A Journal of the Plague Year Read Online

One of them, who I confess, did not look like a Thief, indeed says she, we are wrong; but we were told, they were Goods that had no Owner; be pleas’d to take them again, and look yonder, there are more such Customers as we: She cry’d and look’d pitifully; so I took the Hats from her, and opened the Gate, and bad them be gone, for I pity’d the Women indeed; But when I look’d towards the Ware-house, as she directed, there were six or seven more, all Women, fitting themselves with Hats, as unconcerned and quiet, as if they had been at a Hatters Shop, buying for their Money.

I was surpriz’d, not at the Sight of so many Thieves only, but at the Circumstances I was in; being now to thrust my self in among so many People, who for some Weeks, had been so shye of my self, that if I met any Body in the Street, I would cross the Way from them.

They were equally surpriz’d, tho’ on another Account: They all told me, they were Neighbours, that they had heard any one might take them, that they were no Bodies Goods, and the like. I talk’t big to them at first; went back to the Gate, and took out the Key; so that they were all my Prisoners; threaten’d to Lock them all into the Warehouse, and go and fetch my Lord Mayor’s Officers for them.

They beg’d heartily, protested they found the Gate open, and the Ware-house Door open; and that it had no doubt been broken open by some, who expected to find Goods of greater Value; which indeed, was reasonable to believe, because the Lock was broke, and a Padlock that hung to the Door on the out-side also loose; and not abundance of the Hats carry’d away.

At length I consider’d, that this was not a Time to be Cruel and Rigorous; and besides that, it would necessarily oblige me to go much about, to have several People come to me, and I go to several, whose Circumstances of Health, I knew nothing of; and that even at this Time the Plague was so high, as that there dy’d 4000 a Week; so that in showing my Resentment, or even in seeking Justice for my Brother’s Goods, I might lose my own Life; so I contented my self, with taking the Names and Places where some of them lived, who were really Inhabitants in the Neighbourhood; and threatning that my Brother should call them to an Account for it, when he return’d to his Habitation.

Then I talk’d a little upon another Foot with them; and ask’d them how they could do such Things as these, in a Time of such general Calamity; and as it were, in the Face of Gods most dreadful Judgments, when the Plague was at their very Doors; and it may be in their very Houses; and they did not know, but that the Dead-Cart might stop at their Doors in a few Hours, to carry them to their Graves.

I cou’d not perceive that my Discourse made much Impression upon them all that while; till it happened, that there came two Men of the Neighbourhood, hearing of the Disturbance, and knowing my Brother, for they had been both dependants upon his Family, and they came to my Assistance: These being as I said Neighbours, presently knew three of the Women, and told me who they were, and where they liv’d; and it seems, they had given me a true Account of themselves before.

This brings these two Men to a farther Remembrance: The Name of one was John Hayward,* who was at that Time under-Sexton, of the Parish of St. Stephen Coleman-street; by under-Sexton, was understood at that Time Grave-digger and Bearer of the Dead. This Man carry’d or assisted to carry all the Dead to their Graves, which were bury’d in that large Parish, and who were carried in Form; and after that Form of Burying was stopt, went with the Dead Cart and the Bell, to fetch the dead Bodies from the Houses where they lay, and fetch’d many of them out of the Chambers and Houses; for the Parish was, and is still remarkable, particularly above all the Parishes in London, for a great Number of Alleys, and Thorough-fares* very long, into which no Carts cou’d come, and where they were oblig’d to go and fetch the Bodies a very long Way; which Alleys now remain to Witness it; such as Whites-Alley, Cross-Key-Court, Swan-Alley, Bell-Alley, White-Horse-Alley, and many more: Here they went with a kind of Hand-Barrow, and lay’d the Dead Bodies on it, and carry’d them out to the Carts; which work he performed, and never had the Distemper at all, but liv’d above 20 Year after it, and was Sexton of the Parish to the Time of his Death. His Wife at the same time was a Nurse to infected People, and tended many that died in the Parish, being for her honesty recommended by the Parish Officers, yet she never was infected neither.

He never used any Preservative against the Infection, other than holding Garlick and Rue * in his Mouth, and smoaking Tobacco;* this I also had from his own Mouth; and his Wife’s Remedy was washing her Head in Vinegar, and sprinkling her Head-Cloths so with Vinegar, as to keep them always Moist; and if the smell of any of those she waitd on was more than ordinary Offensive, she snuft Vinegar up her Nose, and sprinkled Vinegar upon her Head-Cloths, and held a Handkerchief wetted with Vinegar to her Mouth.

