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THE LIBRARIES
iWebital Hibrarp
PRESENTED BY: DR. WILLIAM J. VOGLER
Columbia (Hniter^ttp
intljeCitpofMrnlork
iHebical Hihtsivv
MORLEY'S UNIVERSAL LIBRARY.
10.
II.
12.
13-
14.
15- 16.
17. 18. 19.
20. 21. 22.
23 24.
25 27. 28.
29.
30'
31-
32.
33 34
Sheridan^s Plays, Plays from Moliire, By
English Dramatists. Marlow^s Fausius and
Goethe's Faust. Chronicle of the Cid. Rabelais' Gargantua and the
Heroic Deeds of Pantagruel. MachiaveWs Prince, JBacon^s Essays. Defoe's Journal oj the
Plague Year.
Locke on Civil Government
and Filmer's "Patriarcha." Butler's Analogy of Religion. Dryden^s Virgil. Scotfs Demonology and
Witchcraft. Herrick's Hesferides. Coleridge's Table- lalk, Boccaccio^ s Decameron, Sternis Tristram Shandy. Chapman^ s Homer^s Iliad. Mediceval Tales. Voltair^s Candide, and yohnson's Rasselas. yonson's Plays and Poems. Hobbes's Leviathan. Samuel Butler's Hudibras, Ideal Commonwealths, Cavendishes Life of Wolsey. & 26. Don Quixote. Burlesque Plays and Poems. Dante's Divine Comedy.
LoNGFELLOV/'s Translation. Goldsmith's Vicar of Wake- field, Plays, and Poems. , Fables and Proverbs from the Sanskrit. {Hito^adesa.) Lamb's Essays of Elia. The History of TTiomas
Ellwood. Emerson's Essays^ &»c, , Southey's Life of Nelson,
" Marvels of clear type and guieral neatness."— Z?«»/y Telegraph.
35.
36.
37.
38. 39. 40. 41. 42.
43.
44.
45. 46.
47. 48.
49. 50.
51-
52
53-
54.
55- 56.
57. 58.
59. 60. 61.
62. 63.
De Quincey's Confessions of an Opium-Eater, &*c.
Stories of Ireland. By Miss Edgeworth.
Frere's Aristophanes: Acharnians, Knights, Birds \ Burke's Speeches and Letters.
Thomas h Kempis.
Popular Songs of Ireland.
Potter's ^schylus.
Goethe's Faust: Part II. Anster's Translation.
Famous Pamphlets,
Francklin's Sophocles.
M. G. Lewis s Tales of
Terror and Wonder. Vestiges of the NcUural History of Creation. Drayton's Barons' fVars,
Nym-phidia, ^c.\ Cobbett's Advice\ to Young Men.
The Banquet of Dante. Walker's Original. Schiller's Poems and
Ballads ' Peek's Plays and Poems, Harrington's Oceana. Euripides: Alcestis and
other Plays. Praed's Essays, Traditional Tales.
Allan Cunningham. Hooker's Ecclesiastical
Polity. Books I. -IV. Euripides : The Bacchanals
and other Plays. Izaak Walton's Lives. Aristotle's Politics. Euripides : Hecuba and
other Plays. I
Rabelais — Sequel to Panta- \ gruel. A Miscellany.
A JOURNAL
OF
THE PLAGUE YEA
BEING OBSERVATIONS OR MEMORIALS OF THE iMOST
REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES AS WELL PUBLICK AS PRIVATE
WHICH HAPPENED IN LONDON DURING THE
LAST GREAT VISITATION IN
1665
WRITTEN BV A CITIZEN WHO CONTINUED ALL THE WHILE IN LONDON NEVER MADE PUBLIC BEFORE
By DANIEL DEFOE
WITFI AN INTRODUCTION BY HENRY MORLLY
LT^.D., LATE PROFESSOR OF ENGLISH LITKRATUFE AT UN1VEJ<S1TY COLLEGE, LONDON
LONDON: GEORGE ROUTLEDGE AND SONS, Limd. NEW YORK: E. P. DUTTON AND CO.
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I r
/ i
? 07
\ ^
INTRODUCTION.
Daniel De Foe, son of James Foe, a respectable butcber, was boril in the parish of St. Giles, Cripplegate, in the year i66i. He vras four years old, therefore, in the Plague year, 1665. The son of Jcnies Foe was named Daniel after his grandfather, who in the tin-.e of Co.ar!e3 the First was a gentleman in Northamptonshire, and keo: 0 00.!. :f hounds. We may infer, if we please, from the nature 0:' nor:, .fa: the family fortunes then went to the dogs, and that the ;:r. Jjtn.rs. with energy of character, turned country training to acccui.t in ihe supply of sheep and cattle to the London food-market.
James Foe prospered and grew old, acquiring, by his good sense, honour and influence among the London Nonconformists, He in- tended to train his son Daniel as a Noncont'ormist minister, and sent him, when fourteen years old — a year after the death of Milton — to an academy at Newington Green, established for the training to such ministry. The Reverend Charles Morton was its animating spirit. Defoe always referred to hira with gratitude. It is included among recollections of Charles Morton's influence upon young minds com- mitted to his charge, that, by his method of teaching, the students "were made masters of the English tongue, and more of them excelled in that particular than of any school at that time." He also trained his boys to reflection upon current politics, that they might no: enter blindly in after-life into controversies of their day. Defoe, almost alone in his time, brought the historic sense into political discussion. He also reformed the currency of English speech, which in his time ha A been lowered in value by a French alloy. \\'e may join Defoe, there- fore, in kindly recollection of a teacher who gave the right directing' touch to his young mind.
After about five years' study at Newington Green, Daniel Foe was not called to the ministry, but entered into training for the business of a hose-factor in the City of London. That would be about the time of the great controversy touching the exclusion of the Ring's brother, the Duke of York, from succession to the throne, because he avowed himself to be a Roman Catholic. On the 25 th of Jime 1680, when Foe's age was nineteen, the Earl of Shaftesbury presented the Duke cf York to the Grand Jury of \Vestminster as a Popish Recusant, Out of this controversy came, in November 1681, Dryden's " Absaltn: ar.i Achitophel," and the whole intellectual battle that had at its cer.t; e the best poem of the best poet of that day, and had the E-.-'.ish Revolu- tion among issues of the strife, was quickening the ener_-.es v.ithin young Foe's mind when his age was twenty. Much of the -vor:.: cf a man's future work depends upon the lessons taught him in the school 9i life when youth is passing into manhood, with perception quick,
vi INTRODUCTION.
sympathies fresh, curiosity astir. The English writers who alone gave dignity to Queen Anne's time were young men in days of revolution, when the hourly contest of opinion touched essentials. Set among people who have eyes chiefly for teapots and Japanese screens, genius itself may be as the good seed fallen among stones.
Charles the Second died on the 6th of February 1 685. The Duke of York was not excluded from the throne, and Foe felt strongly enough to join in Monmouth's rebellion and fight at Sedgmoor against the sovereignty of James the Second. Monmouth was executed on the 15th of July, and Daniel Foe avoided danger from Judge Jeffreys, who sent to the gallows three of his old fellow-students at Newington Green, by going to Spain and Portugal on business. It was after this time that he wrote his name De Foe.
The year of the accession of James the Second had been in Franca the year of the Revocation of tli^ Edict of Nantes, by which Louis XIv". deprived Protestantism of the little tolerance that Henry IV. had con- ceded to it in 1598. In April 1687 James the Second, seeking the sovereignty of Catholicism by another road, issued a Declaration for Liberty of Conscience in England, by which he claimed as king to set aside all Penal Laws in matters of Church opinion. Defoe then wrote three pamphlets to explain to those Dissenters who sent up addresses of thanks, that a king of England was not to be thanked for placing himself above the laws, however little we might like some law that he used personal power to abolish.
In January 1688, Defoe, signing his name Daniel Foe, was admitted, as freeman by birth, into the Livery of the City of London. It was the year of the Revolution, the accomplishment of much of Defoe's hope, and for the rest of his life he kept the anniversary of the 4th of November 1688. He was among citizens who rode in the procession when King William III. and Queen Mary came in state to a banquet given by the Lord Mayor and Corporation at Guildhall in October 1689. Defoe was in those days trading as a hosier in Freeman's Court, Cornhill. His energy caused him to adventure boldly as a man of business. But he took at the same time an interest in the great questions of his day, that led him to become the very busiest of English writers. He turned merchant adventurer in trade with Spain. This brought him to bankruptcy in 1692. For the next t\}'o years he was in difficulties, and it was within this time that he wrote his " Essay on Projects." The "Essay" is a book, not published until 1697, that re- presents in a remarkable way the fertility of a mind active in thought for the well-being of the nation. Questions of public roads, savings banks, assurances, provision for the poor and for the care of lunatics, education — including a scheme for the higher education of women — reform of bankruptcy laws, apian for enlisting seamen, are the substance of this book, in which every page is alive with practical suggestion. In 1694 offer was made to Defoe of good commissions if he would settle himself in business at Cadiz ; but he began then the recovery of his for- tunes at home, suggested projects to the Government for raising money in aid of the war with France, and was employed until 1699, when the tax was abolished, as accountant to the Commissioners of the glass duty.
INTRODUCTION vii
The accession of William III. brought in Dutch fashions in g:a-- dening and house decoration ; there was a demand for Dutch tiles, and Defoe profited by the notion of saving the voyage to Holland for them. They were to be had from his works by the Thames at Tilbuiy. He now was prosperous and married. Some reason has been shown for thinking that his first wife (he married twice) was a daughter of the Reverend Dr. Samuel Annesley, who was ejected by the Act of Uniformity from the living of S*". Giles's, Cripplegate, and was pro- bably the minister with whom James Foe quitted the Church. Cer- tainly he had been young Daniel Defoe's pastor and friend, and upon his death Defoe wrote with affectionate warmth his "Character" in verse. Perhaps Miss Annesley was in Defoe's mind when he asked men m his "Essay on Projects," " what they can see in ignorance that they should think it a necessary ornament to a woman?" and in com- paring the taught Avith the untaught mind, said that "a woman well bred and taught, furnished with the additional accomplishments of knowledge and behaviour, is a creature without comparison ; her society is the emblem of sublimer enjoyments ; her person is angelic, and her conversation heavenly ; she is all softness and sweetness, peace, love, wit, and delight ; she is every way suitable to the sublimest wish ; and the man that has such a one to his portion has nothing to do but rejoice in her and be thankful."
In 1 701 Defoe supported with a most vigorous doggrel satire called ** The True-Born Englishman " the cause of the English Revolution, by opposing the cry of "Foreigner" against its representative. King William. A fall from his horse brought King William's life to an end on the 8th of March 1702. A first incident of reaction after the acces- sion of Queen Anne was the renewal of bitterness against the Non- conformists. Defoe satirised the proposals of the day in a pamphlet, showing, with fine irony, "The Shortest Way with the Dissenters." His proposal, supported with an assumed air of bigoted reasoning, was that " whoever was found at a conventicle should be banished the nation, and the preacher be haiiged;" and the pamphlet reduced to absurdity the argument for persecution. It brought Defoe to Newgate and the pillory at the age of forty-two. He stood in the pillor)- on the last three days of July 1703 ; but he turned on his persecutors the disgrace intended for himself by a short " Hymn to the Tillory," that caught the fancy of the people. Although not, so to speak, politically with him, the mob, having no fixed opinions of its own, turned with applause to the fearless prisoner who could
" Tell them the men who placed him here Are scandals to their times ; Are at a loss to find his guilt, And can'i comtnit his crimes.
In Newgate Defoe planned a journal called ''The Review," which was begun on the 19th of February 1704 and ended in May 1713, extending nearly to the close of Queen Anne's reign. In this paper independent journalism had its rise, and from a supplement to it Richard Steele probably took his first conception of "The Tatler," which de- veloped afterwards into "The Spectator " and its followers,
viii INTRODUCTION.
At the end of Queen Anne's reign, after daily labour along his own straight path indifferent to party-cries, crossing the tortuous paih now of one party and now of the other, Defoe was arrested and prosecuted upon the mere titles of pamphlets for holding the political opinions against which they were levelled. His titles, designed to catch those whom the pamphlets themselves might usefully enlighten, were *' What if the Pretender should Come ? " and " Reasons against ihe Succession of the House of Hanover." When the House of Hanover succeeded to the throne, and the danger pressing upon many minds in the last years of Queen Anne's reign was averted, Defoe, failing in health, wrote an "Appeal to Honour and Justice, being a True Account of his Con- duct in Public Affairs." In this pamphlet he summed up his position truly when he said, *' It has been the disaster of all parties in this nation to be very hot in their turn, and as often as they have been so, I have differed from them all, and ever must and shall do so."
Even under George I. it was impossible that Defoe should cease to use his pen in the political service of his country. It is said that he took advantage of the gross stupidity that counted him an enemy to the House of Hanover by breaking the back of reactionist arguments while seeming to uphold them in an opposition journal. But in these his latter days Defoe sought rest and quiet means of further provision for his family by spending his imagination upon story-books. They never professed to be novels, but from them the modern novel may be said to take its rise. He was living at Newington with his wife and six children in 1 7 19 when he produced, at the age of fifty-eight, " Robinson Crusoe." Other books followed, written in the form of lives and adventures, memoirs, travels, each with an appearance of minute fidelity in the narration of events that actually happened. These pieces were produced during the ten years from 17 19 to 1728. Masterpieces among them are " Robinson Crusoe " and **The Journal of the Plague." The Journal, indeed, deceived Dr. Mead into quotation of it as the narrative of an eye-witness. It was first published in 1722, when its author's age was sixty-one. Defoe lived to the age of seventy. There was trouble about him when he died, caused by the conduct of a son ; but in his last letter, addressed to a son-in-law, he looked forward to the rest that he had earned, and said, "By what way soever He please to bring me to the end of it, I desire to finish life with this temper of soul — 7e Deuvi landavius.'"
The literary worth of Defoe's two chief books, " Robinson Crusoe" and the "Journal of the Plague," is doubtless in part due to his sense of a certain greatness in the design of each. In one, the tale is of a man cast on a desert island wholly dependent on the use of his own energies, with trust in God. In the other, the tale is of a city of men on whom a great plague falls, a community in which the bonds of fellowship are tried as by fire, and the imperishable part is separated from the flax and tow.
HENRY MORLEY.
December 1883.
MEMOIRS OF THE PLAGUE.
TT was about the Beginning of September 1664, that I among the Rest of my Neighbours, heard in ordinary Discourse, that the Plague was return'd again in Holland ; for it had been very violent there, and particularly at Amsterdam and Rotterdam, in the Year 1663, whether they say, it was brought, some said from Italy, others from the Levant among some Goods, which were brought home by their Turkey Fleet ; others said it was brought from Candia ; others from Cyprus. It matter'd not from whence it come ; but all agreed, it was come into Holland again.
We had no such thing as printed News Papers in those Days, to spread Rumours and Reports of Things ; and to improve them by the Invention of Men, as I have liv'd to see practis'd since. But such things as these were gather'd from the Letters of Merchants, and others, who corres- ponded abroad, and from them was handed about by Word of Mouth only ; so that things did not spread instantly over the whole Nation, as they do now. But it seems that the Government had a true Account of it, and several Counsels were held about Ways to prevent its coming over ; but all was kept very private. Hence it was, that this
10. JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
Rumour died off again, and People began to forget it, as a thing we were very little concern'd in, and that we hoped was not true; till the latter End of November, or the Beginning of December 1664, when two Men, said to be French men, died of the Plague in Long Acre, or rather at the upper End of Drury Lane. The Family they were in, endeavour'd to conceal it as much as possible ; but as it had gotten some Vent in the Discourse of the Neighbour- hood, the Secretaries of State gat Knowledge of it. And concerning themselves to inquire about it, in order to be certain of the Truth, two Physicians and a Surgeon were order'd to go to the House, and make Inspection. This they did ; and finding evident Tokens of the Sickness upon both the Bodies that were dead, they gave their Opinions publickly, that they died of the Plague ; Whereupon it was given in to the Parish Clerk, and he also return'd them to the Hall ; and it was printed in the weekly Bill of Mortality in the usual manner, thus —
Plague 2. Parishes infected i.
The People shew'd a great Concern at this, and began to be allarm'd all over the Town, and the more, because in the last Week in December 1664, another Man died in the same House, and of the same Distemper : And then we were easy again for about six Weeks, when none having died with any Marks of Infection, it was said, the Dis- temper was gone ; but after that, I think it was about the 1 2th of February, another died in another House, but in the same Parish, and in the same manner.
This turn'd the Peoples Eyes pretty much towards that End of the Town ; and the weekly Bills shewing an En-
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. u
crease of Burials in St. Giles's Parish more than usual, it began to be suspected, that the Plague was among the People at that End of the Town ; and that many had died of it, tho' they had taken Care to keep it as much from the Knowledge of the Publick as possible : This possess'd the Heads of the People very much, and few car'd to go thro' Drury Lane, or the other Streets suspected, unless they had extraordinary Business, that obliged them to it.
This Encrease of the Bills stood thus ; the usual Number of Burials in a AVeek, in the Parishes of St. Giles's in the Fields, and St. Andrew's Holborn, were from 12 to 17 or 19 each few more or less ; but from the Time that the Plague first began in St. Giles's Parish, it was observ'd, that the ordinary Burials encreased in Number considerably. For Example —
From Dec. 27th to Jan. 3. St. Giles's —16
St. Andrew's 17
Jan. 3. to — 10. St. Giles's 12
St. Andrew's 25
Jan. 10. to — 17. St. Giles's 18
St. Andrew's 18
Jan. 17. to — 24. St Giles's — —23
St. Andrew's 16
Jan. 24. to — 31. St. Giles's 24
St. Andrew's 15
Jan. 30. to Feb. 7. St. Giles's 21
St. Andrew's 23
Feb. 7, to — 14. St. Giles's 24
whereof one of the Plague.
12 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
The like Encrease of the Bills was observ'd in the Parishes of St. Brides, adjoining on one Side of Holborn Parish, and in the Parish of St. James Clarkenwell, adjoin- ing on the other Side of Holborn ; in both which Parishes the usual Numbers that died weekly were from 4 to 6 or 8, whereas at that time they were increas'd, as follows —
From Dec. 20. to Dec. 27. St. Brides o
St. James 8
Dec. 27. to Jan. 3. St. Brides 6
St. James 9
Jan. 3. to — 10. St. Brides 11
St. James 7
Jan. 10. to — 17. St. Brides 12
St. James 9
Jan. 17. to — 24. St Brides 9
St. James 15
Jan. 24. to — 31. St. Brides 8
St. James 12
Jan. 31. to Feb. 7. St. Brides 13
St. James 5
Feb. 7. to — 14. St. Brides 12
St. James 6
Besides this, it was observ'd, with great Uneasiness by the People, that the weekly Bills in general encreas'd very much during these Weeks, altho' it was at a Time of the Year when usually the Bills are very moderate.
The u'sual Number of Burials within the Bills of Mor-
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. i^
tality for a Week was from about 240 or thereabouts, to 300. The last was esteem'd a pretty high Bill : but after this we found the Bills successively encreasing, as follows —
Increased
Dec. the 20. to the 27th, Buried 291.
27. to the 3 Jan. 349. 58
January 3. to the 10. 394. 45
10. to the 17. 415. 21
17. to the 24. — 474. 59
This last Bill was really frightful, being a higher Number than had been known to have been buried in one Week, since the preceding Visitation of 1656.
However, all this went off again, and the Weather proving cold, and the Frost, which began in December, still con- tinuing very severe, even till near the End of February, attended with sharp tho' moderate Winds, the Bills decreas'd again, and the City grew healthy, and every body began to look upon the Danger as good as over ; only that still the Burials in St. Giles's continu'd high : From the Beginning of April especially they stood at 25 each Week, till the Week from the i8th to the 25 th, when there was buried in St. Giles's Parish 30, whereof two of the Plague, and 8 of the Spotted-Feaver, which was look'dupon as the same thing ; likewise the Number that died of the Spotted-Feaver in the whole increased, being 8 the Week before, and 1 2 the Week above-named.
This alarm'd us all again, and terrible Apprehensions were among the People, especially the Weather being now chang'd and growing warm, and the Summer being at Hand : However, the next Week there seem'd to be some Hopes
14 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
again, the Bills were low, the Number of the Dead in all was but 388, there was none of the Plague, and but four of the Spotted-Feaver.
