A Journal of the
Plague Year.
|
![[Renascence Editions]](ren.gif "Return to Renascence Editions")
T 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 Roterdam, 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 mattered not, from whence it come; but
all agreed, it was come into Holland again.| From Dec. 27th to Jan. 3. |
St. Gile's --------16 St. Andrew's-----17 |
| Jan. 3
to------------10. |
St. Gile's --------12 St. Andrew's-----25 |
| Jan. 10
to----------17. |
St. Gile's --------18 St. Andrew's-----18 |
| Jan 17 to Jan.
24. |
St. Gile's --------23 St. Andrew's-----16 |
| Ja. 24 to
-----------31. |
St. Gile's --------24 St. Andrew's-----15 |
| Jan. 30 to Feb.
7. |
St. Gile's --------21 St. Andrew's-----23 |
| Feb. 7
to-----------14. |
St. Gile's --------24 whereof one of the Plague. |
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, adjoining 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. Bride's -------- 0 St. James's-------- 8 |
|
Dec. 27
to Jan. 3. |
St. Bride's -------- 6 St. James's-------- 9 |
|
Jan. 3
to--------10. |
St. Bride's --------11 St. James's-------- 7 |
|
Jan 17 to-------24. |
St. Bride's -------- 9 St. James's--------15 |
| Ja. 24
to
-------31. |
St. Bride's -------- 8 St. James's--------12 |
|
Jan. 31 to Feb.
7. |
St. Bride's --------13 St. James's-------- 5 |
| Feb.
7
to--------14. |
St. Bride's --------12 St. James's-------- 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 usual Number of Burials within the Bills of Mortality 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 | -------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 preceeding Visitation of 1656.
However, all this went off again, and the Weather proving cold, and the Frost which began in December, still continuing 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 everybody 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 25th, when there was buried in St. Giles's Parish 30, whereof two of the Plague, and 8 of the Spotted-Feaver, which was look'd upon as the same thing; likewise the Number that died of the Spotted-Feaver in the whole increased, being 8 the Week before, and 12 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 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 return'd again, and the Distemper 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 Bearbinder Lane, near 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 Distemper, 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 chiefly 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 16th there died but three, of which not one within the whole City or Liberties, and St. Andrew's buried but 15, 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 Peoples were no more to be deceived thus; they searcht the Houses, and found that the Plague was really spread every way, and that many died of it every Day: So that now all our Extenuations 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 Weekly 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 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 Spot-ted-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 23rd 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! 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 immediately 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 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 threatned, 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: Southwark 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 Consternation was very great; and the richer sort of People, especially 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 attending 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 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 travelling, 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 unhappy 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 crouding 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 tne 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 sav, 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 prevent 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 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 Effects 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, 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 was 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 Pretentions of losing my Trade and my Goods; for, says he, is it not as reasonable that you should trust God with the Chance or rsque 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 Soldiers Tent with us, 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 Increase of the Distemper, and not knowing when I should go, he took other Measures, and left me, so 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 Distemper.
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 enclin'd 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 Soveraignty in disposing of me; and that then there had been no Difficulty to determine which was the Call of the 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 ridiculous, 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 perfect 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 Consequences 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 predetermin'd and unalterably before-hand decreed, they would go unconcern'd into infected Places, and converse with infected Persons, by which 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 escaped the Contagion.
Upon these Arguments my Brother chang'd my Resolutions 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 prepar'd every thing as well as I could, as to my Business, and who to entrust my Affairs with, I had little to do but to resolve.
I went Home that Evening greatly oppress'd in my Mind, irresolute, and not knowing what to do; I had set the Evening wholly apart to consider seriously about it, 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 was 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 Impressions 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 con-tain'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 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 7th Verse exclusive; and after that, included the 10th, 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 noisom pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shah 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 fiieth by day: Nor for the pestilence that walketh 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 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 Dorking in Surry, and afterwards fetch'd a Round farther into Buckinghamshire, or Bedfordshire, to a Retreat he had found out there for his Family.
It was a very ill Time to be sick in, for if any one complain'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 Apprehensions 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 the Parishes of St. Giles, and St. Martins 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 Distemper to draw our Way; (wz.) 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 Week, from the 4th to the 11 th 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 11th of July to the 18th, 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 spar'd, in Comparison 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 practis'd 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.
