XXVI. *The Almshouse, Abingdon . . . 235 [Photograph by Taunt] Now called Christ’s Hospital. XXVII. St. Mary’s, Newcastle . . . 247 [After lithograph, J. Storey, 1844; reproduced by permission of the Society of Antiquaries, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, from Transactions, 1892.] XXVIII. (_a_) St. Petronilla’s, Bury St. Edmunds . . . 256 (_b_) *Lepers’ Chapel, Dunwich . . . 256 XXIX. The Hospitality of St. Julian . . . 259 [By Cristofano Allori, Palazzo Pitti, Florence, photograph by Brogi.] XXX. (_a_) Spital-on-the-Street . . . 264 [S.H. Grimm, B.M.] (_b_) *St. Edmund’s, Gateshead . . . 264 [Idem.] The chapel was built _circa_ 1247, and restored 1837; now Holy Trinity Church, High Street. INTRODUCTION _“And to relief of lazars and weak age,_ _Of indigent faint souls, past corporal toil,_ _A hundred almshouses, right well supplied.”_ (Shakespeare: Henry V., i. 1.) While we are justly proud of our institutions for the amelioration of the lot of the infirm and destitute, we are apt to forget that they are not the outcome of any modern philanthropic movement, but are rather England’s inheritance for above a thousand years. Much has been written of the regular monastic houses. These are situated, as it were, upon the high-roads of ecclesiastical history; but comparatively little attention has been paid to the existence and development of the foundations known as “Hospitals.” Although it is with some trepidation that we tread the less-frequented by-paths of history, an attempt will be made in this volume to illustrate the place of the hospital in pre-Reformation times, and by this means to secure a fuller recognition of the widespread activity of the Church of England in former days. Hospitals played an important part in the social life of the Middle Ages, and from the study of them much may be learnt of the habits of a distant past. At the outset it will be well to make clear what the hospital was, and what it was not. It was an ecclesiastical, not a medical, institution. It was for care rather than cure: for the relief of the body, when possible, but pre-eminently for the refreshment of the soul. By manifold religious observances, the staff sought to elevate and discipline character. They endeavoured, as the body decayed, to strengthen the soul and prepare it for the future life. Faith and love were more predominant features in hospital life than were skill and science.