But the following Week it rcturn'd again, and the Dis- temper was spread into two or three other Parishes (viz.) St. Andrew's-Holborn, St. Clement's-Danes, and to the great Affliction of the City, one died within the Walls, in the Parish of St. Mary-Wool-Church, that is to say, in Bear- binder-lane near the Stocks-market ; in all there was nine of the Plague, and six of the Spotted-Feaver. It was however upon Inquiry found, that this Frenchman who died in Bearbinder-lane was one who having liv'd in Long-Acre, near the Infected Houses, had removed for fear of the Dis- temper, not knowing that he was already infected.
This was the beginning of May, yet the Weather was temperate, variable and cool enough, and People had still some Hopes : That which encourag'd them was, that the City was healthy, the whole 97 Parishes buried but 54, and we began to hope, that as it was cliiefly among the People at that End of the Town, it might .go no farther ; and the rather, because the next Week which was from the 9th of May to the i6th there died but three, of which not one within the whole City or Liberties, and St. Andrew's buried but 1 5, which was very low : 'Tis true, St. Giles's buried two and thirty, but still as there was but one of the Plague, People began to be easy, the whole Bill also was very low, for the Week before, the Bill was but 347, and the Week above-mentioned but 343 : We continued in these Hopes for a few Days, But it was but for a few ; for the People were no more to be deceived thus ; they searcht the Houses, and found that the Plague was really spread every way, and
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR, i§
that many died of it every Day : So that now all our Ex- tenuations abated, and it was no more to be concealed, nay it quickly appeared that the Infection had spread it self beyond all Hopes of Abatement ; that in the Parish of St. Giles's, it was gotten into several Streets, and several Families lay all sick together; And accordingly in the AVeekly Bill for the next Week, the thing began to shew it self; there was indeed but 14 set down of the Plague, but this was all Knavery and Collusion, for in St. Giles's Parish they buried 40 in all, whereof it was certain most of them died of the Plague, though they were set down of other Distempers ; and though the Number of all the Burials were not increased above 32, and the whole Bill being but 385, yet there was 14 of the Spotted-Feaver, as well as 14 of the Plague ; and we took it for granted upon the whole, that there was 50 died that Week of the Plague.
The next Bill was from the 23d of May to the 30th, when the Number of the Plague was 17 : But the Burials in St. Giles's were 53, a frightful Number I of whom they set down but 9 of the Plague : But on an Examination more strictly by the Justices of the Peace, and at the Lord Mayor's Request, it was found there were 20 more, who were really dead of the Plague in that Parish, but had been set down of the Spotted-Feaver or other Distempers, besides others concealed.
But those were trifling Things to what followed im-= mediately after ; for now the Weather set in hot, and from the first Week in June, the Infection spread in a dreadful Manner, and the Bills rise high, the Articles of the Feaver, Spotted-Feaver, and Teeth, began to swell : For all that could conceal their Distempers, did it to prevent their
i6 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
Neighbours shunning and refusing to converse with them ; and also to prevent Authority shutting up their Houses, which though it was not yet practised, yet was threatened, and People were extremely terrify'd at the Thoughts of it.
The Second Week in June, the Parish of St. Giles's, where still the Weight of the Infection lay, buried 120; whereof though the Bills said but 68 of the Plague, every Body said there had been 100 at least, calculating it from the usual Number of Funerals in that Parish as above.
Till this Week the City continued free, there having never any died except that one Frenchman, who I mention'd before, within the whole 97 parishes. Now there died four within the City, one in Wood street, one in Fenchurch street, and two in Crooked-lane : South wark was entirely free, having not one yet died on that Side of the Water.
I liv'd without Aldgate about mid-way between Aldgate Church and White-Chappel-Bars, on the left Hand or North- side of the Street ; and as the Distemper had not reach'd to that Side of the City, our Neighbourhood continued very easy : But at the other End of the Town, their Conster- nation was very great ; and the ri(^her sort of People, espe- cially the Nobility and Gentry, from the West-part of the City throng'd out of Town, with their Families and Servants in an unusual Manner ; and this was more particularly seen in White- Chapel ; that is to say, the Broad-street where I. liv'd : Indeed nothing was to be seen but Waggons and Carts, with Goods, Women, Servants, Children, &c., Coaches fill'd with People of the better Sort, and Horsemen attend- ing them, and all hurrying away ; then empty Waggons, and Carts appear'd and Spare-horses with Servants, who it was apparent were returning or sent from the Countries to fetch
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 17
more People : Besides innumerable Numbers of Men on Horseback, some alone, others with Servants, and generally speaking, all loaded with Baggage and fitted out for travel- ling, as any one might perceive by their Appearance.
This was a very terrible and melancholy Thing to see, and as it was a Sight which I cou'd not but look on from Morning to Night ; for indeed there was nothing else of Moment to be seen, it filled me with very serious Thoughts of the Misery that was coming upon the City, and the un- happy Condition of those that would be left in it.
This Hurry of the People was such for some Weeks, that there was no getting at the Lord-Mayor's Door without exceeding Difficulty ; there was such pressing and crowding there to get passes and Certificates of Health, for such as travelled abroad ; for without these, there was no being admitted to pass thro' the Towns upon the Road, or to lodge in any Inn : Now as there had none died in the City for all this time. My Lord Mayor gave Certificates of Health without any Difficulty to all those who liv'd in the 97 Parishes, and to those within the Liberties too for a while.
This Hurry, I say, continued some Weeks, that is to say, all the Month of May and June, and the more because it was rumour'd that an order of the Government was to be issued out, to place Turn-pikes and Barriers on the Road, to pre- vent Peoples travelling ; and that the Towns on the Road would not suffer People from London to pass, for fear of bringing the Infection along with them, though neither of these Rumours had any Foundation, but in the Imagination ; especially at first.
I now began to consider seriously with my Self, concerning my own Case, and how^ I should dispose of my self; that is
i8 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
to say, whether I should resolve to stay in London, or shut up my House and flee, as many of my Neighbours did. I have set this particular down so fully, because I know not but it may be of Moment to those who come after me, if they come to be brought to the same Distress, and to the same Manner of making their Choice, and therefore I desire this Account may pass with them, rather for a Direction to themselves to act by, than a History of my actings, seeing it may not be of one Farthing value to them to note what became of me.
I had two important things before me ; the one was the carrying on my Business and Shop ; which was considerable, and in which was embark'd all my Effects in the World ; and the other was the Preservation of my Life in so dismal a Calamity, as I saw apparently was coming upon the whole City ; and which however great it was, my Fears perhaps as well as other Peoples, represented to be much greater than it could be.
The first Consideration was of great Moment to me ; my Trade was a Sadler, and as my Dealings were chiefly not by a Shop or Chance Trade, but among the Merchants, trading to the English Colonies in America, so my Eflects lay very much in the hands of such. I was a single Man, 'tis true, but I had a Family of Servants, who I kept at my Business, had a House, Shop, and Ware-houses fill'd with Goods; and in short, to leave them all as things in such a Case must be left, that is to say. Without any Overseer or Person fit to be trusted with them, had been to hazard the Loss not only of my Trade, but of my Goods, and indeed of all I had in the World. . I had an Elder Brother at the same Time in London,
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 19
and not many Years before come over from Portugal ; and advising with him, his Answer was in three Words the same that was given in another Case quite different (viz.) " Master, save thy self." In a Word, he was for my retiring into the Country, as he resolv'd to do himself with his Family ; telling me what he had, it seems, heard abroad, that the best Preparation for the Plague w'as to run away from it. As to my Argument of losing my Trade, my Goods, or Debts, he quite confuted me : He told me the same thing, which I argued for my staying, (viz.) '• That I would trust God with my Safety and Health," was the strongest Repulse to my Pretensions of losing my Trade and 'my Goods; for, says he, is it not as reasonable that you should trust God with the Chance or Risque of losing your Trade, as that you should stay in so imminent a Point of Danger, and trust him with your Life ?
I could not argue that I was in any Strait, as to a Place where to go, having several Friends and Relations in Northamptonshire, whence our Family first came from ; and particularly, I had an only Sister in Lincolnshire, very willing to receive and entertain me.
My Brother, who had already sent his Wife and two Children into Bedfordshire, and resolv'd to follow them, press'd my going very earnestly ; and I had once resolv'd to comply with his Desires, but at that time could get no Horse : For tho' it is true, all the People did not go out of the City of London, yet I may venture to say, that in a manner all the Horses did ; for there was hardly a Horse to be bought or hired in the whole City for some Weeks. Once I resolv'd to travel on Foot with one Servant, and, as many did, lie at no Inn, but carry a Soldier's Tent witli us,
20 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
and so lie in the Fields, the Weather being very warm, and no Danger from taking cold : I say, as many did, because several did so at last, especially those who had been in the Armies in the War which had not been many Years past ; and I must needs say, that speaking of second Causes, had most of the People that travelled done so, the Plague had not been carried into so many Country-Towns and Houses, as it was, to the great Damage, and indeed to the Ruin of abundance of People.
But then my Servant, who I had intended to take down with me, deceiv'd me ; and being frighted at the Encrease of the Distemper, and not knowing when I should go, he took other Measures, and left me, £0 I was put off for that Time ; and one way or other, I always found that to appoint to go away was always cross'd by some Accident or other, so as to disappoint and put it off again ; and this brings in a Story which otherwise ; might be thought a needless Digression (viz.) about these Disappointments being from Heaven.
I mention this Story also as the best Method I can advise any Person to take in such a Case, especially, if he be one that makes Conscience of his Duty, and would be directed what to do in it, namely, that he should keep his Eye upon the particular Providences which occur at that Time, and look upon them complexly, as they regard one another, and as altogether regard the Question before him, and then I think, he may safely take them for Intimations from Heaven of what is his unquestion'd Duty to do in such a Case ; I mean as to going away from, or staying in the Place where we dwell, when visited with an infectious Dis- temper.
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 21
It came very warmly into my Mind, one Morning, as I was musing on this particular thing, that as nothing attended us without the Direction or Permission of Divine Power, so these Disappointments must have something in them extraordinary ; and I ought to consider whether it did not evidently point out, or intimate to me, that it was the Will of Heaven I should not go. It immediately follow'd in my Thoughts, that if it really was from God, that I should stay, he was able effectually to preserve me in the midst of all the Death and Danger that would surround me ; and that if I attempted to secure my self by fleeing from my Habitation, and acted contrary to these Intimations, which I believed to be Divine, it was a kind of flying from God, and that he could cause his Justice to overtake me when and where he thought fit.
These thoughts quite turn'd my Resolutions again, and when I came to discourse with my Brother again, I told him that I inclined to stay and take my Lot in that Station in which God had plac'd me : and that it seem'd to be made more especially my Duty, on the Account of what I have said.
My Brother, tho' a very Religious Man himself, laught at all I^ had suggested about its being an Intimation from Heaven, and told me several Stories of such fool-hardy People, as he call'd them, as I was ; that I ought indeed to submit to it as a Work of Heaven, if I had been any way disabled by Distempers or Diseases, and that then not being able to go, I ought, to acquiesce in the Direction of him, who having been my Maker, had an undisputed Right of Soveraignity in disposing of me : and that then there had been no Difficultv to determine which was the Call of
22 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
his Providence, and which was not : But that I should take it as an Intimation from Heaven, that I should not go out of Town, only because I could not hire a Horse to go, or my Fellow was run away that was to attend me, was ridicu- lous, since at the same Time I had my Health and Limbs, and other Servants, and might, with Ease, travel a Day or two on foot, and having a good Certificate of being in per- fect Health, might either hire a Horse, or take Post on the Road, as I thought fit.
Then he proceeded to tell me of the mischievous Con- sequences which attended the Presumption of the Turks and Mahometans in Asia and in other Places, where he had been (for my Brother being a Merchant, was a few Years before, as I have already observ'd, returned from abroad, coming last from Lisbon) and how presuming upon their profess'd predestinating Notions, and of every Man's End being predetermined and unalterably before-hand decreed, they would go unconcern'd into infected Places, and con- verse with infected Persons, by w^hich Means they died at the Rate of Ten or Fifteen Thousand a Week, whereas the Europeans, or Christian Merchants, who kept themselves retired and reserv'd, generally escap'd the Contagion.
Upon these Arguments my Brother chang'd my Resolu- tions again, and I began to resolve to go, and accordingly made all things ready ; for in short, the Infection increased round me, and the Bills were risen to almost 700 a- Week, and my Brother told me. he would venture to stay no longer. I desir'd him to let me consider of it but till the next Day, and I would resolve ; and as I had already pre- par'd every thing as well as I could, as to my Business, and
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 23
^Yho to entrust my Affairs with, I had little to do but to resolve.
I went Home that Evening greatly oppressed in my Mind, irresolute, and not knowing w^hat to do ; I had set the Evening wholly apart to consider seriously about ir, and was all alone ; for already People had, as it were by a general Consent, taken up the Custom of not going out of Doors after Sun-set, the Reasons I shall have Occasion to say more of by-and-by.
In the Retirement of this Evening I endeavoured to resolve first, what w^as my Duty to do, and I stated the Arguments with which my Brother had press'd me to go into the Country, and I set against them the strong Impres- sions which I had on my ]Mind for staying ; the visible Call I seem'd to have from the particular Circumstance of my Calling, and the Care due from me for the Preservation of my Effects, which were, as I might say, my Estate ; also the Intimations which I thought I had from Heaven, that to me signify'd a kind of Direction to venture, and it occurr'd to me, that if I had what I might call a Direction to stay, I ought^to suppose it contain'd a Promise of being preserved, if I obey'd.
This lay close to me, and my Mind seemed more and more encouraged to stay than ever, and supported with a secret Satisfaction, that I should be kept : Add to this that turning over the Bible, which lay before me, and while my Thoughts were more than ordinarily serious upon the Question, I cry'd out, "WELL, I know not what to do, Lord, direct me ! " and the like ; and at that Juncture I happen'd to stop turning over the Book at the 91st Psalm, and casting my Eye on the second Verse, I read on to the 7 th Verse
24 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
exclusive ; and after that, included the loth, as follows : " I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust : his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day : Nor for the pestilence that walk- eth in darkness : nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand : but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine Eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation : There shall no evil befal thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling," &c.
I scarce need tell the Reader, that from that Moment I resolv'd that I would stay in the Town, and casting my self entirely upon the Goodness and Protection of the Almighty, would not seek any other Shelter whatever ; and that as my Times were in his Hands, he was as able to keep me in a Time of the Infection as in a Time of Health ; and if he did not think fit to deliver me, still I was in his Hands, and it was meet he should do with me as should seem good to him.
With this Resolution I went to Bed ; and I was farther confirm'd in it the next Day, by the Woman being taken ill with whom I had intended to entrust my House and all my Affairs : But I had a farther Obligation laid on me on the same Side ; for the next Day I found my self very much out of Order also ; so that if I would have gone away, I
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 25
could not, and I continued ill three or four Days, and this intirely determin'd my Stay; so I took my leave of my Brother, who went away to Darking in Surry, and afterwards fetch'd a Round farther into Buckinghamshire, or Bedford- shire, to a Retreat be had found out there for his Family.
It was a very ill Time to be sick in, for if any one com- plain'd, it was immediately said he had the Plague ; and tho' I had indeed no Symptoms of that Distemper, yet being very ill, both in my Head and in my Stomach, I was not without Apprehension, that I really was infected ; but in about three Days I grew better, the third Night I rested well, sweated a little, and was much refresh'd ; the Appre- hensions of its being the Infection went also quite away with my Illness, and I went about my Business as usual.
These Things however put off all my Thoughts of going into the Country ; and my Brother also being gone, I had no more Debate either with him, or with my self, on that Subject.
It was now mid-July, and the Plague which had chiefly rag'd at the other End of the Town, and as I said before, in the Parishes of St. Giles's, St. Andrews Holbourn, and towards Westminster, began now to come Eastward towards the Part where I liv'd. It was to be observ'd indeed, that it did not come strait on towards us ; for the City, that is to say within the Walls, was indifferent healthy still ; nor was it got then very much over the Water into Southwark ; for tho' there died that Week 1268 of all Distempers, whereof it might be suppos'd above 900 died of the Plague ; yet there was but 28 in the whole City, within the Walls ; and but 19 in Southwark, Lambeth Parish included; whereas in
26 yOURXAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
the Parishes of St. Giles, and St. Martin's in the Fields alone, there died 421.
But we perceiv'd the Infection keept chiefly in the out- Parishes, which being very populous, and fuller also of Poor, the Distemper found more to prey upon than in the City, as I shall observe afterward ; we perceiv'd I say, the Dis- temper to draw our Way ; (viz.) by the Parishes of Clerken- Well, Cripplegate, Shoreditch, and Bishopsgate : which last two Parishes joining to Aldgate, White-Chapel, and Stepney, the Infection came at length to spread its utmost Rage and violence in those Parts, even when it abated, at the Western Parishes where it began.
It was very strange to observe, that in this particular ^Veek, from the 4th to the nth of July, when, as I have observ'd, there died near 400 of the Plague in the two Parishes of St. Martin's, and St. Giles in the Fields only, there died in the Parish of Aldgate but four, in the Parish of White- Chapel three, in the Parish of Stepney but one.
Likewise in the next Week, from the nth of July to the 1 8th, when the Week's Bill was 1761, yet there died no more of the Plague, on the whole Southwark Side of the Water than sixteen.
But this Face of things soon changed, and it began to thicken in Cripplegate Parish especially, and in Clerken- Well ; so, that by the second Week in August, Cripplegate Parish alone, buried eight hundred eighty six, and Clerken- Well 155 ; of the first eight hundred and fifty, might well be reckoned to die of the Plague ; and of the last, the Bill it self said, 145 were of the Plague.
During the month of July, and while, as I have observ'd, our Part of the Town seem'd to be orspar'd, in Comparison
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 27
of the West part, I went ordinarily about the Streets, as my Business requir'd, and particularly went generally, once in a Day, or in two Days, into the City, to my Brother's House, which he had given me charge of, and to see if it was safe : And having the Key in my Pocket I used to go into the House, and over most of the Rooms, to see that all was well ; for tho' it be something wonderful to tell, that any should have Hearts so hardned, in the midst of such a Calamity, as to rob and steal ; yet certain it is, that all Sorts of Villanies, and even Levities and Debaucheries, were then practised in the Town, as openly as ever, I will not say quite as frequently, because the Numbers of People were many ways lessen'd.
But the City it self began now to be visited too, I mean within the Walls ; but the Number of People there were indeed extreamly lessen'd by so great a Multitude having been gone into the Country ; and even all this Month of July they continu'd to flee, tho' not in such Multitudes as formerly. In August indeed, they fled in such a manner, that I began to think, there would be really none but Magistrates and Servants left in the City.
As they fled now out of the City, so I should observe, that the Court removed early, (viz.) in the Month of June, and went to Oxford, where it pleas' d God to preserve them ; and the Distemper did not, as I heard of, so much as touch them ; for which I cannot say, that I ever saw they shew'd any great Token of Thankfulness, and hardly any thing of Reformation, tho' they did not want being told that their crying Vices might, without Breach of Charity, be said to have gone far, in bringing that terrible Judgment upon the whole Nation.
28 jOurxal of the plague year.
The Face of London was now indeed strangely alter'd, I mean the whole Mass of Buildings, City, Liberties, Suburbs, Westminster, South wark and altogether ; for as to the Particular Part called the City, or within the Walls, that was not yet much infected : but in the whole, the Face of Things; I say, was much alter'd ; Sorrow and Sadness sat upon ever}- Face ; and tho' some Part were not yet over- whelm'c. yet all look'd deeply concern'd : and as we saw it apparently coming on. so ever}^ one look'd on himself, and his Family, as in the utmost Danger : were it possible to represent those Times exactly to those that did not see them, and give the Reader due Ideas of the Horror that ever)' where presented it self, it must make just Impressions upon their Minds, and fill them with Surprize. London might well be said to be all in Tears ; the Mourners did not go about the Streets indeed, for no Body put on black, o: made a formal Dress of Mourning for their nearest Friends : but the Voice of Mournins; was trulv heard in the Streets ; the shrieks of Women and Children at the Windows, and Doors of their Houses, where their dearest Relations were, perhaps dying, or just dead, were so frequent to be heard, as we passed the Streets, that it was enough to pierce the stoutest Heart in the World, to hear them, Tears and Lamentations were seen almost in every House, especially in the first Part of the Visitation ; for to- wards the latter End, Mens Hearts were hardned, and Death was so ai'-.vays before their Eyes, that they did not so much concern ir.emselves for the Loss of their Friends, expecting, that themselves should be summoned the next Hour.
