whosoever shall be considered as a heretic, or be marked with suspicion, shall not henceforth exercise the profession of a physician; and when any sick person shall have received the holy communion from the hand of his priest, let him be vigilantly looked after until his death or recovery, lest any heretic, or person suspected of heresy, should get access to him; for we have understood that wicked and abominable things have often occurred from the access of such persons." To the above translation Mr. Maitland has appended the following note:"After I had translated the canon, I was surprised to find it thus given in the translation of Sismondi's History of the Crusades against the Albigenses, published in 1826: The following article merits attention: We command that whosoever shall be accused of heresy, or noted with suspicion, shall be deprived of the assistance of a physician.' p. 227. Sismondi refers to the councils and to Fleury. From the former I had translated, and the words are "Statuimus etiam, quod quicunque fuerint infamati de hæresi, vel suspicione notati, officio medici de cætero non utantur;' which Fleury (Ixxix., n. 57,) translates, 'Ne pourra desormais exercer la medicine.' If the reader has any doubt, let him consult the xiith canon of Beziers, (vol. xi. p. 1, col. 680,) and the xivth of the council of Albi, which seem to me to place the matter beyond dispute. The latter of these will be given presently, under the year 1254. The reason of the precaution is obvious, and will be more evident as we proceed, as well as my motive for noticing the canon at all." After referring to the xiith canon of the council of Beziers, and the xivth of the council of Albi, I confess that my doubts as to the correctness of Mr. Maitland's translation still remain; not having Fleury's work at hand, nor the original French of Sismondi, I am deprived of the benefit of a reference to them, and the assistance they might afford in removing my doubts. My reasons for doubting the correctness of Mr. Maitland's version of the passage in question are as follow:-1. The title of the canon, which Mr. Maitland seems to have not observed, runs thus: "Quomodo agendum cum ægrotis infamatis de hæresi, vel suspicione notatis"-"How sick persons accused or noted with suspicion of heresy are to be dealt with." This title seems clearly to point out those to whom the words of the canon, "infamati de hæresi vel suspicione notati," were intended to be applied. It seems extraordinary that a canon headed "Quomodo agendum cum ægrotis," should commence with a prohibition to practise medicine, and then should pass on to the case of those who had evidently been reconciled to the church of Rome. In this view of the matter I am confirmed by the title prefixed to the xivth canon of the council of Albi, which runs thus:-" Ut medicus non practicet in terris de hæresi suspectis nisi ab episcopo approbatus." The xiith canon of Beziers is also thus headed, " De medicis eorundem ;" and the xixth canon, concil. Dertusani, A.D. 1429, has the following title: "Quod medici non visitent infirmum ultra tertiam vicem qui in illa infirmitate non fuerit confessus." In the "Constitutiones Nicosienses," (vol. xi. p. 2, col. 2379,) we find the title to canon xiv., "Ut nemo utatur medico infideli." In the four last-mentioned canons the matter corresponds with the title of each. 2. When we consider in what way

CORRESPONDENCE.

persons "infamati de hæresi" were disposed of, and that it was necessary to hunt after them in caverns and other places of concealment, a canon to forbid them to practise medicine seems quite superfluous. Canon iv. of Thoulouse directs concerning any person who shall permit a heretic to remain on his lands, (" in terris,") that " amittat in perpetuum terram suam," &c.; and the xth canon directs, that even those who have voluntarily returned to the catholic faith "shall not remain in the town in which they have previously dwelt;" and canon xi. enacts, that those who have returned to " catholic unity through fear of death, or any other cause, so that it be not done voluntarily," shall be "imprisoned by the bishop of the place to perform penance, with proper caution to prevent their having the power to corrupt others." A canon merely prohibiting the admission of persons" infamati de hæresi" to any office, or forbidding the doing of a single act, would have been more consistent with the circumstances at the time of its enactment, such as we find in canon xvii.-" Ne hereticis aut de hæresi infamatis, administratio ulla committatur; nec familia aut consilio retineantur." This is intelligible; the individuals who should dare to infringe the statute would be sufferers, though not to the same extent as the unfortunate heretics. 3. The xivth canon of the council of Albi does not appear to me to confirm Mr. Maitland's translation; the canon, of which I have given the title above, is as follows:-" Porro Tolosano concilio (quo cavetur quicunque fuerit de hæresis infamiâ vel suspicione notatus, officii medici de cætero non utetur) addentes: statuimus ut nullus medicus præsumat de cætero practicare in terris suspicione notatis nisi prius de fide sua præcipue, vita et moribus fuerit à loci episcopo approbatus." Nothing in the way of confirmation is gained by translating the words, " Officio medici de cætero non utatur," in the same way as in the xvth canon of Thoulouse, for that is at once to take for granted the point in doubt. The whole force, therefore, of the argument depends upon the word "addentes;" but this word affords nothing decisive; for, translate the words "officio medici non utatur" as we will, the decree of Albi is equally an addition. dition to the council of Thoulouse, by which it is provided that no sick "In adperson, accused or suspected of heresy, shall henceforth employ a physician, we decree, that no physician shall presume to practise," &c.;- -a probable reason for such an addition may have been, that some timid heretics, who had concealed their sentiments until the extremity of sickness, or had been sheltered by the kindness of friends, had escaped the tender mercies of the inquisitors, and the physician who had attended such in their last hours, by neglecting to call in a confessor, was deemed accessary to such an abomination,-a case amply provided against afterwards, as we learn from Peter Dens, (tom. viii. p. 230,) or rather from the editor of the "Supplement I.:"Pius V. in sua constitutione. 3, in Bullario Romano, jubat medicum -"Sanctus ante omnia id monere; neque tertio die alterius illum visitare, si vocare confessarium recusaverit: transgressores medicos incurrere pœnam infamiæ et privationem omnium privilegiorum ejus professionis. Indeed, the xiith canon of Beziers directs, that "the medical attendants of heretics, or their favourers, shall, if called upon by their respective