It must be confest, that tho’ the Plague was chiefly among the Poor;* yet, were the Poor the most Venturous and Fearless of it, and went about their Employment, with a Sort of brutal Courage; I must call it so, for it was founded neither on Religion or Prudence; scarce did they use any Caution, but run into any Business, which they could get Employment in, tho’ it was the most hazardous; such was that of tending the Sick, watching Houses shut up, carrying infected Persons to the Pest-House; and which was still worse, carrying the Dead away to their Graves.

It was under this John Hayward’s Care, and within his Bounds, that the Story of the Piper,* with which People have made themselves so merry, happen’d, and he assur’d me that it was true. It is said, that it was a blind Piper; but as John told me, the Fellow was not blind, but an ignorant weak poor Man, and usually walked his Rounds about 10 a-Clock at Night, and went piping along from Door to Door, and the People usually took him in at Public Houses where they knew him, and would give him Drink and Victuals, and sometimes Farthings; and he in Return, would Pipe and Sing, and talk simply, which diverted the People, and thus he liv’d: It was but a very bad Time for this Diversion, while Things were as I have told; yet the poor Fellow went about as usual, but was almost starv’d; and when any Body ask’d how he did, he would answer, the Dead Cart had not taken him yet, but that they had promised to call for him next Week.

It happen’d one Night, that this poor Fellow, whether some body had given him too much Drink or no, John Hayward said, he had not Drink in his House; but that they had given him a little more Victuals than ordinary at a Public House in Coleman-street; and the poor Fellow having not usually had a Bellyfull, or perhaps not a good while, was laid all along upon the Top of a Bulk or Stall, and fast a sleep at a Door, in the Street near London-Wall, towards Cripplegate, and that upon the same Bulk or Stall, the People of some House, in the Alley of which the House was a Corner, hearing a Bell, which they always rung before the Cart came, had laid a Body really dead of the Plague just by him, thinking too, that this poor Fellow had been a dead Body as the other was, and laid there by some of the Neighbours.

Accordingly when John Hayward with his Bell and the Cart came along, finding two dead Bodies lie upon the Stall they took them up with the Instrument they used, and threw them into the Cart; and all this while the Piper slept soundly.

From hence they passed along, and took in other dead Bodies, till, as honest John Hayward told me, they almost burried him alive, in the Cart, yet all this While he slept soundly; at length the Cart came to the Place where the Bodies were to be thrown into the Ground, which, as I do remember, was at Mount-mill; and as the Cart usually stopt some Time before they were ready to shoot out the melancholly Load they had in it, as soon as the Cart stop’d, the Fellow awaked, and struggled a little to get his Head out from among the dead Bodies, when raising himself up in the Cart, he called out, Hey! where am I? This frighted the Fellow that attended about the Work, but after some Pause John Hayward recovering himself said, Lord bless us. There’s some Body in the Cart not quite dead! So another call’d to him and said, Who are you? the Fellow answered, I am the poor Piper. Where am I? Where are you! says Hayward; why, you are in the Dead-Cart, and we are a-going to bury you. But I an’t dead tho’, am I? says the Piper; which made them laugh a little, tho’ as John said, they were heartily frighted at first; so they help’d the poor Fellow down, and he went about his Business.

I know the Story goes, he set up his Pipes in the Cart, and frighted the Bearers, and others, so that they ran away; but John Hayward did not tell the Story so, nor say any Thing of his Piping at all; but that he was a poor Piper, and that he was carried away as above I am fully satisfied of the Truth of.

It is to be noted here, that the Dead Carts in the City were not confin’d to particular Parishes, but one Cart went thro’ several Parishes, according as the Numbers of Dead presented; nor were they ty’d to carry the Dead to their respective Parishes, but many of the Dead, taken up in the City, were carried to the Burying Ground in the Out-parts, for want of Room.

I have already mentioned the Surprize, that this Judgment was at first among the People. I must be allowed to give some of my Observations on the more serious and religious Part. Surely never City, at least, of this Bulk and Magnitude, was taken in a Condition so perfectly unprepar’d for such a dreadful Visitation, whether I am to speak of the Civil Preparations, or Religious; they were indeed, as if they had had no Warning, no Expectation, no Apprehensions, and consequently the least Provision imaginable, was made for it in a publick Way; for Example.

