A Journal of the Plague Year Read Online

Helens, one at the West Entrance into St. Paul’s, and one at the Entrance into Bow Church: I do not remember whether there was any at the City Gates, but one at the Bridge foot there was, just by St. Magnus Church.

I know, some have quarrell’d since that at the Experiment, and said, that there died the more People, because of those Fires; but I am persuaded those that say so, offer no Evidence to prove it, neither can I believe it on any Account whatever.

It remains to give some Account of the State of Trade at home in England during this dreadful Time, and particularly as it relates to the Manufactures, and the Trade in the City: At the first breaking out of the Infection, there was, as it is easie to suppose, a very great fright among the People, and consequently a general stop of Trade; except in Provisions and Necessaries of Life, and even in those Things, as there was a vast Number of People fled, and a very great Number always sick, besides the Number which died, so there could not be above two Thirds, if above one Half of the Consumption of Provisions in the City as used to be.

It pleas’d God, to send a very plentiful Year of Corn and Fruit, but not of Hay or Grass;* by which means, Bread was cheap, by Reason of the Plenty of Corn: Flesh was cheap, by Reason of the Scarcity of Grass; but Butter and Cheese were dear for the same Reason, and Hay in the Market just beyond White-Chapel Bars, was sold at 4 1. per Load. But that affected not the Poor; there was a most excessive Plenty of all Sorts of Fruit,* such as Apples, Pears, Plumbs, Cherries, Grapes; and they were the cheaper, because of the want of People; but this made the Poor eat them to excess, and this brought them into Fluxes, griping of the Guts, Surfeits, and the like, which often precipitated them into the Plague.

But to come to Matters of Trade; first, Foreign Exportation being stopt, or at least very much interrupted, and rendred difficult; a general Stop of all those Manufactories followed of Course, which were usually bought for Exportation; and tho’ sometimes Merchants Abroad were importunate for Goods, yet little was sent, the Passages being so generally stop’d, that the English Ships would not be admitted, as is said already, into their Port.

This put a stop to the Manufactures, that were for Exportation in most Parts of England, except in some out Ports; and even that was soon stop’d, for they all had the Plague in their Turn: But tho’ this was felt all over England, yet what was still worse, all Intercourse of Trade for Home Consumption of Manufactures, especially those which usually circulated thro’ the Londoners Hands, was stop’d at once, the Trade of the City being stop’d.

All Kinds of Handicrafts in the City, &c. Tradesmen and Mechanicks,* were, as I have said before, out of Employ, and this occasion’d the putting off, and dismissing an innumerable Number of Journey-men, and Work-men of all Sorts, seeing nothing was done relating to such Trades, but what might be said to be absolutely necessary.

This caused the Multitude of single People in London to be unprovided for; as also of Families, whose living depended upon the Labour of the Heads of those Families; I say, this reduced them to extream Misery; and I must confess it is for the Honour of the City of London, and will be for many Ages, as long as this is to be spoken of, that they were able to supply with charitable Provision, the Wants of so many Thousands of those as afterwards fell sick, and were distressed; so that it may be safely aver’d that no Body perished for Want, at least that the Magistrates had any notice given them of.

This Stagnation of our Manufacturing Trade in the Country, would have put the People there to much greater Difficulties, but that the Master-Workmen, Clothiers and others, to the uttermost of their Stocks and Strength, kept on making their Goods to keep the Poor at Work, believing that as soon as the Sickness should abate, they would have a quick Demand in Proportion to the Decay of their Trade at that Time: But as none but those Masters that were rich could do thus, and that many were poor and not able, the Manufacturing Trade in England suffer’d greatly, and the Poor were pinch’d all over England by the Calamity of the City of London only.*

It is true, that the next Year made them full amends by another terrible Calamity upon the City; so that the City by one Calamity impoverished and weaken’d the Country, and by another Calamity even terrible too of its Kind, enrich’d the Country* and made them again amends: For an infinite Quantity of Houshold Stuff, wearing Apparel, and other Things, besides whole Ware-houses fill’d with Merchandize and Manufacturies, such as come from all Parts of England, were consum’d in the Fire of London, the next Year after this terrible Visitation: It is incredible what a Trade this made all over the whole Kingdom, to make good the Want, and to supply that Loss: So that, in short, all the manufacturing Hands in the Nation were set on Work, and were little enough, for several Years, to supply the Market and answer the Demands; all Foreign Markets, also were empty of our Goods, by the stop which had been occasioned by the Plague, and before an open Trade was allow’d again; and the prodigious Demand at Home falling in join’d to make a quick Vent for all Sorts of Goods; so that there never was known such a Trade all over England for the Time, as was in the first seven Years after the Plague, and after the Fire of London.