"

bishops, take an oath faithfully and efficaciously to assist the church against heretics, according to their office and power.' The mention of the medical attendants of heretics, in the above canon, does not prove the correctness of the translation as given by Mr. Maitland; for, if the heretics had been discovered, or reputed to be such before the physician was called in, his information would not have been needed; or, should we admit that persons" infamati de hæresi" were permitted to call in a medical attendant, still we must recollect that there might be a difference of circumstances, and even of feeling, when the last-mentioned canon was framed to what obtained at the time when the xyth canon of Thoulouse was framed; though certainly we recognise in the ixth canon of Narbonne, A.D. 1235, a kindred spirit to that which breathes in the xvth of the Thoulouse council. "Stones and morter," we are told, "could not be supplied in sufficient quantities to build prisons for the incarceration of the heretics." In the title of the xixth canon of the same council we read-"Ut a carcere nemo excusetur propter senium;" and in the body of the said canon— -" Circa incarcerandos etiam duximus hoc addendum, ut a carcere nec vir propter uxorem licet juvenem, nec quisquam propter liberos, seu parentes, seu aliter necessarios aut propter debilitatem, vel senium, vel aliam similem causam excusetur absque indulgentia sedis apostolice speciali." (Vol. xi. p. 1, col. 488.) We may here learn where sick heretics were to be found in abundance, and we may also remark, that an examination of the councils of Bezieres, Albi, Narbonne, &c., plainly shew that the council of Thoulouse was still considered as in force; whilst such of its canons, or parts of its canons, as circumstances seemed to require, were from time to time re-enacted or modified according to the cases to which they were meant to be applied. Indeed we may learn thus much from cap. 1, concil. Albiensis" Inhærentes igitur, super negotio fidei, concilio præcipue Tolosano, quibusdam pro causa et tempore demptis, additis et mutatis." 4. I much doubt whether the words, " officio medici de cætero non utantur," will admit of such a translation as "shall not hereafter practise as a physician;" and I am not aware of any authority for employing "uti officio" to express the same thing as "fungi officio," or "exsequi officium." Perhaps it may be said, that we are not to expect to find correct Latinity in such a place. True; but that is no reason why we should of two translations choose that which makes the Latin bad, when the other does not involve the character of the Latin in any such difficulty. The framers of the decree would scarcely have chosen a form of words, the obvious construction of which would convey a meaning directly contrary to their intention, when they had at hand such a word as "practicare"-the very word used in the xivth canon of the council of Albi: and we may also remark, that "practicet" is the word used in the title of the same canon. That monkish writers were perfectly aware of the force of the phrase in question appears from the following extract from "Carena Tract. de officio Sanct. Inquisitionis," &c., Lugd. 1669, p. 285, where he writes on the constitution of Clem. VIII. and Greg. XIV. :-"Tertio loco vetatur ne catholici opera medici utantur,* nisi ex necessitate, neve

"Bona fortique operâ eorum se ad eam diem usum."-Liv., lib. xxiv. cap. 14. Operâ que eorum forti ac fideli res publica usa est."-Liv., lib. xxiv. cap. 47.

catholici ad hæreticorum loca accedant nisi id prius significent suis ordinariis, vel inquisitoribus, quod tamen attinet ad usum medici hæretici animadvertendum est, quod prohibitio Clem. VIII. cessat urgente necessitate, ut quia v. g. catholicus gravi urgetur infirmitate et non adest nisi unus medicus hæreticus, et ita fuit decisum," &c. We may also learn from the 8th vol. of Dens, p. 120, that the writers of the times in question were not at a loss for a more classical expression than "practicare:" we find "laici artem medicam vel chirurgicam exercentes." And again, p. 121, « Si medendi artem velint exercere."

