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,