hey had two baskets of peat, on double mess
days; and four baskets daily, from All Saints to Easter. On Christmas
Day, they had four Yule logs each a cartload, with four trusses of
straw; four trusses of straw on All Saints' Eve, and Easter Eve; and
four bundles of rushes, on the Eves of Pentecost, S. John the Baptist,
and S. Mary Magdalene; and on the anniversary of Martin de Sancta
Cruce, every Leper received 5s. 5d. in money.

This luxurious living was not without its leaven. The rules of the
House were strict, and enforced religious duties on its inmates, of a
most severe and austere nature. All the Leprous brethren, whose health
permitted, were required daily to attend Matins, Nones, Vespers, and
Compline[h].

The bed-ridden sick were enjoined to raise themselves, and say Matins
in their bed; and for those who were still weaker, "let them rest in
peace." During Lent and Advent, all the brethren were required to
receive corporal discipline three days in the week, and the sisters in
like manner.

From the rules of the Lazar House of SS. Mary and Erkemould, at Ilford
in Essex, which accommodated 13 Lepers--we learn, in 1336, that the
inmates were ordered "to preserve silence, and, if able, to hear Mass
and Matins throughout, and whilst there, to be intent on prayer and
devotion. In the hospital, every day, each shall say for morning duty
a Pater-noster and Ave Maria[i] thirteen times; and for the other
hours of the day--1st, 3rd, and 6th of Vespers; and again, at the hour
of concluding service, a Pater-noster and Ave Maria seven times;
besides the aforesaid prayers each Leper shall say a Pater-noster and
Ave Maria thirty times every day, for the founder of the Hospital--the
Abbess of Barking, 1190--the Bishop of the place, all his benefactors,
and all other true believers, living or dead; and on the day on which
any one of their number departs from life, let each Leprous brother
say in addition, fifty Paters and Aves three times, for the soul of
the departed, and the souls of all diseased believers." Punishment was
meted out to any who neglected or shirked these duties.

Some of the Leper Houses in France excited the jealousy and avarice of
Phillip V., who caused many of the inmates to be burned alive, in
order that the fire might purify at one and the same time, the
infection of the body and that of the soul, giving as an ostensible
reason for his fiendish barbarity, the absurd and baseless allegation,
that the