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 • DANIEL -.DEi-^OE - 
 
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CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 FROM 
 
 Tlie D.ept. of Zoology 
 
 ZOOLOGY UBRWy , 
 
Cornell University Library 
 RC 17S.G7L71895 
 
 Daniel Defoe's Journal of the plague yea 
 
 3 1924 003 518 085 
 
Cornell University 
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 The original of tliis bool< is in 
 tine Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
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LONGMANS' ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 GEORGE EICE CAKPENTER, A.B. 
 
 PBOFESSOR OF RHBTOBIC AtlD ENGLISH COMPOSITION IN COLCHBIA OOLLEQE 
 
 DAOTBL DEFOE 
 
 JOUENAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAE 
 
LONGMANS' ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 With full Notea^ Introductions, Bibliographiea, and other Explanatory and 
 Illustrative Matter. Crown 8vo. Cloth, 
 
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 Edited by FrancisB.Oummere.Ph.D., 
 Professor of Eogllsh in Haverford 
 College. 
 
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 an Introduction by Barrett Wendell, 
 A.B., Assistant Professor of EDgllsh 
 in Harvard TTnlverslty, and Notes by 
 William Lyon Phelps, Ph.D., Instruc- 
 tor in English Literature in Yale 
 University. 
 
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 Dbxau. Edited by George Pierce 
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 fessor of the English Language in 
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 CoHUB, AND Ltoidas. Edited by 
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 AND n. Edited by Edward Everett 
 HalCjJr., Ph.D., Professor of Rhetoric 
 and Logic in Union College. 
 
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 Superintendent of Public Instruction, 
 Brooklyn, N. Y., and Percival Chubb, 
 Instructor in English, Manual Training 
 High School, Brooklyn. 
 
 Defoe's Histobt of the Plague in 
 London. Edited by Professor Q. B. 
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 from "The Spectator." Edited by 
 D. O, S. Lowell, A.M., of the Roxbury 
 
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 Edited by Mary A. Jordan, A.M., 
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 fessor of Greek in Harvard University. 
 
 Uaoaulat'b LiyB of Sauuel Johnson. 
 Edited by the Rev. Huber Gray 
 Buehler, of the Hotclikiss School, 
 Lakeville, Conn. 
 
 Ibvino's Tales op a Tbavelleb. With 
 an Introduction by Brandcr Matthews, 
 Professor of Literature in Columbia 
 College, and Explanatory Notes by the 
 general editor or the series. 
 
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 tion, together with other Addresses 
 relatine to the Revolution. Edited by 
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 Cabltle's Essat on Bubns. Edited 
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 rrlnctpal of the Newark Academy, 
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 De Quinoet's Flight of a Tabtab 
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 Edited by Charles Sears Baldwin, 
 Ph.D., Instructor In Rhetoric in Yale 
 
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 College. 
 
 Geoboe Eliot's Silas Mabneb. Edited 
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 Professor of Rhetoric In the University 
 of Chicago. 
 
 Other Volumes are in Preparation. 
 
DANIEL I>E[-'OE 
 (After an engraving by Van dcr Gupht) 
 
Xongman0' Bnglisb Classics 
 DANIEL DEFOE'S 
 
 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 YEAR 
 
 EDITED 
 
 WITH NOTES AND AN INTRODUCTION 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE RICE CARPENTER 
 
 FBOPESSOB OF BHETOKIC AND ENGLISH COMPOSITION IN OOIUMBIA COLLEGB 
 
 NEW YORK 
 LONGMAl^S, GEEEN, AND 00. 
 
 LONDON AND BOMBAY 
 1896 
 
COPYMGHT, 1896 
 BY 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN. AND CO. 
 
 FiBST Kditioit, Seftembeb, 1695. 
 Befbinted, Afbiii and August, 1896. 
 
 'TROW DIRECTOnV 
 
 rRINTINQ AND BQOKDINDINQ COMPANY 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
PKEFACE 
 
 Unable to obtain access to a copy of the exceedingly rare 
 first edition of the " Journal of the Plague Year," I have 
 been forced to content myself with reproducing the com- 
 mon text, frequently, and, it is to be feared, carelessly, re- 
 printed during the present century. No alterations have 
 been made except by the correction of obvious misprints, 
 slight changes (for the sake of clearness and uniformity) in 
 Defoe's erratic punctuation, the omission of a few passages 
 inappropriate for school use, and the rough division of the 
 work into something like chapters. For this last proced- 
 ure there is no warrant but necessity. Ko boy of to-day 
 can be expected, undriven, to find his way through the 
 mazes of Defoe's narrative without some such aid. The 
 method of annotation is very simple. I have merely at- 
 tempted to explain such words, phrases, or allusions as 
 might puzzle a young reader. Defoe's style I have not at- 
 tempted to correct, but I have frequently indicated the 
 points at which his usage differs from the accepted usage 
 of to-day. 
 
 Defoe's original title, " The Journal of the Plague 
 Year," has been restored in this edition. The current 
 title of the work, "The History of the Plague," comes 
 from the second edition, published after Defoe's death, and, 
 to all appearances, without any previous authorization by 
 him of the change in name. 
 
 G. E. Cabpbntbe. 
 
 Columbia College, August, 1895. 
 
NOTE TO THE SECOND EDITION 
 
 The recent publication of a reproduction of the first 
 edition of the " Journal of the Plague Tear," as volume 
 nine of Mr. G. A. Aitkin's "Romances and Narratives 
 of Daniel Defoe," enables us to tell precisely what 
 changes were made in later editions, which appeared 
 after Defoe's death. The changes consisted merely, 
 with the exception of a few comparatively unimportant 
 verbal alterations, in the omission of a number of para- 
 graphs, which I take this opportunity of adding to 
 this edition as an appendix. So many of the omitted 
 paragraphs touch on matters of religious opinion or 
 feeling and on civic administration that it is not unfair 
 to suppose that the unknown editor was frequently 
 guided, in cancelling them, by his ideas of propriety. 
 
 AprU, 1896. 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 I. BIOGRAPHY 
 
 The great journalist and noyelist, Daniel Defoe, was bom 
 in a parish of London frequently referred to in the " Jour- 
 nal of the Plague Year," that of St. Giles, Cripplegate, in 
 1659, of a family of Flemish extraction, whose name. Foe, 
 he changed, in middle life, for reasons not easy to under- 
 stand, to De Foe or Defoe. His father, a butcher by trade 
 and a Dissenter by religion, placed his son, in 1673, at an 
 academy near London, where he was prepared for the min- 
 istry under the charge of Charles Morton, afterwards a 
 prominent clergyman at Charlestown, Massachusetts, and 
 vice-president of Harvard College, a man of learning and 
 originality, whose excellent practice it was to drill his 
 pupils, with more than usual care, in the use of their 
 mother-tongue, as well as in the ancient and modern lan- 
 guages. Defoe went into business, not into the ministry, 
 though throughout his life his mind was at various times 
 much interested in religious and ethical questions. 
 
 Of the life of no famous writer of his time do we know 
 less that is definite. In 1683 he was what we should call 
 a commission-merchant for hosiery. In 1684 he married. 
 Up to 1693, in which year he became a bankrupt, owing 
 his creditors some seventeen thousand pounds, we know 
 only that he had visited Spain and Portugal, and had made 
 several journeys to Scotland; that he was an active mem- 
 ber, sometimes preaching, of a suburban dissenting con- 
 gregation ; that, moved no doubt by patriotic and religious 
 zeal, he took part in the reckless anti-Catholic rebellion 
 headed by the Duke of Monmouth ; that, like Steele, his 
 
Viii INTROBUOTION 
 
 great contemporary, he was deeply interested in politics 
 and an ardent Whig ; and that he was a member of the 
 regiment of volunteers who escorted William III. to Guild- 
 hall after the glorious revolution of 1689. In 1694 he 
 held a small post under the government, was a large share- 
 holder in a brick and tile manufactory, and in prosperous 
 circumstances. 
 
 From 1691' on, Defoe was the author of occasional polit- 
 ical pamphlets, not without their influence on the affairs 
 of the times, and in 1701 he became famous through an 
 exceedingly clever political tract in verse, "The True- 
 born Englishman," defending William III. against his 
 detractors, who called him a foreigner, by developing the 
 very sensible argument that the English race was such a 
 mongrel mixture that it ill behooved it to stickle over slight 
 differences of extraction : 
 
 " For Englishmen to boast of generation 
 Cancels their knowledge and lampoons the nation ; 
 A true-born Englishman's a contradiction, 
 In speech an irony, in fact a fiction." 
 
 All London, at that time all the England to whom an au- 
 thor looked for audience, laughed at Defoe's wit and skill ; 
 eighty thousand pirated copies of the poem were sold, 
 besides the authorized editions ; and Defoe was in high 
 favor with the King and the Whigs. His pen continued 
 active. A dozen other Whig pamphlets appeared in 1701, 
 and eight in 1703 ; among the latter was one, " The Shortest 
 Way with the Dissenters," which, now that King William 
 was dead, and the Tories in the ascendant, brought him 
 into serious trouble. The tract was couched in the serious, 
 ironical style which we associate chiefly with Swift, and 
 purported to be the utterance of an extreme Tory and 
 Church of England man, who gravely proposed to solve 
 the seemingly never-ending struggle with the Dissenters by 
 rigorous persecution and complete destruction. " Now 
 let us crucify the thieves," are his closing words ; " and 
 
INTRODUCTION IX 
 
 may God Almighty put it into the hearts of all friends of 
 truth to lift up a standard against pride and Antichrist, 
 that the posterity of the sons of error may be rooted out 
 from the face of this land for ever." 
 
 The effect of the tract was almost instantaneous. The 
 Dissenters were alarmed. The " High-Fliers," the extreme 
 Tories, were beguiled into expressions of approval. Then 
 the truth leaked out, and both parties were furious. The 
 Tories secured Defoe's punishment ; he stood three times 
 in the pillory, paid a round fine, and was imprisoned for 
 two years. But his shame became his glory and his dis- 
 comfiture his opportunity. The plaudits of the Whig mob 
 made his exposure in the pillory a public festival, at which 
 was hawked about and widely sold a " Hymn to the Pil- 
 lory," of Defoe's own composition, not less insulting to the 
 befooled Tories than the original pamphlet : 
 
 " Tell 'em the men that placed him here 
 Are scandals to the times, 
 Are at a loss to find his guilt, 
 
 And can't commit his crimes. " 
 
 Defoe's imprisonment, doubtless wearisome and trying to 
 the health, was the foundation of a great success for him 
 and of lasting benefit to the nation, for, though his en- 
 forced inactivity ruined his business, it led him to the 
 founding of the first English paper of any importance, the 
 Mevietu, a vigorous political sheet, written for years en- 
 tirely by Defoe, that had also the important object of 
 amusing the public by recounting gossip of the day, thus 
 becoming the prototype of Steele's Tatler (1709), which, 
 in its turn, influenced profoundly the literature and the 
 civilization of England and of the continent. 
 
 From Defoe's release in 1704 until his' death in 1731 we 
 have only: few and barren details in regard to his life. This 
 is due to two causes : first, his strange taciturnity and re- 
 serve, which sometimes delighted in mystifying those who 
 knew and loved him best as to his employment, the state 
 
X INTRODUOTION 
 
 of his fortune, and even Ms whereabouts ; and, second, the 
 fact that he was during those years in peculiar relations 
 with the government, which employed him in a variety of 
 ways for the furtherance of political and party schemes. 
 The fact that he thus served successive ministries and radi- 
 cally difEerent parties seemed at the time to be complete 
 proof of dishonesty, and Addison, never particularly 
 broadminded, referred to him as " a false, shuffling, pre- 
 varicating rascal." From all that can be gathered, how- 
 ever, it is anything but evident that Defoe was dishonest. 
 His actions, his pamphlets, his utterances of every sort were 
 singularly in accord, for the most part, with those of Steele, 
 a blunt and honest Whig, if there ever was one. His secret 
 services to the government, which from time to time called 
 for his presence in various parts of the kingdom, seem 
 never, except in the instance of his remaining as a sort of 
 spy on certain Tory journals, after the Whigs came into 
 power again, to have been inconsistent with a plain sense 
 of public duty. Finally, even in the doubtfully diplomatic 
 action just mentioned, reflection shows us that he con- 
 ducted himself with scrupulous self-restraint toward his 
 political opponents, using the advantage he had over them 
 only so far as to attempt to modify their more harmful 
 extravagances of expression. His own opinions were re- 
 markably constant. On the whole, the fairest, and most 
 succinct criticism of his conduct and his services is that of 
 a contemporary paper, which, commenting upon his recent 
 death, remarked : " His knowledge of men, especially those 
 in high life (with whom he had formerly been very con- 
 versant), had weakened his attachment to any political 
 party ; but in the main he was in the interest of civil and 
 religious liberty, in behalf of which he appeared on several 
 remarkable occasions." 
 
 Defoe's earnest and grave face has come down to us through 
 several portraits, one of the best of which is that repro- 
 duced as a frontispiece to this volume. His general ap- 
 pearance is strikingly described in the proclamation issued 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 by the government in 1703, after the publication of the 
 "Shortest Way with the Dissenters," offering fifty pounds 
 for the discovery of his retreat : — " He is a middle-sized, 
 spare man, about forty years old, of a brown complexion, and 
 dark-brown coloured hair, but wears a wig ; a hooked nose, 
 a sharp chin, grey eyes, and a large mole near his mouth." 
 Defoe's strongest characteristics are those of the intellect. 
 Franklin, his contemporary, was perhaps most like him. 
 Both were valued political agents, both acute in estimating 
 the weight of public opinion and in devising means for influ- 
 encing it ; both were fertile in expedients and in projects 
 for promoting the public welfare. Defoe's accurate obser- 
 vation, his clear and cold imagination, his plain and convinc- 
 ing logic made him what he was and his works what they 
 are. His life was, in many respects, an unhappy one. Like 
 Steele, he was often in debt and in trouble ; unlike Steele, 
 he was distinctly a solitary man. From his immediate re- 
 lations he was frequently estranged. He died alone, in 
 lodgings, under circumstances peculiarly affecting. With 
 the reigning literary " set" he had few or no connections. 
 A pious Dissenter, of the sturdy common stock that frowned 
 on the play, on dice and drink, and on all current forms 
 of frivolity, he was perforce isolated, by temperament, by 
 breeding, by occupation and opportunity, from the fash- 
 ionable life of his day. His relations with his great con- 
 temporaries were few. Addison despised him. Swift made 
 him the mark of a stinging epigram,' Pope insulted him 
 after his death, and Steele, though he referred to him with 
 respect, could have known little of him. It is strange to 
 think that this outcast from the brilliant life of the period, 
 should have proved more truly famous than those then 
 most highly esteemed by the critics. To a great extent the 
 reputation of Swift and Pope, of Addison and Steele, is 
 now confined to the bookish — the property of the educated 
 and the refined, while " Robinson Crusoe " still amuses and 
 
 ' " The fellow that was pilloried, I have forgot his name."— 4 Let- 
 ter .. . concerning t!ie Sacramental Test (1708). 
 
Xll INTRODUCTION 
 
 instructs thousands, children and common people, as well 
 as grown folk and scholars, in many lands and in many 
 languages. 
 
 It is striking, too, to notice that Defoe is the only one of 
 the great authors of Queen Anne's reign whose name is 
 still borne by his direct descendants. Swift and Pope were 
 childless ; the line of Steele and Addison soon ran out. 
 But Daniel Defoe, great-great-great-grandson of the author 
 of " Eobinson Crusoe " and " Captain Singleton," is now, 
 as so many of his ancestor's favorite characters were, an 
 English seaman. Butcher, author, calico-printer, box- 
 maker, sailor — the list of the Defoes' trades is a fitting 
 type of the permanency of the people. From among them, 
 at intervals, a great genius, bone of their bone and flesh of 
 their flesh, separates himself for a few decades, makes in 
 literature or in art a lasting record of their unuttered 
 thoughts, or feelings, or dreams ; and from him spring, 
 not other geniuses, but common folk like those who bore 
 him, continuing the great chain of human action and hu- 
 man inheritance. 
 
 II. WORKS 
 
 Defoe was by far the most voluminous writer of his 
 time. Not only was he for long periods connected with 
 seven newspapers, of some of which he was rather the 
 author than a contributor, but for a third of a century he 
 wrote large numbers of political tracts and pamphlets, 
 many of which appeared anonymously. A list of his writ- 
 ings njade by Mr. Lee, one of his most painstaking biogra- 
 phers, includes two hundred and fifty-four separate publi- 
 cations. This list may enumerate writings not by Defoe, 
 but it is un^kely that the estimate largely exceeds the truth. 
 Probably it ffiUs below it. 
 
 It is not, however, as a journalist and a pamphleteer that 
 Defoe is known in English literature, though it was to 
 such work that he gave his best years, but as a novelist. 
 
INTRODUCTION xill 
 
 He was sixty years old when, after a life that had brought 
 him into intercourse with many kinds of men, after long 
 experience as a writer, when his knowledge and his power 
 were alike fully ripe, he turned from his moral and polit- 
 ical productions, from " The Family Instructor " (1718) 
 and " A Friendly Rebuke to one Parson Benjamin " (1719), 
 to a narrative of the " Life and Strange, Surprizing Advent- 
 ures of Eobinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner." The book was 
 an instant success. Edition followed edition with rapidity, 
 and from the very first it penetrated to an astonishing de*- 
 gree through the middle to the lower classes of the com- 
 munity. The strong popular taste for stories of adventure 
 Defoe continued to supply, either in the form of exciting 
 narratives of dangerous deeds, or in the kindred form of 
 somewhat sensational accounts of extraordinary phenomena. 
 To the first class belong "The King of the Pirates" (1719), 
 the "Memoirs of a Cavalier" (1730), "The Life, Advent- 
 ures, and Piracies of the Famous Captain Singleton" 
 (1720), " The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous 
 Moll Flanders " (1731), " The History and Remarkable Life 
 of the Truly Honourable Colonel Jacque, vulgarly called 
 Colonel Jack " (1723), and several others. To the second 
 class belong " The History of the Life and Adventures of 
 Mr. Duncan Campbell" (1720), a noted fortune-teller, the 
 "Journal of the Plague Year" (1722), and other less well- 
 known productions. 
 
 That these were the novels that Defoe wrote with seem- 
 ing pleasure and the people read with evident avidity is 
 interesting for several reasons. First, they were virtually 
 the earliest English novels. Their predecessors had been 
 metrical romances, long narratives of chivalrous deeds, 
 allegories, or collections of anecdotes or facetious tales. 
 Ifo English writer before Defoe, except Bunyan, had pro- 
 duced a fictitious narrative in prose that had deeply inter- 
 ested the people at large. Second, a similar taste for 
 similar productions, usually known as "picaresque"* 
 ' From pioaro, a Spanish word for a logae or sharper. 
 
XIV INTRODUGTION 
 
 novels, was common at about this time in several other 
 European literatures. Starting in Spain, it reached France, 
 and then England and Germany. > This singular appetite 
 for the escapades of rogues and rascals was the token of a 
 change in the attitude of the people toward literature. 
 Literature had meant to them only the ideal and unreal 
 romances of chivalry ; now it meant the realistic treatment 
 of the actual life around them. The people had become 
 conscious of the romance of their own making. Third, this 
 interest in contemporary life as the subject-matter for 
 fiction, once started, has continued almost without inter- 
 ruption to the present day. Fielding and Smollett followed 
 Defoe, and Thackeray and Dickens followed them. We 
 read gladly at times resuscitations of the old chivalric 
 romances, in the novels of Scott, for instance ; but we are, 
 as a rule, most interested in what we know and feel belongs 
 to the actual, the real, the possible, for human creatures 
 such as we are, and that is why the thieving boy in " Colo- 
 nel Jack," the reckless young sailor in " Captain Single- 
 ton," and the lonely outcast in " Robinson Crusoe " appeal 
 to us so strongly. 
 
 Defoe's novels as a whole have certain definite character- 
 istics. In the first place, they all pretend to be actual rec- 
 ords of fact. There was of course no " Robinson Crusoe," 
 who wrote two volumes about his adventures and his travels. 
 Defoe was a mere child at the time of the plague of 1665, 
 and could have had only the most trivial recollections of it. 
 Yet these books, and Defoe's books in general, took on the 
 semblance of autobiographies, and were not uncommonly 
 accepted as such. In the second place, all of Defoe's 
 novels have a marked religious or ethical trend. Each has 
 a moral lesson. That of " Robinson Crusoe " is the lesson 
 of work. Industry, thoughtful, prudent, and frugal liv- 
 ing, the resolute bearing of misfortune, submission to the 
 will of God, — these make even the reckless and vicious man 
 
 ' See Perry's Bngluh Literature in the Eighteenth Century, pp. 382- 
 823. 
 
INTBODUOTION XV 
 
 a liappy and useful citizen. The "Journal of the Plague 
 Year " extols the same viitues, to be persisted in even in 
 situations of the utmost terror. In the third plg,ce, Defoe's 
 novels, in spite of being fiction, and in spite of seemingly 
 going out of their way at times for the sake of a moral, pro- 
 duce an astonishing effect of reality. It is almost impossi- 
 ble to believe, for instance, that Defoe had not lived through 
 the plague year in London as a grown man. This is due 
 partly to his clever use of minute details, partly to his es- 
 sential historical accuracy in the main points of the story. 
 
 III. THE JOUENAL OP THE PLAGUE YEAK 
 
 The occasion which led to the composition of " The Jour- 
 nal of the Plague Year " was an outbreak of the plague in 
 southern Prance. Defoe, like the veteran journalist he 
 was, immediately began to ofEer the public detailed infor- 
 mation in regard to what had happened in London in the 
 last " visitation," that of 1665. His activity took three 
 forms : (1) short articles in Applebee's Journal, a general 
 periodical of the time; (3) the "Journal of the Plague 
 Year," published March 17, 1722 ; and (3) " Due Prepara- 
 tions for the Plague " (1722), a volume of about the same 
 size as the " Journal," describing, among other things, the 
 different fortunes of two families in the outbreak of 1665. 
 With good authorities Defoe was well supplied. Dr. "tfa- 
 thaniel Hodges, a physician who remained in active service 
 throughout the plague, had published, in 1672, an historical 
 account of it. A collection of the bills of mortality for 
 1665 had appeared. In addition to these Defoe is said to 
 have made use of a pamphlet by the Rev. Thomas Vincent, 
 "God's Terrible Voice in the City" (1667). Brayley, in 
 his valuable edition of the " Journal " (1835), declares that 
 Defoe drew also from a manuscript treatise on the plague 
 in London, now preserved in the British Museum, by a 
 physician. Dr. William Boghurst. Besides all these sources 
 
XTl INTRODUOTION 
 
 of information, it must not be forgotten that Defoe, with 
 the insatiable curiosity and accuj:ate memory so character- 
 istic of him, must have had at hand an abundance of ma- 
 terial derived from eye-witnesses of the events of that fatal 
 year. Add such recollections as may have been burned into 
 the mind of a child, and we have data enough to equip 
 either an historian or a novelist. 
 
 The two best known contemporary accounts of the plague 
 are those preserved in the diaries of Evelyn and of Pepys. 
 In regard to facts they agree substantially with Defoe ; 
 but their point of view was radically difEerent. Evelyn, 
 scholar, official, man of letters, regarded the plague almost 
 as a visitation of God upon the poor, the ravages of which 
 he could contemplate with devout equanimity from his car- 
 riage-windows. In his voluminous journal virtually all that 
 concerns the outbreak is what is printed below : 
 
 16 July. — There died of the plague in London this weeke 1100, 
 and in the weeke following above 2000. Two houses were shut up 
 in our parish. 
 
 2 Aug. — A solemn fast thro' England to deprecate God's dis- 
 pleasure against the land by pestilence and war ; our Dr preaching 
 on 26 Levit : v [erses] 41, 42, that the meanes to obtain remission of 
 punishment was not to repine at it, but humbly to submit to it. 
 
 8 Aug. — I waited on the D. of Albemarle, who was resolved to 
 stay at the Cock-pit in St. James's Parke, Died this week in 
 London 4000. 
 
 15 Aug. — There perished this week 5000. 
 
 28 Aug. — The contagion still increasing and growing now all 
 about us, I sent my Wife and whole family (two or three necessary 
 servants excepted) to my Brother's at Wotton, being resolved to stay 
 at my house myselfe, and to looke after my charge, trusting in the 
 providence and goodnesse of God. 
 
 7 Sept. — Came home, there perishing neere 10,000 poore creatures 
 weekly ; however, I went all along the citty and suburbs from Kent 
 Streete to St. James's, a dismal passage, and dangerous to see so many 
 coffines expos'd in the streetes, now thin of people ; the shops shut 
 up, and all in mourneful silence, not knowing whose turn might be 
 next. I went to ye Duke of Albemarle for a pest-ship, to wait on our 
 infected men, who were not a few. 
 
 11 October. — To London, and went thro' ye whole citty, having oc 
 
INTBODUOTION ivil 
 
 casion to alight out of the coach in severall places about buisiuesse of 
 mony, when I was environ'd with multitudes of poors pestiferous 
 creatures begging almes : the shops nuirersally shut up, a dreadful 
 prospect ! I din'd with my Lo. General ; was to receive £10,000, and 
 had guards to convey both myselfe and it, and so returned home, 
 thro' God's infinite mercy. 
 
 Pepys's attitude was not materially different. The 
 plague interfered only slightly with his comfort, and not 
 at all with his business. His light-heartedness scarcely 
 flagged even during the worst months, and, like Evelyn, 
 he thought of the plague mainly as a terrible affliction of 
 the lower or middle classes, not likely much to trouble the 
 rich, the noble, and the gay. The following extracts from 
 his diary are characteristic of him and of the whole group 
 of court dependents, whom Defoe speaks of so coldly, al- 
 most as of a foreign race : 
 
 September 3rd (Lord's day). — Up; and put on my coloured silk suit 
 very fine, and my new periwigg, bought a good while since, but durst 
 not wear, because the plague was in Westminster when I bought it ; 
 and it is a wonder what will be the fashion after the plague is done, 
 as to periwiggs, for nobody will dare to buy any haire, for fear of the 
 infection, that it had been cut off the heads of people dead of the 
 plague. To church, where a sorry dull parson, and so home and most 
 excellent company with Mr. Hill and discourse of musique. . . 
 
 14th. — To London, where I have not been now a pretty while. 
 . . . Away back again to the Beare at the Bridge foot, and 
 there called for a biscuit and a piece of cheese and gill of sacke, be- 
 ing forced to walk over the Bridge, toward the 'Change, and the plague 
 being all thereabouts. Here my news was highly welcome, and I did 
 wonder to see the 'Change so full, I believe 200 people ; but not a 
 man or merchant of any fashion, but plain men all. And Lord ! to 
 see how I did endeavour all I could to talk with as few as I could. 
 
 The hero of Defoe's novel or history, whichever we 
 choose to style it, was neither a scholar nor a courtier, but 
 a plain man and citizen, a Dissenter, — fitting type, like 
 the central character of Bunyan's great allegory, of the 
 thought and feeling of a large, perhaps a predominating, 
 part of the nation, and one almost unrepresented in the 
 
XTIU INTBODUOTION 
 
 imaginative prose literature of the time. With the atti- 
 tude of mind of this central character in Defoe's novel, 
 Americans are especially familiar. Whoever has lived in 
 a small New England parish, at least, will find little diffi- 
 culty in making real to himself this picture of a man who, 
 without dependence on the recognized religions forms and 
 procedure of an established church, justly dear and help- 
 ful to so many, lived, as he firmly believed, in direct com- 
 munication with God through a time of popular terror, 
 led by His special providence, through signs and warnings, 
 into a perilous course of life, but preserved that he might 
 behold and profit by the example of God's dealings with 
 men. 
 
 The reason why this religious romance of Defoe's, like 
 Bunyan's " Pilgrim's Progress," has held for nearly two cen- 
 turies its place in English literature, the reason whja knowl- 
 edge of it is still worth making a requisite of a broad edu- 
 cation, is that it is one of the most vivid pictures imagina- 
 ble of the varied scenes and experiences of a great national 
 calamity, such as still might conceivably overtake a large 
 community. No one can read it without a healthy quick- 
 ening of the sympathies, and without receiving into his 
 memory a series of pictures stimulating the imagination 
 and scarcely to be effaced from the memory. The nightly 
 dead-carts and the links, the red crosses on the doors, the 
 pit at midnight with the half-crazed mourner, the simple 
 waterman, the lowly artisan wanderers ; even the seemingly 
 trivial details, the untouched purse in the deserted court- 
 yard, the unfrightened women pillaging the warehouse,-^ 
 all these remain with us for years as vivid as the actual 
 recollections of our childhoods. 
 
 Defoe probably intended the moral of the " Journal " 
 to be submission to the will of God. But the main teach- 
 ing of the book, as we see it now, is the lesson of energy, 
 self-control, and forethought. Nor is it a lesson to forget 
 or pass over. We who live under the constant direction of 
 boards of health and under the guard of organized police. 
 
INTBODUOTION xix 
 
 need to be brought, in fact or by imagination, among cir- 
 cumstances where, as in the London of the seventeenth 
 century, or in the extreme West of to-day, ofiBcial law is 
 weak, and the safety of the individual and the common- 
 wealth depends upon the power of the citizen to protect 
 himself, to act for himself, to think for himself. 
 
 Defoe's style has been severely criticised and warmly 
 praised. Undoubtedly the worst that can be said of it is 
 that it is sometimes needlessly rambling and full of digres- 
 sions, as in this volume, where, for instance, a score of pages 
 in regard to the shutting up of houses might be entirely 
 omitted or greatly condensed, so far as the effect on the mod- 
 ern reader goes. On the other hand, it can be answered that 
 Defoe may have had a motive for dwelling so constantly on 
 that particular topic, even by iteration and accumulative 
 eifect, and that, when a book has such wonderfully per- 
 manent qualities as to retain its force and value for nearly 
 two hundred years, it is perhaps foolish for us to determine 
 how it could have been made better. A less important 
 charge against Defoe's style than verbosity is what we 
 should call slovenliness — formless sentences, blundering 
 syntax, careless vocabulary. Here again it may be fairly 
 said, in defence of Defoe, that the taste of his time allowed 
 great laxity in such matters, that Dryden and Steele are 
 also frequently at fault when judged by standards of our 
 own making, and that he wrote the vernacular, rather than 
 the literary, dialect of his period. In power of producing 
 illusion, of making a fictitious scene or event stand out 
 with all the vividness of reality, Defoe has few equals. 
 Here his success seems due largely to his homely idiom and 
 to his favorite device of citing minute and trivial details. 
 That the abandoned purse contained precisely such an odd 
 amount of money (page 100), to quote but a single instance, 
 impresses the reader with an instinctive confidence in the 
 veracity of one who records, so accurately and so casually, 
 such unimportant items. 
 
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS 
 AND STUDENTS 
 
 The books prescribed for "reading" should, in the 
 opinion of the editor of this volume, be so treated in the 
 class-room as (1) give the pupil an adequate knowledge of 
 the books themselves, and (3) as to lead him on to read 
 spontaneously and with pleasure other books of the same 
 sort or of cognate sorts. In pursuance of both aims he 
 now ventures to suggest to such teachers, pupils, or chance 
 readers as have no better plans of their own, the following 
 scheme of study for the "Journal of the Plague Year : "' 
 
 I. The pupil's first step must be to read at home, or in 
 his school hours for study — preferably the former — a por- 
 tion of the book, varying in length from five to twenty-five 
 pages, according to his age and experience. In each case 
 he should read the assigned passage twice, first with a view 
 to getting an intelligent idea of the subject-matter in 
 general, and of obtaining from it as much pleasure as 
 possible, and second, with a view to assuring himself that 
 he knows precisely what the author means by every word, 
 sentence, and paragraph of the passage. He should not, 
 of coarse, concern himself, in any but the rarest cases, 
 with the etymology of particular words, or with the ferret- 
 ing out of remote allusions. All words not to be found in 
 a good dictionary, all allusions that cannot be understood 
 by a boy or girl of ordinary information, are explained in 
 the notes. The notes must not be relied on, however, to 
 escape the discipline of reading. A pupil who does not 
 have a sufficiently definite idea of common words or ex- 
 pressions, which the author uses and which are not ex- 
 
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEACHERS xxi 
 
 plained in the notes, to appreciate the author's meaning or 
 the point of his allusion, must consult an encyclopaedia, a 
 dictionary, or some wiser friend. 
 
 II. The second step in the treatment of a book prescribed 
 for reading is taken in the class-room. Here the instructor, 
 with as little formality as possible, should make certain 
 that each student has mastered the part of the book desig- 
 nated, i.e., that he has an intelligent idea of the subject- 
 matter, as a whole and in detail ; that he really understands 
 what the author's object was in this particular part of his 
 work ; and that he enjoys and appreciates the dominant 
 quality of the passage, whatever it may be. 
 
 III. It is important, also, that the student should connect 
 the information he obtains from the passage in question 
 with the information afforded by his other studies and by 
 his own experience and observation. Wherever the " Jour- 
 nal of the Plague Year," for example, brings forward 
 matters touched on in any other branch of study, or sug- 
 gests questions of thought or action made prominent by 
 local interests, the pupil's mind should be taught to fasten 
 tenaciously on these points, that he may realize the intercon- 
 nection between subjects of study seemingly diverse, and 
 gain a flexibility of mind that passes readily from one point 
 of view to another, and makes every possible use of every 
 fact and fancy it has once come into the possession of. 
 
 IV. It is even more important that the pupil should be 
 stimulated to carry on lines of study and reading which the 
 prescribed book suggests. He may with profit read a short 
 biography of Defoe or passages from Mr. Wright's larger 
 " Life," for more detailed information in regard to Defoe's 
 life than that furnished by the Introduction. He should 
 especially be encouraged to read, or reread, "Eobinson 
 Crusoe" and "Captain Singleton," not only for the sake 
 of the pleasure afforded by these narratives of adventure, 
 but with the thoughtfulness demanded by even works of 
 fiction that reflect the character of English civilization in 
 the first part of the eighteenth century. Such reading of 
 
xxu SUGGESTIONS FOB TEACHERS 
 
 fiction does much to develop in the student a taste, in these 
 days too frequently wholly absent, for thoughtful reading 
 of all sorts, and for observation and reflection in regard to 
 the life around him. 
 
 V. The " Journal of the Plague Year " takes its place 
 among the books prescribed for "reading "in 1896 and 
 1897 as a representative of the literature of what is com- 
 monly called the age of Queen Anne. As we have seen, it 
 may well stand as an example of the literature that appealed 
 to the popular taste, but it is far from being a fair example 
 of the more fashionable literature of the time. The stu- 
 dent, therefore, after getting a general view of the period 
 from any good short history of English literature, should 
 go on to read Swift's " Gulliver's Travels " (as afford- 
 ing an easy transition from Defoe's novels to the more 
 dignified productions of Addison, Steele, and Pope), the Sir 
 Roger de Coverley papers of Addison and Steele, and any* 
 thing of Pope's in which he can be induced to take an in- 
 terest. 
 
 VI. Exercises in composition based upon the book 
 should not be neglected. These may be mere summaries, 
 simple narratives, or descriptions. If such exercises be con- 
 tinued long, however, an eflEort should be made to intro- 
 duce other elements than that of summarizing — the mere 
 giving back again, in presentable form, of facts already 
 designated. The student should learn to gather facts for 
 himself. It is his power of observation that needs to be 
 trained, when once his power of acquiring what is pointed 
 out to him is thoroughly tested. It is recommended, 
 therefore, that composition subjects be chosen, as much as 
 possible, after the summarizing is once done thoroughly, 
 from the subjects of reading and study referred to under 
 III., IV., and v., or else from material furnished by the 
 student's own life and experience. Care should be taken, 
 it must also be remarked, to point out to the pupil the vir- 
 tues and the vices of Defoe's style, as judged by the stand- 
 ards of to-day. What the young writer must especially 
 
SUGGESTIONS FOR TEAOEERS xxiii 
 
 avoid is Defoe's careless syntax aad loose sentence-structure. 
 What he may wisely emulate is Defoe's wonderful skill in 
 the choice of words. The teacher will do well to bring 
 these rhetorical topics before the class clearly and with 
 some detail in the course of the reading and discussion of 
 the present volume. It should be borne in mind, however, 
 that many of the editor's notes that seem at first sight to 
 be corrections of Defoe's style are merely comments or ex- 
 planations from the point of view of modern prose idiom 
 and usage. 
 
 VII. The following list of books may be of service. The 
 best short accounts of Defoe's life are those by Mr. Leslie 
 Stephen in the " Dictionary of National Biography," by 
 Mr. George A. Aitken, as a " General Introduction " to his 
 reprint of the " Romances and Narratives of Daniel Defoe " 
 (London : Dent), and by Mr. Saintsbury in the " Encyclo- 
 paadia Britannica." Of the larger biographies, that of the 
 late Professor Minto, in the English Men of Letters Series, 
 is the most compact ; that of William Lee (London, 1869) 
 the most detailed ; and that of Mr. Thomas Wright (New 
 York, 1894) the most recent and the most interesting. 
 The best critical essay on Defoe is that by Mr. Leslie 
 Stephen, contained in the first series of his " Hours in a 
 Library." Mrs. Oliphant's essay in the Century for Sep- 
 tember, 1893, is less valuable, but more generally accessible 
 and perhaps more likely to interest younger readers. 
 
 VIII. Within the limits of a school edition it is im- 
 possible to give an adequate description of the locali- 
 ties mentioned in the " Journal of the Plague Year." 
 The counties and large places outside of London can be 
 easily found on any map of England. The smaller places 
 near London, or now included in London, can be found 
 without great difficulty on a good map of London and 
 its environs, such, for example, as that in Baedeker's 
 " London." For a general idea of London, the bounds of 
 the city proper, the gates, the chief wards and parishes, the 
 student may consult the map in any good encyclopaedia. 
 
XXIV SUOaWSTIONS FOR TEACHERS 
 
 An encyclopasdia will also give him almost all the other gen- 
 eral information he needs. Streets still existing may be 
 readily located on an indexed map ; that in Baedeker's 
 "London" is most accessible. All necessary information 
 in regard to streets or buildings that have now disappeared 
 will be found in Wheatley's " London, Past and Present " 
 (3 vols., London, 1891). 
 
 A good account of the London of Charles the Second's 
 time is given in Mr. Walter Besant's " London " (New 
 York : Harpers ; published originally in Harper's Maga- 
 zine for January, 1892). 
 
OHRONOLOaiOAL TABLE 
 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE. 
 
 XXV 
 
 Defoe's Wobeb. 
 
 1697. Essay on Projects. 
 
 1701. T h e True - born 
 
 Englishman. 
 1703. The Shortest Way 
 
 with the Dissenters. 
 1703. Hymn tc the PU- 
 
 lory. 
 1704-13. The Review. 
 1706. The Apparition of 
 
 Mrs. Veal. 
 
 1719. Robinson Crusoe. 
 
 1730. Captain Singleton. 
 
 1730. Duncan Campbell. 
 
 1730. Memoirs of a Cav- 
 alier. 
 
 1733. Journal of the 
 Plague Year. 
 
 1733. Moll Planders. 
 
 1733. ColonelJack. 
 
 1734. Roxana. 
 1734-36. Tour through 
 
 the Whole Island of 
 Great Britain. 
 
 1725-37. Complete Eng- 
 lish Tradesman. 
 
 1736. History of the 
 Devil. 
 
 OONTEMPOBART LlT£B- 
 ATUBE. 
 
 1697. Dryden, Alexan- 
 der's Feast. 
 
 1698. Corner: Short 
 View of the Immo- 
 rality of the Stage. 
 
 1699. Addison, Latin 
 Poems. 
 
 1701. Steele, Christian 
 Hero. 
 
 1704. Swift, Battle of 
 
 the Books : Tale of a 
 
 Tub. 
 1709. Pope, Pastorals. 
 
 Steele and Addison, 
 
 The Tatler. 
 1711. 'Die Spectator. 
 1713. Pope, Rape of the 
 
 Lock. 
 1713. Addison, Cato. 
 
 1719. Watts, Psalms and 
 Hymns. 
 
 1735. Thompson, Win- 
 
 1736.' Swift, Gulliver's 
 Travels. 
 
 1738. Gay, Beggars' Op- 
 era. 
 
 1731. Fielding, Tom 
 Thumb. 
 
 CONTEMPOBABY BlOGBA- 
 PHT. 
 
 1673. Steele bom. 
 1672. Addison born. 
 
 1674. Milton died. 
 
 1688. Bunyan died; 
 Pope bom. 
 
 1689. Richardson bom. 
 
 1700. Dryden died. 
 
 1707. Fielding bom. 
 1709. Johnson born. 
 
 1713. Sterne born. 
 1716. Gray bom. 
 1719. Addison died. 
 
 1731. Smollett bom. 
 
 1738. Goldsmith born. 
 
 1739. Steele died; 
 Burke born. 
 
 1731. Cowperbom. 
 
A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR 
 
 Being Observations oh Mbuobials of tee most Remarkable 
 
 occusbencbs, as well public as private, which 
 
 happened in london during the last 
 
 Great Visitation in 1665 
 
 WKITTEN BY A CITIZEN, WHO CONTINUED AIL THE 
 WHILE IN LONDON 
 
 NEVER MADE PUBLIC BEFORE 
 
JOURNAL 
 
 OP 
 
 THE PLAGUE YEAR 
 
 It was about the beginning of September, 1664, that I, 
 among the rest of my neighbours, heard, in ordinary dis- 
 course, that the plague was returned again in Holland ; 
 for it had been very violent there, and particularly at 
 Amsterdam and Kotterdam, in the year 1663, whither 
 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 came ; but all agreed it was come into Holland 
 again. 
 
 We had no such thing as printed newspapers in those 
 days, to spread rumours and reports of things, and to im- 
 prove them by the invention of men, as I have lived to see 
 practised since.* But such things as those were gathered 
 from the letters of merchants and others, who corresponded 
 abroad, and from them was ' handed about by word of 
 month only ; so that things did not spread instantly over 
 the whole nation, as they do now. But it seems that the 
 
 ' The East. Notice the derivation of the word. 
 
 « The Dutch. ' Crete. 
 
 * The first daily paper in England, the Daily Oourant, was begun 
 in 1703, and from that date on newspapers increased rapidly in num- 
 ber and influence. Defoe himself was a pioneer in such work. His 
 Weekly Smev) first appeared in 1704. Steele's Tatler was begun in 
 1709. ' Were. 
 
i JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 government had a trueaccoixnt of it,' and several counsels^ 
 were held about ways to preveni its coming over, but all 
 was kept very private. Hence it was that this rumour 
 died off again, and people began to forget it, as a thing 
 we were very little concerned in, and that we hoped was 
 not true ; till the latter end of November, or the begin- 
 ning of December, 1664, when two men, said to be French- 
 men, died of the plague in Longacre, or rather at the 
 upper end of Drury Lane. The family they were in en- 
 deavoured to conceal it as much as possible ; but as it had 
 gotten some vent * in the discourse of the neighbourhood, 
 the secretaries of state * got knowledge of it. And con- 
 cerning themselves to inquire about it, in order to be 
 certain of the truth, two physicians and a surgeon were 
 ordered to go to the house, and make inspection. This 
 they did, and finding evident tokens ^ of the sickness upon 
 both the bodies that were dead, they gave their opinions 
 publicly, that they died of the plague. Whereupon it was 
 given in to the parish clerk, and he also returned them ' to 
 the hall ; ' and it was printed in the weekly bill of mor- 
 tality in the usual manner, thus : 
 
 Plague, 2. Parishes infected, 1. 
 
 The people showed a great concern at this, and began 
 to be alarmed all over the town, and the more, because in 
 the last week in December, 1664, another man died in the 
 same house, and of the same distemper : and then we 
 were easy again for about six weeks, when none having 
 died with any marks of infection, it was said the distemper 
 was gone ; but after that, I think it was about the 12th of 
 February, another died in another house, but in the same 
 parish, and in the same manner. 
 
 ' The plague. " Councils. s Publicity. 
 
 * The ministry. ' Callous spots, not unlike warts. 
 
 • The deaths. ' Guildhall, the city hall. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 5 
 
 This turned the people's eyes pretty much towards that 
 end of the town ; ■ and the weekly bills showing an in- 
 crease of burials in St. Giles's parish more than usual, it 
 began to be suspected that the plague was among the people 
 at that end of the town ; and that many had died of it, 
 though they had taken care to keep it as much from the 
 knowledge of the public as possible. This possessed the 
 heads of the people very much, and few cared to go through 
 Drury Lane, or the other streets suspected, unless they had 
 extraordinary business, that obliged them to it. 
 
 This increase of the bills stood thus ; the usual number 
 of burials in a week, in the parishes of St. Giles's in the 
 Fields, and St. Andrew's, Holborn, were from twelve to 
 seventeen or nineteen each, few more or less ; but from the 
 time that the plague first began in St. Giles's parish, it 
 was observed that the ordinary burials increased in number 
 considerably. For example : 
 
 From Dec. 27th to Jan. 3rd, St. Giles's 16 
 
 St. Andrew's 17 
 
 Jan. 3rd to Jan. 10th, St. Giles's 12 
 
 St. Andrew's 25 
 
 Jan. 10th to Jan. 17th, St. Giles's 18 
 
 St. Andrew's 18 
 
 Jan. 17th to Jan. 24th, St. Giles's 23 
 
 St. Andrew's 16 
 
 Jan. 24th Jio Jan. 31st, St. Giles's 24 
 
 ^ * St. Andrew's 15 
 
 Jan. /31st to Feb. 7th, St. Giles's 21 
 
 St. Andrew's 23 
 
 Feb. 7th to Feb. 14th, St. Giles's 24 
 
 Whereof one of the plague. 
 
 The like increase of the bills was observed in the par- 
 ishes of St. Bride's, adjoining on one side of Holborn 
 
 ' THe iiorthern end. 
 
6 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 parish, and in the parish of St. James's, Clerkenwell, 
 adjoining on the other side of Holborn ; in both which 
 parishes the usual numbers that died weekly were from 
 four to six or eight, whereas at that time they were in- 
 creased as follows : 
 
 From Dec. 20th to Dec. 27th, St. Bride's 
 
 St. James' 8 
 
 Dec. 37th to Jan. 3rd, St. Bride's 6 " 
 
 St. James 9 
 
 Jan. 3rd to Jan. 10th, St. Bride's 11 
 
 St. James 7 
 
 Jan. 10th to Jan. 17th, St. Bride's 12 
 
 St. James 9 
 
 Jan. 17th to Jan. 24th, St. Bride's 9 
 
 St. James 15 
 Jan. 24th to Jan. 31st, St. Bride's 8 
 
 St. James 12 
 
 Jan. 31st to Feb. 7th, St. Bride's 13 
 
 St. James 5 
 
 Feb. 7th to Feb. 14th, St. Bride's 12 
 
 St. James 6 
 
 Besides this, it was observed with great uneasiness by 
 the people, that the weekly bills in general increased very 
 much during these weeks, although it was at a time of the 
 year when usually the bills are very moderate. 
 
 The usaal number of burials within the bills of mor- 
 tality for a week was from about ^two hundred and forty, 
 or thereabouts, to three hundred. The last was esteemed 
 a pretty high bill ; but after this we found the bills suc- 
 cessively increasing, as follows : 
 
 December 20 to the 27th, 
 
 27 to the 3rd Jan., 
 January 3 to the 10th, 
 10 to the 17th, 
 17 to the 24th, 
 
 ' St. James's. 
 
 Buried. 
 291 
 
 Increased. 
 
 349 
 
 58 
 
 394 
 
 45 
 
 415 
 
 21 
 
 474 
 
 59 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 7 
 
 This last bill was really frightful, being a higher num- 
 ber than had been known to have been' buried in one 
 week, since the preceding visitation of 1656. 
 
 However, all this went off again, and the weather prov- 
 ijig cold, and the frost, which began in December, still 
 continuing very severe, even till near the end of February, 
 attended with sharp though moderate winds, the bills de- 
 creased 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 continued high. From the 
 beginning of April, especially, they stood at twenty-five each 
 week, till the week from the ISth to the 25th, when there 
 was '^ buried in St. Giles's parish thirty, whereof two of the 
 plague, and eight of the spotted fever,^ which was looked 
 upon as the same thing ; likewise the number that died of 
 the spotted fever in the whole increased, being eight the 
 week before, and twelve the week above named. 
 
 This alarmed us all again, and terrible apprehensions 
 were among the people, especially the weather being now 
 changed and growing warm, and the summer being at 
 hand : however, the next week there seemed 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 fever. 
 
 But the following week it returned again, and the dis- 
 temper was spread into two or three other parishes, viz., 
 St. Andrew's, Holborn, St. Clement's Danes, and, to the 
 great affliction of the city, one died within the walls,* in 
 the parish of St. Mary Wool Ghurch, that is to say, in 
 Bearbinder Lane, near Stocks Market ; in all there were 
 nine of the plague, and six of the spotted fever. It was, 
 however, upon inquiry, found, that this Frenchman who 
 died in Bearbinder Lane, was one who, having lived in 
 Longacre, 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 tem- 
 
 » To be. ^ Were. ' Typhns fever. * Within the city proper. 
 
8 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 perate, variable, and cool enough, and people had still some 
 hopes : that which encouraged them was, that the city was 
 healthy, the whole ninety-seven parishes buried but fifty- 
 four, 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 fifteen, which was very low. It is true, St. 
 Giles's buried two-and-thirty, but still, as there was but 
 one of the plague, people began to be easy ; the whole bill 
 also was very low, for the week before the bill was but 347, 
 and the week above mentioned but 343. We continued in 
 these hopes for a few days. But it was but for a few, for 
 the people were no more to be deceived thus ; they searched 
 the houses, and found that the plague was really spread 
 every way, and that many died of it everyday, so that now 
 all our extenuations abated,^ and it was no more to be, con- 
 cealed, nay, it quickly appeared that the infection had 
 spread itself 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 
 show itself; there was,^ indeed, but fourteen set down 
 of the plague, but this was all knavery and collusion ; 
 for * St. Giles's parish they buried forty in all, whereof it 
 was certain most of them died of the plague, though they 
 were set down of other distempers ; and though the num- 
 ber of all the burials were ^ not increased above thirty-two, 
 and the whole bill being but 385, yet there was fourteen 
 of the spotted fever, as well as fourteen of the plague ; and 
 we took it for granted, upon the whole, that there were 
 fifty died that week of the plague. 
 
 ' Certain suburbs that enjoyed especial municipal privileges, 
 a Our reasons for believing the state of things better than it really 
 was, diminished. 
 ' Were. < "In" has probably been omitted here. " Was. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 9 
 
 The next bill was from the 23rd of May to the 30th, 
 when the number of the plague was seventeen ; but the 
 burials in St. Giles's were fifty-three, a frightful number ! 
 of whom they set down but nine 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 twenty 
 more who were really dead of the plague in that parish, 
 but had been set down of the spotted fever, or other dis- 
 tempers, besides others concealed. 
 
 But those were trifling things to what followed immedi- 
 ately after ; for now the weather set in hot, and from the 
 first week in June the infection spread in a dreadful man- 
 ner, and the bills rise' high, the articles of the fever, 
 spotted fever, 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 threatened, and people 
 were extremely terrified 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 sixty-eight of the plague, every- 
 body said there had been a hundred 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- men- 
 tioned before, within the whole ninety-seven 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 lived without Aldgate, about midway between Aldgate 
 Church and Whitechapel Bars, on the left hand or north 
 
 ' Rose. 
 
 " A frequent cause of disease before tlie days of dentistry. 
 
 • The shutting up of their houses by authority. 
 
 * Whom, ' The Thames. 
 
10 JOURNAL OF THB PLAOUB 
 
 side of the street ; and as the distemper had not reached 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, thronged 
 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 lived : in- 
 deed, nothing was to be seen but waggons and carts, with 
 goods, women, servants, children, etc. ; . coaches filled with 
 people of the better sort, and horsemen attending them, 
 and all hurrying away ; then empty waggons and carts ap- 
 peared, and spare horses with servants, who, it was appar- 
 ent, were returning, or sent from the country 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 could not but look on from 
 morning to night (for indeed there was nothing else of mo- 
 ment 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 ex- 
 ceeding difficulty, there was such pressing and crowding 
 there to get passes and certificates of health, for such as 
 travelled abroad ; for, without these, there was no being ad- 
 mitted to pass through the towns upon the road, or to 
 lodge in any inn. Now as there had none died in the city 
 for all this time, my lord mayor gave certificates of health 
 without any difficulty to all those who lived in the ninety- 
 seven parishes, and to those within the liberties too, for 
 awhile. 
 
 This hurry, I say, continued some weeks, that is to say, 
 all the months of May and June, and the more because it 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 11 
 
 was rumoured that an order of the government was to be 
 issued out, to place turnpikes * and barriers on the road, to 
 prevent people's travelling ; and that the towns on the road 
 would not sufEer 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 myself, concern- 
 ing my own case, and how I should dispose of myself ; 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 considera- 
 ble, and in which was embarked 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 per- 
 haps, as well as other people's, represented to be much 
 greater than it could be. 
 
 The first consideration was of great moment to me ; my 
 trade was a saddler, and as my dealings were chiefiy 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, it is true, 
 but I had a family of servants, who* I kept at my busi- 
 ness ; had a house, shop, and warehouses filled with goods ; 
 and, in short, to leave them all as things in such a case 
 
 ' Gates forcing travellers to hilt for toll or inspection. ' Whom. 
 
12 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 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, ad- 
 vising with him, his answer was in the three words, the 
 same that was given in another case quite different, viz., 
 " Master, save thyself." * > In a word, he was for my retiring 
 into the country, as he resolved 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 strong- 
 est repulse to my pretensions of losing my trade and my 
 goods. " For," says he, " is it not as reasonable that you 
 should trust God with the chance or risk of losing your 
 trade, as that you should stay in so eminent a point of dan- 
 ger, 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 North- 
 amptonshire, whence our family first came from ; and, par- 
 ticularly, 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 resolved to follow them, 
 pressed my going very earnestly ; and I had once resolved 
 to comply with his desires, but at that time could get no 
 horse : for, though 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 resolved to travel on foot with one servant ; and, as 
 many did, lie at no inn, but carry a soldier's tent with us, 
 ^ St. Matthew xxvii. 40. 
 
JOURNAL OF TBE PLAGUB 13 
 
 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, deceived me, and, being frighted at the increase of 
 the distemper, and not knowing when I should go, betook 
 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^ crossed by some accident or other, so 
 as to disappoint ' and put it ofE again ; and this brings in 
 a story which otherwise might be thought a needless di- 
 gression, viz., about these disappointments being from 
 heaven. .^^ 
 
 It came very warmly into my mind, one morning, as I 
 was musing on this particular thing, that, as nothing at- 
 tended 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 fol- 
 lowed in my thoughts, that, if it really was from God that 
 T 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 myself 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. 
 
 "The Civil War, 1642-1651. 
 
 ° Causes following from first causes. » Whom. 
 
 • " To he " is apparently here omitted. ' To disappoint myself. 
 
14 JOURNAL OF TBB PLAGUE 
 
 These thoughts quite turned my resolutions again, and 
 when I came to discourse with my brother again, I told 
 him that I inclined to stay and take my lot in that station 
 in which God had placed me ; and that it seemed to be made 
 more especially my duty, on the account of what I have said. 
 
 My brother, though a very religious man himself, 
 laughed at all I had suggested about its being an intima- 
 tion from heaven, and told me several stories of such fool- 
 hardy people, as he called 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 sovereignty in disposing of me ; and that then 
 there had been no difficulty to determine which was the 
 call of his providence, and which was not : but that I 
 should take it as an intimation from heaven that I should 
 not go out of town, only because I could not hire a horse 
 to go, or my fellow was run away that was to attend me, 
 was 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 conse- 
 quences which attend 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 observed, returned from abroad, 
 coming laat from Lisbon), and how, presuming upon their 
 professed predestinating notions, and of every man's end 
 being predetermined, and unalterably beforehand decreed, 
 they would go unconcerned into infected places, and con- 
 verse 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 reserved, generally escaped the contagion. 
 
JOURNAL OV THE PLAOUB 15 
 
 Upon these arguments my brother changed my resolu- 
 tions again, and I began to resolve to go, and accordingly 
 made all things ready ; for, in short, the infection in- 
 creased round me, and the bills were risen to almost seven 
 hundred a week, and my brother told me he would venture 
 to stay no longer. I desired him to let me consider of it 
 but till the next day, and I would resolve ; and as I had 
 already prepared everything as well as I could, as to my 
 business, and who * to intrust my affairs with, I had little 
 to do but to resolve. 
 
 I went home that evening greatly oppressed in my mind, 
 irresolute, and not knowing 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 gen- 
 eral consent, taken up the custom of not going out of 
 doors after sunset ; the reasons I shall have occasion to 
 say more of by and by. 
 
 In the retirement of this evening I endeavoured to re- 
 solve ^ first what was my duty to do, and I stated the argu- 
 ments with which my brother had pressed 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 
 seemed 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 signified a kind of direction to venture, and it oc- 
 curred to me that if I had what I call a direction to stay, 
 I ought to suppose it contained a promise of being pre- 
 served, if I obeyed. 
 
 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 ordinary serious upon 
 the question, I cried out, "Well, I know not what to do ; 
 
 ' Whom ' Determine. ■• Appealed strongly. ' Conviction. 
 
16 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 Lord direct me ! " and the like ; and at that juncture 1 
 happened to stop turning over the book, at the 91st 
 Psalm, and casting my eye on the second verse, I read to 
 the seventh verse exclusive ; and after that, included the 
 10th, as follows: — "1 will say of the Lord, he is my 
 refuge, and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. 
 Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, 
 and from the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee 
 with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust : 
 his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not 
 be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that 
 fiieth by day : nor for the pestilence that walketh in dark- 
 ness, 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 befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh 
 thy dwelling," etc. 
 
 I scarce need tell the reader, that from that moment I 
 resolved that I would stay in the town, and, casting myself 
 entirely upon the goodness and protection of the Al- 
 mighty, 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 
 confirmed in it the next day, by the woman being taken 
 ill with whom I had intended to intrust 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 myself very much 
 out of order also ; so that if I would have gone away, 
 
 > I was convinced that. 
 
 ' My allotted time of life and death. Compare P8"lm!< xxxi. 15. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 11 
 
 I could not, and I continued ill three or four days, and 
 this entirely determined my stay; so I took. my leave of 
 my brother, who went away to Dorking, in Surrey, and 
 afterwards fetched around 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 com- 
 plained, it was immediately said he had the plague ; and • 
 though 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 refreshed ; the appre- 
 hensions of its being the infection went also quite away 
 with my illness, and I went about my business as usual. 
 
 These things, however, put ofE all my thoughts of going 
 into the country ; and my brother also being gone, I had 
 no more debate either with him, or with myself, on that 
 subject. 
 
 It was now mid July, and the plague, which had chiefly 
 raged at the other end of the town, and, as I said before, 
 in the parishes of St. Giles's, St. Andrew's, Holborn, 
 and towards Westminster, began now to come eastward, 
 towards the part where I lived. It was to be observed, 
 indeed, that it did not come straight 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 though there died that week 
 1368 of all distempers, whereof it might be supposed above 
 nine hundred died of the plague ; yet there was but 
 twenty-eight in the whole city, within the walls, and but 
 nineteen in Southwark, Lambeth parish included ; whereas 
 in the parishes of St. Giles, and St. Martin's in the Fields 
 alone, there died four hundred and twenty-one. 
 
 But we perceived the infection kept chiefly in the out 
 
 ' Fairly. 
 
18 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 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 perceived, I say, the 
 distemper to draw our way, viz., by the parishes of Clerk- 
 enwell, Cripplegate, Shoreditch, and Bishopsgate ; which 
 last two parishes joining to Aldgate, Whitechapel, 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 11th of July, when, as I have 
 observed, there died near four hundred of the plague in 
 the two parishes of St. Martin's and St. Giles's in the 
 Fields only, there died in the parish of Aldgate but four, 
 in the parish of Whitechapel three, in the parish of Step- 
 ney 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 and eighty-six, and 
 Clerkenwell one hundred and fifty-five ; of the first, eight 
 hundred and fifty might well be reckoned to die of the 
 plague ; and of the last, the bill itself said, one hundred 
 and forty-five were of the plague. 
 