Business led me out sometimes to the other End of the Town, even when the Sickness was chiefly there; and as
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 29
the thing was new to me, as well as to every Body else, it was a most surprising thing, to see those Streets, which were usually so thronged, now grown desolate, and so few People to be seen in them, that if I had been a Stranger, and at a Loss for my Way, I might sometimes have gone the Length of a whole Street, I mean of the by-Streets, and see no Body to direct me, except Watchmen, set at the Doors of such Houses as were shut up ; of which I shall speak presently.
One Day, being at that Part of the Town, on some special Business, Curiosity led me to observe things more than usually ; and indeed I walk'd a great Way where I had no Business ; I went up Holbourn, and there the Street was full of People ; but they walk'd in the middle of the great Street, neither on one Side or other, because, as I suppose, they would not mingle with any Body that came out of Houses, or meet with Smells and Scents from Houses that might be infected.
The Inns-of-Court were all shut up ; nor were very many of the Lawyers in the Temple, or Lincolns-Inn, or Greyes- Inn, to be seen there. Every Body was at peace, there was no Occasion for Law7ers ; besides, it being in the Time of the Vacation too, they were generally gone into the Country. Whole Rows of Houses in some Places, were shut close up ; the Inhabitants all fled, and only a Watchman or two left.
When I speak of Row^s of Houses being shut up^ I do not mean shut up by the Magistrates ; but that great Numbers of Persons followed the Court, by the Necessity of their Employments, and other Dependencies : and as others retir'd, really frighted with the Distemper, it was a mere desolating of some of the Streets : But the Fright was not
'30 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
yet near so great in the City, abstractly so called; and particularly because, tho' they^were" at first in a most inex- pressible Consternation, yet as I have observ'd, that the Distemper intermitted often at first ; so they were as it were, allarm'd, and unallarm'd again, and this several times, till it began to be familiar to them ; and that even, when it appear'd violent, yet seeing it did not presently spread into the City, or the East and South Parts, the People began to take Courage, and to be, as I may say, a little hardned : It is true, a vast many People fled, as I have observ'd, yet they were chiefly from the West End of the Town ; and from that we call the Heart of the City, that is to say, among the wealthiest of the People ; and such People as were unincumbred with Trades and Business : But of the rest, the Generality stay'd, and seem'd to abide the worst : So that in the Place we call the Liberties, and in the Suburbs, in Southwark, and in the East Part, such as Wapping, Ratcliff, Stepney, Rotherhith, and the like, the People generally stay'd, except here and there a few wealthy Families, who, as above, did not depend upon their Business.
It must not be forgot here, that the City and Suburbs were prodigiously full of People, at the time of this Visita- tion, I mean,, at the time that it began ; for tho' I have lived to see a farther Encrease, and mighty Throngs of People settling in London, more than ever, yet we had always a Notion, that the Numbers of People, which the Wars being over, the Armies disbanded, and the Royal Family and the Monarchy being restor'd, had flocked to London, to settle into Business ; or to depend upon, and attend the Court for Rewards of Services, Preferments, and
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAk. 31
the like, vras such, that the Town was computed to have in it above a hundred thousand people more than ever it held before ; nay, some took upon them to say, it had twice as many, because all the ruin'd FamiHes of the royal Party, fiock'd hither : All the old Soldiers set up Trades here, and abundance of Families settled here ; again, the Court brought with them a great Flux of Pride, and new Fashions ; All People were grown gay and luxurious : and the Joy of the Restoration had brought a vast many Families to London.
I often thought, that as Jerusalem was besieg'd by the Romans, when the Jews were assembled together, to cele- brate the Passover, by which means, an incredible Number of People were surpriz'd there, who would otherwise have been in other Countries : So the Plague entred London, when an incredible Increase of People had happened occasionally, by the particular Circumstances above nam'd : As this Conflux of the People, to a youthful and gay Court, made a great Trade in the City, especially in every thing that belonged to Fashion and Finery : So it drew by Conse- quence, a great Number of Work-men, I^Ianufacturers, and the like, being mostly poor People, who depended upon their Labour. And I remember in particular, that in a Representation to my Lord Mayor, of the Condition of the Poor, it was estimated, that, there vvere no less than an Hundred Thousand Ribband Weavers in and about the Gity ; the chiefest Number of whom, lived then in the Parishes of Shoreditch, Stepney, White-chapel, and Bishops- gate ; that namely, about Spittle-fields ; that is to say, as Spittle-fields was then ; for it was not so large as now, by one fifth Part
32 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
By this however, the Number of People in the whole may be judg'd of; and indeed, I often wondred, that after the prodigious Numbers of People that went away at first, there was yet so great a Multitude left, as it appear'd there was.
But I must go back again to the Beginning of this Surprizing Time, while the Fears of the People were young, they were encreas'd strangely by several odd Accidents, which put alto- gether, it was really a wonder the whole Body of the People did not rise as one Man, and abandon their Dwellings, leaving the Place as a Space of Ground designed by Heaven for an Akeldama, doom'd to be destroy'd from the Face of the Earth ; and that all that would be found in it, would perish with it. I shall Name but a few of these Things : but sure they were so many, and so many Wizards and cunning People propagating them, that I have often wonder"d there was any, (Women especially,) left behind
In the first Place, a blazing Star or Comet appeared for several Months before the Plague, as there did the Year after another, a little before the Fire ; the old Women, and the Phlegmatic Hypocondriac Part of the other Sex, who I could almost call old Women too, remark'd (especially after- ward, tho' not till both those Judgments were over), that those two Comets pass'd directly over the City, and that so very near the Houses, that it was plain, they imported some- thing peculiar to the City alone ; that the Comet before the Pestilence, was of a faint, dull, languid Colour, and its Motion very heavy, solemn and slow : But that the Comet before the Fire, was bright and sparkling, or as others said, flaming, and its Motion swift and furious ; and that accord- ingly, One foretold a heavy Judgment, slow but severe, terrible and frightful, as was the Plague : But the other
jfOURXAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. ^3
foretold a Stroak, sudden, swift, and iiery as the Conflagra- tion ; nay, so particular some People were, that as they look'd upon that Comet preceding the Fire, they fancied that they not only saw it pass swiftly and fiercely, and cou'd perceive the Motion with their Eye, but even they heard it ; that it made a rushing mighty Noise, fierce and terrible, tho' at a distance, and but just perceivable.
I saw both these Stars ; and I must confess, had so much of the common Notion of such Things in my Head, that I was apt to look upon them, as the Forerunners and Warnings of Gods Judgments ; and especially when after the Plague had followed the first, I yet saw^ another of the like kind ; I could not but say, God had not yet sufficiently scourg'd the City.
But I cou'd not at the same Time carry these Things to the heighth that others did, knowing too, that natural Causes are assigned by the Astronomers for such Things ; and that their Motions, and even their Revolutions are calculated, or pretended to be calculated; so that they cannot be so perfectly call'd the Fore-runners, or Fore- tellers, much less the procurers of such Events, as Pestilence, War, Fire, and the like.
But let my Thoughts, and the Thoughts of the Philoso- phers be, or have been what they will, these Things had a more than ordinary Influence upon the ^Minds of the common People, and they had almost universal melancholly Apprehensions of some dreadful Calamity and Judgment coming upon the City ; and this principally from the Sight of this Comet, and the little Allarm that was given in December, by two People dying at St. Giles's, as above,
: . 'J'he Apprehensions of the People, were likewise strangely
B
34 JOURNAL at THE PLAGUE YEAR.
cncreas'd by the Error of the Times ; in which, I think, the People, from what Principle I cannot imagine, were more addicted to Prophesies, and Astrological Conjurations, Dreams, and old Wives Tales, than ever they were before or since : Whether this unhappy Temper was originally raised by the Follies of some People who got Money by it ; that is to say, by printing Predictions, and Prognostications, I know not ; but certain it is, Book's frighted them terribly ; such as Lilly's Almanack, Gadbur}''s Alogical Predictions ; Poor Robin's Almanack and the like ; also several pretended religious Books ; one entituled, "Come out of her my People, least you be partaker of her Plagues ; " another call'd. Fair Warning : another, Britains Remembrancer, and many such ; all, or most Part of which, foretold directly or covertly the Ruin of the City : Nay, some were so Enthusiastically bold, as to run about the Streets, with their Oral Predictions, pretending they were sent to preach to the City ; and One in particular, who, like Jonah to Nenevah, cry'd in the Streets, "Yet forty Days, and LONDON shall be destroy d." I will not be positive, whether he said yet forty Days, or yet a few Days. Another run about Naked, except a pair of Drawers about his Waist, crying Day and Night j like a Man that Josephus mentions, who cry'd, woe to Jerusalem ! a little before the Destruction of that City : So this poor naked Creature cry'd, " O ! the Great, and the Dreadful God ! " and said no more, but repeated those Word^ con- tinually, with a Voice and Countenance full of horror, a swift Pace, and no Body cou'd ever find him to stop, or rest, or take any Sustenance, at least, that ever I cou'd hear of. I met this poor Creature several Times in the Streets, and would have spoke to him, but he would not
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 35
enter into Speech with me, or any one else ; but held on his dismal Cries continual!}'.
These Things terrified the People to the last Degree ; and especially when two or three Times, as I have men- tioned already, they found one or two in the Bills, dead of the Plague at St, Giles.
Next to these publick Things, were the Dreams of old Women : Or, I should say, the Interpretation of old Women upon other Peoples Dreams ; and these put abun- dance of People even out of their Wits : Some heard Voices warning them to be gone, for that there would be such a Plague in London, so that the Living would not be able to bury the Dead : Others saw Apparitions in the Air and I must be ailow'd to say of both, I hope without breach of Charity, that they heard Voices that never spake, and saw Sights that never appear'd ; but the Imaginarion of the People was really turn'd wayward and possess'd : And no Wonder, if they, v.ho were poreing continually at the Clouds, saw Shapes and Figures, Representations and Ap- pearances, which had nothing in them, but Air and Vapour.. Here they told us, they saw a Flaming-Sword held in a Hand, coming out of a Cloud, with a Point hanging directly over the City. There they saw Herses, and Coffins in the Air, carrying to be buried. And there again, Heaps of dead Bodies lying unburied, and the like; just as the Imagination of the poor terrify'd People furnish'd them with Matter to work upon.
"So Hypocondriac Fancy'.-; represent Ships, Armies, Battles, in the Firmament ; ^ -
ill steady Eyes, the Exhalations solve, --'
And all to its first Matter, Cloud, reso've."
B Z
36 yoURNAL OF THE PL AGUE YEAR.
I could fill this Account with the strange Relations, such People gave every Day, of what they had seen ; and every one was so positive of their having seen, what they pretended to see, that there was no contradicting them, without Breach of Friendship, or being accounted rude and unmannerly on the one Hand, and prophane and impenetrable on the other. One time before the Plague was begun, (otherwise than as I have said in St. Giles's,) I think it was in March, seeing a Crowd of People in the Street, I join'd with them to satisfy my Curiosity, and found them all staring up into the Air, to see what a Woman told them appeared plain to her, which was an Angel cloth'd in white, with a fiery Sword in his Hand, waving it, or brandishing it over his Head. She described every Part of the Figure to the Life ; shew'd them the Motion, and the Form ; and the poor People came into it so eagerly, and with so much Readiness ; " YES, I see it all plainly," says one. " There's the Sword as plain as can be." Another saw the Angel. One saw his very Face, and cry'd out. What a glorious Creature he was ! One saw one thing, and one another. I look'd as earnestly as the rest, but, perhaps, not with so much Willingness to be impos'd upon; and I said indeed, that I could see nothing, but a white Cloud, bright on one Side, by the shining of the Sun upon the other Part. The Woman endeavour'd to shew it me, but could not make me confess, that I saw it, which, indeed, if I had, I must have lied : But the Woman turning upon me, look'd in my Face, and fancied I laugh'd ; in which her Imagination deceiv'd her too ; for I really did not laugh, but was very seriously reflecting how the poor People were terrify'd, by the force of their own Imagination. However, she turned from me, call'd me prophane Fellow,
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 37
and a Scoffer; told me, that it v\'as a time of God's Anger, and dreadful Judgments were approaching : and that De- spisers, such as I, should "wonder and perish,"
The People about her seem"d disgusted as well as she ; and I found there was no persuading them, that I did not laugh at them : and that I should be rather mobb'd by them, than be able to undeceive them. So I left them ; and this Appearance pass'd for as real, as the Blazing Star it self.
Another Encounter I had in the open Day also : And this was in going thro' a narrow Passage from Petty-France into Bishopsgate Church Yard, by a Row of Aims-Houses ; there are two Church Yards to Bishopsgate Church, or Parish ; one we go over to pass from the Place cali'd Petty- France into Bishopsgate Street, coming out just by the Church Door, the other is on the side of the narrow Pas- sage, where the Aims-Houses are on the left ; and a Dwarf- wall with a Palisadoe on it, on the right Har.d ; and the City Wall on the Ciher Side, more to the right.
In this narrow Passage stands a Man looking thro' between the Palisadoe's into the Burying Place ; and as many People as the Narrowness of the Passage would admit to stop, without hindring the Passage of others ; and he was talking mighty eagerly to them, and pointing now to one Place, then to another, and affirming, that he saw a Ghost walking upon such a Grave Stone there ; he describ"d the Shape, the Posture, and the Movement of it so exactly, that it was the greatest Matter of Amazement to him in the World, that every Body did not see it as well as he. On a sudden he would cry, " There it is : Now it comes this Way : " Then,"'Tis turn'd back ;'"' till at length he persuaded
38 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
the People into so firm a Belief of it, that one fancied he saw it, and another fancied he saw it ; and thus he came every Day making a strange Hubbub, considering it was in so narrow a Passage, till Bishopsgate Clock struck eleven ; and then the Ghost would seem to start ; and as if he were caird away, disappear'd on a sudden.
I look'd earnestly every way, and at the very Moment, that this Man directed, but could not see the least Appear- ance of any thing ; but so positive was this poor man, that he gave the People the Vapours in abundance, and sent them away trembling, and frighted ; till at length, few People, that knew of it, car'd to go thro'" that Passage ; and hardly any Body by Night, on any Account whatever.
This Ghost, as the poor Man affirm'd, made Signs to the Houses, and to the Ground, and to the People, plainly intimating, or else they so understanding it, that Abundance of the People, should come to be buried in that Church- Yard ; as indeed happen'd : But that he saw such Aspects, I must acknowledge, I never believ'd : nor could I see any thing of it my self, tho' I look'd most earnestly to see it, if possible.
These things serve to shew, how far the People were really overcome v.'ith Delusions ; and as they had a Notion of the Approach of a Visitation, all their Predictions run upon a most dreadful Plague, which should lay the whole City, and even the Kingdom waste ; and should destroy almost all the Nation, both Man and Beast.
. To this, as I said before, the Astrologers added Stories of the Conjunctions of Planets in a mahgnant Manner, and with a miischievous Influence ; one of which Conjunctions was to happen, and did happen, in October; and the other
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 39
in November; and they filled the Peoples Heads with Predictions on these Signs of the Heavens, intimating, that those Conjunctions foretold Drought, Famine, and Pestilence ; in the two first of them however, they were entirely mistaken, For we had no droughty Season, but in the beginning of the Year, a hard Frost, which lasted from December almost to March ; and after that moderate Weather, rather warm than hot, with refreshing Winds, and in short, very seasonable Weather : and also several very great Rains.
Some Endeavors were used to suppress the Printing of such Books as terrify'd the People, and to frighten the dis- persers of them, some of whom were taken up, but nothing was done in it, as I am inform'd ; The Government being unwilling to exasperate the People, who were, as I may say, all out of their Wits already.
Neither can I acquit those Ministers, that in their Ser- mons, rather sunk, than lifted up the Hearts of their Hearers ; many of them no doubt did it for the strength- ening the Resolution of the People ; and especially for quickning them to Repentance; but it certainly an- swer'd not their End, at least not in Proportion to the injury it did another Way; and indeed, as God himself thro' the whole Scriptures, rather draws to him by Invita- tions, and calls to turn to him and live, than drives us by Terror and Amazement ; So I must confess, I thought the Ministers should have done also, imitating our blessed Lord and Master in this, that his whole Gospel, is full of Declarations from Heaven of Gods Mercy, and his readiness to receive Penitents, and forgive them ; com- plaining, "Ye will not come unto me, that ye may have Life;**
40 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR,
and that therefore, his Gospel is called the Gospel of Peace, and the Gospel of Grace.
But we had some good Men, and that of all Persuasions and Opinions, whose Discourses were full of Terror; who spoke nothing but dismal Things ; and as they brought the People together witli a kind of Horror, sent them away in Tears, prophesying nothing but evil Tidings ; terrifying the People with the Apprehensions of being utterly destroy'd, not guiding them, at least not enough, to Cry to Heaven for Mercy.
It was indeed, a Time of very unhappy Breaches among us in matters of Religion : Innumerable Sects, and Divi- sions, and seperate Opinions prevaii'd among the People ; the Church of England was restor'd indeed with the Resto- ration of the Monarchy, about four Year before ; but tlie Ministers and Preachers of the Presbyterians, and Inde- pendants, and of all the other Sorts of Professions, had begun to gather seperate Societies, and erect Altar against Altar, and all those had their Meetings for Worship apart, as they have but not so many then, ti^.e Dissenters being not thorowly form'd into a body as they are since, and those Congregations which were thus gather'd together, were yet but few : and even those that were, the Govern- ment did not allow, but endeavour'd to suppress them, and shut up their Meetings.
But the Visitation reconcil'd them again, at least for a Time, and many of the best and most valuable Ministers and Preachers of the Dissenters, were suffer'd to go into the Churches, where the Incumbents were fled away, as many were, not being able to stand it; and the People flackt without Distinction to hear them preach, not much
yOVRXAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 41
inquiring who or what Opinion they were of: But after the Sickness was over, that Spirit of Charity abated, and every Church being again supply'd witli tlieir own ^Ministers, or others presented, where the Minister was dead, Things return'd to their old Channel again.
One Mischief always introduces another: These Terrors and Apprehensions of the People, led them into a Thousand weak, foolish, and wicked Things, whici], they wanted not a Sort of People really wicked, to encourage them to ; and this was running about to Fortune-tellers, Cunning- men, and Astrologers, to know their Fortune, or, as 'tis vulgarly express'd, to have their Fortunes told them, their Nativities calculated, and the like : and this fohy, present'.y made the Town swarm with a wicked Generation of Pre- tenders to Magick, to the Black Art, as they cali'd it, and I know not what ; Xay, to a Thousand worse Dealings with the Devil, than they were really guilty of; and this Trade grew so open, and so generally practised, that it became common to have Signs and Inscriptions set up at Doors; here lives a Fortune-teller ; here lives an Astrolo- ger; here you may have your Nativity calculated, and the- like ; and Fryar Bacons's Brazen-Head, which was the usual Sign of these Peoples DweUings, was to be seen almost in everv Street, or else the Si^n of Tvlother Shioton, or of Merlin's Head, and the like.
With what blind, absurd, and ridiculous Stuff, these Oracles of the Devil pleas'd and satisfy'd the People, I really know not ; but certain it is. that innumerable Attend- ants crowded about their Doors every Day : and if but a grave Fellow in a Velvet Jacket, a Band, and a black Cloak, which was the Habit those Quack Conjurers
42 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
generally went in, was but seen in the Streets, the People would follow them in Crowds, and ask them Questions, as they went along.
I need not mention, what a horrid Delusion this was, or what it tended to ; but there was no Remedy for it, till the Plague it self put an End to it all ; and I suppose, clear'd the Town of most of those Calculators themselves. One Mischief was, that if the poor People ask'd these mock Astrologers, whether there would be a Plague, or no ? they all agreed in the general to answer, Yes, for that kept up their Trade ; and had the People not been kept in a Fright about that, the Wizards would presently have been renderd useless, and their Craft had been at an end: But they always talked to them of such and such influences of the Stars, of the Conjunctions of such and such Planets, which must necessarily bring Sickness and Distempers, and consequently the Plague : And some had the assur- ance to tell them, the Plague was begun already, which was too true, tho' they that said so, knew nothing of the Matter.
