We are permitted to suppose from these lines that the disease was localized in “a wicked place that the hands must not touch,” and that it was only an affection of the same nature as the gorre and grand gorre, one of the numerous expressions applied to all contagious maladies of the sexual organs. This fact cannot be contested, for at the same epoch, in a poem entitled “Des XXIII Manieres de Vilains,” we find an imprecation launched by this anonymous author against all blackguards and bawds:
“That they may be
Itchy, poxed, and apostumed,
Covered with ulcers, badly rheumed,
Full of fever, jaundice sapped,
That they may be, also, clapped.”
Or, as given in French:
“Qu ils aient ...
Rogne, variole et apostume,
Et si aient plente de grume,