Is another play in which medicine acts a part, by the same author of
the preceding farce; the plot is as follows: A blind man and a lame man
implore public charity on a deserted road; the blind man deplores his
fate as never having seen the light, and the lame man bitterly bemoans
not being able to walk but a few steps at one time, on account of the
gout which has rendered him paraplegic. These two make a mutual avowal
of their infirmities and agree to form a copartnership for mutual
assistance; the lame man climbs on the blind man’s shoulders and they
start out the road in search of charitable persons who may aid them
with alms. On going some little distance the beggars hear a noise; this
is made by a procession of monks going on a pilgrimage to the tomb of
Saint Martin. “What do they say?” asks the blind man; to which the lame
man responds:
They tell of things curious and quaint,
Of miracles, wonderous, if true,
Performed by a newly made saint,
For whose aid each monk goes to sue;
This Saint cures all ills he can find,
Even fits, ulcers, fevers and gout;
He _healeth the halt_ and the blind
In a manner that’s past finding out.
We all know the eternal popular faith and belief in the ability of the
Saints to cure every malady that flesh is heir to. However, in the
present instance, it seems that one of the requirements necessary to
be healed was a perfect spirit of resignation to all ills on the part
of the sufferer—_now this is the case of our two mendicants_, who now
become alarmed at the idea that they may be cured and thus deprived
of a method of earning their daily bread, _i.e._, by beggary, so they
undertake a number of subterfuges to escape the pious pilgrimage, which
gives rise to many amusing adventures and situations, which might be
well utilized by some modern playwriter. In the end the two mendicants
escape from going with the pilgrim monks to visit the Saint’s shrine,
as the blind man detests the light and the lame man is too lazy to
walk, in fact both are admirably suited with their afflictions. It is
during one of these scenes that the lame man relates to the blind man
the best methods for deceiving the public by simulating maladies, and
making a regular profession of begging. He discloses all the secrets of
those who in the Middle Ages sought public commiseration to earn alms;
he remarks:
“Puisque de tout je suis reffait,
Maulgre mes deus et mon visage,
Tant feray, que seray deffaict,
Encore ung coup de mon corsaige,
Car je vous dis bien que encor scay—je”
“La grant pratique et aussi l’art,
Par onguement et par herbaige,
Combien que soye miste et gaillart,
Que huy on dira que ma jambe art
Du cruel mal de Sainct Anthoyne,” etc.
In this lengthy poem, too long to transcribe from the French, the
lame mendicant gives a list of herbs, through means of which various
diseases may be simulated, especially those maladies of the skin that
are repulsive to the majority of mankind; thus he describes the itch
produced by certain varieties of the _clematis_ and the appearance of
leprosy induced by the use of an ointment of which _veronica_ formed
the basis. He also describes how to produce the disease of _Saint
Fiacre_, an affection characterized by warts and ulcers around the
anus. It is useless to add there is nothing new under the sun. Let us
now turn our attention to another play, _i.e._;