THE
LEPER IN ENGLAND:

WITH SOME ACCOUNT OF

English Lazar Houses.

WITH NOTES.

BY

ROBERT CHARLES HOPE, F.S.A., F.R.S.L.,

Peterhouse, Cambridge, and Lincoln’s Inn.
Member of the Royal Archæological Institute of Great Britain.

Editor of Barnabe Googe’s “Popish Kingdome.”
Author of “Glossary of Dialectal Place-Nomenclature.”
“An Inventory of the Church Plate in Rutland.”
“English Goldsmiths,” &c., &c.

SCARBOROUGH:
JOHN HAGYARD, PRINTER, “GAZETTE” ST. NICHOLAS STREET.

Dedicated
TO
The Ven. R. Frederick L. Blunt, A.K.C., M.A., D.D.,
Archdeacon of the East Riding; Canon Residentiary of York;
Vicar of Scarborough;
Chaplain-in-Ordinary to the Queen; Surrogate;
Fellow of King’s College, London;
Chaplain to the Royal Northern Sea-Bathing Infirmary, Scarborough,
Who occupied the Chair on the occasion, and at whose request,
the Lecture was delivered.

CONTENTS.

FORESPEECH.

The subject matter embraced within these covers, consists chiefly of notes, made for a lecture delivered in Christ Church Schoolroom, Scarborough, on Thursday, March 5th, 1891, and is published by special request.

No claim for originality is made. The works of the late Sir James Y. Simpson, Professor of Medicine in the University of Edinburgh, (Archæological Essays, Vol. II.); Sir Risdon Bennett, M.D., LL.D., F.B.S., “Diseases of the Bible”; Dr. Greenhill, in “Bible Educator”; Leland’s “Itinerary”; Dugdale’s “Monasticon,” &c., &c., have been freely drawn upon, and to these writers, therefore, it is the desire here to acknowledge the indebtedness which is due.

Various Notes will be found in the Appendix, which it is hoped will prove of interest.

THE LEPER IN ENGLAND.

There is perhaps no subject of greater interest, nor one which awakens more sympathy, than that of the Leper; it affords a most curious, though painful topic of enquiry, particularly in the present day, when so much has been said and written, as to the probability and possibility of the loathsome scourge again obtaining a hold in this, our own country.

Much confusion and ignorance exists, as to what true Leprosy really is. I do not pretend, nor do I assume, to be in any way an authority on the disease, nor to be at all deeply versed in the matter; my remarks will consist chiefly in retailing to you, some of the many and curious circumstances connected with the malady, with which I have become acquainted in studying the various Lazar Houses and Leper Wells, once so liberally scattered all over the country, from an antiquary’s point of view, and in examining the writings of those competent to express an opinion, from personal and other observations. Your kind indulgence is, therefore, asked for any shortcomings on my part.

THE LEPROSY OF THE BIBLE.

It is necessary at the outset, to state clearly, that the disease known as Leprosy in Holy Scripture, was an entirely and altogether different disorder, to that, which, in the Middle Ages, was so terribly prevalent, not in this country only, but over the whole Continent of Europe.

Sir Risdon Bennett tells us the Leprosy of Scripture was a skin disease known to the medical faculty as Psoriasis. The use of the Greek and Latin word Lepra, to signify both kinds of Leprosy, has no doubt contributed largely to the confusion existing as to these two disorders. The Leprosy of the Bible was Psoriasis, that of the Middle Ages Elephantiasis Græcorum.

There are six cases only, which include nine instances of Leprosy, recorded in the Old Testament:—