The Ministers, to do them Justice, and Preachers of most Sorts, that were serious and understanding Persons, thundred against these, and other wicked Practises, and exposed the Folly as well as the Wickedness of them to- gether : And the most sober and judicious People despis'd and abhor'd them : But it was impossible to make any Impression upon the midling People, and the working labouring Poor; their Fears were predominant over all their Passions ; and they threw away their Money in a most distracted Manner upon those Whymsies. Maid- Servants especially and Men- Servants, were the chief of
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 43
their Customers \ and their Question generally was, after the first demand of, "Will there be a Plague?" I say, the next Question was, "Oh, Sir ! For the Lord's Sake, what will become of me ? Will my Mistress^keep me, or will she turn me off? Will she stay here, or will she go into the Country ? And if she goes into the Country, will she take me with her, or leave me here to be starv'd and undone." And the Hke of ]\Ien-Servants.
The Truth is, the Case of poor Sen^ants was very dismal, as I shall have occasion to mention again by and byj for it was apparent, a prodigious Number of them would be turn'd away, and it was so ; and of them abundance perished; and particularly of those that these false Pro- phets had flattered whh Hopes, that they should be con- tinued in theu- Services, and carried with their Masters and Mistresses into the Country ; and had not publick Charity provided for these poor Creatures, whose Number was exceeding great, and in all Cases of this Nature must be so, they would have been in the worst Condition of any People in the City.
These Things agitated the minds of the common People for many Months, while the first Apprehensions, were upon them ; and while the Plague was not, as I may say, yet broken out : But I must also not forget, that the more serious Part of the Inhabitants behav'd after another Manner : The Government encouraged their Devotion, and appointed publick Prayers, and Days of fasting and Humiliation, to make publick Confession of Sin, and implore the Mercy of God, to avert the dreadful Judgment, which hung over their Heads ; and it is not to be express'd with what Alacrity the People of all persuasions embraced
44 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
the Occasion; how they flock'd to the Churches arid Meetings, and they were all so throng'd, that there was often no coming near, no, not to the very Doors of the largest Churches; Also there were daily Prayers appointed Morning and Evening at several Churches, and Days of private praying at other Places ; at all which the People attended^ I say, with an uncommon Devotion : Several private Families also, as well of one Opinion as of another, kept Family Fasts, to which they admitted their near Relations only : So that in a Word, those People, who were really serious and religious, apply'd themselves in a truly Christian Manner, to the proper Work of Repentance and Humiliation, as a Christian People ought to do.
Again the publick shew'd, that they would bear their Share in these Things; the very Court, which was then Gay and Luxurious, put on a Face of just Concern, for the publick Danger : All the Plays and Interludes, which after the Manner of the French Court, had been set up, and began to encrease among us, were forbid to Act ; the gaming Tables, publick dancing Rooms, and Music Houses which multiply'd, and began to debauch the Manners of the People, were shut up and suppress'd; and the Jack- puddings, Merry-andrews, Puppet-shows, Rope-dancers, and such like doings, which had bewitch'd the poor common People, shut up their Shops, finding indeed no Trade; for the Minds of the People were agitated with other Things ; and a kind of Sadness and Horror at these Things, sat upon the Countenances, even of the common People; Death was before their Eyes, and every Body bec^an to think of their Graves, not of Mirth and Diver^ sions.
yOVRXAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 45
But even those wholesome Reflections, which rightly manag'd, would have most happily led the People to fall upon their Knees, make Confession of their Sins, and look up to their merciful Saviour for Pardon, imploreing his Compassion on them, in such a Time or their Distress; by which, we might have been as a second Nineveh, had a quite contrary Extreme in the common People ; who ignorant and stupid in their Reflections, as they were brutishly wicked and thoughtless before, were now led by their Fright to extremes of Folly ; and as I have said before, that they ran to Conjurers and Witches, and all Sorts of Deceivers, to know what should become of them ; who fed their Fears, and kept tiiem always alarm"d, and awake, on purpose to delude them, and pick their Pockets : So, they were as mad, upon their running after Quacks, and Mountebanks, and every practising old Woman, for Medicines and Remedies ; storeing themselves with such Multitudes of Pills, Potions, and Preservatives, as they were call'd ; that they not only spent their ^loney, but even poison'd themselves betore-hand, for fear of the Poison of the Infection, and prepared their Bodies for the Plague, instead of preserving them against it. On the other Hand, it is incredible, and scarce to be imagined, how the Posts of Houses, and Corners of Streets were plaster'd over with Doctors Biiis, and Papers of ignorant Fellows ; quacking and tampering in Physick, and inviting the People to come to them for Remedies ; which was generally set off, with such flourishes as these, (viz.) IN- FALLIBLE preventive Pills against the Plague. XEVER- FAILING Preservatives against the Infection, S O V E- R A I G N Cordials against the Corruption of the Air.
46 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
EXACT Regulations for the Conduct of the Body, in Case of an Infection : Antipestilential Pills. INCOMPAR- ABLE Drink against the Plague, never found out before. An UNIVERSAL Remedy for the Plague. The ONLY- T R U E Plague- Water." The ROYAL-ANTIDOTE against all Kinds of Infection ; and such a Number more that I cannot reckon up ; and if I could, would fill a Book of themselves to set them down.
Others set up Bills, to summons People to their Lodgings for Directions and Advice in the Case of Infection : These had spacious Titles also, such as these —
'' An eminent High-Dutch Physician, newly come over from Holland, where he resided during all the Time of the great Plague, last Year, im Amsterdam ; and cured multitudes of People, that actually had the Plague upon them."
'•'An Italian Gentlewoman just arrived from Naples, having a choice Secret to prevent Infection, which she found out by her great Experience, and did wonderful Cures with it in the late Plague there ; wherein there died 20,000 in one Day.''
"An antient Gentlewoman having practised, with great Success, in the late Plague in this City, Anno 1636, gives her advice only to the Female Sex. To be spoke with, &c."
"An experienc'd Physician, who has long studied the Doctrine of Antidotes against all Sorts of Poison and Infection, has after 40 Years Practice, arrived to such Skill, as may, with God's Blessing, direct Persons how to prevent their being touch'd by any
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 47
CoHtagious Distemper whatsoever. He directs the Poor gratis."
I take notice of these by way of Specimen : I could give you two or three Dozen of the like, and yet have abundance left behind. "Tis sufficient from these to apprise any one, of the Humour of those Times ; and how a Set of Thieves and Pickpockets, not only robb'd and cheated the poor People of their Money, but poisoned their Bodies with odious and fatal preparations ; some with Mercury, and some with other things as bad, perfectly remote from the Thing pretended to ; and rather hurtful than service- able to the Body in case an Infection followed.
I cannot omit a Subtiity of one of those Quack-operators, with which he guU'd the poor People to crowd about him, but did nothing for them without Money. He had, it seems, added to his Bills, which he gave about the Streets, this Advertisement in Capital Letters, (viz.) " He gives Advice to the Poor for nothing."'
Abundance of poor People came to him accordingly, to whom he made a great many fine Speeches ; examin'd them of the State of their Health, and of the Constitution of their Bodies, and told them many good things for them to do, which were of no great Moment : But the Issue and Con- clusion of all was, that he had a preparation, which if they took such a Quantity of, every Morning, he would pawn his Life, they should never have the Plague, no, tho' they lived in the House with People that were infected : This made the People all resolve ^to have it ; But then the Price of that was so much, I think 'twas half-a-Crown : But, Sir, says one poor Woman, I am a poor Alms-WomaB,
48 yoURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
and am kept by the Parish, and your Bills say, you give the Poor }-our help for nothing. Ay, good Woman, says the Doctor, so I do, as I publish'd there. I give my Advice to the Poor for nothing; but not my Physick. Alas, Sir ! says she, that is a Snare laid for the Poor then ; for vou cfive them vour Advice for nothins:, that is to sav. you advise them gratis, to buy your Physick for their Money; so does every Shop-keeper with his Wares. Here the Woman began to give him ill Words, and stood at his Door all that Day, telling her Tale to all the People that came, till the Doctor finding she turn'd away his Customers; was obligM to call her up Stairs again, and give her his Box of Physick for nothing, which, perhaps too was good for nothing w'nen she had it.
But to return to the people, whose Confusions fitted them to be imposed upon by all Sorts of Pretenders, and by every Mountebank. There is no doubt, but these quack- ing Sort of Fellows raised great gains out of the miserable People ; for w^e daily found, tlie Crowds that ran after them were infinitely greater, and their Doors were more thronged than those of Dr. Brooks, Dr. Upton, Dr. Hodges, Dr. Berwick, or any, tho' the most famous Men of the Time : And I was told, that some of them got five Pound a Day by their Physick.
But there was still another Madness bevond all this, which may serve to give an Idea of the distracted humour of the poor People at that Time ; and this was their follow- ing a worse Sort of Deceivers than any of these ; for these petty Thieves only deluded them to pick their Pockets, and get their Money ; in which their Wickedness, whatever it was, lay chiefly on the Side of the Deceiver's deceiving, not upon the Deceived : But in this Part I am going to men-
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 49
tion, it lay chiefly in the People deceiv'J, or equally in both : and this was in wearing Charms, Piiilters, P^xorcisms, Amulets, and I know not what Preparations, to fortify ti^^e Body with them against the Plague: as if the Plague was not the Hand of God, but a kind of a Possession of an evil Spirit; and that it was to be kept off with Crossings, Signs of the Zodiac, Papers tied up with so many Knots ; and certain Words, or Figures written on them, as par- ticularly the Word Abracadabra, form'd in Triangle, or Pyramid, thus —
ABRACADABRA
A B R .A C A D A B R Others had the Jesuits A B R \ C A D A B Mark in a Cross.
ABRACADA I ^
S
A B R A C A D A B R A C A A B R A C A B R A Others nothing but this
A B R Mark thus.
AB W
A
•^^^
I might spend a great deal of Time in my Exclamations against the Follies, and indeed Wickedness of those thing-', in a Time of such Danger, in a matter of such Consequences as this, of a National Infection. But my Memorandums of these things relate rather to take notice only of the Fact, and mention that it was so : How the poor People found the Insufficiency of tliose things, and how many of them were afterwards carried away in the Dead- Carts, and thrown into the common Graves of every Parish, with these hellish
so JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
Charms and Trumpery hanging about their Necks, remains to be spoken of as we go along.
All this was the Effect of the Hurry the People were in, after the nrst Notion of the Plague being at hand was among them : And which may be said to be from about Michaelmas 1664, but more particularly after the two Men died in St. Giles's, in the Beginning of December. And again, after another Alarm in P'ebruary ; for when the Plague evidently spread it self, they soon began to see the Folly of trusting to those unperforming Creatures, who had GuU'd them of their Money, and then their Fears work'd another way, namely, to Amazement and Stupidity, not knowing what Course to take, or what to do, either to help or relieve themselves ; but they ran about from one Neigh- bours House to another; and even in the Streets, from one Door to another with repeated Cries, of, " Lord have Mercy upon us, what shall we do ? "
Indeed, the poor People were to be pity'd iff o^ne par- ticular Thing, in which they had little or no Relief, and which I Desire to mention with a serious Awe and Reflec- tion ; which perhaps, every one that reads this, may not relish : Namely, that whereas Death now began not, as we may say, to hover over every ones Head only, but to look into their Houses, and Chambers, and stare in their Faces : Tho' there might be some stupidity, and dullness of the Mind, and there was so, a great deal; yet, there was a great deal of just Alarm, sounded into the very inmost Soul, if I may so say of others : Many Consciences were awakened ; many hard Hearts melted into Tears ; many a penitent Confession was made of Crimes long concealed: would wound the Souls of anv Christian, to have heard the
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 51
dying Groans of many a despairing Creature, and none durst come near to comfort them : Many a Robbery, many a Murder, was then confest aloud, and no Body surviving to Record the ^ Accounts of it. People might be heard even into the Streets as we pass'd along, calling upon God for Mercy, thro' Jesus Christ, and saying, I have been a Thief, I have been an Adulterer, I have been a Murderer, and the like ; and none durst stop to make the least Inquiry into such Things, or to administer Comfort to the poor Creatures, that in the Anguish both of Soul and Body thus cry'd out. Some of the Ministers did Visit the Sick at first, and for a little while, but it was not to be done ; it would have been present Death, to have gone into some Houses : The very buryers of the Dead, who were the hardnedest Creatures in Town, were sometimes beaten back, and so terrify'd, that they durst not go into Houses, where the whole Families were swept away to- gether, and where the Circumstances were more particu- larly horrible as some were ; but this was indeed, at the first Heat of the Distemper.
Time enur'd them to it all; and they ventured every where afterwards, without Hesitation, as I Occasion to mention at large hereafter.
I am supposing now the Plague to be begun, as I have said, and that the Magistrates begun to take the Condition of the People into their serious Consideration ; what they did as to the Regulation of the Inhabitants, and of infected Families, I shall speak to by it self; but as to the Affair of Health, it is proper to mention it here, that having seen the foolish Humour of the People, in running after Quacks, and Mountebanks, Wizards, and Fortune-tellers, which they
52 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
did as above, even to Madness. The Lord Mayor, a very sober and religious Gentleman, appointed Physicians and Surgeons for ReHef of tiie poor; I mean, the diseased poor; and in particular, order'd the College of Physicians to publish Directions for cheap Remedies, for the Poor, in all the Circumstances of the Distemper. This indeed was one of the most charitable and judicious Things that could be done at that Time ; for this drove the People from haunting the Doors of every Disperser of Bills ; and from taking down blindly, and without Consideration, Poison for Physick, and Death instead of Life.
This Direction of the Physicians was done by a Con- sultation of the whole College, and as it was particularly calculated for the use of the Poor ; and for cheap Medicines ; it was made publick, so that every Body might see it ; and Copies were given gratis to all that desired it ; But as it is publick, and to be seen on all Occasions, I need not give the Reader of this the Trouble of it.
I shall not be supposed to lessen the Authority or Capa- city of the Physicians, when, I say, that the Violence of the Distemper, when it came to its Extremity, was like the Fire the next Year; The Fire which consumed what the Plague could not touch, defy'd all the Apphcation of Remedies ; the Fire Engines were broken, the Buckets thrown away; and the Power of Man was baffled, and brought to an End ; so the Plague defied all Medicine ; the very Physicians were seized with it, with their Preser- vatives in their Mouths ; and Men went about prescribing to others and telling them what to do, till the Tokens were upon them, and they dropt down dead, destroyed by that very Enemy, they directed others to oppose. This was
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 53
the Case of several Physicians, even some of tiiem the most eminent: and of several of t'ne most skilful Sursfeons : Abundance of Quacks too died, who had the Folly to trust to their own Medicines, which they must needs be con- scious to themselves, were good for nothing ; and who rather ought, like other Sorts of Thieves, to have run away, sensible of their Guilt, from the Justice that they could not but expect should punish them, as they knew they had deserved.
Not that it is any Derogation from the Labour, or Application of the Physicians, to say, they fell in the common Calamity; nor is it so intended by me; it rather is to their Praise, that they ventured their Lives so far as even to lose them in the Service of Mankind ; They endeavoured to do good, and to save the Lives of others ; But we were not to expect, that the Physicians could stop God's Judgments, or prevent a Distemper eminently armed from Heaven, from Executing the Errand it was sent about.
Doubtless, the Phvsicians assisted manv bv their Skill, and by their Prudence and Applications, to the saving of their Lives, and restoring their Health : But it is no lessen- ing their Character, or their Skill, to say, they could not cure those that had the Tokens upon them, or those who were mortally infected before the Physicians were sent for, as was frequently the Case.
It remains to mention now what publick Measures were taken by the Magistrates for the general Safety, and to prevent the spreading of the Distemper, when it first broke out : I shall have frequent Occasion to speak of their Prudence of the Magistrates, their Charity, the Vigilance for the Poor, and for preserving good Order; furnishing
54 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
Provisions, and the like, when the Plague was encreased, as it afterwards was. But I am now upon the Order and Regulations they published for the Government of infected Families.
I mention'd above shutting of Houses up ; and it is needful to say something particularly to that ; for t'nis Part of the Hist-ory of the Plague is very melancholy ; but the most grievous Story must be told.
About June the Lord Mayor of London, and the Court of Aldermen, as 1 have said, began more particularly to concern themselves for the Regulation of the City.
The Justices of Peace for Middlesex, by Direction of the Secretary of State, had begun to shut up Houses in the Parishes of St. Giles's in the Fields, St. Martins, St. Clement Danes, &c., and it was with good Success ; for in several Streets, where the Plague broke out, upon strict guarding the Houses that were infected, and taking Care to bury those that died, immediately after they were known to be dead, the Plague ceased in those Streets. It was also observ'd, that the Plague decreas'd sooner in those Parishes, after they had been visited to the full, than it did in the Parishes of Bishopsgate, Shoreditch, x\ldgate, White-Chappel, Stepney, and others, the early Care taken in that Manner, being a great means to the putting a Cheque to it.
This shutting up of Houses was a method first taken, as I understand, in the Plague, which happened in 1603, at the Coming of King James the First to the Crown, and the Power of shutting People up in their own Houses, was granted by Act of Parliament, entitled. An ''Act for the charitable Relief and Ordering of Persons infected with the Plague." On which Act of Parliament, the Lord Mayor
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 55
and Aldermen of the City of London, founded the Order they made at this Time, and which took place the ist of July 1665, when the Numbers infected within the City, were but few, the last Bill for the 92 Parishes being but four; and some Houses having been shut up in the City, and some sick People being removed to the Pest-House beyond Bunhill-Fields, in the Way to Islington; I say, by these Means, when there died near one thousand a Week in the Whole, the Number in the City was but 28, and the City was- preserv'd more healthy in Proportion, than any other Places all the Time of the Infection.
These Orders of my. Lord Mayor's were publish'd, as I have said, the latter End of June, and took Place from the first of July, and were as follows, (viz.)
ORDERS Conceived and Published by the Lord M A Y O R and Aldermen of the City of London, concerning the Infection of the Plague. 1665.
"Whereas in the Reign of our late Sovereign King James, of happy Memory, an Act was made for the charit- able Relief and ordering of Persons infected with the Plague ; whereby Authority was given to Justices of the Peace, Mayors, Bayliffs and other head Officers, to appoint within their several Limits, Examiners, Searchers, Watch- men, Keepers, and Buriers for the Persons and Places in- fected, and to minister unto them Oaths for the Penormance of their Offices. And the same Statute did also authorize the giving of other Directions, as unto them for the present Necessity should seem good in their Discretions. It is now upon special Consideration, thought very expedient
56 JOVRKAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
for preventing and avoiding of Infection of Sickness (if it shall so please Almighty God) that these Officers following be appointed, and these Orders hereafter duly observed.
Examiners to be appomfed in every Parish.
" First, It is thought requisite, and so ordered, that in every Parish there be one, two, or more Persons of good Sort and Credit, chosen and appointed by the Alderman, his Deputy, and common-Council of every Ward, by the Name of Examiners, to continue in that Office the Space of two Months at least : And if any fit PeTson so appointed shall refuse to undertake the same, the said parties so refusing, to be committed to Prison until they shall con- form themselves accordingly.
The Examiners Office.
"That these Examiners be sworn by the Aldermen, to enquire and learn from time to time what Houses in every Parish be Visited, and w^hat Persons be Sick, and of what Diseases, as near as they can inform, themselves ; and upon doubt in that Case, to command Restraint of Access, until it appear what the Disease shall prove : And if they find any Person sick of the Infection, to give order to the Constable that the House be shut up : and if the Constable shall be found Remiss or Negligent, to give present Notice thereof to the Alderman of the Ward.
Watchmen,
" That to every infected House there be appointed two Watchmen, one for every Day, and the other for the Night : And that these Watchmen have a special care that no
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 57
Person go in or out of such infected Houses, whereof they have the Charge, upon pain of severe Punishment. And the said Watchman to do such further Offices as the sick House shall need and require : and if the AVatchman be sent upon any Business, to lock up the House, and take the Key with him : And the AVatchman by Day to attend until ten of the Clock at Night : And the Watchman by Night untill six in the Morning.
Searc/idrs.
