So great was the horror of this disease among the heathen Britons, and
so strictly was the law for preventing its extension observed, that
even the rank of the young prince caused no exception to be made in his
favor. Neither was his tender youth suffered to plead for sympathy;
and the king himself was unable to protect his own son from the cruel
treatment accorded to the lepers of those days. No sooner was the
report whispered abroad, that Prince Bladud was afflicted with leprosy,
than the chiefs and elders of the council assembled together, and
insisted that Lud Hurdebras should expel his son from the royal city,
and drive him forth into the wilderness, in order to prevent the
dreaded infection from spreading.
The fond mother of the unfortunate Bladud vainly endeavored to prevail
on her royal husband to resist this barbarous injunction. All that
maternal love and female tenderness could urge, she pleaded in behalf
of her only child, whose bodily sufferings rendered him but the dearer
object of affection to her fond bosom.
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