It remains now, that I should say something of the merciful Part of this terrible Judgment: The last Week in September, the Plague being come to its Crisis, its Fury began to asswage. I remember my Friend Doctor Heath coming to see me the Week before, told me, he was sure that the Violence of it would asswage in a few Days; but when I saw the weekly Bill of that Week, which was the highest of the whole Year, being 8297 of all Diseases, I upbraided him with it, and ask’d him, what he had made his Judgment from? His Answer, however, was not so much to seek, as I thought it would have been; look you, says he, by the Number which are at this Time sick and infected, there should have been twenty Thousand dead the last Week, instead of eight Thousand, if the inveterate mortal Contagion had been, as it was two Weeks ago; for then it ordinarily kill’d in two or three Days, now not under Eight or Ten; and then not above One in Five recovered; whereas I have observed, that now not above Two in Five miscarry; and observe it from me, the next Bill will decrease, and you will see many more People recover than used to do; for tho’ a vast Multitude are now every where infected, and as many every Day fall sick; yet there will not so many die as there did, for the Malignity of the Distemper is abated; adding, that he began now to hope, nay more than hope, that the Infection had pass’d its Crisis, and was going off; and accordingly so it was, for the next Week being, as I said, the last in September, the Bill decreased almost two Thousand.

It is true, the Plague was still at a frightful Height, and the next Bill was no less than 6460, and the next to that 5720; but still my Friend’s Observation was just, and it did appear the People did recover faster, and more in Number, than they used to do; and indeed if it had not been so, what had been the Condition of the City of London? for according to my Friend there were not fewer than sixty Thousand People at that Time infected, whereof, as above, 20477 died, and near 40000 recovered; whereas had it been as it was before, Fifty thousand of that Number would very probably have died, if not more, and 50000 more would have sickned; for in a Word, the whole Mass of People began to sicken, and it look’d as if none would escape.

But this Remark of my Friend’s appear’d more evident in a few Weeks more; for the Decrease went on, and another Week in October it decreas’d 1849. So that the Number dead of the Plague was but 2665, and the next Week it decreased 1413 more, and yet it was seen plainly, that there was abundance of People sick, nay abundance more than ordinary, and abundance fell sick every Day, but (as above) the Malignity of the Disease abated.

Such is the precipitant Disposition of our People, whether it is so or not all over the World, that’s none of my particular Business to enquire; but I saw it apparently here, that as upon the first Fright of the Infection, they shun’d one another, and fled from one another’s Houses, and from the City with an unaccountable, and, as I thought, unnecessary Fright; so now upon this Notion spreading, (viz.) that the Distemper was not so catching as formerly, and that if it was catch’d, it was not so mortal, and seeing abundance of People who really fell sick, recover again daily; they took to such a precipitant Courage, and grew so entirely regardless of themselves, and of the Infection, that they made no more of the Plague than of an ordinary Fever, nor indeed so much; they not only went boldly into Company, with those who had Tumours and Carbuncles upon them, that were running, and consequently contagious, but eat and drank with them, nay into their Houses to visit them, and even, as I was told, into their very Chambers where they lay sick.

This I cou’d not see rational; my Friend Doctor Heath allow’d, and it was plain to Experience, that the Distemper was as catching as ever, and as many fell sick, but only he alledg’d, that so many of those that fell sick did not die; but I think that while many did die, and that, at best, the Distemper it self was very terrible, the Sores and Swellings very tormenting, and the Danger of Death not left out of the Circumstance of Sickness, tho’ not so frequent as before; all those things, together with the exceeding Tediousness of the Cure, the Loathsomness of the Disease, and many other Articles, were enough to deter any Man living from a dangerous Mixture with the sick People, and make them as anxious almost to avoid the Infection as before.