The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs had made no Provision as Magistrates, for the Regulations which were to be observed; they had gone into no Measures for Relief of the Poor.

The Citizens had no publick Magazines, or Store-Houses for Corn, or Meal, for the Subsistence of the Poor; which, if they had provided themselves, as in such Cases is done abroad, many miserable Families, who were now reduc’d to the utmost Distress, would have been reliev’d, and that in a better Manner, than now could be done.

The Stock of the City’s Money, I can say but little to, the Chamber of London was said to be exceeding rich;*and it may be concluded, that they were so, by the vast Sums of Money issued from thence, in the re-building the publick Edifices after the Fire of London, and in Building new Works, such as, for the first Part, the Guild-Hall, Blackwell-Hall, Part of Leaden-Hall, Half the Exchange, the Session-House, the Compter; the Prisons of Ludgate, Newgate, & c. several of the Wharfs, and Stairs, and Landing-places on the River; all which were either burnt down or damaged by the great Fire of London, the next Year after the Plague; and of the second Sort, the Monument, Fleet-ditch with its Bridges, and the Hospital of Bethlem, or Bedlam, & c. But possibly the Managers of the City’s Credit, at that Time, made more Conscience of breaking in upon the Orphan’s Money* to shew Charity to the distress’d Citizens than the Managers in the following Years did, to beautify the City, and re-edify the Buildings, tho’ in the first Case, the Losers would have thought their Fortunes better bestow’d, and the Publick Faith of the City have been less subjected to Scandal and Reproach.

It must be acknowledged that the absent Citizens, who, tho’ they were fled for Safety into the Country, were yet greatly interested in the Welfare of those who they left behind,* forgot not to contribute liberally to the Relief of the Poor, and large Sums were also collected among Trading-Towns in the remotest Parts of England; and as I have heard also, the Nobility and the Gentry, in all Parts of England, took the deplorable Condition of the City into their Consideration, and sent up large Sums of Money in Charity, to the Lord Mayor and Magistrates, for the Relief of the Poor; the King also, as I was told, ordered a thousand Pounds a Week to be distributed in four Parts; one Quarter to the City and Liberties of Westminster; one Quarter, or Part, among the Inhabitants of the Southwark Side of the Water; one Quarter to the Liberty and Parts within of the City, exclusive of the City within the Walls; and, one fourth Part to the Suburbs in the County of Middlesex, and the East and North Parts of the City; But this latter I only speak of as a Report.

Certain it is, the greatest Part of the Poor, or Families, who formerly liv’d by their Labour, or by Retail-Trade, liv’d now on Charity; and had there not been prodigious Sums of Money given by charitable, well-minded Christians, for the Support of such, the City could never have subsisted. There were, no Question, Accounts kept of their Charity, and of the just Distribution of it by the Magistrates: But as such Multitudes of those very Officers died, thro’ whose Hands it was distributed; and also that, as I have been told, most of the Accounts of those Things were lost in the great Fire which happened in the very next Year, and which burnt even the Chamberlain’s Office, and many of their Papers; so I could never come at the particular Account, which I used great Endeavours to have seen.

It may, however, be a Direction in Case of the Approach of a like Visitation, which God keep the City from; I say, it may be of use to observe that by the Care of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, at that Time, in distributing Weekly, great Sums of Money, for Relief of the Poor, a Multitude of People, who would otherwise have perished, were relieved, and their Lives preservd. And here let me enter into a brief State of the Case of the Poor at that Time, and what was apprehended from them, from whence may be judg’d hereafter, what may be expected, if the like Distress should come upon the City.

At the Beginning of the Plague, when there was now no more Hope, but that the whole City would be visited, when, as I have said, all that had Friends or Estates in the Country, retired with their Families, and when, indeed, one would have thought the very City it self was running out of the Gates, and that there would be no Body left behind, you may be sure, from that Hour, all Trade, except such as related to immediate Subsistence, was, as it were, at a full Stop.

