Notes on Social History 



563 



To the latter it is confidently hoped that we may look for the 

 total abolition of the tax within very few years. There 

 should be no delay in the removal of this blot on the good 

 name of Britain. 



Samian Ware. 



What is called Samian Ware is the handsome red and 

 usually glazed pottery which the Romans used as their best. 

 A correspondent asks us, Where was that made which is now 

 found in connection with Roman houses in England ? Was 

 there any British pottery for Samian ? In answer we may 

 say that it is frequently found, though not of best quality, 

 in burials which were before the Roman period. 



It is conjectured that it was made in Eastern Gaul and 

 imported via the Rhine. There was, so far as is known, no 

 pottery for Samian in England. 



Treatment of Lepers in the Maldon Hospital. 



From the second volume of Mr. Thomas Wright's " History 

 of Essex " (1836), vol. ii., p. 652, under description of Maldon, 

 we have the following: — 



" The hospital for lepers, dedicated to St. Giles, is said to have 

 been founded by one of the kings of England ; it was for the relief of 

 the inhabitants, and stood in Little Maldon. The ruins of it, which 

 were converted into a barn, were of stone, with a mixture of bricks, 

 apparently Roman. For the maintenance of this institution, the 

 Master was to have all forfeitures of bread, beer, flesh, and fish, not fit 

 to be eaten, and if the warden did not duly discharge his trust, the 

 hospital was to come to the Crown. In consequence of this regula- 

 tion, on the mal-administration of Robert Mansfield, Master, who for 

 three years had neglected his office, and in that space of time, had 

 neither maintained a chaplain nor any leprous person ; therefore, 

 King Henry the Fourth took the institution into his own hands ; but 

 it was afterwards restored ; and after Mansfield's death, was presented 

 to by several persons, from 1422 to 1480." 



