cast, and the lepers of Paris. In 1230 the
Cordeliers, as they were called,[53] accepted the _loan_ of a house
near the walls in the south-western part of the city; St. Louis
built them a church, and left them at his death part of his library
and a large sum of money.[54] They too soon became rich and powerful
and their church one of the largest and most magnificent in Paris. St.
Bonaventure and Duns Scotus taught at their school of theology; their
monastery in the sixteenth century was the finest and most spacious in
Paris, with cells for a hundred friars and a vast refectory, which
still exists. St. Louis founded the hospital known as the
Quinze-Vingts (15 + 20) for three hundred poor knights whose eyes had
been put out by the Saracens. Subsequently it became a night shelter
for a like number of blind beggars whither they might repair after
their long quest in the streets of Paris. St. Louis at his death left
them an annual _rente_ of thirty livres parisis that every inmate
might have a good mess of pottage daily, and Philip le Bel ordered a
fleur-de-lys to be embroidered on their dress that they might be known
as the king's poor folk. The buildings, now transferred to the Rue de
Charenton, originally covered a vast area of ground between the Palais
Royal and the Louvre, and were sold in 1779 to a syndicate of
speculators by Cardinal de Rohan of diamond-necklace[55] notoriety; an
act of jobbery which brought his Eminence a handsome commission. The
Quinze-Vingts were privileged to place collecting-boxes and to beg
inside the churches. Since, however, the differences in the relative
opulence of churches was great, the right to beg in certain of the
richer ones was put up to auction every year, and those who promised
to pay the highest premium to the funds of the hospital were
adjudicated the privilege of begging there. This curious arrangement
was in full vigour until the latter half of the eighteenth century,
when the foundation was removed. Twelve blind brothers and twelve
seeing brothers--husbands of blind women who were lodged there on
condition that they served as leaders through the streets--had a share
in the management of the institution. Luxury seems to have sometimes
invaded the hostel, for in 1579 a royal degree forbade the sale of
wine to the brethren and denounced the blasphemy with which their
conversation was often tainted. In 1631 they were forbidden to use
stuffs other than serge or cloth for their garme