breathing; the voice hoarse and barking; the aspect of
the face frightful, and of a dark colour; the pulse small, almost
imperceptible." Sometimes the limbs drop off, piecemeal or in their
entirety.

All the writers agree in urging most earnestly that no one ought to be
adjudged a Leper, unless there manifestly appears a corruption of the
figure, or, that state indicated as _signa infallibilia_.

LAZAR HOUSES.

The period from its introduction into this country, as far as we know,
to its final or nearly final extinction, may be embraced within the
10th and 16th centuries. It was at the zenith of its height during the
11th, 12th, and 13th centuries. As early as A.D. 948 laws were enacted
with regard to Lepers in Wales by Howel Dda, the Good--the great Welsh
King, who died 948.

The enormous extent to which it prevailed during that period may be
gauged from the fact, that there were above 200 Lazar Houses in
England alone, probably providing accommodation for 4,000 at least,
and this, at a time when the whole population of England was only
between 2,000,000 and 3,000,000 of persons; being something like two
in every thousand.

I have been enabled to compile the following English Lazar Houses,
which is however far from being a complete one. These Lazar Houses
were founded by the charitably disposed, and were usually under
ecclesiastical rule:--

1 Berkshire.
2 Buckinghamshire.
2 Cambridgeshire.
3 Cornwall.
1 Cumberland.
4 Derbyshire.
6 Devonshire.
3 Dorsetshire.
2 Durham.
4 Essex.
6 Gloucestershire.
2 Hampshire.
1 Herefordshire
6 Hertfordshire.
1 Huntingdonshire.
15 Kent.
1 Lancashire.
2 Lincolnshire.
4 Leicestershire.
7 Middlesex.
22 Norfolk.
5 Northamptonshire.
3 Northumberland.
3 Nottinghamshire.
4 Oxfordshire.
2 Shropshire.
6 Somersetshire.
3 Staffordshire.
10 Suffolk.
1 Surrey.
6 Sussex.
3 Warwickshire.
4 Westmoreland.
7 Wiltshire.
1 Worcester.
20 Yorkshire.

Total: 173

They were presumably under the rule of S. Austin or Augustine.

Chalmers' _Caledonia_ states 9 hospitals existed in the County of
Berwick alone.

It is said that, by a Bull of Alexander III., exemption from the
payment of tithes was granted to all the possessions of the Lazar
Houses; this, however, does not appear to have always been acted upon,
at least in this country, as at Canterbury, etc.

A Prior--