Nay there was another Thing which made the meer catching of the Distemper frightful, and that was the terrible burning of the Causticks, which the Surgeons laid on the Swellings to bring them to break, and to run; without which the Danger of Death was very great, even to the last; also the unsufferable Torment of the Swellings, which tho’ it might not make People raving and distracted, as they were before, and as I have given several Instances of already, yet they put the Patient to inexpressible Torture; and those that fell into it, tho’ they did escape with Life, yet they made bitter Complaints of those, that had told them there was no Danger, and sadly repented their Rashness and Folly in venturing to run into the reach of it.

Nor did this unwary Conduct of the People end here, for a great many that thus cast off their Cautions suffered more deeply still; and tho’ many escap’d, yet many died; and at least it had this publick Mischief attending it, that it made the Decrease of Burials slower than it would otherwise have been; for as this Notion run like Lightning thro’ the City, and People’s Heads were possess’d with it, even as soon as the first great Decrease in the Bills appear’d, we found, that the two next Bills did not decrease in Proportion; the Reason I take to be the Peoples running so rashly into Danger, giving up all their former Cautions, and Care, and all the Shyness which they used to practise; depending that the Sickness would not reach them, or that if it did, they should not die.

The Physicians oppos’d this thoughtless Humour of the People with all their Might, and gave out printed Directions, spreading them all over the City and Suburbs, advising the People to continue reserv’d, and to use still the utmost Caution in their ordinary Conduct, notwithstanding the Decrease of the Distemper, terrifying them with the Danger of bringing a Relapse upon the whole City, and telling them how such a Relapse might be more fatal and dangerous than the whole Visitation that had been already; with many Arguments and Reasons to explain and prove that part to them, and which are too long to repeat here.

But it was all to no Purpose, the audacious Creatures were so possess’d with the first Joy, and so surpriz’d with the Satisfaction of seeing a vast Decrease in the weekly Bills, that they were impenetrable by any new Terrors, and would not be persuaded, but that the Bitterness of Death was pass’d; and it was to no more purpose to talk to them, than to an East-wind; but they open’d Shops, went about Streets, did Business, and conversed with any Body that came in their Way to converse with, whether with Business, or without, neither inquiring of their Health, or so much as being Apprehensive of any Danger from them, tho’ they knew them not to be sound.

This imprudent rash Conduct cost a great many their Lives, who had with great Care and Caution shut themselves up, and kept retir’d as it were from all Mankind, and had by that means, under God’s Providence, been preserv’d thro’ all the heat of that Infection.

This rash and foolish Conduct, I say, of the People went so far, that the Ministers took notice to them of it at last, and laid before them both the Folly and Danger of it; and this check’d it a little, so that they grew more cautious, but it had another Effect, which they cou’d not check; for as the first Rumour had spread not over the City only, but into the Country, it had the like Effect, and the People were so tir’d with being so long from London, and so eager to come back, that they flock’d to Town* without Fear or Forecast, and began to shew themselves in the Streets, as if all the Danger was over: It was indeed surprising to see it, for tho’ there died still from a Thousand to eighteen Hundred a Week, yet the People flock’d to Town, as if all had been well.

The Consequence of this was, that the Bills encreas’d again Four Hundred the very first Week in November; and if I might believe the Physicians, there was above three Thousand fell sick that Week, most of them new Comers too.

One JOHN COCK, a Barber in St. Martins le Grand, was an eminent Example of this; I mean of the hasty Return of the People, when the Plague was abated: This John Cock had left the Town with his whole Family, and lock’d up his House, and was gone in the Country, as many others did, and finding the Plague so decreas’d in November, that there died but 905 per Week of all Diseases, he ventur’d home again; he had in his Family Ten Persons, that is to say, himself and Wife, five Children, two Apprentices, and a Maid Servant; he had not been return’d to his House above a Week, and began to open his Shop, and carry on his Trade, but the Distemper broke out in his Family, and within about five Days they all died, except one, that is to say, himself, his Wife, all his five Children, and his two Apprentices, and only the Maid remain’d alive.