 During the month of July, and while, as I have ob- 
 served, our part of the town seemed to be spared in com- 
 parison of the west part, I went ordinarily about the 
 streets, as my business required, 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 it was safe ; and having the key in my pocket, I 
 used to go into the house, and over most of the rooms, to 
 
 ' With. 
 
JOURNAL OF TME PLAGUE 19 
 
 see that all was well ; for though it be something wonder- 
 ful to tell, that any should have hearts so hardened, 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 de- 
 baucheries, were then practised in the town, as openly as 
 ever, I will not say quite as frequently, because the num- 
 ber of people were * many ways ^ lessened. 
 
 But the city itself began now to be visited too, I mean 
 within the walls ; but the number of people there were, 
 indeed, extremely lessened, by so great a multitude having 
 been gone ' into the country ; and even all this month of 
 July, they continued to flee, though not in such multi- 
 tudes 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 pleased 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 showed 
 any great token of thankfulness, and hardly anything of 
 reformation, though 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 altered ; 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 altered ; sorrow and sadness sat 
 upon every face, and though some part* were not yet 
 overwhelmed, yet all looked deeply concerned ; and as we 
 
 ' Was. '' In many ways. ° Having gone. 
 
 * The court of Charles the Second was noted for its levity and licen- 
 tionsQess 
 
 ' The whole mass. " Used collectively. 
 
20 JOURNAL OV THE PLAQUE 
 
 saw it ' apparently coming on, so every one looked on him- 
 self, and his family, as in the utmost danger : were it pos- 
 sible to represent those times exactly, to those that did not 
 see them, and give the reader' due ideas of the horror 
 that everywhere presented itself, it must ' make just im- 
 pressions upon their minds, and fill them with surprise. 
 London might well be said to be all in tears ; the mourn- 
 ers did not go about the streets,^ indeed, for nobody 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 shrieks of women and children 
 at the windows and doors of their houses, where their near- 
 est relations were, perhaps, dying or just dead, were so fre- 
 quent 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 men's hearts were hardened, 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 everybody 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 ' nobody 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 walked a great way where I had no 
 
 ' The plague. " Readers. ' Would. « See Ecdesiasies xii. 5 
 'His. • Continually. ' They themselves. * Seen. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 21 
 
 business ; ' I went up Holborn, and there the street was 
 full of people ; but they walked in the middle of the great 
 street, neither on one side or other,^ because, as I suppose, 
 they would not mingle with anybody 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 Lincoln's Inn, or Gray's 
 Inn, to be seen there. Everybody 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 re- 
 tired, 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, abstractedly so called ;° and 
 particularly because, though they ' were at first in a most 
 inexpressible consternation, yet, as I have observed, that 
 the distemper intermitted often at first, so they were as it 
 were alarmed, and unalarmed again, and this several times, 
 till it began to be familiar to them ; and that even when it 
 appeared violent, yet seeing it did not presently spread into 
 the city, or the east or south parts, the people began to 
 take courage, and to be, as I may say, a little hardened. 
 It is true, a vast many^ people fled, as I have observed ; 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 
 
 ' No reason for going there. ' Nor the other. 
 
 * The Inns of Court are three ancient legal bodies, in London, which 
 have the exclnsiTe right of instructing candidates for the bar and of 
 admitting them to practice. The name is also applied to the premises 
 occupied by these bodies. 
 
 * The royal court. 'Complete. « The city proper. 
 ' The inhabitants. ^ Not a modern idiom. 
 
22 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 wealthiest of the people ; and such persons as were unin- 
 cumbered with trades and business. But of the rest, the 
 generality stayed, and seemed 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, EatclifE, 
 Stepney, Rotherhithe, and the like, the people generally 
 stayed, 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 visitar 
 tion, I mean at the time that it began ; for though I have 
 lived to see a farther increase, and mighty throngs of people 
 settling in London, more than ever, yet we had always a 
 notion that numbers of people, which, the wars being over, 
 the armies disbanded, and the royal family and the mon- 
 archy being restored,^ had flocked to London to settle in 
 business, or to depend upon and attend the court for re- 
 wards 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 ruined families of the royal party flocked hither ; all 
 the soldiers set up trades here, and abundance of families 
 settled here ; again, the court brought with it a great flux' 
 of pride and new fashions ; all people were gay and luxu- 
 rious, and the joy of the restoration had brought a vast 
 many families to London. 
 
 But I must go back again to the beginning of this sur- 
 prising time ; while the fears of the people were young, 
 they were increased strangely by several odd accidents, 
 which put altogether, it was really a wonder the whole 
 
 ' For statements concerning the population of London at this time, 
 see Macaulay's History. 
 
 ' The Stuart dynasty was restored in 1660, in the person of Charles 
 II. 
 
 'Promotions, particularly in the church. * Were. 'Influx. 
 
JOURNAL OF THB PLAGUE 23 
 
 body of the people did not rise as one man and abandon 
 their dwellings, leaving Ihe place as a space of ground de- 
 signed by heaven for an Akeldama,' doomed to be destroyed 
 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 
 wondered there was any (women especially) left behind. 
 
 In the first place, a blazing star or comet appeared for 
 several months before the plague, as there did, the year af- 
 ter, another, a little before the fire ; ^ the old women, and 
 the phlegmatic ^ hypochondriac ' part of the other sex, whom 
 I could almost call old women too, remarked, especially 
 afterward, though not till both those judgments were 
 over, that those two comets passed 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 judg- 
 ment, slow but severe, terrible, and frightful, as was the 
 plague. But the other foretold a stroke, sudden, swift, 
 and fiery, as was the conflagration ; nay, so particular some 
 people were, that as they looked upon that comet preceding 
 the fire, they fancied that they not only saw it pass swiftly 
 and fiercely, and could perceive the motion with their eye, 
 but even they heard it, that it made a rushing mighty 
 noise, fierce and terrible, though at a distance, and but 
 just perceivable. 
 
 ' Aceldama. See St. Matthew xxvii. 8 ; Acts i. 19. 
 ^Having knowledge of magic. 
 
 " The great fire of 1666. * Sluggish. 
 
 " Affected by a marked depression of spirits. The two adjectives 
 contradict each other. The latter makes the best sense. 
 " I e., at that or in addition to tliat. 
 ' This sentence is syntactically a clause of the preceding sentence. 
 
24 JOURNAL OP THE PLAGUE 
 
 I saw both these stars, and, I must confess, had 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* the 
 plague had followed the first, I yet saw another of the like 
 kind, I could not but say, God had not yet sufficiently 
 scourged the city. 
 
 The apprehensions of the people were likewise strangely 
 increased by the error of the times, in which, I think, the 
 people, from what principle I cannot imagine, were more 
 addicted to prophecies, 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 Lily's "Almanack," Gadbury's "Astrological Pre- 
 dictions," " Poor Eobin's Almanack," ^ and the like ; also 
 several pretended religious books, one entitled, " Come out 
 of Her, my People, lest ye be Partaker of her Plagues ; " ' 
 another called, " Fair Warning ; " another, " Britain's 
 Eemembrancer," and many such ; all, or most payt 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, cried in the streets, "Yet forty 
 days, and London shall be destroyed." * I will not be posi- 
 tive whether he said " yet forty days," or " yet a few days." 
 Another ran about naked, except a pair of drawers about 
 his waist, crying day and night, like a man that Josephus 
 mentions, who cried, " Woe to Jerusalem ! " a little before 
 
 ' Insert " after." 
 
 ' The invoking of the powers governing the stare. 
 
 ' The two words scarcely differ in meaning. 
 
 ^ More or less well- known astrological almanacs of the time. 
 
 ' Revelation xviii. 4. ' Jonah iii. 4. 
 
JOtJIlNAL OP THE PLAQUE 25 
 
 the destruction of that city : so this poor naked creature 
 cried, " ! 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 could ever find him to stop, or rest, or take any sus- 
 tenance, at least that ever I could 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 kept 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's. 
 
 Next to these public things were the dreams of old 
 women ; or, I should say, the interpretation of old women 
 upon other people's 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 al- 
 lowed to say of both, I hope without breach of charity, 
 that they heard voices that never spake, and saw sights 
 that never appeared ; but the imagination of the people 
 was really turned wayward and possessed ; and no wonder 
 if they who were poring 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 fiaming sword held in a hand, coming out of 
 a cloud, with a point hanging directly over the city. 
 There they saw hearses and cofiSns in the air carrying * to 
 be buried. And there again, heaps of dead bodies lying 
 unburied and the like ; just as the imagination of the poor 
 terrified people furnisHed them with matter to work upon. 
 
 So hypochondriac fancies represent 
 Ships, armies, battles in the firmament ; 
 
 ' An old idiom. We should say, "being carried." 
 
26 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 Till steady eyes the exhalations solve. 
 And all to its first matter, cloud, resolve. 
 
 I could fill this account -with the strange relations such 
 people give erery day of what they have seen ; and every 
 one was so positive of their ' having seen what they pre- 
 tended to see, that there was no contradicting them, with- 
 out breach of friendship, or being accounted rude and un- 
 mannerly on the one hand, and profane ' 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 joined 
 with them to satisfy my curiosity, and found them all star- 
 ing up into the air to see what a woman told them ap- 
 peared plain to her, which was an angel clothed 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, showed 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 cried out, " What a glorious creature 
 he was !" One saw one thing, and one another. I 
 looked as earnestly as the rest, but, perhaps, not with so 
 much willingness to be imposed 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 endeavoured to show 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 to me, looked me in the 
 face, and fancied I laughed, in which her imagination de- 
 ceived her too, for I really did not laugh, but was seri- 
 ously reflecting how the poor people were terrified by the 
 force of their own imagination. However, she turned to 
 
 ' The pronouns referring to " every one '' should strictly be in the 
 singular number. 
 
 " Treating sacred things (here warnings from heaven) lightly. 
 ^ lusensible. '< As I have elsewhere said. 
 
JOUBNAL OF THE PLAGUE 27 
 
 me, called me profane 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. 
 
 The people about her seemed disgusted as well as she, 
 and I found there was no persuading them that I did 
 not laugh at them, and that I should be rather mobbed by 
 them than be able to undeceive them. So I left them, and 
 this appearance passed for as real as the blazing star itself. 
 
 Another encounter I had in the open day also ; and this 
 was in going through a narrow passage from Petty France 
 into BishopsgateChurchyard, by a row of almshouses; there 
 are two churchyards to Bishopsgate Church or parish : 
 one we go over to pass from the place called Petty France 
 into Bishopsgate Street, coming out just by the church 
 door ; the other is on the side of the narrow passage where 
 the almshouses are on the left, and a dwarf wall with a 
 palisade 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 through the 
 palisades into the burying-place, and as many people as 
 the narrowness of the pliace would admit to stop without 
 hindering 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 gravestone there ; he described the shape, the post- 
 ure, and the movement of it so exactly, that it was the 
 greatest amazement to him in the world that everybody 
 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 thus 
 he came every day making a strange hubbub, considering 
 it was so narrow a passage, till Bishopsgate clock struck 
 eleven, and then the ghost would seem to start, and, as if 
 he were called away, disappeared on a sudden. 
 
 I looked earnestly every way and at the very moment 
 
28 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 that this man directed, but could not see the least appear- 
 ance of anything, but so positive was this poor man that he 
 gave them vapours ' in abundance^ and sent them away 
 trembling and frightened, till at length few people that 
 knew of it cared to go through that passage, and hardly 
 anybody by night on any account whatever. 
 
 This ghost, as the poor man affirmed, made signs to the 
 houses, and to the ground, and to the people, plainly inti- 
 mating, or else they so understanding it, that abundance of 
 people should come to be buried in that churchyard, as 
 indeed happened, but then * he saw such aspects, I must 
 acknowledge I never believed, nor could I see anything of 
 it myself, though I looked most earnestly to see it if pos- 
 __Bi]ile. 
 
 Some endeavours were used to suppress the printing of 
 such books as terrified the people, and to frighten the dis- 
 persers * of them, some of whom were taken up, but noth- 
 ing done in it, as I am informed, 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, I doubt not, did it for the strength- 
 ening the resolution of the people, and especially for quick- 
 ening them to repentance ; but it certainly answered not 
 their end, at least not in proportion to the injury it did 
 another way. 
 
 One mischief always introduces another ; these terrors 
 and apprehensions of the people led them to a thousand 
 weak, foolish, and wicked things, which they wanted not 
 a sort of people really wicked to encourage them to,^ and 
 
 ' Great depression of spirits. A term frequently used in the eigh- 
 teenth century. 
 
 ' Probably a misprint for "that." 
 
 ^ Those who sold them. 
 
 ■* I.e., to encourage them in which there was not wanting a sort of 
 people who were really wicked. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUB 29 
 
 this was running about to fortune-tellers, cunning men, 
 and astrologers, to know their fortunes, or, as it is vul- 
 garly expressed, to have their fortunes told them, their 
 nativities * calculated, and the like, and this folly pres- 
 ently made the town swarm with a wicked generation 
 of pretenders to magic, to the black art, as they called 
 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 cal- 
 culated ; " and the like ; and Friar Bacon's brazen-head,^ 
 which was the usual sign of these people's 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 pleased and satisfied the people, I 
 really know not, but certain it is, that innumerable at- 
 tendants ^ crowded about their doors every day ; and if 
 but a grave fellow in a velvet jacket, a band,' and a black 
 cloak, which was the habit those quack-conjurors generally 
 went in, was but seen in the streets, the people would fol- 
 low them ' in crowds and ask them questions as they went 
 along. 
 
 > To ascertain under what special influence of the heavens they 
 were born. This could be discovered only by calculating the position 
 of the planets, etc., at the times of their births. 
 
 " Popular legend transformed Roger Bacon, the famous Franciscan 
 monk of the thirteenth century, who was extraordinarily versed, for 
 his time, in scientific matters, particularly mechanics and optics, into 
 a great magician. It was said that he constructed a brazen head, 
 which answered all questions he asked of it. 
 
 ' A half-mythical English prophetess of the sixteenth century. 
 
 * In English legend Merlin was the famous magician of King Ar- 
 thur's time. See Tennyson's IdyUs of the King. 
 
 ^ Customers or patients. 
 
 ' A lace ruff, giving to the dress a slightly antique and ceremonial 
 air. '' Him. 
 
30 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 The case of poor servants was very dismal, as I shall 
 have occasion to mention again, by and by ; for it was ap- 
 parent a prodigious number of them would be turned away, 
 and it was so, and of them abundance perished, and par- 
 ticularly those whom these false prophets flattered with 
 hopes that they should be kept in their services and carried 
 with their masters and mistresses into the country ; and 
 had not public 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 behaved after another 
 manner ; the government encouraged their devotion, and 
 appointed public prayers and days of fasting and humilia- 
 tion, to make public confession of sin, and implore the 
 mercy of God, to avert the dreadful judgment which hangs 
 over their heads ; and, it is not to be expressed with what 
 alacrity the people of all persuasions embraced the occa- 
 sion, how they flocked to the churches and meetings, and 
 they were all so thronged that there was often no com- 
 ing near, even 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 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 
 applied themselves in a truly Christian manner to the 
 proper work of repentance and humiliation, as a Christian 
 people ought to do. 
 
 1 Sect. 
 
JOURNAL OF TBE PLAGUE 31 
 
 Again, the public showed 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 public 
 danger. All the plays and interludes, which, after the 
 manner of the French court, had been set up and began 
 to increase among us, were forbid * to act ; the gaming- 
 tables, public dancing rooms, and music houses, which 
 multiplied and began to debauch the manners of the people, 
 were shut up and suppressed ; and the jack-puddings,^ 
 merry-andrews,' puppet-shows, rope-dancers, and such-like 
 doings, which had bewitched the common people, shut 
 their shops, finding indeed no trade, for the minds of the 
 people were agitated with other things, and a kind of sad- 
 ness and horror at these things sat upon the countenances 
 even of the common people ; death was before their eyes, 
 and everybody began to think of their graves,' not of mirth 
 and diversions. 
 
 But even these wholesome reflections, which, rightly 
 managed, 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, imploring his com- 
 passion on them in such a time of their distress, by which 
 we might have been as a second Nineveh,* had a quite con- 
 trary 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 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 alarmed 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 prac- 
 tising old woman for medicines and remedies, storing 
 themselves with such multitudes of pills, potions, and pre- 
 servatives, as they were called, that they not only spent 
 
 ; Forbidden. » Clowns. 
 
 - His grave. * See Jonah, iii. 5-10 
 
32 JOURNAL OF THE PL AGUE 
 
 their money but poisoned themselves beforehand for fear of 
 the poison of the infection, and prepared their bodies for 
 the plague instead of presemng them against it. On the 
 other hand, it was incredible, and scarce to be imagined, 
 how the posts of houses and corners of streets were plas- 
 tered over with doctors' bills, and papers of ignorant fellows 
 quacking ' and tampering ^ in ' physic,^ and inviting people 
 to come to them for remedies, which was generally set off 
 with such flourishes as these, viz.. Infallible preventitive 
 pills against the plague. E"ever-failing preservatives 
 against the infection. SovEREisiir cordials against the 
 corruption of air. Exact regulations for the conduct of 
 the body in case of infection. Antipestilential pills. In- 
 comparable drink against the plague, never found out 
 before. An ukiversal remedy for the plague. The 
 ONLY TRUE plaguc-watcr. 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 summon people to their lodgings 
 for direction and advice in the case of infection ; these had 
 specious 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 30,000 in one day. 
 
 ' Playing the quack. ' Meddling. ' With. 
 
 * Medicine. ' Reckon them. « Which, if. 
 
 ' From High or Central Germany, in distinction from the lowlands 
 of Holland, and adjoining regions. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 33 
 
 An ancient gentlewoman having practised with great 
 success in the late plague in this city, anno i 1636, 
 gives her advice only to the female sex. To be spoken 
 with, etc. 
 
 An experienced physician, who has long studied the 
 doctrine of antidotes against all sorts of poison and 
 infection, has, after forty years' practice, arrived at 
 such skill as may, with God's blessing, direct persons 
 how to prevent being touched by any contagious dis- 
 temper 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. It is sufficient from these to apprise any one 
 of the humour of those times, and how a set of thieves and 
 pickpockets not only robbed 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 pre- 
 tended to, and rather hurtful than serviceable to the body 
 in case an infection followed. 
 
 I cannot omit a subtlety of one of those quack operators 
 with which he gulled the poor people to crowd about him, 
 but did nothing for them without money. He had, it 
 seems, added to his bills, which he gave out in the streets, 
 this advertisement in capital letters, viz., " He gives advice 
 to the poor for nothing." 
 
 Abundance of people came to him accordingly, to whom 
 he made a great many fine speeches, examined them of the 
 state of their health, and of the constitution of their bodies, 
 and told them many good things 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 that 
 they should never have the plague, no, though they lived in 
 the house with people that were infected. This made the 
 ' In the year. 
 3 
 
34 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 people all resolve to have it, but then, the price of thai 
 was so much, I think it was half-a-crown; ' " But, sir," says 
 one poor woman, " I am a poor almswoman,* 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 published there ; I give my advice, but not 
 my physic \" "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 physic for their money ; so does every shopkeeper 
 with his wares." Here the woman began to give him ill 
 words, and stood at his door alj that day, telling her tale 
 to all the people that came, till the doctor, finding she 
 turned away his customers, was obliged to call her up- 
 stairs again and give her his box of physic 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 imposed upon by all sorts of pretenders and by 
 every mountebank. There is no doubt but these quacking 
 sort of fellows raised great gains out of the miserable peo- 
 ple, for we daily found the crowds that ran after them 
 were infinitely greater, and their doors were more thronged 
 than those of Dr. Brooks, Dr. Upton, Dr. Hodges, Dr. 
 Berwick, or any, though the most famous men of the 
 time ; and I was told that some of them got bl.^ a day by 
 their physic. 
 
 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 wae their follow- 
 ing a worse sort of deceivers than any of these, for these 
 petty thieves only deluded them to pick their pockets and 
 get their money, in which their wickedness, whatever it 
 was, lay chiefly on the side of the deceiver's deceiving, 
 not upon the deceived ; but in this part I am going to 
 
 ' About sixty cents ; then equivalent iu purchasing power to several 
 dollars now, 
 
 ^ Dependent on charity. ' About twenty-five dollars. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 35 
 
 mention, it lay chiefly in the people deceived, or equally 
 in both ; and this was in wearing charms, philters,' exor- 
 cisms,' amulets,' and I know not what preparations to 
 fortify the body against the plague, as if the plague was not 
 the hand of God, but a kind of a possession of an evil 
 spirit, and 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,' formed in triangle or pyramid, thus : 
 
 ABEACADABRA 
 ABRACADABR Others had the 
 ABRACADAB Jesuits' « mark 
 
 ABEACADA in a cross:' 
 
 ABRAOAD IH 
 
 A B R A C A S 
 
 A B R A 
 A B R A Others had nothing but 
 
 A B R this mark, thus : 
 
 A B + 
 
 A 
 
 I might spend a great deal of my time in exclamations 
 against the follies, and indeed the wickednesses of ' those 
 things, in a time of such danger, in a matter of such conse- 
 quence as this of a national infection ; but my memoran- 
 dums of these things relate rather to take notice of the 
 
 ' Lo7e-potions ; here in the sense of liquids with magic powers. 
 
 ° Forms of words used to drive out evil spirits. 
 
 ' Charms worn for protection against ill-luck or witchcraft. 
 
 ' Astrological signs. 
 
 ' The letters in the triangle, it will be noticed, can be read in sev- 
 eral directions so as to form the meaningless word Abracadabra, much 
 used in mediaeval incantations. 
 
 ' Members of the " Company of Jesus," an order devoted to the up- 
 holding and extension of the Boman Catholic Church, are usually 
 known as Jesuits. 
 
 ' Usually interpreted, leiiii Bominum Salvator, " Jesus, Saviour of 
 Men." 
 
36 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 fact, and mention only that it was so. How the poor peo- 
 ple 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 ahout 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 itself, they soon began to see the folly of 
 trusting to these unperforming* creatures, who had gulled 
 them of their money, and then their fears worked another 
 way, namely, to amazement and stupidity, not knowing 
 what course to take or what to do, either to help or to 
 relieve themselves, but they ran about from one neigh- 
 bour'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 ? " 
 
 ~ I am supposing now the plague to have begun, as I have 
 said, and that the magistrates began 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 itself ; but, as to the affair of 
 health, it is proper to mention here, my having ^ seen the 
 foolish humour of the people in running after quacks, 
 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 sur- 
 geons for the relief of the poor, I mean the diseased poor, 
 and, in particular, ordered the college of physicians to pub- 
 
 ' The feast of St. Michael, September 29th. 
 '/.«., not performing what they had promised. 
 "Of. « Omit "my." 
 
JOURNAL OV THE PLAQUE 37 
 
 lish 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 physic, and 
 death instead of life. 
 
 This direction of the physicians was done by a consulta- 
 tion of the whole college,* and as it was particularly cal- 
 culated for the use of the poor, and for cheap medicines, it 
 was made public, so that everybody might see it, and 
 copies were given gratis to all that desired it : but as it is 
 public and to be seen on all occasions, I need not give the 
 reader of this the trouble of it. _ 
 
 It remains to be mentioned now what public measures 
 were taken by the magistrates for the general safety, and to 
 prevent the spreading of the distemper when it broke out ; 
 I shall have frequent occasion to speak of the prudence of 
 the magistrates, their charity, their vigilance for the poor, 
 and for preserving good order, furnishing provisions, and 
 the like, when the plague was increased as it afterwards 
 was. But I am now upon the order and regulations 
 which they published for the government of infected 
 families. 
 
 I mentioned above shutting of houses up, and it is need- 
 ful 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 the peace for Middlesex,^ by direction of 
 
 ' Every one who circulated advertisements. 
 
 ' The corporate body of licensed practitioners. 
 
 ' Something particular iu regard to. 
 
 "Almost all Loudon is included in the county of Middlesex. 
 
38 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 the secretary of state, had begun to shut up houses in the 
 parishes of St. Giles's in the Fields, St. Martin's, St. Clem- 
 ent's Danes, etc., 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 as soon as they were known to 
 be dead, the plague ceased in those streets. It was also 
 observed that the plague decreased sooner in those par- 
 ishes after they had been visited to the full, than it did 
 in the parishes of Bishopsgate, Shoreditch, Aldgate, White- 
 chapel, Stepney, and others ; the early care taken in 
 that manner being a great means to the putting a check 
 to it. 
 
 This shutting up of the houses was a method first taken, 
 as I understand, in the plague which happened in 1603, at 
 the coming of King James the I. 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 
 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 of infected within the city were 
 but few, the last bill for the ninety-two parishes being but 
 four, and some houses having been shut up in the city, 
 and some people being removed to the pesthouse 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 twenty-eight ; and 
 the city was preserved more healthy in proportion than 
 any other place all the time of the infection. 
 
 These orders of my lord mayor's were published, as I 
 have said, the latter end of June, and took place from the 
 Ist of July, and were as follow, viz. : 
 
 < Effect. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 39 
 
 ORDERS COKCEIVED AN'D PUBLISHED BY THE LORD MAYOR 
 AND ALDERMEN OF THE CITY OF LONDON, CONCERNING 
 THE INFECTION OF THE PLAGUE ; 1665. 
 
 Whereas in the reign of onr late sovereign King James, 
 of happy memory, an act was made for the charitable relief 
 and ordering of persons infected with the plague : where- 
 by authority was given to justices of the peace, mayors, 
 bailifEs,^ and other head officers, to appoint within their sev- 
 eral limits examiners, searchers, watchmen, keepers, and 
 buriers, for the persons and places infected, and to minis- 
 ter ' unto them oaths for the performance of their offices ; 
 and the same statute did also authorise the giving of their 
 directions, as unto them for other 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 please Almighty 
 God), that these officers following be appointed, and these 
 orders hereafter duly observed. 
 
 Examiners to be appointed to every Parish. 
 
 First, it is thought requisite, and so ordered, that in ev- 
 ery parish there be one, two, or more persons of good sort 
 and credit chosen by the alderman, his deputy, and com- 
 mon-council of every ward, by the name of examiners, to 
 continue in that office for 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 com- 
 mitted to prison until they shall conform themselves ac- 
 cordingly. 
 
 The Examiners' Office. 
 
 That these examiners be sworn by the alderman to in- 
 quire and learn from time to time what houses in every 
 
 ' Sheriffs. ' Administer. 
 
 'I.e., for the justices, etc;, to give such directions to these executive 
 officers as should seem good to them for dealing with additional pres- 
 ent necessities. 
 
40 JOURNAL OF TEE PLAQUE 
 
 parish be visited, and what persons be sick, and of what dis- 
 eases, 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 and negligent, to give 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 do such farther 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 o'clock at 
 night, and the watchman by night until 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 the 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 be fitly qualified for that employment, and charge 
 
 ' That access to the house be cut off. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 41 
 
 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 per- 
 mitted to use 1 any public work or employment, or keep a 
 shop or stall, or be employed as a laundress, or in any 
 other common employment whatsoever. 
 
 Ghirurgeons? 
 
 For better assistance of the searchers, forasmuch as there 
 has been heretofore great abuse in misreporting the disease, 
 to the farther spreading of the infection, it is therefore or- 
 dered that there be chosen and appointed able and discreet 
 chirurgeons besides those that do already belong to the 
 pesthouse ; amongst whom the city and liberties to be 
 quartered^ as they 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 search- 
 ers for the view of the body, to the end there may be a true 
 report made of the disease. 
 
 And farther, 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 seques- 
 tered from all other cures,' and kept only to this disease of 
 the infection, it is ordered that every of the said chirur- 
 geons 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. 
 
 • Hold. 
 
 ' The older spelling (literally, " hand-workers,'' from the Greek) of 
 " surgeons." 
 ^ Divided. < Every one. ' Cares, duties. 
 
42 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 Nurse-heepers.^ 
 
 K any nurse-keeper shall remove herself out of any in- 
 fected 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 shall be expired. 
 
 OKDEES CONCEBinN'G INFECTED HOUSES, AND PEKSONS 
 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 
 notice 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 sequestered in the same house, and in 
 case he be so sequestered, then, though he die not, the 
 house wherein he sickened shall 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. 
 
 ' Nurses in charge of infected houses. ' A swelling on the skin, 
 ■ Purples, au affection of the skin marked by spots of livid red. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 43 
 
 Shutting up of the House. 
 
 If any person shall visit any man known to be infected 
 of the plague, or entereth willingly into any known in- 
 fected house, being not allowed, the house wherein he in- 
 habiteth shall be shut up for certain days by the examiner's 
 direction. 
 
 None to he removed out of Infected Houses, hut, etc. 
 
 Item,' That none be removed out of the house where he 
 falleth sick of the infection, into any other house in the 
 city (except it be to the pesthouse or a tent, or unto some 
 such house, which the owner of the said house holdeth in 
 his own hands, and occupieth by his own servants), and so 
 as* security be given to the said parish whither such re- 
 move 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 law- 
 ful 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 do 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 the fear of some infection at first not appearing. 
 
 Burial of the Dead. 
 
 That the burial of the dead by this visitation be at most 
 convenient hours, always before sun-rising, or after sun- 
 setting, with the privity ? of the church-wardens, ° or con- 
 stable, and not otherwise ; and that no neighbours nor 
 
 ' Likewise. ' Except. ' Responsibility. * Looked to. 
 
 » Private knowledge and consent. 
 
 • The legal representatives of the church in secular affairs. 
 
M JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 friends be suffered to accompany the corpse to church, oi 
 to enter the house visited, upon pain of having his house 
 shut up, or be imprisoned. 
 
 And, that no corpse dying of the infection shall be bur- 
 ied, 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 corpse, in any church, church- 
 yard, or burying-place, to come near the corpse, coffin, or 
 grave ; and, that all graves shall be at least six feet deep. 
 
 And farther, all public assemblies at other burials are to 
 be forborne during the continuance of this visitation. 
 
 No Infected Stuff to he 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 ap- 
 parel to be sold or pawned, be utterly prohibited and re- 
 strained, and no brokers of bedding or old apparel be per- 
 mitted to make any public show, 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 in- 
 fection hath been there, his house shall be shut up as in- 
 fected, 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 
 
 > Discourse. - Put into oirculation. ' Chance. * Injunction, 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 45 
 
 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 marJced. 
 
 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 in, and minister 
 necessaries to them at their own charges,' if they be able, 
 or at the common charge if they be unable. The shutting 
 up to be for the space of four weeks after all be whole. 
 
 That precise order be taken that the searchers, chirur- 
 geons, keepers, and buriers are not to pass the streets with- 
 out 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 in- 
 fected, no other person or family of such house shall be 
 suffered to remove him or themselves without a certificate 
 from the examiners of the health of that parish, or in de- 
 fault thereof, the house whither she or they remove shall 
 be shut up as is in case of visitation. 
 
 ' Expense. 
 
46 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 Hackney- Coaches. 
 
 That care be taken of hackney-coachmen, that they may 
 not, as some of them have been observed to do after carry- 
 ing of infected persons to the pesthouse and other places, 
 be admitted to common use till their coaches be well aired, 
 and have stood unemployed by the space of five or six days 
 after such service. 
 
 OKDEBS FOB CLEANSING AND KEEPING OF THE STREETS 
 
 SWEET. 
 
 The Streets to be kept clean. 
 
 FiBST, it is thought necessary and so ordered, that every 
 householder do cause the street to be daily prepared before 
 his door, and so to keep it clean swept all the week long. 
 
 That Rakers take it from out the Houses. 
 
 That the sweeping and filth of houses be daily carried 
 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. 
 
 Lay-stalls^ to be made far off from the City. 
 
 That the lay-stalls 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 vault or gar- 
 den near about the city. 
 
 Care to be had of umoholesome Fish or Flesh, and of musty 
 
 Corn. 
 
 That special care be taken that no stinking fish, or un- 
 wholesome flesh, or musty corn, or other corrupt fruits, of 
 what sort soever, be suffered to be sold about the city or 
 any part of the same. 
 
 That the brewers and tippling-houses be looked unto for 
 musty and unwholesome casks. 
 
 'Literally, " lay -places ; " rubbish -heaps. 
 
JOURNAL OF TEE PLAGUE 47 
 
 That no liogs, 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 the act of common- 
 council, and that the dogs be killed by the dog-killers ap- 
 pointed for that purpose. 
 
 OBDEBS COKCBENINa LOOSE PERSONS AND IDIE ASSEM- 
 BLIES. 
 
 Beggars. 
 
 Forasmuch as nothing is more complained of than the 
 multitude of rogues and wandering beggars that swarm 
 about in every place about the city, being a great cause of 
 the spreading of the infection, and will not be avoided^ 
 notwithstanding any orders 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 wandering beggars be suffered in the 
 streets of this city, in any fashion or manner whatsoever, 
 upon the penalty provided by law to be duly and severely 
 executed upon them. 
 
 Plays. 
 
 That all plays, bear-baitings,^ games, singing of ballads, 
 buckler-play,' or such like causes of assemblies of people be 
 utterly prohibited, and the parties offending severely pun- 
 ished, by every alderman in his ward. 
 
 Feasting prohibited. 
 
 That all public feasting, and particularly by the com- 
 panies * of this city, and dinners in taverns, ale-houses, and 
 
 ' Rabbits. 'A subordinate parish officer. 
 
 ' Cannot be prevented from swarming about the city. 
 * The favorite English amusement of setting large dogs on captive 
 bears. 
 
 ' Exhibitions of skill with swords and bucklers. * The guilds. 
 
48 JOtlRNAL OF THB PLAGUE 
 
 other places of public entertainment, be forborne till far- 
 ther 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. 
 
 Tippling-Houses. 
 
 That disorderly tippling in taverns, ale-houses, coffee- 
 houses, and cellars, be severely looked unto as the common 
 sin of the time, and greatest occasion of dispersing the 
 plague. And that no company or person be suffered to re- 
 main or come into any tavern, ale-house, or coffee-house, 
 to drink, after nine of the clock in the evening, according 
 to the ancient law and custom of this city, upon the penal- 
 ties ordained by law. 
 
 And for the better execution of these orders, and such 
 other rules and directions as upon farther 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 oftener, 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 put in execution, 
 not intending that any dwelling in or near places infected 
 shall come to the said meeting while their coming may be 
 doubtful. And the said aldermen, deputies, and common- 
 council-men, in their several wards, may put in execution 
 any other orders, that by them, at their said meetings, 
 shall be conceived and devised for the preservation of his 
 majesty's subjects from the infection. 
 
 Sir John Lawrence, Lord Mayor. 
 Sir George Waterman, 
 Sir Charles Doe, 
 
 j- Sheriffs. 
 
 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- 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 49 
 
 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 this eastern part of the town at least, nor begin to be 
 violent till the beginning of August. — For example, the 
 whole bill from the 11th to the 18th of July, was 1761, yet 
 there died but seventy-one of the plague in all those par- 
 ishes we call the Tower Hamlets ; and they were as follows : 
 
 Aldgate, 
 
 Stepney, 
 
 Whitechapel, 
 
 St. Kath. Tower,' 
 
 Trin. Minories,^ 
 
 71 
 
 the next 
 week was 
 thus : 
 
 34 
 
 58 
 
 48 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 145 
 
 and to the 
 1st of Aug. 
 thus : 
 
 65 
 
 76 
 
 79 
 
 4 
 
 4 
 
 238 
 
 It was indeed coming on amain, for the burials that same 
 week were, in the next adjoining parishes, thus : 
 
 St. L.3 Shoreditch 64 
 St.Bot. Bishopsg.'' 65 
 St. Giles's Crippl.5 313 
 
 342 
 
 the next week 84 
 prodigiously 105 
 increased, as 431 
 
 '630 
 
 to the 1st 110 
 
 of Aug. 116 
 
 thus : 554 
 
 780 
 
 This shutting up of houses was at first counted a very 
 cruel and unchristian method, and the poor people so con- 
 fined made bittor 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 inquiry 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 sick- 
 ness not appearing infectious ; or, if uncertain, yet, on his 
 being content to be carried to the pesthouse, was" released. 
 
 ' St. Katherine's by the Tower. ' Trinity Minories. 
 
 'St: Luke's. * St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate. > Cripplegate. 
 
 *The syntax is somewhat coufased. 
 4 
 
50 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 As I went along Houndsditch one morning about eight 
 o'clock, there was a great noise ; it is true, indeed, there 
 was not much crowd, because the 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 called to one, 
 who looked out of a window, and asked what was the mat- 
 ter ? 
 
 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 called for nothing, 
 sent him of no errands, which used to be the chief business 
 of the watchmen, neither had they given him any disturb- 
 ance, as he said, from Monday afternoon, when he heard a 
 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 called, put her into the cart, 
 wrapped only in a green rug, and carried her away. 
 
 The watchman had knocked at the door, it seems, when 
 he heard that noise and crying, as above, and nobody 
 answered a great while, but at last one looked 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 you make such a knocking ?" He answered, "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 o'clock ; soon 
 after, as the fellow said, he stopped the dead-cart, and then 
 knocked again, but nobody answered ; he continued knock- 
 ing, and the bellman called out several times, " Bring out 
 
'' JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 51 
 
 your dead ; " but nobody answered, till the man that drove 
 the cart, being called 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 called him, came to relieve him. Giving him an ac- 
 count ai the particulars, they knocked at the door a great 
 while, but nobody answered, and they observed that the 
 window or casement, at which the person looked out who 
 had answered 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 
 looked into the room, where he saw a woman lying dead 
 upon the floor, in a dismal manner, having no clothes on 
 her but her shift ; but though he called aloud, and putting 
 in his long staff, knocked hard on the floor, yet nobody 
 stirred or answered, neither could he hear any noise in the 
 house. 
 
 He came down again upon this and acquainted his fellow, 
 who went up also, and finding it just so, they resolved to 
 acquaint either the lord mayor, or some other magistrate 
 of it, but did not offer to go in at the window. The magis- 
 trate, it seems, upon the information of the two men, 
 ordered the house to be broke open, a constable and other 
 persons being appointed to be present, that nothing might 
 be plundered, 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 herself, and every one gone, having found 
 some way to delude the watchman, and to 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 
 cries and shrieks which he heard, it was supposed they 
 were the passionate cries of the family at this bitter part- 
 ing, which to be sure, it was to them all, this being the 
 sister to the mistress of the family. The man of the house. 
 
52 JOURNAL OV THE PLAQUE 
 
 his wife, several children and servants, heing all gone and 
 fled, whether sick or sound, that I could never learn, nor, 
 jndeed, did I make much inquiry after it. 
 
 At another house, as I was informed, in the street next 
 within Aldgate, a whole family was shut up and locked in, 
 because the maid-servant was taken sick ; the master of the 
 house had complained by his friends to the next ' alderman, 
 and to the lord mayor, and had consented to have the maid 
 carried to the pesthouse, 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 public 
 order. 
 
 After the master of the house found there was no rem- 
 edy, but that he, his wife, and his children were locked up 
 with this poor distempered servant, he called to the watch- 
 man, 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 would 
 perish either "^ of the distemper, or be starved for want of 
 food, for he was resolved 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 anybody for help. 
 
 The watchman consented to that, and went and fetched 
 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 through 
 his shop into a bulk or stall, where formerly a cobbler 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 removed, and so he had the key in his own keeping ; 
 having made his way into this stall^ which he could not 
 have done if the man had been at the door, the noise he 
 was obliged to make being such as would have alarmed the 
 watchman ; I say, having made his way into this stall, he 
 
 'Nearest. ' More strictly, "either perish.'' 
 
 * A loose idiom ; compare " three yoke of oxen." 
 
JOURNAL OV TBE PLAQUE 53 
 
 sat still till the watchman returned with the nurse, and all 
 the next day also ; but the night following, having con- 
 trived to send the watchman of another trifling errand, 
 which, as I take it, was to an apothecary's for a plaster for 
 the maid, which he was to stay for the making up, or some 
 other such errand, that might secure his staying some 
 time ; in 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, throw her into the cart, and 
 take care of the house. .,=„ 
 
 Not far from the same place they blowed ' up a watchman 
 with gunpowder, and burnt the poor fellow dreadfully ; 
 and while he made hideous cries, and nobody would vent- 
 ure 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 foundj till after the plague was abated they 
 returned ; but as nothing could be proved, so nothing 
 could be done to them. _ ;- 
 
 In other cases, some had gardens and walls, or pales ^ be- 
 tween 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 
 neighbours' doors ; or, by giving money to their servants, 
 |get them to let them through in the night ; so that, in 
 short, the shutting up of houses was in nowise to be de- 
 pended upon ; neither did it answer the end at all ; serv- 
 ing 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 wandering 
 about with the distemper upon them, in their desperate 
 
 ' Blew. 2 Stakes. 
 
 'Costs; whatever- be the fortunes (adventures) they might meet 
 with 
 
54 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 circumstances, than they would otherwise have done : for, 
 whoever considers all the particulars in such cases, must 
 acknowledge, and 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 exigencies and extremities, 
 and perished in the streets or fields for mere want, or 
 dropped down, by * the raging violence of the fever upon 
 them. Others wandered into the country, and went for- 
 ward any way, as their desperation guided them, not know- 
 ing whither they went or would go, till, faint and tired, 
 and not getting any relief, the houses and villages on the 
 road refusing to admit them to lodge, whether infected or 
 no, they have perished ' by the road side, or gotten into 
 barns, and died there, none daring to come to them, or re- 
 lieve them, though perhaps not infected, for nobody would 
 believe them. 
 
 On the other hand, when the plague at first seized a 
 family, that is to say, when any one body of the family had 
 gone out, and unwarily or otherwise catched ^ the dis- 
 temper 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 hiterval, 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 
 whither to go, and many did so. But the great disaster 
 was, that many did thus after they were really infected 
 themselves, and so carried the disease into the houses of 
 those who were so hospitable as to receive them, which, it 
 must be confessed, was very cruel and ungrateful. 
 "I am speaking now of people made desperate by the ap- 
 'From. "More atriotly, "till they perished." 'Caught. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 55 
 
 prehensions of their heing shut up, and their breaking out 
 by stratagem or force, either before or after they were shut 
 up, whose misery was not lessened when they were out, 
 but sadly increased. On the other hand, many who thus 
 got away had retreats to go to, and other houses, where 
 they locked 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 in- 
 fection 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 efEectual secure step that could be taken for 
 such whose circumstances would not admit ' them to re- 
 move, 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 miscarried.' 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 expressed ; and it was generally in such houses 
 that we heard the most dismal shrieks and outcries of the 
 poor people, terrified, and even frightened to deaths by 
 the sight of the condition of their dearest relations, and by 
 the terror of being imprisoned as they were. 
 
 I remember, and, while I am writing this story, I think 
 I hear the very sound of it : a certain lady had an only 
 daughter, a young maiden about nineteen years old, and 
 who was possessed of a very considerable fortune ; they 
 were only lodgers in the house where they were. The 
 : Permit. ' Their plans did not miscarry. 
 
56 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 young woman, her motiier, and the maid had heen abroad 
 on some occasion, I do not remember what, for the house 
 was not shut up ; but, about two hours after they came 
 home, the young lady complained she was not Well, in a 
 quarter of an hour more she vomited, and had a violent 
 pain in her head. " Pray God," says her mother, in a ter- 
 rible fright, " my child has not the distemper ! " The pain 
 in her head increasing, her mother ordered the bed to be 
 warmed, and resolved to put her to bed ; and prepared to 
 give her things to sweat, which was the ordinary remedy to be 
 taken, when the first apprehensions of the distemper began. 
 While the bed was airing, the mother undressed the 
 young woman, and just as she was laid down in the bed, 
 she, looking upon her body with a candle, immediately 
 discovered the fatal tokens on the inside of her thighs. 
 Her mother, not being able to contain herself, threw down 
 her candle, and screeched out in such a frightful manner 
 that it was enough to place horror upon the stoutest heart 
 in the world ; nor was it one scream, or one cry, but the 
 fright having seized her spirits, she fainted first, then re- 
 covered, then ran all over the house, up the stairs and 
 down the stairs, like one distracted, and, indeed, really 
 was distracted, and continued screeching and crying out 
 for several hours, void of all sense, or, at least, govern- 
 ment of her senses, and, as I was told, never came thor- 
 oughly to herself again. As to the young maiden, she was 
 a dead corpse from that moment ; for the gangrene, which 
 occasions the spots, had spread over her whole body, and 
 she died in less than two hours. But still the mother con- 
 tinued crying out, not knowing any thing more of her 
 child, several hours after she was dead. It is so long ago 
 that I am not certain, but I think the mother never re- 
 covered, but died in two or three weeks after. 
 
 I have by me a story of two brothers and their kinsman, 
 who, being ' single men, but that ^ had stayed in the city 
 ■ Although. " Yet. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 57 
 
 too long to get away, and, indeed, not knowing where to 
 go to have any retreat, nor having wherewith to travel far, * 
 took a course for their own preservation, which, though in 
 itself at first desperate, yet was so natural, that it may be 
 wondered that no more did so at that time. They were 
 but of mean condition, and yet not so very poor as that 
 they could not furnish themselves with some little con- 
 veniences, such as might serve to keep' life and soul to- 
 gether ; and, finding the distemper increasing in a terrible 
 manner, they resolved to shift as well as they could, and to 
 be gone. 
 
 One of them had been a soldier in the late wars, and 
 before that in the Low Countries ;* and, having been bred 
 to no particular employment but his arms, and, besides, 
 being wounded, and not able to work very hard, had for 
 some time been employed at a baker's of sea-biscuit, in 
 Wapping. 
 
 The brother of this man was a seaman, too, but, some- 
 how or other, had been hurt of one leg, that ^ he could not 
 go to sea, but had worked for his living at a sailmaker's in 
 VVapping, or thereabouts ; and being a good husband,' had 
 laid up some money, and was the richest of the three. 
 
 The third man was a joiner or carpenter by trade, a 
 handy fellow ; and he had no wealth but his box, or basket 
 of tools, with the help of which he could at any time get 
 his living, such a time as this excepted, wherever he went, 
 and he lived near Shadwell. 
 
 They all lived in Stepney parish, which, as I have said, 
 being the last that was infected, or at least violently, they 
 stayed there till they evidently saw the plague was abating 
 at the west part of the town, and coming towards the east, 
 where they lived. 
 
 The story of those three men, if the reader will be con- 
 tent to have me give it in their own persons, without tak- 
 ing upon me to either vouch the particulars, or answer for 
 any mistakes. I shall give as distinctly as I can ; believing 
 ■ The Netherlands. ' So that. » Thrifty. 
 
58 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGVE 
 
 the history will be a very good pattern for any poor man 
 *to follow, in case the like public desolation should happen 
 here ; and if there may be no such occasion, which God of 
 his infinite mercy grant us, still the story may have its 
 uses so many ways, aB that it will, I hope, never be said 
 that the relating has been unprofitable. 
 
 I say all this previous to the history, having yet, for the 
 present, much more to say before I quit my own part.' 
 
 I went all the first part of the time freely about the 
 streets, though not so freely as to run myself into apparent 
 danger, except when they dug the great pit in the church- 
 yard of our parish of Aldgate. A terrible pit it was, and 
 I could not resist my curiosity to go and see it ; as near as 
 I may judge, it was about forty feet in length, and about 
 fifteen or sixteen feet broad ; and, at the time I first looked 
 at it, about nine feet deep ; but, it was said, they dug it 
 near twenty feet deep afterwards, in one part of it, till 
 they could go no deeper for the water ; for they had, it 
 seems, dug several large pits before this ; for, though the 
 plague was long a coming ^ to our parish, yet, when it did 
 come, there was no parish in or about London where it 
 raged with such violence as in the two parishes of Aldgate 
 and Whitechapel. 
 
 I say they had dug several pits in another ground when 
 the distemper began to spread in our parish, and especially 
 when the dead-carts began to go about, which was not in 
 our parish till the beginning of August. Into these pits 
 they had put perhaps fifty or sixty bodies each ; then they 
 made larger holes, wherein they buried all that the cart 
 brought in a week, which, by the middle to the end of 
 August, came to from two hundred to four hundred a 
 week ; and they could not well dig them larger, because of 
 the order of the magistrate, confining them to leave no 
 
 ' Of the story. 
 
 ' A good colloquial idiom. " A " is a reduced form of the preposi- 
 tion " on." 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUES 59 
 
 bodies within six feet of the surface ; and the water com- 
 ing on ' at about seventeen or eighteen feet, they could not 
 well, I say, put more in one pit ; but now, at the begin- 
 ning of September, the plague raging in a dreadful man- 
 ner, and the number of burials in our parish increasing to 
 more than was ever buried in any parish about London, 
 of no larger extent, they ordered this dreadful gulf to be 
 dug, for such it was rather than a pit. 
 
 They had supposed this pit would have supplied them for 
 a month or more, when they dug it, and some blamed the 
 churchwardens for suffering such a frightful thing, telling 
 them they were making preparations to bury the whole 
 parish, and the like ; but time made it appear the church- 
 wardens knew the condition of the parish better than they 
 did ; for, the pit being finished the 4th of September, I 
 think they began to bury in it the 6th, and by the 20th, 
 which was just two weeks, they had thrown into it 1114 
 bodies, when they were obliged to fill it up, the bodies be- 
 ing then come to lie within six feet of the surface. I 
 doubt not but there may be some ancient persons alive in 
 the parish, who can justify the fact of this, and are able to' 
 show even in what place of the churchyard the pit lay bet- 
 ter than I can ; the mark of it also was many years to be 
 seen in the churchyard on the surface, lying, in length, 
 parallel with the passage which goes by the west wall of the 
 churchyard, out of Houndsditch, and turns east again, 
 into Whitechapel, coming out near the Three Nuns 
 Inn. 
 
 It was about the 10th of September that my curiosity 
 led, or rather drove, me to go and see this pit again, when 
 there had been near four hundred people buried in it ; and 
 I was not content to see it irt the day time, as I had done 
 before, for then there would have been nothing to have 
 been seen but the loose earth ; for all the bodies that were 
 thrown in were immediately covered with earth, by those 
 they called the buriers, which at other times were called 
 
 'In? 
 
60 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 bearers ; but I resolved to go in the night, and see some of 
 them thrown in. 
 
 There was a strict order to prevent people coming to 
 those pits, and that was only to prevent infection ; but, 
 after some time, that order was more necessary, for people 
 that were infected, and near their end, and delirious also, 
 would run to those pits wrapt in blankets, or rugs, and 
 throw themselves in, and, as they said, bury themselves. 
 I cannot say that the officers suffered any willingly to lie 
 there ; but I have heard that in a great pit in Finsbury, in 
 the parish of Oripplegate, it lying open then to the fields, 
 for it was not then walled about, many came and threw 
 themselves in, and expired there, before they threw any 
 earth upon them ; and that when they came to bury others, 
 and found them there, they were quite dead, though not 
 cold. 
 
 This may serve a little to describe the dreadful condition 
 
 of that day, though it is impossible to say anything that is 
 
 able to give a true idea of it to those who did not see it, 
 
 other than this, that it was indeed, very, very, very dread- 
 
 ■ ful, and such as no tongue can express. 
 
 I . got admittance into the churchyard by being ac- 
 quainted with the sexton who attended, who, though he 
 did not refuse me at all, yet earnestly persuaded me not to 
 go : telling me very seriously, for he was a good, religious, 
 and sensible man, that it was, indeed, their business and 
 duty to venture, and to run all hazards, and that in it 
 they might hope to be preserved ; but that I had no appar- 
 ent call to it but my own curiosity, which, he said, he be- 
 lieved I would not pretend was sufficient to justify my 
 running that hazard. I told him I had been pressed in my 
 mind to go, and that, perhaps, it might be an instructing 
 sight, that might not be without its uses. " Nay," says 
 the good man, "if you will venture upon that score, 
 'Name ' of God, go in ; for, depend upon it, it will be a 
 sermon to you, it may be, the best that ever yon heard in 
 1 In the Name. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 61 
 
 your life. It is a speaking sight/' says he, "and has a 
 voice with it, and a loud one, to call us all to repentance ; " 
 and with that he opened the door, and said, " Go, if you 
 will." 
 
 His discourse had shocked my resolution a little, and I 
 stood wavering for a good while, but, just at that interval, 
 I saw two links * come over from the end of the Minories, 
 and heard the bellman, and then appeared a dead-cart, as 
 they called it, coming over the streets ; so I could no 
 longer resist my desire of seeing it, and went in. There 
 was nobody as '^ I could perceive at first, in the churchyard, 
 or going into it, but the buriers, and the fellow that drove 
 the cart, or rather led the horse and cart, but when they 
 came up to the pit, they saw a man go to and again,^ 
 muffled up in a brown cloak, and making motions with his 
 hands, under his cloak, as if he was in great agony ; and 
 the buriers immediately gathered about him, supposing he 
 was one of those poor delirious, or desperate creatures, 
 that used* to pretend, as I have said, to bury themselves ; 
 he said nothing as he walked about, but two or three times 
 groaned very deeply, and loud, and sighed as * he would 
 break his heart. 
 
 When the buriers came up to him, they soon found he 
 was neither a person infected and desperate, as I have ob- 
 served above, or a person distempered in mind, but one 
 oppressed with a dreadful weight of grief indeed, having his 
 wife and several of his children, all in the cart that was 
 just come in with him, and he followed in an agony and 
 excess of sorrow. He mourned heartily, as it was easy to 
 see, but with a kind of masculine grief, that could not give 
 itself vent by tears ; and, calmly desiring the buriers to 
 let him alone, said he would only see the bodies thrown 
 in, and go away, so they left importuning him ; but no 
 sooner was the cart turned round, and the bodies shot into 
 the pit, promiscuously, which was a surprise to him, for 
 he at least expected they would have been decently laid in, 
 ' Torches. " That. = To and fro. ■• As if. 
 
62 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 though indeed, he was afterwards convinced that was im- 
 practicable ; I say, no sooner did he see the sight, but he 
 cried out aloud, unable to contain himself. I could not 
 hear what he said, but he went backward two or three steps, 
 and fell down in a swoon ; the buriers ran to him and took 
 him up, and in a little while he came to himself, and they 
 led him away to the Pye Tavern, over-against the end of 
 Houndsditch, where, it seems, the man was known, and 
 where they took care of him. He looked into the pit again, 
 as he went away, but the buriers had covered the bodies so 
 immediately with throwing in earth, that, though there 
 was light enough, for there were lanthorns and candles in 
 them, placed all night round the sides of the pit, upon the 
 heaps of earth, seven or eight, or perhaps more, yet noth- 
 ing could be seen. 
 
 This was a mournful scene indeed, and affected me 
 almost as much as the rest ; but the other ' was awful, and 
 full of terror ; the cart had in it sixteen or seventeen 
 bodies ; some were wrapt up in linen sheets, some in rugs, 
 some little other than naked, or so loose,'' that what cover- 
 ing they had fell from them, in the shooting out of the 
 cart, and they fell quite naked among the rest ; but the 
 matter was not much to them, or the indecency much to 
 anyone else, seeing they were all dead, and were to be 
 huddled together into the common grave of mankind, as 
 we may ^all it, for here was no difference made, but poor 
 and rich went together ; there was no other way of burials, 
 neither was it possible there should,' for coffins were not to 
 be had for the prodigious numbers that fell in such a calam- 
 ity as this. 
 
 It was reported, by way of scandal upon the buriers, that 
 if any corpse was delivered to them, decently wound up, as 
 we called it then, in a winding sheet tied over the head and 
 feet, which some did, and which^ was generally of good linen ; 
 I say, it was reported, that the buriers were so wicked as to 
 
 ' What he now goes on to relate. 
 
 ' So loosely wrapped. ' Should be. * The sheet 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 63 
 
 strip them in the cart, and carry them quite naked to the 
 ground : but, as I cannot credit anything so vile among 
 Christians, and at a time so filled with terrors as that was, 
 I can only relate it, and leave it undetermined. 
 
 Innumerable stories also went about of the cruel behaviour 
 and practice of nurses who attended the sick, and of their 
 hastening on the fate of those they attended in their sick- 
 ness. But I shall say more of this in its place. 
 
 I was, indeed, shocked with this sight ; it almost over- 
 whelmed me ; and I went away with my heart most afflicted, 
 and full of afflicting thoughts, such as I cannot describe ; 
 just at my going out of the church, and turning up the 
 street towards my own house, I saw another cart, with 
 links * and a bellman going before, coming out of Harrow 
 Alley, in the Butcher Kow, on the other side of the way, 
 and being, as I perceived, very full of dead bodies, it went 
 directly over the street also towards the church. I stood 
 awhile, but I had no stomach to go back again to see the 
 same dismal scene over again ; so I went directly home, 
 where I could not but consider with thankfulness, the risk 
 I had run, believing I had gotten no injury ; as, indeed, I 
 had not. 
 
 Here the poor unhappy gentleman's grief came into my 
 head again, and, indeed, I could not but shed tears in the 
 reflection upon it, perhaps more than he did himself ; but 
 his case lay so heavy upon my mind that I could not pre- 
 vail with myself but that , I must go out again into the 
 street, and go to the Pye Tavern, resolving to inquire what 
 became of him. 
 
 It was by this time one o'clock in the morning, and yet 
 the poor gentleman was there ; the truth was, the people 
 of the house, knowing him, had entertained him,^ and kept 
 him there all the night, notwithstanding the danger of 
 being infected by him, though it appeared the man was 
 perfectly sound himself. 
 
 It is with regret that I take notice of this tavern. The 
 ' Torches. » Received him as a guest. 
 
64 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 people were civil, mannerly, and an obliging sort of folks 
 enough, and had till this time kept their house open, and 
 their trade going on, though not so very publicly as for- 
 merly ; but there was a dreadful set of fellows that used 
 their house, and who, in the middle of all this horror, met 
 there every night, behaving with all the revelling and roar- 
 ing extravagances as is usual for such people to do at other 
 times, and, indeed, to such an offensive degree, that the 
 very master and mistress of the house grew first ashamed, 
 and then terrified, at them. 
 
 They sat generally in a room next the street ; and, as 
 they always kept late hours, so when the dead-cart came 
 across the street end to go into Houndsditch, which was in 
 view of the tavern windows, they would frequently open 
 the windows, as soon as they heard the bell, and look out 
 at them ; and, as they might often hear sad lamentations 
 of people in the streets, or at their windows, as the carts 
 went along, they would make their impudent mocks and 
 jeers at them, especially if they heard the poor people call 
 upon God to have mercy upon them, as many would do at 
 those times, in their ordinary passing along the streets. 
 
 These gentlemen, being something disturbed with the 
 clutter * of bringing the poor gentleman into the house, as 
 above, were first angry and very high with the master of 
 the house, for suffering such a fellow, as they called him, 
 to be brought out of the grave into their house ; but, be- 
 ing answered, that the man was a neighbour, and that he 
 was sound, but overwhelmed with the calamity of his 
 family, and the like, they turned their anger into ridicul- 
 ing the man and his sorrow for his wife and children ; 
 taunting him with want of courage to leap into the great 
 pit, and go to heaven, as they jeeringly expressed it, along 
 with them ; adding some very profane, and even blasphe- 
 mous expressions. 
 
 They were at this vile work when I came back to the 
 house, and, as far as I could see, though the man sat still, 
 ' Confusion. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE * 65 
 
 mute, and disconsolate, and their affronts could not divert 
 his sorrow, yet he was both grieved and ofEended at their 
 discourse. Upon this, I gently reproved them, being well 
 enough acquainted with their characters, and not unknown 
 in person to two of them. 
 
 They immediately fell upon me with ill language and 
 oaths ; asked me what I did out of my grave at such a 
 time, when so many honester men were carried into the 
 church-yard ; and why I was not at home saying my 
 prayers, against * the dead-cart came for me ; and the like. 
 