"That there be a special care to appoint Women-Searchers in every Parish, such as are of iionest Reputation, and of the best Sort as can be got in this kind : And these to be sworn to make due Search, and true Report to the utmost of their Knowledge, whether the Persons whose Bodies tliey are appointed to Search, do die of the Infection, or of what other Diseases, as near as they can. And that the Physicians who shall be appointed for Cure and Prevention of the Infection, do call before them the said Searchers, who are, or shall be appointed for the several Parishes under their respective Cares : to the end they may consider, whether they are fitly quaiihed for that Employment; and charge them from time to time as they shall see Cause, if they appear defective in their Duties.
That no Searcher during this time of Visitation, be permitted to use any publick Work or Employment, or keep any Shop or Stall, or be employed as a Laundress, or in any other common Employment whatsoever.
Chirurgeons. '•For better assistance of the Searcliers, for as much as there hath been heretofore great abuse in misreporting the
58 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
Disease, to the further spreading of the Infection : It is therefore ordered, that there be chosen and appointed able and discreet Chirurgeons, besides those that do already belong to the Pest-House : Amongst whom the City and Liberties to be quartered as the places lie most apt and convenient ; and every of these to have one Quarter for his Limit : and the said Chirurgeons in every of their Limits to join with the vSearchers for the View of the Body, to the end there may be a true Report made of the Disease. ^
'* And further, that the said Chirurgeons shall visit and search such like Persons as shall either send for them, or be named and directed unto them, by the Examiners of every Parish, and inform themselves of the Disease of the said Parties.
*'And forasmuch as the said Chirurgeons are to be sequestred from all other Cures, and kept only to this Disease of the Infection ; It is order'd, That every of the said Chirurgeons shall have Twelve-pence a Body searched by them, to be paid out of the Goods of the Party searched, if he be able, or otherwise by the Parish."
Nurse-keepers.
" If any Nurse-keeper shall remove her self out of any infected House before twenty eight Days after the Decease of any Person dying of the Infection, the House to which the said Nurse-keeper doth so remove her self, shall be shut up until the said twenty eight Days be expired,"
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 59
Orders concerning infected Houses, and Persons sick of the Plague.
Notice to be given of the Sickness. *' The Master of every House, as soon as any one in his House complaineth, either of Botch, or Purple, or Swell- ing in any part of his Body, or faileth otherwise danger- ously Sick, without apparent Cause of some other Disease, shall give knowledge thereof to the Examiner of Health,, within two Hours after the said Sign shall appear.
Sequestration of the Sick. ^^ Ks, soon as any Man shall be found by this Examiner, Chirurgeon or Searcher to be sick of the Plague, he shall the same Night be sequestred in the same House, and in case he be so sequestred, then, though he afterwards die not, the House wherein he sickned, should be shut up for a Month, after the use of the due Preservatives taken by the rest
Airing the Stuff. " For Sequestration of the Goods and Stuff of the Infection, their Bedding, and Apparel, and Hangings of Chambers, must be well aired with Fire, and such Perfumes as are requisite within the infected House, before they be taken again to use : This to be done by the Appointment of the Examiner.
Shutting up of the House. " If any Person shall have \^sited any Man, known to be infected of the Plague, or entred willingly into any known infected House, being not allowed : The House wherein
6o yoURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
he inhabiteth", shall be shut up for certain Days by the Examiners Direction.
A'^ofi^ to he removed out of i?ifected Houses^ but, &c. "Item, That none be remov'd out of the House where he falleth sick of the Infection, into any other House in the City, (except it be to the Pest-House or a Tent, or unto some sucli House, which the Owner of the said visited House holdeth in his own Hands, and occupieth by his own Servants) and so as Security be given to the Parish, whither such Remove is made ', that the Attendance and Charge about the said visited Persons shall be observed and charged in all the Particularities before expressed, without any Cost of that Parish, to which any such Remove shall happen to be made, and this Remove to be done by Night : And it shall be lawful to any Person thart hath two Houses, to remove either his sound or his infected People to his spare House at his choice, so as if he send away first his Sound, he not after send thither the Sick, nor again unto the Sick the Sound. And that the same which he sendeth, be for one Week at the least shut up, and secluded from Company, for fear of some Infection, at the first not appearing.
Burial of the Dead. " That the Burial of the Dead by this Visitation, be at most convenient Hours, always either before Sun-rising, or after Sun-setting, with the Privity of the Church-wardens or Constable, and not otherwise ; and that no Neighbours nor Friends be suffered to accompany the Corps to Church, or to enter the House visited, upon pain of having his House shut up, or be imprisoned.
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 6i
''And that no Corps dying of Infection shall be buried, or remain in any Church in time of Common-Prayer, Ser- mon, or Lecture. And that no Children be suffered at time of burial of any Corps in any Church, Church-yard, or Burying-place to come near the Corps, Coffin, or Grave. And that all the Graves shall be at least six Foot deep.
" And further, all publick Assemblies at other Burials are to be forborn durins: the Continuance of this Visitation.
A^o i7ifected Stuff io be idler ed.
*' That no Clothes, Stuff, Bedding or Garments be suffered to be carried or conveyed out of any infected Houses, and that the Criers and Carriers abroad of Bedding or old Apparel to be sold or pawned, be utterly prohibited and restrained, and no Brokers of Bedding or old Apparel be permitted to make any outward Shew, or hang forth on their Stalls, Shopboards or Windows towards any Street, Lane, Common-way or Passage, any old Bedding or Apparel to be sold, upon pain of Imprisonment. And if any Broker or other Person shall buy any Bedding, Apparel, or other Sluff out of any infected House, witirin two Months after the Infection hath been liiere, his House shall be shut up as Infected, and so shall continue shut up twenty Days at the least.
No Perso7i io be conveyed out of any infected House.
" If anv Person visited do fortune bv neslig-ent lookiiw unto, or by any other Means, to come, or be conveyed from a Place infected, to any other Place; the Parish from whence such Party hath come or been conveyed, upon notice thereof given, shall at their Charge cause the
62 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
said Party so visited and escaped, to be carried and brought back again by Night, and the Parties in this case offending, to be punished at the Direction of the Alder- man of the Ward ; and the House of the Receiver of such visited Person, to be shut up for twenty Days,
Every visited House io be marked, " That every House visited, be marked with a red Cross of a Foot long, in the middle of the Door, evident to be seen, and with these usual printed Word's, that is to say, *Lord have Mercy upon us,' to be set close over the same Cross, there to continue until lawful opening of the same House.
Every visited House to be li'atched. '• That the Constables see every House shut up, and to be attended with Watchmen, which may keep them in, and minister Necessaries unto them at their own Charges (if they be able,) or at the common Charge, if they be unable: The shutting up to be for the space of four Weeks after all be whole.
" That precise Order be taken that the Searchers, Chirur- geons, Keepers and Buriers are not to pass the Streets Avithout holding a red Rod or Wand of three Foot in Length in their Hands, open and evident to be seen, and are not to go into any other House than into their own, or into that whereunto they are directed or sent for; but to forbear and abstain from Company, especially when they have been lately used in any sucli Business or Attends ance.
Inmates, ''That where several Inmates are in one and the same
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 63
House, and any Person in that House happens to be In- fected j no other Person of Family of such House shall be suffered to remove him or themselves without a Certificate from the Examiners of Health of that Parish; or in de- fault thereof, the House whither he or they so remove, shall be shut up as in case of Visitation.
Hackney- Coaches.
**That care be taken of Hackney-Coach-men, that they may not (as some of them have been observed to do) after carrying of infected Persons to the Pest-house, and other Places, be admitted to common use, till their Coaches be well aired, and have stood unemploy'd by the Space of five or six Days after such Service."
Orders for cleansing and keeping of the Streets
Sweet.
The Streets to he kept clean.
*' First, it is thought necessary, and so ordered, that every Householder do cause the Street to be daily prepared before his Door, and so to keep it clean swept all the Week long.
That Rakers take it from out the Houses, ** That the Sweeping and Filth of Houses be daily carry'd away by the Rakers, and that the Raker shall give notice of his coming, by the blowing of a Horn, as hitherto hath been done.
Laystalls to he made far off from the City. ■* That the Laystalls be removed as far as may be out of
64 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
the City, and common Passages, and that no Nightman or other be suffered to empty a Vault into any Garden near about the City.
Care io be had of univholsome Fish or Fleshy and of musty
Corn,
"That special care be taken, that no stinking Fish, or un- wholsome Flesh, or musty Corn, or other corrupt Fruits, of what Sort soever be suffered to be sold about the City, or any part of the same. *
*'That the Brewers and Tipling-houses be looked unto, for musty and unwholsome Casks.
" That no Hogs, Dogs, or Cats, or tame Pigeons, or Conies, be suffered to be kept within any part of the City, or any Swine to be, or stray in the Streets or Lanes, but that such Swine be impounded by the Beadle or any other Officer, and the Owner punished according to Act of Common-Council, and that the Dogs be killed by the Dog-killers appointed for that purpose."
ORDERS concerning loose Persons and idle Assemblies.
Beggers. '"Forasmuch as nothing is more complained of, than the Multitude of Rogues and wandring Beggers, that swarm in every place about the City, being a great cause of the spreading of the Infection, and will not be avoided, not- withstanding any Order that have been given to the contrary : It is therefore now ordered, that such Con- stables, and others, whom this Matter may any way con-
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YBAR. 65
cern, take special care that no wandring Begger be suffered in the Streets of this City, in any fashion or manner, whatsoever, upon the Penalty provided by the Law to be duly and severely executed upon them.
Plays. "That all Plays, Bear-Baitings, Games, singing of Ballads, Buckler-play, or such like Causes of Assemblies of People, be utterly prohibited, and the Parties offending severely punished by every Alderman in his Ward.
Feasting Prohibited. '' That all publick Feasting, and particularly by the Com- panies of this City, and Dinners at Taverns, Alehouses, and other Places of common Entertainment be forborn till further 'Order and Allowance ; and that the Money there- by spared, be preserved and employed for tlie Benefit and Relief of the Poor visited with the Infection.
llpling- Houses. "That disorderly Tipling in Taverns, Alehouses, Coffe- houses, and Cellars be severely looked unto, as the common Sin of this Time, and greatest occasion of dis- persing the Plague. And that no Company or Person be suffered to remain or come into any Tavern, Ale-house, or Coffe-house to drink after nine of the Clock in the Evening, according to the antient Law and Custom of this City, upon the Penalties ordained in that Behalf.
"And, for the better execution of these Orders, and such other Rules and Directions as upon further consideration shall be found needful; It is ordered and enjoined that
66 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
the Aldermen, Deputies, and Common-Council-men shall meet together weekly, once, twice, thrice, or oftner, (as cause shall require) at some one general Place accustomed in their respective Wards (being clear from Infection of the Plague) to consult how the said Orders may be duly put in Execution ; not intending that any, dwelling in or near Places infected, shall come to the said Meeting whiles their coming may be doubtful. And the said Aldermen, and Deputies, and Common-Council-men in their several Wards may put in execution any other good Orders that by them at their said Meetings shall be con- ceived and devised, for Preservation of His Majesty's Subjects from the Infection."
Sir John Lawrence y Sir George Waterman 1 ^, . . Lord Mayor. j Sir Charles Doe. j
I need not say, that these Orders extended only to such Places as were within the Lord Mayor's Jurisdiction ; so it is requisite to observe, that the Justices of Peace, within those Parishes, and Places as were called the Hamlets, and Out-parts, took the same Method : As I remember, the Orders for shutting up of Houses, did not take Place so soon on our Side, because, as I said before, the Plague did not reach to these Eastern Parts of the Town, at least, nor begin to be very violent, till the beginning of August. For Example, the whole Bill, from the nth to the i8th of July, was 1 761, yet there dy'd but 71 of the Plague, in all those Parishes we call the Tower-Hamlets ; and they were as follows.
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 67
|
Algate |
14 |
34 |
65 |
||
|
Stepney |
33 |
the next |
58 |
and to the |
76 |
|
White-Chappel |
21 |
Week was |
48 |
I St of Aug. |
79 |
|
St. Kath. Tower |
2 |
thus. |
4 |
thus. |
4 |
|
Trm. Minories |
I |
I |
4 |
71 145 228
It was indeed, coming on amain ; for the Burials that same Week, were in the next adjoining Parishes, thus,
St. Len. Shorditch 64 the next Week 84 to the ist. no St. But. Bishopsg. 65 prodigiously en- 105 of Aug. 116 St. Giles Crippl. 213 creased, as 421 thus. 554
342 610 780
This shutting up of houses was at first counted a very cruel and Unchristian Method, and the poor People so confin'd made bitter Lamentations : Complaints of the Severity of it, were also daily brought to my Lord Mayor, of Houses causelessly, (and some maliciously) shut up : I cannot say, but upon Enquiry, many that complained so loudly, were found in a Condition to be continued, ai\d others again Inspection being made upon the sick Person, and the Sickness not appearing infectious, or if uncertain, yet, on his being content to be carried to the Pest=House, were released.
It is true, that the locking up the Doors of Peoples
Houses, and setting a Watchman there Night and Day,
to prevent their stirring out, or any coming to them ; when,
perhaps, the sound People, in the Family, might have
escaped, if they had been removed from the Sick, looked
very hard and cruel ; and m-any People perished in these
C 2
68 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
miserable Confinements, which lis reasonable to believe, woufd not have been distemper'd if they had had Liberty, tho' the Plague was in the House ; at which the People were very clamorous and uneasie at first, and several Violences were committed, and Injuries offered to the Men, who were set to watch the Houses so shut up ; also several People broke out by Force, in many Places, as I shall observe by and by : But it was a publick Good that justified the private Mischief; and there was no obtaining the least Mitigation, by any Application to Magistrates, or Government, at that Time, at least, not that I heard of. This put the People upon all Manner of Stratagem, in order, if possible, to get out, and it would fill a little Volume, to set down the Arts us'd by the People of such Houses, to shut the Eyes of the Watchmen, who were employ'd, to deceive them, and to escape, or break out from them ; in which frequent Scuffles, and some Mischief happened ; of which by it self.
As I went along Houndsditch one Morning, about eight a-Clock, there was a great Noise ; it is true indeed, there was not much Crowd, because People were not very free to gather together, or to stay long together, when they were there, nor did I stay long there : But the Outcry was loud enough to prompt my Curiosity, and I call'd to one that look'd out of a Window, and ask'd what was the Matter.
A Watchman, it seems, had been employed to keep his Post at the Door of a House, which was infected, or said to be infected, and was shut up ; he had been there all Night for two Nights together^ . ; as he told his Story, and the Day Watchman had been there one Day, and was now come to relieve bim : All this while no Noise had been heard in the
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 69
House, no Light had been seen : they call'd for nothing, sent him of no Errands, which us'd to be the chief Business of the Watchman ; neither had they given him any Disturb- ance, as he said, from the Monday afternoon, when he iieard great cr^dng and screaming in the House, which, as he supposed, was occasioned by some of the Family dying just at that Time : it seems the Night before, the Dead- Cart, as it was called, had been stopt there, and a Servant- Maid had been brought down to the Door dead, and the Buriers or Bearers, as they were call'd, put her into the Cart, wrapt only in a green Rug, and carried her away.
The Watchman had knock'd at the Door, it seems, when he heard that Noise and Crying, as above, and no Body answered, a great while ; but at last one look'd out and said with an angry quick Tone, and yet a Kind of crying Voice, or a Voice of one that was crying, What d'ye want, that ye make such a knocking? He answered, I am the Watchman ! how do you do? Wliat is the flatter? The Person answered. What it that to you? Stop tlie Dead-Cart. Tins, it seems, was about one a-Clock ; soon after, as the Fellow said, he stopped the Dead-Cart, and then knock'd again, but no Body answered : He continued knocking, and the Bellman call'd out several Times, Bring out your Dead ; but no Body answered, till the ]\Ian that drove the Cart being call'd to other Houses, would stay no longer, and drove away.
The Watchman knew not what to make of all this, so he let them alone, till the Morning-Man, or Day Watchman, as they call'd him, came to relieve him, giving him an Account of the Particulars, they knock'd at the Door a great while, but no body answered ; and they observed,
70 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
that the Window, or Casement, at which the Person had look'd out, who had answered before, continued open, being up two Pair of Stairs.
Upon this, the two Men to satisfy their Curiositj', got a long Ladder, and one of them went up to the Window, and look'd into the Room, where he saw a Woman lying dead upon the Floor, in a dismal Manner, having no Cloaths on her but her Shift : But tho' he call'd aloud, and putting in his long Staff, knock'd hard on the Floor, yet no Body stirr'd or answered ; neither could he hear any Noise in the House.
He came down again, upon this, and acquainted his Fellow, who went up also, and finding it just so, they resolv'd to acquaint either the Lord Mayor, or some other Magistrate of it, but did not offer to go in at the Window : The Magistrate it seems, upon the Information of the two Men, ordered the House to be broken open, a Constable, and other Persons being appointed to be present, that nothing might be plundred ; and accordingly it was so done, when no Body was found in the House, but that young Woman, who having been infected, and past Re- covery, the rest had left her to die by her self, and were every one gone, having found some Way to delude the Watchman, and get open the Door, or get out at some Back Door, or over the Tops of the Houses, so that he knew nothing of it; and as to those Crys and Shrieks, which he heard, it was suppos'd, they were the passion- ate Cries of the Family, at the bitter parting, which, to be sure, it was to them all ; this being the Sister to the Mis- tress of the Family. The Man of the House, his Wife, several Children, and Servants, being all gone and fled.
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 71
whether sick or sound, that I could never learn ; nor, indeed, did I make much Enquiry after it.
Many such escapes were made, out of infected Houses, as particularly, when the Watchman was sent of some Errand ; for it was his Business to go of any Errand that the Family sent him of, that is to say, for Necessaries, such as Food and Physick ; to fetch Physicians, if they would come, or Surgeons, or Nurses, or to order the Dead- Cart, and the hke ; But with this Condition too, that when he went, he was to lock up the Outer-Door of the House, and take the Key away with him ; to evade this, and cheat the Watchmen, People got two or three Keys made to their Locks ; or they found Ways to unscrew the Locks, such as were screw'd on, and so take off the Lock, being in the Inside of the House, and while they sent away the Watch- man to the Market, to the Bakehouse, or for one Trifle or another, open the Door, and go out as often as they pleas'd : But this being found out, the Officers afterwards had Orders to Padlock up the Doors on the Outside, and place Bolts on them as they thought fit.
At another House, as I was inform'd, in the Street next within Algate, a whole Family was shut up and lock'd in, because the Maid-Servant was taken sick ; the Master of the House had complain'd by his Friends to the next Alder- man, and to the Lord Mayor, and had consented to have the Maid carried to the Pest-House, but was refused, so the Door was marked with a red Cross, a Padlock on the Out- side, as above, and a Watchman set to keep the Door according to publick Order.
After the Master of the House found there was no Remedy, but that he, his Wife and his Children were to
72 yoVR^SAL OF THE PLAQUE YEAR.
be lockt up with this poor distempered Servant; he call'd to the Watchman, and told him, lie must go then and fetch a Nurse for them, to attend this poor Girl, for that it would be certain Death to them all to oblige them to nurse her, and told him plainly, ti^.at if he would not do this, the Maid must perish either of the Distemper, or be starv'd for want of Food ] for he was resolv'd none of his Family should go near her ; and she lay in the Garret four Story high, where she could not Cry out, or call to any Body for Help.
The Watchman consented to that, and went and fetch'd a Nurse as he was appointed, and brought her to them the same Evening ; during this interval, the Master of the House took his Opportunity to break a large Hole thro' his Shop into a Bulk or Stall, where formerly a Cobler had sat, before or under his Shop-window ; but the Tenant as may be sup- posed, at such a dismal Time as that, was dead or remov'd, and so he had the Key in his own keeping ; having made his Way into this Stall, which he cou'd not have done, if the Man had been at the Door, the Noise he was obliged to make, being such as would have alarm'd the Watchman ; I say, having made his Way into this Stall, he sat still till the Watchman return'd with the Nurse, and all the next Day also ; but the Night following, having contriv'd to send the Watchman of another trifling Errand, which as I take it, was to an Apothecary's for a Plaster for the Maid, which he was to stay for the making up, or some other such Errand that might secure his staying some Time; in t.hat Time he conveyed himself, and all his Family out of the House, and left the Nurse and the Watchman to bury the poor Wench ; that is, throw her into the Cart, and take care of the House.
yOURXAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 73
I cou'd give a great many such Stories as these, diverting enough, which in the long Course of that dismal Year, I met with, that is heard of, and which are very certain to be true, or very near the Truth ; that is to say, true in the General, for no Man cou:d at such a Time learn all the Particulars : There was likewise Violence used with the Watchmen, as was reported in abundance of Places ; and I believe, tliat from the Beginning of the Visitation to the End, there was not less than eighteen or twenty of them kill'd, or so wounded as to be taken up for Dead, which was suppos'd to be done by the People in the infected Houses which were shut up, and where they attempted to come out, and were oppos'd.