The Face of London was now indeed strangely alter'd, I mean the whole Mass of Buildings, City, Liberties, Suburbs, Westminster, Southwark, 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 every Face; and tho' some Part were not yet overwhelm'd, yet all look'd deeply concern'd; and as we saw it apparently coming on, so every 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 every where presented itself, 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, or made a formal Dress of Mourning, for their nearest Friends; but the Voice of Mourning was truly heard in the Streets; the shriecks 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 towards the latter End, Mens Hearts were hardned, and Death was so always before their Eyes, that they did not so much concern themselves 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 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 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 Lawyers; 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 rows 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 yet near so great in the City, abstractly so called; and particularly because, tho' they were at first in a most inexpressible 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, Ratclif, 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 Visitation, I mean, at the time that it began; for tho' I have liv'd 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 flock'd to London, to settle in Business; or to depend upon, and attend the Court for Rewards of Services, Preferments, and the like, was 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 Families of the royal Party, flock'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 celebrate 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 belong'd to Fashion and Finery; So it drew by Consequence, a great Number of Work-men, Manufacturers, 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 were no less than an Hundred Thousand Ribband Weavers in and about the City; the chiefest Number of whom, lived then in the Parishes of Shoreditch, Stepney, White-chapel, and Bishopsgate; 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.
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 altogether, it was realy 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 appear'd 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 afterward 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 something 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 accordingly, One foretold a heavy Judgment, slow but severe, terrible and frightful, as was the Plague; but the other foretold a Stroak, sudden, swift, and fiery as the Conflagration; 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 God's 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 assign'd 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 Foretellers, much less the procurers of such Events, as Pestilence, War, Fire, and the like.
But let my Thoughts, and the Thoughts of the Philosophers 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.
The Apprehensions of the People, were likewise strangely encreas'd by the Error of the Times; in which, I think, the People, from what Principle I cannot imagine, were more adicted 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, Books frighted them terribly; such as Lilly's Almanack, Gadbury's Astrological 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, Britain's 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 Nineveh, cry'd in the Streets, yet forty Days, and L O N D O N 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 Waste, crying Day and Night; 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 Words continually, 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 enter into Speech with me, or any one else; but held on his dismal Cries continually.
These Things terrified the People to the last Degree; and especially when two or three Times, as I have mentioned 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 abundance 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 allow'd to say of both, I hope with out breach of Charity, that they heard Voices that never spake, and saw Sights that never appear'd; but the Imagination of the People was really turn'd wayward and possess'd: And no Wonder, if they, who were poreing continually at the Clouds, saw Shapes and Figures, Representations and Appearances, 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 un-buried, and the like; just as the Imagination of the poor terrify'd People furnish'd them with Matter to work upon.
So Hypocondriac Fancy's representI 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 Curosity, 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, and a Scoffer; told me, that it was a time of God's Anger, and dreadful Judgments were approaching; and that Despisers, such as I, should wander and perish.
Skips, Armies, Battles, in the Firmament;
Till steady Eyes, the Exhalations solve,
And all to its first Matter, Cloud, resolve
The People about her seem'd disgusted as well as she; and I found there was no perswading 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 itself.
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 Alms-Houses; there are two Church Yards to Bishopsgate Church, or Parish; one we go over to pass from the Place call'd Petty-France into Bishopsgate Street, coming out just by the Church Door, the other is on the side of the narrow Passage, where the Alms-Houses are on the left; and a Dwarf wall with a Palisadoe on it, on the right Hand; and the City Wall on the other 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 turned back; till at length he persuaded 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 call'd 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 Appearance 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 with 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 malignant Manner, and with a mischievous Influence; one of which Conjunctions was to happen, and did happen, in October; and the other in November; and they filled the Peoples Heads with Predictions on these Signs of the Heavens, intimating, that those Conjunctions fortold 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 dispersers 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 Sermons, rather sunk, than lifted up the Hearts of their Hearers; many of them no doubt did it for the strengthning the Resolution of the People; and especially for quickning them to Repentance; but it certainly answer'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 Invitations, 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; complaining, ye will not come unto me, that ye may have Life; 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 with 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 Divisions, and seperate Opinions prevail'd among the People; the Church of England was restor'd indeed with the Restoration of the Monarchy, about four Year before; but the Ministers and Preachers of the Presbyterians, and Independants, 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 [now] but not so many then, the 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 Government 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 flockt without Distinction to hear them preach, not much 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 with their 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, which, 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 Folly, presently made the Town swarm with a wicked Generation of Pretenders to Magick, to the Black Art, as they call'd it, and I know not what; Nay, 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 Astrologer; here you may have your Nativity calculated, and the like; and Fryar Bacon's Brazen-Head, which was the usual Sign of these Peoples Dwellings,was to be seen almost in every Street, or else the Sign of Mother Shipton, 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 Attendants crouded 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 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 rendred 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 Assurance 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 together; 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 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 of? 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 starvd and undone? And the like of Men-Servants.