 I was, indeed, astonished at the impudence of the men, 
 though not at all discomposed at their treatment of me ; 
 however, I kept my temper. I told them, that, though I 
 defied them, or any man in the world, to tax me with any 
 dishonesty, yet I acknowledged, that, in this terrible 
 judgment of God, many better than I were swept away, and 
 carried to their grave ; but, to answer their question di- 
 rectly, the case was, that I was mercifully preserved by 
 that great God whose name they had blasphemed and 
 taken in vain, by cursing and swearing in a dreadful man- 
 ner ; and that I believed I was preserved in particular, 
 among other ends of his goodness, that I might reprove 
 them for their audacious boldness, in behaving in such a 
 manner, and in such an awful time as this was, especially 
 for their jeering and mocking at an honest gentleman, and 
 a neighbour, for some of them knew him, who they saw 
 was overwhelmed with sorrow, for the breaches which it 
 had pleased God to make upon his family. 
 
 I cannot call exactly to mind the hellish, abominable 
 raillery, which was the return they made to that talk of 
 mine, being provoked, it seems, that I was not at all afraid 
 to be free with them ; nor, if I could remember, would I 
 fill my account with any of the words, the horrid oaths, 
 curses, and vile expressions, such as, at that time of the 
 day, even the worst and ordinariest people in the street 
 would not use ; for, except such hardened creatures as 
 ' In readiness for the coming of tlie dead cart. 
 
66 * JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 these, the most wicked wretches that could be found, had 
 at that time some terror upon their mind, of the hand of 
 that Power which could thus in a moment destroy them. 
 
 But that which was the worst in all their devilish lan- 
 guage was that they were not afraid to blaspheme God, and 
 talk atheistically ; making a jest at my calling the plague 
 the hand of God, mocking, and even laughing at the word 
 judgment, as if the providence of God had no concern in 
 the inflicting such a desolating stroke ; and that the peo- 
 ple calling upon God, as they saw the carts ca,rrying away 
 the dead bodies, was all enthusiastic,' absurd, and imperti- 
 nent. 
 
 I made them some reply, such as I thought proper, but 
 which I found was so far from putting a check to their 
 horrid way of speaking, that it made them rail the more ; 
 so that I confess it filled me with horror and a kind of rage, 
 and I came away, as I told them, lest the hand of that 
 judgment which had visited the whole city should glorify 
 his vengeance upon them,' and all that were near them. 
 
 They received all reproof with the utmost contempt, and 
 made the greatest mockery that was possible for them to 
 do at me, giving me all the opprobrious, insolent scoffs 
 that they could think of for preaching to them, as they 
 called it, which, indeed, grieved me, rather than angered 
 me ; and I went away blessing God, however, in my mind, 
 that I had not spared them, though they had insulted me 
 so much. 
 
 ^ They continued this wretched course three or four days 
 after this, continually mocking and jeering at all that 
 showed themselves religious, or serious, or that were any 
 way touched with the sense of the terrible judgment of 
 God upon us, and I was informed they flouted in the same 
 manner at the good people, who, notwithstanding the 
 contagion, met at the church, fasted, and prayed to God 
 to remove his hand from them. 
 
 I say, they continued this dreadful course three or four 
 
 ' Extravagant. » Should take a glorious vengeance ou them. 
 
JOURNAL OP THE PLAQUE ' 67 
 
 days, I think it was no more, when one of them, particu- 
 larly he who asked the poor gentleman what he did out of 
 his grave, was struck from heaven with the plague, and 
 died in a most deplorable manner ; and, in a word, they 
 were every one of them carried into the great pit, which I 
 have mentioned above, before it was quite filled up, which 
 was not above a fortnight, or thereabout. 
 
 These men were guilty of many extravagances, such as 
 one would think human nature should have trembled at 
 the thoughts of, at such a time of general terror as was 
 then upon us ; and, particularly, scofiBng and mocking at 
 everything which they happened to see that was religious 
 among the people, especially at their thronging zealously 
 to ithe place of public worship, to implore mercy from 
 heaven in such a time of distress ; and this tavern where 
 they held their club being within view of the church door, 
 they had the more particular occasion for their atheistical, 
 profane mirth. 
 
 But this began to abate a little with them before the ac- 
 cident, which I have related, happened ; for the infection 
 increased so violently at this part of the town now, that 
 people began to be afraid to come to the church ; at least 
 such numbers did not resort thither as was usual ; many of 
 the clergymen likewise were dead, and others gone into the 
 country ; for it really required a steady courage and -a 
 strong faith for a man not only to venture being in town 
 at such a time as this, but likewise to venture to come to 
 church and perform the office of a minister to a congrega- 
 tion, of whom he had reason to believe many of them were 
 actually infected with the plague, and to do this every day, 
 or twice a day, as in some places was done. ,^, 
 
 It seems they had been checked for their open insulting * 
 religion in this manner, by several good people of every 
 persuasion, and that * and the violent raging of the infec- 
 tion, I suppose, was the occasion that they had abated 
 much of their rudeness for some time before, and were 
 ' Insulting of. " The fact that they had been checked. 
 
68 JOURNAL OF THE PLAOUB 
 
 only roused by the spirit of ribaldry and atheism at the 
 clamour which was made, when the gentleman was first 
 brought in there, and, perhaps, were agitated by the same 
 devil,* when I took upon me to reprove them ; though I 
 did it at first with all the calmness, temper, and good man- 
 ners that I could, which, for awhile, they insulted me the 
 more for, thinking it had been in fear of their resentment, 
 though afterwards they found the contrary. 
 """ These things lay upon my mind ; and I went home very 
 much grieved and oppressed with the horror of these men's 
 wickedness, and to think that anything could be so vile, 
 so hardened, and so notoriously wicked, as to insult God 
 and his servants, and his worship, in such a manner, and 
 at such a time as this was ; when he had, as it were, his 
 sword drawn in his hand, on purpose to take vengeance, 
 not on them only, but on the whole nation. 
 
 I had, indeed, been in some passion, at first, with them, 
 though it was really raised, not by any affront they had of- 
 fered me personally, but by the horror their blaspheming 
 tongues filled me with ; however, I was doubtful in my 
 thoughts whether the resentment I retained was not all 
 upon my own private account, for they had given me a 
 great deal of ill language, too^ I mean personally ; but 
 after some pause, and having a weight of grief upon my 
 mind, I retired myself,'' as soon as I came home, for I slept 
 not that night, and giving God most humble thanks for 
 my preservation in the imminent danger I had been in, I 
 set my mind seriously, and with the utmost earnestness, to 
 pray for those desperate wretches, that God would pardon 
 them, open their eyes, and effectually humble them. 
 
 By this I not only did my duty, namely to pray for 
 those who despitef ully used me,' but I fully tried * my own 
 heart, to my full satisfaction, that ' it was not filled with 
 any spirit of resentment as * they had offended me in par- 
 
 1 The spirit of ribaldry and atheism, referred to above. 
 
 » The idiom of to-day omits ' ' myself." ' 8t. MattJiew v. 44. 
 
 • Examined. ' To conviuce myself that. ° Inasmuch as. 
 
JOURNAL OF TSE PLAQUE 69 
 
 ticular ; and I humbly recommend the method to all those 
 that would know or be certain, how to distinguish between 
 their zeal for the honour of God, and the efEects of their 
 private passions and resentment. 
 
 I remember a citizen, who, having broken out of his 
 house in Aldersgate Street, or thereabout, went along the 
 road to Islington ; he attempted to have gone ' in at the 
 Angel Inn, and after that at the White Horse, two inns, 
 known still by the same signs,^ but was refused ; after 
 which he came to the Pyed Bull,' an inn also still continu- 
 ing the same sign ; he asked them for lodging for one night 
 only, pretending to be going into Lincolnshire, and assuring 
 them of his being very sound, and free from the infection, 
 which also, at that time, had not reached much that way. 
 
 They told him they had no lodging that they could spare, 
 but one bed up in the garret, and that they could spare 
 that bed but for one night, some drovers being expected 
 the next day with cattle ; so, if he would accept of that 
 lodging, he might have it, which he did ; so a servant 
 was sent up with a candle with him, to show him the 
 room. He was very well dressed, and looked like a person 
 not used to lie in a garret, and when he came to the room 
 he fetched a deep sigh, and said to the servant, " I have 
 seldom lain in such a lodging as this ; " however, the ser- 
 vant assured him again that they had no better : " Well," 
 says he, " I must make shift ; this is a dreadful time ; but 
 it is but for one night ; " so he sat down upon the bed-side, 
 and bade the maid, I think it was, fetch him a pint of 
 warm ale ; accordingly the servant went for the ale, but 
 some hurry in the house, which, perhaps, employed her 
 otherways, put it out of her head, and she went up no 
 more to him. 
 
 ' To go. 
 
 ' Signs bearing representations of an angel and a white horse, of 
 course, and not merely printed words, which the ignorant could not 
 read. =The Spotted Bull. 
 
70 JOURNAL OP THE PLAGUE 
 
 The next morning, seeing no appearance of the gentle- 
 man, somebody in the house asked the servant that had 
 showed him up stairs, what was become of him. She start- 
 ed ; " Alas," says she, " I never thought more of him : he 
 bade me carry him some warm ale, but I forgot ; " upon 
 which, not the maid, but some other person was sent up to 
 see after him, who, coming into the room, found him stark 
 dead, and almost cold, stretched out across the bed; his 
 clothes were pulled off, his jaw fallen, his eyes open in a 
 most frightful posture, the rug of the bed being grasped 
 hard in one of his hands, so that it was plain he died soon 
 after the maid left him, and it is probable, had she 
 gone up with the ale, she had found him dead in a few 
 minutes after he had sat down upon the bed. The alarm 
 was great in the house, as any one may suppose, they hav- 
 ing been free from the distemper till that disaster, which, 
 bringing the infection to the house, spread it immediately 
 to other houses round about it. I do not remember how 
 many died in the house itself, but I think the maid-servant, 
 who went up first with him, fell presently ill by the fright, 
 and several others ; for, whereas, there died but two in Is- 
 lington of the plague, the week before, there died nineteen 
 the week after, whereof fourteen were of the plague ; this 
 was in the week from the 11th of July to the 18th. 
 
 There was one shift* that some families had, and that 
 not a few, when their houses happened to be infected, and 
 that was this ; the families, who, in the first breaking out 
 of the distemper, fled away into the country and had re- 
 treats among their friends, generally found some or other 
 of their neighbours or relations to commit the charge of 
 those houses to, for the safety of the goods, and the like. 
 Some houses were, indeed, entirely locked up, the doors 
 padlocked, the windows and doors having deal boards nail- 
 ed over them, and only ' the inspection of them committed 
 
 'Device. 
 
 'The inspection of them committed only to the ordinary watchmen, 
 etc. 
 
JOURNAL OP THE PLAGUE 71 
 
 to the ordinary watchmen and parish ofl&cers, bnt these' 
 were but few. 
 
 It was thought, that there were not less than a thousand 
 houses forsaken of the inhabitants, in the city and suburbs, 
 including what was in the out-parishes, and in Surrey, or 
 the side of the water they called Southwark. This was 
 besides the numbers of lodgers and of particular persons ^ 
 who were fled out of other families, so that in all it was 
 computed that about two hundred thousand people were 
 fled and gone in all.' But of this I shall speak again ; but^ 
 I mention it here on this account, namely, that it was a 
 rule with those, who had thus two houses in their keeping 
 or care, that if anybody was taken sick in the family, 
 before the master of the family let the examiners or any 
 other officer know of it, he immediately would send all the 
 rest of his family, whether children or servants, as it fell 
 out to be, to such other house which' he had not* in charge, 
 and then giving notice of the sick person to the examiner, 
 have a nurse or nurses appointed, and, having another per- 
 son to be shut up in the house with them (which many for 
 money would do), so to take charge of the house, in case 
 the person should die. 
 
 This was in many cases the saving ' a whole family, who, 
 if they had been shut up with the sick person, would in- 
 evitably have perished ; but, on the other hand, this was 
 another of the inconveniences of shutting up houses ; for the 
 apprehensions and terror of being shut up made many run 
 away with the rest of the family, who,' though it was not 
 publicly known, and they were not quite sick, had yet the 
 
 ' These houses. ' " Particular persons," individuals. 
 
 ^ "In all," an unnecessary addition. 
 
 <Here the author changes abruptly his line of thought, and goes 
 back to the subject introduced by the first sentence in the preceding 
 paragraph, that of houses deserted by their owners and left in charge 
 of other persons. 
 
 ' To such other house as. 
 
 ' The sense seems to require that " not " should be omitted. 
 
 ' The saving of. ' Made many run away, who. 
 
72 JOUHNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 distemper upon them ; and who, by having an uninterrupted 
 liberty to go about, but being obliged still to conceal their 
 circumstances, or, perhaps, not knowing it themselves, 
 gave the distemper to others, and spread the infection in a 
 ^^dreadful manner, as I shall explain farther hereafter. 
 
 I had in my family only an ancient woman, that man- 
 aged the house, a maid-servant, two apprentices, and my- 
 self, and the plague beginning to increase about us, I had 
 many sad thoughts about what course I should take, and 
 how I should act ; the many dismal objects ' which hap- 
 pened everywhere, as I went about the streets, had filled 
 my mind with a great deal of horror, for fear of the dis- 
 temper itself, which was, indeed, very horrible in itself, 
 and in some more than others ; the swellings, which were 
 generally in the neck or groin, when they grew hard, and 
 would not break, grew so painful that it was equal to the 
 most exquisite torture ; and some, not able to bear the tor- 
 ment, threw themselves out at windows, or shot them- 
 selves, or otherwise made themselves away,' and I saw 
 several dismal objects of that kind : others, unable to con- 
 tain themselves, vented their pain by incessant roarings, 
 and such lond and lamentable cries were to be heard, as we 
 walked along the streets, that ^ would pierce the very heart 
 to think of, especially when it was to be considered that 
 the same dreadful scourge might be expected every moment 
 to seize upon ourselves. 
 
 I cannot say but that now I began to faint in my reso- 
 lutions ; my heart failed me very much, and sorely I re- 
 pented of my rashness, when I had been out, and met with 
 such terrible things as these I have talked of ; I say, I re- 
 pented my rashness in venturing to abide in town, and I 
 wished, often, that I had not taken upon me to stay, but 
 had gone away with my brother and his family. 
 
 ' " Events or cironmstanoes. which happened everywhere," or else, 
 "objects which I saw everywhere," would make better sense. 
 ' Made away with ♦hemselves. '' As. 
 
JOURNAL OF TEE PLAGUE 73 
 
 Terrified by those frightful objects, I would retire home 
 sometimes, and resolve to go out no more, and jDerhaps I 
 would keep those resolutions for three or four days, which 
 time I spent in the most serious thankfulness for my pres- 
 ervation, and the preservation of my family, and the con- 
 stant confession of my sins, giving myself up to God every 
 day, and applying to him with fasting and humiliation 
 and meditation. Such intervals as I had,. I employed in 
 reading books, and in writing down my memorandums 
 of what occurred to me every day, and out of which, 
 afterwards, I took most of this work, as it relates to my 
 observations without doors ; what I wrote of my private 
 meditations I reserve for private use, and desire it may not 
 be made public on any account whatever. 
 
 I also wrote other meditations upon divine ' subjects, 
 such as occurred to me at that time, and were profitable to 
 myself, but not fit for any other view, and therefore I say 
 no more of that. 
 
 I had a very good friend, a physician, whose name was 
 Heath, whom I frequently visited during this dismal time, 
 and to whose advice I was very much obliged for many 
 things which he directed me to take by way of preventing 
 the infection when I went out, as he found I frequently 
 did, and to hold in my mouth, when I was in the streets ; 
 he also came very often to see me, and as he was a good 
 Christian, as well as a good physician, his agreeable con- 
 versation was a very great support to me, in the worst of 
 this terrible time. 
 
 It was now the beginning of August, and the plague 
 grew very violent and terrible in the place where I lived, 
 and Dr. Heath, coming to visit me and finding that I vent- 
 ured so often out in the streets, earnestly persuaded me to 
 lock myself up, and my family, and not to suffer any of us 
 to go out of doors ; to keep all our windows fast, shutters and 
 curtains close, and never to open them, but first to make ' 
 a very strong smoke in the room, where the window or door 
 ' Sacred '' Never to open them without first making, etc. 
 
74 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 was to be opened, with rosin and pitch, brimstone and 
 gunpowder, and the like, and we did this for some time, 
 but as I had not laid in a store of provision for such a re- 
 treat, it was impossible that we could keep within doors 
 entirely ; however, I attempted, though it was so very 
 late, to do something towards it ; and first, as I had con- 
 venience both for brewing and baking, I went and bought 
 two sacks of meal, and for several weeks, having an oven, 
 we baked all our own bread ; also I bought malt, and 
 brewed as much beer as all the casks I had would hold, and 
 which seemed enough to serve my house for five or six 
 weeks ; also, I laid in a quantity of salt butter and Chesh- 
 ire cheese ; but I had no flesh ' meat, and the plague 
 raged so violently among the butchers and slaughter- 
 houses, on the other side of our street, where they are 
 known to dwell in great numbers, that it was not advisa- 
 ble so much as to go over the street among them. 
 
 And here I must observe again that this necessity of go- 
 ing out of our houses to buy provisions, was in a great 
 measure the ruin of the whole city, for the people catched 
 the distemper, on these occasions, one of another, and 
 even the provisions themselves were often tainted, at least 
 I have great reason to believe so ; and, therefore, I cannot 
 say with satisfaction, what I know is repeated with great 
 assurance, that the market people, and such as brought 
 provisions to town, were never infected. I am certain the 
 butchers of Whitechapel, where the greatest part of the 
 flesh meat was killed, were dreadfully visited, and that at 
 last to such a degree that few of their shops were kept open, 
 and those that remained of them killed their meat at Mile 
 End, and that way,' and brought it to market upon horses. 
 
 However, the poor people could not lay up provisions, 
 and there was a necessity that they must go to market to 
 buy, and others to send servants, or their children ; and, 
 as this was a necessity which renewed itself daily, it brought 
 
 ' Flesh meat is the flesh of beasts, as distinguished from that of 
 fish. ' In that riciuity. 
 
JOURNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 75 
 
 abundance of nnsonnd people to the markets, and a great 
 many that went thither sound, brought death home with 
 them. 
 
 It is true, people used all possible precaution ; when any 
 one bought a joint of meat in the market, they * woald not 
 take it out of the butcher's hand, but took it off the hooks 
 themselves. On the other hand, the butcher would not 
 touch the money, but have it put into a pot full of vinegar, 
 which he kept for that purpose. The buyer carried al- 
 ways small money to make up any odd sum, that they 
 might take no change. They carried bottles for scents and 
 perfumes in their hands, and all the means that could be 
 used were employed ; but then the poor could not do even 
 these things, and they went at all hazards.* 
 
 Innumerable dismal stories we heard every day on this 
 very account. Sometimes a man or woman dropt down 
 dead in the very markets ; for many people that had the 
 plague upon them knew nothing of it till the inward gan- 
 grene had affected their vitals, and they died in a few 
 moments ; this caused ' that many died frequently in that 
 manner in the street suddenly, without any warning; 
 others, perhaps, had time to go to the next bulk or stall,* 
 or to any door or porch, and just sit down and die, as I 
 have said before. 
 
 These objects were so frequent in the streets, that, 
 when the plague came to be very raging on one side,^ there 
 was scarce any passing by the streets, but that * several 
 dead bodies would be lying here and there upon the ground ; 
 on the other hand, it is observable, that though, at first, 
 the people would stop as they went along, and call to the 
 
 > He. The syntax of the sentence is confused. 
 
 " Either, " went (j.e., to market) at all hazards," or, "went at (i.e., 
 ran) all hazards (risks)." 
 
 ' Frequently caused the death of many. 
 
 * Open booth, in front of a shop. " Bulk " scarcely differed in 
 meaning from "stall." 
 
 ' Of the city. • " But that " is here equivalent to " without." 
 
76 JOURNAL OF TEE PLAGUE 
 
 neighbours to come out on such an occasion, yet, after- 
 ward, no notice was taken of them ; but that,' if at any 
 time we found a corpse lying, go ^ across the way and not 
 come near it ; or if in a narrow lane or passage, go back 
 again, and seek some other way to go on the business we 
 were upon ; and, in those cases, the corpse was always left 
 till the officers had notice to come and take them ' away ; 
 or till night, when the bearers attending the dead-cart 
 would take them up and carry them away. Nor did those 
 undaunted creatures who performed these offices fail to 
 search their pockets, and sometimes strip off their clothes 
 if they were well dressed, as sometimes they were, and 
 carry off what they could get. 
 
 But, to return to the markets ; the butchers took that 
 care, that, if any person died in the market, they had the 
 officers always M hand, to take them up upon hand-barrows, 
 and carry them to the next ^ churchyard ; and this was so 
 frequent, that such were not entered in the weekly bill, 
 found ' dead in the streets or fields, as is the case now, but 
 they went into the general articles * of the great distemper. 
 
 But now the fury of the distemper increased to such a 
 degree, that even the markets were but very thinly fur- 
 nished with provisions, or frequented with buyers, com- 
 pared to what they were before ; and the lord mayor caused 
 the country people who brought provisions, to be stopped 
 in the streets leading into the town, and to sit down there 
 with their goods, where they sold what they brought, and 
 went immediately away ; and this encouraged the country 
 people greatly to do so, for they sold their provisions at 
 the very entrances into the town, and even in the fields ; 
 us, particularly, in the fields beyond Whitechapel, in Spital- 
 flelds. Note,' those streets, now called Spitalfields, were 
 
 1 But (it is observable) that. » We would go. ' It. * Nearest 
 ' '' Entered in the weekly bill as found, etc.," or, " entered in the 
 weekly bill, ' Found dead, etc' " 
 * Under the general headings or divisions of the bill. 
 ' Note that. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 77 
 
 then, indeed, open fields : also, in St. George's Fields, in 
 Southwark ; in Banhill Fields, and in a great field, called 
 Wood's Close, near Islington ; thither the lord mayor, 
 aldei'men, and magistrates, sent their officers and servants 
 to buy for their families, themselves keeping within doors 
 as much as possible, and the like did many other people ; 
 and after this method was taken, the country people came 
 with great cheerfulness, and brought provisions of all sorts, 
 and very seldom got any harm ; which I suppose added 
 also to that report of their being miraculously preserved. 
 
 As for my little family, having thus, as I have said, laid 
 in a store of bread, butter, cheese, and beer, I took my 
 friend and physician's advice,' and locked myself up, and 
 my family, and resolved to suffer the hardship of living a 
 few months without flesh meat, rather than to purchase it 
 at the hazard of our lives. 
 
 But, though I confined my family, I could not prevail 
 upon my unsatisfied curiosity to stay within entirely my- 
 self ; and, though I generally came frighted and terrified 
 home, yet I could not restrain ; only,^ that indeed I did 
 not do it so frequently as at first. 
 
 I had some little obligations indeed upon me, to go to 
 my brother's house, which was in Coleman Street parish, 
 and which he had left to my care ; and I went at first every 
 day, but afterwards only once or twice a week. 
 
 In these walks I had many dismal scenes before my eyes ; 
 as, particularly, of persons falling dead in the streets, ter- 
 rible shrieks and screechings of women, who, in their ago- 
 nies, would throw open their chamber windows, and cry 
 out in a dismal surprising manner. It is impossible to 
 describe the variety of postures in which the passions of the 
 poor people would express themselves. 
 
 Passing through Token House Yard, in Lothbury, of a 
 
 sudden a casement violently opened just over my head, and 
 
 a woman gave three frightful screeches, and then cried, 
 
 " Oh ! death, death, death ! " in a most inimitable tone, 
 
 ' The advice of my friend and physician. " Except. 
 
78 JOURNAL OF TEE PLAGUE 
 
 and whicli^ struck me with horror, and a chiln^ss in my 
 very blood. There was nobody to be seen in the whole 
 street, neither did any other window open, for people had 
 no curiosity now in any case, nor could anybody help one 
 another ; so I went on to pass into Bell Alley. 
 
 Just in Bell Alley, on the right hand of the passage, 
 there was a more terrible cry than that, though it was not 
 so directed out at the window, but the whole family was in 
 a terrible fright, and I could hear women and children run 
 screaming about the rooms like distracted, when a garret 
 window opened, and somebody from a window on the other 
 side the alley called and asked, " What is the matter ? " 
 Upon which, from the first window, it was answered, " 
 Lord, my old master has hanged himself ! " The other 
 asked again, " Is he quite dead ? " and the first answered, 
 " Ay, ay, quite dead : quite dead and cold ! " This person 
 was a merchant, and a deputy alderman, and very rich. I 
 care not to mention his name, though I knew his name, 
 too ; but that would be a hardship to the family, which is 
 now flourishing again. 
 
 But this is but one. It is scarce credible what dreadful 
 cases happened in particular* families every day ; people, 
 in the rage of the distemper, or in the torment of their 
 swellings, which was indeed intolerable, running out of 
 their own government,' raving and distracted, and often- 
 times laying violent hands upon themselves, throwing 
 themselves out at* their windows, shooting themselves, 
 etc. Mothers murdering their own children, in their luna- 
 cy ; some dying of mere grief, as a passion ; ' some of mere 
 fright and surprise, without any infection at all ; others 
 frighted ' into idiotism ' and foolish distractions ; * some 
 into despair and lunacy ; others into melancholy ' madness." 
 
 > In a tone which was most inimitable, and which, etc. 
 ' Individual. ' Losing control of themselves. * Of. 
 
 * As, for instance , of a passion, ' Frightened. ' Idiocy. 
 ' Affections of the mind. ' The madness of melancholia. 
 
 '» This sentence has no finite verb in it, and should strictly be re- 
 garded an a series of clauses forming a part of the preceding sentence. 
 
JOURNAL OF TEE PLAGUE 79 
 
 The pain of the swelling was in particular very violent, 
 and to some intolerable ; the physicians and surgeons may 
 be said to have tortured many poor creatures even to death. 
 The swellings in some grew hard, and they applied violent 
 drawing plasters, or poultices, to break them ; and if these 
 did not do, they cut and scarified them * in a terrible man- 
 ner. In some, those swellings were made hard, partly by 
 the force of the distemper, and partly by their being too 
 violently drawn, and were so hard, that no instrument 
 could cut them, and then they burnt them with caustics, 
 so that many died raving mad with the torment, and some 
 in the very operation. In these distresses, some, for want 
 of help to hold them down in their beds, or to look to 
 them, laid hands upon themselves, as above ; some broke 
 out into the streets, perhaps naked, and would run di- 
 rectly down to the river, if they were not stopped by the 
 watchmen, or other officers, and plunge themselves into 
 the water, wherever they found it. 
 
 It often pierced my very soul to hear the groans and 
 cries of those who were thus tormented : but of the two 
 this ^ was counted the most promising particular in the 
 whole infection ; for, if these swellings could be brought 
 to a head, and to break and run, or, as the surgeons call it, 
 to digest, the patient generally recovered ; whereas, those 
 who, like the gentlewoman's daughter,* were struck with 
 death at the beginning, and had the tokens come out upon 
 them, often went about indifferently easy, till a little be- 
 fore they died, and some till the moment they dropt down, 
 as in apoplexies and epilepsies is often the case. Such 
 would be taken suddenly very sick, and would run to a 
 bench or bulk, or any convenient place that offered itself, 
 or to their own houses, if possible, as I mentioned before, 
 and there sit down, grow faint, and die. This kind of dy- 
 ing was much the same as it was with those who die of 
 common mortifications,* who die swooning, and, as it were, 
 
 1 The swellings. 'The swellings. ' See page 55. 
 
 • Cases In which the flesh mortifies. 
 
80 JOURNAL OF TEE PLAGVB 
 
 go away in a dream ; such as died thus had very little no- 
 tice of their being infected at all, till the gangrene was 
 spread through their whole body ; nor could physicians 
 themselves know certainly how it was with them, till they 
 opened ' their breasts, or other parts of their body, and saw 
 the tokens. 
 
 We had at this time a great many frightful stories told 
 us of nurses and watchmen, who looked after the dying 
 people, that is to say, hired nurses, who attended infected 
 people, using them barbarously, starving them, smothering 
 them, or, by other wicked means, hastening their end ; 
 that is to say, murdering of them. And watchmen ^ being 
 set to guard houses that were shut up, when there has been 
 but one person left, and perhaps that one lying sick, that 
 they have broke in and murdered that body, and immedi- 
 ately thrown them ' out into the dead-cart ; and so they 
 have gone scarce cold to the grave. 
 
 I cannot say but that some such murders were com- 
 mitted, and I think two were sent to prison for it, but died 
 before they could be tried ; and I have heard that three 
 others, at several times, were executed for murders of that 
 kind. But, I must say, I believe nothing of its being so 
 common a crime as some have since been pleased to say ; 
 nor did it seem to be so rational, where the people were 
 brought so low as not to be able to help themselves, for 
 such seldom recovered, and there was no temptation to 
 commit a murder ; at least, not equal to the fact,^ where 
 they were sure persons would die in so short a time, and 
 could not live. 
 
 That there were a great many robberies and. wicked prac- 
 tices committed even in this dreadful time, I do not deny ; 
 the power of avarice was so strong in some, that they 
 would run any hazard to steal and to plunder ; and, par- 
 ticularly, in houses where all the families or inhabitants 
 
 ' Examined. ' And we have heard stories of watchmen. ' It. 
 
 < The temptation was not so strong as to blind the woald-be mur- 
 derers to the plain fact now mentioned. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE! PLAGUE 81 
 
 have been dead and carried out^ they would break in at all 
 hazards, and, without regard to the danger of infection, 
 take even the clothes off the dead bodies, and the bed 
 clothes from others, where they lay dead. 
 
 This, I suppose, must be the case of a family in Hounds- 
 ditch, where a man and his daughter, the rest of the family 
 being, as I suppose, carried away before by the dead-cart, 
 were found stark naked, one in one chamber, and one in 
 another, lying dead on the floor, and the clothes of the 
 beds, from whence it is supposed they were rolled oif, by 
 thieves, stolen, and carried quite away. 
 
 It is, indeed, to be observed, that the women were, in all 
 this calamity, the most rash, fearless, and desperate creat- 
 ures ; and, as there were vast numbers that went about 
 as nurses, to tend those that were sick, they committed a 
 great many petty thieveries in the houses where they were 
 employed ; and some of them were publicly whipt for it, 
 when, perhaps, they ought rather to have been hanged ' 
 for examples, for numbers of houses were robbed on these 
 occasions ; till, at length, the parish officers were sent to 
 recommend nurses to the sick, and always took an account 
 who ^ it was they sent, so as that ' they might call them 
 to account, if the house had been abused where they were 
 placed. 
 
 But these robberies extended chiefly to wearing clothes, 
 linen, and what rings or money they could come at, when 
 the person died who was under their care, but not to a 
 general plunder of the houses ; and I could give you an 
 account of one of these nurses, who, several years after, be- 
 ing on her death-bed, confessed, with the utmost horror, 
 the robberies she had committed at the time of her being 
 a nurse, and by which she had enriched herself to a great 
 degree ; but as for murders, I do not find that there was * 
 ever any proofs of the fact, in the manner as' it has been 
 reported, except as above. 
 
 • Hanging was then a common punishment for even petty thefts. 
 » Of whom - So that. < Were. = In which, 
 
82 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 They did tell me, indeed, of a nurse in one platoe, that 
 laid a wet cloth npon the face of a dying patient whom she 
 tended, and so put an end to his life, who was just expir- 
 ing before ; and another that smothered a young woman 
 she was looking to, when she was in a fainting fit, and 
 would have come to herself ; some that killed them by 
 giving them one thing, some another, and some starved 
 them by giving them nothing at all. But these stories 
 had two marks of suspicion that always attended them, 
 which caused me always to slight them, and to look on 
 them as mere stories, that people continually frighted one 
 another with. (1.) That, wherever it was that we heard 
 it, they always placed the scene at the farther end of the 
 town, opposite, or most remote from where you were to 
 hear it. If you heard it in Whitechapel, it had happened 
 at St. Giles's, or at Westminster, or Holborn, or that end 
 of the town ; if you heard it at that end of the town, then 
 it was done in Whitechapel, or the Minories, or about 
 Cripplegate parish ; if you heard of it in the city, why 
 then, it happened in Southwark ; and if you heard of it in 
 Southwark, then it was done in the city, and the like. 
 
 In the next place, of whatsoever part* you heard the 
 story, the particulars were always the same, especially that 
 of laying a wet double clout ^ on a dying man's face, and 
 that of smothering a young gentlewoman ; so that it was 
 apparent, at least to my judgment, that there was more of 
 tale than of truth in those things.^ 
 
 A neighbour and acquaintance of mine, having some 
 money owing to him from a shopkeeper in Whitecross 
 Street, or thereabouts, sent his apprentice, a youth about 
 eighteen years of age, to endeavour to get the money. He 
 came to the door, and finding it shut, knocked pretty hard, 
 and, as he thought, heard somebody answer within, but 
 was not sure, so he waited, and after some stay, knocked 
 
 «0£ the city. "Cloth. 
 
 ' By no means a necessary inference. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 83 
 
 again, and then a third time, when he heard somebody 
 coming down stairs. 
 
 At length the man of the house came to the door ; he 
 had on his breeches, or drawers, and a yellow flannel waist- 
 coat, no stockings, a pair of slip shoes,' a white cap on his 
 head, and, as the young man said, death in his face. 
 
 When he opened the door, says he, "What do you dis- 
 turb me thus for ? " The boy, though a little surprised, 
 replied, " I come from such a one, and my master sent me 
 for the money which he says you know of." " Very well, 
 child," returns the living ghost, "call, as you go by, at 
 Cripplegate church, and bid them ring the bell ; " and, 
 with these words, shut the door again, and went up again 
 and died the same day, nay, perhaps the same hour. This 
 the young man told me himself, and I have reason to be- 
 lieve it. This was while the plague was not come to a 
 height ; I think it was in June, towards the latter end of 
 the month ; it must have been before the dead-carts came 
 about, and while they used the ceremony of ringing the 
 bell for the dead, which was over for certain in that parish, 
 at least, beiore the month of July ; for, by the 35th of 
 July, there died five hundred and fifty and upwards in a 
 week, and then they could no more bury, in form,' rich or 
 poor. 
 
 I have mentioned above, that, notwithstanding this dread- 
 ful calamity, yet that ' numbers of thieves were abroad upon 
 all occasions where they had found any prey ; and that 
 these were generally women. It was one morning about 
 eleven o'clock, I had walked out to my brother's house in 
 Coleman Street parish, as I often did, to see that all was 
 
 My brother's house had a little court before it, and a 
 brick wall and a gate in it ; and, within that, several ware- 
 houses, where his goods of several sorts lay. It happened 
 that in one of these warehouses were several packs of 
 1 Slippers. » With the proper rites. 'Tet. 
 
84 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 women's high-crowned hats, which came out of the country, 
 and were, as I suppose, for exportaition ; whither I know 
 not. 
 
 I was surprised, that when I came near my brother's 
 door, which was in a place they called Swan Alley, I met 
 three or four women with high-crowned hats on their 
 heads, and, as I remembered afterwards, one, if not more, 
 had some hats likewise in their hands ; but as I did not see 
 them come out at my brother's door, and not knowing that 
 my brother had any such goods in his warehouse, I did not 
 offer to say anything to them, but went across the way to 
 shun meeting them, as was usual to do at that time, for 
 fear of the plague ; but, when I came nearer to the gate I 
 met another woman, with more hats, come out of the gate. 
 " What business, mistress," said I, "have you had there ?" 
 " There are more people there," said she ; " I have had no 
 more business there than they." I was hg,sty to get to the 
 gate then, and said no more to her ; by which means she 
 got away. But, just as I came to the gate, I saw two more 
 coming across the yard, to come out, with hats also on 
 their heads, and under their arms ; at which I threw the 
 gate too ' behind me, which, having a spring-lock, fastened 
 itself; and, turning to the woman, "Forsooth," said I, 
 " what are you doing here ? " and seized upon the hats, 
 and took them from them. 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 pleased to take them again, and look yonder, 
 there are more such customers as we." She cried, and 
 looked pitifully ; so I took the hats from her, and opened 
 the gate, and bade them begone ; for I pitied the women 
 indeed : but when I looked towards the warehouse, 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 hatter's shop, buying for their money. 
 
 I was surprised, not at the sight of so many thieves only, 
 'To. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 85 
 
 but at the circumstances I was in ; being now to thrust 
 myself in among so many people, who,* for some weeks, I 
 had been so shy of myself, that if I met anybody in the 
 street, I would cross the way from them. 
 
 They were equally surprised, though on another account. 
 They all told me they were neighbours, that they had 
 heard any one might take them, that they were nobody's 
 goods, and the like. I talked big to them at first, went 
 back to the gate, and took out the key, so that they were 
 all my prisoners ; threatened to lock them all into the 
 warehouse, and go and fetch my lord mayor's officers for 
 them. 
 
 They begged heartily, protested they found the gate 
 open, and the warehouse 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 outside also loose, and not abun- 
 dance of the hats carried away. 
 
 At length I considered 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 died four thousand 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 
 myself with taking the names and places where some of 
 them lived, who were really inhabitants in the neighbour- 
 hood, and threatening that my brother should call them to 
 an account for it when he returned to his habitation. 
 
 Then I talked a little upon another footing with them ; 
 and asked them how they could do such things as these, in 
 a time, of such general calamity, and, as it were, in the 
 face of God's most dreadful judgments, when the plague 
 was at their very doors, and, it may be, in their very 
 ' Whom, — referring, of course, to people in general. 
 
86 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 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 could not perceive that my discourse made much im- 
 pression 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 dependents 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 lived ; 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 carried, or assisted to 
 carry, all the dead to their graves, which ' were buried 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 fetched 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 thoroughfares, very long, 
 into which no carts could come, and where they were 
 obliged to go and fetch the bodies a very long way, which 
 alleys now remain to witness it ; such as White's Alley, 
 Cross Keys Court, Swan Alley, Bell Alley, White Horse 
 Alley, and many more. Here they went with a kind of 
 handbarrow, and laid the dead bodies on, and carried them 
 out to the carts ; which work he performed, and never had 
 the distemper at all, but lived about twenty years 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 
 ' Who. • With due rites. 
 
JOURNAL OF TME PLAQUE 87 
 
 recommended by the parish oflScers ; yet she never was in- 
 iected neither.* 
 
 He never used any preservative against the infection 
 otlier than holding garlic and rue in his mouthy and smok- 
 ing tobacco ; this I also had from his own mouth ; and his 
 wife's remedy was washing her head in vinegar, and sprink- 
 ling her head-clothes so with vinegar as to keep them 
 always moist ; and if the smell of any of those she waited 
 on was more than ordinary ^ offensive, she snuffed vinegar 
 up her nose, and sprinkled vinegar upon her head-clothes, 
 and held a handkerchief wetted with vinegar to her 
 mouth. 
 
 It must be confessed, that, though 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 ran in to. any business which they 
 could get any employment in, though it was the most haz- 
 ardous ; such was that of tending the sick, watching 
 houses shut up, carrying infected persons to the pesthouse, 
 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, happened, and he assured 
 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 went his rounds 
 about ten o'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 lived. It was but a very bad time for 
 
 ' Still a colloquial idiom of the illiterate. » Ordinarily, 
 
 a Venturesome. 'District. * Foolishly. 
 
88 JOURNAL OV THE PLAQUE 
 
 this diversion, while things were as I have told, yet the 
 poor fellow went about as usual, but was almost starved ; 
 and when anybody asked how he did, he would answer, the 
 dead-cart had not taken him yet, but that they had prom- 
 ised to call for him next week. 
 
 It happened one night, that this poor fellow, whether 
 somebody had given him too much drink or no (John Hay- 
 - ward 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 bellyful, or, perhaps, not ' a good while, was 
 laid all along upon the top of a bulk or stall, and fast 
 asleep 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 
 comer, 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 neigh- 
 bours. 
 
 Accordingly, when John Hayward with his bell and the 
 cart came along, finding two dead bodies lie' upon the 
 stall, they topk 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 Johii Hayward told me, they almost 
 buried 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 re- 
 member, was at Mountmill ; and, as the cart usually stopt 
 «ome time before they were ready to shoot out the melan- 
 choly load they had in it, as soon as the cart stopped, 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 
 » Not for. » Lying. 
 
JOURNAL OF TUB PLAGUE 89 
 
 frighted the fellow that attended about the work, but, 
 after some pause, John Hayward, recovering himself, said, 
 " Lord bless us ! there's somebody in the cart not quite 
 dead ! " So another called 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 going to bury 
 you." " But I an't dead though, am I ? " says the piper ; 
 which made them laugh a little, though, as John said, 
 they were heartily frightened at first ; so they helped 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 confined to particular parishes, but one cart went 
 through several parishes, according as the number of dead 
 presented ; nor were they tied ' 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. 
 
 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 coun- 
 try retired with their families, and when, indeed, one 
 would have thought the very city itself was running out of 
 the gates, and that there would be nobody left behind, you 
 may be sure, from that hour, all trade except such as re- 
 lated 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 
 ■ Bound. ' So striking a circumstance. 
 
90 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 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 workmen in manufactures ; especially such 
 as belonged to ornament, and the less necessary parts of 
 the people's dress, clothes, and furniture for houses ; such 
 as ribband weavers and other weavers, gold and silver lace 
 makers, and gold and silver wire drawers, sempstresses, 
 milliners, shoemakers, hat-makers, and glove-makers ; also 
 upholsterers, joiners, cabinet-makers, looking-glass-mak- 
 ers, and innumerable trades which depend upon such as 
 these. I say the master workmen in such stopped their 
 work, dismissed their journeymen and workmen, and all 
 their dependents. 
 
 2. As merchandizing was at a full stop (for very few 
 ships ventured to come up the river, and none at all went 
 out), so all the extraordinary ofl&cers of the customs, like- 
 wise the watermen,! carmen,^ porters, and all the poor whose 
 labour depended upon the merchants, were at once dis- 
 missed, and put out of business. 
 
 3. All the tradesmen usu^y employed in building or re- 
 pairing 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 ' turned out all the ordinary workmen of 
 that kind of business, such as bricklayers, masons, carpen- 
 ters, joiners, plasterers, painters, glaziers, smiths, plumb- 
 ers, 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 em- 
 ployment, 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-carpen- 
 
 ' Men plying boats on the river. > Garters. 
 
 3 This particular part of the circumstances. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 91 
 
 ters, calkers, rope-makers, dry coopers,' sail-makers, an- 
 chor-smiths and other smiths ; block-makers, carvers,^ gnn- 
 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 consequent- 
 ly all their workmen 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 retrenched their living as much as possi- 
 ble, as well those that fled as those that stayed ; so that an 
 innumerable multitude of footmen, serving men, shop- 
 keepers, journeymen, merchants' book-keepers, and such 
 sort of people, and especially poor maid-servants, were 
 turned ofE, and left friendless and helpless without employ- 
 ment 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, em- 
 ployment" 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 ; though, by the distri- 
 bution of charity, their misery that way was gently ° abated. 
 Many, indeed, fled into the country ; but thousands of 
 them having stayed in London, till nothing but despera- 
 tion sent them away, death overtook them on the road, and 
 they served for no better than the messengers of death ; 
 indeed, others carrying the infection along with them, 
 spread it very unhappily into the remotest parts of the 
 kingdom. 
 
 The women and servants that were turned off from their 
 
 1 Coopers who make casks for articldb that are not liquid. 
 
 ' Carvers in wood. 
 
 " Dealers in cordage and similar necessaries for ships. 
 
 < Carvers of figureheads and other ornaments. 
 
 ' Men working on lighters, barges used in unloading ships. 
 
 " Greatly f 
 
92 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 places were employed as nurses to tend the sick in all 
 places ; and this took off a very great number of them. 
 
 And which/ though a melancholy article in itself, 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 insufferable burden, by 
 their poverty ; that is to say, the whole city could not 
 have supported the expense 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 itself, 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 thonsand a day, one day with 
 another ; even by the account of the weekly bills, which 
 yet, I have reason to be assured, 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 worked 
 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. 
 
 Of all Diseases. Of the Plague. 
 Aug. 8 to Aug. 15 5319 3880 
 
 to 22 5668 4237 
 
 to 29 7496 6i02 
 
 Aug. 29 to 8ept. 5 8252 6988 
 
 Prom { to 12 7690 6544 
 
 to 19 8297 7165 
 
 to 30 6400 5533 
 
 Sept. 27 to Oct. 3 5728 4929 
 
 _ to 10 .5068 . 4227 
 
 ; 59,918 49,605 
 
 ' This fact. ' To obtain subsistence for themselves. 
 
JOURNAL OF TEE PLAQUE 93 
 
 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 68,590, here is 
 fifty thousand of them, within a trifle, in two months ; I 
 say fifty thousand, because as there wants 395 in the num- 
 ber 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 ac- 
 count, 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 though 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, 116 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 such a nature as 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 have observed often, that in the parishes of. Aid- 
 gate, Cripplegate, Whitechapel, and Stepney, there were 
 five, six, seven, and eight hundred in a week in the bills ; 
 whereas, if we may believe the opinion of those that lived 
 in the city all the time, as well as I,' there died sometimes 
 two thousand a week in those parishes ; and I saw it under 
 the hand ' of one that made as strict an examination as he 
 could, that there really died a hundred thousand people of 
 the plague in it that one year ; whereas, in the bills, the 
 article of the plague was but 68,590. 
 
 ' The greater part. ' Was. 
 
 ' There seems, on the contrary, to be an excess of two days. 
 
 ^ Ran all risks. ' Mine. ' Positively stated in writing. 
 
94 JOURNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 
 
 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, a hundred thousand of the plague only, besides 
 other distempers ; and * besides those which ^ died in the 
 fields and highways, and secret places, out of the compass 
 of the communication, as it was called, and who were not 
 put down in the bills, though they really belonged to. the 
 body of the inhabitants. It was known to us all, that 
 abundance of poor despairing creatures, who had the dis- 
 temper upon them, and were grown stupid or melancholy 
 by their misery, as many were, wandered away into the 
 fields and woods, and into secret, uncouth ' places, almost 
 anywhere, 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 would find the poor 
 wretches lie * dead, and the food untouched. The number 
 of these miserable objects were ' many ; and I know so 
 many that perished thus, and so exactly where, that I be- 
 lieve 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 
 come on that side which the seamen call to windward, 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 walked into the fields, except tow- 
 ards Bethnal Green and Hackney ; or as hereafter.* But 
 
 ' " And " is here unneeessary. * Who. ' Unknown, out of the way. 
 * Lying. ' Was. ' As I shall relate hereafter. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 95 
 
 when I did walk, I always saw a great many poor wander- 
 ers 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 anybody 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 deso- 
 late place the city was at that time. The great street I 
 lived 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 Whitechapel church, was not all paved, but even 
 the part that was paved was full of grass also ; but this 
 need not seem strange, since the great streets within the 
 city, such as Leadenhall Street, Bishopsgate Street, Oorn- 
 hill, and even the Exchange itself, had grass growing in 
 them in several places ; neither cart nor coach was 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 pesthouse 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, be- 
 cause 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 pesthouses, and some- 
 times 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 who 
 cared to stir abroad to sick houses, and very many of the 
 1 Leads to my mentioning. ^ The old city barriers. 
 
96 JOtlBlfAL OP THE PLAOtTM 
 
 most eminent of the faculty were dead, as well as the sur- 
 geons also ; for now it was indeed a dismal timCj and, for 
 about a month together, not taking any notice of the bills 
 of mortality, I believe there did not die less than fifteen or 
 seventeen hundred 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, in- 
 deed, good people were beginning 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 one thousand a week 
 for two weeks, though 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 Hounds- 
 ditch, 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. Whitechapel parish 
 was in the same condition, and though much less ' than 
 the parish I lived in, yet buried near six hundred 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 bell-man 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 complained of that the bearers did not take care to 
 clear such houses where all the inhabitants were dead, but 
 that some of the bodies lay unburied, till the neighbour- 
 ing families were offended by the stench, and consequently 
 infected. . And this neglect of the officers was such that 
 the churchwardens and constables were summoned to look 
 after it ; and even the justices of the hamlets were obliged 
 to venture their lives among them, to quicken and en- 
 ' Ou the average. ''' The plague. ' Less so. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 97 
 
 courage them ; for inimmerable of the bearers died of the 
 distemper, infected by the bodies they were obliged to come 
 so near ; and had it not been that the number of people 
 who wanted employment and wanted bread, as I have said 
 before, was so great that necessity drove them to under- 
 take anything and venture anything, they would never 
 have found people to be employed ; 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 employed to carry off 
 and bury the dead fell sick or died, as was many times the 
 case, they immediately supplied 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 oc- 
 casioned that,^ notwithstanding the infinite number of 
 people which ' died, and were sick, almost all together, yet 
 they were always cleared away, and carried 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 increased ; and a thousand 
 unaccountable things they would do in the violence of their 
 fright, as others did the same in the agonies of their dis- 
 temper ; 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, in- 
 deed, 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 
 1 As is stated above. a The fact that. '' Who. 
 
 7 
 
98 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 Solomon Eagle, an enthusiast ; he, though not infected at 
 all, hut in his head, went about, denouncing of judg- 
 ment ' 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 out of pure zeal for the poor peo- 
 ple, who went every evening through 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 has 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 looked through 
 my chamber windows, for I seldom opened the casements,'' 
 while I confined myself within doors during that most vio- 
 lent raging of the pestilence, when, indeed, many began to 
 think, and even to say, that there would none escape ; and, 
 indeed, I began to think so, too, and, therefore, kept with- 
 in doors for about a fortnight, and never stirred out. But 
 I could not hold it.^ Besides, there were some people, 
 who, notwithstanding the danger, did not omit publicly to 
 attend the worship of God, even in the most dangerous 
 times. And, though it is true that a great many of the 
 clergy did shut up their churches and fled,^ as other people 
 did, for the safety of their lives, yet all did not do so ; 
 some ventured to oflSciate, 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 they would hear them. And dissenters ' did the 
 
 > Denouncing judgment against— an old idiom. See Devieronomy 
 zxx. 18. 
 
 " What he pretended to be about. s Presented. 
 
 * Windo.ws swung on hinges and opening like double doors. 
 
 'Could not continue that practice. " Flee. 
 
 ' Those belonging to some other Protestant sect than the official 
 Church of England. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE ' 99 
 
 like also, and even in the very chnrches where the parish 
 ministers ' were either dead or fled ; nor was there any room 
 for making any difference at such a time as this was. 
 
 It pleased God that I was still spared, and very H^rty 
 and sound in health, but very impatient of being pent up 
 within doors without air, as I had been for fourteen days 
 or thereabouts ; and I could not restrain myself, but I 
 would go ' and carry a letter for my brother to the post- 
 house : then it was, indeed, that I observed a profound 
 silence in the streets. When I came to the post-house, as 
 I went to put in my letter, I saw a man stand in one cor- 
 ner of the yard and talking to another at a window, and a 
 third had opened a door belonging to the office. In the 
 middle of the yard lay a small leather purse, with two keys 
 hanging at it, with money in it, but nobody would meddle 
 with it. I asked how long it had lain there ; the man at 
 the window said it had lain almost an hour, but they had 
 not meddled with it, because they did not know but the 
 person who dropt it might come, back to look for it. I 
 had no such need of money, nor was the sum so big, that I 
 had any inclination to meddle with it, or to get the money 
 at the hazard it might be attended with ; so I seemed to 
 go away, when the man who had opened the door said he 
 would take it up ; but so ^ that if the right owner came for 
 it he should be sure to have it. So he went in and fetched 
 a pail of water, and set it down hard by the purse, then 
 went again and fetched some gunpowder, and cast a good 
 deal of powder upon the purse, and then made a train 
 from that which he had thrown loose upon the purse ; the 
 train reached about two yards ; after this he goes in a third 
 time, and fetches oat a pair of tongs red-hot, and which 
 he had prepared, I suppose, on purpose ; and first setting 
 fire to the train of powder, that singed the purse and also 
 
 ' The parish churches and the officially recognized clergy were of 
 the Church of England. 
 ' But determined to go. ^ But would so deal with it. 
 
100 ' JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 smoked the air sufficiently. But he was not content with 
 that, but he then takes up the purse with the tongs, hold- 
 ing it so long till the tongs burnt through the purse, and 
 then he shook the money out into the pail of water, so he 
 carried it in. The money, as I remember, was about thir- 
 teen shillings, and some smooth groats* and brass far- 
 things.' 
 
 Much about the same time, I walked out into the fields 
 towards Bow ; for I had a great mind to see how things were 
 managed in the river and among the ships ; and as I had 
 some concern in shipping, I had a notion that it had been ' 
 one of the best ways of securing one's self from the infec- 
 tion to have retired into a ship ;' and, musing how to satisfy 
 iny curiosity in that point, I turned away over the fields, 
 from Bow to Bromley and down to Blackwall, to the stairs 
 that are there for landing or taking water.* 
 
 Here I saw a poor man walking on the bank or sea-wall, 
 as they call it, by himself. I walked awhile also about, 
 seeing the houses all shut up ; at last I fell into some talk, 
 at a distance, with this {)oor man. First I asked how peo- 
 ple did thereabouts ? "Alas ! sir," says he, "almost deso- 
 late, all dead or sick : here are very few families in this 
 part, or in that village," pointing at Poplar, "where half 
 of them are not dead already, and the rest sick." Then 
 he, pointing to one house, " They are all dead," said he, 
 " and the house stands open ; nobody dares go into ft. A 
 poor thief," says he, "ventured in to steal something, but 
 he paid dear for his theft, for he was carried to the church- 
 yard too, last night." Then he pointed to several other 
 houses. "There," says he, "they are all dead, the man 
 and his wife and five children. There," says he, "they 
 
 > An English silver coin, not now in use, worth four-pence (about 
 eight cents). 
 
 ■' The farthing, worth a quarter of an English penny, or about half 
 a cent,, is no longer coined. ' Would have been. 
 
 < ''Taking water" is here probably equivalent to " taking to the 
 water," or " getting down to the water," the opposite of '• landing." 
 
JOURNAL OF' THE PLAGUE 101 
 
 are shut up ; yon see a watchman at the door ;" and so of 
 other houses. " Why/' says I, " what do you here all alone ? " 
 " Why," says he, "I am a poor, desolate man ; it hath 
 pleased God I am not yet visited, though my family is, and 
 one of my children dead." " How do you mean then," said 
 I, " that you are not visited ? " " Why," says he, " that is 
 my house," pointing to a very little, low, boarded house, 
 " and there my poor wife and two children live," said he, 
 " if they may be said to live ; for my wife and one of the 
 children are visited, but I do not come at them." And 
 with that word I saw the tears run very plentifully down 
 his face ; and so they did down mine, too, I assure you. 
 
 "But," said I, "why do you not come at them ? How 
 can you abandon your own flesh and blood?" "Oh, sir," 
 says he, " the Lord forbid ; I do not abandon them ; I work 
 for them as much as I am able ; and, blessed be the Lord, 
 I keep them from want." And with that I observed he 
 lifted up his eyes to heaven with a countenance that pres- 
 ently " told me I had happened on a man that was no hypo- 
 crite, but a serious, religious, good man ; and his ejacula- 
 tion was an expression of thankfulness, that, in such a 
 condition as he was in, he should be able to say his family 
 did not want. "Well," says I, "honest man, that is a 
 great mercy, as things go now with the poor. But how do 
 you live then, and how are you kept from the dreadful ca- 
 lamity that is now upon us all?" " Why, sir," says he, " I 
 am a waterman, and there is my boat," says he, " and the 
 boat serves me for a house ; I work in it in the day, and I 
 sleep in it in the night, and what I get I lay it down upon 
 that stone," says he, showing me a broad stone on the other 
 side of the street, a good way from his house ; " and then," 
 says he, "I halloo and call to them till I make them hear, 
 and they come and fetch it." 
 
 "Well, friend," says I, "but how can you get money as 
 a waterman ? Does anybody go by water these times ? " 
 " Yes, sir/' says he j " in the way I am employed there 
 
 ' At once. 
 
102 JOURNAL OP THE PLAQUM 
 
 does. Do yoii see thei-e/' says he, "five ships lie* at 
 anchor," pointing down the rivei' a good way below the 
 town ; " and do you see," says he, " eight or ten ships lie at 
 the chain there, and at anchor yonder," pointing above the 
 town. " All those ships have families on board, of theft 
 merchants and owners, and such-like, who have locked 
 themselves up, and live on board, close shut in, for fear of 
 the infection ; and I tend on them to fetch things for them, 
 carry letters, and do what is absolutely necessary, that they 
 may not be obliged to come on shore ; and every night I 
 fasten my boat on board one ^ of the ship's boats, and there 
 I sleep by myself, and, blessed be God, I am preserved 
 hitherto." 
 
 " Well," said I, " friend, but will they let you come on 
 board after you have been on shore here, when this has 
 been such a terrible place, and so infected as it is ? " 
 
 "Why, as to that," said he, "I very seldom go up the 
 ship side, but deliver what I bring to their boat,' or lie by 
 the side and they hoist it on board : if I did, I think they 
 are in no danger from me, for I never go into any house 
 on shore, or touch anybody, no, not of my own family ; 
 but I fetch provisions for them." 
 
 " Nay," says I, " but that may be worse, for you must 
 have those provisions of somebody or other ; and since all 
 this part of the town is so infected, it is dangerous so much 
 as to speak with anybody ; for the village," said I, " is as 
 it were the beginning of London, though it be at some dis- 
 tance from it." 
 
 " That is true," added he, "but you do not understand 
 me right. I do not buy provisions for them here ; I row 
 up to Greenwich, and buy fresh meat there, and sometimes 
 I row down the river to Woolwich and buy there ; then I 
 go to single farm houses on the Kentish side, where I am 
 known, and buy fowls, and eggs, and butter, and bring to 
 the. ships as they direct me, sometimes one, sometimes the 
 
 ' Lying. ' Fasten my boat to one. 
 
 ' Deliver to (on) their boat what I bring. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE! PLAGUM 103 
 
 other.* I seldom come on shore here ; and I came only 
 now to call my wife and hear how my little family do, and 
 give them a little money which I received last night." 
 
 " Poor man ! " said I; " and how much hast thou ^ gotten 
 for them ? " 
 
 " I have gotten four shillings," said he, " which is a 
 great sum, as things go now with poor men ; hut they 
 have given me a bag of bread, too, and a salt fish, and 
 some flesh ; so all helps out." 
 
 " Well," said I, " and have you given it them yet ?" 
 
 " No>" said he, " but I have called, and my wife has 
 answered that she cannot come out yet, but in half an hour 
 she hopes to come, and I am waiting for her. Poor wom- 
 an ! " says he, " she is brought sadly down ; she has had a 
 swelling, and it is broke, and I hope she will recover, but 
 I fear the child will die ; but it is the Lord ! " — Here he 
 stopt, and wept very much. 
 
 " Well, honest friend," said I, " thou hast a sure com- 
 forter, if thou hast brought thyself to be resigned to the 
 will of God ; he is dealing with us all in judgment." 
 
 " Oh, sir," says he, " it is infinite mercy if any of us are 
 spared ; and who am I to repine ! " 
 
 " Say'st thou so," said I ; " and how much less is my 
 faith thiiu thine ? " And here my heart smote me, sug- 
 gesting how much better this poor man's foundation was, 
 on which he stayed in the danger, than mine ; that he had 
 nowhere to fly ; that he had a family to bind him to attend- 
 ance, which I had not ; and mine was mere presumption, 
 his a true dependance, and a courage resting on God ; and 
 yet, that he used all possible caution for his safety. 
 
 I turned a little way from the man, while these thoughts 
 engaged me ; for, indeed, I could no more refrain from 
 tears than he. 
 
 At length, after some further talk, the poor woman 
 
 > Sometimes another. 
 
 ' Note the use of the second person, then not uncommon in address- 
 ing inferiors and familiar friends. 
 