But the Mercy of God was greater to the rest than [we] had Reason to expect; for the Malignity, as I have said, of the Distemper was spent, the Contagion was exhausted, and also the Winter Weather came on apace, and the Air was clear and cold, with some sharp Frosts; and this encreasing still, most of those that had fallen sick recover’d, and the Health of the City began to return: There were indeed some Returns of the Distemper, even in the Month of December, and the Bills encreased near a Hundred, but it went off again and so in a short while, Things began to return to their own Channel. And wonderful it was to see how populous the City was again all on a sudden; so that a Stranger could not miss the Numbers that were lost, neither was there any miss of the Inhabitants as to their Dwellings: Few or no empty Houses were to be seen, or if there were some, there was no want of Tenants for them.

I wish I cou’d say, that as the City had a new Face, so the Manners of the People had a new Appearance: I doubt not but there were many that retain’d a sincere Sense of their Deliverance, and that were heartily thankful to that sovereign Hand, that had protected them in so dangerous a Time; it would be very uncharitable to judge otherwise in a City so populous, and where the People were so devout, as they were here in the Time of the Visitation it self; but except what of this was to be found in particular Families, and Faces, it must be acknowledg’d that the general Practice of the People was just as it was before, and very little Difference was to be seen.

Some indeed said Things were worse, that the Morals of the People declin’d from this very time; that the People harden’d by the Danger they had been in, like Sea-men after a Storm is over, were more wicked and more stupid, more bold and hardened in their Vices and Immoralities than they were before; but I will not carry it so far neither: It would take up a History of no small Length, to give a Particular of all the Gradations, by which the Course of Things in this City came to be restor’d again, and to run in their own Channel as they did before.

Some Parts of England were now infected as violently as London had been; the Cities of Norwich, Peterborough, Lincoln, Colchester,* and other Places were now visited; and the Magistrates of London began to set Rules for our Conduct, as to corresponding with those Cities: It is true, we could not pretend to forbid their People coming to London, because it was impossible to know them assunder, so after many Consultations, the Lord Mayor, and Court of Aldermen were oblig’d to drop it: All they cou’d do, was to warn and caution the People, not to entertain in their Houses, or converse with any People who they knew came from such infected Places.

But they might as well have talk’d to the Air, for the People of London thought themselves so Plague-free now, that they were past all Admonitions; they seem’d to depend upon it, that the Air was restor’d, and that the Air was like a Man that had had the Small Pox, not capable of being infected again; this reviv’d that Notion, that the Infection was all in the Air, that there was no such thing as Contagion from the sick People to the Sound; and so strongly did this Whimsy prevail among People, that they run all together promiscuously, sick and well; not the Mahometans, who, prepossess’d with the Principle of Predestination value nothing of Contagion, let it be in what it will, could be more obstinate than the People of London; they that were perfectly sound, and came out of the wholesome Air, as we call it, into the City, made nothing of going into the same Houses and Chambers nay even into the same Beds, with those that had the Distemper upon them, and were not recovered.

Some indeed paid for their audacious Boldness with the Price of their Lives; an infinite Number fell sick, and the Physicians had more Work than ever, only with this Difference, that more of their Patients recovered; that is to say, they generally recovered, but certainly there were more People infected, and fell sick now, when there did not die above a Thousand, or Twelve Hundred in a Week, than there was when there died Five or Six Thousand a Week; so entirely negligent were the People at that Time, in the great and dangerous Case of Health and Infection; and so ill were they able to take or accept of the Advice of those who cautioned them for their Good.

The People being thus return’d, as it were in general, it was very strange to find, that in their inquiring after their Friends, some whole Families were so entirely swept away, that there was no Remembrance of them left; neither was any Body to be found to possess or shew any Title to that little they had left; for in such Cases, what was to be found was generally embezzled, and purloyn’d, some gone one way, some another.

