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._; LUNACY AND LOVE. This is a play with six characters, written in 1556, by Louise Labe, sometimes called the _Belle Cordiere_.