This is so lively a Case, and contains in it so much of the real Condition of the People; that I think, I cannot be too particular in it; and therefore I descend to the several Arrangements or Classes of People, who fell into immediate Distress upon this Occasion: For Example,

1. All Master Work-men in Manufactures; especially such as belonged to Ornament, and the less necessary Parts of the People’s dress Cloths and Furniture for Houses; such as Riband Weavers, and other Weavers; Gold and Silverlace-makers, and Gold and Silverwyer-drawers, Sempstresses, Milleners, Shoe-makers, Hat-makers and Glove-makers: Also Up-holdsterers, Joyners, Cabinet-makers, Looking-glass-makers; and innumerable Trades which depend upon such as these; I say the Master Workmen in such, stopt their Work, dismist their Journeymen, and Workmen, and all their Dependants.

2. As Merchandizing was at a full stop, for very few Ships ventur’d to come up the River, and none at all went out; so all the extraordinary Officers of the Customes, likewise the Watermen, Carmen, Porters, and all the Poor, whose Labour depended upon the Merchants, were at once dismist, and put out of Business.

3. All the Tradesmen usually employ’d in building or repareing of Houses, were at a full Stop, for the People were far from wanting to build Houses, when so many thousand Houses were at once stript of their Inhabitants; so that this one Article turn’d all the ordinary Work-men of that Kind out of Business; such as Brick-layers, Masons, Carpenters, Joyners, Plasterers, Painters, Glaziers, Smiths, Plumbers; and all the Labourers depending on such.

4. As Navigation was at a Stop; our Ships neither coming in, or going out as before; so the Seamen were all out of Employment, and many of them in the last and lowest Degree of Distress, and with the Seamen, were all the several Tradesmen, and Workmen belonging to and depending upon the building, and fitting out of Ships; such as Ship Carpenters, Caulkers, Rope-makers, Dry-Coopers, Sail-makers, Anchor-Smiths, and other Smiths; Block-makers, Carvers, Gun Smiths, Ship-Chandlers, Ship-Carvers and the like; The Masters of those perhaps might live upon their Substance; but the Traders were Universally at a Stop, and consequently all their Work-men discharged: Add to these, that the River was in a manner without Boats, and all or most part of the Watermen, Lightermen, Boat-builders, and Lighter-builders in like manner idle, and laid by.

5. All Families retrench’d their living as much as possible, as well those that fled, as those that stay’d; so that an innumerable Multitude of Footmen, Serving Men, Shop-keepers, Journey-men, Merchants-Book-keepers, and such Sort of People, and especially poor Maid Servants were turn’d off, and left Friendless and Helpless without Employment, and without Habitation; and this was really a dismal Article.

I might be more particular as to this Part: But it may suffice to mention in general; all Trades being stopt, Employment ceased; the Labour, and by that, the Bread of the Poor were cut off; and at first indeed, the Cries of the poor were most lamentable to hear; tho’ by the Distribution of Charity, their Misery that way was greatly abated: Many indeed fled into the Countries; but thousands of them having stay’d in London, till nothing but Desperation sent them away; Death overtook them on the Road, and they serv’d for no better than the Messengers of Death, indeed, others carrying the Infection along with them; spreading it very unhappily into the remotest Parts of the Kingdom.

Many of these were the miserable Objects of Despair which I have mention’d before, and were remov’d by the Destruction which followed; these might be said to perish, not by the Infection it self, but by the Consequence of it; indeed, namely, by Hunger and Distress, and the Want of all Things; being without Lodging, without Money, without Friends, without Means to get their Bread, or without any one to give it them, for many of them were without what we call legal Settlements,* and so could not claim of the Parishes, and all the Support they had, was by Application to the Magistrates for Relief, which Relief was, (to give the Magistrates their Due) carefully and chearfully administred, as they found it necessary; and those that stay’d behind never felt the Want and Distress of that Kind, which they felt, who went away in the manner above-noted.

Let any one who is acquainted with what Multitudes of People get their daily Bread in this City by their Labour, whether Artificers or meer Workmen; I say, let any Man consider, what must be the miserable Condition of this Town, if on a sudden, they should be all turned out of Employment, that Labour should cease, and Wages for Work be no more.

This was the Case with us at that Time, and had not the Sums of Money, contributed in Charity by well disposed People, of every Kind, as well abroad as at home, been prodigiously great, it had not been in the Power of the Lord Mayor and Sheriffs, to have kept the Publick Peace; nor were they without Apprehensions as it was, that Desperation should push the People upon Tumults, and cause them to rifle the Houses of rich Men, and plunder the Markets of Provisions; in which Case the Country People, who brought Provisions very freely and boldly to Town, would ha’ been Terrified from coming any more, and the Town would ha’ sunk under an unavoidable Famine.