The Truth is, the Case of poor Servants was very dismal,as I shall have occasion to mention again by and by; 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 Prophets had flattered with Hopes, that they should be continued in their 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 the Occasion; how they flock'd to the Churches and 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 bewit-ch'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 began to think of their Graves, not of Mirth and Diversions.
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 of 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 them 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 Money, but even poison'd themselves before-hand, for fear of the Poison of the Infection, and prepar'd their Bodies for the Plague, instead of preserving them against it. On the other Hand, it is incredible, and scarce to be imagin'd, how the Posts of Houses, and Corners of Streets were plaster'd over with Doctors Bills, 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.) INFALLIBLE preventive Pills against the Plague. NEVER-FAILING Preservatives against the Infection. SOVERAIGN Cordials against the Corruption of the Air. EXACT Regulations for the Conduct of the Body, in case of an Infection: Antipestil-ential Pills. INCOMPARABLE Drink against the Plague, never found out before. An UNIVERSAL Remedy for the Plague. The ONLY-TRUE 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, in 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 20000 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 experienced Physician, who has long studied the Doctrine of Antidotes against all sorts of Poison and Infection, has after 40 Years Practise, arrived to such Skill, as may, with God's Blessing, direct Persons how to prevent their being touch'd by any Contagious 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 Pick-pockets, 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 servicable to the Body in case an Infection followed.
I cannot omit a Subtilty of one of those Quack-operators, with which he gull'd the poor People to croud 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 Conclusion 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-Woman, and am kept by the Parish, and your Bills say, you give the Poor your 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 you give them your Advice for nothing, that is to say, you advise them gratis, to buy your Physick for their Money; so does every Shop-keeper with hisWares. 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 oblig'd to call her up Stairs again, and give her his Box of Physick for nothing, which, perhaps too was good for nothing when she had it.
But to return to the people, whose Confusions fitted them to be impos'd upon by all Sorts of Pretenders, and by every Mountebank. There is no doubt, but these quacking Sort of Fellows rais'd great gains out of the miserable People; for we daily found, the Crouds 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 beyond all this, which may serve to give an Idea of the distracted humour of the poor People at that Time; and this was their following 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 mention, it lay chiefly in the People deceiv'd, or equally in both; and this was in wearing Charms, Philters, Exorcisms, Amulets, and I know not what Preparations,to fortify the 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 particularly the Word Abracadabra, form'd in Triangle, or Pyramid thus:
| ABRACADABRA ABRACADABR ABRACADAB ABRACADA ABRACAD ABRACA ABRAC ABRA ABR AB A |
Others had the Jesuits Mark in a Cross. I H S Others nothing but this Mark thus: + |
I might spend a great deal of Time in my Exclamations against the Follies, and indeed Wickedness of those things, 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 those 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 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 first 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 February; for when the Plague evidently spread it self, they soon began to see the Folly of trusting to those unperforming Creatures who had Gull'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 Neighbour's 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 in one particular Thing, in which they had little or no Relief, and which I Desire to mention with a serious Awe and Reflection; 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 one's 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 any Christian, to have heard the 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 together, and where the Circumstances were more particularly 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 [shall have] 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 did as above, even to Madness, the Lord Mayor, a very sober and religious Gentleman appointed Physicians and Surgeons for Relief of the 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 Consultation 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 if 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 Capacity 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 Application 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 Medicines; the very Physicians were seized with it, with their Preservatives 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 the Case of several Physicians, even some of them the most eminent; and of several of the most skilful Surgeons; Abundance of Quacks too died, who had the Folly to trust to their own Medicines, which they must needs be conscious 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 Physicians assisted many by their Skill, and by their Prudence and Applications, to the saving of their Lives, and restoring their Health: But it is no lessening 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 the Prudence of the Magistrates, their Charity, the Vigilance for the Poor, and for preserving good Order; furnishing 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 this Part of the History 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 I 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, Aldgate, 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 and Aldermen of the City of London, founded the Order they made at this Time, and which took Place the 1st 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 MAYOR