104 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 opened the door, and called, " Robert, Robert ; " he an- 
 swered, and bid ' her stay a few moments, and he would 
 come ; so he ran down the common stairs to his boat, and 
 fetched up a sack in whidh was' the provisions he had 
 brought from the ships ; and when he returned, he hal- 
 looed again ; then he went to the great stone which he 
 showed me, and emptied the sack, and laid all out, every- 
 thing by themselves, and then retired ; and his wife came 
 with a little boy to fetch them away ; and he called, and 
 said such a captain had sent such a thing, and such a 
 captain such a thing, and at the end adds, " God has sent 
 it all, give thanks to him." When the poor woman had 
 taken up all, she was so weak she could not carry it at once 
 in, though the weight was not much neither ; ^ so she left 
 the biscuit, which was in a little bag, and left a little boy 
 to watch it till she came again. 
 
 " Well, but," says I to him, " did you leave her the four 
 shillings, too, which you said was your week's pay ? " 
 
 " Yes, yes," says he ; " you shall hear her own it." So 
 he calls again, "Rachel, Rachel," which, it seems was her 
 name, " did you take up the money ? " " Yes," said she. 
 " How much was it ? " said he. " Four shillings and a 
 groat," said she. " Well, well," says he, " the Lord keep 
 you all ; " and so he turned to go away. 
 
 As I could not refrain from contributing tears to this 
 man's story, so neither could I refrain niy charity for- his 
 assistance ; so I called him ; " Hark thee, friend," said I, 
 " come hither, for I believe thou art in health, that I may 
 venture thee ; " ^ so I pulled out my hand, which was in 
 my pocket before. "Here," says I, "go and call thy 
 Rachel once more, and give her a little more comfort from 
 me. God will never forsake a family that trusts in him as 
 thou dost ; " so I gave him four other shillings, and bid 
 him go lay them on the stone, and call his wife. 
 
 I have not words to express the poor man's thankfulness, 
 neither could he express it himself but by tears running 
 
 ' Bade. 'Were. 'Either. ' Run my chances with thee. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 105 
 
 down his face. He called his wife, and told her God had 
 moved the heart of a stranger, upon hearing their condi- 
 tion, to give them all that money, and a great deal more 
 such as that he said to her.* The woman, too, made signs 
 of the like thankfulness, as well to heaven as to me, and 
 joyfully picked it up ; and I parted with no money all that 
 year that I thought better bestowed. 
 
 I then asked the poor man if the distemper had not 
 reached to Greenwich. He said it had not till about a 
 fortnight before, but that then he feared it had ; but that 
 it was only at that end of the town which lay south towards 
 Deptford Bridge ; that he went only to a butcher's shop 
 and a grocer's, where he generally bought such things as 
 they sent him for, but was very careful. 
 
 I asked him, then, how it came to pass, that those peo- 
 ple who had so shut themselves up in the ships had not 
 laid in sufficient stores of all things necessary ? He said 
 some of them had, but, on the other hand, some did not 
 come on board till they were frightened into it, and till it 
 was too dangerous for them to go to the proper people to 
 lay in quantities of things, and that he waited on two ships, 
 which he showed me, that had laid in little or nothing but 
 biscuit-bread and ship-beer,^ and that he had bought every- 
 thing else almost for them. I asked him if there were 
 any more ships that had separated themselves as those had 
 done. He told me, Yes, all the way up from the point, 
 right against Greenwich, to within the shores of Lime- 
 house and RedrifE, all the ships that could have room 
 rid ? two and two in the middle of the stream ; and that some 
 of them had several families on board. I asked him if the 
 distemper had not reached them. He said, he believed it 
 had not, except two or three ships, whose people had not 
 been so watchful as to keep the seamen from going on 
 
 ' Evidently referring to the words of encouragement. 
 ' Probably beer intended to be used immediately, and not so pre- 
 pared as to keep for a long while. 
 ^Rode. 
 
106 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 shore as others hafl been ; arid he said it was a very fine 
 sight to see how the ships lay up. the pool.' 
 
 When he said he was going over to Greenwich, as soon 
 as the tide began to come in, I asked if he would let me go 
 with him and bring me back ; for that I had a great mind 
 to see how the ships were ranged, as he had told me. He 
 told me, if I would assure him on the word of a Christian 
 and of an honest man, that I had not the distemper, he 
 would. I assured him that I had not ; that it had pleased 
 God to preserve me ; that I lived in Whitechapel, but was 
 too impatient of being so long within doors, and that I had 
 ventured out so far for the refreshment of a little air, but 
 that none in my house had so much as been touched with 
 it. 
 
 "Well, sir," says he, "as your charity has been moved 
 to pity me and my poor family, sure you cannot have so 
 little pity left as to put yourself into my boat if you were 
 not sound in health, which would be nothing less than 
 killing me and ruining my whole family." The poor man 
 troubled me so much when he spoke of his family with 
 such a sensible concern and in such an affectionate manner, 
 that I could not satisfy myself at first to go at all. I told 
 him, I would lay aside my curiosity rather than make him 
 uneasy ; though I was sure, and very thankful for it, that 
 I had no more distemper upon me than the freshest man 
 in the world. Well, he would not have me put it off 
 neither, but, to let me see how confident he was that I was 
 just to him, he now importuned me to go ; so, when the 
 tide came up to his boat, I went in, and he carried me to 
 Greenwich. While he bought the things which he had in 
 charge to buy, I walked up to the top of the hill under 
 which the town stands, and on the east side of the town, 
 to get a prospect of the river ; but it was a surprising sight 
 to see the number of ships which lay in rows, two and two, 
 and in some places, two or three such lines in the breadth 
 
 ' The protected water just mentioned, and described more particu- 
 larly below. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 107 
 
 of the river, and this not only up to the town, between the 
 houses which we call EatclifE and EedrifE, which they name 
 the pool, but even down the whole river, as far as the head 
 of Long Keach, which is as far as the hills give * us leave 
 to see it. 
 
 I cannot guess at the number of ships, but I think there 
 must have been several hundreds of sail, and I could not 
 but applaud the contrivance ; for ten thousand people and 
 more, who attended ship affairs,^ were certainly sheltered 
 here from the violence of the contagion, and lived very safe 
 and very easy. 
 
 I returned to my own dwelling, very well satisfied with 
 my. day's journey, and particularly with the poor man ; 
 also, I rejoiced to see that such little sanctuaries were pro- 
 vided for so many families on board, in a time of such 
 desolation. I observed also, that, as the violence of the 
 plague had increased, so the ships which had families on 
 board removed and went farther off, till, as I was told, 
 some went quite away to sea, and put into such harbours 
 and safe roads on the north coast as they could best come 
 at. 
 
 But it was also true that all the people who thus left the 
 land and lived on board the ships, were not entirely safe 
 from the infection ; for many died, and were thrown over- 
 board into the river, some in coffins, and some, as I heard, 
 without coffins, whose bodies were seen sometimes to drive 
 up and down with the tide in the river. 
 
 But I believe I may venture to say, that, in those ships 
 which were thus infected, it either happened where the 
 people had recourse to them too late, and did not fly to the 
 ship till they had stayed too long on shore, and had the 
 distemper upon them, though perhaps they might not per- 
 ceive it ; and so the distemper did not come to them on 
 board the ships, but they really carried it with them. 
 Or, it was in these ships where the poor waterman said 
 they had not had time to furnish themselves with provi- 
 • Crave. » Who had to do with ships, 
 
108 JOUBNAL OF TEE PLAOUB 
 
 sions, but were obliged to send often on shore to buy what 
 they had occasion for, or suffered boats to come to them 
 from the shore ; and so the distemper was brought msen- 
 sibly among them. 
 
 And here I cannot but take notice that the strange 
 temper of the people of London at that time contributed 
 extremely to their own destruction. The plague began, as 
 I have observed, at the other end of the town, namely in 
 Longacre, Drury Lane, etc., and came on towards the 
 city very gradually and slowly. It was felt at first in De- 
 cember, then again in February, then again in April, and 
 always but a very little at a time ; then it stopped till May, 
 and even the last week in May there were but seventeen in 
 all that end of the town ; and all this while, even so long 
 as till there died above 3,000 a week, yet had the people 
 in Redrifl, and in Wapping and Eatcliff, on both sides 
 the river, and almost all Southwark side, a mighty fancy 
 that they should not be visited, or, at least, that it would 
 not be so violent among them. Some people fancied the 
 smell of the pitch and tar, and such other things, as oil, 
 and resin, and brimstone, which is much used by all 
 trades relating to shipping, would preserve them. Others 
 argued it,' because it was in its extremest violence in West- 
 minster, and the parish of St. Giles's and St. Andrew's, 
 etc., and began to abate again, before it came among them, 
 which was true, indeed, in part. For example : — 
 
 Total this 
 From the 8th to the 15th of August. week. 
 
 St. Giles's in ) „,„ Stepney 197 ) 
 
 the Fields ( '^^^ St. Mag.« Bermondsey. . . 34 ^ 4030 
 
 Oripplegate 886 Eotherhithe 3 ) 
 
 Total this 
 From the 15th to the 33nd of August. week. 
 
 St. Giles's in ) ,„. Stepney 373") 
 
 the Fields f ^'^ St. Mag. Bermondsey. ... 36 [-6319 
 Oripplegate 847 Rotherhithe 3 j 
 
 ' Others so argued. ' St. Margaret's. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 109 
 
 N. B. that 1 it was observed that the numbers mentioned 
 in Stepney parish at that time were generally all on that 
 side where Stepney parish joined to Shoreditch, which we 
 now call Spitalflelds, where the parish of Stepney comes 
 up to the yery wall of Shoreditch churchyard ; and the 
 plague at this time was abated at St. Giles's in the Fields, 
 and raged most violently in Cripplegate, Bishopsgate, and 
 Shoreditch parishes, but there were not ten people a week 
 that died of it in all that part of Stepney parish which takes 
 in Limehouse, Eatclifl Highway^ and which are^ now the 
 parishes of Shadwell and Wapping, even to St. Katherine's 
 by the Tower, till after the whole month of August was 
 expired ; but they paid for it afterwards, as I shall observe 
 by and by. 
 
 This I say, made the people of EedrifE and Wapping, 
 RatclifE and Limehouse, so secure, and flatter themselves 
 so much with the plague's going ofE without reaching them, 
 that they took no care either to fly into the country, or 
 shut themselves up ; nay, so far were they from stirring 
 that they rather received their friends and relations from 
 the city into their houses ; and several from other places 
 really took sanctuary in that part of the town, as a place 
 of safety, and as a place which they thought God would 
 pass over, and not visit as the rest was visited. 
 
 And this was the reason that, when it came upon them, 
 they were more surprised, more unprovided, and more at a 
 loss what to do than they ^ were in other places, for when it 
 came> among them really, and with violence, as it did, indeed, 
 in September and October, there was then no stirring out 
 into the country ; nobody would suffer a stranger to come 
 near them,^ no, nor near the towns where they dwelt ; 
 and, as I have been told, several that wandered into the 
 country on the Surrey side, were found starved to death in 
 the woods and commons, that country being more open and 
 more woody than any other part so near London, especially 
 
 ' Note well (Noia Bene) that. ' Forms. 
 
 ^ Than people were. ' Him. 
 
110 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 about Norwood, and the parishes of Camberwell, Dnlwich, 
 and Lusam, where, it seems, nobody durst relieve the poor 
 distressed people for fear of the infection. 
 
 This notion having, as I said, prevailed with the people 
 in that part of the town, was in part the occasion, as I said 
 before, that they had recourse to ships for their retreat ; 
 and where they did this early, and with prudence, furnish- 
 ing themselves so ^ with provisions, so that they had no 
 need to go on shore for supplies, or suffer boats to come on 
 board to bring them ; I say, where they did so, they had 
 certainly the safest retreat of any people whatsoever : but 
 the distress was such that people ran on board in their 
 fright without bread to eat ; and some into ships that had 
 no men on board to remove them farther off, or to take the 
 boat and go down the river to buy provisions, where it may 
 be done safely ; and these often suffered, and were infected 
 on board as much as on shore. 
 
 As the richer sort got into ships, so the lower rank 
 got into hoys,' smacks, lighters, and fishing-boats ; and 
 many, especially watermen, lay in their boats ; but those 
 made sad work of it, especially the latter, for, going about 
 for provision, and perhaps to get their subsistence, the in- 
 fection got in among them, and made a fearful havoc ; 
 many of the watermen died alone in their wherries, as they 
 rid ' at their roads, as well above bridge * as below, and were 
 not found sometimes till they were not in condition for 
 anybody to touch or come near them. 
 
 Indeed, the distress of the people at this seafaring end 
 of the town was very deplorable, and deserved the greatest 
 commiseration ; but, alas ! this was a time when -every one's 
 private safety lay so near them, that they had no room to 
 pity the distresses of others ; for every one had death, as it 
 were, at his door, and many even in their families ; and 
 knew not what to do, or whither to fly. 
 
 ' Thus, > Small vessels, usually sloop-rigged. 
 
 " Bode. ' London Bridge. 
 
JOURNAL OF TBE PLAGUE 111 
 
 This, I say, took away all compassion ; self-preservation, 
 indeed, appeared here to he the first law. For the children 
 ran away from their parents, as they languished in the ut- 
 most distress ; and, in some places, though not so frequent 
 as the other, parents did the like to their children ; nay, 
 some dreadful examples there were, and particularly two in 
 one week, of distressed mothers, raving and distracted, 
 killing their own children ; one whereof was not far off 
 from where I dwelt, the poor lunatic creature not living 
 herself long enough to be sensible of the sin of what she 
 had done, much less to be punished for it. 
 
 It is not, indeed, to be wondered at ; for the danger of 
 immediate death to ourselves took away all bowels ' of love, 
 all concern for one another. I speak in general ; for there 
 were many instances of immovable affection, pity, and 
 duty, in many, and some that came to my knowledge, that 
 is to say, by hearsay ; for I shall not take upon me to vouch 
 the truth of the particulars.^ . . . 
 
 There is no room to doubt but the misery of those that 
 gave suck was in proportion as great. Our bills of mortality 
 could give but little light in ' this ; yet some it did ; there 
 were several more than usual starved at nurse; but thi? 
 was nothing. The misery was, where they were — first, 
 starved for want of a nurse, the mother dying, and all the 
 family and the infants found dead by them, merely for 
 want ; and, if I may speak my opinion, I do believe that 
 many hundreds of poor helpless infants perished in this 
 manner. Secondly* (not starved but), poisoned by the 
 nurse ; nay, even where the mother has been nurse, and 
 having received the infection, has poisoned, that is, infected 
 the infant with her milk, even before they knew they were 
 infected themselves ; nay, and the infant has died in such 
 a case before the mother. I cannot but remember to leave 
 
 ' A familiar biblical expression. 
 
 ° Here follow detailed statistics in regard to the mortality among 
 mothers and young infanta. '' On. 
 
 ' What follows should strictly be a part of the preceding sentence. 
 
112 JOURNAL OF THE PLAOVB 
 
 this admonition upon record, if ever such another dreadful 
 visitation should happen in this city, that all women . .- . 
 that give suck should be gone, if they have any possible 
 means, out of the place ; because their misery, if infected, 
 will so much exceed all other people's. 
 
 I could tell here dismal stories of living infants being 
 found sucking the breasts of their mothers, or nurses, after 
 they have been dead of the plague. Of a mother, in the 
 parish where I lived, who, having a child that was not well, 
 sent for an apothecary * to view the child, and when he 
 came, as the relation ^ goes, was giving the child suck at 
 her breast, and to all appearance was herself very well ; 
 but when the apothecary came close to her, he saw the 
 tokens upon that breast with which she waa suckling the 
 child. He was surprised enough to be sure, but not will- 
 ing to fright the poor woman too much, he desired she 
 would give the child into his hand ; so he takes the child, 
 and going to a cradle in the room, lays it in, and, opening 
 its clothes, found the tokens upon the child too, and both 
 died before he could get home to send a preventive medicine 
 to the father of the child, to whom he had told their con- 
 dition. Whether the child infected the nurse-mother,' or 
 the mother the child, was not certain, but the last most 
 likely. 
 
 Likewise * of a child brought home to the " parents from 
 a nurse that had died of the plague : yet the tender mother 
 would not refuse to take in her child, and laid it in her 
 bosom, by which she was infected and died, with the child 
 in her arms dead also. 
 
 It would make the hardest heart move at the instances 
 that were frequently found of tender mothers, tending and 
 watching with their dear children, and even dying before 
 them ; and sometimes taking the distemper from them, 
 
 ' In old times the apothecary frequently performed many or all of 
 the functions of the physician. 
 » The story. « Nursing-mother. * I could likewise tell. ' Its. 
 
JOURNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 113 
 
 and dying, when the child, for whom the affectionate heart 
 had been sacrificed, has got oTer it and escaped.* . . . 
 
 I have heard also of some, who, on the death of their 
 relations, have grown stupid with the insupportable sorrow ; 
 and of one in particular, who was so absolutely overcome 
 with the pressure upon his spirits, that by degrees his head 
 sunk into his body so between his shoulders that the crown 
 of his head was very little seen above the bone of his 
 shoulders ; and by degrees, losing both voice and sense, his 
 .face looking forward, lay against his collar-bone, and could 
 not be kept up any otherwise, unless held up by the hands 
 of other people ; and the poor man never came to himself 
 again, but languished near a year in that condition, and 
 died. Nor was he ever once seen to lift up his eyes, or to 
 look upon any particular object. 
 
 I cannot undertake to give any other than a summary of 
 such passages as these, because it was not possible to come 
 at the particulars, where sometimes the whole families, 
 where such things happened, were carried off by the dis- 
 temper : but there were innumerable cases of this kind, 
 which presented ^ to the eye and the ear, even in passing 
 along the streets, as I have hinted above ; nor is it easy to 
 give any story of this or that family, which ^ there was •* 
 not divers parallel stories to be met with- of the same kind. 
 
 But as I am now talking of the time when the plague 
 raged at the easternmost parts of the town, how for a long 
 time the people of those parts had flattered themselves that 
 they should escape, and -how they were surprised when it 
 came upon them as it did ; for, indeed, it came upon them 
 like an armed man when it did come ; I say, this brings 
 me back to the three poor men who wandered from Wap- 
 ping, not knowing whither to go or what to do, and whom 
 
 ' Here follows an affecting incident of the death of a man through 
 grief at the loss of his wife and little child under circumstances of 
 peculiar horror. 
 
 * Presented themselves. ' In regard to which ^ Were. 
 
 8 
 
114 JOURNAL OF. THE PLAQUE 
 
 I mentioned before ; ' one a biscuit-baker, one a sail-maker, 
 and the other a joiner ; all of Wapping or thereabouts. 
 
 The sleepiness and security of that part, as I have ob- 
 served, was such that they not only did not shift for them- 
 selves, as others did, but they boasted of being safe, and 
 of safety being with them ; and many people fled out of 
 the city, and out of the infected suburbs, to Wapping, Eat- 
 clifE, Limehouse, Poplar, and such places, as to places of 
 security ; and it is not at all unlikely that their doing this 
 helped to bring the plague that way faster than it might 
 otherwise have come. For, though I am much for people's- 
 flying away, and emptying such a town as this, upon the 
 first appearance of a like visitation, and that all people, 
 who have any possible retreat, should make use of it in 
 time, and begone ; yet I must say, when all that will fly 
 are gone, those that are left, and must stand it, should 
 stand stock still where they are, and not shift from one 
 end of the town, or one part of the town, to the other ; 
 for that is the bane and mischief of the whole, and they 
 carry the plague from house to house in their very clothes. 
 
 Wherefore were we ordered to kill all the dogs and cats, 
 but because, as they were domestic animals, and are apt to 
 run from house to house, and from street to street, so they 
 are capable of carrying the effluvia or infectious steams of 
 bodies infected, even in their furs and hair ? and there- 
 fore it was, that in the beginning of the infection, an 
 order was published by the lord mayor and by the magis- 
 trates, according to the advice of the physicians, that all 
 the dogs and cats should be immediately killed, and an 
 officer was appointed for the execution. 
 
 It is incredible, if their account is to be depended upon, 
 what a prodigious number of those creatures were destroyed. 
 I think they talked of forty thousand dogs, and five times 
 as many cats, few houses being without a cat, some having 
 several, sometimes five or six in a house. All possible en- 
 deavours were used also to destroy the mice and rats, es- 
 ' Page 57. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 115 
 
 pecially the hitter, by laying rat's-bane and other poisons 
 for them, and a prodigious multitude of them were also 
 destroyed. 
 
 I often reflected upon the unprovided condition that the 
 whole body of the people were in at the first coming of this 
 calamity upon them, and how it was for want of timely 
 entering into measures and managements, as well public as 
 private, that all the confusions that followed were brought 
 upon us ; and that such a prodigious number of people 
 sunk ^ in that disaster, which, if proper steps had been 
 taken, might. Providence concurring, have been avoided, 
 and which, if posterity think fit, they may take a caution 
 and warning from ; but I shall come to this part again. 
 
 I come back to my three men : their story has a moral 
 in every part of it, and their whole conduct, and that of 
 some whom they joined with, is a pattern for all poor men 
 to follow, or women either, if ever such a time comes 
 again ; and if there was no other end in recording it, I 
 think this a very just one, whether my account be exactly 
 according to fact or no. 
 
 Two of them were said to be brothers, the one an old 
 soldier, but now a biscuit-baker ; the other a lame sailor, 
 but now a sail-maker ; the third a joiner. Says John, the 
 biscuit-baker, one day to Thomas, his brother, the sail- 
 maker, " Brother Tom, what will become of us ? the 
 plague grows hot in the city, and increases this way : what 
 shall we do ? " 
 
 " Truly," says Thomas, " I am at a great loss what to 
 do, for, I find, if it comes down into "Wapping, I shall be 
 turned out of my lodging." And thus they began to talk 
 of it beforehand. 
 
 John. Turned out of your lodging, Tom ! If you are, 
 I don't know who will take you in ; for people are so afraid 
 of one another now, there is no getting a lodging any- 
 where, i 
 
 ' Sank. 
 
116 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 Tho. Why, the people where I lodge are good, civil 
 people, and have kindness for me, too ; but they say I go 
 abroad every day to my work, and it will be dangerous ; 
 and they talk of locking themselves up, and letting nobody 
 come near them. 
 
 John. Why, they are in the right, to be sure, if they re- 
 solve to venture staying in town. 
 
 Tho. !N"ay, I might even resolve to stay within doors, too, 
 for, except a suit of sails that my master has in hand, and 
 which I am just finishing, I am like to get no more work a 
 great while ; * there's no trade stirs now, workmen and 
 servants are turned off everywhere, so that I might be glad 
 to be locked up, too. But I do not see that they will be 
 willing to consent to that any more than to the other. 
 
 John. Why, what will you do then, brother ? and what 
 shall I do ? for I am almost as bad as you. The people 
 where I lodge are all gone into the country, but a maid, and 
 she is to go next week, and to shut the house quite up, so 
 that I shall be turned adrift to ' the wide world before you ; 
 and I am resolved to go away too, if I knew but where to 
 
 go- 
 
 Tho. We were both distracted we ' did not go away at 
 first, when we might ha' travelled aiiywhSre ; there is no 
 stirring now ; we shall be starved if we pretend to go out 
 of town ; they won't let us have victuals, no, not for our 
 money, nor let ns come into the towns, much less into their 
 houses. 
 
 John. And that which is almost as bad, I have but little 
 money to help myself with, neither. 
 
 Tho. As to that, we might make shift ; I have a little, 
 though not much ; but I tell you there is no stirring on the 
 road. I know a couple of poor honest men in our street 
 have attempted to travel ; and at Bamet, or Whetstone, or 
 thereabout, the people offered to fire at them, if they pre- 
 tended to go forward ; so they are come back again quite 
 discouraged. » 
 
 ' For a great while. ' On. ' Out of our heads that we. 
 
JOURNAL Of THB PLAGUE! 117 
 
 John. I would haye ventured their fire, if I had been 
 there. If I had been denied food for my money, they 
 should have seen me take it before their faces ; and if I 
 had tendered money for it, they could not have taken any 
 course with me by the law. 
 
 Tho. You talk your old soldier's language, as if you were 
 in the Low Countries now ; but this is a serious thing. The 
 people have good reason to keep anybody off that they are 
 not satisfied are sound, at such a time as this, and we must 
 not plunder them. 
 
 John. No, brother, you mistake the case, and mistake me, 
 too ; I would plunder nobody ; but for any town upon the 
 road to deny me leave to pass through the town in the open 
 highway, and deny me provisions for my money, is to say 
 the town has a right to starve me to death, which cannot be 
 true. 
 
 Tho. But they do not deny you liberty to go back again 
 from whence you came, and therefore they do not starve you. 
 
 John. But the next town behind me will, by the same rule, 
 deny me leave to go back, and so they do starve me between 
 them ; besides, there is no law to prohibit my travelling 
 wherever I will on the road. 
 
 TAo. But there will be so much difficulty in disputing 
 with them at every town on the road, that it is not for poor 
 men to do it, or undertake it, at such a time as this is, 
 especially. 
 
 John. Why, brother, our condition, at this rate, is worse 
 than anybody's else ; for we can neither go away nor stay 
 here. I am of the same mind with the lepers of Samaria. ' 
 If we stay here, we are sure to die. I mean, especially as 
 you and I are situated, without a dwelling-house of our own, 
 and without lodging in anybody's else ; there is no lying in 
 the street at such a time as this ; we had as good * go into 
 the dead-cart at once. Therefore, I say, if we stay here 
 we are sure to die, and if we go away we can but die ; I am 
 resolved to be gone. 
 
 ' See 2 Kings vli. 3-9. ' Well. 
 
118 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 Tho. You will go away. Whither will you go ? and what 
 can you do ? I would as willingly go away as you, if I knew 
 whither ; but we have no acquaintance,' no friends. Here 
 we were born, and here we must die. 
 
 John. Look you, Tom, the whole kingdom is my natiye 
 country as well as this town. You may as well say, I must 
 not go out of my house if it is on fire, as that I must not 
 go out of the town I was born in, when it is infected with 
 the plague. I was born in England, and have a right to 
 live in it if I can. 
 
 Tho. But you know every vagrant person may, by the 
 laws of England, be taken up, and passed back to their last 
 legal settlement. 
 
 John. But how shall they make me vagrant ? I desire 
 only to travel on upon my lawful occasions. 
 
 Tho. What lawful occasions can we pretend to travel, 
 or rather wander, upon ? They will not be put ofE with 
 words. 
 
 John. Is not flying to save our lives a lawful occasion ? 
 and do they not all know that the fact is true ? We can- 
 not be said to dissemble. 
 
 Tho. But suppose they let us pass ; whither shall we 
 
 go? 
 
 John. Anywhere to save our lives ; it is time enough to 
 consider that when we are got out of this town. If I am 
 once out of this dreadful place, I care not where I go. 
 
 Tho. We shall be driven to great extremities. I know 
 not what to think of it. 
 
 John. Well, Tom, consider of it a little. 
 
 This was about the beginning of July ; and though the 
 plague was come forward in the west and north parts of 
 the town, yet all Wapping, as I have observed before, and 
 RedrifE, and Ratcliff, and Limehouse, and Poplar — in short, 
 Deptford and Greenwich, both sides of the river from the 
 Hermitage, and from over against it, quite down to Black- 
 > A collective noun. 
 
JOUKNAL OP THE PLAQUE 119 
 
 wall, was entirely free ; there had not one person died of 
 the plague in all Stepney parish, and not one on the south 
 side of Whitechapel Road, no, not in any parish ; and 
 yet the weekly bill was that very week risen up to 1006. 
 
 It was a fortnight after this before the two brothers met 
 again, and then the case was a little altered, and the plague 
 was exceedingly advanced, and the number greatly in- 
 creased. The bill was up at 2785, and prodigiously in- 
 creasing ; though still both sides of the river, as below, 
 kept pretty well. But some began to die in RedrifE, and 
 about five or six in Ratclill Highway, when the sail-maker 
 came to his brother John, express,* and -in some fright ; 
 for he was absolutely warned out of his lodging, and had 
 only a week to provide himself. His brother John was in 
 as bad a case, for he was quite out ; and had only begged 
 leave of his master, the biscuit-baker, to lodge in an out- 
 house belonging to his workhouse, where he only lay * upon 
 straw, with some biscuit-sacks, or bread-sacks, as they 
 called them, laid upon it, and some of the same sacks to 
 cover him. 
 
 Here ^ they resolved, seeing all employment being ^ at an 
 end, and no work or wages to be had, they would make 
 the best of their way to get out of the reach of the dread- 
 ful infection ; and being as good husbands ' as they could, 
 would endeavour to live upon what they had as long as it 
 would last, and then work for more, if they could get 
 work anywhere of any kind, let it be what it would. 
 
 While they were considering to put this resolution in 
 practice in the best manner they could, the third man, 
 who was acquainted very well with the sail-maker, came to 
 know of the design, and got leave to be one of the number : 
 and thus they prepared to set out. > 
 
 It happened that they had not an equal share of money ; 
 but as the sail-maker, who had the best stock, was, besides 
 his being lame, the most unfit to expect to get anything by 
 
 ' For that particular purpose. "Lay only. ^ Then. 
 
 ^ Was. ' See page 57, note 3. 
 
120 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 working in the country, so he was content that what money 
 they had should all go into one public stock, on condition 
 that whatever any one of them could gain more than 
 another, it should, without any grudging, be all added to 
 the public stock. 
 
 They resolved to load themselves with as little baggage 
 as possible, because they resolved at first to travel on foot, 
 and to go a great way, that they might, if possible, be 
 effectually safe. And a great many consultations they had 
 with themselves before they could agree . about what way 
 they should travel, which they were so far from adjusting 
 that, even to the morning they set out, they were not 
 resolved on it. 
 
 At last, the seaman put in a hint that determined it. 
 " First," says he, " the weather is very hot, and, therefore, 
 I am for travelling north, that we may not have the sun 
 upon our faces and beating upon our breasts, which will 
 heat and suffocate us ; and I have been told," says he, 
 "that it is not good to overheat our blood at a time when, 
 for aught we know, the infection may be in the very air. 
 In the next place," says he, " I am for going the way that 
 may be contrary to the wind as it may blow when we set 
 out, that we may not have the wind blow the air of the 
 city on our backs as we go." These two cautions were 
 approved of, if it could be brought so to hit^ that the 
 wind might not be in the south when they set out to go 
 north. 
 
 John, the baker, who had been a soldier, then put in his 
 opinion. " First," says he, " we none of us expect to get 
 any lodging on the road, and it will be a little too hard to 
 lie just in the open air ; though it may be warm weather, 
 yet it may be yet and damp, and we have a double reason 
 to take care of our healths at such a time as this ; and, 
 therefore," says he, "you, brother Tom, that are a sail- 
 maker, might easily make us a little tent, and I will under- 
 take to set it up every night, and, take it down^ and a fig foi 
 ' To coincide. 
 
JOUBNAL OP THE PLAQUB 121 
 
 all the inns in England ; if we have a good tent over oui 
 heads, we shall do well enough." 
 
 The joiner opposed this, and told them, let them leave 
 that to him ; he would undertake to build them a house 
 every night with his hatchet and mallet, though he had no 
 other tools, which should be fully to their satisfaction, and 
 as good as a tent. 
 
 The soldier and the joiner disputed that point some time, 
 but at last the soldier carried it for a tent ; the only ob- 
 jection against it was that it must be carried with them, 
 and that would increase their baggage too much, the weather 
 being hot. But the sail-maker had apiece of good hap* 
 fell ^ in, which made that easy ; for his master, who ^ he 
 worked for, having a rope-walk as well as^ sail-making 
 trade, had a little poor horse that he made no use of then, 
 and being willing to assist the three honest men, he gave 
 them the horse for the carrying their baggage ; also, for a 
 small matter of three days'" work that his man did for him 
 before he went, he let him have an old top-gallant sail that 
 was worn out, but was sufficient, and more than enough, to 
 make a very good tent. The soldier showed how to shape 
 it, and they soon, by his direction, made their tent, and 
 fitted it with poles or staves for the purpose, and thus they 
 were furnished for their journey ; viz., three men, one tent, 
 one horse, one gun for the soldier, who would not go with- 
 out arms, for now he said he was no more a biscuit-baker, 
 but a trooper. The joiner had a small bag of tools, such as 
 might be useful, if he should get any work abroad,^ as well 
 for their subsistence as his own. What money they had, 
 they brought all into one public stock ; and thus they began 
 their journey. It seems that in the morning when they set 
 out, the wind blew, as the sailor said, by his pocket-com- 
 pass, at' K.W. by W.; so they directed, or rather resolved 
 to direct, their course N.W. 
 
 ' Good fortune. ' Fall. ' Whom. * As well as a. 
 
 ' " Abroad " then meant out of one's native place, rather than out of 
 one's native country, ' The modern idiom omits " at." 
 
122 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 But then a difficulty came ia their way, that as they set 
 out from the hither end of Wapping, near the Hermitage, 
 and that * the plague was now very violent, especially on the 
 north side of the city, as in Shoreditch and Cripplegate 
 parish, they did not think it safe for them to go near those 
 parts ; so they went away east through KatclifE Highway, 
 as far as Katclifl Cross, and leaving Stepney Church still 
 on their left-hand, being afraid to come up from RatclifE 
 Cross to Mile End, because they must come Just by the 
 churchyard ; and because the wind, that seemed to blow 
 more from the west, blowed directly from the side of the 
 city where the plague was hottest. So, I say, leaving 
 Stepney, they fetched a long compass,' and going to Poplar 
 and Bromley, came into the great road just at Bow. 
 
 Here the watch placed upon Bow Bridge would have 
 questioned them ; but they, crossing the road into a narrow 
 way that turns out of the higher end of the town of Bow, 
 to Oldford, avoided any inquiry there, and travelled on to 
 Oldford. The constables everywhere were upon their 
 guard, not so much, it seems, to stop people passing by, 
 as to stop them from taking up their abode in their towns ; 
 and, withal, because of a report that was newly raised at 
 that time, and that indeed was not very improbable, viz., 
 that the poor people in London, being distressed, and 
 starved for want of work, and, by that means, for want of 
 bread, were up in arms, and had raised a tumult, and that 
 they would come out to all the towns round to plunder for 
 bread. This, I say, was only a rumour, and it was very 
 well it was no more ; but it was not so far off from being a 
 reality as it has been thought, for in a few weeks more the 
 poor people became so desperate by the calamity they suf- 
 fered, that they were with great difficulty kept from run- 
 ning out into the fields and towns, and tearing all in pieces 
 wherever they came ; and as I have observed before, noth- 
 ing hindered them but that the plague raged so violently, 
 and fell in upon them so furiously, that they rather went 
 ' As. ' See Acts xxviii. 13. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 123 
 
 to the grave by thousands than into the fields in mobs by 
 thousands; for in the parts about the parishes of St. Sepul- 
 chre's, Clerkenwell, Cripplegate, Bishopsgate, and Shore- 
 ditch, which were the places where the mob began to 
 threaten, the distemper came on so furiously that there died 
 in those few parishes, even then, before the plague was 
 come to its height, no less than 5361 people in the first 
 three weeks in August, when, at the same time, the parts 
 about Wapping, Katclifl, and Eotherhithe were, as before 
 described, hardly touched, or but very lightly ; so that in 
 a word, though, as I said before, the good management of 
 the lord mayor and justices did much to prevent the rage 
 and desperation of the people from breaking out in rabbles 
 a.nd tumults, and, in short, from the poor plundering the 
 rich ; I say, though they did much, the dead-cart did more, 
 for, as I have said, that, in five parishes only, there died 
 above 5000 in twenty days, so there might be probably 
 three times that number sick all that time, for some recov- 
 ered, and great numbers fell sick every day, and died after- 
 wards. Besides, I must still be allowed to say that, if the 
 bills of mortality said five thousand, I always believed it was 
 twice as many in reality, there being no room to believe 
 that the account they gave was right, or that, indeed, they 
 were, among such confusions as I saw them in, in any con- 
 dition to keep an exact account. 
 
 But to return to my travellers : — Here they were only ex- 
 amined, and as they seemed rather coming from the country 
 than from the city, they found the people easier with them ; 
 that ' they talked to them, let them come into a public- 
 house where the constable and his warders were, and gave 
 them drink and some victuals, which greatly refreshed and 
 encouraged them ; and here it came into their heads to say, 
 when they should be inquired of afterwards, not that they 
 came from London, but that they came out of Essex. 
 
 To forward this little fraud, they obtained so much 
 favour of the constable at Oldf ord as to give them ^ a certi- 
 > So that. ' That he gave them. 
 
124 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 fioate of their passing from Essex through that village, and 
 that they had not been at London ; which, though false in 
 the common acceptation of London in the country, yet was 
 literally true ; Wapping or KatclifE being no part either of 
 the city or liberty. 
 
 This certificate, directed to the next constable, that was 
 at Homerton, one of the hamlets of the parish of Hackney, 
 was so serviceable to them that it procured them not a free 
 passage there only, but a full certificate of health from a 
 justice of the peace, who, upon the constable's application, 
 granted it without much difficulty. And thus they passed 
 through the long divided town of Hackney (for it lay then 
 in several separated hamlets), and travelled on till they 
 came into the great north road, on the top of Stamford 
 Hill. 
 
 By this time they began to weary ; and so, in the back 
 road ' from Hackney, a little before it opened into the said 
 great road, they resolved to set up their tent, and encamp 
 for the first night ; which they did accordingly, with this 
 addition, that, finding a barn, or a building like a barn, 
 and first searching as well as they could to be sure there 
 was nobody in it, they set up their tent with the head of it 
 against the barn ; this they did also because the wind blew 
 that night very high, and they were but young at such a 
 way of lodging, as well as at the managing their tent. 
 
 Here they went to sleep ; but the joiner, a grave and 
 sober man, and not pleased with their lying at this loose 
 rate ' the first night, could not sleep, and resolved, after 
 trying it to no purpose, that he would get out, and taking 
 the gun in his hand, stand sentinel, and guard his com- 
 panions. So, with the gun in his hand, he walked to and 
 again ' before the barn, for that stood in the field near the 
 road, but within * the hedge. He had not been long upon 
 the scout ' but ' he heard a noise of people coming on as 
 
 ' By-road. ' In this careless fashion. ' To and fro. 
 
 < On the inner side of. * The watch. 
 
 ' Bat that he heard ; before he heard. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 125 
 
 if it had been a great number, and they came on, as he 
 thought, directly towards the barn. He did not presently ' 
 awake his companions, but in a few minutes more their 
 noise growing louder and louder, the biscuit-baker called 
 to him and asked him what was the matter, and quickly 
 started out too. The other, being the lame sail-maker, and 
 most weary, lay still in the tent. 
 
 As they expected, so the people whom they had heard 
 came on directly to the barn, when one of our travellers 
 challenged, like soldiers upon the guard, with, "Who 
 comes there?" The people did not answer immediately, 
 but one of them speaking to another that was behind them, 
 "Alas ! alas ! we are all disappointed," says he, "here are 
 some people before us ; the barn is taken up." 
 
 They all stopped upon that, as under some surprise ; and 
 it seems there were about thirteen of them in all, and some 
 women among them. They consulted together what they 
 should do ; and by their discourse our travellers soon found 
 they were poor distressed people, too, like themselves, seek- 
 ing shelter and safety ; and, besides, our travellers had no 
 need to be afraid of their coming up to disturb them, for 
 as soon as they 'heard the words, "Who comes there ?" 
 they ^ could hear the women say, as if frightened, " Do not 
 go near them ; how do you know but they may have the 
 plague?" And when one of the men said, "Let us but 
 speak to them," the women said, " No, don't by any means ; 
 we have escaped thus far, by the goodness of God ; do not 
 let us run into danger now, we beseech you." 
 
 Our travellers found by this that they were a good sober 
 sort of people, and flying for their lives as they were ; and, 
 as they were encouraged by it, so John said to the joiner, 
 his comrade, " Let us encourage them too, as much as 
 we can." So he called to them, " Hark ye, good people," 
 says the joiner, " we find by your talk that you are flying 
 from the same dreadful enemy as we are : do not be afraid 
 of us, we are only three poor men of us ; if you are free from 
 
 ' Immediately. ' The new company. ' The three travellers- 
 
126 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 the distemper you shall not be hurt by us ; we are not in 
 the bam, but in a little tent here on the outside, and we 
 will remove for you ; we can set up our tent again im- 
 mediately anywhere else." And upon this a parley began 
 between the joiner, whose name was Richard, and one of 
 their men, whose said name was Ford. 
 
 Ford. And do you assure us that you are all sound men ? 
 
 Rich. Nay, we are concerned * to tell you of it, that you 
 may not be uneasy, or think yourselves in danger ; but you 
 see we do not desire you should put yourselves into any 
 danger, and, therefore, I tell you that we have not made 
 use of the barn, so we will remove from it that you may 
 be safe and we also. 
 
 Ford. That is very kind and charitable. But if we have 
 reason to be satisfied that you are sound and free from the 
 visitation, why should we make you remove, now you are 
 settled in your lodging, and it may be are laid down to rest ? 
 We will go into the barn, if you please, to rest ourselves a 
 while, and we need not disturb you. 
 
 Rich. Well, but you are more than we are ; I hope you 
 will assure us that you are all of you sound too, for the 
 danger is as great from you to us, as from us to you. 
 
 Ford. Blessed be God that some do escape, though it be 
 but few ; what may be our portion still, we know not, but 
 hitherto we are preserved. 
 
 Rich. What part of the town do you come from ? Was 
 the plague come to the places where you lived ? 
 
 Ford. Ay, ay, in a most frightful and terrible manner, 
 or else we had not fled away as we do ; but we believe there 
 will be very few left alive behind us. 
 
 Rich. What part do you come from ? 
 
 Ford. We are most of us from Oripplegate parish, only 
 two or three of Clerkenwell parish, but on the hither' side. 
 
 Rich. How, then, was it that you came away no sooner ? 
 
 Ford. We have been away some time, and kept together 
 ' Are anxious. ' On this side. 
 
JOURNAL OF TSB PLAQUE 127 
 
 as well as we could at the hither end of Islington, where we 
 got leave to lie in an old uninhabited house, and had some 
 bedding and conveniences of our own that we brought with 
 us y but the plague" is come up into Islington too, and a 
 house next door to our poor dwelling was infected and shut 
 up, and we are come away in a fright. 
 
 Rich. And what way are you going ? 
 
 Ford. As our lot shall cast us, we know not whither ; 
 but God will guide those that look up to him. 
 
 They parleyed no farther at that time, but came all up to 
 the barn, and with some diificulty got into it. There was 
 nothing but hay in the barn, but it was almost full of that, 
 and they accommodated themselves as well as they could, 
 and went to rest ; but our travellers observed that, before 
 they went to sleep, an ancient man, who, it seems, was the 
 father of one of the women, went to prayer with all the 
 company, recommending themselves to the blessing and 
 protection of providence before they went to sleep. 
 
 It was soon day at that time of the year ; and as Eichard, 
 the joiner, had kept guard the first part of the night, so 
 John, the soldier, relieved him, and he had the post in the 
 morning, and they ' began to be acquainted with one an- 
 other. It seems, when they left Islington, they intended 
 to have gone north a way to Highgate, but were stopped at 
 Holloway, and there they would not let them pass ; so they 
 crossed over the fields and hills to the eastward, and came 
 out at the Boarded River, and so, avoiding the towns, they 
 left Hornsey on the left hand, and Newington on the right 
 hand, and came into the great road about Stamford Hill on 
 that side, as the three travellers had done on the other side. 
 And now they had thoughts of going over the river in the 
 marshes, and make" forwards to Epping Forest, where 
 they hoped they should get leave to rest. It seems they 
 were not poor, at least not so poor as to be in want : at 
 least, they had enough to subsist them ^ moderately for two 
 
 ' John and the new people. ' Making. 
 
 " For them to subsist on. 
 
128 JOUttNAL OP THE PLAQUE 
 
 or three months, when, as they said, they were in hopes 
 the cold weather would check the infection, or at least the 
 violence of it would have spent itself ; and would abate, if 
 it were only for want of people left alive to be infected. 
 
 This was much the fate of our three travellers ; only that 
 they seemed to be the better furnished for travelling, and 
 had it in their view to go farther ofE ; for as to the first, 
 they did not propose to go farther than one day's journey, 
 that so they might have intelligence every two or three 
 days how things were at London. 
 
 But here our travellers found themselves under an un- 
 expected inconvenience, namely, that of their horse ; for, 
 by means of the horse to carry their baggage, they were 
 obliged to keep in the road, whereas the people of this 
 other band went over the fields or roads, path or no path, 
 way or no way, as they pleased ; neither had they any oc- 
 casion to pass through any town, or come near any town, 
 other than to buy such things as they wanted for their nec- 
 essary subsistence, and in that, indeed, they were put to 
 much difiiculty : of which in its place. 
 
 But our three travellers were obliged to keep the road, 
 or else they must commit spoil, and do the country a great 
 deal of damage, in breaking down fences and gates, to ' go 
 over inclosed fields, which they were loath to do if they 
 could help it. 
 
 Our three travellers, however, had a great mind to join 
 themselves to this company, and take their lot with them ; 
 and, after some discourse, they laid aside their first design, 
 which looked northward, and resolved to follow the other 
 into Essex ; so in the morning they took up their tent and 
 loaded their horse, and away they travelled all together. 
 
 They had some difficulty in passing the ferry at the river- 
 side, the ferryman being afraid of them ; but, after some 
 parley at a distance, the ferryman was content to bring his 
 boat to a place distant from the usual ferry, and leave it 
 there for them to take it ; so, putting themselves over, he 
 
 ' lu order to, 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 129 
 
 directed them to leave the boat, and he, having another 
 boat, eaid he would fetch it again ; which it seems, how- 
 ever, he did not do for above eight days. 
 
 Here, giving the ferryman money beforehand, they had a 
 supply of victuals and drink, which he brought and left 
 in the boat for them, but not without, as I said, having 
 received the money beforehand. But now our travellers 
 were at a great loss and difficulty how to get the horse 
 over, the boat being small and not fit for it ; and at last 
 could not do it without unloading the baggage and making 
 him swim over. 
 
 From the river they travelled towards the forest ; but 
 when they came to Walthamstow, the people of that town 
 denied ' to admit them, as was the case everywhere ; the 
 constables and their watchmen kept them off at a distance, 
 and parleyed with them. They gave the same account of 
 themselves as before, but these gave no credit to what they 
 said, giving- it for a reason, that two or three companies 
 had already come that way and made the like pretences, but 
 that they had given several people the distemper in the 
 towns where they had passed, and had been afterwards so 
 hardly used by the country, though with justice too, as 
 they had deserved, that, about Brentwood or that way, 
 several of them perished in the fields ; whether of the 
 plague or of mere want and distress, they could not tell. 
 
 This was a good reason, indeed, why the people of Wal- 
 thamstow should be very cautious, and why they should re- 
 solve not to entertain anybody that they were not well 
 satisfied of ; but, as Richard, the joiner, and one of the 
 other men, who parleyed with them, told them, it was no 
 reason why they should block up the roads, and refuse to 
 let the people pass through the town, and^ who asked 
 nothing of them but to go through the street; that, if 
 their people were afraid of them, they might go into their 
 houses and shut their doors ; they would neither show 
 them civility nor incivility, but go on about their business. 
 • Refused. ' " And" is unnecessary. 
 
 9 
 
130 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 The constables and attendants, not to be persuaded by 
 reason, continued obstinate, and would hearken to nothing, 
 so the two men that talked with them went back to their 
 fellows, to consult what was to be done. It was very dis- 
 couraging in ' the whole, and they knew not what to do 
 toY a good while ; but, at last, John, the soldier and bis- 
 cuit-baker, considering awhile, " Come," says he, "leave 
 the rest of the parley to me. " He had not appeared yet ; ' so 
 he sets the joiner Richard to work to cut some poles out 
 of the trees, and shape them as like guns as he could, and, 
 in a little time, he had five or six fair muskets, which at a 
 distance would not be known ; and about the part where 
 the lock of a gun is, he caused them to wrap cloth and 
 rags, such as they had, as soldiers do in wet weather to 
 preserve the locks of their pieces from rust ; the rest was 
 discoloured with clay or mud, such as they could get ; and 
 all this while the rest of them sat under the trees by his 
 direction, in two or three bodies, where they made fires at 
 a good distance from one another. 
 
 While this was doing, he advanced himself, and two or 
 three with him, and set up their tent in the lane, within 
 sight of the barrier which the townsmen had made, and 
 set a sentinel just by it with the real gun, the only one 
 they had, and ' who walked to and fro with the gun on his 
 shoulder, so as that the people of the town might see 
 them ; ^ also he tied the horse to a gate in the hedge just 
 by, and got some dry sticks together, and kindled a fire on 
 the other side of the tent, so that the people of the town 
 could see the fire and the smoke, but could not see what 
 they were doing at it. 
 
 After the country people had looked upon them very 
 earnestly a great while, and by all that they could see, could 
 not but suppose that they were a great many in company, 
 they began to be uneasy, not for ' their going away, but fox 
 
 'On. 
 
 'That is, he had not yet shown himself to the people of the town. 
 * " And " is unnecessary. ■■ Himself and his party. ' In regard to. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 131 
 
 staying ' where they were : and above all, perceiving they 
 had horses and arms, for they had seen one horse and one 
 gun at the tent, and they had seen others of them walk 
 about the field on the inside of the hedge by the side of the 
 lane with their muskets, as they took them to be, shouldered; 
 I say, upon such a sight as this, you may be assured they 
 were alarmed and terribly frightened ; and it seems they 
 went to a justice of the peace, to know what they should 
 do. What the justice advised them to ^ I know not, but 
 towards the evening, they called from the barrier, as above, 
 to the sentinel at the tent. 
 
 " What do you want ? " says John. 
 
 " Why, what do you intend to do ? " says the constable. 
 
 " To do," says John ; " what would you have us to do ? " 
 
 Const. Why don't you be gone ? What do you stay there 
 for? 
 
 John. Why do you stop us on the king's highway, and 
 pretend to refuse us leave to go on our way ? 
 
 Const, We are not bound to tell you the reason, though 
 we did let you know it was because of the plague. 
 
 John. We told you we were all sound and free from the 
 plague, which we were not bound to have satisfied you of ; 
 and yet you pretend to stop us on the highway. 
 
 Const. We have a right to stop it up, and our own safety 
 obliges us to it ; besides, this is not the king's highway, it 
 is a way upon sufferance. You see here is a gate, and, if 
 we do let people pass here, we make them pay toll. 
 
 John. We have a right to seek our own safety as well 
 as you, and you may see we are flying for our lives, and it 
 is very unchristian and unjust in you to stop us. 
 
 Const. You may go back from whence you came ; we do 
 not hinder you from that. 
 
 John. No, it is a stronger enemy than you that keeps 
 us from doing that, or else we should not have come hither. 
 
 Const. Well, you may go any other way then. 
 
 John. No, no ; I suppose you see we are able to send 
 ' Their staying. » To do. 
 
132 JOUMNAL OP TRE PLAGUE 
 
 yon going and all the people of your parish, and come 
 through your town when we will, but, since you have stopt 
 us here, we are content ; you see we have encamped here, 
 and here we will live ; we hope you will furnish us with 
 victuals. 
 
 Const. We furnish you ! What mean you by that ? 
 
 John. Why, you would not have us starve, would you ? 
 If you stop us here you must keep us. 
 
 Const. You will be ill kept at our maintenance. 
 
 John. If you stint us, we shall make ourselves the better 
 allowance. 
 
 Const. Why, you will not pretend to quarter upon us by 
 force, will you ? 
 
 John. We have offered no violence to you yet, why do 
 you seem to oblige us to it ? I am an old soldier and cannot 
 starve ; and if you think that we shall be obliged to go back 
 for want of provisions, you are mistaken. 
 
 Const. Since you threaten us, we shall take care to be 
 strong enough for you. I have orders to raise the county 
 upon you. 
 
 John. It is you that threaten, not we ; and, since you are 
 for mischief, you cannot blame us if we do not give you time 
 for it. We shall begin our march in a few minutes. 
 
 Const. What is it you demand of us ? 
 
 John. At first we desired nothing of you but leave to go 
 through the town. We should have offered no injury to 
 any of you, neither would you have had any injury or loss 
 by us ; we are not thieves, but poor people in distress, and 
 flying from the dreadful plague in London, which devours 
 thousands every week. We wonder how you can be so un- 
 merciful ! 
 
 Const. Self-preservation obliges us. 
 
 John. What ! To shut up your compassion in a case of 
 such distress as this ? 
 
 Const. Well, if you will pass over the fields on your left 
 hand, and behind that part of the town, I will endeavour 
 to have gates opened for you. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 133 
 
 John. Our horsemen cannot pass with our baggage that 
 way ; it does not lead into the road that we want to go, 
 and why should you force us out of the road ? Besides, 
 you have kept us here all day without any provisions but 
 such as we brought with us ; I think you ought to send us 
 some provisions for our relief. 
 
 Connt. If you will go another way, we will send you 
 some provisions. 
 
 John. That is the way to have all the towns in the 
 county stop up the ways against us. 
 
 Const. If they all furnish you with food, what will you 
 be the worse ? I see you have tents ; you want no lodging. 
 
 John. Well ; what quantity of provisions will you send 
 us ? 
 
 Const. How many are you ? 
 
 John. Nay, we do not ask enough for all our company ; 
 we are in three companies ; if you will send us bread for 
 twenty men and about six or seven women for three days, 
 and show us the way over the field you speak of, we desire 
 not to put your people into any fear for us ; we will go out 
 of our way to oblige you, though we are as free from infec- 
 tion as you are. 
 
 Const. And will you assure us that your other people 
 shall offer us no new disturbance ? 
 
 John. No, no ; you may depend on it. 
 
 Const. You must oblige yourself ' too, that none of your 
 people shall come a step nearer than where the provisions 
 we send you shall be set down. 
 
 John. I answer for it we will not. 
 
 Here he called to one of his men, and bade him order 
 Capt. Richard and his people to march the lower way on 
 the side of the marshes, and meet them in the forest ; 
 which was all a sham, for they had no Oapt. Richard or 
 any such company. 
 Accordingly, they^ sent to the place twenty loaves of 
 • Hake yourself responsible. * The people of the town. 
 
184: JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 bread and three or fonr large pieces of good beef, and 
 opened some gates, through which they passed, but none 
 of them had courage so much as to look out to see them 
 go ; and, as it was evening, if they had looked, they could 
 not have seen them so as to know how few they were. 
 
 This was John the soldier's management ; but this gave 
 such an alarm to the county that, had they really been two 
 or three hundred, the whole county would have been raised 
 upon them, and they would have been sent to prison, or 
 perhaps knocked on the head. 
 
 They were soon made sensible of this ; for two days af- 
 terwards they found several parties of horsemen and foot- 
 men also about, in pursuit of three companies of men 
 armed, as they said, with muskets, who were broke out 
 from London and had the plague upon them ; and that 
 were not only spreading the distemper among the people, 
 but plundering the country. 
 
 As they saw now the consequence of their case, they 
 soon saw the danger they were in ; so they resolved, by the 
 advice also of the old soldier, to divide themselves again. 
 John and his two comrades with the horse went away as if 
 towards Waltham ; the other in two companies, but all a 
 little asunder,* and went towards Epping. 
 
 The first night they encamped all in the forest, and not 
 far ofE from one another, but not setting up the tent for 
 fear that should discover them. On the other hand, Eich- 
 ard went to work with his axe and his hatchet> and, cut- 
 ting down branches of trees, he built three tents or hovels, 
 in which they all encamped with as much convenience as 
 they could expect. 
 
 The provisions they had at Walthamstow served them 
 very plentifully this night, and as for the next they left it 
 to providence. They had fared so well with the old sol- 
 dier's conduct that they now willingly made him their 
 leader, and the first of his conduct appeared to be very 
 good. He told them that they were now at a proper dis- 
 ' A short distance from each other. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 135 
 
 tance enough from London ; that, as they need not be 
 immediately beholden to the country for relief, they ought 
 to be as careful the country did not infect them, as that 
 they did not infect the country ; that what little money 
 they had they must be as frugal of as they could ; that as 
 he would not have them think of ofEering the country any 
 violence, so they must endeavour to make the sense of 
 their condition go as far with the country as it could. 
 They all referred themselves to his direction ; so they left 
 their three houses standing, and the next day went away 
 towards Epping ; the captain also, for so they now called 
 him, and his two fellow-travellers, laid aside their design of 
 going to Waltham, and all went together. 
 
 When they came near Epping, they halted, choosing out 
 a proper place in the open forest, not very near the high- 
 way but not far out of it, on the north side, under a little 
 cluster of low pollard trees. Here they pitched their little 
 camp, which consisted of three large tents or huts made of 
 poles, which their carpenter, and such as were his assist- 
 ants, cut down and fixed in the ground in a circle, bind- 
 ing all the small ends together at the top, and thickening 
 the sides with boughs of trees and bushes, so that they 
 were completely close and warm. They had besides this 
 a little tent where the women lay by themselves, and a hut 
 to put the horse in. 
 
 It happened, that the next day, or the next but one, was 
 market-day at Epping, when Captain John and one of the 
 other men went to market, and bought some provisions, that 
 is to say, bread, and some mutton and beef ; and two of the 
 women went separately, as if they had not belonged to the 
 rest, and bought more. John took the horse to bring it 
 home, and the sack, which the carpenter carried his tools in, 
 to put it in ; the carpenter went to work, and made them 
 benches and stools to sit on, such as the wood he could get 
 would, afford, and a kind of a table to dine on. 
 
 They were taken no notice of for two oi* three days, but 
 after that abundance of people ran out of the town to look 
 
136 JOURNAL OP THE PLAGUE 
 
 at them, and all the country was alarmed abont them. 
 The people at first seemed afraid to come near them ; and, 
 on the other hand, they desired the people to keep off, for 
 there was a rumour that the plague was at Waltham, and 
 that it had been in Epping two or three days ; so John 
 called out to them not to come to them. " For," says he, 
 " we are all whole and sound people here, and we would not 
 have you bring the plague among us, nor pretend we brought 
 it among you." 
 
 After this the parish officers came up to them, and par- 
 leyed with them at a distance, and desired to know who 
 they were, and by what authority they pretended to fix 
 their stand at that place. John answered very frankly, 
 they were poor distressed people from London, who, fore- 
 seeing the misery they should be reduced to, if the plague 
 spread into the city, had fled out in time for their lives, 
 and, having no acquaintance or relations to fly to, had first 
 taken up at Islington, but, the plague being come into that 
 town, were fled farther, and, as they supposed that the peo- 
 ple of Epping might have refused them coming into their 
 town, they had pitched their tents thus in the open field, 
 and in the forest, being willing to bear all the hardships of 
 such a disconsolate lodging, rather than have any one 
 think, or be afraid, that they should receive injury by 
 them. 
 
 AJ; first the Epping people talked roughly to them, and 
 told them they must remove ; that this was no place for 
 them ; and that they pretended to be sound and well, but 
 that they might be infected with the plague for aught they 
 knew, and might infect the whole country, and they could 
 not suffer them there. 
 
 Jobn argued very calmly with them a great while, and 
 told them that London was the place by which they, that 
 is, the townsmen of Epping and all the country round 
 them, subsisted, to whom they sold the produce of their 
 lands, and out of whom they made the rents of their farms ; 
 and to be so cruel to the inhabitants of London, or to any 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 137 
 
 of those by whonl they gained so much, was very hard ; and 
 they would be loath to have it remembered hereafter, and 
 have it told, how barbarous, how inhospitable, and how 
 unkind they were to the people of London, when they fled 
 from the face of the most terrible enemy in the world : that 
 it would be enough to make the name of an Epping man 
 hateful throughout all the city, and to have the rabble 
 stone them in the very streets, whenever they came so much 
 as to market ; that they were not yet secure from being 
 visited themselves, and that, as he heard, Waltham was al- 
 ready ; that they would think it very hard, that when any 
 of them fled for fear before they were touched, they should 
 be denied the liberty of lying so much as in the open 
 fields. 
 
