Thus did the repentant Lord of Artiguelouve meet the forgiveness of his son, Raymond: for it was he that closed his eyes with a blessing, and then returned to his hermitage to weep by the tomb of his father, the Cagot.
* * * * * I am indebted to M.Baron du Taya's (of Rennes) learned researches and obliging kindness for a few particulars respecting the Cacous of Brittany.
It is thought there that this proscribed race are the descendants of _leprous Jews_, which would at once account for the detestation in which they continued to be held, but for the term _"Chrestaas"_ applied to them, which destroys that supposition: again, it is said that they are descended from original _lepers_, and that diseases are inherent in their blood--though not leprosy, it may be epilepsy: for this reason, the _rope-makers_ of Ploermel were held in abhorrence, and are even now shunned: they are irritated when the term _caqueux_ is applied to them, but it is common to call them _Malandrins_--a word of opprobrium, only less shocking to their ears.

They had always their separate burial-ground and chapel; and, till the revolution of 1789, the prejudice existed against them: even now it is not entirely extinct.
Rope-makers, coopers, and _tailors_ are still held in a certain degree of contempt in Brittany, as those of these trades were formerly all looked upon as Cacous.
The Cacous of St.Malo met with some compassion from Duke Francis II., the father of Anne of Brittany; and also in the time of Francis I., King of France, ordinances were made in their favour; but they were not so fortunate as their brethren of Rome, who, in the sixteenth century, are said to have sold, in one Holy week, rope to the amount of two thousand crowns, to make _disciplines_.
In 1681, a law was passed to this effect; "Seeing that there are no longer any Leprous, _Ladres_, or _Caquins_ at Kerroch, parish of St.
Caradec d'Hennebon, there is in future to be no distinction made in the inhabitants of this village--who formerly had their burial-ground and chapel apart--and all shall be admitted to the benefit of parish assistance during their lives, and buried in the church after their death.

For it is considered that it _was ill and abusively_ ordained by the Bishop of Vannes, in 1633, that the wives of the said inhabitants should not be purified, except in their own chapels; for it is well ascertained that no native of the said village of Kerroch has ever been afflicted with leprosy." Notwithstanding this sensible and humane act, the people of Kerroch are not free from the absurd suspicion even yet.
"It would appear," observes M.Baron du Taya, "that the Cacous were first a subdivision of lepers, and afterwards, by hereditary _remembrance_ of them, the latter were always the objects of commiseration amongst the professors of religion and chivalry.

Thus the first Grand Master of St.Lazare was himself a leper.

Several great names occur amongst these Grand Masters: such as Jean de Paris, in 1300; a Bourbon in 1521; and, under Henri IV., a Philibert de Nerestang." In 1436 a prohibition was issued against the _Cacosi_ receiving the kiss of peace, and the kiss of the monks, _before men who were whole_; it was not denied them, but they were to be _the last_.
In many places in Brittany the rope-makers work out of the towns near those places where lazar-houses were once established.