Nor indeed cou'd less be expected, for here were just so many Prisons in the Town, as there were Houses shut up ; and as the People shut up or imprison'd so, were guilty of no Crime, only shut up because miserable, it was really the more intoUerable to them.
It had also this Difference; that every Prison, as we may call it, had but one Jaylor ; and as he had the whole House to Guard, and that many Houses were so situated, as that they had several Ways out, some more, some less, and some into several Streets ; it was impossible for one Man so to Guard all the Passages, as to prevent the escape of People, made desperate by the fright of their Circumstances, by the Resentment of their usage, or by the raging of the Dis- temper it self; so that they woidd talk to the Watchman on one Side of the House, while the Family made their escape at another.
For example, in Coleman- street, there are abundance of Alleys, as appears stili ; a House was shut up in that they
74 yOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR,
call Whites- Alley, and this House had a back Window, not a Door into a Court, which had a Passage into Bell- Alley j a Watchman was set by the Constable, at the Door of this House, and there he stood, or his Comrade Night and Day, while the Family went all away in the Evening, out at that Window into the Court, and left the poor Fellows warding, and watching, for near a Fortnight.
Not far from the same Place, they blow'd up a Watchman with Gun-powder, and burnt the poor Fellow dreadfully, and while he made hidious Crys, and no Body would ven- ture to come near to help him ; the whole Family that were able to stir, got out at the Windows one Stor}^ high ; two that were left Sick, calling out for Help ; Care was taken to give them Nurses to look after them, but the Persons fled were never found, till after the Plague was abated they returned, but as nothing cou'd be prov'd. so nothing could be done to them.
It is to be consicer'd too,. tl:at as these vrere Prisons without Barrs and Bolts, which our common Prisons are furnish'd vi^th, so the People let themselves down out of their Wirdo'vs. even in the Face of the Watchman, bringing Swords or Pistols in their Hands, and threatening the poor Wretch :o shoot him, if he stir'd, or call'd for Help.
In other Cases, some had Gardens, and Walls, or Pales between them and their Neighbours : or Yards, and back- Houses ; and these by Friendship and Entreaties, would get leave to get over those Walls, or Pales, and so go out at their Neighbour's Doors : or by giving Money to their Servants, get them, to let them thro' in the Night; so that in short, the shutting up of Houses, was in no wise to be depended upon : neither did it answer the End at ail ;
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serving more to make the People desperate, and drive them to such Extremities, as that, they would break ou; a: all Adventures.
And that which was stiil worse, those that did thu«t break out, spread the Infection farther by their wandrin;^ - about with the Distemper upon them, in their desperate Circumstances, than they would otherwise have done ; for whoever considers all the Particulars in such Cases must acknowledge ; and we cannot doubt but the severity of those Confinements, made many People desperate : and made them run out of their Houses at all Hazards, and 'svith the Plague visibly upon them, not knowing either whither to go, or what to do, or indeed, what they did j and n.:.r.y that did so, were driven to dreadful Exigencies and Ex- tremeties, and Perish'd in the Streets or Fields for mere Want, or drop'd down, by the raging violence of the Fever upon them : Others wandred into the Country, and went forward any Way, as their Desperation guided them, not knowing whither they went or would go, till faint and tir'd, and not getting any Relief; the Houses and Villages on the Road, refusing to admit them to lodge, whether infected or no ; they have perish'd by the Road Side,, or gotten into Bams and dy'd there, none daring to come to them, or relieve them, tho' perhaps not infected, for no Body would believe them.
On the other Hand, when the Pla2:ue at first seiz'd a Family, that is to say, when any one Body of the Fanvhy had gone out, and unwarily or otherwise catch'd the Dis- temper and brought it Home, it was certainly known by the Family, before it was known to thje Officers, who, as you will see by the Order, were appointed to examine into
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the Circumstances of all sick Persons, when they heard of their being sick.
Ill this Interval, between their being taken Sick, ancl the Examiners coming, the Master of the House had Leisure and Liberty to remove himself, or all his Family, if he knew whether to go, and many did so : But the great disaster was, that many did thus, after they were really infected themselves, and so carry'd the Disease into the Houses of those who were so Hospitable as to receive them, which it must be confess'd was very cruel and un- grateful.
And this was in Part, the Reason of the general Notion, or scandal rather, which went about of the Temper of People infected ; Namely, that they did not take the least care, or make any Scruple of infecting others ; tho' I can- not say, but there might be some Truth in it too, but not so general as was reported. What natural Reason could be given, for so wicked a Thing, at a Time, when they might conclude themselves just going to appear at the Barr of Divine Justice, I know not : I am very well satisfy'd, that it cannot be reconcil'd to Religion and Principle, any more than it can be to Generosity and Humanity; but I may speak of that again.
I am speaking now of People made desperate, by the Apprehensions of their being shut up, and their breaking out by Stratagem or Force, either before or after they were shut up, whose Misery was not lessen'd, when they were out, but sadly encreased : On the other Hand, many that thus got away, had Retreats to go to, and other Houses, where they lock'd themselves up, and kept hid till the Plague was over; and many Families foreseeing the Ap-
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proach of the Distemper, laid up Stores of Provisions, sufficient for their whole Families, and shut themselves up, and that so entirely, that they \Yere neither seen or heard of, till the Infection was quite ceased, and then came abroad Sound and Weil : I might recollect several such as these, and give you the Particular of their Management; for doubtless, it was the most effectual secure Step that cou'd be taken for such, whose Circumstance would not admit them to remove, or who i^ad not Retreats abroad proper for the Case ; for in being thus shut up, they were as if they had been a hundred Miles off: Nor do I remem- ber, that any one of those Families miscarry'd ; among these, several Dutch Merchants were particularly remark- able, who kept their Houses like little Garrisons besieged, suifering none to go in or out, or com.e near them ; par- ticularly one in a Court in Throckmorton Street, whose House looked into Drapers Garden.
But I come back to the Case of Families infected, and shut UD bv the Masristrates : the IMiserv of those Families is not t© be expressed, and it was generally in such Houses that we heard the most dismal Shrieks and Out-cries of the poor People terrified, and even frighted to Death, by the Sight of the Condition of their dearest Relations, and by the Terror of being imprisoned as they were.
I remember, and while I am writing this Story, I think I hear the very Sound of it, a certain Lady had an only Daughter, a young Maiden about 19 Years old, and who was possessed of a very Considerable Fortune ; they were only Lodgers in the House where they were : The young Woman, her Mother, and the Maid, had been abroad on some Occasion, I do not remember what, for the House
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Avas not shut up; but about two Hours after they came home, the young Lady complain'd she was not well ; in a quarter of an Hour more, she vomited, and had a violent Pain in her Head. Pray God, says her Mother in a terrible Fright, my Child has not the Distemper ! The Pain in her Head increasing, her Mother ordered the Bed to be warm'd, and resolved to put her to Bed ; and prepared to give her things to sweat, which was the ordinary Remedy to be taken, when the first Apprehensions of the Distemper began.
While the Bed was airing, the Mother undressed the young Woman, and just as she was laid down in the Bed, she looking upon her Body with a Candle, immediately discovered the fatal Tokens on the Inside of her Thighs. Her Mother not being able to contain herself, threw down her Candle, and scriekt out in such a frightful Manner, that it was enough to place Horror upon the stoutest Heart in the World; nor was it one Skream, or one Cry, but the Fright, having seiz'd her Spirits, she fainted first, then recovered, then ran all over the House, up the Stairs and down the Stairs, like one distracted, and indeed really was distracted, and continued screeching and crying out for several Hours, void of all .Sense, or at least, Government of her Senses, and as I was told, never came throughly to herself again : As to the young Maiden, she was a dead Corpse from that Moment ; for the Gangren which occa- sions the Spots had spread her whole Body, and she died in less than two Hours ; But still the Mother continued crying out, not knowing any Thing more of her Child, several Hours after she was dead. It is so long ago, that
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I am not certain, but I think the Mother never recoverd, but died in two or three Weeks after.
This was an extraordinary Case, and I am therefore the more particular in it, because I came so much to the Knowledge of it; but there were innumerable such like Cases ; and it was seldom, that the Weekly Bill came in, but there were two or three put in frighted, that is, that may well be call'd, frighted to Death : But besides those, who were so frighted to die upon the Spot, there were great Numbers frighted to other Extreams, some frighted out of their Senses, some out of their Memory, and some out of their Understanding: But I return to the shuttino- up of Houses.
As several People, I say, got out of their Houses by Stratagem, after they were shut up, so others got out by bribing the Watchmen, and giving them x^Ioney to let them go privately out in the Night. I must confess, I thought it at that time, the most innocent Corruption, or Bribery, that any Man could be guilty of; and therefore could not but pity the poor i\Ien, and think it was hard ^Yhen three of those Watchmen were publickly whipt thro' the Streets, for suffering People to go out of Houses shut up.
But notwithstanding that Severity, Money prevaii'd with the poor Men, and many Families found Means to make Salleys out, and escape that way after they had been shut up ; but these were generally such as had some Places to retreat to ; and tho' there was no easie passing the Roads any whither, after the first of August, yet there v;ere many Ways of retreat, and particularly, as I hinted, some got Tents and set them up in the Fields, carrying Beds, or
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Straw to lie on, and Provisions to eat, and so liv'd in them as Hermits in a Cell ; for no Body would venture to come near them ; and several Stories were told of such ; some comical, some tragical, some who liv'd like wandring Pilgrims in the Desarts, and escaped by making them- selves Exiles in such a Manner as is scarce to be credited, and who yet enjoyed more Liberty than was to be expected in such Cases.
I have by me a Story of two Brothers and their Kins- man, who being single Men, but that had stay'd in the City too long to get away, and indeed, not knowing where to go to have any Retreat, nor having wherewith to travel far, took a Course for their own Preservation, which, tho' in it self at first desperate, yet was so natural, that it may be wondred, that no more did so at that Time. They were but of mean Condition, and yet not so very poor, as that they could not furnish themselves with some little Conveniencies, such as might serve to keep Life and Soul together ; and finding the Distemper increasing in a ter- rible Manner, they resolved to shift, as well as they could, and to be gone.
One of them had been a Soldier in the late Wars, and before that in the Low Countries, and having been bred to no particular Employment but his Arms ; and besides bei'^.g wounded, and not able \o work very hard, had for some Time been employ'd at &. Baker's of Sea Bisket in Wapping.
The Brother of this Man A\''as a Seaman too, but some- how or other, had been hurt ©f one Leg, that he could not go to Sea, but had work'd for his Living at a Sail Makers
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in Wapping, or there abouts ; and being a good Husband, had laid up some Money, and was the richest of the Three.
The third Man was a Joiner or Carpenter by Trade, a handy Fellow; and he had no Wealth, but his Box, or Basket of Tools, with the Help of which he could at any Time get his Living, such a Time as this excepted, wherever he went, and he liv'd near Shadwel.
They all liv'd in Stepney Parish, which, as I have said, being the last that was infected, or at least violently, they stay'd there till they evidently saw the Plague was abating at the West Part of the Town, and coming towards the East where they liv'd.
The Story of those three Men, if the Reader will be content to have me give it in their own Persons, without taking upon me to either vouch the Particulars, or answer for any Mistakes, I shall give as distinctly as I can, be- lieving the History will be a very good Pattern for any poor Man to follow, in case the like Publick Desolation should happen here ; and if there may be no such Occasion, which God of his infinite Mercy grant us, still the Story may have its Uses so many Ways as that it will, I hope, never be said, that the relating has been unprofitable.
I say all this previous to the History, having yet, for the present, much more to say before I quit my own Part.
I went all the first Part of the Time freely about the Streets, tho' not so freely as to run my self into apparent Danger, except when they dug the great Pit in the Church- Yard of our Parish of Algate ; a terrible Pit it was, and I could not resist my Curiosity to go and see it; as near as I may judge, it was about 40 Foot in Length, and about 15 or 16 Foot broad; and at the Time I first looked at it,
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about nine Foot deep ; but it was said, they dug it near 20 Foot deep afterwards, in one Part of it, till tliey could go no deeper for the Water : for they had, it seems, dug several large Pits before this, for tho' the Plague was long a-comin^y to our Parish, yet when it did come, there w^as no Parish in or about London, where it raged with such Violence as in the two Parishes of Algate and White- Chapel.
I say they had dug several Pits in another Ground, when the Distemper began to spread in our Parish, and especially when the Dead-Carts began to go about, which was not in our Parish, till the beginning of August. Into these Pits they had put perhaps 50 or 60 Bodies each, then they made larger Holes, wherein they buried all that the Cart brought in a Week, which by the middle, to the End of August, came to, from 200 to 400 a Week ; and they could not well dig them larger, because of the Order of the Magis- trates, confining them to leave no Bodies within six Foot of the Surface ; and the Water coming on, at about 17 or 18 Foot, they could not well, I say, put more in one Pit; but now at the Beginning of September, the Plague raging in a dreadful Manner, and the Number of Burials in our Parish increasing to more than was ever buried in any Parish about London, of no larger Extent, they ordered this dreadful Gulph to be dug, for such it was rather than a Pit.
They had supposed this Pit would have supply'd them for a Month or more, when they dug it, and some blam'd the Church- Wardens for suffering such a frightful Thing, telling them they were making Preparations to bury the whole Parish, and the like : but Time made it appear, the Church-Wardens knew the Condition of the Parish
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better than they did: for the Pit being tinished the 4th of September, I think, they began to bury in ir the oih, and by the 20, which was just two Weelcs, they had thrown into it 1 1 14 Bodies, when they were obliged to nil it up, the Bodies being then come to lie within six Foot of the Surface : I doubt not but there may be some antient Per- sons alive in the Parish, who can justify the Fact of this, and are able to shew even in what Part of the Church- Yard the Pit lay, better than I can ; the Mark of it also was many Years to be seen in the Church- Yard on the Surface Ivins: in Length. Parallel with the Passasje which goes by the West Wall of the Church- Yard, out of Hounds- ditch, and turns East again into White-Chappel, coming out near the three Nuns Inn.
It was about the loth of September, that my Curiosity led, or rather drove me to go and see this Pit again, when there had been near 400 People buried in it ; and I was not content to see it in the Day-time, as I had done be- fore ; for then there would have been nothing to have been seen but the loose Earth; for all the Bodies that were thrown in, were immediately covered with Earth, by those they call'd the Buryers, which at other Times were call'd Bearers; but I resolv'd to go in the Night and see some of them thrown in.
There was a strict Order to prevent People coming to those Pits, and that was only to prevent Infection : But after some Time, that Order was more necessary, for People that were Infected, and near their End, and delirious also, would run to those Pits wrapt in Blankets, or Rugs, and throw themselves in, and as they said, bury themselves : I cannot say, that the Officers suffered any willingly to lie
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there ; but I have heard, that in a great Pit in Finsbury, in the Parish of Cripplegate, it lying open then to the Fields ; for it was not then wall'd about, came and threw them- selves in, and expired there, before they threw any Earth upon them ; and that when they came to bury others, and found them there, they were quite dead, tho' not cold.
This may serve a little to describe the dreadful Condition of that Day, tho' it is impossible to say any Thing that is able to give a true Idea of it to those who did not see ir, other than this ; that it was indeed very, very, very dreadful, and such as no Tongue can express.
I got Admittance into the Church-Yard by being ac- quainted with the Sexton, who attended, who tho' he did not refuse me at all, yet earnestly persuaded me not to go ; telling me very seriously, for he was a good religious and sensible Man, that it was indeed, their Business and Duty to venture, and to run all Hazards; and that in it they might hope to be preserv'd ; but that I had no apparent Call to it, but my own Curiosity, which he said, he believ'd I would not pretend, was sufficient to justify my running that Hazard. I told him I had been press'd in my Mind to go, and that perhaps it might be an In- structing Sight, that might not be without its Uses. Nay, says the good Man, if you will venture upon that Score, 'Name of God go in ; for depend upon it, 'twill be a Sermon to you, it may be, the best that ever you heard in your Life. 'Tis a speaking Sight, says he, and has a Voice with it, and a loud one, to call us all to Repentance ; and with that he opened the Door and said. Go, if you will.
His Discourse had shock'd my Resolution a httle, and I
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stood wavering for a good while ; but just at that Interval I saw two Links come over from the End of the Minories, and heard the Bell-man, and then appear'd a Dead-Cart, as they call'd it, coming over the Streets, so I could no longer resist my Desire of seeing it, and went in : There was no Body, as I could perceive at first, in the Church- Yard, or going into it, but the Buryers, and the Fellow that drove the Cart, or rather led the Horse and Cart, but when they came up, to the Pit, they saw a Man go to and again, muffled up in a brown Cloak, and making Monons with his Hands, under his Cloak, as if he was in a great Agony ; and the Buryers immediately gathered about him, sup- posing he was one of those poor delirious, or desperate Creatures, that used to pretend, as I have said, to bury themselves ; he said nothing as he walk'd about, but two or three times groaned very deeply, and loud, and sighed as he would break his Heart.
When the Buryers came up to him they soon found he was neither a Person infected and desperate, as I have observed above, or a Person distempered in Mind, but one oppress'd with a dreadful Weight of Grief indeed, having his Wife and several of his Children, all in the Cart, that was just come in with him, and he followed in an Agony and excess of Sorrow. He mourned heartily, as it was easy to see, but with a kind of Masculine Grief, that could not give it self Vent by Tears, and calmly desir- ing the Buryers to let him alone, said he would only see the Bodies thrown in, and go away, so they left impor- tuning him ; but no sooner was the Cart turned round, and the Bodies shot into the Pit promiscuously, which was a Surprize to him, for he at least expected they would have
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been decently laid in, tho' indeed he was afterwards con- vinced that was impracticable ; I say, no sooner did he see the Sight, but he cry'd out aloud unable to contain himself; I could not hear what he said, but he went backward two or three Steps, and fell down in a Swoon : the Buryers ran to him and took him up, and in a little While he came to himself, and they led him away to the Pye-Tavern over-against the End of Houndsditch, where, it seems, the Man was known, and where they took care of him. He look'd into the Pit again, as he went away, but the Buryers had covered the Bodies so immediately with throwing in Earth, that tho' there was Light enough, for there were Lantherns and Candles in them, plac'd all Night round the Sides of the Pit, upon the Heaps of Earth, seven or eight, or perhaps more, yet nothing could be seen.
This was a mournful Scene indeed, and affected me almost as much as the rest ; but the other was awful, and full of Terror; the Cart had in it sixteen or seventeen Bodies, some were wrapt up in Linen Sheets, some in Rugs, some little other than naked, or so loose, that what Covering they had, fell from them, in the shooting out of the Cart, and they fell quite naked among the rest; but the ^Matter was not much to them, or the Indecency much to any one else, seeing they were all dead, and were to be huddled together into the common Grave of Mankind, as we may call it, for here was no Difference made, but Poor and Rich went together ; there was no other way of Burials, neither was it possible there should, for Cofhns were not to be had for the prodigious Numbers that fell in such a Calamity as this.
It was reported by way of Scandal upon the Buryers,
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that if any Corpse was delivered to them, decently wound up as we call'd it then, in a Winding Sheet Ty'd over the Head and Feet, which some did, and which was generally of good Linen ; I say, it was reported, that the Buryers were so wicked as to strip them in the Cart, and carry them quite naked to the Ground : But as I can not easily credit any thing so vile among Christians, and at a Time so fiird with Terrors, as that was, I can only relate it and leave it undetermined.
Innumerable Stories also went about of the cruel Be- haviours and Practises of Nurses, who tended the Sick, and of their hastening on the Fate of those they tended in their Sickness : But I shall say more of this in its Place.