It was said such abandon’d Effects came to the King as the universal Heir, upon which we were told, and I suppose it was in part true, that the King granted all such as Deodands* to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen of London, to be applied to the use of the Poor, of whom there were very many: For it is to be observ’d, that tho’ the Occasions of Relief, and the Objects of Distress were very many more in the Time of the Violence of the Plague, than now after all was over; yet the Distress of the Poor was more now, a great deal than it was then, because all the Sluces of general Charity were now shut; People suppos’d the main Occasion to be over, and so stop’d their Hands; whereas particular Objects were still very moving, and the Distress of those that were Poor, was very great indeed.

Tho’ the Health of the City was now very much restor’d, yet Foreign Trade did not begin to stir, neither would Foreigners admit our Ships into their Ports for a great while; as for the Dutch, the Misunderstandings between our Court and them had broken out into a War the Year before; so that our Trade that way was wholly interrupted; but Spain and Portugal, Italy and Barbary, as also Hamburgh, and all the Ports in the Baltick, these were all shy of us a great while, and would not restore Trade with us for many Months.

The Distemper sweeping away such Multitudes, as I have observ’d, many, if not all the out Parishes were oblig’d to make new burying Grounds, besides that I have mention’d in Bunhil-Fields, some of which were continued, and remain in Use to this Day; but others were left off, and which, I confess, I mention with some Reflection, being converted into other Uses, or built upon afterwards, the dead Bodies were disturb’d, abus’d, dug up again, some even before the Flesh of them was perished from the Bones, and remov’d like Dung or Rubbish to other Places; some of those which came within the Reach of my Observation, are as follow.

1. A piece of Ground beyond Goswel Street, near Mount-Mill, being some of the Remains of the old Lines or Fortifications of the City, where Abundance were buried promiscuously from the Parishes of Aldersgate, Clerkenwell, and even out of the City. This Ground, as I take it, was since made a Physick Garden,* and after that has been built upon.

2. A piece of Ground just over the Black Ditch, as it was then call’d, at the end of Holloway Lane, in Shoreditch Parish; it has been since made a Yard for keeping Hogs, and for other ordinary Uses, but is quite out of Use as a burying Ground.

3. The upper End of Hand-Alley in Bishopsgate Street, which was then a green Field, and was taken in particularly for Bishopsgate Parish, tho’ many of the Carts out of the City brought their dead thither also, particularly out of the Parish of St. All-hallows on the Wall; this Place I cannot mention without much Regret, it was, as I remember, about two or three Years after the Plague was ceas’d that Sir Robert Clayton* came to be possest of the Ground; it was reported, how true I know not, that it fell to the King for want of Heirs, all those who had any Right to it being carried off by the Pestilence, and that Sir Robert Clayton obtain’d a Grant of it from King Charles II. But however he came by it, certain it is, the Ground was let out to build on, or built upon by his Order: The first House built upon it was a large fair House still standing, which faces the Street, or Way, now call’d Hand-Alley, which, tho’ call’d an Alley, is as wide as a Street: The Houses in the same Row with that House Northward, are built on the very same Ground where the poor People were buried, and the Bodies on opening the Ground for the Foundations, were dug up, some of them remaining so plain to be seen, that the Womens Sculls were distinguish’d by their long Hair, and of others, the Flesh was not quite perished; so that the People began to exclaim loudly against it, and some suggested that it might endanger a Return of the Contagion: After which the Bones and Bodies, as fast as they came at them, were carried to another part of the same Ground, and thrown all together into a deep Pit, dug on purpose, which now is to be known, in that it is not built on, but is a Passage to another House, at the upper end of Rose Alley, just against the Door of a Meeting-house, which has been built there many Years since; and the Ground is palisadoed off from the rest of the Passage, in a little square, there lye the Bones and Remains of near Two thousand Bodies, carried by the Dead-Carts to their Grave in that one Year.

4. Besides this, there was a piece of Ground in Moorfields, by the going into the Street which is now call’d Old Bethlem, which was enlarg’d much, tho’ not wholly taken in on the same occasion.

N.B. The Author of this Journal, lyes buried in that very Ground, being at his own Desire, his Sister having been buried there a few Years before.