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 charitable 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, Watchmen, Keepers, and Buriers for the Persons and Places infected, and to minister unto them Oaths for the Performance 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 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 appointed 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 Person so appointed, shall refuse to undertake the same, the said Parties so refusing, to be committed to Prison until they shall conform 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 what 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 Person go in or out of such infected
Houses, whereof they have the Charge, upon pain of severe
Punishment.And the said Watchmen to do such further Offices as the sick
House shall need and require: and if the Watchman
be sent upon any Business, to lock up the House, and take the Key with
him: And the Watchman by Day to attend until ten of the Clock at Night:
And the Watchman by Night untill six in the Morning.Searchers.
THAT there be a special care to appoint Women-Searchers in every Parish, such as are of honest 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 they 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 qualified 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 Landress, or in any other common Employment whatsoever.
Chirurgeons.
FOR better assistance of the Searchers, for as much as there hath been heretofore great abuse in misre-porting the 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 Searchers 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 se-questred 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 Twelvepence 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 herself, shall be shut up until the said twenty eight Days be expired.
_________________________________________________
.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 Swelling in any part of his Body, or falleth otherwise dangerously 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.
AS 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 visited any Man, known to be infected of the Plague, or entred willingly into any known infected House, being not allowed: The House wherein he inhabiteth, shall be shut up for certain Days by the Examiners Direction.
None to be removed out of infested 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 such 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 that 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.
And that no Corps dying of Infection shall be buried, or remain in any Church in time of Common-Prayer, Sermon, or Lecture. And that no Children be suffered at time of burial of any Corps in any Church, Churchyard, 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 during the Continuance of this Visitation.
No infected Stuff to be uttered.
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 Stuff out of any infected House, within two Months after the Infection hath been there,his House shall be shut up as Infected, and so shall continue shut up twenty Days at the least.
No Person to be conveyed out of any
infected House.
IF any Person visited do fortune by negligent looking 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 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 Alderman of the Ward; and the House of the Receiver of such visited Person, to be shut up for twenty Days.
Every visited House to 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 Words, 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 watched.
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, Chirurgeons, Keepers and Buriers are not to pass the Streets without 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 such Business or Attendance.
Inmates.
THAT where several Inmates are in one and the same House, and any Person in that House happens to be Infected; no other Person or 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 default 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 be kept clean.
FIRST, it is thought necessary, and so ordered, that every Housholder 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 JL 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 be made far off from the
City.
THAT the Laystalls be removed as far as may be out of 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 to be taken of unwholsome Filth or
Flesh, and of musty Corn.
THAT special care be taken, that no slinking Fish, or unwholesome Flesh, or musly 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 Tippling-houses be looked unto, for musly 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 Beggars, that swarm in every place about the City, being a great cause of the spreading of the Infection, and will not be avoided, notwithstanding any Order that have been given to the contrary: It is therefore now ordered, that such Constables, and others, whom this Matter may any way concern, 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 duely 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 Companies 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 thereby spared, be preserved and employed for the Benefit and Relief of the Poor visited with the Infection.
Tipling-Houses.
THAT disorderly Tipling in
Taverns, Ale-houses, Coffe-houses, and
Cellars be severely looked unto, as the common Sin of this Time, and
greatest occasion of dispersing the Plague. And that no Company or
Person be suffered to remain or come into any Tavern,
Alehouse, 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 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 conceived and devised, for Preservation of His Majesty's Subjects from the Infection.