 The Epping men told them again, that they, indeed, said 
 they were sound and free from the infection, but that they 
 had no assurance of it ; and that it was reported that there 
 had been a great rabble of people at Walthamstow, who 
 made such pretences of being sound as they did, but that 
 they threatened to plunder the town, and force their way 
 whether the parish ofiQcers would or no ; that there were 
 near two hundred of them, and had arms and tents like 
 Low Country soldiers ! that they extorted provisions from 
 the town, by threatening them with living upon them at 
 free quarter,* showing their arms, and talking in the lan- 
 guage of soldiers ; and that several of them having gone 
 away towards Rumford and Brentwood, the country had 
 been infected by them, and the plague spread into both 
 those large towns, so that the people durst not go to mar- 
 ket there as usual ; that it was very likely they were some 
 of that party ; and if so, they deserved to be sent to the 
 county gaol, and be secured till they had made satisfaction 
 for the damage they had done, and for the terror and fright 
 they had put the country into. 
 
 John answered, that what other people had done was 
 nothing to them ; that they assured them they were all of 
 ' Quartering themselves on the town without pay. 
 
138 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 one company ; that they had never been more in number 
 than they saw them at that time (which by the way, was 
 very true) ; that they came out in two separate companies, 
 but joined by the way, their cases being the same ; that 
 they were ready to give what account of themselves any- 
 body desired of them, and to give in their names and 
 places of abode, that so they might be called to an account 
 for any disorder that they might be guilty of ; that the 
 townsmen might see they were content to live hardly, and 
 only desired a little room to breathe in on ' the forest, 
 where it was wholesome ; for where it was not, they could 
 not stay, and would decamp if they found it otherwise 
 there. 
 
 " But," said the townsmen, "we have a great charge of 
 poor upon our hands already, and we must take care not 
 to increase it ; we suppose you can give us no security 
 against your being chargeable to our parish and to the in- 
 habitants, any more than you can of being dangerous to us 
 as to the infection." 
 
 " Why, look you," says John, " as to being chargeable 
 to you, we hope we shall not ; if you will relieve us with 
 provisions for our present necessity, we will be very thank- 
 ful ; as we all lived without charity when we were at home, 
 so we will oblige ourselves fully to repay you, if God please 
 to bring us back to our own families and houses in safety, 
 and to restore health to the people of London. 
 
 " As to our dying here, we assure you, if any of us die, 
 we that survive will bury them, and put you to no ex- 
 pense, except it should be that we should all die, and 
 then, indeed, the last man, not being able to bury himself, 
 would put you to that single expense, which, I am per- 
 suaded," says John, " he would leave enough behind him 
 to pay you for the expense of. 
 
 " On the other hand," says John, " if you will shut up 
 all bowels oi compassion, and not relieve us at all, we shall 
 not extort anything by violence, or steal from any one ; 
 
 'In. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 139 
 
 bnt when that little we have is spent, if we perish for 
 want, God's will be done." 
 
 John wrought so upon the townsmen, by talking thus 
 rationally and smoothly to them, that they went away ; 
 and though they did not give any consent to their staying 
 there, yet they did not molest them, and the poor people 
 continued there three or four days longer without any dis- 
 turbance. In this time they had got some remote acquaint- 
 ance with a victualling-house on the outskirts of the town, 
 to whom they called, at a distance, to bring some little 
 things that they wanted, and which they caused to be set 
 down at some distance, and always paid for very hon- 
 estly. 
 
 During this time, the younger people of the town came 
 frequently pretty near them, and would stand and look at 
 them, and would sometimes talk with them at some space 
 between ; and particularly it was observed that the first 
 Sabbath-day the poor people kept retired,* worshipped 
 God together, and were heard to sing psalms. 
 
 These things, and a quiet inoffensive behaviour, began 
 to get them the good opinion of the country, and the peo- 
 ple began to pity them and speak very well of them ; the 
 consequence of which was, that, upon the occasion of a 
 very wet rainy night, a certain gentleman, who lived in 
 the neighbourhood, sent them a little cart with twelve 
 trusses or bundles of straw, as well for them to lodge upon 
 as to cover and thatch their huts, and to keep them dry. 
 The minister of a parish not far off, not knowing of the 
 other, sent them also about two bushels of wheat and half 
 a bushel of white peas. 
 
 They were very thankful, to be sure, for this relief, and 
 particularly the straw was a very great comfort to them ; 
 for, though the ingenious carpenter had made them frames 
 to lie in, like troughs, and filled them with leaves of trees 
 and such things as they could get, and had cut all their 
 tent-cloth out to make coverlids, yet they lay damp and 
 ' In retirement ; quietly. 
 
140 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 hard, and unwholesome till this straw came, which was to 
 them like feather-heds ; and, as John said, more welcome 
 than feather-beds would have been at another time. 
 
 This gentleman and the minister having thus begun, and 
 given an example of charity to these wanderers, others 
 quickly followed, and they received every day some benev- 
 olence or other from the people, but chiefly from the 
 gentlemen who dwelt in the country round about : some 
 sent them chairs, stools, tables, and such household things 
 as they gave notice they wanted ; some sent them blankets, 
 rugs, and coverlids ; some earthen ware, and some kitchen 
 ware for ordering ^ their food. 
 
 Encouraged by this good usage, their carpenter, in a few 
 days, built them a large shed or house with rafters, and a 
 roof in form, and an upper floor, in which they lodged 
 warm, for the weather began to be damp and cold in the 
 beginning of September ; but this house, being very well 
 thatched, and the sides and roof very thick, kept out the 
 cold well enough ; he made also an earthern wall at one 
 end, with a chimney in it ; and another of the company, 
 with a vast deal of trouble and pains, made a funnel to the 
 chimney to carry out the smoke. 
 
 Here they lived comfortably, though coarsely, till the 
 beginning of September, when they had the bad news to 
 hear, whether true or not, that the plague, which was very 
 hot at Waltham Abbey on the one side, and Kumford and 
 Brentwood on the other side, was also come to Epping, to 
 "Woodford, and to most of the towns upon the forest ; and 
 which, as they said, was brought down among them chiefly 
 by the higglers,^ and such people as went to and from 
 London with provisions. 
 
 If this was true, it was an evident contradiction to the 
 report which was afterwards spread all over England, but, 
 which, as I have said, I cannot confirm of my own knowl- 
 edge, namely, that the market people, carrying provisions 
 ' Preparing. 'Hucksters. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 141 
 
 to the city, never got the infection, or carried it back into 
 the country ; both which, I have been assured, has been * 
 false. 
 
 It might be that they ^ were preserved even beyond ex- 
 pectation, though not to a miracle ; ' that abundance went 
 and came and were not touched, and that was much en- 
 couragement for the poor people of London, who had been * 
 completely miserable if the people that brought pro- 
 visions to the markets had not been many times wonder- 
 fully preserved, or at least more preserved than could 
 be reasonably expected. 
 
 But these new inmates began to be disturbed more 
 effectually ; for the towns about them were really infected, 
 and they began to be afraid to trust one another so much 
 as to go abroad for such things as they wanted, and this 
 pinched'them very hard, for now they had little or nothing 
 but what the charitable gentlemen of the country supplied 
 them with ; but, for their encouragement, it happened 
 that other gentlemen of the country, who had not sent 
 them anything before, began to hear of them and supply 
 them ; and one sent them a large pig, that is to say, a 
 porker ; ' another two sheep, and another sent them a 
 calf ; iii short, they had meat enough, and sometimes had 
 cheese and milk, and such things. They were chiefly put 
 to it for bread, for when the gentlemen sent them corn, 
 they had nowhere to bake it or to grind it ; this made 
 them eat the first two bushels of wheat that was sent them, 
 in parched corn, as the Israelites of old did, without grind- 
 ing or making bread of it. 
 
 At last they found means to carry their corn to a wind- 
 mill, near Woodford, where they had it ground ; and 
 afterwards the biscuit-baker made a hearth so hollow and 
 dry that he could bake biscuit-cakes tolerably well; and thus 
 they came into a condition to live without any assistance or 
 
 ' Have been ; were. ' The market-people. 
 
 » So far as to amount to a miracle. ' Would have been. 
 
 <■ Fat enough to kill. 
 
142 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 supplies from the towns ; and it was well they did, for the 
 country was soon after fully infected, and about a hundred 
 and twenty were said to have died of the distemper in the 
 villages near them, which was a terrible thing to them. 
 
 On this they called a new council, and now the towns 
 had no need to be afraid they should settle near them ; 
 but, on the contrary, several families of the poorer sort of 
 the inhabitants quitted their houses and built huts in the 
 forest, after the same manner as they had done. But it 
 was observed, that several of these poor peoiile that had so 
 removed had the sickness even in their huts or booths ; 
 the reason of which was plain, namely, not because they 
 removed into the air, but because they did not remove 
 time ' enough; that is to say, not till by openly conversing 
 with other people, their neighbours, they had the dis- 
 temper upon them, or, as may be said, among them, and 
 so carried it about with them whither they went. Or, (2) 
 because * they were not careful enough, after they were 
 safely removed out of the towns, not to come in again and 
 mingle with the diseased people. 
 
 But be it which of these it will, when our travellers 
 began to perceive that the plague was not only in the 
 towns but even in the tents and huts on the forest near 
 them, they began then not only to be afraid, but to think 
 of decamping and removing ; for, had they stayed, they 
 would have been in manifest danger of their lives. 
 
 It is not to be wondered that they were greatly afflicted 
 at being obliged to quit the place where they had been so 
 kindly received, and where they had been treated with so 
 much humanity and charity ; but necessity, and the hazard 
 of life, which they came out so far to preserve, prevailed 
 with them, and they saw no remedy. John, however, 
 thought of a remedy for their present misfortune, namely, 
 that he would first acquaint that gentleman who was their 
 
 ' In time. 
 
 '-I The following should strictly be a part of the preceding sen- 
 tence. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 143 
 
 principal benefactor with the distress they were in ; and 
 Ho crave his assistance and advice. 
 
 This good charitable gentleman encouraged them to quit 
 the place, for fear they should be cut off from any retreat 
 at all, by the violence of the distemper ; but whither they 
 should go, that he found very hard to direct them to. At 
 last John asked of him whether he, being a justice of the 
 peace, would give them certificates of health to other jus- 
 tices who ^ they might come before, that so, whatever might 
 be their lot, they might not be repulsed now they had been 
 also so long from London. This his worship immediately 
 granted, and gave them proper letters of health ; and from 
 thence they were at liberty to travel whither they pleased. 
 
 Accordingly, they had a full certificate of health, inti- 
 mating that they had resided in a village in the county of 
 Essex so long ;^ that being examined and scrutinized suffi- 
 ciently, and having been retired from all conversation ■• for 
 above forty days, without any appearance of sickness, they 
 were, therefore, certainly concluded to be sound men, 
 and might be safely entertained anywhere ; having at last 
 removed rather for fear of the plague, which was come into 
 such a town, rather ' than for having any signal of infection 
 upon them, or upon any belonging to them. 
 
 With this certificate they removed, though with great 
 reluctance ; and John inclining not to go far from home, 
 they removed toward the marshes on the side of Waltham. 
 But here they found a man who, it seems, kept a weir or 
 stop ' upon the river, made to raise water for the barges 
 which go up and down the river, and he terrified them with 
 dismal stories of the sickness having been spread into all the 
 towns on the river, and near the river, on the side of Middle- 
 sex and Hertfordshire ; that is to say, into Waltham, Wal- 
 tham Cross, Enfield, and Ware, and all the towns on the 
 road, that they were afraid to go that way ; though, it seems, 
 
 ' Would. 'Whom. 'For such-and-such a time. 
 
 * Intercourse. "An unnecessary repetition. 
 
 ° A sort of look. 
 
144 JOURNAL OP THE PLAGUE 
 
 the man imposed upon them, for that ' the thing was not 
 really true. 
 
 However, it terrified them, and they resolved to move 
 across the forest towards Eumford and Brentwood ; but 
 they heard that there were numbers of people fled out of 
 London that way, who lay up and down in the forest reach- 
 ing near Rumford ; and who, having no subsistence or habi- 
 tation, not only lived oddly,' and suffered great extremities 
 in the woods and fields for want of relief, but were said to be 
 made so desperate by those extremities as that they offered 
 many violences to the country, robbed, and plundered, and 
 killed cattle, and the like : and others, building huts and 
 hovels by the road-side, begged, and that with an impor- 
 tunity next door to demanding relief : so that the country 
 was very uneasy, and had been obliged to take some of 
 them up. 
 
 This, in the first place, intimated to them that they 
 would be sure to find the charity and kindness of the 
 county, which they had found here where they were be- 
 fore, hardened and shut up against them : and that, on 
 the other hand, they would be questioned wherever they 
 came, and would be in danger of violence from others in 
 like cases with themselves. 
 
 Upon all these considerations, John, their captain, in all 
 their names, went back to their good friend and benefactor 
 who had relieved them before, and laying their case truly 
 before him, humbly asked his advice ; and he as kindly 
 advised them to take up their old quarters again, or, if not, 
 to remove but a little farther out of the road, and directed 
 them to a proper place for them ; and as they really wanted 
 some house, rather than huts, to shelter them at that time 
 of the year, it growing on towards Michaelmas, they found 
 an old decayed house, which had been formerly some cot- 
 tage or little habitation, but was so out of repair as " scarce 
 habitable ; and by consent of a farmer, to whose farm it 
 belonged, they got leave to make what use of it they could 
 
 ' For. ' Probably, from hand to mouth. ' As to be. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 145 
 
 The ingenious joiner, and all the rest by his directions, 
 went to work with it, and in a very few days made it ca- 
 pable to shelter them all, in case of bad weather ; and in 
 which there was an old chimney and an old oven, though 
 both lying in ruins, yet they made them both fit for use : 
 and raising additions, sheds, and lean-to's on every side, 
 they soon made the house capable to hold them all. 
 
 They chiefly wanted boards to make window-shutters, 
 floors, doors, and several other things : but as the gentle- 
 man above ^ favoured them, and the country was by that 
 means made easy with them ; and, above all, that ' they 
 were known to be all sound and in good health, every- 
 body helped them with what they could spare. 
 
 Here they encamped for good and all, and resolved to 
 remove no more ; they saw plainly how terribly alarmed 
 that country was everywhere at anybody that came from 
 London ; and that they should have no admittance any- 
 where but with the utmost difficulty, at least no friendly 
 reception and assistance as they had received here. 
 
 Now although they received great assistance and en- 
 couragement from the country gentlemen, and from the 
 people round about them, yet they were put to great straits, 
 for the weather grew cold and wet in October and Novem- 
 ber', and they had not been used to so much hardship ; so 
 that they got cold in their limbs and distempers, but never 
 had the infection. And thus, about December, they came 
 home to the city again. 
 
 I give this story thus at large,' principally to give an ac- 
 count what * became of the great numbers of people which 
 immediately appeared in the city as soon as the sickness 
 abated ; for, as I have said, great numbers of those that 
 were able, and had retreats in the country, fled to those re- 
 treats. So when it was increased to such a frightful ex- 
 tremity as I have related, the middling people ^ who had 
 
 ' Mentioned above. ' As. ' At length. 
 
 • Of what. • People of the middle class. 
 
 10 
 
146 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 not friends fled to all parts of the country where they could 
 get shelter, as well those that had money to relieve them- 
 selves as those that had not. Those that had money always 
 fled furthest, because they were able to subsist themselves ; ' 
 but those who were empty, suffered, as I have said, great 
 hardships, and were often driven by necessity to relieve 
 their wants at the expense of the country. By that means 
 the country was made very uneasy at them, and sometimes 
 took them up, though even then they scarce knew what 
 to do with them, and were always very backward to punish 
 them ; but, often too, they forced them from place to place, 
 till they were obliged to come back again to London. 
 
 I have, since my knowing this story of John and his 
 brother, inquired and found that there were a great many 
 of the poor disconsolate people, as above, fled ^ into the 
 country every way ;^ and some of them got little sheds, and 
 bams, and outhouses to live in, where they could obtain so 
 much kindness of the country ; and especially where they 
 had any the least * satisfactory account to give of them- 
 selves, and particularly that they did ' not come out of Lon- 
 don too late.' But others, and that in great numbers, built 
 themselves little huts and retreats in the fields and woods, 
 and lived like hermits, in holes and caves, or any place they 
 could find ; and where, we may be sure, they suffered great 
 extremities, such that many of them were obliged to come 
 back again, whatever the danger was ; and so those little 
 huts were often found empty, and the country people sup- 
 posed the inhabitants lay dead in them of the plague, and 
 would not go near them for fear, no, not in a great while ; 
 nor is it unlikely but thaf some of the unhappy wanderers 
 might die so all alone, even sometimes for want of help, as 
 particularly in one tent or hut was found a man dead ; and, 
 on the gate of a field just by, was cut with his knife in un- 
 even letters the following words, by which it may be sup- 
 
 ' By themselres, ' Who fled. ' In every direction. 
 
 • Any, even the least. " Had. * Very recently. 
 
 ' Unlikely that. 
 
JOURNAL OF TEE PLAGUE 147 
 
 posed the other man escaped, or that one dying first, the 
 other buried him as well as he could : 
 
 OmlsErY! 
 WeBoTHShaLLDyE, 
 W E, W E 
 
 I have given an account already of what I found to have 
 been the case down the river among the seafaring men, how 
 the ships lay in the ofiSng, as it is called, in rows or lines, 
 astern of one another, quite down from the Pool as far as I 
 could see. I have been told that they lay in the same man- 
 ner quite down the river as low as G-ravesend, and some far 
 beyond, even everywhere, or in every place where they could 
 ride with safety as to wind and weather ; nor did I ever 
 hear that the plague reached to any of the people on board 
 those ships, except such as lay up in the Pool, or as high 
 as Deptford Keach, although the people went frequently 
 on shore to the country towns and villages, and farmers' 
 houses, to buy fresh provisions, fowls, pigs, calves, and the 
 like, for their supply. 
 
 Likewise, I found that the watermen on the river above 
 the bridge found means to convey themselves away up the 
 river as far as they could go ; and that they had, many of 
 them, their whole families in their boats, covered with tilts • 
 and bales,^ as they call them, and furnished with straw 
 within for their lodging ; and that they lay thus all along 
 by the shore in the marshes, some of them setting up little 
 tents with their sails, and so lying under them on shore 
 in the day, and going into their boats at night ; and in this 
 manner, as I have heard, the river sides were lined with 
 boats and people as long as they had anything to subsist on, 
 or could get anything of the country ; and, indeed, the 
 country people, as well gentlemen as others, on these and 
 all other occasions, were very forward^ to relieve them, but 
 
 ' Awnings. 
 
 ' Hoops for supporting a large covering, like that of a wagon. 
 
 ' Beady. 
 
14:8 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 they were by no means willing to receive them into their 
 towns and houses, and for that we cannot blame them. 
 
 There was one unhappy citizen, within my knowledge, 
 who had been visited in a dreadful manner, so that his wife 
 and all his children were dead, and himself and two ser- 
 vants only left, with an elderly woman, a near relation, 
 who had nursed those that were dead as well as she could. 
 This disconsolate man goes to a village near the town, 
 though not within the bills of mortality,' and finding an 
 empty house there, inquires out the owner, and took the 
 house. After a few days, he got a cart, and loaded it with 
 goods, and carries them down to the house ; the people of 
 the village opposed his driving the cart along, but with 
 some arguings, and some force, the men that drove the cart 
 along got through the street up to the door of the house ; 
 there the constable resisted them again, and would not let 
 them be brought in. The man caused the goods to be un- 
 loaded and laid at the door, and sent the cart away, upon 
 which they carried the man before a justice of peace ; that 
 is to say, they commanded him to go, which he did. The 
 justice ordered him to cause the cart to fetch away the 
 goods again, which he refused to do ; upon which the jus- 
 tice ordered the constable to pursue the carters and fetch 
 them back, and make them reload the goods and carry 
 them away, or to set them in the stocks till they came ' for 
 further orders ; and if they could not find them, and the 
 man would not consent to take them ' away, they should 
 cause them to be drawn with hooks from the house door 
 and burnt in the street. The poor distressed man upon 
 this fetched the goods again, but with grievous cries and 
 lamentations at the hardship of his case. But there was no 
 remedy, self-preservation obliged * the people to those sever- 
 ities, which they would not otherwise have been concerned 
 in. Whether this poor man lived or died I cannot tell, but 
 
 ' Not near enough to the town for deaths in it to he entered on the 
 records of the town. 
 
 ' Before the court. 'The goods. 'Forced. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 149 
 
 it was reported that he had the plague upon him at that 
 time, and perhaps the people might report that to justify 
 their usage of him ; but it was not unlikely that either he 
 or his goods, or both, were dangerous, when his whole 
 family had been dead of the distemper so little a while 
 before. 
 
 I know that the inhabitants of the towns adjacent to 
 London were much blamed for cruelty to the poor people 
 that ran from the contagion in their distress, and many 
 very severe things were done, as may be seen from what 
 has been said ; but I cannot but say also, that where there 
 was room for charity and assistance to the people, without 
 apparent danger to themselves, they were willing enough 
 to help and relieve them. But as every town were,* indeed, 
 judges in their* own case, so the poor people who ran 
 abroad in their extremities were often ill-used and driven 
 back again into the town ; and this caused infinite exclama- 
 tions and outcries against the country towns, and made the 
 clamour * very popular. 
 
 And yet more or less, maugre * all the caution, there was 
 not a town of any note within ten (or, I believe, twenty) 
 miles of the city, but what was more or less infected, and 
 had some died ^ among them. I have heard the accounts 
 of several, such as they were ° reckoned up, as follows : — 
 
 Enfield .... 
 
 32 
 
 Homsey .... 
 
 . 58 
 
 Newington 
 
 17 
 
 Tottenham .... 
 
 . 42 
 
 Edmonton 
 
 19 
 
 Barnet and Hadley 
 
 . 43 
 
 St. Albans 
 
 121 
 
 "Watford .... 
 
 . 45 
 
 Uxbridge 
 
 117 
 
 'Was. 'Its. 
 
 ' The outcry against the alleged cruelty of the towns. 
 
 * In spite of. ' Who died. ' Such as were. 
 
150 
 
 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 In Hertford .... 
 
 . 90 
 
 Ware ..'... 
 
 160 
 
 Hodsdon .... 
 
 . 30 
 
 Waltham Abbey 
 
 23 
 
 Epping .... 
 
 . 26 
 
 Deptford . . . . 
 
 623 
 
 Greenwich .... 
 
 .631 
 
 Eltham and Lnsnm 
 
 85 
 
 Croydon .... 
 
 . 61 
 
 Brentwood . . . . 
 
 70 
 
 Bnmford .... 
 
 . 109 
 
 Barking, abont 
 
 200 
 
 Brandford .... 
 
 . 432 
 
 Kingston . . . . 
 
 122 
 
 Staines .... 
 
 . 82 
 
 Ohertsey 
 
 18 
 
 Windsor .... 
 
 . 103 
 
 
 cum aliis.* 
 
 Another thing might render the country more strict with 
 respect to the citizens, and especially with respect to the 
 poor ; and this was what I hinted at before, namely, that 
 there was a seeming propensity, or a wicked inclination, in 
 those that were infected to infect others. 
 
 There have been great debates among our physicians aa 
 to the reason of this : some will have it to be in the nature 
 of the disease, and that it impresses every one that is 
 seized upon by it with a kind of rage and a hatred against 
 their own kind, as if there were a malignity, not only in 
 the distemper to communicate itself, but in the very nature 
 of man, prompting him with evil will, or an evil eye,' that 
 as they say in the case of a mad dog, who, though the 
 gentlest creature before of any of his kind, yet then will 
 fly upon and bite any one that comes next ^ him, and those * 
 
 ' With others. 
 
 ' That is, with a desire to use the baleful powers that belonged to 
 an " evil eye." 'Nearest. < Those nearest him. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 151 
 
 as soon as any who have been most observed by him be- 
 fore. 
 
 Others placed it to the account of the corruption of 
 human nature, who ' cannot bear to see itself more miser- 
 able than others of its own species, and has a kind of in- 
 voluntary wish that all men were as unhappy or in as bad 
 a condition as itself. 
 
 Others say it was only a kind of desperation, not know- 
 ing ' or regarding what they did, and consequently uncon- 
 cerned at the danger or safety, not only of anybody near 
 them, but even of themselves also. And, indeed, when 
 men are once come to a condition to ' abandon themselves, 
 and be unconcerned for the safety or at the danger of 
 themselves, it cannot be so much wondered that they should 
 be careless of the safety of other people. 
 
 But I choose to give this grave debate quite a different 
 turn, and answer it or resolve it all by saying that I do not 
 grant the fact. On the contrary, I say that the thing is 
 not really so, but that it was a general complaint raised by 
 the people inhabiting the out-lying villages against the 
 citizens, to justify, or at least excuse, those hardships and 
 severities so much talked of, and in which complaints both 
 sides may be said to have injured one another ; that is to 
 say, the citizens, pressing to be received and harboured in 
 time of distress, and with the plague upon them, complain 
 of the cruelty and injustice of the country people, in J)eing 
 refused entrance, and forced back again with their goods 
 and families ; and the inhabitants, finding themselves so 
 imposed upon, and the citizens breaking in as it were upon 
 them, whether they would or no, complain that when they* 
 were infected they were not only regardless of others, but 
 even willing to infect them : neither of which was really 
 true, that is to say, in the colours they ' were described in. 
 
 ' The relative, and the pronouns that follow it, refer partly to "■ hu- 
 man nature," partly to some word like " man," to which it is assumed 
 to be equivalent. ' Men not knowing ^ To such a condition as to. 
 
 * The citizens. * The preceding statements. 
 
152 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 It is true there is something to be said for the frequent 
 alarms which were given to the country of the resolution of 
 the people of London to come out by force, not only for 
 relief, but to plunder and rob, that' they ran about the 
 streets with the distemper upon them without any control, 
 and that no care was taken to shut up houses, and confine 
 the sick people from infecting others ; whereas, to do the 
 Londoners justice, they never practised such things, except 
 in such particular cases as I have mentioned above, and 
 such like. On the other hand, everything was managed 
 with so much care, and such excellent order was observed 
 in the whole city and suburbs, by the care of tlie lord 
 mayor and aldermen, and by the justices of the peace, 
 churchwardens, etc., in the out-parts, that London may be 
 a pattern to all the cities in the world for the good govern- 
 ment and the excellent order that was everywhere kept, 
 even in the time of the most violent infection, and when 
 the people were in the utmost consternation and distress. 
 But of this I shall speak by itself. 
 
 One thing, it is to be observed, was owing principally to 
 the prudence of the magistrates, and ought to be men- 
 tioned to their honour, viz., the moderation which they 
 used in the great and difficult work of shutting up houses. 
 It is true, as I have mentioned,^ that the shutting up of 
 houses was a great subject of discontent, and I may say, in- 
 deed, the only subject of discontent among the people 
 at that time ; for the confining the sound in the same 
 house with the sick was counted very terrible, and the 
 complaints of people so confined were very grievous ; they 
 were heard in the very streets, and they were sometimes 
 such that called for resentment, though oftener for com- 
 passion ; they had no way to converse with any of their 
 friends but out of their windows, where they would make 
 such piteous lamentations as often moved the hearts of 
 those they talked with, and of others who, passing by, 
 ' Alarms, that. = See page 49. 
 
JOURNAL OF TME PLAGUE 153 
 
 heard their story ; and as those complaints oftentimes re- 
 proached the severity, and sometimes the insolence, of the 
 watchmen placed at their doors, those watchmen would 
 answer saucily enough, and perhaps be apt to affront the 
 people who were in the street talking to the said families, 
 for which, or for their ill-treatment of the families, I think 
 seven or eight of them in several places were killed ; I 
 know not whether I should say murdered or not, because I 
 cannot enter into the particular cases. It is true, the 
 watchmen were on their duty, and acting in the post where, 
 they were placed by a lawful authority : and killing any 
 public legal officer in the execution of his office is always, 
 in the language of the law, called murder. But as they 
 were not authorized by the magistrate's instructions, or by 
 the power they acted under, to be injurious or abusive, 
 either to the people who were under their observation, or 
 to any that concerned themselves for them, so that when 
 they did so they might be said to act themselves, not their 
 office, to act as private persons, not as persons employed, and 
 consequently, if they brought mischief upon themselves by 
 such an undue behaviour, that mischief was upon their own 
 heads ; and, indeed, they had so much the hearty curses of 
 the people, whether they deserved it or not, that whatever 
 befell them nobody pitied them, and everybody was apt to 
 say they deserved it, whatever it was ; nor do I remember 
 that anybody was ever punished, at least to any consider- 
 able degree, for whatever was done to the watchmen that 
 guarded their houses. 
 
 What variety of stratagems were * used to escape and get 
 out of houses thus shut up, by which the watchmen were 
 deceived or overpowered, and that ^ the people got away, I 
 have taken notice of already,' and shall say no more to that ; 
 but I say the magistrates did moderate and ease families 
 upon many occasions in this case, and particularly in that 
 of taking away or suffering to be removed the sick persons 
 out of such houses, when they were willing to be removed, 
 ' Was. = The fact that. ^ See page 52 . 
 
154 JOURNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 
 
 either to a pest-house or other places, and sometimes giving 
 the well persons in the family so shut up leave to remove 
 upon information given that they were well, and that they 
 would confine themselves in such houses where they went 
 so long as should be required of them. The concern also 
 of the magistrates for the supplying such poor families as 
 were infected, I say, supplying them with necessaries, as 
 well physic as food, was very great, and in which ' they did 
 not content themselves with giving the necessary orders to 
 the officers appointed, but the aldermen in person, and on 
 horseback, frequently rode to such houses and caused the 
 people to be asked at their windows whether they were duly 
 attended or not ; also whether they wanted anything that 
 was necessary, and if the officers had constantly carried their 
 messages, and fetched them such things as they wanted, 
 or not ; and if they answered in the affirmative, all was 
 well ; but if they complained that they were ill-supplied, 
 and that the officer did not do his duty, or did not treat them 
 civilly, they (the officers) were generally removed, and 
 others placed in their stead. 
 
 It is true such complaint might be unjust, and if the 
 officer had such arguments to use as would convince the 
 magistrate that he was right, and that the people had in- 
 jured him, he was continued and they reproved. But this 
 part could not well bear a particular inquiry, for the parties 
 could very ill be well heard and answered in the street from 
 the windows, as was the case then ; the magistrates there- 
 fore generally chose to favour the people, and remove the 
 man, as what seemed to be the least wrong, and of the least 
 ill consequence ; seeing, if the watchman was injured, yet 
 they could easily make him amends by giving him another 
 post of a like nature ; but if the family was injured, there 
 was no satisfaction could be made to them, the damage per- 
 haps being irreparable, as it concerned their lives. 
 
 A great variety of these cases frequently happened be- 
 tween the watchmen and the poor people shut up, besides 
 ' In such cases. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 155 
 
 those I formerly mentioned about escaping ; sometimes the 
 watchmen were absent, sometimes drunk, sometimes asleep 
 when the people wanted them, and such never failed to be 
 punished severely, as indeed they deserved. 
 
 But, after all that was or could be done in these cases, 
 the shutting up of houses, so as to confine those that were 
 well with those that were sick, had very great inconven- 
 iences in it, and some that were very tragical, and which 
 merited to have been considered if there had been room 
 for it ; but it was authorized by a law, it had the public 
 good in view, as the end chiefly aimed at, and all the 
 private injuries that were done by the putting it in execu- 
 tion must be put to, the account of the public benefit. 
 
 It is doubtful whether, in the whole, it contributed any- 
 thing to the stop of the infection, and, indeed, I cannot 
 say it did ; for nothing could run with greater fury and 
 rage than the infection did when it was in its chief vio- 
 lence ; though the houses infected were shut up as exactly 
 and effectually as it was possible. Certain it is, that if all 
 the infected persons were effectually shut in, no sound per- 
 son could have been infected by them, because they could 
 not have come near them.* But the case^ was this, and I 
 shall only touch it here, namely, . that the infection was 
 propagated insensibly, and by such persons as were not vis- 
 ibly infected, who neither knew whom they infected, nor 
 whom they were infected by. 
 
 A house in Whitechapel was shut up for the sake of one 
 infected maid, who had only spots, not the tokens, come 
 out upon her, and recovered ; yet these people obtained no 
 liberty to stir, neither for air or exercise forty days ; * want 
 of breath,* fear, anger, vexation, and all the other griefs 
 attending such an injurious treatment, cast the mistress of 
 the family into a fever ; and visitors' came into the house 
 
 ' Unless, as we now understand, the germs of the disease were con- 
 veyed otherwise than by contact between infected persons. 
 
 •^ Point. ' For forty days. * Want of fresh air. 
 
 ' The official examiners. 
 
156 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 and said it was the plagne, though the physicians declared 
 it was not ; however, the family were obliged to begin 
 their quarantine anew, on the report of the visitor or ex- 
 aminer, though their former quarantine wanted but a few 
 days of being finished. This oppressed them so with anger 
 and grief, and, as before, straitened them also so much as 
 to room, and for want of breathing and free air, that most 
 of the family fell sick, one of one distemper, one of an- 
 other, chiefly scorbutic ailments,' only one a* violent cholic, 
 until after several prolongings of their confinement, some 
 or other of those that came in with the visitors to inspect 
 the persons that were ill, in hopes of releasing them, 
 brought the distemper with them, and. infected the whole 
 house, and all or most of them died, not of the plague as 
 really upon them before, but of the plague that those people 
 brought them, who should have been careful to have pro- 
 tected them from it ; and this was a thing which frequently 
 happened, and was, indeed, one of the worst consequences 
 of shutting houses up. 
 
 I had about this time a little hardship put upon me, 
 which I was at first greatly afflicted at, and very much dis- 
 turbed about, though, as it proved, it did not expose me to 
 any disaster ; and this was, being appointed, by the alder- 
 man of Portsoken ward, one of the examiners of the houses 
 in the precinct where I lived ; we had a large parish, and 
 had no less than eighteen examiners, as the order ' called 
 us : the people called us visitors. I endeavoured with all 
 my might to be excused from such an employment, and used 
 many arguments with the alderman's deputy to be ex- 
 cused ; particularly, I alleged, that I was against shutting 
 up houses at all, and that it would be very hard to oblige 
 me to be an instrument in that which was against my 
 Judgment, and which I did verily believe would not answer 
 the end it was intended for ; but all the abatement I could 
 get was only that, whereas the officer was appointed by my 
 
 ' The scnrvy, or similar diseases. "Of a, , 
 
 ° The official appointment. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 157 
 
 lord mayor to continue two months, I should be obliged to 
 hold it but three weeks, on condition, nevertheless, that I 
 could then get some other sufficient housekeeper to serve 
 the rest of the time for me, which was, in short, but a 
 very small favour, it being very difficult to get any man to 
 accept of such an employment, that was fit to be intrusted 
 with it. 
 
 It is true, that shutting up of houses had one effect, 
 which I am sensible was of moment, namely, it confined 
 the distempered people, who would otherwise have been 
 both very troublesome and very dangerous in their run- 
 ning about streets with the distemper upon them : which, 
 when they were delirious, they would have done in a most 
 frightful manner as, indeed, they began to do at first very 
 much, until they were restrained ; nay, so very open they 
 were, that the poor would go about and beg at people's 
 doors, and say they had the plague upon them, and beg 
 rags for their sores, or both, or anything that delirious 
 nature happened to think of. 
 
 A poor unhappy gentlewoman, a substantial citizen's 
 wife, was, if the story be true, murdered by one of these 
 creatures in Aldersgate Street, or that way.* He was going 
 along the street, raving mad to be sure, and singing ; the 
 people only said he was drunk,^ but he himself said he had 
 the plague upon him, which, it seems, was true ; and meet- 
 ing this gentlewoman, he would kiss her ; she was terribly 
 frightened, as he was a rude fellow, and she run from him ; 
 but the street being very thin of people, there was nobody 
 near enough to help her ; when she saw he would overtake 
 her, she turned and gave him a thrust, so forcibly, he be- 
 ing but weak, as pushed him down backward ; but very 
 unhappily, she being so near, he caught hold of her, and 
 pulled her down also ; and getting up first, mastered her, 
 and kissed her ; and which was worst of all, when he had 
 done, told her he had the plague, and why should not she 
 have it as well as he ? She was frightened enough before 
 ' In that vicinity. ' Said he was only drunk. 
 
168 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 . . . but when she heard him say he had the plague, 
 she screamed out and fell down into a swoon, or in a fit,, 
 which, though she recovered a little, yet killed her in a 
 very few days, and I never heard whether she had the 
 plague or no. 
 
 Another infected person came and knocked at the door 
 of a citizen's house, where they knew him very well ; the 
 servant let him in, and being told the master of the house 
 was above, he ran up, and came into the room to them as 
 the whole family were at supper. They began to rise up 
 a little surprised, not knowing what the matter was ; but 
 he bid them sit still, he only come ' to take his leave of 
 
 them. They asked him, "Why, Mr. , where are you 
 
 going ? " " Going ! " says he, " I have got the sickness, 
 and shall die to-morrow night." It is easy to believe, 
 though nob to describe, the consternation they were all in ; 
 the women and the man's daughters, which ^ were but 
 little girls, were frightened almost to death, and got up, 
 one running out at one door, and one at another, some 
 downstairs and some upstairs, and getting together as 
 well as they could, locked themselves into their chambers, 
 and screamed out at the windows for help, as if they had 
 been frightened out of their wits. The master, more com- 
 posed than they, though both frightened and provoked, 
 was going to lay hands on him and throw him down stairs, 
 being in a passion ; but then, considering a little the con- 
 dition of the man, and the danger of touching him, horror 
 seized his mind, and he stood' still like one astonished. 
 The poor distempered man, all this while, being as well 
 diseased in his brain _as in his body, stood still like one 
 amazed ; at length he turns round ; " Ay ! " says he, with 
 all the seeming calmness imaginable, " is it so with you all ? 
 Are you all disturbed at me ? Why, then I'll e'en go 
 home and die there." And so he goes immediately down 
 stairs. The servant that had let him in goes down aftei 
 him with a candle, bat was afraid to go past him and open 
 ■ Came. > Who. 
 
JOURNAL OF TEE PLAQUE 159 
 
 the door, so he stood on the stairs to see what he would do ; 
 the man went and opened the door, and went out and 
 flung > the door after him. It was some while before the 
 family recovered ^ the fright ; but as no ill consequence 
 attended, they have had occasion since to speak of it, you 
 may be sure, with great satisfaction ; though the man was 
 gone, it was some time, nay, as I heard, some days, before 
 they recovered themselves of the hurry ' they were in ; 
 nor did they go up and down the house with any assurance 
 till they had burnt a great variety of fumes and perfumes 
 in all the rooms, and made a great many smokes of pitch, 
 of gunpowder, and of sulphur ; all separately shifted,* and 
 washed their clothes, and the like. As to the poor man, 
 whether he lived or died I do not remember. 
 
 It is most certain, that if, by the shutting up of houses, 
 the sick had not been confined, multitudes, who in the 
 height of their fever were delirious and distracted, would 
 have been continually running up and down the streets ; 
 and, even as it was, a very great number did so, and of- 
 fered all sorts of violence to those they met, even just as a 
 mad dog runs on and bites at every one he meets ; nor 
 can I doubt but that should one of those infected diseased 
 creatures have bitten any man or woman, while the frenzy 
 of the distemper was upon them, they, I mean the person 
 so wounded, would as certainly have been incurably in- 
 fected, as one that was sick before, and had the tokens 
 upon him. 
 
 I heard of one infected creature, who, running out of his 
 bed in his shirt, in the anguish and agony of his swellings, 
 of which he had three upon him, got his shoes on and 
 went to put on his coat, but the nurse resisting and snatch- 
 ing the coat from him, he threw her down, run over her, 
 ran down stairs, and into the street directly to the Thames, 
 in his shirt, the nurse running after him, and calling to 
 
 ■■ Flung to. = Recovered from. 
 
 s Confusion. * Changed their clothes. 
 
160 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 the watch to^ stop him ; but the watchman, frightened at 
 the man, and afraid to touch him, let him go on ; upon 
 which he ran down to the Still- Yard Stairs, threw away 
 his shirt, and plunged into the Thames ; and, being a good 
 swimmer, swam quite over the river ; and the tide being 
 coming in, as they call it, that is, running westward, he 
 reached the land not till he came about the Falcon Stairs, 
 where landing, and finding no people there, it being in the 
 night, he ran about the streets there, naked as he was, for 
 a good while, when, it being by that time high water, he 
 takes the river again, and swam back to the Still- Yard, 
 landed, ran up the streets to his own house, knocking at 
 the door, went up the stairs, and into his bed again ; and 
 that 1 this terrible experiment cured him of the plague, 
 that is to say, that the violent motion of his arms and legs 
 stretched the parts where the swellings he had upon him 
 were, that is to say, under his arms and in his groin, and 
 caused them to ripen and break ; and that the cold of the 
 water abated the fever in his blood. 
 
 I have only to add, that I do not relate this any more 
 than some of the other,^ as a fact within my own knowl- 
 edge, so as that I can vouch the truth of them, and espe- 
 cially that of the man being cured by the extravagant ad- 
 venture, which I confess I do not think very possible, but 
 it may serve to confirm the many desperate things which 
 the distressed people falling into deliriums, and what we 
 call light-headedness, were frequently run upon * at that 
 time, and how infinitely more such there would have been 
 if such people had not been confined by the shutting up 
 of houses ; and this I take to be the best, if not the only 
 good thing, which was performed by that severe method. 
 
 On the other hand, the complaints and the murmurings 
 were very bitter against the thing itself. 
 
 It would pierce the hearts of all that came by to hear the 
 piteOus cries of those infected people, who, being thus out 
 of their understandings by the violence of their pain, or 
 
 : It 3eema that. ' Stories. ^ Forced into. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 161 
 
 the heat of their blood, were either shut in, or perhaps 
 tied in their beds and chairs, to prevent their doing them- 
 selves hurt, and who would make a dreadful outcry at their 
 being confined, and at their being not permitted to die at 
 large, as they called it, and as they would have done be- 
 fore. 
 
 This running of distempered people about the streets 
 was very dismal, and the magistrates did their utmost to 
 prevent it; but, as it was generally in the night, and 
 always sudden, when such attempts were made, the officers 
 could not be at hand to prevent it ; and, even when they 
 got out in the day, the officers appointed did not care to 
 meddle with them, because, as they were all grievously in- 
 fected, to be sure,' when they were come to that height, so 
 they were more than ordinarily infectious, and it was one of 
 the most dangerous things that could be to touch them ; on 
 the other hand, they generally ran on, not knowing what 
 they did, till they dropped down stark dead, or till they 
 had exhausted their spirits so as that they would fall and 
 then die in perhaps hali an hour or an hour ; and which ^ 
 was most piteous to hear, they were sure to come to them- 
 selves entirely in that half hour or hour, and then to make 
 most grievous and piercing cries and lamentations, in the 
 deep afflicting sense of the condition they were in. There 
 was much of it before the order for shutting up of houses 
 was strictly put into execution ; for, at first, the watch- 
 men were not so rigorous and severe as they were after- 
 wards in the keeping ' the people in ; that is to say, be- 
 fore they were, I mean some of them, severely punished 
 for their neglect, failing* in their duty, and letting people 
 who were under their care slip away, or conniving at their 
 going abroad,' whether sick or well. But, after they saw 
 the officers appointed to examine into their conduct were 
 resolved to have them do their duty, or be punished for 
 the omission, they were more exact, and the people were 
 
 ' Surely. ' What. ' The keeping of. 
 
 ' For failing. ^ Going ont. 
 
 11 
 
162 JOURNAL OF TRE PLAQUE 
 
 strictly restrained ; which was a thing they took so ill, and 
 bore so impatiently, that their discontents can hardly be 
 described ; but there was an absolute necessity for it, that 
 must be confessed, unless some other measures had been 
 timely entered upon ; and it was too late for that. 
 
 Had not this particular ' of the sick being restrained, as 
 above, been our case at that time, London would have 
 been the most dreadful place that ever was in the world ; 
 there would, for aught I know, have as many people died 
 in the streets as died in their houses ; for, when the dis- 
 temper was at its height, it generally made them raving 
 and delirious, and when they were so, they would never be 
 persuaded to keep in their beds but by force ; and many 
 who were not tied, threw themselves out of windows, when 
 they found they could not get leave to go out of their doors. 
 
 It was for want of people conversing one with another in 
 this time of calamity, that it was impossible any particular 
 person could come at the knowledge of all the extraordi- 
 nary cases that occurred in different families ; and, par- 
 ticularly, I believe it was never "^ known to this day how 
 many people in their deliriums drowned themselves in the 
 Thames, and in the river which runs from the marshes by 
 Hackney, which we generally called Ware Kiver, or Hack- 
 ney River. As to those which were set down in the 
 weekly bill, they were indeed few, nor could it be known 
 of any of those, whether they drowned themselves by ac- 
 cident or not ; but I believe I ihight reckon up more, who, 
 within the compass of my knowledge or observation, really 
 drowned themselves in that year, than are put down in the 
 bill of all put together, for many of the bodies were never 
 found, who yet were known to be lost ; and the like in 
 other methods of self-destruction. There was also one 
 man in or about Whitecross Street burnt himself to death 
 in his bed ; some said it was done by himself, others, that 
 it was by the treachery of the nurse that attended him, but 
 that he had the plague upon him was agreed by all. 
 ' Fact. ' Has never been. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 163 
 
 It was a merciful disposition of Providence also, and 
 which I have many times thought of at that time, that no 
 fires, or no considerable ones at least, happened in the city 
 during that year, which, if it had been otherwise would 
 have been very dreadful ; and either the people must have 
 let them alone unquenched, or have come together in great 
 crowds and throngs, unconcerned at the danger of the in- 
 fection, not concerned at the houses they went into, at the 
 goods they handled, or at the persons or the people they came 
 among : but so it was, that, excepting that in Oripplegate 
 parish, and two or three little eruptions of fires, which were 
 presently extinguished, there was no disaster of that kind 
 happened ' in the whole year. They told us a story of a 
 house in a place called Swan Alley, passing from Goswell 
 Street, near the end of Old Street, into St. John Street, that 
 a family was infected there in so terrible a manner that 
 every one of the house died ; the last person lay dead on 
 the floor, and, as it is supposed, had laid herself all along ^ to 
 die Just before the fire ; the fire, it seems, had fallen from 
 its place, being of wood, and had taken hold of the boards 
 and the joists they lay on, and burnt as far as just to the 
 body, but had not taken hold of the dead body, though she 
 had little more than her shift on, and had gone out of itself, 
 not hurting the rest of the house, though it was a slight 
 timber house. How true this might be I do not determine, 
 but the city being to suffer severely the next year, by fire ^ 
 this year it felt very little of that calamity. 
 
 Indeed, considering the deliriums which the agony threw 
 people into, and how I have mentioned ^ in their madness 
 when they were alone, they did many desperate things; it 
 was very strange there were no more disasters of that kind. 
 
 It has been frequently asked me, and I cannot say that I 
 ever knew how to give a direct answer to it, how it came to 
 pass that so many infected people appeared abroad in the 
 
 ' That happened. ' Stretched herself out. 
 
 ^ The great fire of 1666. ^ * Mentioned that. 
 
164 JOURNAL OF THE PL AGUE 
 
 streets, at the same time that the houses which were in- 
 fected were so vigilantly searched, and all of them shut up 
 and guarded as they were. 
 
 I confess I know not what answer to give to this, unless 
 it be this, that in so great and populous a city as this is, it 
 was impossible to discover every house that was infected as 
 soon as it was so, or to shut up all the houses that were in- 
 fected ; so that people had the liberty of going about the 
 streets, even where they pleased, unless they were known 
 to belong to such and such infected houses. 
 
 It is true, that, as the several physicians told my lord 
 mayor, the fury of the contagion was such at some particu- 
 lar times, and people sickened so fast, and died so soon, that 
 it was impossible, and, indeed, to no purpose, to go about 
 to inquire who was sick and who was well, or to shut them 
 up with such exactness as the thing required ; almost every 
 house in a whole street being infected, and in many places 
 every person in some of the houses ; and that which was 
 still worse, by the time that the houses were known to be 
 infected, most of the persons infected would be stone dead, 
 and the rest run away for fear of being shut up, so that it 
 was to very small purpose to call them infected houses and 
 shut them up ; the infection having ravaged, and taken its 
 leave of the house, before it was really known that the 
 family was any way touched. 
 
 This might be sufficient to convince any reasonable person, 
 that as it was not in the power of the magistrates, or of any 
 human methods or policy, to prevent the spreading ' the 
 infection, so that this way of shutting up of houses was 
 perfectly insufficient for that end. Indeed, it seemed to 
 have no manner of public good in it, equal or proportion- 
 able to the grievous burthen that it was to the particular 
 families that were so shut up ; and, as far as I was employed 
 by the public in directing that severity, I frequently found 
 occasion to see that it was incapable of answering the end. 
 For example, as I was desired as a visitor or examiner to 
 ' The spreading of. 
 
JOUBNAL OF TRE PLAGUE 165 
 
 inquire into the particulars of several families which were 
 infected, we scarce came to any house where tlie plague 
 had visibly appeared in the family but that some of the 
 family were fled and gone. The magistrates would resent 
 this, and charge the examiners with being remiss in their 
 examination or inspection ; but by that means houses were 
 long infected before it was known. Now, as ' I was in this 
 dangerous office but half the appointed time, which was 
 two months, it was long enough to inform myself that we 
 were no way capable of coming at the knowledge of the 
 true state of any family, but by inquiring at the door, or of 
 the neighbours. As for going into every house to search, 
 that was a part no authority would offer to impose on the 
 inhabitants, or any citizen would undertake, for it would 
 have been exposing us to certain infection and death, and 
 to the ruin of our own families as well as of ourselves ; nor 
 would any citizen of probity, and that could be depended 
 upon, have stayed in the town, if they had been made 
 liable to such a severity. 
 
 Seeing, then, that we could come at the certainty of 
 things by no method but that of inquiry of the neighbours 
 or of the family, and on that we could not justly depend, 
 it was not jDossible but that the uncertainty of this matter 
 would remain as above. 
 
 It is true masters of families were bound by the order 
 to give notice to the examiner of the j^lace wherein 
 he lived, within two hours after he should discover it, 
 of any person being sick in his house, that is to say, 
 having signs of the infection ; but they found so many 
 ways to evade this, and excuse their negligence, that they 
 seldom gave that notice till they had taken measures to 
 have every one escape out of the house who had a mind 
 to escape, whether they were sick or sound ; and while 
 this was so, it was easy to see that the shutting up of 
 houses was no way to be depended upon as a -sufficient 
 method for putting a stop to the infection, because,: as I 
 
 'Although, ■,:.:" ■ 
 
166 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 have said elsewhere, many of those that so went out of 
 those infected houses had the plague really upon them, 
 though they might really think themselves sound ; and 
 some of these were the people that walked the streets till 
 they fell down dead, not that they were suddenly struck 
 with the distemper, as with a bullet that killed with the 
 stroke, but that they really had the infection in their blood 
 long before, only that, as it preyed secretly on their vitals, 
 it appeared not till it seized the heart with a mortal 
 power, and the patient died in a moment, as with a sud- 
 den fainting, or an apoplectic fit. 
 
 I know that some, even of our physicians, thought, for 
 a time, that those people that so died in the streets were 
 seized but that moment * they fell, as if they had been 
 touched by a stroke from heaven, as men are killed by a 
 flash of lightning ; but they found reason to alter their 
 opinion afterward, for upon examining the bodies of such 
 after they were dead, they always either had tokens upon 
 them, or other evident proofs of the distemper having 
 been longer upon them than they had otherwise expected. 
 
 This often was the reason that, as I have said, we that 
 were examiners were not able to come at the knowledge 
 of the infection being entered into a house till it was too 
 late to shut it up, and sometimes not till the people that 
 were left were all dead. In Petticoat Lane two houses to- 
 gether were infected, and several people sick ; but, the 
 distemper was so well concealed, the examiner, who was 
 my neighbour, got no knowledge of it till notice was sent 
 him that the people were all dead, and that the carts 
 should call there to fetch them away. The two heads of 
 the families concerted their measures, and so ordered their 
 matters, as that when the examiner was in the neighbour- 
 hood, they appeared generally at a time,' and answered, 
 that is, lied, for one another, or got some of the neighbour- 
 hood to say they were all in health, and perhaps knew no 
 better, till death making it impossible to keep it any longer 
 > Only at the moment. '' At the same time. 
 
JOURNAL OP THE PLAGUE 167 
 
 as a secret, the dead-carts were called in the night to both 
 the houses, and so it became public ; but when the exam- 
 iner ordered the constable to shut up the houses, there 
 was nobody left in them but three people, two in one 
 house, and one in the other, just dying, and a nurse in 
 each house, who acknowledged that they had buried five 
 before, that the houses had been infected nine or ten days, 
 and that for all the rest of the two families, which were 
 many, they were gone, some sick, some well, or whether 
 sick or well, could not be known. 
 
 In like manner, at another house in the same lane, a 
 man, having his family infected, but very unwilling to be 
 shut up, when he could conceal it no longer, shut up him- 
 self ; that is to say, he set the great red cross upon the 
 door, with the words, — " Lord, have mercy upon us ; " 
 and so deluded the examiner, who supposed it had been 
 done by the constable, by order of the other examiner, for 
 there were two examiners to every district or precinct. 
 By this means he had free egress and regress into his 
 house again, and out of it, as he pleased, notwithstanding 
 it was infected, till at length his stratagem was found out, 
 and then he, with the sound part of his family and servants, 
 made off, and escaped ; so they were not shut up at all. 
 
 These things made it very hard, if not impossible, as I 
 have said, to prevent the spreading of an infection by the 
 shutting up of houses, unless the people would think the 
 shutting up of their houses no grievance, and be so willing 
 to have it done as that they would give notice duly and 
 faithfully to the magistrates of their being infected, as 
 soon as it was known by themselves ; but as that cannot be 
 expected from them, and the examiners cannot be sup- 
 posed, as above, to go into their houses to visit and search, 
 all the good of shutting up houses will be defeated, and 
 few houses will be shut up in time, except those of the 
 poor, who cannot conceal it, and of some people who will 
 be discovered by the terror and consternation which the 
 thing put them into. 
 
168 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 I got myself discharged of the dangerous oflBce I was inj 
 as soon as I could get another admitted, whom I had ob- 
 tained for a little money to accept of it ; and so, instead of 
 serving the two months, which was directed, I was not 
 above three weeks in it ; and ' a great while, too, consider- 
 ing it was in the month of August, at which time the dis- 
 temper began to rage with great violence at our end of the 
 town. 
 
 In the execution of this ofl&ce, I could not refrain speak- 
 ing my opinion among my neighbours, as to the shutting 
 up the people in their houses ;■ in which we saw most evi- 
 dently the severities that were used, though grievous in 
 themselves, had also this particular objection against them, 
 namely, that they did not answer the end, as I have said, 
 but that the distempered people went, day by day, about 
 the streets ; and it was our united opinion, that a method 
 to have removed the sound from the sick, in case of a par- 
 ticular house being visited, would have been much more 
 reasonable, on many accounts ; leaving nobody with the 
 sick persons, but such as should, on such occasions, request 
 to stay, and declare themselves content to be shut up with 
 them. 
 
 Our scheme for removing those that were sound from 
 those that were sick, was only in such houses as were in- 
 fected, and confining the sick was no confinement ; thos^e 
 that could not stir would not complain while they were in 
 their senses, and while they had the power of judging. 
 Indeed, when they came to be delirious and light-headed, 
 then they would cry out of " the cruelty of being confined ; 
 but, for the removal of those that were well, we thought it 
 highly reasonable and just, for their own sakes, they 
 shoiilij be removed from the sick, and that, for other peo- 
 ple's safety, they should keep retired for awhile, to see 
 that they were sound, and might not infect others ; and we 
 thought twenty or thirty days enough for this. 
 
 Now, certainly, if houses had been provided on purpose 
 ' And it was. ' At. 
 
JOURNAL OF^ THE PLAQUE 169 
 
 for those that were sound, to perform this demi-quaran- 
 tine in, they would. have much less reason to think them- 
 selves injured in such restraint, than in being confined 
 with infected people in the houses where they lived. 
 
 It is here, however, to be observed, that, after the fune- 
 rals became so many that people could not toll the bell, 
 mourn, or weep, or wear black for one another, as they did 
 before ; no, nor so much as make coffins for those that 
 died ; so, after a while, the fury of the infection appeared; 
 to be so increased that, in short, they shut up no houses at 
 all ; it seemed enough that all the remedies of that kind 
 had been used till they were found fruitless, and that the 
 plague spread itself with an irresistible fury, so that as the, 
 fire the succeeding year spread itself and burnt with such vio- 
 lence that the citizens, in despair, gave over their endeav- 
 ours to extinguish it, so in the plague, it came at last to 
 such violence that the people sat still looking at one an- 
 other, and seemed quite abandoned to despair. Whole 
 streets seemed to be desolated, and not to be shut up only, 
 but to be emptied of their inhabitants ; doors were left 
 open, windows stood shattering ' with the wind in empty 
 houses, for want of people to shut them ; in a word, peo- 
 ple began to give up themselves to their fears, and to think 
 that all regulations and methods were in vain, and that 
 there was nothing to be hoped for but an universal desola- 
 tion ; and it was even in the height of this general despair 
 that it pleased God to stay his hand, and to slacken the 
 fury of the contagion, in such a manner as was even sur- 
 prising, like its beginning, and demonstrated it to be his 
 own particular hand ; and that above, if not without, the 
 agency of means, as I shall take notice of in its proper 
 place. 
 
 But I must still speak of the plague, as in its height, 
 raging even to desolation, and the people under the most 
 dreadful consternation, even, as I have said> to despair.-'It 
 '" Banging " to and fro. 
 
170 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 is hardly credible to what excesses the passions of men 
 carried them in this extremity of the distemper ; and this 
 part, I think, was as moving as the rest. What could 
 affect a man in his full power of reflection, and what could 
 make deeper impressions on the soul than to see a man, 
 almost naked, and got out of his house, or perhaps out of 
 his bed, into the street, come out of Harrow Alley, a popu- 
 lous conjunction or collection of alleys, courts, and pas- 
 sages, in the Butcher Eow in Whitechapel ; I say, what 
 could be more affecting, than to see this poor man come 
 out into the open street, run, dancing and singing, and 
 making a thousand antic gestures, with five or six women 
 and children running after him, crying and calling upon 
 him, for the Lord's sake, to come back, and entreating 
 the help of others to bring him back, but all in vain, no- 
 body daring to lay a hand upon him, or to come near him ? 
 
 This was a most grievous and afflicting thing to me, who 
 saw it all from my own windows ; for all this while the 
 poor afflicted man was, as I observed it, even then in the 
 utmost agony of pain, having, as they said, two swellings 
 upon him, which could not be brought to break or to sup- 
 purate ; but by laying strong caustics on them, the sur- 
 geons had, it seems, hopes to break them, which caustics 
 were then upon him, burning his flesh as with a hot iron. 
 I cannot say what became of this poor man, but I think he 
 continued roving about in that manner till he fell down 
 and died. 
 