I was indeed shock'd with this Sight, it almost over- whelmed me, and I went away with my Heart most afflicted and full of the afflicting Thoughts, such as I cannot describe; just at my going out of the Church, and turn- ing up the Street towards my own House, I saw another Cart Avith Links, and a Bellman going before, coming out of Harrow-Alley, in the Butcher-Row, on the other Side of the Way, and being, as I perceived, very full of dead Bodies, it went directly over the Street also toward the Church : I stood a while, but I had no Stomach to go back again to see the same dismal Scene over again, so I went directly Home, where I could not but consider with Thankfulness, the Risque I had run, believing I had gotten no Injury; as indeed I had not.
Here the poor unhappy Gentleman's Grief came into my head again, and indeed I could not but shed Tears in the Reflection upon it, perhaps more than he did himself; but his Case lay so heavy upon my Mind, that I could not
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prevail wiih my self, but that I must go out again into the Street, and go to the Pye-Tavern, resolving to enquire what became of him.
It was by this Time one a-Clock in the Morning, and yet the poor Gentleman was there ; the Truth was, the People of the House knowing him, had entertain'd him, and kept him there all the Night, notwithstanding the Danger of being infected, by him, tho' it appear'd the Man was perfectly sound himself.
It is with Regret, that I take notice of this Tavern ; the People were civil, mannerly, and an obliging Sort of Folks enough, and had till this Time kept their House open, and their Trade going on, tho' not so very publickly as for- merlv ; but there was a dreadful Set of Fellows that used their House, and who in the middle of all this Horror met there every Night, behaved with all the Revelling and roaring extravagances, as is usual for such People to do at other Times, and indeed to such an offensive Degree, that the very Master and Mistress of the House grew first asham'd and then terrifv'd at them.
They sat generally in a Room next the Street, and as they always kept late Hours, so when the Dead-Cart came cross the Street End to go into Hounds-ditch, which was in View of the Tavern Windows ; they would frequently open the Windows as soon as they heard the Bell, and look out at them ; and as they might often hear sad Lamentations of People in the Streets, or at their Win- dows, as the Carts went along, they would make their impudent Mocks and Jeers at them, especially if they heard the poor People call upon God to have Mercy upon
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them, as many would do at those Times in tiieir ordinary passing along the Streets.
These Gentlemen being something disiurb'd with the Clutter of bringing the poor Gentleman into the House, as above, were first angry, and very liigh with the Master of the House, for sufiering such a Fellow, as they call'd him, to be brought out of the Grave into their House; but being answered, that the Man was a Neighbour, and that he was sound, but overwhelmed with the Calamity of his Family, and the like, they turned their Anger into ridi- culing the Man, and his Sorrow for his Wife and Children; taunted him with want of Courage to leap into the great Pit, and go to Heaven, as they jeeringly expressed it, along with them, adding some very profane, and even blasphe- mous Expressions.
They were at tiiis vile Work when I came back to the House, and as far as I could see, tho' the Man sat siill, mute and disconsolate, and their Att'ronts could not divert his Sorrow, yet he was both griev'd and offended at their Discourse : Upon this, I gently reprov'd them, being well enough acquainted with their Characters, and not unknown in Person to two of them.
They immediately fell upon me with ill Language and Oaths ; ask'd me what I did out of my Grave, at such a Time when so many honester Men were carried into the Church- Yard ? and whv I was not at Home savin^^ mv Prayers, against the Dead-Cart came for me ? and the like.
I was indeed astonished at the Impudence of the Men, tho' not at all discomposed at their Treatment of me; however I kept my Temper ; I told them, that tho' I defy'd them, or any Man in the "World to tax me wi:h any
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Dishonesty, yet I acknowledg'd, that in this terrible Judg- ment of Godj many better than I was swept away, and carried to their Grave : But to answer their Question directly, the Case was, that I was mercifully preserved by that great God, whose Name they had Blasphemed and taken in vain, by cursing and swearing in a dreadful [Man- ner ; and that I beheved I was preserv'd in particular, among other Ends, of his Goodness, that I might reprove them for their audacious Boldness, in behaving in such a Manner, and in such an awful Time as this was, especially, for their Jeering and Mocking, at an honest Gentleman, and a Neighbour, for some of them knew him, who they saw was overwhelm'd with Sorrow, for the Breaches which it had pleas'd God to make upon his Family.
I cannot call exactly to Mind the hellish abominable Raillery, which was the Return they made to that Talk of mine, being provoked, it seems, that I was not at all afraid to be free with them ; nor if I could remember, would I fill my Account with any of the Words, the homd Oaths, Curses, and vile Expressions, such, as at that time of the Day, even the worst and ordinariest People in the Street would not use : (for except such hardened Creatures as these, the most wicked wretches that could be found, had at that Time some Terror upon their Minds of the Hand of that Power which could thus, in a Moment, destroy them.)
But that which was the worst in all their devilish Lan- guage was, that they were not afraid to blaspheme God, and talk Atheistically ; making a Jest at my calling the Plague the Hand of God, mocking, and even laughing at the Word Judgment, as if the Providence of God had no
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Concern in the inflicting such a desolating Stroke ; and that the People calling upon God, as they saw the Carts carrying away the dead Bodies, was all enthusiastick, absurd, and impertinent.
I made them some Reply, such as I thought proper, but which I found was so far from putting a Checque to their horrid Way of speaking, that it made them rail the more, so that I confess it fill'd me w'ith Horror, and a kind of Rage, and I came away, as I told them, lest the Hand of that Judgment which had visited the whole City should glorify his Vengeance upon them, and all that were near them.
They received all Reproof with the utmost Contempt, and made the greatest Mockery that was possible for them to do at me, giving me all the opprobrious insolent Scoffs that they could think of for preaching to them, as they call'd it, which indeed grieved me, rather than angred me ; and I went away blessing God, however, in my Mind, that I had not spar'd them, tho' they had insulted me so much.
They continued this wretched Course, three or four Days after this, continually mocking and jeering at all that shew'd themselves religious, or serious, or that were any way touch'd with the Sence of the terrible Judgment of God upon us, and I was inform'd they shouted in the same Manner, at the good People, who, notwithstanding the Contagion, met at the Church, fasted, and prayed to God to remove his Hand from them.
I say, they continued this dreadful Course three or four Days, I think it was no more, when one of them, particu- larly he who ask'd the poor Gentleman what he did out of his Grave? was struck from Heaven with the Plague, and
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died in a most deplorable Manner; and in a Word they were every one of them carried into the great Pit, wliich I have mentioned above, before it was quite fill'd up, which was not above a Fortnight or thereabout.
These 'Men were guilty of many extravagances, such as one M'ould think. Human Nature should have trembled at the Thoughts of, at such a Time of general Terror, as was then upon us ; and particularly scoffing and mocking at every thing which they happened to see, that was religious among the People, especially at their thronging zealously to the Place of publick Worship, to implore Mercy from Heaven in such a Time of Distress ; and this Tavern, where they held their Club, being within View of the Church Door, they had the more particular Occasion for their Atheistical profane Mirth. *
But this began to abate a little with them before the Accident, which I have related, happened ; for the Infec- tion increased so violently, at this Part of the Town now, that People began to be afraid to come to the Church, at least such Numbers did not resort thither as was usual; many of the Clergymen likewise were Dead, and others gone into the Country ; for it really required a steady Courage, and a strong Faith, for a Man not only to ven- ture being in Town at such a Time as this, but likewise to venture to come to Church and perform the Office of a Minister to a Congregation, of whom he had reason to be- lieve many of them were actually infected with the Plague, and to do this every Day, or twice a Day, as in some Places was done.
It is true, the People shew'd an extraordinary Zeal in these religious Exercises, and as the Church Doors were
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 93
always open. People would go in single at all Times, whether the Minister was officiating or no, and locking themselves into separate Pews, would be praying to God with great Fervency and Devotion.
Others assembled at Meeting-Houses, every one as their different Opinions in such Things guided, but all were pro- miscuously the Subject of these Mens Droller)', especially at the Beginning of the Visitation.
It seems they had been check'd for their open insulting Religion in this Manner, by several good People of every perswasion, and that, and the violent raging of the Infec- tion, I suppose, was the Occasion that they had abated much of their Rudeness, for some time before, and were only rous'd by the Spirit of Ribaldry, and Atheism, at the Clamoj^r "i^'hich was made, when the Gentleman was first brought in there, and perhaps, were agitated by the same Devil, when I took upon me to reprove them : tho' I did it at first with all the Calmness, Temper, and Good Manners that I could, which, for a while, they insulted me the more for, thinking it had been in fear of their Resentment, tho' afterwards they found the contrar;/.
I went Home indeed, griev'd and afflicted in my Mind, at the Abominable Wickedness of those Men, not doubting", however, that they would be made dreadful Examples of God's Justice ; for I look'd upon this dismal Time to be a particular Season of Divine Vengeance, and that God would, on this Occasion, single out the proper Objects of his Displeasure, in a more special and remarkable Planner, than at another Time ; and that, tho' I did believe that many good People would, and did^ fall in the common Calamity, and that it was no certain Rule to judge of the
^ JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR,
eternal State of any one, by their being distinguish'd in such a Time of general Destruction, neither one Way or other; yet I say, it could not but seem reasonable to 'believe, that God would not think fit to spare by his Mercy such open declared Enemies, that should insult his Name and Being, defy his Vengeance, and mock at his Worship and Worshipers, at such a Time, no not tho' his Mercy had thought fit to bear with, and spare them at other Times : That this was a Day of Visitation ; a Day of God's Anger ; and those Words came into my Thought, Jer. v. 9. " Shall I not visit for these things, saith the Lord, and shall not my Soul be avenged of such a Nation as this ? "
These Things, I say, lay upon my Mind; and I went home very much griev'd and oppress'd with tJ^d^orror of these Mens Wickedness, and to think that any thiHl could be so vile, so hardened, and so notoriously wicked, as to insult God and his Servants, and his Worship, in such a Manner, and at such a Time as this was ; when he had, as it were, his Sword drawn in his Hand, on purpose to take Vengeance, not on them only, but on the whole Nation.
I had indeed, been in some Passion, at first, with them, tho' it was really raised, not by any Affront they had offered me personally, but by the Horror their blaspheming Tongues fill'd me with; however, I was doubtful in my Thoughts, whether the Resentment I retained was not all upon my o^ti private Account, for thej had given me a great deal of ill Language too, I mean Personally ; but after some Pause, and having a Weight of Grief upon my Mind, I retired my self, as soon as I came home, for I slept not that Night, and giving God most humble Thanks for my Preservation in the eminent Danger I had been in, I
yOVRKAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR, 95
set my Mind seriously, and with the utmos: Earnestness, to pray for those desperate Wretches, that God -would pardcn them, open their Eyes, and effectually humble them.
By this I not only did my Duty, namely, to pray for those who dispitefuliy used me. but I fully try'd my own Heart, to my full Satisfaction; that it was not nli'd \virh any Spirit of Resentment as they had offended me in parti- cular : and I humbly recommend the Method to all those that would know, or be certain, how to d:-":- ■: -ish between their real Zeal for the Honour of God, a^ .i r..ie Effects oi their private Passions and Resentment.
But I must go back here to the particular Inc.ie:..: which occur to my Thoughts of the Time of the Vis:: ..::.-. and particularly, to the Time of their shutting up Hcusei, in th^fiiS^art of the Sickness; for before the Sickress was lome to its Height, People had more Room to : : :e their Observations, than they had afterward: But^'":r . :: was in the Extremity, there was no such Thing as l ::.:- munication with one another, as before.
During the shutting up of Houses, as 1 ..:,.z i'^:i. 5::.:r Violence was offered to the Watchmen; as to S:.::r:5. there were none to be found; the few Guar ii v..:. ::e King then had, which were nothing like the Number, enter- tain'd since, were dispers'd, either at Oxford with the Court, or in Quarters in the remoter Parts of the Country; small detachments excepted, who did Duty at the Tower, and at White-Hail, and these but very few ; neither am I positive, that there was any other Guard at the Tower, than the Warders, as they called them, who stand at the Gate with Gowns and Caps, the sam.e as the Yeomen of the -Guard ; except the ordinary Gunners, who were 24, and
96 yOVRNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
the Officers appointed to look after tlie Magazine, who were call'd Armourers ; as to Traind-Bands, there was no PossibiUty of raising any, neither if tlie Lieutenancy, either of London or Middlesex, had ordered the Drums to beat for the Mihtia, would any of the Companies, I believe, have drawn together, whatever Risque they had run.
This made the Watchmen be the less regarded, and per- haps, occasioned the greater Violence to be used against them ; I mention it on this Score, to observe that the setting Watchmen thus to keep the People in, was (ist) of all, not effectual, but that the People broke out, whether by Force or by Stratagem, even almost as often as they pleas'd : And (2d) that those that did thus break out, were generally People infected, who in their Desperation, running about from one Place to another, valued not who they injur'd, and which perhaps, as I have said, might give Birih to Report, that it was natural to the infected People to desire to infect others, which Report was really false.
And I know it so well, and in so many several Cases, that I could give several Relations of good, pious, and religious People, who, when they have had the Distemper, have been so far from being forward to infect others, that they have forbid their own Family to come near them, in Hopes of their being preserved ; and have even died with- out seeing their nearest Relations, lest they should be instrumental to give them the Distemper, and infect or en- danger them : If then there were Cases wherein the in- fected People were careless of the Injury they did to others, this was certainly one of them, if not the chief, namely, when People, who had the Distemper, had broken out from Houses which were so shut up, and having been driven to
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 07
Extremities for Provision, or for Entertainment, had endea- voured to conceal their Condition, and have been thereby Instrumental involuntarily to infect others who have been ignorant and unwary.
This is one of the Reasons why I believed then, and do believe still, that the shutting up Houses thus by Force, and restraining, or rather imprisoning People in their own Houses, as is said above, was of little or no Service in tlie Whole; nay, I am of Opinion, it was rather hurtful, having forc'd those desperate People to wander abroad with the Plague upon them, who would otherwise have died quietly in their Beds.
I remember one Citizen, who having thus broken out of his House in Aldersgate-Street, or thereabout, went along the Road to Islington, he attempted to have gone in at the Angel-Inn, and after that, at the White-Horse, two Inns known still by the same Signs, but was refused ; after which he came to the Pyed Bull, an Inn also still continuing the same Sign ; he asked them for Lodging for one Night only, pretending to be going into Lincolnshire, and assuring them of his being very sound, and free from the Infection, which also, at that Time, had not reached much that Way. They told him they had no Lodging that they could spare, but one Bed, up in the Garret, and that they could spare that Bed but for one Night, some Drovers being expected the next Day with Cattle ; so, if he would accept of that Lodging, he might have it, which he did ; so a Servant was sent up with a Candle with him, to shew him the Room ; he was very well dress'd, and look'd like a Person not used to lie in a Garret, and when he came to the Room he fech'd a deep Sigh, and said to the Servant,
D
98 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
I have seldom lain in such a Lodging as this ; however the Servant assuring him again, that they had no better, Well, says he, I must make shift : this is a dreadful Time, but it is but for one Night ; so he sat down upon the Bed-side, and bad the maid, I think it was, fetch him up a Pint of warm Ale ; accordingly the Servant went for the Ale ; but some Hurry in the House, which perhaps, employed her otherways, put it out of her Head ; and she went up no more to him.
The next Morning seeing no Appearance of the Gentle- man, some Body in the House asked the Servant that had shewed him up Stairs, what was become of him? She started ; Alas, says she, I never thought more of him : He bad me carry him some warm Ale, but I forgot; upon which, not the Maid, but some other Person, was sent up to see after him, who coming into the Room found him stark dead, and almost cold, stretch'd out cross the Bed ; his Cloths were pulled off, his Jaw fallen, his Eyes open in a most frightful Posture, the Rug of the Bed being grasped hard in one of his Hands ; so that it was plain he died soon after the Maid left him, and 'tis probable, had she gone up with the Ale, she had found him dead in a few Minutes after he sat down upon the Bed. The Alarm was great in the House, as any one may suppose, they having been free from the Distemper, till that Disaster, which bringing the Infection to the House, spread it immediately to other Houses round about it. I do not remember how many died in the House it self, but I think the Maid Ser- vant, who went up first with him, fell presently ill by the Fright, and several others ; for whereas there died but two in Islington of the Plague the Week before, there died 17
■JOURXAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 99
the Week after, whereof 14 were of the Plague; this was in the Week from the nth of July to the i8th.
There was one Shift that some Families had, and that not a few, when their Houses happened to be infected, and that was this ; The Families, who in the first breaking out of the Distemper, fled away into the Country, and had Retreats among their Friends, generally found some or other of their Neighbours or Relations to commit the Charge of those Houses to, for the Safety of the Goods, and the like. Some Houses were indeed entirely lock'd up, the Doors padlockt, the Windows and Doors having Deal-Boards nail'd over them, and only the Inspection of them committed to the ordinary Watchmen and Parish Officers ; but these were but few.
It was thought that there were not less than 10,000
Houses forsaken of the Inhabitants in the City and Suburbs,
including what was in the Out Parishes, and in Surrey, or
the Side of the Water they call'd Southwark. This was
besides the Numbers of Lodgers, and of particular Persons
who were fled out of other Families ; so that in all it was
computed that about 200,000 People were fled and gone
in all : But of this I shall speak again : But I mention it
here on this Account, namely, that it was a Rule with those
who had thus two Houses in their Keeping, or Care, that
if any Body was taken sick in a Family, before the [Master
of the Family let the Examiners, or any other Officer, know
of it, he immediately would send ail the rest of his Family,
whether Children or Servants, as it fell out to be, to such
other House which he had so in Charge, and then giving
Notice of the sick Person to the Examiner, have a Nurse,
or Nurses appointed ; and have another Person to be shut
D 2
loo JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR,
up in the House with them (which many for Money would do) so to take Charge of the House, in case the Person should die.
This was in many Cases the saving a whole Family, who, if they had been shut up with the sick Person, would inevitably have perished : But on the other Hand, this was another of the Inconveniences of shutting up Houses ; for the Apprehensions and Terror of being shut up, made many run away with the rest of the Family, who, tho' it was not publickly known, and they were not quite sick, had yet the Distemper upon them ; and who by having an uninterrupted Liberty to go about, but being obliged still to conceal their Circumstances, or perhaps not knowing it themselves, gave the Distemper to others, and spread the Infection in a dreadful Manner, as I shall explain farther hereafter.
And here I may be able to make an Observation or two of my own, which may be of use hereafter to those, into whose Hands this may come, if they should ever see the like dreadful Visitation, (i.) The Infection generally came in- to the Houses of the Citizens, by the Means of their Ser- vants, who, they were obliged to send up and down the Streets for Necessaries, that is to say, for Food, or Physick, to Bake-houses, Brew-houses, Shops, &c. and who going necessarily thro' the Streets into Shops, Markets, and the like, it was impossible, but that they should one way or other, meet with distempered people, who conveyed the fatal Breath into them, and they brought it Home to the Families, to which they belonged. (2.) It was a great Mis- take, that such a great City as this had but one Pest-House; for had there been, instead of one Pest-House, viz, beyond Bunhil-Fields, where, at most, they could receive, perhaps,
yoVRNAL Oh THE PLAGCE lEAR. loi
200 or 300 People; I say, had there instead of that one been several Pest-houses, every one able to contain a thou- sand People without lying two in a Bed, or two Beds in a Room ; and had every Master of a Family, as soon as any Servant especially, had been taken sick in his House, been obliged to send them to the next Pest-House, if they were ■willing, as many were, and had the Examiners done the like among the poor People, when any had been stricken with the Infection ; I say, had this been done where the People were wiUing, (not otherwise) and the Houses not been shut, I am perswaded, and was all the "While of that Opinion, that not so many, by several Thousands, had died ; for it was observed, and I could give several Instances within the Compass of my own Knowledge, where a Ser- vant had been taken sick, and the Family had either Time to send them out, or retire from the House, and leave the sick Person, as I have said above, they had all been pre- served; whereas, when upon one, or more, sickning in a Family, the House has been shut up, the whole Family have perished, and the Bearers been oblig'd to go in to fetch out the Dead Bodies, none being able to bring them to the Door; and at last none left to do it.