But the Prudence of my Lord Mayor, and the Court of Aldermen within the City, and of the Justices of Peace in the Out-parts was such, and they were supported with Money from all Parts so well, that the poor People were kept quiet, and their Wants every where reliev’d, as far as was possible to be done.

Two Things, besides this, contributed to prevent the Mob doing any Mischief: One was, that really the Rich themselves had not laid up Stores of Provisions in their Houses, as indeed, they ought to have done, and which if they had been wise enough to have done, and lock’d themselves entirely up, as some few did, they had perhaps escaped the Disease better: But as it appear’d they had not, so the Mob had no Notion of finding Stores of Provisions there, if they had broken in, as it is plain they were sometimes very near doing, and which, if they had, they had finish’d the Ruin of the whole City, for there were no regular Troops to ha’ withstood them, nor could the Traind-Bands have been brought together to defend the City, no Men being to be found to bear Arms.

But the Vigilance of the Lord Mayor, and such Magistrates as could be had, for some, even of the Aldermen were Dead, and some absent, prevented this; and they did it by the most kind and gentle Methods they could think of, as particularly by relieving the most desperate with Money, and putting others into Business, and particularly that Employment of watching Houses that were infected and shut up; and as the Number of these were very great, for it was said, there was at one Time, ten thousand Houses shut up, and every House had two Watchmen to guard it, viz one by Night, and the other by Day; this gave Opportunity to employ a very great Number of poor Men at a Time.

The Women, and Servants, that were turned off from their Places, were likewise employed as Nurses to tend the Sick in all Places; and this took off a very great Number of them.

And, which tho’ a melancholy Article in it self, yet was a Deliverance in its Kind, namely, the Plague which raged in a dreadful Manner from the Middle of August to the Middle of October, carried off in that Time thirty or forty Thousand* of these very People, which had they been left, would certainly have been an unsufferable Burden, by their Poverty, that is to say, the whole City could not have supported the Expence of them, or have provided Food for them; and they would in Time have been even driven to the Necessity of plundering either the City it self, or the Country adjacent, to have subsisted themselves, which would first or last, have put the whole Nation, as well as the City, into the utmost Terror and Confusion.

It was observable then, that this Calamity of the People made them very humble; for now, for about nine Weeks together, there died near a thousand a-Day, one Day with another, even by the Account of the weekly Bills, which yet I have Reason to be assur’d never gave a full Account, by many thousands; the Confusion being such, and the Carts working in the Dark, when they carried the Dead, that in some Places no Account at all was kept, but they work’d on; the Clerks and Sextons not attending for Weeks together, and not knowing what Number they carried. This Account is verified by the following Bills of Mortality.

So that the Gross of the People were carried off in these two Months; for as the whole Number which was brought in, to die of the Plague, was but 68590 here, is fifty thousand of them, within a Trifle, in two Months; I say 50000, because, as there wants 295 in the Number above, so there wants two Days of two Months, in the Account of Time.

Now when, I say, that the Parish Officers did not give in a full Account, or were not to be depended upon for their Account, let any one but consider how Men could be exact in such a Time of dreadful Distress, and when many of them were taken sick themselves, and perhaps died in the very Time when their Accounts were to be given in, I mean the Parish-Clerks; besides inferior Officers; for tho’ these poor Men ventured at all Hazards, yet they were far from being exempt from the common Calamity, especially, if it be true, that the Parish of Stepney had within the Year, one hundred and sixteen Sextons, Grave-diggers, and their Assistants, that is to say, Bearers, Bell-men, and Drivers of Carts, for carrying off the dead Bodies.

Indeed the Work was not of a Nature to allow them Leisure, to take an exact Tale of the dead Bodies, which were all huddled together in the Dark into a Pit; which Pit, or Trench, no Man could come nigh, but at the utmost Peril. I observ’d often, that in the Parishes of Aldgate, and Cripplegate, White-Chappel and Stepney, there was five, six, seven, and eight hundred in a Week, in the Bills, whereas if we may believe the Opinion of those that liv’d in the City, all the Time, as well as I, there died sometimes 2000 a-Week in those Parishes; and I saw it under the Hand of one, that made as strict an examination into that Part as he could, that there really died an hundred thousand People of the Plague, in it that one Year, whereas the Bills, the Articles of the Plague, was but 68590.