 No wonder the aspect of the city itself was frightful ! 
 The usual concourse of the people in the streets, and ' 
 which used to be supplied from our end of the town, was 
 abated ; the Exchange was not kept shut indeed, but it 
 was no more frequented ; the fires were lost ; they had 
 been almost extinguished for some days, by a very smart 
 and hasty rain ; but that was not all ; some of the phy- 
 sicians insisted, that they were not only no benefit, but 
 injurious to the health of the people. This they made a 
 1 " And " is unnecessary. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 171 
 
 loud clamonr about, and complained to the lord mayor 
 about it. On tlie other hand, others of the same faculty, 
 and eminent too, opposed them, and gave their reasons 
 why the fires were and must be useful, to assuage the vio- 
 lence of the distemper. I cannot give a full account of 
 their arguments on both sides, only this I remember, that 
 they cavilled very much with one another. Some were for 
 fires, but that they must be made of wood, and not coal, 
 and of particular sorts of wood too, such as fir, in particu- 
 lar, or cedar, because of the strong eflftuvia of turpentine ; 
 others were for coal and not wood, because of the sulphur 
 and bitumen ; and others were neither for one or other. 
 Upon the whole, the lord mayor ordered no more fires : 
 and especially on this account, namely, that the plague 
 was so fierce, that they saw evidently it defied all means, 
 and rather seemed to increase than decrease, upon any ap- 
 plication to check and abate it ; and yet this amazement of 
 the magistrates proceeded rather from want of being able 
 to apply any means successfully, than from any unwilling- 
 ness, either to expose themselves, or undertake the care 
 and weight of business, for, to do them justice, they 
 neither spared their pains nor their persons : but nothing 
 answered, the infection raged, and the people were now 
 terrified to the last degree ; so that, as I may say, they 
 gave themselves up, and as I mentioned above, abandoned 
 themselves to their despair. 
 
 But let me observe here, that, when I say the people 
 abandoned themselves to despair, I do not mean to what 
 men call a religious despair, or a despair of their eternal 
 state ; but I mean a despair of their being able to escape 
 the infection, or to outlive the plague, which they saw was 
 so raging and so irresistible in its force, that indeed few 
 people that were touched with it in its height, about 
 August and September, escaped; and,. which is very par- 
 ticular,* contrary to its ordinary operation in June and 
 July, and the beginning of August, when, as I have 
 » Particularly to be noted. 
 
173' JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 observed^ many were infected, and continnfed' so many 
 days, and then went off, after having had the poison in 
 their blood a long time ; but now, on the contrary, most 
 of the people who were taken during the last two weeks in 
 August, and in the first three weeks in September, gen- 
 erally died in two or three days at the farthest, and many 
 the very same day they were taken. Whether the dog- 
 days, as our astrologers pretended to express themselves, 
 the influence of the dog-star, had that malignant efEect, or 
 all those who had the seeds of infection before in them, 
 brought it up to a maturity at that time altogether, I 
 know not ; but this was the time when it was reported 
 that above three thousand people died in one night ; and 
 they that would have us believe they more critically ob- 
 served it, pretend to say, that they all died within the 
 space of two hours ; viz., between the hours of one and 
 three in the morning. 
 
 As to the suddenness of people dying at this time, more 
 than before, there were innumerable instances of it, and I 
 could name several in my neighbourhood ; one family with- 
 out the bars, and not far from me, were all seemingly well 
 on the -Monday, being ten in family ; that evening, one 
 maid and one apprentice were taken ill, and died the next 
 morning, when the other apprentice and two childrte-were 
 tctttched, whereof one died the same evening, and the 
 other two on Wednesday ; in a word, by'Saturday atnoon, 
 the master, mistress, four children, and four servants, were 
 all gone, and the house left entirely empty, except an 
 ancient woman, who came to take charge of the goods for 
 the master of the family's brother, who lived not far ofE, 
 and who had not been sick. 
 
 Many houses were then left desolate, all the people being 
 carried away dead, and especially in an alley farther on the 
 same side beyond the bars, going in at the sign ^ of Moses 
 and Aaron. There were several houses together, which 
 they said had not one person left alive in them ; and some 
 
 ' Of an inn. 
 
JO UBNAL OF THE PL A QUE 173 
 
 that died last- in several of those houses were left a little 
 too long. before they were fetched out to :be buried; the 
 reason of. which was not, as some have written, very un- 
 truly, that the living were not sufficient to bury the dead, 
 but that the mortality was so great in the yard or alley, 
 that there was nobody left to give notice to the buriers or 
 sextons that there were any dead bodies there to be buried. 
 It was said, how true I know not, that some of those bodies 
 were so corrupted and so rotten, that it was with difficulty 
 they were carried ; and, as the carts could not come any 
 nearer than to the alley-gate in the High Street, it was so 
 much the more difficult to bring them along ; but I am not 
 certain how many bodies were then left. I am sure that 
 ordinarily it was not so. 
 
 As I have mentioned how the people were brought into 
 a condition to despair of life, and abandoned themselves, 
 so this very thing had a strange effect among us for three 
 or four weeks, that is, it made them bold and venturous ; 
 they were no more shy of one another, or restrained within 
 doors, but went anywhere and everywhere, and began to 
 converse ; one would say to another — " I do not ask you 
 howjyon are, or say hpw I am ; it is certain we shall all go, 
 so 'tis no matter who is sick or who is sound ; " and so they 
 ran desperately into any place or company; 
 
 As it^br ought the people into public company, so it was 
 surprising how itbrought them to crowd into the churches ; 
 they inquired no more into who ^ they sat near to, or far 
 from, what offensive smells they met with, or what con- 
 dition the people seemed to be in, but looking upon them- 
 selves all as so many dead corpses, they came to the churches 
 without the least caution, and crowded together as if their 
 Jives were of no consequence compared to the work which 
 they came about there ; indeed, the zeal which they showed 
 in coming, and the earnestness and affection they showed 
 in their attention to what they heard, made it manifest 
 what a value people would all put upon the worship of God 
 1 Whom. 
 
174 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 if they thought every day they attended at the church that 
 it would be their last. Nor was it without other strange 
 effects, for it took away all manner of prejudice at, or 
 scruple about, the person whom they found in the pulpit 
 when they came to the churches. It cannot be doubted but 
 that many of the ministers of the parish churches were 
 cut off among others in so common and dreadful a calam- 
 ity ; and others had not courage enough to stand it, but 
 removed into the country as they found means for escape ; 
 as, then, some parish churches were quite vacant and for- 
 saken, the people made no scruple of desiring such dis- 
 senters as had been a few years before ^ deprived of their 
 livings, * by virtue of an act of parliament called the Act 
 of Uniformity,* to preach in the churches, nor did the 
 church ministers in that case make any difficulty in accept- 
 ing their assistance ; so that many of those whom they 
 called silent ministers, had their mouths opened on this 
 occasion, and preached publicly to the people. 
 
 Here we may observe, and I hope it will not be amiss to 
 take notice of it, that a near view of death would soon 
 reconcile men of good principles one to another, and that 
 it is chiefly owing to our easy situation in life, and our 
 putting these things far from us, that our breaches are 
 fomented, ill blood continued, prejudices, breach of charity 
 and of christian union so much kept and so far carried on 
 among us as it is : another plague year would reconcile all 
 these diflferences, a close conversing with death, or with 
 diseases that threaten death, would scum off the gall from 
 our tempers, remove the animosities among us, and bring 
 us to see with differing eyes than those ^ which we looked 
 on things with before ; as the people who had been used to 
 join with the church were reconciled at this time with the 
 admitting the dissenters to preach to them, so the dissenters, 
 
 1 In 1661. - Their positions. 
 
 ' The act restricted the functions of the clergy to such as took the 
 sacrament in the authorized Church of England. 
 * Eyes differing from those. 
 
JOURNAL Of THE PLAGUE 175 
 
 who, with an uncommon prejndice, had broken oil from 
 the communion of the Church of England, were now con- 
 tent to come to their parish churches, and to conform to 
 the worship which they did not approve of before ; but as 
 the terror of the infection abated, those things all returned 
 again to their less desirable channel, and to the course they 
 were in before. 
 
 I mention this but historically ; I have no mind to enter 
 into arguments to move either or both sides to a more 
 charitable compliance one with another ; I do not see that 
 it is probable such a discourse would be either suitable or 
 successful ; the breaches seem rather to widen, and tend to 
 a widening farther than to closing ; and who am I, that I 
 should think myself able to influence either one side or 
 other ? But this I may repeat again, that it is evident 
 death will reconcile us all — on the other side the grave we 
 shall be all brethren again ; in heaven, whither I hope we 
 may come from all parties and persuasions, we shall find 
 neither prejudice nor scruple ; there we shall be of one 
 principle and of one opinion. Why we cannot be content 
 to go hand in hand to the place where we shall join heart 
 and hand without the least hesitation and with the most 
 complete harmony and affection ; I say, why we cannot do 
 so here I can say nothing to, neither shall I say anything 
 more of it, but that it remains to be lamented. 
 
 I could dwell a great while upon the calamities of this 
 dreadful time, and go on to describe the objects that 
 appeared among us every day, the dreadful extravagances 
 which the distraction of sick people drove them into ; how 
 the streets began now to be fuller of frightful objects, and 
 families to be made even a terror to themselves ; but, after 
 I have told you, as I have above, that one man being tied 
 in his bed, and finding no other way to deliver himself, set 
 the bed on, fire with his candle, which unhappily stood 
 within his reach, and burnt himself in bed ; and how 
 anotlier, by the insufferable torment he bore, danced and 
 
1^6 JOURNAL OP THE PLAGUE 
 
 sung naked in the streets, riot knowing one ecstasy ' from 
 another ; I say, after I have mentioned these things,., what 
 can be added more ? What can be said to represent the 
 misery of these times more lively to the reader, or to give 
 him a perfect idea of a more complicated distress ? 
 
 I must acknowledge that this time was so terrible that I 
 was sometimes at the end of all my resolutions, and that I 
 had not the courage that I had at the beginning. As the 
 extremity brought other people abroad, it drove me home, 
 and, except having made my voyage down to Blackwall 
 and Greenwich, as I have related, which was an excursion, 
 I kept afterwards very much within doors, as I had for 
 about a fortnight before. I have said already, that I re- 
 pented several times that I had ventured to stay in town, 
 and had not gone away with my brother and his family, 
 but it was too late for that now ; and after I had retreated 
 and stayed within doors a good while before my impatience 
 led me abroad, then they called me, as I have said, to an 
 ugly and dangerous office, which brought me out again ; 
 but as that was expired while the height of the distemper 
 lasted, I retired again, and continued close ten or twelve 
 days more, during which many dismal spectacles repre- 
 sented themselves in my view, out of my own windows, 
 and in our own street, as that particularly from Harrow 
 Alley, of the poor outrageous creature who danced and 
 sung in his agony ; and many others there were. Scarce 
 a day or a night passed over but some dismal thing or 
 other happened at the end of that Harrow Alley, which 
 was a place full of poor people, most of them belonging to 
 the butchers, or to employments depending upon the 
 butchery. 
 
 Sometimes heaps and throngs of people would burst out 
 of the alley, most of them women, making a dreadful 
 clamour, mixed or compounded of screeches, cryings, and 
 calling one another, that we could not conceive what to 
 make of it ; almost all the dead part of the night tlie dead- 
 ' All ecstasy of pain from an ecstasy of joy. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 177 
 
 part stood at the end of that alley, for if it went inj- it could 
 not well turn again and could go in but a little way. 
 There, I say, it stood to receive dead bodies ; and, as the 
 churchyard was but a little way off, if it went away full it 
 would soon be back again. It is impossible to describe the 
 most horrible cries and noise the poor people would make 
 at their bringing the dead bodies of their children and 
 friends out to the cart ; and, by the number, one would 
 have thought there had been none left behind, or that 
 there were people enough for a small city living in those 
 places. Several times they cried "murder,'' sometimes 
 " fire ; " but it was easy to perceive that it was all distrac- 
 tion, and the complaints of distressed and distempered 
 people. 
 
 I believe it was everywhere thus at that time, for the 
 plague raged for six or seven weeks beyond all that I have 
 expressed, and came even to such a height, that, in the ex- 
 tremity, they began to break into that excellent order, of 
 which I have spoken so much in behalf of the magistrates, 
 namely, that no dead bodies were seen in the streets, or 
 burials in the daytime ; for there was a necessity in this ex- 
 tremity, to bear with its being otherwise for a little while. 
 
 One thing I cannot omit here, and, indeed, I thought it 
 was extraordinary, at least it seemed a remarkable hand of 
 divine justice ; viz., that all the predictors, astrologers, 
 fortune-tellers, and what they called cunning men, con- 
 jurors, and the like, calculators of nativities, and dreamers 
 of dreams, and such people, were gone and vanished, not 
 one of them was to be found. I am verily persuaded that 
 a great number of them fell in the heat of the calamity, hav- 
 ing ventured to stay upon the prospect of getting great es- 
 tates ; and, indeed, their gain was but too.great for a time, 
 through the madness and folly of the people ; but now they 
 were silent ; many of them went to their long home, not 
 able to foretell their own fate, or to calculate their own na- 
 tivities. Some have been critical ' enough to say that every 
 ■ In the rare sense of " bold." 
 13 
 
178 JOURNAL OF' THE PLAGUE 
 
 one of them died. I dare not affirm that ; hut this I mnst 
 own, that I never heard of one of them that ever appeared 
 after the calamity was over. 
 
 But to return to my particular ohservations during this 
 dreadful part of the visitation. I am now come, as I have 
 said, to the month of September, which was the most dread- 
 ful of its kind, I believe, that ever London saw ; for, by all 
 the accounts which I have seen of the preceding visitations 
 which have been in London, nothing has been like it ; the 
 number in the weekly bill amounting to almost forty thou- 
 sands from the 22nd of August to the 26th of September, 
 being but five weeks. The particulars of the bills are as 
 follows ; viz. : 
 
 From August the 22nd to the 29th 7,496 
 
 To the 5th of September 8,252 
 
 To the 12th. 7,690 
 
 To the 19th 8,297 
 
 To the aeth 6,460 
 
 38,195 
 
 This was a prodigious number of itself ; but if I should 
 add the reasons which I have to believe that this account 
 was deficient, and how deficient it was, you would with me 
 make no scruple to believe that there died above ten thou- 
 sand- a week for all those weeks, one week with another, and 
 a proportion ' for several weeks, both before and after. The 
 confusion among the people, especially within the city, at 
 that time, was inexpressible ; the terror was so great at last 
 that the courage of the people appointed to carry away the 
 dead began to fail them ; nay, several of them died, al- 
 though they had the distemper before, and were recovered ; 
 and some of them dropped down when they have been car- 
 rying the bodies even at the pitside, and just ready to throw 
 them in ; and this confusion was greater in the city, because 
 * A good proportion of that number. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 179 
 
 they had flattered themselves with hopes of escaping, and 
 thought the bitterness of death was past. One cart they 
 told us, going up Shoredi'tch, was forsaken hy the drivers, 
 or being left to one man to drive, he died in the street, and 
 the horses going on, overthrew the cart, and left the 
 bodies, some thrown here, some there, in a dismal manner. 
 Another cart was, it seems, found in the great pit in Fins- 
 bury Fields, the driver being dead, or having been gone and 
 abandoned it, and the horses running too near it, the cart 
 fell in and drew the horses in also. It was suggested that 
 the driver was thrown in with it, and that the cart fell 
 upon him, by reason * his whip was seen to be in the pit 
 among the bodies ; but that, I suppose, could not be certain. 
 In our parish of Aldgate the dead -carts were several 
 times, as I have heard, found standing at the churchyard 
 gate, full of dead bodies ; but neither bellman, or driver, 
 or any one else with it. Neither in these, or many other 
 cases, did they know what bodies they had in their cart, for 
 sometimes they were let down with ropes out of balconies 
 and out of windows ; and sometimes the bearers brought 
 them to the cart, sometimes other people ; nor, as the men 
 themselves said, did they trouble themselves to keep any 
 account of the numbers. 
 
 The vigilance of the magistrate was now put to the ut- 
 most trial ; and, it must be confessed, can never be enough 
 acknowledged on this occasion ; also, whatever expense or 
 trouble they were at, two things were never neglected in 
 the city or suburbs either : — 
 
 1. Provisions were always to be had in full plenty and 
 the price not much raised neither, hardly worth speaking 
 
 2. No dead bodies lay unburied or uncovered ; and if 
 anyone walked from one end of the city to another, no 
 funeral, or sign of it, was to be seen in the daytime ; ex- 
 cept a little, as I have said, in the first three weeks in 
 September. 
 
 ■ By reason that : because. 
 
180 JOURNAL OF THE PLA&UE 
 
 This last article, perhaps, will hardly "be believed, when 
 some accounts which others have published since that shall 
 be seen ; wherein they say, that the dead lay unburied, 
 which I am sure was utterly false ; at least, if it had been 
 anywhere so, it must have been in houses where the living 
 were gone from the dead, having found means, as I have 
 observed, to escape, and where no notice was given to the 
 officers. All which amounts to nothing at all in the case 
 in hand ; for this I am positive in, having myself been 
 employed a little in the direction of that part of the parish 
 in which I lived, and where as great a desolation was 
 made, in proportion to the number of the inhabitants, as 
 was anywhere. I say, I am sure that there were no dead 
 bodies remained unburied ; that is to say, none that the 
 proper officers knew of, none for want of people to carry 
 them off, and buriers to put them into the ground and 
 cover them ; and this is sufficient to the argument ; for 
 what might lie in houses and holesi as in Moses and 
 Aaron Alley, is nothing, for it is most certain they were 
 buried as soon as they were found. As to the first-artielej 
 namely, of provisions, the • scarcity or dearness, though 1 
 have mentioned it before, and shall speak of it again, yet I 
 must observe here, 
 
 (1.) The price of bread in particular was not much 
 raised ; for in the beginning of the year, viz., in the 1st 
 week in March, the penny wheaten loaf was ten ounces and 
 a half ; and in the height of the contagion it was to be had 
 at nine ounces and a half, and never dearer, no, not all 
 that season. And about the beginning of November, it 
 was sold at. ten ounces and a half again, the like of which, 
 I believe, was never heard of in any city, under so dread- 
 ful a visitation, before. - 
 
 (2.) Neither was there, which I wondered much at, any 
 want of bakers, or ovens kept open to supply the people 
 with bread : but this was, indeed, alleged by some fam- 
 ilies, viz., that their maid-servants going to the bakehouses 
 with' their dough to be baked, which was then the custom. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PL AGUE 181 
 
 sometimes came home with the sickness, that is to say, the 
 plague upon them. 
 
 In all this dreadful visitation, there were, as I have said 
 before, but two pest-houses made use of, viz., one in the 
 fields beyond Old Street, and one in Westminster ; neither 
 was there any compulsion used in carrying people thither. 
 Indeed, there was no need of compulsion in the case, for 
 there were thousands of poor distressed people, who, hav- 
 ing no help, or conveniences, or supplies, but of charity, 
 would have been very glad to have been carried thither, 
 and been taken care of, which, indeed, was the only thing 
 that, I think, was wanting in the whole public manage- 
 ment of the city ; seeing nobody was here allowed to be 
 brought to the pest-house, but where money was given, or 
 security for money, either at their introducing,' or upon 
 their being cured and sent out ; for very many were sent 
 out again whole, and very good physicians were appointed 
 to those places, so that many people did very well there, 
 of which I shall make mention again. The principal sort 
 of people sent thither were, as I have said, servants, who 
 got the distemper by going of errands to fetch necessaries 
 for the families where they lived ; and who, in that case, 
 if they came home sick, were removed, to preserve the rest 
 of the house ; and they were so well looked after there, in 
 all the time of the visitation, that there was but 156 buried 
 in all at the London pest-house, and 159 at that of West- 
 minster. 
 
 By having more pest-houses, I am far from meaning a 
 forcing all people into such places. Had the shutting up 
 of houses been omitted, and the sick hurried out of their 
 dwellings to pest-houses, as some proposed, it seems, at 
 that time as well as since, it would certainly have been 
 much worse than it was ; the very removing of the sick 
 would have been a spreading of the infection, and the 
 rather because that removing could not effectually clear 
 ' The patients' being introduced. 
 
182 JOURNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 
 
 the house where the sick person was of the distemper ; and 
 the rest of the family, being then left at liberty, would 
 certainly spread it among others. 
 
 The methods also in private families, which would have 
 been universally used to have concealed the distemper, and 
 to have concealed the persons being sick, would have been 
 such that the distemper would sometimes have seized a 
 whole family before any visitors or examiners could have 
 known of it. On the other hand, the prodigious numbers 
 which would have been sick at a time would have exceeded 
 all the capacity of public pest-houses to receive them, or 
 of public ofiBcers to discover and remove them. 
 
 This was well considered in those days, and I have heard 
 them talk of it often. The magistrates had enough to do 
 to bring people to submit to having their houses shut up, 
 and many ways they deceived the watchmen and got out, 
 as I observed ; but that difficulty made it apparent that 
 they would have found it impracticable to have gone the 
 other way to work; for they could never have forced the 
 sick people out of their beds, and out of their dwellings : 
 it must not have been my lord mayor's officers, but an 
 army of officers, that must have attempted it ; and the 
 people, on the other hand, would have been enraged and 
 desperate, and would have killed those that should have 
 offered to have meddled with them, or with their children 
 and relations, whatever had befallen fhem for it ; so that 
 they would have made the people, who, as it was, were in 
 the most terrible distraction imaginable — I say, they would 
 have made them stark mad ! whereas the magistrates 
 found it proper on several occasions to treat them with 
 lenity and compassion, and not with violence and terror, 
 such as dragging the sick out of their houses, or obliging 
 them to remove themselves, would have been. 
 
 This leads me again to mention the time when the plague 
 first began, that is to say, when it became certain that it 
 would spread over the whole town, when, as I have said, 
 
JOURNAL OP THE PLAQUE 183 
 
 the better sort of people first took the alarm, and began to 
 hurry themselves out of town ; it was true, as I observed 
 in its place, that the throng was so great, and the coaches, 
 horses, waggons, and carts were so many, driving and drag- 
 ging the people away, that it looked as if all the city was 
 running away, and had any regulations been published 
 that had been terrifying at that time, especially such 
 as would pretend to dispose of the people otherwise than 
 they would dispose of themselves, it would have put both 
 the city and suburbs into the utmost confusion. 
 
 The magistrates wisely caused the people to be encour- 
 aged, made very good by-laws ^ for the regulating the citi- 
 zens, keeping good order. in the streets, and making every- 
 thing as eligible as possible to all sorts of people. 
 
 In the first place, the lord mayor and the sheriffs, the 
 court of aldermen, and a certain number of the common- 
 councilmen, or their deputies, came to a resolution, and 
 published it, viz., that they would not quit the city them- 
 selves, but that they would be always at hand for the pre- 
 serving good order in every place, and for doing justice on 
 all occasions ; as also for the distributing the public charity 
 to the poor ; and, in a word, for the doing the duty and 
 discharging the trust reposed in them by the citizens, to 
 the utmost of their power. 
 
 In pursuance of these orders, the lord mayor, sheriffs, 
 etc., held councils every day, more or less, for making such 
 dispositions as they found needful for preserving the civil 
 peace ; and though they used the people with all possible 
 gentleness and clemency, yet all manner of presumptuous 
 rogues, such as thieves, housebreakers, plunderers of the 
 dead or of the sick, were duly punished, and several 
 declarations were continually published by the lord mayor 
 and court of aldermen against such. 
 
 Also, all constables and churchwardens were enjoined to 
 stay in the city upon severe penalties, or to depute such 
 able and sufficient housekeepers as the deputy-aldermen, 
 ' Here, local or municipal laws. 
 
184 JOURNAL OP TBE PLAQUE 
 
 or common-councilmen of the precinct should approve, and 
 for whom they should give security ; and also security in 
 case of mortality,* that they would forthwith constitute 
 other constables in their stead. 
 
 These things re-established the minds of the people very 
 much ; especially in the first of their fright, when they 
 talked of making so universal a flight that the city would 
 have been in danger of being entirely deserted of its inhab- 
 itants, except the poor, and the country of being plundered 
 and laid waste by the multitude. Nor were the magistrates 
 deficient in performing their part as boldly as they prom- 
 ised it ; for my lord mayor and the sheriffs were continually 
 in the streets, and at places of the greatest danger ; and 
 though they did not care for having too great a resort of 
 people crowding about them, yet, in emergent cases, they 
 never denied the people access to them, and heard with 
 patience all their grievances and complaints ; my lord 
 mayor had a low gallery, built on purpose in his hall, 
 where he stood, a little removed from the crowd, when any 
 complaint came to be heard, that he might appear with as 
 much safety as possible. 
 
 Likewise, the proper officers, called my lord mayor's 
 officers, constantly attended in their turns, as they were in 
 waiting ; and if any of them were sick or infected, as some 
 of them were, others were instantly employed to fill up and 
 officiate in their places, till it was known whether the 
 other should live or die. 
 
 In like manner, the sheriffs and aldermen did, in their 
 several stations and wards, where they were placed by of- 
 fice, and the sheriff's officers or Serjeants were appointed 
 to receive orders from the respective aldermen in their 
 turn ; so that justice was executed in all cases without in- 
 terruption. In the next place, it was one of their partic- 
 ular cares to see the orders for the freedom of the markets 
 observed ; and in this part, either the lord mayor, or one 
 or both of the sheriffs, were every market-day on horse- 
 
 ' Death. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 185 
 
 back to see their orders executed, and to see that the coun- 
 try people had all possible encouragement and freedom in 
 their coming to the markets, and going back again ; and 
 that no nuisance or frightful object should be seen in the 
 streets to terrify themj or make them unwilling to come. 
 Also, the bakers were taken under particular order, and 
 the master of the Bakers' Company was, with his court of 
 assistants, directed to see the order of my lord mayor for 
 their regulation put in execution, and the due assize ' of 
 bread, which was weekly appointed by my lord mayor, ob- 
 seryed ; and all the bakers were obliged to keep their 
 ovens going constantly, on pain of losing the privileges of 
 a freeman * of the city of London. 
 
 By this means, bread was always to be had in plenty, 
 and as cheap as usual, as I said above ; and provisions 
 were never wanting in the markets, even to such a degree 
 that I often wondered at it, and reproached myself with 
 being so timorous and cautious in stirring abroad, when 
 the country people came freely and boldly to market, as if 
 there had been no manner of infection in the city, or dan- 
 ger of catching it. 
 
 It was, indeed, one admirable piece of conduct in the 
 said magistrates, that the streets were kept constantly clear 
 and free from all manner of frightful objects, dead bodies, 
 or any such things as were indecent or unpleasant ; unless 
 where anybody fell down suddenly, or died in the streets, 
 as I have said above, and these were generally covered with 
 some cloth or blanket, or removed into the next church- 
 yard till night. All the needful works that carried terror 
 with them, that were both dismal and dangerous, were 
 done in the night ; if any diseased bodies were removed or 
 dead bodies buried, or infected clothes burnt, it was done 
 in the night ; and all the bodies which were thrown into 
 the great pits in the several churchyards or bnrying- 
 
 ' Ordinance in regard to weight, price, etc. 
 
 - Members of the various guilds or trade-companies TOted for cer 
 tain public officers and had other similar privileges. 
 
186 JOXTRNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 grounds, as has been observed, were so removed in the 
 night ; and everything was covered and closed before day. 
 So that in the daytime there was not the least signal of 
 the calamity to be seen or heard of, except what was to be 
 observed from the emptiness of the "streets, and sometimes 
 from the passionate outcries and lamentations of the people, 
 out at their windows, and from the numbers of houses and 
 shops shut up. 
 
 Nor was the silence and emptiness of the streets so much 
 in the city as in the out-parts ; except just at one partic- 
 ular time, when, as I have mentioned, .the plague" came 
 east, and spread over all the city. It was, indeed, a merci- 
 ful disposition of God that, as the plague began at one end 
 of the town first, as has been observed at large,' so it pro- 
 ceeded progressively to other parts, and did not come on 
 this way, or eastward, till it had spent its fury in the west 
 part of the town ; and so as it came on one way, it abated 
 another ; for example : — 
 
 It began at St. Giles's and the Westminster end of the 
 town, and it was in its height in all that part by about the 
 middle of July, viz., in St. Giles's in the Fields, St. An- 
 drew's, Holborn, St. Clement's Danes, St. Martin's in 
 the Fields, and in Westminster : the latter end of July it 
 decreased in those parishes, and coming east, it increased 
 prodigiously in Cripplegate, St. Sepulchre's, St. James's, 
 Clerkenwell, and St. Bride's and Aldersgate. While it 
 was in all these parishes, the city and all the parishes of 
 the Southwark side of the water, and all Stepney, White- 
 chapel, Aldgate, Wapping, and Batcliif, were very little 
 touched ; so that people went about their business un- 
 concerned, carried on their trades, kept open their shops, 
 and conversed freely with one another in all the city, the 
 east and north-east suburbs, and in Southwark, almost as 
 if the plague had not been among us. 
 
 Even when the north and north-west suburbs were fully 
 
 < At length. 
 
JOURNAL OF TBE PLAOUM 
 
 187 
 
 infected, viz., Cripplegate, Cler ken well, Bishopsgate, and 
 Shoreditch, yet still all the rest were tolerably well : for 
 example : — 
 
 Prom the 25th July to the 1st of Angnst, the bill stood 
 thus of all diseases : — 
 
 St. Giles's, Cripplegate 
 
 
 
 
 
 554 
 
 St. Sepulchre's 
 
 
 
 
 
 250 
 
 Clerkenwell 
 
 
 
 
 
 103 
 
 Bishopsgate 
 
 
 
 
 
 116 
 
 Shoreditch 
 
 
 
 
 
 110 
 
 Stepney Parish 
 
 
 
 
 
 127 
 
 Aldgate . 
 
 
 
 
 
 92 
 
 Whitechapel . 
 
 
 
 
 
 104 
 
 All the 97 parishes within the walls 
 
 
 228 
 
 All the parishes in Southi 
 
 vark 
 
 
 
 
 205 
 
 1889 
 
 So that, in short, there died more that week in the two 
 parishes of Cripplegate and St. Sepulchre's by 48, than all ' 
 the city, all the east suburbs, and all the Sonthwark par- 
 ishes put together : this caused the reputation of the city's 
 health to continue all over England, and especially in the 
 counties and markets adjacent, from whence our supply of 
 provisions chiefly came, even much longer than that health 
 itself continued ; for when the people came into the streets 
 from the country by Shoreditch and Bishopsgate, or by 
 Old Street and Smithfield, they would see the out-streets 
 empty, and the houses and shops shut, and the few people 
 that were stirring there walk in the middle of the streets ; 
 but when they came within the city, there things looked 
 better, and the markets and shops were open, and the 
 people walking about the streets as usual, though not quite 
 so many ; and this continued till the latter end of August 
 and the beginning of September. 
 
 » In all. 
 
188 
 
 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 But then the case altered quite, the distemper abated in 
 the west and north-west parishes, and the weight of the 
 infection lay on the city and the eastern suburbs, and the 
 Southwark side, and this in a frightful manner. 
 
 Then indeed the city began to look dismal, shops to be 
 shut, and the streets desolate; in the High Street, indeed, 
 necessity made people stir abroad on many occasions ; 
 and there would be in the middle of the day a pretty 
 many' people, but in the mornings and evenings scarce 
 any to be seen even there, no, not in Cornhill and Cheap- 
 side. 
 
 These observations of mine were abundantly confirmed 
 by the weekly bills of mortality for those weeks, an abstract 
 of which, as they respect the parishes which I have men- 
 tioned, and as they make the calculations I speak of very 
 evident, take* as follows : — 
 
 The weekly bill which makes out this decrease of the 
 burials in the west and north side of the city, stands 
 thus : — 
 
 St. Giles's, Cripplegate . 
 St. Giles's in the Fields . 
 
 
 
 
 456 
 140 
 
 Clerkenwell 
 
 
 
 
 77 
 
 St. Sepulchre's 
 
 St. Leonard, Shoreditch . 
 
 
 
 
 214 
 183 
 
 Stepney Parish 
 
 Aldgate .... 
 
 Whiteohapel . 
 
 In the 97 parishes within the w 
 
 alls 
 
 
 
 716 
 
 623 
 
 532 
 
 1493 
 
 In the 8 parishes on Sonthwarh 
 
 : side 
 
 
 
 1636 
 
 6070 
 
 Here is a strange change of things, indeed, and a sad 
 change it was, and had it held for two months more than 
 it did, very few people would have been left alive ; but 
 
 ' A good many. a That is, you (the reader), take (find). 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 189 
 
 then such, I say, was the merciful disposition of God, that 
 when it was thus, the west and north part, which had been 
 so dreadfully visited at first, grew, as you see, much better ; 
 and as the people disappeared here, they began to look 
 abroad again there ; and the next week or two altered it 
 still more, that is, more to the encouragement of the other 
 part of the town ; for example : — 
 
 From the 19th of September to the 26th. 
 
 St. Giles's, Oripplegate 
 St. Giles's in the Fields 
 
 
 
 
 
 277 
 119 
 
 Olerkenwell 
 
 
 
 
 
 76 
 
 St. Sepulchre's 
 
 St. Leonard, Shoreditch 
 
 
 
 
 
 193 
 146 
 
 Stepney Parish 
 Aldgate . 
 Whitechapel . 
 In the 97 parishes within 
 In the 8 parishes on Sout 
 
 the w 
 liwarl 
 
 'alls 
 c side 
 
 
 
 616 
 
 496 
 
 346 
 
 1368 
 
 1390 
 
 4927 
 
 From the 26th of September to the 3d of October : — 
 
 St. Giles's, Oripplegate 
 St. Giles's in the Fields 
 
 
 
 
 
 196 
 95 
 
 Olerkenwell 
 
 
 
 
 
 48 
 
 St. Sepulchre's 
 
 St. Leonard, Shoreditch 
 
 
 
 
 
 137 
 138 
 
 Stepney Parish 
 
 Aldgate 
 
 Whitechapel . 
 
 In the 97 parishes within 
 
 In the 8 parishes on Sout 
 
 the Tf 
 iwar] 
 
 'all 
 i. side 
 
 
 
 674 
 
 372 
 
 328 
 
 1149 
 
 1301 
 
 4328 
 
190 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 And noTV the misery of the city, and of the said east and 
 south parts, was complete indeed ; for, as you see, the 
 weight of the distemper lay upon those parts, that is to 
 say, the city, the eight parishes over the river, with the 
 parishes of Aldgate, Whitechapel, and Stepney, and this 
 was the time that the bills came up to such a monstrous 
 height as that I mentioned before ; and that eight or nine, 
 and, as I believe, ten or twelve thousand a week, died ; 
 for it is my settled opinion, that they ' never could come 
 at any just account of the numbers, for the reasons which 
 I have given already. 
 
 Nay, one of the most eminent physicians, who has since 
 published in Latin an account of those times, and of his ob- 
 servations, says, that in one week there died twelve thou- 
 sand people, and that particularly there died four thou- 
 sand in one night : though I do not remember that there 
 ever was any such particular night so remarkably fatal as 
 that such a number died in it : however, all this confirms 
 what I have said above of the uncertainty of the bills of 
 mortality, etc., of which I shall say more hereafter. 
 
 And here let me take leave to enter again, though it 
 may seem a repetition of circumstances, into a description 
 of the miserable condition of the city itself, and of those 
 parts where I lived, at this particular time. The city and 
 those other parts, notwithstanding the great numbers of 
 people that were gone into the country, was ' vastly full of 
 people ; and perhaps the fuller, because people had, for a 
 long time, a strong belief that the plague would not come 
 into the city, nor into Southwark, no, nor into Wapping 
 or EatclifE at all ; nay, such was the assurance of the peo- 
 ple on that head, that many removed from the suburbs on 
 the west and north sides, into those eastern and south 
 sides as for safety, and, as I verily believe, carried the 
 plague amongst them there, perhaps sooner than they 
 would otherwise have had it. 
 
 ' The authorities. ' Were. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 191 
 
 Here, also, I ought to leave a further remark for the use of 
 posterity, concerning the manner of people's infecting one 
 another ; namely, that it was not the sick people only 
 from whom the plague was immediately received by others 
 that were sound, but the well. To explain myself ; by the 
 sick people, I mean those who were known to be sick, had 
 taken their beds, had been under cure, or had swellings or 
 tumours upon them, and the like ; these everybody could 
 beware of ; they were either in their beds, or in such con- 
 dition as could not be concealed. 
 
 By the well, I mean such as had received the contagion, 
 and had it really upon them and in their blood, yet did not 
 show the consequences of it in their countenances ; nay, 
 even were not sensible of it themselves, as many were not 
 for several days. These breathed death in every place, 
 and upon everybody who came near them ; nay, their very 
 clothes retained the infection, their hands would infect the 
 things they touched, especially if they were warm and 
 sweaty, and they were generally apt to sweat too. 
 
 Now, it was impossible to know these people, nor did 
 they sometimes, as I have said, know themselves to be in- 
 fected. These were the people that so often dropped 
 down and fainted in the streets ; for oftentimes they would 
 go about the streets to the last, till on a sudden they would 
 sweat, grow faint, sit down at a door, and die. It is true, 
 finding themselves thus, they would struggle hard to get 
 home to their own doors, or, at other times, would be just 
 able to go into their houses, and die instantly ; other times 
 they would go about till they had the very tokens come out 
 upon them, and yet not know it, and would die in an hour 
 or two after they came home, but be well as long as they 
 were abroad. These were the dangerous people, these were 
 the people of whom the well people ought to have been 
 afraid ; but then, on the other side, it was impossible to 
 know them. 
 
 And this is the reason why it is impossible in a visita- 
 tion to prevent the spreading of the plague by the utmost 
 
192 JOURNAL OF TBE PLAGUE 
 
 human vigilance, viz., that it is impossible to know the 
 infected people from the sound, or that the infected peo- 
 ple should perfectly know themselves. I knew a man 
 who conversed ' freely in London all the season of the 
 plague in 1665, and kept about him an antidote or cordial, 
 on purpose to take when he thought himself in any danger, 
 and he had such a rule to know, or have warning of the 
 danger by, as indeed I never met with before or since ; 
 how far it may be depended on I know not. He had a 
 wound in his leg, and whenever he came among any people 
 that were not sound, and the infection began to affect him, 
 he said he could know it by that signal, viz., that the 
 wound in his leg would smart, and look pale and white ; 
 so as soon as ever he felt it smart it was time for him to 
 withdraw, or to take care of himself, taking his drink, 
 which he always carried about him for that purpose. Now 
 it seems he found his wound would smart many times 
 when he was in company with such who thought them- 
 selves to be sound, and who appeared so to one another ; 
 but he would presently rise up, and say publicly, — 
 "Friends, here is somebody in the room that has the 
 plague ; " and so would immediately break up the com- 
 pany. This was, indeed, a faithful monitor to all people, 
 that the plague is not to be avoided by those that converse 
 promiscuously in a town infected, and people have it when 
 they know it not, and that they likewise give it to others 
 when they know not that they have it themselves ; and in 
 this case shutting up the well or removing the sick will not 
 do it, unless they can go back and shut up all those that 
 the sick had conversed with, even before they knew them- 
 selves to be sick, and none knows how far to carry that 
 back, or where to stop ; for none knows when, or where, 
 or how they may have received the infection, or from 
 whom. 
 
 This I take to be the reason which makes so many peo- 
 ple talk of the air being corrupted and infected, and that 
 ' Held intercourse. 
 
JOURNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 193 
 
 they need not be cautious of whom they converse with, for 
 that the contagion was in the air. I have seen them in 
 strange agitations and surprises on this account. " I have 
 never come near any infected body ! " says the disturbed 
 person, " I have conversed with none but sound healthy 
 people, and yet I have gotten the distemper!" — "I am 
 sure I am struck from heaven," says another, and he falls 
 to the serious part.' Again, the first goes on exclaiming, 
 " I have come near no infection, or any infected person ; I 
 am sure it is in the air ; we draw in death when we 
 breathe, and therefore it is the hand of God : there is no 
 withstanding it." And this at last made many people, be- 
 ing gardened to the danger, grow less concerned at it, and 
 less cautious towards the latter end of the time, and when 
 it was come to its height, than they were at first ; then, 
 with a kind pf a Turkish predestinarianism they would 
 say, if it pleased God to strike them it was all one whether 
 they went abroad or stayed at home, they could not escape 
 it, and therefore they went boldly about, even into infect- 
 ed houses and infected company, visited sick people, and, 
 in short, lay in the beds with their wives. or relations when 
 they were infected ; and what was the consequence but the 
 same that is the consequence in Turkey, and in those 
 countries where they do those things ? namely, that they 
 were infected too, and died by hundreds and thousands. 
 
 I would be far from lessening the awe of the judg- 
 ments of God, and the reverence to his providence, which 
 ought always to be on our minds on such occasions as 
 these ; doubtless the visitation itself is a stroke from 
 heaven upon a city, or country, or nation where it falls, a 
 messenger of his vengeance, and a loud call to that nation, 
 or country, or city, to humiliation and repentance, accord- 
 ing to that of the prophet Jeremiah xviii. 7, 8 : " At what 
 instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning 
 a kingdom, to pluck up, and pull down, and destroy it : if 
 that nation against whom I have pronounced turn from 
 ' Turns to pious thoughts. 
 13 
 
194 JOURNAL OF TBE PLAGUE 
 
 their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do 
 unto them." Now to prompt due impressions of the awe 
 of Grod on the minds of men on such occasions, and not to 
 lessen them, it is that' I have left those minutes upon 
 record. 
 
 I say, therefore, I reflect upon no man for putting the 
 reason of those things upon the immediate hand of God, 
 and the appointment and direction of his providence ; nay, 
 on bhe contrary, there were many wonderful deliverances of 
 persons from infection, and deliverances of persons when 
 infected, which intimate singular and remarkable provi- 
 dence in the particular instances to which they refer ; and 
 I esteem my own deliverance to be one next to miraculous, 
 and to record it with thankfulness. 
 
 But when I am speaking of the plague as a distemper 
 arising from natural causes, we must consider it as it was 
 really propagated by natural means, nor is it at all the less 
 a judgment for its being under the conduct of human causes 
 and effects ; for as the divine power has formed the whole 
 scheme of nature, and maintains nature in its course, so 
 the same power thinks fit to let ' his own actings with men, 
 whether of mercy or judgment, to go on in the ordinary 
 course of natural causes, and he is pleased to act by those 
 natural causes as the ordinary means ; excepting and 
 reserving to himself nevertheless a power to act in a 
 supernatural way when he sees occasion. Now it is evi- 
 dent that, in the case of an infection, there is no apparent 
 extraordinary occasion for supernatural operation, but the 
 ordinary course of things appears sufficiently armed, and 
 made capable of all the effects that heaven usually directs 
 by a contagion. Among these causes and effects this of 
 the secret conveyance of infection, imperceptible and un- 
 avoidable, is more than sufficient to execute the fierceness 
 of divine vengeance, without putting it upon supernat- 
 urals ' and miracles. 
 
 ' It is to prompt . . . that I have left. 
 ' Allow. ' Supernatural things. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 195 
 
 The acute, penetrating nature of the disease itself was 
 such, and the infection was received so imperceptibly, that 
 the most exact caution could not secure us while in the 
 place ; but I must be allowed to believe, and I have so many 
 examples fresh in my memory, to convince me of it, that I 
 think none can resist their evidence; I say, I must be 
 allowed to believe, that no one in this whole nation ever 
 received the sickness or infection but who received it 
 in the ordinary way of infection from somebody, or the 
 clothes, or touch, or stench of somebody that was infected 
 before. 
 
 The manner of its first coming to London proves this 
 also, viz., by goods brought over from Holland, and brought 
 thither from the Levant ; the first breaking of it out in a 
 house in Longacre, where those goods were carried and 
 first opened ; its spreading from that house to other houses 
 by the visible unwary conversing with those who were 
 sick, and the infecting the parish officers who were employed 
 about persons dead, and the like. These * are known au- 
 thorities for this great foundation point, that it went on 
 and proceeded from person to person, and from house to 
 house, and no otherwise. In the first house that was in- 
 fected there died four persons ; a neighbour, hearing the 
 mistress of the first house was sick, went to visit her, and 
 went home and gave the distemper to her family, and died, 
 and all her household. A minister called to pray with the 
 first sick person in the second house, was said to sicken 
 immediately, and die, with several more in his house. 
 Then the physicians began to consider, for they did not at 
 first dream of a general contagion ; but the physicians being 
 sent to inspect the bodies, they assured the people that it 
 was neither more or less than the plague, with all its 
 terrifying particulars, and that it threatened an universal 
 infection, so many people having already conversed with 
 the sick or distempered, and having, as might be supposed, 
 ' These facts. 
 
196 JOURNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 
 
 received infection from them, that it would be impossible 
 to put a stop to it. 
 
 Here the opinion of the physicians agreed with my ob- 
 servation afterwards, namely, that the danger was spread- 
 ing insensibly ; for the sick could infect none but those 
 that came within reach of the sick person, but that one 
 man, who may have really received the infection, and 
 knows it not, but goes abroad and about as a sound per- 
 son, may give the plague to a thousand people, and they to 
 greater numbers in proportion, and neither the person giv- 
 ing the infection, nor the persons receiving it, know any- 
 thing of it, and perhaps not feel the effects of it for several 
 days after. For example : — 
 
 Many persons, in the time of this visitation, never per- 
 ceived that they were infected, till they found, to their un- 
 speakable surprise, the tokens come out upon them, after 
 which they seldom lived six hours ; for those spots they 
 called the tokens were really gangrene spots, or mortified 
 iiesh, in small knobs as broad as a little silver penny, and 
 hard as a piece of callus or horn ; so that when the disease 
 was come up to that length, there was nothing could follow 
 but certain death ; and yet, as I said, they knew nothing 
 of their being infected, nor found themselves so much as 
 out of order, till those mortal marks were upon them. 
 But everybody must allow that they were infected in a 
 high degree before, and must have been so some time ; and, 
 consequently, their breath, their sweat, their very clothes 
 were contagious for many days before. 
 
 This occasioned a vast variety of cases, which physicians 
 would have much more opportunity to remember than I ; 
 but some came within the compass of my observation or 
 hearing, of which I shall name a few. 
 
 A certain citizen, who had lived safe and untouched till 
 the month of September, when the weight of the distemper 
 lay more in the city than it had done before, was mighty 
 cheerful, and something too bold, as I think it was, in his 
 talk of how secure he was, how cautious he had been, and 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 197 
 
 how he had never come near any sick body. Says another 
 citizen, a neighbour of his, to him, one day, " Do not be 
 
 too confident, Mr. ; it is hard to say who is sick and 
 
 who is well ; for we see men alive and well to outward ap- 
 pearance one hour, and dead the next." " That is true," 
 says the first man (for he was not a man presumptuously 
 secure, but had escaped a long while ; and men, as I have 
 said above, especially in the city, began to be over-easy on 
 that score). "That is true," says he, "1 do not think 
 myself secure, but I hope I have not been in company with 
 any person that there has been any danger in." "No ! " 
 says his neighbour -^ " was > not you at the Bull Head tavern 
 
 in Gracechurch Street, with Mr. , the night before 
 
 last ?" " Yes," says the first, " I was, but there was no- 
 body there that we had any reason to think dangerous." 
 Upon which his neighbour said no more, being unwilling 
 to surprise him ; but this made him more inquisitive, and, 
 as his neighbour appeared backward, he was the more im- 
 patient ; and in a kind of warmth, says he aloud, " Why, 
 he is not dead, is he ? " Upon which his neighbour still 
 was silent, but cast up his eyes, and said something to him- 
 self ; at which the first citizen turned pale, and said no 
 more but this, " Then I am a dead man too ! " and went 
 home immediately, and sent for a neighbouring apothecary 
 to give him something preventive, for he had not yet found 
 himself ill ; but the apothecary opening his breast, fetched 
 a sigh, and said no more but this, "Look up to God ; " and 
 the man died in a few hours. 
 
 Now let any man judge, from a case like this, if it is 
 possible for the regulations of magistrates, either by shut- 
 ting up the sick or removing them, to stop an infection 
 which spreads itself from man to man even while they are 
 perfectly well and insensible of its approach, and may be 
 BO for many days. 
 
 It may be proper to ask here how long it may be sup- 
 posed men might have the seeds of the contagion in them 
 
 ' Were. 
 
198 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 before it discovered itself in this fatal manner, and how 
 long they might go about seemingly whole, and yet be con- 
 tagious to all those that came near them. I believe the 
 most experienced physicians cannot answer this question 
 directly any more than I can ; and something an ordinary 
 observer may take notice of, which may pass their observa- 
 tion. The opinion of physicians abroad seems to be, that 
 it may lie dormant in the spirits, or in the blood-vessels, a 
 very considerable time ; why else do they exact a quaran- 
 tine of those who come into their harbours and ports from 
 suspected places ? Forty days is, one would think, too 
 long for nature to struggle with such an enemy as this and 
 not conquer it or yield to it ; but I could not think by niy 
 own observation that they can be infected, so as to be 
 contagious to others, above fifteen or sixteen days at far- 
 thest ; and on that score it was, that when a house was 
 shut up in the city, and any one had died of the plague, 
 but nobody appeared to be ill in the family for sixteen or 
 eighteen days after, they were not so strict but that they 
 would connive at their going privately abroad ; nor would 
 people be much afraid of them afterwards, but rather think 
 they were fortified the better, having not been vulnerable 
 when the enemy was in their house ; but we sometimes 
 found it had lain much longer concealed. 
 
 Upon the foot of all these observations I must say, that, 
 though Providence seemed to direct my conduct to be oth- 
 erwise, it is my opinion, and I must leave it as a prescrip- 
 tion, viz., that the best physic against the plague is to run 
 away from it. I know people encourage themselves by 
 saying, God is able to keep us in the midst of danger, and 
 able to overtake us when we think ourselves out of danger ; 
 and this kept thousands in the town, whose carcasses went 
 into the great pits by cartloads ; and who, if they had fled 
 from the danger, had, I believe, been safe from the disaster ; 
 at least, 'tis probable they had been safe. 
 
 And were this very fundamental only duly considered by 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 199 
 
 the people on any future occasion of this or the like nat- 
 ure, I am persuaded it would put them upon quite differ- 
 ent measures for managing the people from those that they 
 took in 1665j or than any that have heen taken abroad, 
 that I have heard of ; in a word, they would consider of 
 separating the people into smaller bodies, and removing 
 them in time farther from one another, and not let such a 
 contagion as this, which is indeed chiefly dangerous to col- 
 lected bodies of people, find a million of people in a body 
 together, as was very near the case before, and would cer- 
 tainly be the case if it should ever appear again. 
 
 The plague, like a great fire, if a few houses only are 
 contiguous where it happens, can only burn a fe.w ' houses ; 
 or if it begins in a single, or, as we call it, a lone house, 
 can only burn that lone house where it begins. But if it 
 begins in a close-built town or city, and gets ahead, there 
 its fury increases, it rages over the whole place, and con- 
 sumes all it can reach. 
 
 I could propose many schemes on the foot of which the 
 government of this city, if ever they should be under the 
 apprehension of such another enemy (Q-od forbid they 
 should), might ease themselves of the greatest part of the 
 dangerous people that belong to them ; I mean such as the 
 begging, starving, labouring poor, and among them chiefly 
 those who, in a case of siege, are called the useless mouths ; 
 who, being then prudently, and to their own advantage, 
 disposed of, and the wealthy inhabitants disposing of 
 themselves, and of their servants and children, the city, 
 and its adjacent parts would be so effectually evacuated that 
 there would not be above a tenth part of its people left 
 together, for the disease to take hold upon : but suppose 
 them to be a fifth part, and that two hundred and fifty 
 thousand people were left, and if it did seize upon them, 
 they would by their living so much at large be much better 
 prepared to defend themselves against the infection, and 
 be less liable to the effects of it than if the same number 
 ' Can burn only a few. 
 
200 JOURNAL OP TEE PLAQUE 
 
 of people lived close together in one smaller city, such as 
 Dublin, or Amsterdam, or the like. 
 
 It is true, hundreds, yea, thousands of families fled away 
 at this last plague ; but then of them many fled too late, 
 and not only died in their flight, but carried the distemper 
 with them into the countries where they went, and infected 
 those whom they went among for safety ; which confounded 
 the thing, and made that be a propagation of the distemper 
 which was the best means to prevent it ; and this, too, is 
 evident ' of it, and brings me back to what I only hinted 
 at before, but must speak more fully to ' here ; namely, 
 that men went about apparently well, many days after they 
 had the taint of the disease in their vitals, and after their 
 spirits were so seized as that they could never escape it ; 
 and that all the while they did so they were dangerous to 
 others ; I say, this proves that so it was ; for such people 
 infected the very towns they went through, as well as the 
 families they went among. And it was by that means that 
 almost all the great towns in England had the distemper 
 among them, more or less ; and always they would tell you 
 such a Londoner or such a Londoner brought it down. 
 
 It must not be omitted, that when I speak of those people 
 who were really thus dangerous, I suppose them to be 
 utterly ignorant of their own condition ; for if they really 
 knew their circumstances to be such as indeed they were, 
 they must have been a kind of .wilful murderers, if they 
 would have gone abroad among healthy people, and it would 
 have verified indeed the suggestion which I mentioned 
 above, and which I thought seemed untrue, viz., that the 
 infected people were utterly careless as to giving the in- 
 fection to others, and rather forward to do it than not ; 
 and I believe it was partly from this very thing that they 
 raised that suggestion, which I hope was not really true in 
 fact. 
 
 I confess no particular case is sufficient to prove a gen- 
 eral,' but I could name several people within the knowledge 
 
 ' Evidence. ' In regard to. ' A general proposition. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 201 
 
 of some of their neighl^ours and families yet living, who 
 showed the contrary to an extreme. One man, the master 
 of a family in my neighbourhood, having had the distemper, 
 he thought he had it given him by a poor workman whom 
 he employed, and whom he went to his house to see, or 
 went for some work that he wanted to have' finished ; and 
 he had some apprehensions even while he was at the poor 
 workman's door, but did not discover it' fully, but the 
 next day it discovered itself, and he was taken very ill ; 
 upon which he immediately caused himself to be carried 
 into an outbuilding which he had in his yard, and where 
 there was a chamber over a workhouse, the man being a 
 brazier. Here he lay, and here he died; and would be 
 tended by none of his neighbours, but by a nurse from 
 abroad ; and would not suffer his wife, nor children, nor 
 servants, to come up into the room, lest they should be in- 
 fected, but sent them his blessing and prayers for them by 
 the nurse, who spoke it to them at a distance ; and all this 
 for fear of giving them the distemper, and without which 
 he knew, as they were kept up, they could not have it.^ 
 
 And here I must observe also that the plague, as I sup- 
 pose all distempers do, operated in a different manner on 
 differing constitutions. Some were immediately over- 
 whelmed with it, and it came to violent fevers, vomitings, 
 insufferable headaches, pains in the back, and so up to 
 ravings and ragings with those pains : others with swell- 
 ings and tumours in the neck or groin, or armpits, which, 
 till they could be broke, put them into insufferable agonies 
 and torment ; while others, as I have observed, were silently 
 infected, the fever preying upon their spirits insensibly, 
 and they seeing little of it till they fell into swooning, and 
 faintings, and death without pain. 
 
 ' Did not discover that he had the plague. 
 
 ^ That is, as I understand it, " and he knew that, as they were kept 
 oat of his chamber, they could not have the plague without personal 
 contact." 
 
202 JOURNAL OF THE PLAOUB 
 
 I am not physician enough to enter into the particulai 
 reasons and manner of these differing effects of one and 
 the same distemper, and of its differing operation in sev- 
 eral bodies ; nor is it my business here to record the obser- 
 vations which I really made, because the doctors themselves 
 have done that part much more effectually than I can do, 
 and because my opinion may, in some things, differ from 
 theirs. I am only relating what I know, or have heard, or 
 believe, of the particular cases, and what fell within the 
 compass of my view, and the different nature of the infec- 
 tion as it appeared in the particular cases which I have re- 
 lated ; but this may be added, too, that though the former 
 sort of those cases, namely, those openly visited, were the 
 worst for themselves as to pain, I mean those that had such 
 fevers, vomitings, headaches, pains, and swellings, because 
 they died in such a dreadful manner : yet the latter had 
 the worst state of the disease, for in the former they fre- 
 quently recovered, especially if the swellings broke ; but the 
 latter was inevitable death, no cure, no help could be pos- 
 sible, nothing could follow but death ; and it was worse also 
 to others, because, as above, it secretly and unperceived by 
 others or by themselves, communicated death to those they 
 conversed with, the penetrating poison insinuating itself 
 into their blood in a manner which it was impossible to 
 describe, or indeed conceive. 
 
 This infecting and being infected, without so much as 
 its being known to either person, is evident from two sorts 
 of cases, which frequently happened at that time ; and 
 there is hardly anybody living, who was in London during 
 the infection, but must have known several of the cases of 
 both sorts. 
 
 1. Fathers and mothers have gone about as if they had 
 been well, and have believed themselves to be so, till they 
 have insensibly infected and been the destruction of their 
 whole families ; which they would have been far from do- 
 ing, if they had had the least apprehensions of their being 
 unsound and dangerous themselves. A family, whose 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 203 
 
 story I have heard, was thus infected by the father, and 
 the distemper began to appear upon some of them even be- 
 fore he found it upon himself ; but searching more nar- 
 rowly, it appeared he had been infected some time, and as 
 soon as he found that his family had been poisoned by him- 
 self, he went distracted, and would have laid violent hands 
 upon himself, but was kept from that by those who looked 
 to him, and in a few days he died. 
 
 2. The other particular is, that many people having been 
 well to the best of their own judgment, or by the best ob- 
 servation which they could make of themselves for several 
 days, and only finding a decay of appetite, or a light sick- 
 ness upon their stomachs ; nay, some whose appetite has 
 been strong, and even craving, and only a light pain in their 
 heads, have sent for physicians to know what ailed them, 
 and have been found, to their great surprise, at the brink 
 of death, the tokens upon them, or the plague grown up 
 to an incurable height. 
 
 It was very sad to reflect, how such a person as this last 
 mentioned above, had been a walking destroyer, perhaps 
 for a week or fortnight before that ; how he had ruined 
 those that he would have hazarded his life to save ; and had 
 been breathing death upon them, even perhaps in his ten- 
 der kissing and embracings of his own children. Yet thus 
 certainly it was, and often has been, and I could give many 
 particular cases where it has been so. If, then, the blow 
 is thus insensibly striking ; if the arrow flies thus unseen 
 and cannot be discovered ; to what purpose are all the 
 schemes for shutting up or removing the sick people ? 
 Those schemes cannot take place but upon those that appear 
 to be sick, or to be infected ; whereas there are among them, 
 at the same time, thousands of people who seem to be well, 
 but are all that while carrying death with them into all 
 companies which they come into. 
 
 This frequently puzzled our physicians, and especially 
 the apothecaries and surgeons, who knew not how to dis- 
 cover the sick from the sound. They all allowed that it was 
 
204 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 really so ; that many people had the plague in their very 
 blood, and preying upon their spirits, and were in them- 
 selves but walking putrified carcasses, whose breath was in- 
 fectious, and their sweat poison, and yet were as well to 
 look on as other people, and even knew it not themselves ; 
 I say, they all allowed that it was really true in fact, but 
 they knew not how to propose a discovery.' 
 
 My friend Dr. Heath was of opinion, that it might be 
 known by the smell of their breath ; but then, as he said, 
 who durst smell to that breath for his information, since, 
 to know it, he must draw the stench of the plague up into 
 his own brain, in order to distinguish the smell ? I have 
 heard, it was the opinion of others, that it might be dis- 
 tinguished by the party's breathing upon a piece of glass, 
 where, the breath condensing, there might living creatures 
 be seen by a microscope, of strange, monstrous, and fright- 
 ful shapes, such as dragons, snakes, serpents, and devils, 
 horrible to behold. But this I very much question the 
 truth of ; and we had no microscopes at that time, as t re- 
 member, to make the experiment with. 
 
 It was the opinion also of another learned man, that the 
 breath of such a person would poison and instantly kill a 
 bird ; not only a small bird, but even a cock or hen ; and 
 that if it did not immediately kill the latter, it would 
 cause them to be roupy,' as they call it ; particularly that 
 if they had laid any eggs at that time, they would be all 
 rotten. But those are opinions which I never found sup- 
 ported by any experiments, or heard of others that had 
 seen it, so I leave them as I find them, only with this re- 
 mark, namely, that I think the probabilities are very strong 
 for them. 
 
 Some have proposed that such persons should breathe 
 hard upon warm water, and that they would leave an un- 
 usual scum upon it, or upon several other things ; especially 
 such as are of a glutinous substance, and are apt to receive 
 a scum and support it. 
 