Sir John Lawrence | Sir George Waterman | Sheriffs
Lord Mayor | Sir Charles Doe |
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 11th to the 18th of July, was 1761, yet there dy'd but 71 of the Plague, in all those Parishes we call the Tower-Hamlets; and they were as follows.
| Algate Stepney White-Chappel St. Kath. Tower Trin. Minories |
14 33 21 2 1 -- 71 |
the next Week was thus |
34 58 48 4 1 -- 145 |
and to the 1st of Aug. thus. |
65 76 79 4 4 -- 228 |
It was indeed, coming on a main; for the Burials that same Week, were in the next adjoining Parishes, thus,
| St. Len. Shorditch St. Bot. Bishopsg. St. Giles Crippl. |
64 65 213 -- 342 |
the next Week prodigiously en- creased, as |
84 105 241 -- 610 |
to the 1st of Aug. thus. |
110 116 554 -- 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, and 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 remov'd from the Sick, looked very hard and cruel; and many People perished in these miserable Confinements, which 'tis reasonable to believe, would not have been distemper'd if they had Liberty, tho' the Plague was in the House; at which, people were very clamorous and uneasie at first, and several Violences were committed, and Injuries offered 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 Scurries, and 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 Croud, 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 him: All this while no Noise had been heard in the 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 Disturbance, as he said, from the Monday afternoon, when he heard great crying 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 answer'd, I am the Watchman! how do you do? What is the Matter? The Person answered, What is that to you? Stop the Dead-Cart.This 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 Man 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 observ'd, that the Window, or Casement, at which the Person had look'd out, who had answer'd before, continued open, being up two Pair of Stairs.
Upon this, the two Men to satisfy their Curiosity, 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 be 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 Recovery, 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 passionate Cries of the Family, at the bitter parting, which, to be sure, it was to them all; this being the Sister to the Mistress of the Family. The Man of the House, his Wife, several Children, and Servants, being all gone and fled, 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 like; 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 Watchman 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 Alderman, 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 Outside, 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 be lockt up with this poor distempered Servant; he call'd to the Watchman, and told him, he 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, that if he would not do this, the Maid must perish either of the Distemper,or be 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 supposed, 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 such Errand that might secure his staying some Time; in that 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, to throw her into the Cart, and take care of the House.
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 could 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, that 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 intolerable 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 Distemper it self; so that they would 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 still; a House was shut up in that they call Whites-Alley, and this House had a back Window, not a Door into a Court, which had a Passage into Bell-Alley; 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 venture to come near to help him; the whole Family that were able to stir, got out at the Windows one Story 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 return'd, but as nothing cou d be prov'd, so nothing could be done to them.
It is to be consider'd too, that as these were Prisons without Barrs and Bolts, which our common Prisons are furnish'd with, so the People let themselves down out of their Windows, even in the Face of the Watchman, bringing Swords or Pistols in their Hands, and threatening the poor Wretch to 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 all; serving more to make the People desperate, and drive them to such Extremities, as that, they would break out at all Adventures.
And that which was still worse, those that did thus break out, spread the Infection farther by their wandring 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 with the Plague visibly upon them, not knowing either whither to go, or what to do, or, indeed, what they did; and many that did so, were driven to dreadful Exigences and Extremeties, and Perish'd in the Streets or Fields for meerWant, 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 whether 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 Barns 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 Plague at first seiz'd a Family, that is to say, when any one Body of the Family, had gone out, and unwarily or otherwise catch'd the Distemper and brought it Home, it was certainly known by the Family, before it was known to the Officers, who, as you will see by the Order, were appointed to examine into the Circumstances of all sick Persons, when they heard of their being sick.
In this Interval, between their being taken sick, and 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 ungrateful.
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 cannot 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 Approach of the Distemper, laid up Stores of Provisions, sufficient for their whole Families, and shut themselves up, and that so entirely, that they were neither seen or heard of, till the Infection was quite ceased, and then came abroad Sound and Well: I might recollect several such as these, and give you the Particulars of their Management; for doubtless, it was the most effectual secure Step that cou'd be taken for such, whose Circumstances would not admit them to remove, or who had 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 remember, that any one of those Families miscarry'd; among these, several Dutch Merchants were particularly remarkable, who kept their Houses like little Garrisons besieged, suffering none to go in or out, or come near them; particularly 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 up by the Magistrates; the Misery of those Families is not to be express'd, and it was genera