If I may be allowed to give my Opinion, by what I saw with my Eyes, and heard from other People that were Eye Witnesses, I do verily believe the same, viz. that there died, at least, 100000 of the Plague only, besides other Distempers, and besides those which died in the Fields, and High-ways, and secret Places, out of the Compass of the Communication, as it was called; and who were not put down in the Bills, tho’ they really belonged to the Body of the Inhabitants. It was known to us all, that abundance of poor despairing Creatures, who had the Distemper upon them, and were grown stupid, or melancholly by their Misery, as many were, wandred away into the Fields, and Woods, and into secret uncouth Places, almost any where to creep into a Bush, or Hedge, and DIE.

The Inhabitants of the Villages adjacent would in Pity, carry them Food, and set it at a Distance, that they might fetch it, if they were able, and sometimes they were not able; and the next Time they went, they should find the poor Wretches lie dead, and the Food untouch’d. The Number of these miserable Objects were many, and I know so many that perish’d thus, and so exactly where, that I believe I could go to the very Place and dig their Bones up still; for the Country People would go and dig a Hole at a Distance from them, and then with long Poles, and Hooks at the End of them, drag the Bodies into these Pits, and then throw the Earth in Form as far as they could cast it to cover them; taking notice how the Wind blew, and so coming on that Side which the Sea-men call to-Wind-ward, that the Scent of the Bodies might blow from them; and thus great Numbers went out of the World, who were never known or any Account of them taken, as well within the Bills of Mortality as without.

This indeed I had, in the main, only from the Relation of others; for I seldom walk’d into the Fields, except towards Bednal-green and Hackney; or as hereafter: But when I did walk I always saw a great many poor Wanderers at a Distance, but I could know little of their Cases; for whether it were in the Street, or in the Fields, if we had seen any Body coming, it was a general Method to walk away; yet I believe the Account is exactly true.

As this puts me upon mentioning my walking the Streets and Fields, I cannot omit taking notice what a desolate Place the City was at that Time: The great Street I liv’d in, which is known to be one of the broadest of all the Streets of London, I mean of the Suburbs as well as the Liberties; all the Side where the Butchers lived, especially without the Bars was more like a green Field than a paved Street, and the People generally went in the middle with the Horses and Carts: It is true, that the farthest End towards White-Chappel Church, was not all pav’d, but even the Part that was pav’d was full of Grass also; but this need not seem strange since the great Streets within the City, such as Leaden-hall-Street, Bishop-gate-Street, Cornhill, and even the Exchange it self, had Grass growing* in them, in several Places; neither Cart or Coach were seen in the Streets from Morning to Evening, except some Country Carts to bring Roots and Beans, or Pease, Hay and Straw, to the Market, and those but very few, compared to what was usual: As for Coaches they were scarce used, but to carry sick People to the Pest-House, and to other Hospitals; and some few to carry Physicians to such Places as they thought fit to venture to visit; for really Coaches were dangerous things,* and People did not Care to venture into them, because they did not know who might have been carried in them last; and sick infected People were, as I have said, ordinarily carried in them to the Pest-Houses, and sometimes People expired in them as they went along.

It is true, when the Infection came to such a Height as I have now mentioned, there were very few Physicians, which car’d to stir abroad to sick Houses, and very many of the most eminent of the Faculty were dead as well as the Surgeons also, for now it was indeed a dismal time, and for about a Month together, not taking any Notice of the Bills of Mortality, I believe there did not die less than 1500 or 1700 a-Day, one Day with another.

One of the worst Days we had in the whole Time, as I thought, was in the Beginning of September, when indeed good People began to think, that God was resolved to make a full End of the People in this miserable City. This was at that Time when the Plague was fully come into the Eastern Parishes: The Parish of Aldgate, if I may give my Opinion buried above a thousand a Week for two Weeks, tho’ the Bills did not say so many; but it surrounded me at so dismal a rate, that there was not a House in twenty uninfected; in the Minories, in Houndsditch, and in those Parts of Aldgate Parish about the Butcher-Row, and the Alleys over against me, I say in those places Death reigned in every Corner. White Chapel Parish was in the same Condition, and tho’ much less than the Parish I liv’d in; yet bury’d near 600 a Week by the Bills; and in my Opinion, near twice as many; whole Families, and indeed, whole Streets of Families were swept away together; insomuch, that it was frequent for Neighbours to call to the Bellman, to go to such and such Houses, and fetch out the People, for that they were all Dead.