I have extended the above remarks to a much greater length than I at first intended, and will therefore trespass no further upon your patience than to request that, should you deem them worthy of a place in your journal, you will have the kindness to insert them as early as convenient.

JOHN EVANS.

I have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient servant, Whitchurch, Shropshire.

MR. MAITLAND.-COUNCIL OF THOULOUSE.

MY DEAR SIR,-I anı much obliged by your forwarding to me the enclosed letter, on which, if you will allow me, I will offer one or two remarks.

I must first thank Mr. Evans for the polite way in which he has mentioned my writings, though I cannot flatter myself that I have rendered the works to which he refers more valuable, by pointing out their errors, until I see those who still profess to admire them come forward, acknowledge the errors, and set out amended editions. But as to the subject of the letter:

In the first place, as Mr. Evans asks for the opinions of others; I will mention those of all the writers whom I know to have given any. (1.) Fleury, whom I have already cited as agreeing with my translation. (2.) Oberhauser, who, in his abstract of the canons of this council, expresses the xvth thus, "Medici, qui hereseos suspecti, aut infames sunt, ad ægrotantes non admittantur."-(Manuale Select. Concil. et Canon. p. 346.) He probably followed Fleury, and ought, perhaps, not only to be considered as following, but sanctioning, the translation given by him. (3.) Richard, of whose work I am sorry I have only the Latin translation, which gives its abstract of the canon in these words:" Qui hereseos suspicione laborant, medici officio non fungentur, nec sinentur ad ægrotantes, postquam viaticum susceperunt, accedere."-(Analysis Concilior., tom. ii. p. 181.) (4.) A writer worth all the others put together, that is, Father D' Achery, who printed these canons from a copy which had no titles at all, nor divisions of any kind, if I understand him right, and who must therefore, I presume, have added the marginal note to this canon himself—" Qui hereseos suspicione aspergitur artem medicam non exerceat."-(Spicileg. i. 710.) These are all the opinions which I remember to have met with; and they are all clearly in my favour.

Mr. Evans says, it is extraordinary that a canon so headed should

commence with a prohibition to practise medicine; I should rather say, it was extraordinary that a canon beginning with such a prohibition should have been so headed, (for that, I presume, was the course of things,) were it not that the titles of documents belonging to that age are so notoriously liable to deceive, that it is seldom worth while to say anything about them, when we have the document itself before us. This we have in the present case; and he argues that it is also extraordinary that a canon so beginning should pass on to the case of those who had "evidently been reconciled to the church of Rome." I do not myself see this, or what reference there is in the canon to "reconciled" persons at all. The progress of the canon seems to me to be quite natural, and its tenour to be this:-"No person suspected of heresy shall be allowed to profess the practice of physic, because, in that character, he might get access to orthodox persons under circumstances peculiarly favourable for their seduction; and, in addition to this precaution, we direct that any sick man (aliquem infirmumI see nothing of "reconciled" persons) who has shewn that he is not a heretic, by receiving the communion from his priest, shall be carefully watched until his death or recovery, for on his recovery the heretics will not want to have anything to do with him." This seems to me to be the clear meaning of the canon; and it is so natural that such a law should be made under the circumstances, that it hardly requires any explanation or support but a mere reference to the facts of the case. In the book to which Mr. Evans refers (after speaking of the conduct of the Waldensian teachers toward their disciples) I said"With regard, however, to the Albigensian teachers, so far as I can perceive, their great object was, to get persons to enter into an agreement that they would send for them when they should be at the point of death and it does not appear that they sought that opportunity for administering religious instruction or consolation; for, unless the sick person was in extremity, they would have nothing to do with him.". p. 458. And I likewise gave an instance (at p. 226) in which a principal leader of the Albigensian sect visited a sick person simply for the purpose of admitting him into the sect, but endeavoured to conceal it under the assumed character of a physician.

I confess I still think that this view of the canon is confirmed by the xiith of the council of Beziers, which Mr. Evans says "is also thus headed, De medicis eorundem.'" The canon is, indeed, so headed; but I do not see why it should be introduced as if it was the same, or had some particular agreement, with what had just been quoted from the council of Albi-namely, that no physicians but such as were specially approved by the bishops should be allowed to practise in parts of the country suspected of heresy. It is not inconsistent, but it is quite different, to order that "their physicians" (that is, those belonging to the heretics) should be banished, which is the object of the canon of the council of Beziers. It consists of only these words::-"Idem de medicis eorundem præcipimus observari ;" and to find out what the "idem" is, we must go back to the ixth canon, which directs all secular authorities to drive out of their respective jurisdictions all such heretics as should be pointed out to them by the church. Canon x. VOL. XIII.-March, 1838.

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