclean,—he shall dwell alone,-with❝out the camp shall his habitation be."

3 Bishop Porteus's Lectures, vol. i. p. 226. Edit. 1819.

The same precautions seem to have been continued among Christians,-and with respect to those unhappy objects in England, it is recorded, that in a Provincial Synod, which was holden at Westminster, by HUBERT, Archbishop of Canterbury, in the year 1200, it was decreed, according to the institution of the Lateran Council, that "when so many Leprous "people were assembled, that might be "able to build a Church, with a churchyard, to themselves, and to have one

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especial Priest of their own, that they "should be permitted to have the same "without contradiction,-so they be not

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injurious to the old Churches, by that "which was granted to them for pity's "sake."—And it was further decreed, "that they be not compelled to give any tythes of their gardens, or increase of "cattle."

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So cautious, indeed, were our Ancestors in their care to remove the infectious, that a Writ is preserved in our antient Law-books, intituled " de Leproso amo

vendo," and is thus stated by Judge FITZHERBERT in his Natura Brevium, p. 534. (Eighth edition. 4to., 1755);—

"The Writ de Leproso amovendo lieth, "where a man is a Lazar or a Leper, and "is dwelling in any Town, and he will "come into the Church, or amongst his

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Neighbours where they are assembled, "to talk with them, to their annoyance "and disturbance, then he or they may 66 sue forth that Writ for to remove him "from their Company; and the Writ is "" such

"The King to the Sheriff, &c., or to the Mayor "and Sheriffs of London, greeting: Because we have "received information that I. of N. is a Leper, and is "commonly conversant amongst the men of the City 66 aforesaid, and hath communication with them as well ❝ in publick as in private places; and refuses to remove " himself to a solitary place, as the custom is, and to "him belongs to do, to the great damage of the men "aforesaid, and manifest peril by reason of the Contagion of the Disease aforesaid; We being willing "to take precaution against such Danger, as to us appertains, and that that which is just and hath been "used, be done touching the premisses, command "you, that taking with you certain discreet and law

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J

"ful men of the City aforesaid, not suspected, who "have the best knowledge of the person of the said "I. of N. and of such disease, you go to him the said

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“I, and cause him to be seen and diligently examined "in the presence of the said men, and if you shall "find him to be a Leper, as before is said, then with"out delay, in the best manner you can, cause him to

"be carried away, and removed from the communica"tion of the said men, to a solitary place, to dwell

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there, as the custom is, lest by such his common "conversation, damage or peril should in any wise "happen to the said men. Witness, &c."

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"But it seemeth, if a man be a Leper

or a Lazar, and will keep himself within "his house, and will not converse with “his neighbours, that then he shall not "be moved out of his house."

year

King EDWARD the Third, in the 20th of his reign, gave commandment to The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs of London, to make Proclamation in every Ward of the City and Suburbs, "that all leprous

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persons inhabiting there, should avoid "within fifteen days next; and that no "man suffer any such leprous person to "abide within his house and to incur the

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King's displeasure. And that they "should cause the said Lepers to be re

vendo," and is thus stated by Judge FITZHERBERT in his Natura Brevium, p. 534. (Eighth edition. 4to., 1755);—

"The Writ de Leproso amovendo lieth, "where a man is a Lazar or a Leper, and "is dwelling in any Town, and he will "come into the Church, or amongst his

Neighbours where they are assembled, "to talk with them, to their annoyance " and disturbance,-then he or they may 66 sue forth that Writ for to remove him "from their Company; and the Writ is "such:

"The King to the Sheriff, &c., or to the Mayor " and Sheriffs of London, greeting: Because we have "received information that I. of N. is a Leper, and is "commonly conversant amongst the men of the City "aforesaid, and hath communication with them as well " in publick as in private places; and refuses to remove ❝ himself to a solitary place, as the custom is, and to "him belongs to do, to the great damage of the men "aforesaid, and manifest peril by reason of the Con

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tagion of the Disease aforesaid; We being willing "to take precaution against such Danger, as to us "appertains, and that that which is just and hath been used, be done touching the premisses, command "you, that taking with you certain discreet and law

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