poor
sick, and for the perpetuity of the said hospital, as it is a work
of so great piety and so much needed in this community: Therefore,
by this present, he ordained and ordered that the following articles
be observed and kept to the letter, as permanent rules and regulations.

1. First, because sick persons are received in the said hospital,
who are not of the character and station entitling them to admission,
many annoyances result; for some of them are wealthy, and others are
servants of certain persons from whom they receive pay and wages. By
receiving these persons into the hospital, contrary to right, they
occupy the places and beds which more properly should belong to his
Majesty's poor soldiers, the workmen of this colony, and the other
poor, for whom hospitals are chiefly established. And, that there may
be system in this, and that expense to the hospital may be avoided,
and so that the expense incurred be for those persons whose due it
is, he ordained and ordered that, now and henceforth, the hours for
receiving sick persons shall be from six in the morning until five in
the afternoon; and that the head chaplain, or his substitute, and the
physician or physicians who may be there, and the steward, surgeon,
and nurse of the said hospital be present at the entrance and reception
of patients. These he ordered and commanded not to receive any sick
except workmen or paid soldiers of this colony, paid sailors, and the
sick and needy poor; there is no restriction on the admission of such,
whether they are servants of the king or not. In case any sick person
is received without the previous order and consultation above-mentioned
(unless some of the said hospital officials are lawfully prevented), or
if the sick person belongs to the classes who ought not to be received,
then he who shall have received him shall incur and bear the penalty of
paying all the expenses incurred by the hospital for such sick person.

2. _Item_: It is ordained that, when a sick person is received, his
name shall be taken down, with the date and hour of his entrance. He
shall come confessed, or shall confess immediately; shall declare
whether he is married or single, and whether he has father or mother;
and an inventory shall be made of the possessions and clothes that he
brings to the hospital--so that, when he comes to leave the hospital,
his property and that of the said hospital may be known. And if the
property should have to be used