Chap. VI. ANTIENT METAPHYSICS. 189 



Thefe peftilential dlfeafes do not only kill the greateft part of thofc 

 who catch them ; but luch as recover are very much weakened by 

 them. A difeafe of this kind, mentioned by the northern hiftorians, 

 and called by them the black deaths which almoft defolated Sweden, 

 Denmark, Norway, and Ruffia, in the end of the fifteenth centu- 

 ry, is faid to have weakened the race of men fo much in thofe 

 countries, that the people have never fmce been of the fize and 

 ftrength they were formerly. 



But, befides thefe plagues, which lafted only for a time, there 

 have come difeafes from thofe countries, that have been permanent, 

 and fome of them remain to this day. The firft I Ihall mention is 

 the leprofy, which came from Egypt, Syria, and Judaea, and which 

 was one of the blefled effeds, among many other of the Crufades, 

 and the only fruit we reaped from that religious knight-errantry, to 

 compenfate fuch prodigious lofs of men. It was once fo common 

 all over Europe, that Mathew Paris fays, there were no lefs than 

 18,000 hofpitals for lepers in Chriftendom ; and it appears from the 

 teflament of Lewis VIII. of France *, that there were 2000 of 

 thefe in France. How many there were in Britain I cannot fay : 

 But I know there were many in England ; and Harry II, if I am 

 not miftaken, mortified a great fum of money for maintaining them. 

 It appears, therefoix, that this plague was not only far fpread but 

 lafted long. At prefent, I believe, there are but fmall remains of it, 

 unlefs we reckon the fcurvy and the King's evil to be fpeciefes of 

 it. If fo, inilead of diminifhing, or dying away, it is increafing, I 

 believe, more than ever: For the laft of thefe difeafes is becomin'r 

 more common every day, at leaft in Britain ; and I am afliired by 

 the phyficians, that nine parts of ten, of confumptions, which dc- 

 ftroy fuch numbers among us, are of the fcrophulous kind. 



The 



* See the French Encyclopedic, under the word Leprofcrie* 