 ' A test. > Catarrhal. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 205 
 
 But, from the whole,' I found that the nature of this 
 contagion was such that it was impossible to discover it at 
 all, or to prevent it spreading from one to another by any 
 human skill. 
 
 Here was, indeed, one difficulty, which I could never 
 thoroughly get over to this time, and which there is but 
 one way of answering that I know of, and it is this, viz.: 
 the first person that died of the plague was on December 
 20th, or thereabouts, 1664, and in or about Longacre ; 
 whence the first person had * the infection was generally 
 said to be * from a parcel of silks imported from Holland, 
 and first opened in that house. 
 
 But after this we heard no more of any person dying of 
 the plague, or of the distemper being in that place, till the 
 9th of February, which was about seven weeks after, and 
 then one more was buried out of the same house : then it 
 was hushed, and we were perfectly easy as to the public 
 for a great while ; for there were no more entered in the 
 weekly bill to be dead of the plague till the 33nd of April, 
 when there were two more buried, not out of the same 
 house, but out of the same street ; and, as near as I can 
 remember, it was out of the next house to the first : this 
 was nine weeks asunder, and after this we had no more till 
 a fortnight, and then it broke out in several streets, and 
 spread every way. Now the question seems to lie thus : — 
 Where lay the seeds of the infection all this while ? how 
 came it to stop so long, and not stop any longer ? Either 
 the distemper did not come immediately by contagion from 
 body to body, or if it did, then a body may be capable to 
 continue infected, without the disease discovering itself, 
 many days, nay, weeks together, even not a quarantine of 
 days only, but a soixantine, not only forty days, but sixty 
 days, or longer. 
 
 It is true, there was, as I observed at first, and is well 
 known to many yet living, a very cold winter, and a long 
 
 1 From all the facts. ' Who had. " To have taken it. 
 
206 JOUHNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 
 
 frost, which continued three monthsj and this, the doctors 
 say, might check the infection ; but then the learned must 
 allow me to say, that if, according to their notion, the 
 disease was, as I may say, only frozen up, it would, like a 
 frozen river, have returned to its usual force and current 
 when it thawed, whereas the principal recess * of this in- 
 fection, which was from February to April, was after the 
 frost was broken, and the weather mild and warm. 
 
 But there is another way of solving all this difficulty, 
 which I think my own remembrance of the thing will 
 supply ; and that is, the fact is not granted, namely, that 
 there died none in those long intervals, viz., from the 
 20th of December to the 9th of February, and from thence 
 to the 33nd of April. The weekly bills are the only evi- 
 dence on the other side, and those bills were not of credit 
 enough, at least with me, to support an h3rpothesi8, or 
 determine a question of such importance as this : for it 
 was our received opinion at that time, and I believe upon 
 very good grounds, that the fraud lay in the parish officers, 
 searchers, and persons appointed to give account of the 
 dead, and what diseases they died of ; and as people were 
 very loath at first to have the neighbours believe their 
 houses were infected, so they gave money to procure, or 
 otherwise procured, the dead persons to be returned as dy- 
 ing of other distempers ; and this I know was practised 
 afterwards in many places, I believe I might say in all 
 places where the distemper came, as will be seen by the 
 vast increase of the numbers placed in the weekly bills 
 under other articles of diseases during the time of the in- 
 fection ; for example, in the months of July and August, 
 when the plague was coming on to its highest pitch, it was 
 very ordinary to have from a thousand to twelve hundred, 
 nay, to almost fifteen hundred a week, of other distempers ; 
 not that the numbers of those distempers were really in- 
 creased to such a degree ; but the great number of families 
 and houses where really the infection was, obtained the 
 ' The period when it receded. 
 
JOURNAL OF THIS PLAGUE 
 
 207 
 
 favour to have their dead be returned of other distempers, 
 to prevent the shutting up their houses. For example : — 
 
 Dead of other diseases besides the Plague. 
 
 From the 18th to the 25th 
 To the 1st of August 
 To the 8th 
 
 July 
 
 
 
 942 
 1004 
 1213 
 
 To the 15th 
 
 
 
 
 1439 
 
 To the 23nd 
 
 
 
 
 1331 
 
 To the 39th 
 
 
 
 
 1394 
 
 To the 5th of September 
 To the 12th . 
 
 
 
 
 1264 
 1056 
 
 To the 19th . 
 
 
 
 
 1132 
 
 To the 26th . 
 
 
 
 
 927 
 
 Now it was not doubted but the greatest part of these, 
 or a great part of them, were dead of the plague, but the 
 officers were prevailed with to return them as above, and 
 the numbers of some particular articles of distempers dis- 
 covered is as follows : — 
 
 From the 1st to 8th Aug., to 15th, to 22nd, to 29th. 
 
 Fever ... 314 353 348 383 
 
 Spotted Fever . 174 190 166 165^ 
 
 Surfeit . . 85 87 74 M" 
 
 Teeth ... 90 113 111 133 
 
 663 743 699 780 
 
 From Aug. 29 to Sept. 5th, to 12th, to 19th, to 26th. 
 
 Fever . 
 
 364 
 
 332 
 
 309 
 
 268 
 
 Spotted Fever 
 
 157 
 
 97 
 
 101 
 
 65 
 
 Surfeit 
 
 68 
 
 45 
 
 49 
 
 36 
 
 Teeth . 
 
 138 
 
 128 
 
 121 
 
 112 
 
 727 
 
 603 
 
 580 
 
 481 
 
208 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 There were several others articles which bore a proportion 
 to these, and which it is easy to perceive were increased on 
 the same account; as aged,' consumptions, vomitings, im- 
 posthumes,^ gripes, and the like, many of which were. not 
 doubted to be. infected people ; but as it was of the utmost 
 consequence to families not to be known to be infected, if 
 it was possible to avoid it, so they took all the measures 
 they could to have it not believed ; and if any died in their 
 houses to get them returned to the examiners, and by the 
 searchers, as having died of other distempers. 
 
 This, I say, will account for the long interval which, as 
 I have said, was between the dying of the first persons that 
 were returned in the bills to be dead of the plague, and the 
 time when the distemper spread openly, and could not be 
 concealed. 
 
 Besides, the weekly bills themselves, at that time, evi- 
 dently discovers this truth; for, while there was no men- 
 tion of the plague, and no increase after it had been men- 
 tioned, yet it was apparent that there was an increase of 
 those distempers which bordered nearest upon it ; for exam- 
 ple, there were eight, twelve, seventeen of the spotted fever 
 in a week when there were none or but very few of the 
 plague; whereas, before, one, three, or four, were the ordinary 
 weekly numbers of that distemper. Likewise, as I observed 
 before, the burials increased weekly in that particular par- 
 ish, and the parishes adjacent, more than in any other 
 parish, although there were none set down of the plague ; 
 all which tell lis that the infection was handed on, and the 
 succession of the distemper really preserved, though it 
 seemed to us at that time to be ceased, and to come again 
 in a manner surprising. 
 
 It might be also that the infection might remain in other 
 parts of the same parcel of goods which at first it came in, 
 and which might not be perhaps opened, or at least not 
 fully, or in the clothes of the. first infected person ; for I 
 cannot think that anybody could be seized with the conta- 
 ' Persons d/ing of old age. ' Abscesses. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 209 
 
 gion in a fatal and mortal degree for nine weeks together, 
 and support his state of health so well, as even not to dis- 
 cover it to themselves ; ' yet, if it were so, the argument is 
 the stronger in favour of what I am saying, namely, that 
 the infection is retained in bodies apparently well, and con- 
 veyed from them to those they converse with, while it is 
 known to neither the one nor the other. 
 
 Great were the confusions at that time upon this very 
 account ; and when people began to be convinced that the 
 infection was received in this surprising manner from per- 
 sons apparently well, they began to be exceeding shy and 
 jealous of every one that came near them. Once, on a 
 public day, whether a Sabbath-day or not, I do not remem- 
 ber, in Aldgate church, in a pew full of people, on a sud- 
 den one fancied she smelt a,n ill smell ; immediately she 
 fancies the plague was in the pew, whispers her notion or 
 suspicion to the next, then rises and goes out of the pew ; 
 it immediately took with the next, and so with them all, 
 and every one of them and of the two or three adjoining 
 pews, got up and went out of the church, nobody knowing 
 what it was oflEended them, or from whom. 
 
 This immediately filled everybody's mouths with one 
 preparation or other, such as the old women directed, and 
 some perhaps as physicians directed, in order to prevent 
 infection by the breath of others ; insomuch, that if we 
 came to go into a church, when it was anything full of 
 people, there would be such a mixture of smells at the en- 
 trance, that it was much more strong, though perhaps not 
 so wholesome, than if you were going into an apothecary's 
 or druggist's shop. In a word, the whole church was like 
 a smelling bottle ; in one corner it was all perfumes, in an- 
 other aromatics, balsamics, and a variety of drugs and 
 herbs ; in another, salts and spirits, as every one was fur- 
 nished for their own preservation : yet I observed, that, 
 after people were possessed, as I have said, with the belief, 
 or rather assurance, of the infection being thus carried on 
 ' Himself. 
 
 u 
 
210 JOURNAL OV THE PL AQTJE 
 
 by persons apparently in health, the churches and meeting- 
 houses were much thinner of people than at other times, 
 before that they used to be ; for this is to be said of the 
 people of London, that, during the whole time of the pes- 
 tilence, the churches or meetings were never wholly shut 
 up, nor did the people decline coming out to the public 
 worship of God, except only in some parishes, when the 
 violence of the distemper was more particularly in that 
 parish at that time ; and even then no longer than it con- 
 tinued to be so. 
 
 Indeed, nothing was more strange than to see with what 
 courage the people went to the public service of God, 
 even at that time when they were afraid to stir out of their 
 own houses upon any other occasion : this I mean before 
 the time of desperation which I have mentioned already. 
 This was a proof of the exceeding populousness of the city 
 at the time of the infection, notwithstanding the great 
 numbers that were gone into the country at the first alarm, 
 and that fled out into the forests and woods when they 
 were further terrified with the extraordinary increase of it. 
 For when we came to see the crowds and throngs of people 
 which appeared on the Sabbath-days at the churches, and 
 especially in those parts of the town where the plague was 
 abated, or where it was not yet come to its height, it was 
 amazing. But of this I shall speak again presently. I re- 
 turn, in the meantime, to the article of infecting one an- 
 other at first. Before people came to right notions of the 
 infection, and of infecting one another, people were only 
 shy of those that were really sick ; a man with a cap upon 
 his head, or with clothes round his neck, which was the 
 case of those that had swellings there, such was indeed 
 frightful ; but when we saw a gentleman dressed, with his 
 band ' on, and his gloves in his hand, his hat upon his 
 head, and his hair combed, of such we had not the least 
 apprehensions, and people conversed a great while freely, 
 especially with their neighbours and such as they knew. 
 ' A form of collar. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 211 
 
 But when the physicians assured us that the danger was as 
 well from the sound, that is, the seemingly sound, as the 
 sick, and that those people that thought themselves entirely 
 free were oftentimes the most fatal ; and that it came to 
 be generally understood that people were sensible of it, and 
 of the reason of it ; then, I say, they began to be jealous of 
 everybody, and a vast number of people locked themselves 
 up, so as not to come abroad into any company at all, nor 
 suffer any that had been abroad in promiscuous company 
 to come into their houses or near them ; at least not so 
 near them as to be within the reach of their breath, or of 
 any smell from them ; and when they were obliged to con- 
 verse at a distance with strangers, they would always have 
 preservatives in their mouths, and about their clothes, to 
 repel and keep ofE the infection. 
 
 It must be acknowledged, that when people began to 
 use these cautions, they were less exposed to danger, and 
 the infection did not break into such houses so fu- 
 riously as it did into others before, and thousands of fam- 
 ilies were preserved, speaking with due reserve to the 
 direction of divine Providence, by that means. 
 
 But it was impossible to beat anything into the heads of 
 the poor. They went on with the usual impetuosity of 
 their tempers, full of outcries, and lamentations when 
 taken, but madly careless of themselves, foolhardy and 
 obstinate, while they were well. Where they could get 
 employment they pushed into any kind of business, the 
 most dangerous and the most liable to infection ; and, if 
 they were spoken to, their answer would be, " I must trust 
 to God for that ; if I am taken, then I am provided for, 
 and there is an end of me ; " and the like. Or thus, 
 " "Why, what must I do ? I cannot starve, I had as good 
 have the plague as perish for want ; I have no work ; what 
 could I do ? I must do this or beg." Suppose it was 
 burying the dead, or attending the sick, or watching in- 
 fected houses, which were all terrible hazards ; but their 
 
212 JOURNAL OF TEE PLAQUE 
 
 tale was generally the same. It is true, necessity was a 
 justifiable, warrantable plea, and nothing could be better ; 
 but their way of talk was much the same where the neces- 
 sities were not the same. This adventurous conduct of 
 the poor was that which brought the plague among them in 
 a most furious manner ; and this, joined to the distress of 
 their circumstances, when taken, was the reason why they 
 died so by heaps ; for I cannot say I could observe one jot 
 of better husbandry among them, I mean the labouring 
 poor, while they were all well and getting money, than 
 there was before, but as lavish, as extravagant, and as 
 thoughtless for to-morrow as ever ; so that when they 
 came to be taken sick, they were immediately in the ut- 
 most distress, as well for want as for sickness, as well for 
 lack of food as lack of health. 
 
 The misery of the poor I had many occasions to be an 
 eye-witness of, and sometimes also of the charitable assist- 
 ance that some pious people daily gave to such, sending 
 them relief and supplies both of food, physic, and other 
 help, as they found they wanted ; and, indeed, it is a debt 
 of justice due to the temper of the people of that day, to 
 take notice here, that not only great sums, very great 
 sums of money, were charitably sent to the lord mayor and 
 aldermen for the assistance and support of the poor dis- 
 tempered people, but abundance of private people daily 
 distributed large sums of money for their relief, and sent 
 people about to inquire into the condition of particular 
 distressed and visited families, and relieved them ; nay, 
 some pious ladies were transported with zeal in so good a 
 work, and so confident in the protection of Providence in 
 discharge of the great duty of charity, that they went 
 about in person distributing alms to the poor, and even 
 visiting poor families, though sick and infected, in their 
 very houses, appointing nurses to attend those that wanted 
 attending, and ordering apothecaries and surgeons, the 
 first to supply theta with drags or plasters, and such 
 things as they wanted, and the last to lance and dress the 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 213 
 
 swellings and tumours, where such were wanting ; giving 
 their blessing to the poor in substantial relief to them, as 
 well as hearty prayers for them. 
 
 I will not undertake to say, as some do, that none of 
 those charitable people were suffered to fall under the ca- 
 lamity itself ; but this I may say, that I never knew any 
 one of them that miscarried,* which I mention for the en- 
 couragement of others in case of the like distress ; and 
 doubtless, if they that give to the poor, lend to the Lord, 
 and he will repay them,' those that hazard their lives to 
 give to the poor, and to comfort and assist the poor in 
 such misery as this, may hope to be protected in the work. 
 
 Nor was this charity so extraordinary eminent only in a 
 few ; but (for I cannot lightly quit this point) the charity 
 of the rich, as well in the city and suburbs as from the 
 country, was so great, that, in a word, a prodigious num- 
 ber of people, who must otherwise have perished for want 
 as well as sickness, were supported and subsisted by it ; 
 and though I could never, nor I believe any one else, come 
 to a full knowledge of what was so contributed, yet I do 
 believe that, as I heard one say that was a critical observer 
 of that part,^ there was not only many thousand pounds 
 contributed, but many hundred thousand pounds, to the 
 relief of the poor of this distressed, afflicted city ; nay, 
 one man affirmed to me that he could reckon up above 
 one hundred thousand pounds a week, which was distrib- 
 uted by the churchwardens at the several parish vestries, 
 by the lord mayor and the aldermen in the several wards 
 and precincts, and by the particular direction of the court 
 and of the justices respectively in the parts where they 
 resided ; over and above the private charity distributed by 
 pious hands in the manner I speak of ; and this continued 
 for many weeks together. 
 
 I confess this is a very great sum ; but if it be true that 
 
 ' Came to grief. ' Proverbs xlx_17. 
 
 "''' I.e., of the circumstances, unless " part" be iiere used in the rare 
 sense of " conduct." 
 
214 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 there was distributed in the parish of Cripplegate only, 
 seventeen thousand eight hundred pounds in one week to 
 the relief of the poor, as I heard reported, and which I 
 really believe was true, the other may not be improbable. 
 
 It was doubtless to be reckoned among the many signal 
 good providences which attended this great city, and of 
 which there were many other worth recording ; I say this 
 was a very remarkable one, that it pleased God thus to 
 move the hearts of the people in all parts of the kingdom 
 so cheerfully to contribute to the relief and support of the 
 poor at London ; the good consequences of which were felt 
 many ways, and particularly in preserving the lives and 
 recovering the health of so many thousands, and keeping 
 so many thousands of families from perishing and starving. 
 
 And now I am talking of the merciful disposition of 
 Providence in this time of calamity, I cannot but mention 
 again, though I have spoken several times of it already on 
 other accounts, I mean that of the progression of the dis- 
 temper ; how it began at one end of the town, and pro- 
 ceeded gradually and slowly from one part to another, and 
 like a dark cloud that passes over our heads, which, as it 
 thickens and overcasts the air at one end, clears up at the 
 other end ; so, while the plague went on raging from west 
 to east, as it went forwards east it abated in the west, by 
 which means those parts of the town which were not seized, 
 or who were left, a,nd where it had spent its fury, were (as 
 it were) spared to help and assist the other ; whereas, had 
 the distemper spread itself over the whole city and suburbs 
 at once, raging in all places alike, as it has done since in 
 some places abroad, the whole body of the people must 
 have been overwhelmed, and there would have died twenty 
 thousand a day, as they say there did at Naples, nor would 
 the people have been able to have helped or assisted one 
 another. 
 
 For it must be observed, that where the plague was in 
 its full force, there, indeed, the people were very miser- 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 215 
 
 able, and the consternation was inexpressible. Bat a little 
 before it reached even to that place, or presently after it 
 was gone, they were quite another sort of people, and I 
 cannot but acknowledge that there was too much of that 
 common temper of mankind to be found among us all at that 
 time, namely, to forget the deliverance when the danger is 
 past ; but I shall come to speak of that part again. 
 
 It must not be forgot here to take some notice of the 
 state of trade during the time of this common calamity ; 
 and this with respect to foreign trade, as also to our home 
 trade. 
 
 As to foreign trade, there needs little to be said. The 
 trading nations of Europe were all afraid of us; no port of 
 France, or Holland, or Spain, or Italy, would admit our 
 ships or correspond with us ; indeed, we stood on ill terms 
 with the Dutch, and were in a furious war with them, 
 though in a bad condition to fight abroad, who had such 
 dreadful enemies to struggle with at home. 
 
 Our merchants were accordingly at a full stop ; their 
 ships could go nowhere, that is to say, to no place abroad ; 
 their manufactures and merchandise, that is to say, of our 
 growth, would not be touched abroad ; they were as much 
 afraid of our goods as they were of our people ; and, in- 
 deed, they had reason, for our woollen manufactures are as 
 retentive of infection as human bodies, and, if packed up 
 by persons infected, would receive the infection and be as 
 dangerous to the touch as a man would be that was in- 
 fected ; and, therefore, when any English vessel arrived in 
 foreign countries, if they did take the goods on shore, 
 they always caused the bales to be opened and aired in 
 places appointed for that purpose. But from London 
 they would not suffer them to come into port, much less 
 to unload their goods upon any terms whatever; and this 
 strictness was especially used with them in Spain and 
 Italy : in Turkey, and the islands of the Arches,' indeed, 
 ' The Grecian Archipelago. 
 
216 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 as they are called, as well those belonging to the Turks as 
 to the Venetians, they were not so very rigid ; in the first 
 there was no obstruction at all, and for ' ships which were 
 then in the river loading for Italy, that is, for Leghorn 
 and Naples, being denied ' product, ** as they call it, went 
 on to Turkey, and were freely admitted to unlade their 
 cargo without any diflBoulty, only that when they arrived 
 there some of their cargo was not fit for sale in that coun- 
 try, and other parts of it being consigned to merchants at 
 Leghorn, the captains of the ships had no right nor any 
 orders to dispose of the goods, so that great inconveniences 
 followed to the merchants. But this was nothing but 
 what the necessity of affairs required, and the merchants 
 at Leghorn and Naples having notice given them, sent 
 again from thence to take care of the effects, which were 
 particularly consigned to those ports, and to bring back in 
 other ships such as were improper for the markets at 
 Smyrna and Scanderoon.^ 
 
 The inconveniences in Spain and Portugal were still 
 greater ; for they would by no means suffer our ships, es- 
 pecially those from London, to come into any of their ports, 
 much less to unlade. There was a report, that one of our 
 ships, having by stealth delivered her cargo, among which 
 were some bales of English cloth, cotton, kerseys,' and such 
 like goods, the Spaniards caused all the goods to be burnt, 
 and punished the men with death who were concerned in 
 carrying them on shore. This I believe was in part true, 
 though I do not aflBrm it ; but it is not at all unlikely, see- 
 ing the danger was really very great, the infection being so 
 violent in London. 
 
 I heard likewise that the plague was carried into those 
 countries by some of our ships, and particularly to the port 
 of Faro, in the kingdom of Algarve,' belonging to the King 
 
 ' Omit " for." » At Leghorn and Naples. 
 
 ' Permission to unload their cargoes. • 
 
 'Iskanderun or Alezandretta, a seaport of Asiatic Turkey. 
 
 ' Coarse woollen clothes. * The most southern province of Portugal, 
 
JOUBNAL OF TEE PLAGUE 217 
 
 of Portugal ; and that several persons died of it there, but 
 it was not confirmed. 
 
 On the other hand, though the Spaniards and Portuguese 
 were so shy of us, it is most certain that the plague, as has 
 been said, keeping at first much at that end of the town next 
 Westminster, the merchandising part of the town, such as 
 the city, and the waterside, was perfectly sound, till at least 
 the beginning of July ; and the ships in the river till the 
 beginning of August ; for, to the 1st of July, there had 
 died but seven within the whole city, and but 60 within the 
 liberties ; but one in all the parishes of Stepney, Aldgate, 
 and Whitechapel, and but two in all the eight parishes of 
 Southwark ; but it was the same thing abroad, for the bad 
 news was gone over the whole world that the city of Lon- 
 don was infected with the plague ; and there was no in- 
 quiring there how the infection proceeded, or at which part 
 of the town it was begun or was reached to. 
 
 Besides, after it began to spread, it increased so fast, and 
 the bills grew so high all on a sudden, that it was to no pur- 
 pose to lessen the report of it, or endeavour to make the 
 people abroad think it better than it was ; the account 
 which the weekly bills gave in was suflBcient ; and that 
 there died two thousand to three or four thousand a week, 
 was sufficient to alarm the whole trading part of the world, 
 and the following time being so dreadful also in the very 
 city itself, put the whole world, I say, upon their guard 
 against it. 
 
 You may be sure also that the report of these things lost 
 nothing in the carriage ; the plague was itself very terrible, 
 and the distress of the people very great, as you may observe 
 of* what I have said ; but the rumour was infinitely greater, 
 and it must not be wondered that our friends abroad, as 
 my brother's correspondents in particular were told there, 
 namely, in Portugal and Italy, where he chiefiy traded, 
 that in London there died twenty thousand in a week ; 
 that the dead bodies lay unburied by heaps ; that the living 
 
 'By. 
 
218 JOURNAL OF THE PIAOUB 
 
 were not sufficient to bury the dead, or the sound to look 
 after the sick ; that all the kingdom was infected likewise, so 
 that it was an universal malady, such as was never heard 
 of in those parts of the world ; and they could hardly be- 
 lieve us when we gave them an account how things really 
 were, and how there was not above one-tenth part of the 
 people dead ; that there were five hundred thousand left 
 that lived all the time in the town ; that now the people 
 began to walk the streets again, and those who were fled to 
 return ; there was no miss of the usual throng of people in 
 the streets, except as every family might miss their relations 
 and neighbours, and the like ; I say, they could not believe 
 these things ; and if inquiry were now to be made in Naples, 
 or in other cities on the coast of Italy, they would tell 
 you there was a dreadful infection in London so many 
 years ago, in which, as above, there died twenty thousand 
 in a week, etc., just as we have had it reported in London 
 that there was a plague in the city of Naples in the year 
 1656, in which there died twenty thousand people in a 
 day, of which I have had very good satisfaction that it was 
 utterly false. 
 
 But these extravagant reports were very prejudicial to 
 our trade, as well as unjust and injurious in themselves, 
 for it was a long time after the plague was quite over before 
 our trade could recover itself in those parts of the world ; 
 and the Flemings and Dutch, but especially the last, made 
 very great advantages of it, having all the market to them- 
 selves, and even buying our manufactures in the several 
 parts of England where the plague was not, and carrying 
 them to Holland and Flanders, and from thence transport- 
 ing them to Spain and to Italy, as if they had been of their 
 own making. 
 
 But they were detected sometimes and punished, that is 
 to say, their goods confiscated and ships also : for if it was 
 true that our manufactures, as well as our people, were in- 
 fected, and that it was dangerous to touch, or to open and 
 receive the smell of them, then those people ran the haz- 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 219 
 
 ard, by that clandestine trade, not only of carrying the con- 
 tagion into their own country, but also of infecting the 
 nations to whom they traded with those goods ; which, con- 
 sidering how many lives might be lost in consequence of 
 such an action, must be a trade that no men of conscience 
 could suffer themselves to be concerned in. 
 
 I do not take upon me to say that any harm was done, I 
 mean of that kind, by those people ; but I doubt * I need 
 not make any such proviso in the case of our own country ; 
 for either by our people of London, or by the commerce, 
 which made their conversing with all sorts of people in every 
 county, and of every considerable town, necessary ; I say, by 
 this means the plague was first or last spread all over the king- 
 dom, as well in London as in all the cities and great towns, 
 especially in the trading manufacturing towns and seaports ; 
 so that, first or last, all the considerable places in Eng- 
 land were visited more or less, and the kingdom of Ireland 
 in some places, but not so universally. How it fared with 
 the people in Scotland I had no opportunity to inquire. 
 
 It is to be observed, that while the plague continued so 
 violent in London, the outports, as they are called, enjoyed 
 a very great trade, especially to the adjacent countries, and 
 to our own plantations ; ^ for example, the towns of Col- 
 chester, Yarmouth, and Hull, on that side of England, ex- 
 ported to Holland and Hamburg the manufactures of the 
 adjacent counties for several months after the trade with 
 London was, as it were, entirely shut up ; likewise the 
 cities of Bristol, and Exeter, with the port of Plymouth, 
 had the like advantage to Spain, to the Canaries, to Guinea, 
 and to the West Indies, and particularly to Ireland ; but as 
 the plague spread itself every way after it had been in 
 London to such a degree as it was in August and Septem- 
 ber, so all or most of those cities and towns were infected 
 first or last, and then trade was, as it were, under a general 
 embargo, or at a full stop, as I shall observe farther when 
 I speak of our home trade. 
 
 ' Suppose. 'Colonies. 
 
220 JOUBNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 One thing, however, must be obsetved, that as to ships 
 coming in from abroad, as many you may be sure did, some 
 who were out in all parts of the world a considerable while 
 before, and some who, when they went out, knew nothing 
 of an infection, or, at least, of one so terrible ; these came 
 up the river boldly, and delivered their cargoes as they were 
 obliged to do, except just in the two months of August 
 and September, when the weight of the infection lying, as 
 I may say, all below bridge,' nobody durst appear in busi- 
 ness for a while ; but, as this continued but for a few weeks, 
 the homeward bound ships, especially such whose cargoes 
 were not liable to spoil, came to an anchor for a time short 
 of the Pool, or fresh water part of the river, even as low as 
 the river Medway, where several of them ran in, and 
 others lay at the Ifore, and in the Hope below Gravesend ; 
 so that by the latter end of October there was a very great 
 fleet of homeward bound ships to come up, such as the like 
 had not been known for many years. 
 
 Two particular trades were carried on by water-carriage 
 all the while of the infection, and that with little or no in- 
 terruption, very much to the advantage and comfort of the 
 poor distressed people of the city, and those were the coast- 
 ing trade for corn, and the Newcastle trade for coals. • 
 
 TJie first of these was particularly carried on by small 
 vessels from the port of Hull, and other places in the 
 Humber, by which great quantities of corn were brought 
 in from Yorkshire and Lincolnshire ; the other part of this 
 corn trade was from Lynn in Norfolk, from "Wells, and 
 Burnham, and from Yarmouth all in the same county ; 
 and the third branch was from the river Medway, and 
 from Milton, Feversham, Margate, and Sandwich, and all 
 the other little places and ports round the coast of Kent 
 and Essex. 
 
 There was also a very good trade from the coast of Suf- 
 folk, with corn, butter, and cheese. These vessels kept a 
 constant course of trade, and without interruption came 
 > London Bridge. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 221 
 
 Ep to that market known still by the name of Bear Key,- 
 where they supplied the city plentifully with corn, when 
 land-carriage began to fail, a^jd when the people began to 
 be sick of coming from many places in the country. 
 
 This also was much of it owing to the prudence and con- 
 duct of the lord mayor, who took such care to keep the 
 masters and seamen from danger when they came up, caus- 
 ing their corn to be bought off at any time they wanted a 
 market (which, however, was very seldom), and causing 
 the corn-factors* immediately to unlade and deliver the 
 vessels laden with corn, that ^ they had very little occasion 
 to come out of their ships or vessels, the money being al- 
 ways carried on board to them, and put it into a pail of vin- 
 egar before it was carried. 
 
 The second trade was that of coals from Newcastle-upon- 
 Tyne, without which the city would have been greatly dis- 
 tressed ; for, not in the streets only, but in private houses 
 and families, great quantities of coal were then burnt, even 
 all the summer long, and when the weather was hottest, 
 which was done by the advice of the physicians. Some, 
 indeed, opposed it, and insisted that to keep the houses 
 and rooms hot was a means to propagate the distempM', 
 which was a fermentation and heat already in the blood ; 
 that .it was known to spread and increase in hot weather, 
 and abate in cold, and therefore they alleged that all con- 
 tagious distempers are the worst for heat, because the. con- 
 tagion was nourished and gained strength in hot weather, 
 and was, as it were, propagated in heat. 
 
 Others said, they granted that heat in the climate might 
 propagate infection, as sultry hot weather fills the air with 
 vermin, and nourishes innumerable numbers and kinds of 
 venomous creatures, which breed in our food, in the plants, 
 and. even in our bodies, by the very stench of which infec- 
 tion, may be propagated ; also, that heat in the air, or heat 
 of weather, as we ordinarily call it, makes bodies relax and 
 faint, exhausts the spirits, opens the pores, and makes us 
 ' Wholesale merchants. ' So that. 
 
222 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 more apt to receive infection or any evil influence, be it 
 from noxious, pestilential vapours, or any other thing in 
 the air; but that the heat ef fire, and especially of coal 
 fires, kept in our houses or near us, had quite a difEerent 
 operation, the heat being not of the same kind, but quick 
 and fierce, tending not to nourish but to consume and dis- 
 sipate all those noxious fumes which the other kind of heat 
 rather exhaled and stagnated than separated and burnt 
 up ; besides, it was alleged that the sulphurous and nitrons 
 particles that are often found to be in the coal, with that 
 bituminous substance which burns, are all assisting to clear 
 and purge the air, and render it wholesome and safe to 
 breathe in, after the noxious particles (as above) are dis- 
 persed and burnt up. 
 
 The latter opinion prevailed at that time, and, as I must 
 confess, I think, with good reason, and the experience of 
 the citizens confirmed it, many houses which had constant 
 fires kept in the rooms having never been infected at all ; 
 and I must join my experience to it, for I found .the keep- 
 ing of good fires kept our rooms sweet and wholesome, and 
 I do verily believe made our whole family so, more than 
 would otherwise have been. 
 
 But I return to the coals as a trade. It was with no little 
 difficulty that this trade was kept open, and particularly be- 
 cause as we were in an open war with the Dutch at that 
 time, the Dutch capers' at first took a great many of our 
 collier ships, which made the rest cautious, and made them 
 to stay to^ come in fleets together ; but after some time the 
 capers were either afraid to take them, or their masters, 
 the States,' were afraid they should, and forbade them, lest 
 the plague should be among them, which made them fare 
 the better. 
 
 For the security of those northern traders, the coaJ ships 
 were ordered by my lord mayor not to come up into the 
 Pool above a certain number at a time, and ordered lighters 
 
 ' Light Dutch privateers. ' Wait in order to. 
 
 ■'The States-General, the Dutch legislative assembly. 
 
JOUUNAL OF THE PLAQUE 223 
 
 and other vessels, such as the woodmongers,* that is, the 
 wharf-keepers, or coal-sellers furnished, to go down and 
 take out the coals as low as Deptford and Greenwich, and 
 some farther down. 
 
 Others delivered great quantities of coals in particular 
 places, where the ships could come to the shore, as at Green- 
 wich, Blackwall, and other places, in vast heaps, as if to be 
 kept for sale, but were then fetched away after the ships 
 which brought them were gone ; so that the seamen had no 
 communication with the river men, nor so much as came 
 near one another. 
 
 Yet all this caution could not effectually prevent the dis- 
 temper getting amoilg the colliery, that is to say, among 
 the ships, by which a great many seamen died of it ; and 
 that which was still worse was, that they carried it down 
 to Ipswich and Yarmouth, to Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and 
 other places on the coast ; where, especially at Newcastle 
 and at Sunderland, it carried ofE a great number of people. 
 
 The making so many fires, as above, did, indeed, consume 
 an unusual quantity of coals ; ^ and that ^ upon one or two 
 stops of the ships coming up, whether by contrary weather 
 or by the interruption of enemies, I do not remember, but 
 the price of coals was exceedingly dear, even as high as U. a 
 chaldron,* but it soon abated when the ships came in, and 
 as afterwards they had a freer passage, the price was very 
 reasonable all the rest of that year. 
 
 The public fires which were made on these occasions, as 
 I have calculated it, must necessarily have cost the city 
 about 300 chaldron of coals a week, if they had continued, 
 which was indeed a very great quantity, but as it was 
 thought necessary, nothing was spared ; however, as some 
 of the physicians cried them down, they were not kept a- 
 light above four or five days. The fires were ordered thus : 
 
 ' Wood merchants. 
 
 " In England the word ' ' coal " is frequently used in the plural. 
 
 ^ And brought it about that. 
 
 < Then twenty-five and a half hundredweight. 
 
224 JOURNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 
 
 One at the Custom House ; one at Billingsgate ; one at 
 Queenhithe ; and one at the Three Cranes ; one in Black- 
 friars ; and one at the gate of Bridewell ; one at the cor- 
 ner of Leadenhall Street and Cracechurch ; one at the 
 north, and one at the south gate of the Royal Exchange ; 
 one at Guildhall, and one at Blackwell Hall gate ; one at 
 the lord mayor's door in St. Helen's ; one at the west en- 
 trance 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 quarrelled since that at the experi- 
 ment, 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 ac- 
 count whatever. 
 
 It remains to give some account of the state of trade at 
 home in England, during this dreadful time ; and partic- 
 ularly 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 easy 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 pleased God to send a very plentiful year of corn and 
 fruit, and 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 be- 
 yond Whitechapel bars, was sold at 4Z. 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, 
 ' Because it was cheaper to kill cattle than to pasture them. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PL AGUE 225 
 
 grapes, and they were the ' cheaper because of the wants of 
 the 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 expor- 
 tation being stopped, or at least very much interrupted 
 and rendered diflBcult, a general stop of all those manu- 
 factures followed of course, which were usually brought 
 for exportation ; and, though sometimes merchants abroad 
 were importunate for goods, yet little was sent, the pas- 
 sages being so generally stopped 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 ex- 
 portation in most parts of England, except in some out- 
 ports, and even that was soon stopped ; for they all had 
 the plague, in their turn. But, though 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 through the Londoners' 
 hands, was stopped at once, the trade of the city being 
 stopped. 
 
 All kinds of handicrafts in the city, etc., tradesmen and 
 mechanics, were, as I have said before, out of employ, and 
 this occasioned the putting ofE and dismissing an innumer- 
 able number of journeymen and workmen of all sorts, see- 
 ing 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 de- 
 pended upon the labour of the heads of those families ; I 
 say, this reduced them to extreme 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 averred that 
 15 
 
226 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 nobody 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 suffered greatly, and the 
 poor were pinched 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 weakened the country, and 
 by another calamity, even terrible too of its kind, enriched 
 the country, and made them again amends : for an infinite 
 quantity of household stuff, wearing apparel, and other 
 things, besides whole warehouses filled with merchandize 
 and manufactures, such as come from all parts of England, 
 were consumed 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 manu- 
 facturing 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 allowed again ; 
 and the prodigious demand at home falling in, joined 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. 
 
 ' As. « Sale 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE! 227 
 
 It remains, now, that I should say something of the mer- 
 ciful part of this terrible judgment. The last week in 
 September, the plague being come to its crisis, its fury 
 began to assuage. I remember my friend. Dr. Heath, 
 coming to see me the week before, told me, he was sure 
 the violence of it would assuage 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 asked him, what he had made his judg- 
 ment 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 in- 
 fected, there should have been twenty thousand dead the 
 last week instead of eight thousand, if the inveterate mor- 
 tal contagion had been as it was two weeks ago ; for then it 
 ordinarily killed 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, 
 though a vast multitude are now everywhere 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 passed 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 
 6720 ; 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 ray friend, there were not fewer than sixty 
 thousand people at that time infected, whereof, as above, 
 ' He was not at such a loss. 
 
22§> JOURNAL OF TEE PLAGME 
 
 20^477 died, arid near forty thousand recovered ; whereaSj 
 had it been as it was before, fifty thousand of that number 
 would very probably have died, if not more, and fifty 
 thoustod more would have sickened ; for, in a word, the 
 whole mass of people began to sicken, and it looked as if 
 norie would escape. 
 
 But this remark of my friend's appeared more evident in 
 a few weeks more ; for the decrease went on, and another 
 week' in October it decreased 1843, so that the number dead 
 of the plague was but 3665 ; 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 ordi- 
 nalry, arid 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 is none of my par- 
 ticular business to inquire, but I saw it apparently here, 
 that as,, upon the first sight of the infection, they shunned 
 one, another, and fled from one another's houses, and from 
 the city, with an unaccountable, and, as I thought, un- 
 necessary fright; so now, upon this notion spreading, viz., 
 that' the distemper was not so catching as formerly, and 
 that if it was catched, 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 com- 
 pany with, those -vyho had tumours and carbuncles upon 
 them, that were running, and consequently contagious, but 
 eat and drank with them ; nay, into their houses to visit 
 thein ; and even, as I was told, into their very chambers 
 where they lay sick. 
 
 -This I could not see rational. My friend Dr. Heath 
 ajtowed, and it- was plain to experience, that the distemper 
 was as catching as ever, and as many fell sick, but only he 
 alleged that so many of those that fell sick did not die ; 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 229 
 
 but I think, that, while many did die^ and that at best the 
 distemper itself was very terrible, the sores and swellings 
 very tormenting, and the danger of death not left out of 
 the circumstance of sickness, though not so frequent as be- 
 fore ; all those things, together with the exceeding tedious- 
 ness of the cure, the loath-someness 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 mere 
 catching of the distemper frightful, and that was the ter- 
 rible burning of the caustics 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 insufferable torment of the swellings, which, 
 though 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 torment ; 
 and those that fell into it, though they did escape with 
 life, yet they made bitter complaints of those that had told 
 them there was no danger, and sadly repented their rash- 
 ness 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 though many escaped, yet many 
 died; and at least, it had this public mischief attending 
 it, that it made the decrease of burials slower than it 
 would otherwise have been; for, as this notion ran like 
 lightning through the city, and the people's heads were 
 possessed with it, even as soon as the first great decrease in 
 the bills appeared, we found that the two next bills did 
 not decrease in proportion ; the reason I take to be the 
 people's running so rashly into danger, giving up all their 
 former cautions and care, and all shyness which they used 
 to practise ; depending that ' the sickness would not reach 
 them, or that, if it did, they should not die. 
 
 ' Cast away caution. 'Depending on it that. 
 
230 JOURNAL OF THE PLAOUE 
 
 The physicians opposed this thoughtless humour of the 
 people with all their might, and gave out printed direc- 
 tions, spreading them all over the city and suburbs, advis- 
 ing the people to continue reserved and to use still the ut- 
 most caution in their ordinary conduct, notwithstanding 
 the decrease of the distemper ; terrifying them with the dan- 
 ger of bringing a relapse upon the whole city, and telling 
 them how such a relapse might be more fatal and danger- 
 ous 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 possessed with the first joy, and so surprised 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 passed ; and it was to no more purpose to talk to them 
 than to an east wind ; but they opened shops, went about 
 streets, did business, conversed with anybody that came in 
 their way to converse with, whether with business or with- 
 out ; neither inquiring of their health, or so much as being 
 apprehensive of any danger from them, though 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 them- 
 selves up, and kept retired, as it were, from all mankind, 
 and had by that means, under God's providence, been 
 preserved through all the heat of that infection. 
 
 This rash and foolish conduct of the people went so 
 far that the ministers took notice to them * of it, and laid 
 before them both the folly and danger of it; and this 
 checked it a little, so that they grew more cautious ; but it 
 had another effect, which they could 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 tired 
 with being so long from London, and so eager to come 
 ' Made them take note. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 231 
 
 back, that they flocked to town without fear or forecast,* 
 and began to show themselves in the streets, as if all the 
 danger was over : it was, indeed, surprising to see it, for 
 though there died still from a thousand to eighteen hun- 
 dred a week, yet the people flocked to town as if all had 
 been well. 
 
 The consequence of this was that the bills increased again 
 four hundred the very first week in November ; and, if I 
 might believe the physicians, there were above three thou- 
 sand fell sick that week, most of them new comers, too. 
 
 One John Cock, a barber in St. Martin's-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 locked up his 
 house, and was gone into the country as many others did ; 
 and finding the plague so decreased in November that there 
 died but 905 per week of all diseases, he ventured home 
 again ; he had in his family ten persons, that is to say, him- 
 self and wife, five children, two apprentices, and a maid 
 servant ; he had not been returned 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 remained 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 wintry weather came on apace, and the air was 
 clear and cold, with some sharp frosts ; and this increasing 
 still, most of those that had fallen sick recovered, and the 
 health of the city began to return. There were, indeed, 
 some returns of the distemper, even in the month of De- 
 cember, and the bills increased 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 popu- 
 > Forethought. 
 
232 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 lous 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. 
 Pew or no empty houses were ,to be seen, or if there were 
 some, there was no want of tenants for them. 
 
 I wish I could 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 retained 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 itself ; but, 
 except what of this was to be found in particular families 
 and faces, it must be acknowledged that the general prac- 
 tice 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 declined from this very time ; that the people, 
 hardened by the danger they had been in, like seamen 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 restored 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 asunder, so, after 
 many consultations, the lord mayor and court of aldermen 
 were obliged to drop it : all they could do was to warn and 
 caution the people not to entertain in their houses, or con- 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 233 
 
 verse with, any people who they knew came from such in- 
 fected places. 
 
 But they might as well hare talked to the air, for the peo- 
 ple of London thought themselves so plague-free now that 
 they were past all admonitions ; they seemed to depend 
 upon it that the air was restored, and that the air was like 
 a man that had had the small-pox, not capable of being in- 
 fected again. This revived that notion that the infection 
 was all in the air, that there was no such thing as conta- 
 gion from the sick people to the sound ; and so strongly did 
 this whimsy prevail among people, that they run altogether 
 promiscuously, sick and well ; not the Mahometans, who, 
 prepossessed with the principle of predestination, value ' 
 nothing of contagion, let it be ia 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 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 except ^ of the advice of those who 
 cautioned them for their good. 
 
 The people being thus returned, 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 
 * Think. ' Accept. 
 
234 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 that there was no remembrance of them left ; neither was 
 anybody to be found to possess or show any title to that 
 little they had left ; for in such cases, what was to be 
 found was generally embezzled and purloined, some gone 
 one way, some another. 
 
 It was said such abandoned effects came to the king as 
 the universal heir ; upon which we are told, and I suppose 
 it was in part true, that the king granted all such as deo- 
 dands ' to the lord mayor and court of aldermen of Lon- 
 don, to be applied to the use of the poor, of whom there 
 were very many. For it is to be observed, that, though 
 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 
 sluices of general charity were shut ; people supposed the 
 main occasion to be over, and so stopped their hands ; 
 whereas particular objects were still very moving, and the 
 distress of those that were poor was very great indeed. 
 
 Though the health of the city was now very much re- 
 stored, 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 be- 
 tween our court and them had broken out into a war the 
 year before, so that our trade that way was wholly inter- 
 rupted ; but Spain and Portugal, Italy and Barbary, as 
 also Hamburg, and all the ports in the Baltic, 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 observed, many, if not all, of the out-parishes were 
 
 ' Articles devoted to God ; the technical term for "personal chat- 
 tels whicli had been the immediatn occasion of the death of a rational 
 creature, a id for that reason given to God —that is, forfeited to the 
 king to be applied to pious uses and distributed in alms " — Century 
 Dictionary. 
 
JOURNAL OF THS PLAGUE 235 
 
 obliged to make new burying-grounds, besides that I have 
 mentioned in Bunhill Fields, some of which were contin- 
 ued, 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 disturbed, abused, dug up again, 
 some even before the flesh of them was perished from the 
 bones, and removed like dung or rubbish to other places. 
 Some of those which came within the reach of my obser- 
 vations are as follows : — 
 
 First. A piece of ground beyond Goswell 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, Olerken- 
 well, and even out of the city. This ground, as I take it, 
 was since made a physio garden,* and after that, has been 
 built upon. 
 
 Second. A piece of ground just over the Black Ditch, 
 as it was then called, at the end of HoUoway Lane, in 
 Shoreditch parish ; it has been since made a yard for keep- 
 ing hogs and for other ordinary uses, but is quite out of 
 use as a burying ground. 
 
 Third. The upper end of Hand Alley, in Bishopsgate 
 Street, which was then a green field, and was taken in par- 
 ticularly for Bishopsgate parish, though many of the carts 
 out of the city brought their dead thither also, particularly 
 out of the parish of St. AUhallows on the Wall : this place 
 I cannot mention without much regret. It was, as I re- 
 member, about two or three years after the plague was 
 ceased that Sir Eobert Clayton ^ came to be possessed 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 obtained a grant of it from King Charles 
 
 ' Adverse criticism. 
 
 ' For herbs used in preparing drugs. 
 
 ' Lord mayor in 1Q79-80. 
 
236 JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 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 stand- 
 ing, which faces the street or way now called Hand Alley, 
 which, though called 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 women's skulls were distinguished 
 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 
 a return of the contagion : after which the bones and bod- 
 ies, as fast as they came at them, were carried to another 
 part of the same ground, and thrown altogether 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 lie the bones and remains 
 of near two thousand bodies, carried by the dead-carts to 
 their grave in that one year. 
 
 Fourth. Besides this, there was a piece of ground in 
 Moorfields, by the going into the street which is now 
 called Old Bethlem, which was enlarged much, though not 
 wholly taken in, on the same occasion. 
 
 N.B. The author of this journal lies buried in that very 
 ground, being at his own desire, his sister having been 
 buried there a few years before. 
 
 Fifth. Stepney parish, extending itself from the east 
 part of London to the north, even to the very edge of 
 Shoreditch churchyard, 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 churchyard: and they had also two 
 
JOURNAL OP THE PLAQUE 237 
 
 other burying-places in Spitalfields, 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, Shadwell, 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 could 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 observed 
 that they were obliged 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 undisturbed, that I cannot answer for, and must con- 
 fess I think it was wrong ; who were to blame I know not. 
 
 I should have mentioned, that the Quakers ' had at that 
 time also a burying-ground set apart 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 through 
 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 thronged this account with many more re- 
 markable things which occurred in the time of the infec- 
 tion, and particularly what passed between the lord mayor 
 
 ' For infoTmation in regard to the peculiarities and tenets of the 
 early Quakers, the student should consult an encyolopsedia. 
 
 •^ See page 98. ' Die. 
 
240 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 valued ; but these were not abundance. It cannot be said 
 that they all stayed, and that none retired 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 considered 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 dis- 
 tress, without remembering that any failed in their duty 
 on either side, but the want of temper among us has made 
 the contrary to this necessary ; some that stayed, not only 
 bpasting 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 recom- 
 mend 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 
 could 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 itself on his pale horse -.^ to stay was 
 indeed to die, and it could be esteemed nothing less ; es- 
 pecially as things appeared at the latter end of August and 
 the beginning of September, and as there was reason to ex- 
 pect 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, two thousand 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 stayed most of the time before. 
 Besides, if God gave strength to some more than to others, 
 ' 8t. John X. 12. 2 Revelation vl. 8. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 241 
 
 was it to boast of their ability to abide the stroke, and up- 
 braid those that had not the same gift and support, or 
 ought they not rather to have been humble and thankful, 
 if they were rendered 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 ventured their lives in discharge of their duty, 
 as most certainly all such as stayed did to the last degree, 
 and several of these kinds did not only venture, but lost, 
 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 re- 
 member, that there died sixteen clergymen, two aldermen, 
 five physicians, thirteen surgeons, within the city and liber- 
 ties, before the beginning of September. But this being, 
 as I said before, the crisis and extremity of the infection, 
 it can be no complete list. As to inferior people, I think 
 there died six and forty constables and headboroughs ' in 
 the two parishes of Stepney and Whitechapel ; but I could 
 not carry my list on, for when the violent rage of the dis- 
 temper, in September, came upon us, it drove us out of all 
 measure. Men did then no more die by tale and by num- 
 ber ; they might put out a weekly bill, and call them seven 
 or eight thousand, or what they pleased ; it is 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, though I was public enough for one that had no 
 more business to do than I had ; I say, if we may believe 
 them, there was not many less buried those first three weeks 
 in September than twenty thousand per week ; however 
 the others aver the truth of it, yet I rather choose to keep to 
 the public account ; seven or eight thousand per week is 
 ' Heads of boroughs, officers with the duties of petty constables. 
 16 
 
242 JOURNAL OF TBE PLAQUE 
 
 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 
 everything is set down with moderation, and rather within 
 compass than beyond it. 
 
 Upon all these accounts, I say, I could wish, when we 
 were recovered, our conduct had been more distinguished 
 for charity and kindnSss, in remembrance of the past ca- 
 lamity, and not so much in valuing ourselves 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 despera- 
 tion, 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, 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 scarcely possible it 
 should be otherwise. 
 
 I have not said one word here about the physic or prep- 
 arations that were ordinarily made use of on this terrible 
 occasion ; I mean we that frequently went abroad up and 
 down the streets, as I did ; much of this was talked 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 prepa- 
 rations, which they had considered of in the process of their 
 practice ; and which, being to be had in print, I avoid re- 
 peating them for that reason. 
 
 ' Advertisements. 
 
JOURNAL OF THB PLAGUE 243 
 
 One thing I conld not help observing, what befel one of 
 the quacks, who published 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 carried 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 re- 
 gard 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 observed, to keep a preparation 
 of strong scent, to have ready in case I met with anything 
 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 
 high and hot with cordials, and wine, and such things, and 
 which, as I observed, one learned physician used himself so 
 much to, as that he could not leave them off when the infec- 
 tion was quite gone, and so became a sot for all hislife after. 
 
 I remember my friend the doctor used 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 music, by the changing and 
 order of sound but in six bells ; and that all these prep- 
 arations shall be really very good. " Therefore," said he, 
 " I do not wonder that so vast a throng of medicines is 
 offered in the present calamity ; and almost every phy- 
 sician prescribes or prepares a different thing, as his judg- 
 ment 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 com- 
 pounded of the same things, with such variations only as 
 the particular fancy of the doctor leads him to ; so that," 
 
244: JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 
 
 says he, "every man, judging a little of his own constitu- 
 tion 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 recommend one thing as most sovereign, and some 
 another ; some," says he, "think that Pill. EnfE.,' which 
 is called itself the anti-pestilential pill, is the best prepara- 
 tion that can be made ; others think that Venice Treacle' 
 is sufficient of itself to resist the contagion, and I," says 
 he, "think as both these think, viz., that the first is good 
 to take beforehand, to prevent it, and the last, if touched, 
 to expel it." According to this opinion, I several times 
 took Venice Treacle, and a sound sweat upon it, and 
 thought myself as well fortified against the infection as 
 any one could be fortified by the power of physic. 
 
 As for quackery and mountebank, of which the town 
 was so full, I listened to none of them, and observed, often 
 since, with some wonder, that, for two years after the 
 plague, I scarcely ever heard one of them about the town. 
 Some fancied they were all swept away in the infection to 
 a man, and were for calling it a particular mark of God's 
 vengeance upon them, for leading the poor people into the 
 pit of destruction, merely for the lucre of a little money 
 they got by them ; but I cannot go that length neither ; 
 that abundance of them died is certain — many of them 
 came within the reach of my own knowledge ; but that all 
 of them were swept off, I much question. I believe, rather, 
 they fled into the country, and tried their practices upon 
 the people there, who were in apprehension of the infec- 
 tion before it came among them. 
 
 This, however, is certain, not a man of them appeared, 
 for a great while, in or about London. There were, in- 
 deed, several doctors, who published bills recommending 
 their several physical preparations for cleansing the body, 
 
 ' PUuUb Biifl, an aperient, into the composition of which entei 
 aloes and myrrh. 
 ' A cordial of manj ingredients, including opium. 
 
JOURNAL Of THE PLAGUE 24^ 
 
 as they call it, after the plague, and needful, as they said, 
 for such people to take, who had been visited and had 
 been cured ; whereas, I must own, I believe that it was the 
 opinion of the most eminent physicians of that time that 
 the plague was itself a sufficient purge ; and that those 
 who escaped the infection needed no physic to cleanse 
 their bodies of any other things ; the running sores, the 
 tumours, etc., which were broken and kept open by the 
 direction of the physicians, having sufficiently cleansed 
 them ; and that all other distempers, and causes of dis- 
 tempers, were efEectually carried off that way ; and as the 
 physicians gave this as their opinion, wherever they came, 
 the quacks got little business. 
 
 There were, indeed, several little hurries which happened 
 after the decrease of the plague, and which, whether they 
 were contrived to fright and disorder the people, as some 
 imagined, I cannot say, but sometimes we were told the 
 plague would return by such a time ; and the famous 
 Solomon Eagle, the naked Quaker I have mentioned, 
 prophesied evil tidings every day ; and several others tell- 
 ing us that London had not been sufficiently scourged, 
 and the sorer and severer strokes were yet behind : had 
 they stopped there, or had they descended to particulars, 
 and told us that the city shoiild be the next year destroyed 
 by fire, then, indeed, when we had seen it come to pass, 
 we should not have been to blame to have paid more than 
 common respect to their prophetic spirits ; at least, we 
 should have wondered at them, and have been more 
 serious in our inquiries after the meaning of it, and 
 whence they had the foreknowledge ; but as they gener- 
 ally told us of a relapse into the plague, we have had no 
 concern since that about them ; yet, by those frequent 
 clamours, we were all kept with some kind of apprehen- 
 sions constantly upon us ; and, if any died suddenly, or 
 if the spotted fevers at any time increased, we were pres- 
 ently alarmed ; much more if the number of the plague 
 
244 JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 
 
 says he, " every man, judging a little of his own constitu- 
 tion 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 recommend one thing as most sovereign, and some 
 another ; some," says he, " think that Pill. Ruff.,' which 
 is called itself the anti-pestilential pill, is the best prepara- 
 tion that can be made ; others think that Venice Treacle ^ 
 is sufficient of itself to resist the contagion, and I," says 
 he, "think as both these think, viz., that the first is good 
 to take beforehand, to prevent it, and the last, if touched, 
 to expel it." According to this opinion, I several times 
 took Venice Treacle, and a sound sweat upon it, and 
 thought myself as well fortified against the infection as 
 any one could be fortified by the power of physic. 
 
 As for quackery and mountebank, of which the town 
 was so full, I listened to none of them, and observed, often 
 since, with some wonder, that, for two years after the 
 plague, I scarcely ever heard one of them about the town. 
 Some fancied they were all swept away in the infection to 
 a man, and were for calling it a particular mark of God's 
 vengeance upon them, for leading the poor people into the 
 pit of destruction, merely for the lucre of a little money 
 they got by them ; but I cannot go that length neither ; 
 that abundance of them died is certain — many of them 
 came within the reach of my own knowledge ; but that all 
 of them were swept off, I much question. I believe, rather, 
 they fled into the country, and tried their practices upon 
 the people there, who were in apprehension of the infec- 
 tion before it came among them. 
 
 This, however, is certain, not a man of them appeared, 
 for a great while, in or about London. There were, in- 
 deed, several doctors, who published bills recommending 
 their several physical preparations for cleansing the body, 
 
 ' PO/uUb Bufl, an aperient, into the composition of which entei 
 aloes and myrrh. 
 ° A cordial of many ingredients, including opium. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 245 
 
 as they call it, after the plague, and needful, as they said, 
 for such people to take, who had been visited and had 
 been cured ; whereas, I must own, I believe that it was the 
 opinion of the most eminent physicians of that time that 
 the plague was itself a sufficient purge ; and that those 
 who escaped the infection needed no physic to cleanse 
 their bodies of any other things ; the running sores, the 
 tumours, etc., which were broken and kept open by the 
 direction of the physicians, having sufficiently cleansed 
 them ; and that all other distempers, and causes of dis- 
 tempers, were effectually carried off that way ; and as the 
 physicians gave this as their opinion, wherever they came, 
 the quacks got little business. 
 
 There were, indeed, several little hurries which happened 
 after the decrease of the plague, and which, whether they 
 were contrived to fright and disorder the people, as some 
 imagined, I cannot say, but sometimes we were told the 
 plague would return by such a time ; and the famous 
 Solomon Eagle, the naked Quaker I have mentioned, 
 prophesied evil tidings every day ; and several others tell- 
 ing us that London had not been sufficiently scourged, 
 and the sorer and severer strokes were yet behind : had 
 they stopped there, or had they descended to particulars, 
 and told us that the city should be the next year destroyed 
 by fire, then, indeed, when we had seen it come to pass, 
 we should not have been to blame to have paid more than 
 common respect to their prophetic spirits ; at least, we 
 should have wondered at them, and have been more 
 serious in our inquiries after the meaning of it, and 
 whence they had the foreknowledge ; but as they gener- 
 ally told us of a relapse into the plague, we have had no 
 concern since that about them ; yet, by those frequent 
 clamours, we were all kept with some kind of apprehen- 
 sions constantly upon us ; and, if any died suddenly, or 
 if the spotted fevers at any time increased, we were pres- 
 ently alarmed ; much more if the number of the plague 
 
246 JOURNAL OP THE PLAQUE 
 
 increased ; for, to the end of the year, there were always 
 between two and three hundred of the plague. On any 
 of these occasoins, I say, we were alarmed anew. 
 
 Those who remember the city of London before the fire, 
 must remember that there was then no such place as that 
 we now call Newgate Market ; but, in the middle of the 
 street, which is now called Blow Bladder Street, and which 
 had its name from the butchers, who used to kill and dress 
 their sheep there (and who, it seems, had a custom to blow 
 up their meat with pipes, to make it look thicker and fat- 
 ter than it was, and were punished there for it by the 
 lord mayor), I say, from the end of the street towards 
 Newgate, there stood two long rows of shambles for the 
 selling meat. 
 
 It was in those shambles, that two persons falling down 
 dead as they were buying meat, gave rise to a rumour that 
 the meat was all infected, which, though it might affright 
 the people, and spoiled the market for two or three days, 
 yet it appeared plainly afterwards that there was nothing 
 of truth in the suggestion : but nobody can account for 
 the possession of fear when it takes hold of the mind. 
 However, it pleased God, by the continuing of the winter 
 weather, so to restore the health of the city that by Febru- 
 ary following we reckoned the distemper quite ceased, and 
 then we were not easily frighted again. 
 