(2.) This put it out of Question to me, that the Calamity was spread by Infection, that is to say, by some certain Steams, or Fumes, which the Physicians call Effluvia, by the Breath, or by the Sweat, or by the Stench of the Sores of the sick Persons, or some other way, perhaps, beyond even the Reach of the Physicians themselves, which Effluvia affected the Sound, who come within certain Distances of the Sick, immediately penetrating the Vital Parts of the said sound Persons, putting their Blood into an Immediate
I02 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
ferment, and agitating their Spirits to that Degree which it was found they were agitated; and so those newly infected Persons communicated it in the same Manner to others ; and this I shall give some Instances of, that cannot but convince those who seriously consider it ; and I cannot but with some Wonder, find some People, now the Con- tagion is over, talk of its being an immediate Stroke from Heaven, without the Agency of Means, having Commission to strike this and that particular Person, and none other ; which I look upon with Contempt, as the Effect of mani- fest Ignorance and Enthusiasm ; likewise the Opinion of others, who talk of infection being carried on by the Air only, by carrying with it vast Numbers of Insects, and in- visible Creatures, who enter into the Body with the Breath, or even at the Pores with the Air, and there generate, or emit most accute Poisons, or poisonous Ovae, or Eggs, which mingle themselves with the Blood, and so infect the Body ; a Discourse full of learned Simplicity, and mani- fested to be so by universal Experience ; but I shall say more to this Case in its Order.
I must here take farther Notice that Nothing was more fatal to the Inhabitants of this City, than the Supine Negli- gence of the People themselves, who during the long Notice or Warning they had of the Visitation, yet made no Provision for it, by laying in Store of Provisions, or of other Neces- saries ; by which they might have liv'd retir'd, and within their own Houses, as I have observed, others did, and who were in a great ]\Ieasure preserv'd by that Caution ; nor were they, after they were a Httle hardened to it so shye of con- versing with one another, when actually infected, as they were at first, no tho' they knew it.
]^OURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 103
I acknowledge I was one of those thoughtless Ones, that had made so little Provision, that my Servants were obliged to go out of Doors to buy every Trifle by Penny and Plalf- penny, just as before it begun, even till my Experience shewing me the Folly, I began to be wiser so late, that I had scarce Time to store my self sufficient for our common Subsistence for a Month.
I had in Family only an antient Woman, that managed the House, a Maid-Servant, two Apprentices, and my self; and the Plague beginning to encrease about us, I had many sad Thoughts about what Course I should take, and how I should act ; the many dismal Objects, which happened everywhere as I went about the Streets, had fiU'd my Mind with a great deal of Horror, for fear of the Distemper it self, which was indeed, very horrible in it self, and in some more than in others, the swellings which were generally in the Neck, or Groin, when they grew hard, and would not break, grew so painful, that it was equal to the most ex- quisite Torture ; and some not able to bear the Torment threw themselves out at Windows, or shot themselves, or otherwise made themselves away, and I saw several dismal Objects of that Kind : Others unable to contain themselves, vented their Pain by incessant Roarings, and such loud and lamentable Cries were to be heard as we walk'd along the Streets, that would Pierce the very Heart to think of, especially when it was to be considered, that the same dreadful Scourge might be expected every Moment to seize upon our selves.
I cannot say, but that now I began to faint in my Re- solutions, my Heart fail'd me very much, and sorely I repented of my Rashness : When I bad been out, and met
I04 yOURXAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
vnth. such terrible Things as these I have talked of; I say, I repented my Rashness in venturing to abide in Town : I wish'd often, that I had not taken upon me to stay, but had gone away with my Brother and his Family.
Terrified by those frightful Objects, I would retire Home sometimes, and resolve to go out no more, and perhaps, I would keep those Resolutions for three or four Days, which Time I spent in the most serious Thankfulness for my Preservation, and the Preservation of my Family, and the constant Confession of my Sins, giving my self up to God every Day, and applying to him with Fasting, Humiliation, and Meditation : Such intervals as I had, I employed in reading Books, and in writing down my Memorandums of what occurred to me every Day, and out of which, afterwards, I formed most of this Work as it relates to my Observations without Doors : What I wrote of my private Meditations I reserve for private Use, and desire it may not be made publick oa any Account what- ever.
I also wrote other ^Meditations upon Divine Subjects,
such as occurred to me at that Time, and were profitable to my self, but not fit for any other View, and therefore I sav no more of that.
I had a very good Friend, a Physician, whose Name was Heath, who I frequently visited during this dismal Time, and to whose Advice I was very much oblig'd for many Things which he directed me to take, by way of preventing the Infection when I went out, as he found I frequently did, and to hold in my Mouth when I was in the Streets; he also came very often to see me, and as he was a good Christian, as well as a good Physician, his agreeable Con-
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 105
versation was a very great Support to me in the worst of this terrible Time.
It was now the Beginning of August, and the Plague grew very violent and terrible in the Place where I liv'd, and Dr. Heath coming to visit me, and finding that I ven- tured so often out in the Streets, earnestly perswaded me to lock my self up and my Family, and not to suffer any of us to go out of Doors ; to keep all our Windows fast, Shutters and Curtains .close, and never to open them ; but first, to make a very strong Smoke in the Room, where the Window, or Door was to be opened, with Rozen and Pitch, Brimstone, or Gunpowder, and the like ; and we did this for some Time : But as I had not laid in a Store of Pro- vision for such a retreat, it was impossible that we could keep within Doors entirely; however, I attempted, tho' it was so very late, to do something towards it ; and first, as I had Convenience both for Brewing and Baking, I went and bought two Sacks of iSIeal, and for several Weeks, having an Oven, we baked all our own Bread; also I bought Malt, and brew'd as much Beer as all the Casks I Jiad would hold, and which seem'd enough to serve my House for five or six Weeks ; also I laid in a Quantity of Salt-butter and Cheshire Cheese ; but I had no Flesh-meat, and the Plague raged so violently among the Butchers, and Slaughter-Houses, on the other Side of our Street, where they are known to dwell in great Numbers, that it was not advisable, so much as to go over the Street among them. ^x And here I must observe again, that this Necessity of going out of our Houses to buy Provisions, was in a great Measure the Ruin of the whole City, for the People catch'd the Distemper, on those Occasions, one of another, and
IO& JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
even the Provisions themselves were often tainted, at least I have great Reason to believe so ; and therefore I cannot say with Satisfaction what I know is repeated with great Assurance, that the Market People, and such as brought Provisions, to Town, were never infected : I am certain, the Butchers of White-Chapel where the greatest Part of the Flesh-meat was killed, were dreadfully visited, and that at last to such a Degree, that few of their Shops were kept open, and those that remain'd of them, kill'd their Meat at Mile-End, and that Way, and brought it to Market upon Horses.
However, the poor People cou'd not lay up Provisions, and there was a necessity, that they must go to Market to buy, and others to send Servants or their Children ; and as this was a Necessity which renew'd it self daily ; it brought abundance of unsound People to the Markets, and a great many that went thither Sound, brought Death Home with them.
It is true. People us'd all possible Precaution, when any one bought a Joint of Meat in the Market, they would not take it of the Butchers Hand, but take it off of the Hooks them- selves. On the other Hand, the Butcher would not touch the Money, but have it put into a Pot full of Vinegar which he kept for that purpose. The Buyer carry'd always small Money to make up any odd Sum, that they might take no Change. They carry'd Bottles for Scents, and Perfumes in their Hands, and all the Means that could be us'd, were us'"d : But then the Poor cou'd not do even these things, and they went at all Hazards.
Innumerable dismal Stories we heard every Day on this very Account ; Sometimes a Man or Woman dropt down
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR. 107
Dead in the very Markets ; for many People that had the Plague upon them, kne\v nothing of it; till the inward Gangreen had affected their Vitals and they dy'd in a few Moments ; this caus'd, that many died frequently in that Manner in the Streets suddainly, without any warning : Others perhaps had Time to go to the next Bulk or Stall ; or to any Door, Porch, and just sit down and die, as I have said before.
These Objects were so frequent in the Streets, that 'when the Plague came to be very raging, On one Side, there was scarce any passing by the Streets, but that several dead Bodies would be lying here and there upon the Ground ; on the other hand it is observable, that tho' at first, the People would stop as they went along, and call to the Neighbours to come out on such an Occasion ; yet, afterward, no Notice was taken of them ; but that, if at any Time we found a Corps lying, go cross the Way, and not come near it ; or if in a narrow Lane or Passage, go back again, and seek some other Way to go on the Business we were upon ; and in those Cases, the Corps was always left, till the Officers had notice to come and take them away ; or till Night, when the Bearers attending the Dead-Cart would take them up, and carry them away : Nor did those undaunted Creatures, who performed these Offices, fail to search their Pockets, and sometimes strip off their Cloths, if they were well drest, as sometimes they were, and cany off what they could get.
But to return to the Markets ; the Butchers took that Care, that if any Person dy'd in the Market, they had the Officers always at Hand, to take them up upon Hand- barrows, and carry them to the next Church- Yard ; and this was so frequent that such were not entred in the weekly
ic8 jfOURXAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR.
Bill, found Dead in the Streets or Fields, as is the Case now ; but they went into the general Articles of the great Distemper.
But now the Fury of the Distemper encreased to such a Dec^ree, that even the Markets were but very thinly furnished with Provisions, or frequented with Buyers, compair'd to what they were before ; and the Lord-Mayor caused the Country-People who brought Provisions, to be stop'd in the Streets leading into^the Town, and to sit down there with their Goods, where they sold what they brought, and went immediately away ; and this Encourag'd the Country People greatly to do so, for they sold their Provisions at the very Entrances into the Town, and even in the Fields ; as particularly in the Fields beyond White-Chappel, in Spittle-fields. Note, Those Streets now called Spittle-Fields, were then indeed open Fields : Also in St. George's- fields in Southwork, in Bunhill Fields, and in a great Field, caird Wood's-Close near Islington ; thither the Lord Mayor, Aldermen, and iMagistrates, sent their Officers and Ser- vants to buy for their Families, themselves keeping within Doors as much as possible ; and the like did many other People ; and after this ISIethod was taken, the Country People came with great chearfulness, and brought Provi- sions of all Sorts, and very seldom got any harm ; which I suppose, added also to that Report of their being Miracu- lously preserv'd.
As for my little Family, having thus, as I have said, laid in a Store of Bread, Butter, Cheese, and Beer, I took my Friend and Physician's Advice, and lock'd my self up, and my Family, and resolv'd to suffer the hardship of Living a
JOURNAL Of THE PLAGUE YEAR. 109
few Months without Flesh-Meat, rather than to purchase it at the hazard of our Lives.
But tho' I confin'd my Family, I could not prevail upon my unsatisfy'd Curiosity to stay within entirely my self; and tho' I generally came frighted and terrified Home, yet I cou'd not restrain ; only that indeed, I did not do it so fre- quently as at first.
I had some little Obligations indeed upon me, to go to my Brothers House, which was in Coleman's-street Parish, and which he had left to my Care, and I went at first every Day, but afterwards only once or twice a Week.
In these Walks I had many dismal Scenes before my Eyes, as particularly of Persons falling dead in the Streets, terrible Shrieks and Skreekings of Women, who in their Agonies would throw open their Chamber Windows, and cry out in a dismal Surprising Manner ; it is impossible to describe the Variety of Postures, in which the Passions of the Poor People would Express themselves.
Passing thro' Token-House-Yard in Lothbury, of a sud- den a Casement violently opened just over my Head, and a Woman gave three frightful Skreetches, and then cry'd. Oh ! Death, Death, Death ! in a most inimitable Tone, and which struck me with Horror, and a Chilness, in my very Blood. There was no Body to be seen in the whole Street, neither did any other Window open ; for People had no Curiosity now in any Case; nor could any Body help one another ; so I went on to pass into Bell- Alley.
Just in Bell-Alley, on the right Hand of the Passage, there was a more terrible Cry than that, tho' it was not so directed out at the Window, but the whole Family was in a terrible Fright, and I could hear Women and Children run
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skreaming about the Rooms like distracted, when a Garret Window opened, and some body from a Window on the other Side the Alley, call'd and ask'd, What is the Matter ? upon which, from the first Window it was answered, O Lord, my Old Master has hang'd himself ! The other ask'd again, Is he quite dead ? and the first answer'd, Ay, Ay, quite dead ; quite dead and cold ! This Person was a Mer- chant, and a Deputy x\lderman and ver>^ rich. I care not to mention the Name, tho' I knew his Name too, but that would be an Hardship to the Family, which is now flourish- ing again.
But, this is but one ; it is scarce credible what dreadful Cases happened in particular Families every Day ; People in the Rage of the Distemper, or in the Torment of their Swellings, which was indeed intollerable, running out of their own Government, raving and distracted, and oftentimes laying violent Hands upon themselves, throwing themselves out at their Windows, shooting themselves, &c. Mothers murthering their own Children, in their Lunacy, some dying of mere Grief, as a Passion, some of mere Fright and Sur- prize, without any Infection at all ; others frighted into Idiotism, and foolish Distractions, some into dispair and Lunacy ; others into mellancholy Madness.
The Pain of the Swelling was in particular very violent, and to some intollerable ; the Physicians and Surgeons may be said to have tortured many poor Creatures, even to Death. The Swellings in some grew hard, and th&y apply'd violent drawing Plasters, or Pultices, to break them ; and if these did not do, they cut and scarified them in a terrible Manner : In some, those Swellings were made hard, partly by the Force of the Distemper, and partly by their being
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too violently drawn, and were so hard, that no Instrument could cut them, and then they burnt them mth. Causticks, so that many died raving mad with the Torment ; and some in the very Operation. In these Distresses, some for want of Help to hold them down in their Beds, or to look to them, laid Hands upon themselves, as above. Some broke out into the Streets, perhaps naked, and would run directly down to the River, if they were not stopt by the Watchmen, or other Officers, and plunge themselves into the Water, wherever they found it.
It often pierc'd my very Soul to hear the Groans and Crys of those who were thus tormented, but of the Two, this* was counted the most promising Particular in the whole Infection ; for, if these Swellings could be brought to a Head, and to break and run, or as the Surgeons call it, to digest, the Patient generally recover'd ; whereas those, who like the Gentlewoman's Daughter, were struck with Death at the Beginning, and had the Tokens come out upon them, often went about indifferent easy, till a little before they died, and some till the Moment they dropt down, as in Appoplexies and Epelepsies, is often the Case ; such w^ould be taken suddenly very sick, and would run to a Bench or Bulk, or any convenient Place that offer'd it self, or to their own Houses, if possible, as I mentioned before, and there sit down, grow faint and die. This kind of dying was much the same, as it was with those who die of common Mortifications, w^ho die swooning, and as it were, go away in a Dream ; such as died thus, had very little Notice of their being infected at all, till the Gangreen was spread thro' their whole Body ; nor could Physicians them- selves, know certainly how it was with them, till they opened
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their Breasts, or other Parts of their Body, and saw the Tokens.
We had at this Time a great many frightful Stories told us of Nurses and Watchmen, who looked after the dying People, that is to say, hir'd Nurses, who attended infected People, using them barbarously, starving them, smothering them, or by other wicked Means, hastening their End, that is to say, murthering of them : And Watchmen being set to guard Houses that were shut up, when there has been but one person left, and perhaps, that one lying sick, that they have broke in and murthered that Body, and imme- diately thrown them out into the Dead-Cart ! and so they have gone scarce cold to the Grave.
I cannot say, but that some such Murthers were com- mitted, and I think two were sent to Prison for it, but died before they could be try'd ; and I have heard that three others, at several Times, were excused for Murthers of that kind; but I must say I beHeve nothing of its being so common a Crime, as some have since been pleas'd to say, nor did it seem to be so rational, where the People were brought so low as not to be able to help themselves, for such seldom recovered, and there wms no Temptation to commit a Murder, at least, none equal to the Fact where they were sure Persons would die in so short a Time ; and could not live.
That there were a great many Robberies and wicked Practises committed even in this dreadful Time I do not deny ; the Power of Avarice was so strong in some, that they would run any Hazard to steal and to plunder, and particularly in Houses where all the Families, or Inhabit- ants have been dead; and carried out, they would break
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in at ail Hazards, and without Regard to the Danger of Infec- tion, take even the Cloths off, of the dead Bodies, and the Bed-cloaths from others where they lay dead.
This, I suppose, must be the Case of a Family in Hounds- ditch, where a Man and his Daughter, the rest of the Family being, as I suppose, carried away before by the Dead-Cart, were found stark naked, one in one Chamber, and one in another, lying Dead on the Floor ; and the Cloths of the Beds, from whence, 'tis supposed they were roli'd off by Thieves, stoln, and carried quite away.
It is indeed to be observ'd, that the Women were in all this Calamity, the most rash, fearless, and desperate Crea- tures : and as there were vast Numbers that went about as Nurses, to tend those that were sick, they committed a great many petty Thieveries in the Houses where they were employed ; and some of them were publickly whipt for it, when perhaps, they ought rather to have been hanged for Examples : for Numbers of Houses were robbed on these Occasions, till at length, the Parish Officers were sent to recommend Nurses to the Sick, and always took an Account who it was they sent, so as that they might call them to account, if the House had been abused where they were placed.
But these Robberies extended chiefly to "Wearing-Cloths, Linen, and what Rings, or Money they could come at, when the Person dyed who was under their Care, but not to a general Plunder of the Houses ; and I could give an Account of one of these Nurses, who several Years after, being on her Death-bed, confest with the utmost Horror, the Robberries she had committed at the Time of her being a Nurse, and by which she had enriched herself to
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a great Degree : But as for miirthers, I do not find that there was ever any Proof of the Facts, in the manner, as it has been reported, except as above.
They did tell me indeed of a Nurse in one place, that laid a wet Cloth upon the Face of a dying Patient, who she tended, and so put an End to his Life, who was just expiring before : And another that smother'd a young Woman she was looking to, when she was in a fainting fit, and would have come to her self: Some that kill'd them by giving them one Thing, some another, and some starved them by giving them nothing at all : But these Stories had two Marks of Suspicion that always attended them, which caused me always to slight them, and to look on them as mere Stories, that People continually frighted one another with, (i.) That wherever it was that we heard it, they always placed the Scene at the farther End of the Town, opposite, or most remote from where you were to hear it : If you heard it in White-Chapel, it had happened at St. Giles's, or at Westminster, or Holborn, or that End of the Town ; if you heard of it at that End of the Town, then it was done in White-Chapel, or the Minories, or about Cripplegate Parish : If you heard of it in the City, why, then it had happened in Southwark ; and if you heard of it in Southwark, then it was done in the City, and the like.
In the next Place, of what Part soever you heard the Story, the Particulars were always the same, especially that of laying a wet double Clout on a dying Man's Face, and that of smothering a young Gentlewoman ; so that it was apparent, at least to my Judgment, that there was more of Tale than of Truth in those Things.
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However, I cannot say, but it had some Effect upon the People, and particularly that, as I said before, they grew more cautious who they took into their Houses, and who they trusted their Lives with ; and had them always recom- mended, if they could; and where they could not find such, for they were not very plenty, they applied to the Parish Officers.
But here again, the Misery of that Time lay upon the Poor, who being infected, had neither Food or Physick; neither Physician or iVppothecary to assist them, or Nurse to attend them : Many of those died calling for help, and even for Sustenance out at their Windows, in a most miserable and deplorable manner ; but it must be added, that when ever the Cases of such Persons or Families were represented to my Lord-Mayor, they always were reliev'd.
It is true, in some Houses where the People were not very poor ; yet, where they had sent perhaps their Wives and Children away; and if they had any Servants, they had been dismist ; I say it is true, that to save the Ex- pences, many such as these shut themselves in, and not having Help, dy'd alone.
A Neighbour and Acquaintance of mine, having some Money owing to him from a Shopkeeper in White-Cross- street, or there abouts, sent his Apprentice, a youth about 18 Years of Age, to endeavour to get the Money: He came to the Door, and finding it shut, knockt pretty hard, and as he thought, heard some Body answer within, but was not sure. So he waited, and after some stay knockt again, and then a third Time, when he heard some Body coming down Stairs.
At length the Man of the House came to the Door j he
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had on his Breeches or Drawers, and a yellow Flannel Waistcoat ; no Stockings, a pair of Slipt-Shoes, a white Cap on his head ; and as the young Man said, Death in his Face.
When he open'd the Door, says he, what do you disturb me thus for? the Boy, tho' a litde surpriz'd, reply'd, I come from such a one, and my Master sent me for the Money, which he says you know of: Very well, Child, re- turns the living Ghost, call as you go by at Cripplegate Church, and bid them ring the