5. Stepney Parish, extending it self from the East part of London to the North, even to the very Edge of Shoreditch Church-yard, had a piece of Ground taken in to bury their Dead, close to the said Churchyard; and which for that very Reason was left open, and is since, I suppose, taken into the same Church-yard; and they had also two other burying Places in Spittlefields, one where since a Chapel or Tabernacle has been built for ease to this great Parish, and another in Petticoat-lane.

There were no less than Five other Grounds made use of for the Parish of Stepney at that time; one where now stands the Parish Church of St. Paul’s Shadwel, and the other, where now stands the Parish Church of St. John at Wapping, both which had not the Names of Parishes at that time, but were belonging to Stepney Parish.

I cou’d name many more, but these coming within my particular Knowledge, the Circumstance I thought made it of Use to record them; from the whole, it may be observ’d, that they were oblig’d in this Time of Distress, to take in new burying Grounds in most of the out Parishes, for laying the prodigious Numbers of People which died in so short a Space of Time; but why Care was not taken to keep those Places separate from ordinary Uses, that so the Bodies might rest undisturb’d, that I cannot answer for, and must confess, I think it was wrong; who were to blame, I know not.

I should have mention’d, that the Quakers had at that time also a burying Ground,* set a-part to their Use, and which they still make use of, and they had also a particular dead Cart to fetch their Dead from their Houses; and the famous Solomon Eagle, who, as I mentioned before, had predicted the Plague as a Judgment, and run naked thro’ the Streets, telling the People, that it was come upon them, to punish them for their Sins, had his own Wife died the very next Day of the Plague, and was carried one of the first in the Quakers dead Cart, to their new burying Ground.

I might have throng’d this Account with many more remarkable Things, which occur’d in the Time of the Infection, and particularly what pass’d between the Lord Mayor and the Court, which was then at Oxford, and what Directions were from time to time receiv’d from the Government for their Conduct on this critical Occasion. But really the Court concern’d themselves so little, and that little they did was of so small Import, that I do not see it of much Moment to mention any Part of it here, except that of appointing a Monthly Fast in the City, and the sending the Royal Charity to the Relief of the Poor, both which I have mention’d before.

Great was the Reproach thrown on those Physicians* who left their Patients during the Sickness, and now they came to Town again, no Body car’d to employ them; they were call’d Deserters, and frequently Bills were set up upon their Doors, and written, Here is a Doctor to be let! So that several of those Physicians were fain for a while to sit still and look about them, or at least remove their Dwellings, and set up in new Places, and among new Acquaintance; the like was the Case with the Clergy, who the People were indeed very abusive to, writing Verses and scandalous Reflections upon them, setting upon the Church Door, here is a Pulpit to be let, or sometimes to be sold, which was worse.

It was not the least of our Misfortunes, that with our Infection, when it ceased, there did not cease the Spirit of Strife and Contention, Slander and Reproach, which was really the great Troubler of the Nation’s Peace before: It was said to be the Remains of the old Animosities, which had so lately involv’d us all in Blood and Disorder. But as the late Act of Indemnity* had laid asleep the Quarrel it self, so the Government had recommended Family and Personal Peace upon all Occasions, to the whole Nation.

But it cou’d not be obtain’d, and particularly after the ceasing of the Plague in London, when any one that had seen the Condition which the People had been in, and how they caress’d one another at that time, promis’d to have more Charity for the future, and to raise no more Reproaches: I say, any one that had seen them then, would have thought they would have come together with another Spirit at last. But, I say, it cou’d not be obtain’d; the Quarrel remain’d, the Church and the Presbyterians were incompatible; as soon as the Plague was remov’d, the dissenting outed Ministers who had supplied the Pulpits, which were deserted by the Incumbents, retir’d, they cou’d expect no other; but that they should immediately fall upon them, and harrass them, with their penal Laws,* accept their preaching while they were sick, and persecute them as soon as they were recover’d again, this even we that were of the Church thought was very hard, and cou’d by no means approve of it.

But it was the Government, and we cou’d say nothing to hinder it; we cou’d only say, it was not our doing, and we could not answer for it.