And indeed, the Work of removing the dead Bodies by Carts, was now grown so very odious and dangerous, that it was complain’d of, that the Bearers did not take Care to clear such Houses, where all the Inhabitants were dead; but that sometimes the Bodies lay several Days unburied, till the neighbouring Families were offended with the Stench, and consequently infect’d; and this neglect of the Officers was such, that the Church Wardens and Constables were summon’d to look after it; and even the Justices of the Hamlets, were oblig’d to venture their Lives among them, to quicken and encourage them; for innumerable of the Bearers dy’d of the Distemper, infected by the Bodies they were oblig’d to come so near; and had it not been, that the Number of poor People who wanted Employment, and wanted Bread, (as I have said before,) was so great, that Necessity drove them to undertake any Thing, and venture any thing, they would never have found People to be employ’d; and then the Bodies of the dead would have lain above Ground, and have perished and rotted in a dreadful Manner.

But the Magistrates cannot be enough commended in this, that they kept such good Order for the burying of the Dead, that as fast as any of those they employ’d to carry off, and bury the dead, fell sick or dy’d, as was many Times the Case, they immediately supply’d the places with others; which by reason of the great Number of Poor that was left out of Business, as above, was not hard to do: This occasion’d, that notwithstanding the infinite Number of People which dy’d, and were sick almost all together, yet, they were always clear’d away, and carry’d off every Night; so that it was never to be said of London, that the living were not able to bury the Dead.

As the Desolation was greater, during those terrible Times, so the Amazement of the People encreas’d; and a thousand unaccountable Things they would do in the violence of their Fright, as others did the same in the Agonies of their Distemper, and this part was very affecting; some went roaring, and crying, and wringing their Hands along the Street; some would go praying, and lifting up their Hands to Heaven, calling upon God for Mercy. I cannot say indeed, whether this was not in their Distraction; but be it so, it was still an indication of a more serious Mind, when they had the use of their Senses, and was much better, even as it was, than the frightful yellings and cryings that every Day, and especially in the Evenings, were heard in some Streets. I suppose the World has heard of the famous Soloman Eagle an Enthusiast:* He tho’ not infected at all, but in his Head, went about denouncing of Judgment upon the City in a frightful manner; sometimes quite naked, and with a Pan of burning Charcoal on his Head: What he said or pretended, indeed I could not learn.

I will not say, whether that Clergyman was distracted or not: Or whether he did it in pure Zeal for the poor People who went every Evening thro’ the Streets of White-Chapel; and with his Hands lifted up, repeated that Part of the Liturgy of the Church continually; Spare us good Lord, spare thy People whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious Blood, I say, I cannot speak positively of these Things; because these were only the dismal Objects which represented themselves to me as I look’d thro’ my Chamber Windows (for I seldom opened the Casements) while I confin’d my self within Doors, during that most violent rageing of the Pestilence; when indeed, as I have said, many began to think, and even to say, that there would none escape; and indeed, I began to think so too; and therefore kept within Doors, for about a Fortnight, and never stirr’d out: But I cou’d not hold it: Besides, there were some People, who notwithstanding the Danger, did not omit publickly to attend the Worship of God,* even in the most dangerous Times; and tho’ it is true, that a great many Clergymen did shut up their Churches, and fled as other People did, for the safety of their Lives; yet, all did not do so, some ventur’d to officiate, and to keep up the Assemblies of the People by constant Prayers; and sometimes Sermons, or Brief Exhortations to Repentance and Reformation, and this as long as any would come to hear them; and Dissenters did the like also, and even in the very Churches,* where the Parish Ministers were either Dead or fled, nor was there any Room for making Difference, at such a Time as this was.

It was indeed a lamentable Thing to hear the miserable Lamentations of poor dying Creatures, calling out for Ministers to Comfort them, and pray with them, to Counsel them, and to direct them, calling out to God for Pardon and Mercy, and confessing aloud their past Sins. It would make the stoutest Heart bleed to hear how many Warnings were then given by dying Penitents, to others not to put off and delay their Repentance to the Day of Distress, that such a Time of Calamity as this, was no Time for Repentance; was no Time to call upon God.