 There was still a question among the learned, and at 
 first perplexed the people a little ; and that was, in what 
 manner to purge the houses and goods where the plague 
 had been, and how to render them ' habitable again which 
 had been left empty during the time of the plague ; abun- 
 dance of perfumes and preparations were prescribed by 
 physicians, some of one kind, some of another ; in which 
 the people who listened to them put themselves to a great, 
 and, indeed, in my opinion, to an unnecessary expense ; and 
 the poorer people, who only set open their windows night 
 
 ' Those. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLA&UE 247 
 
 and day, burnt brimstonej pitch, and gunpowder, and such 
 things, in their rooms, did as well as the best ; nay, the 
 eager people, who, as I said above, came home in haste, 
 and at all hazards, found little or no inconvenience in their 
 houses, nor in their goods, and did little or nothing to them. 
 However, in general, prudent, cautious people did enter 
 into some measures for airing and sweetening their houses, 
 and burnt perfumes, incense, benjamin,^ resin, and sul- 
 phur, in their rooms close shut up, and then let the air 
 carry it all out with a blast of gunpowder ; others caused 
 large fires to be made all day and all night, for several 
 days and nights. By the same token that ' two or three 
 were pleased to set their houses on fire, and so effectually 
 sweetened them by burning them down to the ground ; as 
 particularly one at RatclifE, one in Holborn, and one at 
 Westminster, besides two or three that were set on fire, 
 but the fire was happily got out again before it went far 
 enough to burn down the houses ; and one citizen's ser- 
 vant, I think it was in Thames Street, carried so much 
 gunpowder into his master's house, for clearing it of the 
 infection, and managed it so foolishly, that he blew up 
 part of the roof of the house. But the time was not fully 
 come that the city was to be purged with fire, nor was it 
 far ofE, for within nine months more I saw it all lying in 
 ashes ; when, as some of our quaking philosophers ^ pretend, 
 the seeds of the plague were entirely destroyed, and not 
 before ; a notion too ridiculous to speak of here, since had 
 the seeds of the plague remained in the houses, not to be 
 destroyed but by fire, how has it been that they have, not 
 since broken out ? seeing all those buildings in the suburbs 
 and liberties, all in the great parishes of Stepney, White- 
 chapel, Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Shoreditch, Cripplegate, and 
 St. Giles's, where the fire never came, and where the plague 
 raged with the greatest violence, remain still in the same 
 condition they were in before. 
 
 ' Benzoin. " A phrase introducing a corroborative circumstance. 
 ^ Referring to the Quakers mentioned above, page 245. 
 
248 JOURNAL OP TEE PLAQUE 
 
 But to leave these things just as I found them, it was 
 certain that those people who were more than ordinarily 
 cautious of their health, did take particular directions for 
 what they called seasoning of their houses, and abundance 
 of costly things were consumed on that account, which, I 
 cannot but say, not only seasoned those houses as they de- 
 sired, but filled the air with very grateful and wholesome 
 smells, which others had the share of the benefit of, as well 
 as those who were at the expenses of them. 
 
 Though the poor came to town very precipitantly, as I 
 have said, yet, I must say, the rich made no such haste. 
 The men of business, indeed, came up, but many of them 
 did not bring their families to town till the spring came 
 on, and that they saw reason to depend upon, it that the 
 plague would not return. 
 
 The court, indeed, came up soon after Christmas ; but 
 the nobility and gentry, except such as depended upon, and 
 had employment under the administration, did not come 
 so soon. 
 
 I should have taken notice here that, notwithstanding 
 the violence of the plague in London and other places, yet 
 it was very observable that it was never on board the fleet, 
 and yet for some time there was a strange press ' in the river, 
 and even in the streets, for seamen to man the fleet. But it 
 was in the beginning of the year, when the plague was 
 scarce begun, and not at all come down to that part of the 
 city where- they usually press for seamen ; and though a 
 war with the Dutch was not at all grateful to the people at 
 that time, and the seamen went with a kind of reluctancy 
 into the service, and many complained of being dragged 
 into it by force, yet it proved, in the _ event, a happy vio- 
 lence to several of them, who had ^ probably perished in 
 the general calamity, and who, after the summer service 
 was over, though they had cause to lament the desolation 
 of their families, who, when they came back, were many 
 
 ' The press gang, seizing men for the navy. ' Would have. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQTTB 249 
 
 of them in their graves ; yet they had room to be thankful 
 that they were carried out of the reach of it, though sO 
 much against their wills. "We, indeed, had a hot war with 
 the Dutch that year, and one very great engagement at 
 sea,' in which the Dutch were worsted ; but we lost a great 
 many men and some ships ; but, as I observed, the plague 
 was not in the fleet, and when they came to lay up the 
 ships in the river, the violent part of it began to abate. 
 
 I would be glad if I could close the account of this 
 melancholy year with some particular examples histori- 
 cally ; I mean of the thankfulness to God, our Preserver, for 
 our being delivered from this dreadful calamity. Certainly 
 the circumstances of the deliverance, as well as the terrible 
 enemy we were delivered from, called upon the whole 
 nation for it ; the circumstances of the deliverance were, 
 indeed, very remarkable, as I have in part mentioned 
 already ; and, particularly, the dreadful condition which 
 we were all in, when we were, to the surprise of the whole 
 town, made joyful with the hope of a stop to the infection. 
 
 Nothing but the immediate finger of God, nothing but 
 omnipotent power could have done it ; the contagion de- 
 spised all medicine, death raged in every corner ; and had it 
 gone on as it did then, a few weeks more would have cleared 
 the town of all and everything that had a soul. Men 
 everywhere began to despair, every heart failed them for 
 fear ; people were made desperate through the anguish of 
 their souls, and the terrors of death sat in the very faces 
 and countenances of the people. 
 
 In that very moment, when we might very well say, 
 " Vain was the help of man" ;^ I say, in that very moment 
 it pleased God, with a most agreeable surprise, to cause the 
 fury of it to abate, even of itself ; and the malignity de- 
 clining, as I have said, though infinite numbers were sick, 
 yet fewer died ; and the very first week's bill decreased 
 1843, a vast number indeed. 
 
 ' At Lowestoft. 2 Psalm Ix. 11. 
 
260 JOURNAL OV TEE PLAQUE 
 
 It is impossible to express the change that appeared in 
 the very countenances of the people, that Thursday morn- 
 ing, when the weekly bill came out : it might have been 
 perceived in their countenances that a secret surprise and 
 smile of joy sat on everybody's face ; they shook one another 
 by the hands in the streets, who would hardly go on the 
 same side of the way with one another before ; where the 
 streets were not too broad, they would open their windows 
 and call from one house to another, and asked how they 
 did, and if they had heard the good news that the plague 
 was abated ; some would return, when they said good news, 
 and ask, "What good news ?" And when they answered 
 that the plague was abated, and the bills decreased almost 
 two thousand, they would cry out, " God be praised ; " 
 and would weep aloud for joy, telling them they had 
 heard nothing of it ; and such was the joy of the people 
 that it was as it were life to them from the grave. I could 
 almost set down as many extravagant things done in the 
 excess of their joy as of their grief ; but that would be to 
 lessen the value of it. 
 
 I must confess myself to have been very much dejected 
 just before this happened ; for the prodigious numbers that 
 were taken sick the week or two before, besides those that 
 died, was such, and the lamentations were so great every- 
 where, that a man must have seemed to have acted even 
 against his reason if he had so much as have expected to 
 escape ; and as there was hardly a house but mine in all my 
 neighbourhood but what was infected, so had it gone on, it 
 would not have been long that there would have been any 
 more neighbours to be infected ; indeed, it is hardly credible 
 what dreadful havoc the last three weeks had made ; for if I 
 might believe the person whose calculations I always found 
 very well grounded, there were not less than thirty thousand 
 people dead, and near one hundred thousand fallen sick in 
 the three weeks I speak of ; for the number that sickened 
 was surprising, indeed, it was astonishing, and those whose 
 courage upheld them all the time before, sunk under it now. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE 251 
 
 In the middle of their distress, wheu the condition of 
 the city of London was so truly calamitous, just then it 
 pleased God, as it were, by his immediate hand, to disarm 
 this enemy ; the, poison was taken out of the sting ; it was 
 wonderful : even the physicians themselves were surprised 
 at it : wherever they visited they found their patients bet- 
 ter ; either they had sweated kindly, or the tumours were 
 broke, or the carbuncles went down, and the inflammations 
 round them changed colour, or the fever was gone, or the 
 violent headache was assuaged, or some good symptom was 
 in the case ; so that in a few days everybody was recover- 
 ing ; whole families that were infected and down, that had 
 ministers praying with them, and expected death every 
 hour, were revived and healed, and none died at all out of 
 them. 
 
 Nor was this by any new medicine found out, or new 
 method of cure discovered, or by any experience in the 
 operation which the physicians or surgeons attained to ; 
 but it was evidently from the secret invisible hand of Him 
 that had at first sent this disease as a judgment upon us ; 
 and let the atheistic part of mankind call my saying what 
 they please, it is no enthusiasm.* It was acknowledged, at 
 that time, by all mankind. The disease was enervated, and 
 its malignity spent, and let it proceed from whencesoever 
 it will, let the philosophers search for reasons in nature to 
 account for it by, and labour as much as they will to lessen 
 the debt they owe to their Maker ; those physicians who 
 had the least share of religion in them, were obliged to 
 acknowledge that it was all supernatural, that it was ex- 
 traordinary, and that no account could be given of it. 
 
 If I should say that this is a visible summons to us all 
 to thankfulness, especially we that were under the terror 
 of its increase, perhaps it may be thought by some, after 
 the sense' of the thing was over, an officious canting of 
 religious things, preaching a sermon instead of writing a 
 history ; making myself a teacher, instead of giving my 
 
 ' Extravagance, ' The actual feeling and experience. 
 
252 JOURNAL OF THE , PLAGUE 
 
 observations of things ; and this restrains me very mnch 
 from going on here, as I might otherwise do ; but if ten 
 lepers were healed, and but one returned to give thanks,* 
 I desire to be as that one, and to be thankful for myself. 
 
 Nor will I deny but there were abundance of people who 
 to all appearance were very thankful at that time : for their 
 mouths were stopped, even the mouths of those whose 
 hearts were not extraordinarily long affected with it ; but 
 the impression was so strong at that time that it could not 
 be resisted — no, not by the worst of the people. 
 
 It was a common thing to meet people in the street that 
 were strangers and that we knew nothing at all of, express- 
 ing their surprise. Going one day through Aldgate, and a 
 pretty many people being passing and repassing, there 
 comes a man out of the end of the Minories, and looking a 
 little up the street and down, he throws his hands abroad, 
 " Lord, what an alteration is here ! Why, last week I 
 came along here, and hardly anybody was to be seen." 
 Another man, I heard him, adds to his words, " 'Tis all 
 wonderful ; 'tis all a dream." " Blessed be God," says a 
 third man, " and let us give thanks to him, for 'tis all his 
 own doing." Human help and human skill were at an end. 
 These were all strangers to one another, but such saluta- 
 tions as these were frequent in the street every day ; and in 
 spite of a loose behaviour, the very common people went 
 along the streets, giving God thanks for their deliverance. 
 
 It was now, as I said before, the people had cast off all 
 apprehensions, and that too fast ; indeed, we were no more 
 afraid now to pass by a man with a white cap upon his 
 bead, or with a cloth wrapt round his neck, or with his leg 
 limping, occasioned by the sores in his groin, all which 
 were frightful to the last degree but the week before ; but 
 now the street was full of them, and these poor recovering 
 creatures, give them their due, appeared very sensible of 
 their unexpected deliverance ; and I should wrong them 
 very much, if I should not acknowledge that I believe 
 ' 8t. Luke xvii. 12-19. 
 
JOURNAL OF THE PLAQUE 253 
 
 many of them were really thankful ; but I must own that 
 for the generality of the people it might too justly be said 
 of them, as was said of the children of Israel, after their 
 being delivered from the host of Pharaoh, when they 
 passed the Eed sea, and looked back and saw the Egyptians 
 overwhelmed in the water,* viz., "That they sang his 
 praise, but they soon forgot his works." 
 
 I can go no farther here. I should be counted censorious, 
 and perhaps unjust, if I should enter into the uiipleasing 
 work of reflecting, whatever cause there was for it, upon 
 the unthankfulness and return of all manner of wicked- 
 ness among us, which I was so much an eye-witness of my- 
 self. I shall conclude the account of this calamitous year," 
 therefore, with a coarse but a sincere stanza of my own, 
 which I placed at the end of my ordinary memorandums, 
 the same year they were written ; — 
 
 A dreadful plague In London was, 
 
 In the year sixty-five, 
 Which swept an hundred thousand souls 
 
 Away ; yet I alive. 
 
 H. F, 
 
 * Exodus xiv., XV, 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 The following passages, contained in the original 
 edition of 1722, are omitted in most subsequent editions 
 (see page vi.). The reference preceding each paragraph 
 or set of paragraphs indicates the place in the present 
 edition at which it should be inserted. 
 
 (Page 13, after line 19.) 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 all together regard the question before him, 
 and then, I think, he may safely take them for intimations 
 from Heaven of what is his unquestioned 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. 
 
 (Page 22, after line 27.) I often thought that as Jerusalem 
 was besieged by the Romans when the Jews were assembled 
 together to celebrate the Passover, by which means an in- 
 credible number of people were surprised there who would 
 otherwise have been in other countries ; so the plague entered 
 London when an incredible increase of people had happened 
 occasionally, by the particular circumstances above named. 
 As this conflux of the people to a youthful and gay Court 
 made a great trade in the city, especially in everything that 
 belonged to fashion and finery, so it drew by consequence a 
 great number of workmen, 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 
 
APPENDIX 255 
 
 there were no less than an hundred thousand riband-weavers 
 in and about the city, the chiefest number of whom lived 
 then in the parishes of Shoreditch, Stepney, Whitechapel, 
 and Bishopsgate, that, namely, about Spitalflelds ; that is to 
 say, as Spitalflelds 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 judged of; and, indeed, I often wondered that, after the 
 prodigious numbers of people that went away at first, there 
 was yet so great a multitude left as it appeared there was. 
 
 (Page 24, after line 7.) But I could not at the same time 
 carry these things to the height that others did, knowing, too, 
 that natural causes are assigned by the astronomers for such 
 things, and that their motions and even their revolutions are 
 calculated, or pretended to be calculated, so that they cannot 
 be so perfectly called the forerunners 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 melancholy apprehensions of some 
 dreadful calamity and judgment coming upon the city; and 
 this principally from the sight of this comet, and the little 
 alarm that was given in December by two people dying at St. 
 Giles's, as above. 
 
 (Page 28, after line 14.) These things serve to show how 
 far the people were really overcome with delusions ; and as 
 they had a notion of the approach of a visitation, aU their pre- 
 dictions ran upon a most dreadful plague, which should lay 
 the whole city, and even the kingdom, waste, and should de- 
 stroy 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 Novem- 
 ber ; and they fllled the people's heads with predictions on 
 these signs of the heavens, intimating that those conjunctions 
 foretold drought, famine, and pestilence. In the two first of 
 
256 APPENDIX 
 
 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. 
 
 (Page 38, continuing line 27.) and indeed, as God himself 
 through the whole Scriptures rather draws to him by invi- 
 tations and calls to turn to him and live, than drives us by 
 terror and amazement, so I must confess I thought the min- 
 isters should have done also, imitating our blessed Lord and 
 Master in this, that his whole Gospel is full of declarations 
 from heaven of God's 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 destroyed, 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 
 separate opinions prevailed among the people. The Church 
 of England was restored, indeed, with the restoration of the 
 monarchy, about four years before, but the ministers and 
 preachers of the Presbyterians and Independents, and of all 
 the other sorts of professions, had begun to gather separate 
 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 thoroughly formed into 
 a body as they are since; and those congregations which were 
 thus gathered together were yet but few. And even those that 
 were the Government did not allow, but endeavoured to sup- 
 press them and shut up their meetings. 
 
 But the visitation reconciled them again, at least for a time, 
 and many of the best and most valuable ministers and preach- 
 
APPENDIX 257 
 
 ers of the Dissenters were suffered to go into the churches 
 where the incumbents were fled away, as many were, not be 
 ing able to stand it ; and the people flocked without distinc- 
 tion 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 sup- 
 plied with their own ministers, or others presented where the 
 minister was dead, things returned to their old channel again. 
 
 (Page 29, after the last line.) 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 itself put an end to 
 it all, and, I suppose, cleared the town of most of those calcu- 
 lators themselves. One mischief was, that if the poor people 
 asked these mock astrologers whether there would be a plague 
 or no, they all agreed in 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 
 rendered 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 conse- 
 quently the plague. And some had the assurance to tell them 
 the plague was begun already, which was too true, though 
 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, thundered 
 against these and other wicked practices, and exposed the folly 
 as well as the wickedness of them together, and the most sober 
 and judicious people despised and abhorred them. But it was 
 impossible to make any impression upon the middling people 
 and the working labouring poor. Their fears were predomi- 
 nant over aU their passions, and they threw away their money 
 in a most distracted manner upon those whimsies. Maid- 
 servants especially, and men-servants, were the chief of their 
 customers, and their question generally was, after the first de- 
 mand of " Will there be a plague ? " — I say, the next question 
 was, " Oh, sir 1 for the Lord's sake, what will become of me ? 
 Will my mistress keep me, or will she turn me off ? Will she 
 stay here, or will she go into the country ? And if she goes 
 
258 APPENDIX 
 
 into the country, will she take me with her, or leave me here 
 to be starved and undone ? " And the like of men-servants. 
 
 (Page 36, after line 21.) Indeed, the poor people were 
 -to be pitied in "one particular thing, in which they had lit- 
 tle or no reUef, 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 be- 
 gan not, as we may say, to hover over everyone's head 
 only, but to look into their houses and chambers, and 
 stare in their faces. Though there might be some stupidity 
 and dulness 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, it 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. It 
 would wound the soul 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 mur- 
 der, was then confessed aloud, and nobody surviving to record 
 the accounts of it. People might be heard, even into the 
 streets as we passed along, calling upon God for mercy, 
 through 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 cried 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 buriers of the dead, 
 who were the hardenedest creatures in town, were sometimes 
 beaten back and so terrified 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 distem- 
 per. 
 
 Time inured them to it all, and they ventured everywhere 
 afterwards without hesitation, as I shall have occasion to 
 mention at large hereafter. 
 
 (Page 37, after line 14.) I shall not be supposed to lessen 
 
APPENDIX 259 
 
 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 flre, which consumed 
 what the plague could not touch, defied all the appUeation 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 dropped 
 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 physi- 
 cians 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 not lessening their char- 
 acter 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. 
 
 (Page 49, after last line.) It is true that the locking up the 
 doors of people's 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 es- 
 caped if they had been removed from the sick, looked very bard 
 
260 APPENDIX 
 
 and cruel ; and many people perished in these miserable confine- 
 ments which, 'tis reasonable to believe, would not have been 
 distempered il they had had liberty, though the plague was in 
 the house ; at which the people were very clamorous and uneasy 
 at first, and several violences were committed and injuries of- 
 fered to the men who were set to watch the houses so shut up ; 
 also several people broke out by force in many places, as I 
 shall observe by-and-by. But it was a public 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 used by 
 the people of such houses to shut the eyes of the watchmen 
 who were employed to deceive them, and to escape or break 
 out from them, in which frequent scuffles and some mischief 
 happened; of which by itself . 
 
 (Page 52, after line 3.) 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 er- 
 rand that the family sent him of; that is to say, for neces- 
 saries, such as food and physic; 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 screwed on, and 
 so take off the lock, being in the inside of the house, and whUe 
 they sent away the watchman to the market, to the bake- 
 house, or for one trifle or another, open the door and go out 
 as often as they pleased. 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. 
 
 (Page 53, after line 10.) I could 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 
 
APPENDIX 261 
 
 the particulars. There was likewise violence used with the 
 watchmen, as was reported, in abundance of places ; and I be- 
 lieve that from the beginning of the visitation to the end, there 
 was not less than eighteen or twenty of them killed, or so 
 wovmded as to be taken up for dead, which was supposed to 
 be done by the people in the infected houses which were shut 
 up, and where they attempted to come out, and were opposed. 
 
 Nor, indeed, could less be expected, for here were so many 
 prisons in the town as there were houses shut up ; and as the 
 people shut up or imprisoned 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 jailer, and as he had the whole house to guard, 
 and that many houses were so situated as that they had sev- 
 eral ways out, some more, some less, and some into several 
 streets, it was impossible for one man so to guard all the pas- 
 sages 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 itself ; 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 
 White's Alley, and this house had a back-window, not a door, 
 into a court, which had a passage into Bell Alley. A watch- 
 man 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. 
 
 (Page 53, after line 20.) It is to be considered, too, that as 
 these were prisons without bars and bolts, which our common 
 prisons are furnished 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 stirred or called for help. 
 
 (Page 54, before the last line.) And this was, in part, the 
 reason of the general notion, or scandal rather, which went 
 
262 APPENDIX 
 
 about of the temper of people infected, namely, that they did 
 not take the least care or make any scruple of infecting 
 others, though 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 
 bar of Divine Justice I know not. I am very well satisfied 
 that it cannot be reconciled to religion and principle any more 
 than it can be to generosity and humanity, but I may speak 
 of that again. 
 
 (Page 56, after line 33.) This was an extraordinary case, 
 and I am therefore the more particular in it, because I came 
 so much to the knowledge of it ; but there were innumerable 
 suchUke cases, and it was seldom that the weekly bill came in 
 but there were two or three put in frighted ; that is, that may 
 well be called frighted to death. But besides those who were 
 so frighted as to die upon the spot, there were great numbers 
 frighted to other extremes, some frighted out of their senses, 
 some out of their memory, and some out of their understand- 
 ing. But I return to the shutting up of houses. 
 
 As several people, I say, got out of their houses by stratagem 
 after they were shut up, so others got out by bribing the 
 watchmen, and giving them money to let them go privately 
 out in the night. I must confess I thought it at that time the 
 most innocent corruption or bribeVy that any man could be 
 guilty of, and therefore could not but pity the poor men, and 
 think it was hard when three of those watchmen were pubUely 
 whipped through the streets for suffering people, to go out of 
 houses shut up. 
 
 But notwithstanding that severity, money prevailed with 
 the poor men, and many families found means to make sallies 
 out, and escape that way after they had been shut up ; but 
 these were generally such as had some places to retire to ; 
 and though there was no easy passing the roads any whither 
 after the 1st of August, yet there were many ways of retreat, 
 and particularly, as I hinted, some got tents and set them up 
 in the fields, carrying beds or straw to lie on, and provisions 
 to eat, and so lived in them as hermits in a cell, for nobody 
 would venture to come near them ; and several stories were 
 
APPENDIX 263 
 
 told of such, some comical, some tragical, some who lived like 
 wandering pilgrims in the deserts, and escaped by making 
 themselves exiles in such a manner as is scarce to be credited, 
 and who yet enjoyed more liberty than was to be expected in 
 such cases. 
 
 (Page 67, after line 31.) It is true the people showed an 
 extraordinary zeal in these religious exercises, and as the 
 church-doors were always open, people would go in single at 
 all times, whether the minister was officiating or no, and lock- 
 ing themselves into separate pews, would be praying to God 
 with great fervency and devotion. 
 
 Others assembled at meeting-houses, every one as their dif- 
 ferent opinions in such things guided, but all were promiscu- 
 ously the subject of these men's drollery, especially at the 
 beginning of the visitation. 
 
 (Page 68, after line 8.) I went home, indeed, grieved and 
 afflicted in my mind at the abominable wickedness of those 
 men, not doubting, however, that they would be made dread- 
 ful examples of God's justice-; for I looked upon this dismal 
 time to be a particular season of Divine vengeance, and that 
 God would on this occasion single out the proper objects of 
 His displeasure in a more especial and remarkable manner 
 than at another time ; and that though I did believe that 
 many good people would, and did, fall in the common calami- 
 ty, and that it was no certain rule to judge of the eternal 
 state of any one by their being distinguished in such a time of 
 general destruction neither one way or other, yet, I say, it 
 could not but seem reasonable to believe that God would not 
 think fit to spare by his mercy such open declared ene- 
 mies, that should insult his name and being, defy his ven- 
 geance, and mock at his worsliip and worshippers at such a 
 time ; no, not though his mercy had thought fit to bear with 
 and spare them at other times ; that tliis was a day of visi- 
 tation, a day of God's anger, and those words came into my 
 thought, Jer. v. 9: "Shall I not visit for these things ? saith 
 the Lord : and shall not my soul be avenged of such a nation 
 as this ? " 
 
 (Page 69, after line 4.) But I must go back here to the par- 
 ticular incidents which occur to my thoughts of the time of 
 
264 APPENDIX 
 
 the visitation, and particularly to the time of their shutting 
 up houses, in the first part of their sickness ; for before the 
 sickness was come to its height people had more room to make 
 their observations than they had afterward ; but when it was 
 in the extremity there was no such thing as communication 
 with one another, as before. 
 
 During the shutting up of houses, as I have said, some vio- 
 lence was offered to the watchmen. As to soldiers, there were 
 none to be found ; the few guards which the king then had, 
 which were nothing like the number entertained since, were 
 dispersed, either at Oxford with the Court, or in quarters in 
 the remoter parts of the country, small detachments excepted, 
 who did duty at the Tower and at Whitehall, and these but 
 very few. Neither am I positive that there was any other 
 guard at the Tower than the warders, as they called them, 
 who stand at the gate with gowns and caps, the same as the 
 yeomen of the guard, except the ordinary gunners, who were 
 twenty-four, and the officers appointed to look after the maga- 
 zine, who were called armourers! As to trained bands, there 
 was no possibility of raising any ; neither, if the Lieutenancy, 
 either of London or Middlesex, had ordered the drums to beat 
 for the mUitia, would any of the companies, I believe, have 
 drawn together, whatever risk they had run. 
 
 This made the watchmen be the less regarded, and perhaps 
 occasioned the greater violence to be used against them. I 
 mention it on this score to observe that the setting watchmen 
 thus to keep the people in was, first of all, not effectual, but 
 that the people broke out, whether by force or by stratagem, 
 even almost as often as they pleased ; and, second, that those 
 that did thus break out were generally people infected, who, 
 in their desperation, running about from one place to another, 
 valued not whom they injured, and which perhaps, as I have 
 said, might give birth to report that it was natural to the in- 
 fected people to desire to infect others, which report was really 
 
 And I know it so well, and in so many several cases, that I 
 could give several relations of good, pious, and religious people 
 who, when they have had the distemper, have been so far 
 from being forward to infect others that they have forbid their 
 
APPENDIX 265 
 
 own family to come near them, in hopes of their being pre- 
 served, and have even died without seeing their nearest 
 relations, lest they should be instrumental to give them the 
 distemper, and infect or endanger them. If, then, there were 
 cases wherein the infected people were careless of the injury 
 they did to others, this was certainly one of them, if not 
 the chief, namely, when people who had the distemper 
 had broken out from houses which were so shut up, and 
 having been driven to extremities for provision or for enter- 
 tainment, had endeavoured to conceal their condition, and 
 have been thereby instrumental involuntarily to infect others 
 who have been ignorant and unwary. 
 
 This is one of the reasons why I believed then, and do be- 
 lieve still, that the shutting up houses thus by force, and 
 restraining, or rather imprisoning, people in their own houses, 
 as I said above, was of little or no service in the whole. Nay, 
 I am of opinion it was rather hurtful, haying forced those 
 desperate people to wander abroad with the plague upon 
 them, who would otherwise have died quietly in their beds. 
 
 (Page 73, after line 5.) And Iiere I may be able to make an 
 observation or two of my own, which may be of use hereafter 
 to those into whose hands these may come, if they should ever 
 see the like dreadful visitation. (1.) The infection generally 
 came into the houses of the citizens by the means of their ser- 
 vants, whom they were obliged to send up and down the streets 
 for necessaries ; that is to say, for food or physic, to bake- 
 houses, brew-houses, shops, etc. ; and who going necessarily 
 through the streets into shops, markets, and the like, it was im- 
 possible but that they should, one way or other, meet with dis- 
 tempered people, who conveyed the fatal breath into them, and 
 they brought it home to the families to which they belonged. 
 (2.) It was a great mistake that such a great city as this had but 
 one pest-house ; for had there been, instead of one pest-house 
 — viz., beyond Bunhill Fields, where, at most, they could re- 
 ceive, perhaps, two hundred or three hundred people — I say, 
 had there, instead of that one, been several pest-houses, every 
 one able to contain a thousand people, without lying two in a 
 bed, or two beds in a room ; and had every master of a family, 
 as soon as any servant especially had been taken sick in his 
 
2C)G APPENDIX 
 
 house, been obliged to send them to the next pest-house, if they 
 were wUling, as many were, and had the examiners done the 
 like among the poor people when any had been stricken with 
 the infection ; I say, had this been done where the people were 
 willing (not otherwise), and the houses not been shut, I am 
 p_ersuaded, and was all the while of that opinion, that not so 
 many, by several thousands, had died ; for it was observed, 
 and I could give several instances within the compass of my 
 own knowledge, where a servant had been taken sick, and the 
 family had either time to send him out or retire from the house 
 and leave the sick person, as I have said above, they had all 
 been preserved ; whereas when, upon one or more sickening in 
 a family, the house has been shut up, the whole family have 
 perished, and the bearers been obliged to go in to fetch out 
 the dead bodies, not being able to bring them to the door, and 
 at last none left to do it. 
 
 (3.) This put it. out of question to me, that the calamity was 
 spread by infection ; that is to say, by some certain steams or 
 fumes, which the physicians call effluvia, by the breath, or by 
 the sweat, or by the stench of the sores of the sick persons, or 
 some other way, perhaps, beyond even the reach of the physi- 
 cians themselves, which effluvia affected the sound who came 
 within certain distances of the sick, immediately penetrating 
 the vital parts of the said sound persons, putting their blood 
 into an immediate ferment, and agitating their spirits to that 
 degree which it was found they were agitated ; and so those 
 newly infected persons communicated it in the same manner 
 to others. And this I shall give some instances of, that cannot 
 but convince those who seriously consider it ; and . I cannot 
 but with some wonder find some people, now the contagion is 
 over, talk of its being an immediate stroke from Heaven, with- 
 out the agency of means, having commission to strike this and 
 that particular person, and none other, which I look upon 
 with contempt as the effect of manifest ignorance and enthu- 
 siasm ; likewise the opinion of others, who talk of infection 
 being carried on by the air only, by carrying with it vast num- 
 bers of insects and invisible creatures, who enter into the body 
 with the breath, or even at the pores with the air, and there 
 generate or emit most acute poisons, or poisonous ovie or eggs, 
 
APPENDIX 267 
 
 which mingle themselves with the blood, and so iniect the 
 body : a discourse full of learned simplicity, and manifested 
 to be so by universal experience ; but I shall say more to this 
 case in its order. 
 
 I must here take further notice that nothing was more fatal 
 to the inhabitants of this city than the supine negligence of 
 the people themselves, who, during the long notice or warning 
 they had of the visitation, made no provision for it, by laying 
 in store of provisions, or of other necessaries, by which they 
 might have lived retired, and within their own houses, as I 
 have observed others did, and who were in a great measure 
 preserved by that caution ; nor were they, after they were a 
 little hardened to it, so shy of conversing with one another, 
 when actually infected, as they were at first, no, though they 
 knew it. 
 
 I acknowledge I was one of those thoughtless ones that had 
 made so little provision that my servants were obliged to go 
 out of doors to buy every trifle by penny and halfpenny, just 
 as before it began, even till my experience showing me the 
 folly, I began to be wiser so late that I had scarce time to store 
 myself suflB^cient for our common subsistence for a month. 
 
 (Page 82, after line 37.) However, I cannot say but it had 
 some effect upon the people, and particularly that, as I said 
 before, they grew more cautious whom they took into their 
 houses, and whom they trusted their lives with, and had them 
 always recommended if they could ; and where they could not 
 find such, for they were not very plenty, they applied to the 
 parish officers. 
 
 But here again the misery of that time lay upon the poor, 
 who, being infected, had neither food or physic, neither physi- 
 cian or apothecary to assist them, or nurse to attend them. 
 Many of those died calUng for help, and even for sustenance, 
 out at their windows, in a most miserable and deplorable 
 manner ; but it must be added that whenever the cases of such 
 persons or families were represented to my Lord Mayor they 
 always were relieved. 
 
 It is true, in some houses where the people were not very 
 poor, yet where they had sent perhaps their wives and chil- 
 dren away, and if they had any servants they had been dis- 
 
268 APPENDIX 
 
 niissed ; — I say, it is true, that to save the expenses, many 
 sach as these shut themselves in, and not having help, died 
 alone. 
 
 (Page 89, after line 24.) I have already mentioned the 
 surprise 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 un- 
 prepared for such a dreadful visitation, whether I am to speak 
 of the civU preparations or religious. They were, indeed, as 
 if they had had no warning, no expectation, no apprehensions, 
 and consequently the least provision imaginable was madeior 
 it in a public way. For example, the Lord Mayor and sheriflEs 
 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 pubUc maga- 
 zines 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 
 reduced to the utmost distress, would have been relieved, 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 rebuilding the public edifices after 
 the fire of London, and in building new works, such as, for 
 the first part, the Guildhall, Blackwell Hall, part of Leaden- 
 hall, half the Exchange, the Session House, the Compter, the 
 prisons of Ludgate, Newgate, etc., several of the wharfs and 
 stairs and landing-places on the river ; all which were either 
 burned down or damaged by the great fire of London, the 
 next year after the plague ; and of the second sort, the Mon- 
 ument, Fleet Ditch with its bridges, and the Hospital of 
 Bethlem or Bedlam, etc. But possibly the managers of the 
 city's credit at that time made more conscience of breaking in 
 upon the orphan's money to show charity to the distressed 
 citizens than the managers in the following years did to beau- 
 tify the city and re-edify the buildings, though, in the first 
 case, the losers would have thought their fprtunes better 
 
APPENDIX 269 
 
 bestowed, and the public faith of the city have been less 
 subjected to scandal and reproach. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that the absent citizens, who, 
 though they were fled for safety into the country, were yet 
 greatly interested in the welfare of those whom 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 reUef 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 liberty 
 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 
 wails ; 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 lived by their labour, or by retail trade, lived 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 distri- 
 bution of it by the magistrates. But as such multitudes of 
 those very officers died through whose hands it was distrib- 
 uted, and also that, as I have been told, most of the accounts 
 of those things were lost in the great Are 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 G-od 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 rejjef of the poor, a multitude of people, who would 
 
270 APPENDIX 
 
 otherwise have perished, were relieved, and their lives pre- 
 served. 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 judged hereafter what may be expected 
 if the like distress should come upon the city. 
 
 (Page 91, before the last line.) Many of these were the 
 miserable objects of despair which I have mentioned before, 
 and were removed by the destruction which followed. These 
 might be said to perish, not by the infection itself, 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 with- 
 out 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 cheerfully administered, 
 as they found it necessary, and those that stayed 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 mere workmen — I say, let any man con- 
 sider 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 public peace. Nor were they with- 
 out 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 have been terrified from coming any 
 more, and the town would have sunk under an unavoidable 
 famine. 
 
 But the prudence of my Lord Mayor and the Court of Alder- 
 
APPENDIX 271 
 
 men 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 everywhere relieved, as far as was possible to be done. 
 
 Two things besides this contributed to prevent the mob do- 
 ing 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 locked themselves entirely up, as 
 some few did, they had perhaps escaped the disease bet- 
 ter. But as it appeared they had not, so the mob had no no- 
 tion 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 finished the ruin of the whole 
 city, for there were no regular troops to have withstood 
 them, nor could the trained 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 par- 
 ticularly by relieving the most desperate with money, and 
 putting others into business, and particularly that employ- 
 ment 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. 
 
 (Page 99, after line 3.) It was indeed a lamentable thing 
 to hear the miserable lamentations of poor dying creat- 
 ures 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 nc 
 time for repentance, was no time to call upon God. I wish 
 
272 APPENDIX 
 
 I could repeat the very sound of those groans and of those 
 exclamations that I heard from some poor dying creatures 
 when in the height of their agonies and distress, and that I 
 could make him that reads this hear, as 1 imagine I now 
 hear them, for the sound seems still to ring in my ears. 
 
 If I could but tell this part in such moving accents as 
 should alarm the very soul of the reader, I should rejoice 
 that I recorded those things, however short and imperfect. 
 
 (Page 100, after line 7.) There might perhaps have been 
 several poor people, as I have observed above, that would 
 have been hardy enough to have ventured for the sake of the 
 money ; but you may easily see by what I have observed 
 that the few people who were spared were very careful of 
 themselves at that time when the distress was so exceeding 
 great. 
 
Longmans' English Classics 
 
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 Books prescribed for 1898 Examinations, p. 3. 
 Books prescribed for 1899 Examinations, p. 5. 
 Books prescribed for 1900 Examinations, p. 6. 
 Other Volumes in tlie Series, - - p. 7. 
 
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 Literature in Columbia University. With Portrait of Tennyson. 
 
LONGMANS' ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 'Books Prescribed for the 1899 Examinations. 
 
 Pope's Homer's Iliad. Books I., VI., XXII., and XXIV. 
 Edited, with introduction and notes, by William H. Maxwell, 
 A.M., Ph.D., Superintendent of Public Instruction, Brooklyn, 
 N. Y., and Percival Chubb, Instructor in English, Manual 
 Training High School, Brooklyn. With Portrait of Pope. 
 
 Dryden's Palamon and Arcite. Edited, with introduction 
 and notes, by James W. Bright, Ph.D., Professor of English 
 Philology in Johns Hopkins University. {Preparing. 
 
 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers, from " The Spectator.'' 
 Edited, with introduction and notes, by D. O. S. Lowell, A.M., 
 of the Roxbury Latin School, Roxbury, Mass. With Portrait 
 of Addison. 
 
 Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield. Edited, with intro- 
 duction and notes, by Mary A. Jordan, A.M., Professor of 
 Rhetoric and Old English in Smith College. With Portrait of 
 Goldsmith. 
 
 Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. Edited, 
 with introduction and notes, by Herbert Bates, A.B., Instructor 
 in English in the University of Nebraska." With Portrait of 
 Coleridge. 
 
 De Quincey's Flight of a Tartar Tribe. Edited, with intro- 
 duction and notes, by Charles Sears Baldwin, Ph.D., Instructor 
 in Rhetoric in Yale University. With Portrait of De Quincey. 
 
 Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. With introduction and 
 explanatory notes, by Charles F. Richardson, Ph.D., Winkley 
 Professor of the English Language and Literature in Dart- 
 mouth College. [/« preparation. 
 
 FOR STUDY. 
 
 Shakspere's Macbeth. Edited, with introduction and notes, 
 by John Matthews Manly, Ph.D., Professor of the English 
 Language in Brown University. With Portrait of Shakspere. 
 
 Milton's Paradise Lost. Books I. and II. Edited, with 
 introduction and notes, by Edward Everett Hale, Jr., Ph.D., 
 Professor of Rhetoric and. Logic in Union College. With 
 Portrait of Milton. 
 
LONGMANS' ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 Books Prescribed for i8gg — Continued. 
 Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America. Edited, 
 with introduction and notes, by Albert S. Cook, Ph.D., Pro- 
 fessor of the English Language and Literature in Yale Univer- 
 sity. With Portrait of Burke. 
 
 Carlyle's Essay on Burns. Edited, with introduction and 
 notes, by Wilson Farrand, A.M., Associate Principal of the 
 Newark Academy, Newark, N. J. With Portrait of Burns. 
 
 Books Prescribed for the 1900 Examinations. 
 
 (See also Preceding Lists.) 
 FOR READING. 
 
 Dryden's Palamon and Arcite. Edited by Professor J. W. 
 
 Bright. 
 Pope's Homer's Iliad. Books I., VL, XXIL, and XXIV. 
 
 Edited by Superintendent Maxwell and Percival Chubb. 
 The Sir Roger de Coverley Papers. Edited by Dr. D. O. S. 
 
 Lowell. 
 Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield. Edited by Professor 
 
 Mary A. Jordan. 
 De Quincey's Flight of a Tartar Tribe. Edited by Dr. C. 
 
 S. Baldwin. 
 Tennyson's The Princess. Edited by Professor G. E. Wood- 
 berry. 
 Scott's Ivanhoe. Edited by Professor Bliss Perry, of Princeton 
 
 University. {In preparation. 
 
 Cooper's The Last of the Mohicans. Edited by Professor 
 
 Charles F. Richardson. [In preparation. 
 
 FOR STUDY. 
 
 Shakspere's Macbeth. Edited by Professor Manly. 
 
 Milton's Paradise Lost. Books I. and II. Edited by Pro- 
 fessor E. E. Hale, Jr. 
 
 Burke's Speech on Conciliation with America. Edited by 
 Dr. A. S. Cook. 
 
 Macaulay's Essays on Milton and Addison. Edited by 
 James Greenleaf Croswell, A.B. 
 
LONGMANS' ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 The following volumes are also ready : 
 Scott's Woodstock. Edited, with introduction and notes, by- 
 Bliss Perry, A.M., Professor of Oratory and .(Esthetic Criticism 
 in the College of New Jersey. With Portrait of Sir Walter 
 Scott. 
 Macaulay's Essay on Milton. Edited, with introduction and 
 notes, by James Greenleaf Croswell, A.B., Head-master of the 
 Brearley School, New York, formerly Assistant Professor of 
 Greek in Harvard University. With Portrait of Macaulay. 
 
 Shakspere's a Midsummer Night's Dream. Edited, with 
 introduction and notes, by George Pierce Baker, A.B., Assistant 
 Professor of English in Harvard University. With Frontispiece, 
 •Imitation of an Elizabethan Stage.' 
 
 Webster's First Bunker Hill Oration, together with other 
 Addresses relating to the Revolution. Edited, with introduction 
 and notes, by Fred Newton Scott, Ph.D., Junior Professor of 
 Rhetoric in the University of Michigan. With Portrait of 
 Daniel Webster. 
 
 Milton's L'Allegro, II Penseroso, Comus, and Lycidas. 
 Edited, with introductions and notes, by William P. Trent, A.M., 
 Professor of English in the University of the South. With 
 Portrait of Milton. 
 
 " The series as a whole certainly marks ... a clear advance 
 beyond all its predecessors." — The Educational Review^ February, 1896. 
 
 ' ' We have seen no fitter school editions of these works which are 
 now included in the preparatory reading required by all the leading 
 colleges of the country." — The Critic, New York. 
 
 "The Suggestions for Teachers are likely to be of great value, not 
 only because many teachers need assistance in such work, but also 
 because they must tend to introduce the uniformity of method that is 
 hardly less valuable than the uniformity of the courses themselves." 
 — The Educational Review, February, 1896. 
 
 " I take great pleasure in acknowledging the receipt of the two 
 beautiful volumes in your English Classics. . . . They are not 
 only thoroughly well edited, but excellent specimens of book-making, 
 such books as a student may take pleasure in having, not merely for a 
 task book but for a permanent possession. It is a wise project on your 
 part, I think, to accustom young students to value books for their 
 intrinsic worth, and that by the practical way of making the books good 
 and attractive." — Prof. John F. Genung, Amherst College. 
 
LONGMANS' ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 " You are to be congratulated upon the excellence of the series of 
 English Classics which you are now publishing, if I may judge of it 
 by the three numbers I have examined. ... Of these, the intro- 
 ductions, the suggestions to teachers, the chronological tables, and the 
 notes are most admirable in design and execution. The editor-in-chief 
 and his associates have rendered a distinct service to secondary schools, 
 and the publishers have done superior mechanical work in the issue of 
 this series." — Charles C. Ramsay, Principal of Durfee High School, 
 Fall River, Mass. 
 
 " With the two (volumes) I have already acknowledged and these 
 four, I find myself increasingly pleased as I examine. As a series the 
 books have two strong points: there is a unity of method in editing that 
 I have seen in no other series; the books are freer from objections in 
 regard to the amount and kind of editing than any other series I know." 
 — Byron Groce, Master in English, Boston Latin School. 
 
 " I am your debtor for two specimens of your series of English 
 Classics, designed for secondary schools in preparation for entrance 
 examinations to college. With their clear type, good paper, sober and 
 attractive binding — good enough for any library shelves — with their 
 introductions, suggestions to teachers, and notes at the bottom of the 
 pages, I do not see how much more could be desired." 
 
 —Prof. D. L. Maulsby, Tufts College. 
 
 " Admirably adapted to accomplish what you intend — to interest 
 young persons in thoughtful reading of noble literature. The help given 
 seems just what is needed; its generosity is not of the sort to make the 
 young student unable to help himself. I am greatly pleased with the plan 
 and with its execution." — Prof. C. B. Bradley, University of California; 
 Member of English Conference of the National Committee of Ten. 
 
 " Let me thank you for four more volumes of your excellent series 
 of English Classics. ... As specimens of book-making they are 
 among the most attractive books I have ever seen for school use; and the 
 careful editing supplies just enough information to stimulate a young 
 reader. I hope that the series may soon be completed and be widely 
 used." — Prof. W. E. Mead, Wesleyan University. 
 
 "The series is admirably planned, the 'Suggestions to Teachers' 
 being a peculiarly valuable feature. I welcome all books looking toward 
 better English teaching in the secondary schools." 
 
 — Prof. Katherine Lee Bates, Wellesley College. 
 
 " They are thoroughly edited and attractively presented, and cannot 
 fail to be welcome when used for the college entrance requirements ia 
 English." — Prof. Charles F. Richardson, Dartmouth College. 
 
LONGMANS' ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 Irving's • Tales of a Traveller.' 
 
 " I feel bound to say that, if the series of English Classics is 
 carried out after the plan of this initial volume, it will contribute much 
 toward making the study of literature a pure delight." 
 
 — Prof. A. G. Newcomer, Leland Stanford Jr. University. 
 
 " I have looked through the first volume of your English Classics, 
 Irving's ' Tales of a Traveller,' and do not see how literature could be 
 made more attractive to the secondary schools." — Prof. Edward A. 
 Allen, University of Missouri ; Member of the English Conference of 
 the National Committee of Ten. 
 
 " I have received your Irving's 'Tales of a Traveller' and examined 
 it with much pleasure. The helpful suggestions to teachers, the 
 judicious notes, the careful editing, and the substantial binding make it 
 the most desirable volume for class use on the subject, that has come to 
 my notice." — Edwin Cornell, Principal of Central Valley Union 
 School, N. Y. 
 
 George Eliot's ' Silas Marner.' 
 
 ' ' This book is really attractive and inviting. The introduction, 
 particularly the suggestions to pupils and teachers, is a piece of real 
 helpfulness and wisdom." 
 
 — D. E. Bowman, Principal of High School, Waterville, Me. 
 
 "The edition of 'Silas Marner' recently sent out by you leaves 
 nothing undone. I find the book handsome, the notes sensible and 
 clear. I'm glad to see a book so well adapted to High School needs, 
 and I shall recommend it, without reserve, as a safe and clean book to 
 put before our pupils." 
 
 — ^James W. McLane, Central High School, Cleveland, O. 
 
 Scott's 'Woodstock.' 
 
 " Scott's ' Woodstock,' edited by Professor Bliss Perry, deepens the 
 impression made by the earlier numbers that this series, Longmans' 
 English Classics, is one of unusual excellence in the editing, and will 
 prove a valuable auxiliary in the reform of English teaching now 
 generally in progress. . . . We have, in addition to the unabridged 
 text of the novel, a careful editorial introduction ; the author's intro- 
 duction, preface and notes ; a reprint of ' The Just Devil of Woodstock'; 
 and such foot-notes as the student will need as he turns from page to 
 page. Besides all this apparatus, many of the chapters have appended 
 a few suggestive hints for character-study, collateral reading and dis- 
 cussions of the art of fiction. All this matter is so skillfully distributed 
 that it does not weigh upon the conscience, and is not likely to make the 
 
LONGMANS' ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 student forget that he is, after all, reading a novel chiefly for the 
 pleasure it affords. The entire aim of this volume and its companions 
 is literary rather than historical or linguistic, and in this fact their chief 
 value is to be found." — The Dial, 
 
 "I heartily approve of the manner in which the editor's work has 
 been done. This book, if properly used by the teacher and supple- 
 mented by the work so clearly suggested in the notes, may be made of 
 great value to students, not only as literature but as affording oppor- 
 tunity for historical research and exercise in composition." 
 
 — Lillian G. Kimball, State Normal School, Oshkosh, Wis. 
 
 Defoe's 'History of the Plague in London.' 
 
 "He gives an interesting biography of Defoe, an account of his 
 works, a discussion of their ethical influence (including that of this 
 'somewhat sensational' novel), some suggestions to teachers and students, 
 and a list of references for future study. This is all valuable and sugges- 
 tive. The reader wishes that there were more of it. Indeed, the criticism 
 I was about to offer on this series is perhaps their chief excellence. 
 One wishes that the introductions were longer and more exhaustive. 
 For, contrary to custom, as expressed in Gratiano's query, ' Who riseth 
 from a feast with that keen appetite that he sits down ? ' the young 
 student will doubtless finish these introductions hungering for more. 
 And this, perhaps, was the editor's object in view, viz. , that the intro- 
 ductory and explanatory matter should be suggestive and stimulating 
 rather than complete and exhaustive ! " — Educational Review, 
 
 " I have taken great pleasure in examining your edition of Defoe's 
 ' Plague in London.' The introduction and notes are beyond reproach, 
 and the binding and typography are ideal. The American school-boy 
 is to be congratulated that he at length may study his English from 
 books in so attractive a dress." — George N. McKnight, Instructor in 
 English, Cornell University. 
 
 " I am greatly obliged to you for the copy of the 'Journal of the 
 Plague.' I am particularly pleased with Professor Carpenter's intro- 
 duction and his handling of the difficult points in Defoe's life." — Ham- 
 mond Lamont, A.B., Associate Professor of Composition and Rhetoric 
 in Brown University. 
 
 Macaulay's ' Essay on Milton.' 
 
 " I have examined the Milton and am much pleased with it ; it fully 
 sustains the high standard of the other works of this series ; the intro- 
 duction, the suggestions to teachers, and the notes are admirable." 
 
 —William Nichols, The Nichols School, Buffalo, N, Y, 
 
LONGMANS ENGLISH CLASSICS 
 
 " I beg to acknowledge with thanks the receipt of Macaulay's 
 ' Essay on Milton ' and Webster's ' First Bunker Hill Oration ' in your 
 series of English Classics. These works for preparatory study are 
 nowhere better edited or presented in more artistic form. I am glad you 
 find it possible to publish so good a book for so little money." 
 
 — Prof. W. H. Crawshaw, Colgate University. 
 
 " I am especially pleased with Mr. Croswell's introduction to, and 
 notes at the bottom of the page of, his edition of Macaulay's ' Essay on 
 Mjlton.' I have never seen notes on a text that were more admirable 
 than these. They contain just the information proper to impart, and 
 are unusually well expressed." 
 
 — Charles C. Ramsay, Principal of Fall River High School. 
 
 Coleridge's -Ancient Mariner.' 
 
 ' ' After an introduction which is well calculated to awaken interest 
 both in Coleridge himself and in poetry as a form of literature, the 
 poem is set before us with Coleridge's own glosses in the margin. Notes 
 are added at the bottom of each page. These notes are well worth 
 examination for the pedagogic skill they display. They provide, not so 
 much information about the text, though all necessary explanation does 
 appear, but suggestion and incitement to the discovery by the pupil for 
 himself of the elements in the poem which the hasty reader only feels, if 
 he does not lose them altogether. . . . Any good teacher will find 
 this edition a veritable help to the appreciation of poetry by his pupils." 
 — Principal Ray Greene Ruling, English High School, Cambridge, 
 Mass. 
 
 " Mr. Bates is an interesting and charming writer of verse as well as 
 prose, and makes a helpful and appreciative teacher to follow through 
 the intricacies of the poem in question. In addition to extensive notes 
 and comments, the book has a. well-planned, brightly written introduc- 
 tion, comprising a Coleridge biography, bibliography, and chronological 
 table, a definition of poetry in general, and a thoughtful study of the 
 origin, form, and criticisms of this particular poem, ' The Ancient 
 Mariner.' Teachers and students of English are to be congratulated on, 
 and Mr. Bates and his publishers thanked for, this acquisition to the 
 field of literary study." — Literary World, Boston. 
 \ 
 
 Milton's ' L' Allegro, II Penseroso, etc' 
 
 " Professor Trent's sympathetic treatment on the literary side of 
 the subject matter, makes the introductions and notes of more than usual 
 interest and profit ; and I think that it is just such editing as this that 
 our younger students need in approaching the works of the great poets. " 
 — J. Russell Hayes, Assistant Professor of English, Swarthmore 
 College, Pa. 
 
LONGMANS' ENCLISH CLASSICS 
 
 It has been the aim of the publishers to secure editors 
 of high reputation for scholarship, experience, and skill, 
 and to provide a series thoroughly adapted, by uniformity 
 of plan and thoroughness of execution, to present educa- 
 tional needs. The chief distinguishing features of the 
 series are the following : 
 
 I. Each volume contains full "Suggestions for Teach- 
 ers and Students," with bibliographies, and, in many 
 cases, lists of topics recommended for further reading or 
 study, subjects for themes and compositions, specimen 
 examination papers, etc. It is th,erefoj-e hoped that the 
 series will contribute largely to the working out of sound 
 methods in teaching English. 
 
 2. The works prescribed for reading are treated, in every 
 case, as literature, not as texts for narrow linguistic study, 
 and edited with a view to interesting the student in the 
 book in question both in itself and as representative of a 
 literary type or of a period of literature, and of leading 
 him on to read other standard works of the same age or 
 kind understandingly and appreciatively. 
 
 3. These editions are not issued anonymously, nor are 
 they hackwork, — the result of mere compilation. They 
 are the original work of scholars and men of letters who 
 are conversant with the topics of which they treat. 
 
 4. Colleges and preparatory schools are both repre- 
 sented in the list of editors (the preparatory schools more 
 prominently in the lists for 1897 and 1898), and it is in- 
 tended that the series shall exemplify the ripest methods 
 of American scholars for the teaching of English — the 
 result in some cases of years of actual experience in 
 secondary school work, and, in others, the formulation of 
 the experience acquired by professors who observe care- 
 fully the needs of students who present themselves for 
 admission to college. 
 
 5. The volumes are uniform in size and style, are well 
 printed and bound, and constitute a well-edited set of 
 standard works, fit for permanent use and possession — a 
 nucleus for a library of English literature. 
 
LONGMANS, GREEN, &' CO.' S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 MESSRS. LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO. have the pleasure to state 
 that they are now publishing a short series of books treating of the history 
 of America, under the general title Epochs of American History. The 
 series is under the editorship of Dr. Albert Bushnell Hart, Assistant 
 Professor of History in Harvard College, who has also prepared all the maps 
 for the several volumes. Each volume contains about 300 pages, similar in 
 size and style to the page of the volumes in Messrs. Longmans' series, 
 ' Epochs of Modern History, ' with full marginal analysis, working bibliogra- 
 phies, maps, and index. The volumes are issued separately, and each is 
 complete in itself. The volumes now ready provide a continuous history 
 of the United States from the foundation of the Colonies to the present 
 time, suited to and intended for class use as well as for general reading and 
 reference. 
 
 *^* The volumes of this series already issued have been adopted for use as text- 
 books in nearly all the leading Colleges and in many Normal Schools and other 
 institutions. A prospectus, showing Contents and scope of each volume, specimen 
 pages, etc. , will be sent on application to the Publishers. 
 
 I. THE COLONIES, 1492-1750. 
 
 By Reuben Gold Thwaites, Secretary of the State Historical Society of 
 Wisconsin; author of " Historic Waterways,'' etc. With four colored 
 maps. pp. xviii.-30l. Cloth. i(l.25. 
 
 CORNBLL UNIVERSITY. 
 " I beg leave to acknowledge your courtesy in sending me a copy of the first 
 volume in the series of ' Epochs of American History,' which I have read with 
 great interest and satisfaction. I am pleased, as everyone must be, wiih the 
 mechanical execution of the book, with the maps, and with the fresh and valua- 
 ble 'Suggestions' and 'References.' .... The work itself appears to 
 me to be quite remarkable for its comprehensiveness, and it presents a vast 
 array of subjects in a way that is admirably fair, clear and orderly." — Professor 
 Moses Coit Tylbr, Ithaca, N. Y. 
 
 WILLIAMS COLLBGB. 
 " It is just the book needed for college students, not too brief to be uninter- 
 esting, admirable in its plan, and well furnished with references to accessible 
 authorities." — Professor Richard A. Rice, Williamstown, Mass. 
 
 VASSAR college. 
 " Perhaps the best recommendation of ' Thwaites" American Colonies " is 
 the fact that the day after it was received I ordered copies for class-room use. 
 The book is admirable." — Professor Lucy M. Salmon, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. 
 
 " All that could be desired. This volume is more like a fair treatment of the 
 whole subject of the colonies than any work of the sort yet produced.'' 
 
 — The Critic. 
 
 " The subject is virtually a fresh one as approached by Mr. Thwaites. It is 
 a pleasure to call especial attention to some most helpful bibliographical notes 
 provided at the head of each chapter'' — The Nation. 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 91-93 Fifth Avenue, New York. 
 
LONGMANS. GREEN, ^ CO:S PUBLICATIONS. 
 
 EPOCHS OF AMERICAN HISTORY. 
 
 II. FORMATION OF THE UNION, I75a-i829. 
 
 By Albert Bushnell Hart, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History in 
 Harvard University, Member of the Massachusetts Historical Society, 
 Author of "Introduction to the Study of Federal Government," 
 " Epoch Maps," etc. With five colored maps. pp. XX.-278. Cloth. 
 $1.25. 
 
 The second volume of the Epochs of American History aims to follow 
 out the principles laid down for " The Colonies," — the study of causes 
 rather than of events, the development of the American nation out of scattered 
 and inharmonious colonies. The throwing off of English control, the growth 
 out of narrow political conditions, the struggle against foreign domination, and 
 the extension of popular government, are all parts of the uninterrupted process 
 of the Formation of the Union. 
 
 LELAND STANFORD JR. UNIVERSITY. 
 
 " The large and sweeping treatment of the subject, which shows the true re- 
 lations of the events preceding and following the revolution, to the revolution 
 itself, is areal addition to the literature of the subject ; while the bibliography 
 prefixed to each chapter, adds incalculably to the value of the work. " — Mary 
 Sheldon Barnes, Palo Alto, Cal. 
 
 " It is a careful and conscientious study of the period and its events, and 
 should find a place among the text-books of our public schools. " 
 
 — Boston Transcript. 
 
 " Professor Hart has compressed a vast deal of information into his volume, 
 and makes many things most clear and striking. His maps, showing the terri- 
 torial growth of the United States, are extremely interesting." 
 
 — New York Times. 
 
 " . . The causes of the Revolution are clearly and cleverly condensed into 
 a few pages. . . The maps in the work are singularly useful even to adults. 
 Th^e are five of these, which are alone worth the price of the volume." 
 
 ' ^ — Magazine of American History. 
 
 "Th« formation period of our nation is treated with much care and with 
 great pifesion. Each chapter is prefaced with copious references to authori- 
 ties, whicn are valuable to the student who desires to pursue his reading more 
 extensively. There are five valuable maps showing the growth of our country 
 by successive sjages and repeated acquisition .of territory." 
 
 — Boston Advertiser. 
 
 " Dr. Hart is not only a master of the art of condensation, . . . he is 
 what is even of greater importance, an interpreter of history. He perceives 
 the logic of historic events ; hence, in his condensation, he does not neglect 
 proportion, and more than once he gives the student valuable clues to the 
 solution of historical problems." — Atlantic Monthly. 
 
 " A valuable volume of a valuable series. The author has written with a 
 full knowledge of his subject, and we have little to say except in praise." 
 
 — English Historical Review, 
 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, & CO., 91-93 Fifth Avenue, New York.