On the other Hand, the Dissenters reproaching those Ministers of the Church with going away, and deserting their Charge, abandoning the People in their Danger, and when they had most need of Comfort and the like, this we cou’d by no means approve; for all Men have not the same Faith, and the same Courage, and the Scripture commands us to judge the most favourably, and according to Charity.

A Plague is a formidable Enemy, and is arm’d with Terrors that every Man is not sufficiently fortified to resist, or prepar’d to stand the Shock against: It is very certain, that a great many of the Clergy, who were in Circumstances to do it, withdrew, and fled for the Safety of their Lives; but ’tis true also, that a great many of them staid, and many of them fell in the Calamity, and in the Discharge of their Duty.

It is true, some of the Dissenting turn’d out Ministers staid, and their Courage is to be commended, and highly valued, but these were not abundant; it cannot be said that they all staid, and that none retir’d into the Country, any more than it can be said of the Church Clergy, that they all went away; neither did all those that went away, go without substituting Curates, and others in their Places, to do the Offices needful, and to visit the Sick, as far as it was practicable; so that upon the whole, an Allowance of Charity might have been made on both Sides, and we should have consider’d, that such a time as this of 1665, is not to be paralleled in History, and that it is not the stoutest Courage that will always support Men in such Cases; I had not said this, but had rather chosen to record the Courage and religious Zeal of those of both Sides, who did hazard themselves for the Service of the poor People in their Distress, without remembring that any fail’d in their Duty on either side. But the want of Temper among us, has made the contrary to this necessary; some that staid, not only boasting too much of themselves, but reviling those that fled, branding them with Cowardice, deserting their Flocks, and acting the Part of the Hireling, and the like: I recommend it to the Charity of all good People to look back, and reflect duly upon the Terrors of the Time; and whoever does so will see, that it is not an ordinary Strength that cou’d support it; it was not like appearing in the Head of an Army, or charging a Body of Horse in the Field; but it was charging Death it self on his pale Horse;* to stay was indeed to die, and it could be esteemed nothing less, especially as things appear’d at the latter End of August, and the Beginning of September, and as there was reason to expect them at that time; for no Man expected, and I dare say, believed, that the Distemper would take so sudden a Turn as it did, and fall immediately 2000 in a Week, when there was such a prodigious Number of People sick at that Time, as it was known there was; and then it was that many shifted away, that had stay’d most of the time before.

Besides, if God gave Strength to some more than to others, was it to boast of their Ability to abide the Stroak, and upbraid those that had not the same Gift and Support, or ought not they rather to have been humble and thankful, if they were render’d more useful than their Brethren?

I think it ought to be recorded to the Honour of such Men, as well Clergy as Physicians, Surgeons, Apothecaries, Magistrates and Officers of every kind, as also all useful People, who ventur’d their Lives in Discharge of their Duty, as most certainly all such as stay’d did to the last Degree, and several of all these Kinds did not only venture but lose their Lives on that sad Occasion.

I was once making a List of all such, I mean of all those Professions and Employments, who thus died, as I call it, in the way of their Duty, but it was impossible for a private Man to come at a Certainty in the Particulars; I only remember, that there died sixteen Clergy-men, two Aldermen, five Physicians, thirteen Surgeons, within the City and Liberties before the beginning of September: But this being, as I said before, the great Crisis and Extremity of the Infection, it can be no compleat List: As to inferior People, I think there died six and forty Constables and Headboroughs* in the two Parishes of Stepney and White-Chapel; but I could not carry my List on, for when the violent Rage of the Distemper in September came upon us, it drove us out of all Measures: Men did then no more die by Tale and by Number,* they might put out a Weekly Bill, and call them seven or eight Thousand, or what they pleas’d; ’tis certain they died by Heaps, and were buried by Heaps, that is to say without Account; and if I might believe some People, who were more abroad and more conversant with those things than I, tho’ I was public enough for one that had no more Business to do than I had, I say, if I may believe them, there was not many less buried those first three Weeks in September than 20000 per Week; however the others aver the Truth of it, yet I rather chuse to keep to the public Account; seven and eight thousand per Week* is enough to make good all that I have said of the Terror of those Times; and it is much to the Satisfaction of me that write, as well as those that read, to be able to say, that every thing is set down with Moderation, and rather within Compass than beyond it.

Upon all these Accounts I say I could wish, when we were recover’d, our Conduct had been more distinguish’d for Charity and Kindness in Remembrance of the past Calamity, and not so much a valuing our selves upon our Boldness in staying, as if all Men were Cowards that fly from the Hand of God, or that those who stay, do not sometimes owe their Courage to their Ignorance, and despising the Hand of their Maker, which is a criminal kind of Desperation, and not a true Courage.

I cannot but leave it upon Record, that the Civil Officers, such as Constables, Headboroughs, Lord Mayor’s, and Sheriff’s-men, as also Parish-Officers, whose Business it was to take Charge of the Poor, did their Duties in general with as much Courage as any, and perhaps with more, because their Work was attended with more Hazards, and lay more among the Poor, who were more subject to be infected and in the most pitiful Plight when they were taken with the Infection: But then it must be added too, that a great Number of them died, indeed it was scarce possible it should be otherwise.

I have not said one Word here about the Physick or Preparations that we ordinarily made use of on this terrible Occasion, I mean we that went frequently abroad up and down Street, as I did; much of this was talk’d of in the Books and Bills of our Quack Doctors, of whom I have said enough already. It may however be added, that the College of Physicians were daily publishing several Preparations, which they had consider’d of in the Process of their Practice, and which being to be had in Print, I avoid repeating them for that reason.

One thing I could not help observing, what befell one of the Quacks, who publish’d that he had a most excellent Preservative against the Plague, which whoever kept about them, should never be infected, or liable to Infection; this Man, who we may reasonably suppose, did not go abroad without some of this excellent Preservative in his Pocket, yet was taken by the Distemper, and carry’d off in two or three Days.

I am not of the Number of the Physic-Haters, or Physic-Despisers; on the contrary, I have often mentioned the regard I had to the Dictates of my particular Friend Dr. Heath; but yet I must acknowledge, I made use of little or nothing, except as I have observ’d, to keep a Preparation of strong Scent* to have ready, in case I met with any thing of offensive Smells, or went too near any burying place, or dead Body.

Neither did I do, what I know some did, keep the Spirits always high and hot with Cordials, and Wine,* and such things, and which, as I observ’d, one learned Physician used himself so much to, as that he could not leave them off when the Infection was quite gone, and so became a Sot for all his Life after.

I remember, my Friend the Doctor us’d to say, that there was a certain Set of Drugs and Preparations, which were all certainly good and useful in the case of an Infection; out of which, or with which, Physicians might make an infinite Variety of Medicines, as the Ringers of Bells make several Hundred different Rounds of Musick by the changing and Order of Sound but in six Bells; and that all these Preparations shall be really very good; therefore, said he, I do not wonder that so vast a Throng of Medicines is offer’d in the present Calamity; and almost every Physician prescribes or prepares a different thing, as his Judgment or Experience guides him: but, says my Friend, let all the Prescriptions of all the Physicians in London be examined; and it will be found, that they are all compounded of the same things, with such Variations only, as the particular Fancy of the Doctor leads him to; so that, says he, every Man judging a little of his own Constitution and manner of his living, and Circumstances of his being infected, may direct his own Medicines out of the ordinary Drugs and Preparations: Only that, says he, some recommended one thing as most sovereign, and some another; some, says he, think that Pill. Ruff.* which is call’d itself the Antipestilential Pill, is the best Preparation that can be made; others think that Venice Treacle* is sufficient of it self to resist the Contagion, and I, says he, think as both these think, viz. that the last is good to take beforehand to prevent it, and the last, if touch’d, to expel it. According to this Opinion, I several times took Venice Treacle and a sound Sweat upon it, and thought my self as well fortified against the Infection as any one could be fortifyed by the Power of Physic.

As for Quackery and Mountebank, of which the Town was so full, I listened to none of them, and have observ’d often since with some Wonder, that for two Years after the Plague, I scarcely saw or heard of one of them about Town.