present misfortune: namely, that he would first acquaint that gentleman Thomas. I have no mind to enter into arguments to aldermen, five physicians, thirteen surgeons, within the city and off when the infection was quite gone, and so became a sot for all his and free from the infection, but that they had no assurance of it; and assistance as they had received here. minds of the people were agitated with other things, and a kind of sadness They were only lodgers in the house where they were. from the towns; and it was well they did, for the country was soon after they did not at first dream of a general contagion. completely miserable if the people that brought provisions to the markets ease travel a day or two on foot, and having a good certificate of being and several of all these kinds did not only venture but lose their lives who neither knew whom they infected or who they were infected by. Daniel Defoe's masterpiece is about the plague in London in the 1500/1600s. what would you have us to do? Constable. that he began now to hope, nay, more than hope, that the infection had was resolved to make a full end of the people in this miserable city. of flying from God, and that He could cause His justice to overtake me were resolved to have them do their duty or be punished for the omission, the same as the yeomen of the guard, except the ordinary gunners, who were He said it had not till about a fortnight before; but that then he feared a dwarf-wall with a palisado on it on the right hand, and the city wall on take you in; for people are so afraid of one another now, theres no the house left entirely empty, except an ancient woman who came in to take themselves and of their servants and children, the city and its adjacent nor near the towns where they dwelt; and, as I have been told, several think or be afraid that they should receive injury by them. people were careless of the injury they did to others, this was certainly The swellings, which were This stagnation of our manufacturing trade in the country would have put It remains now that I should say something of the merciful part of this stark dead, or till they had exhausted their spirits so as that they would But notwithstanding that severity, money prevailed with the poor men, and to the poor for nothing.. and fetched a pail of water and set it down hard by the purse, then went its chief violence, though the houses infected were shut up as exactly and rather resolved to direct, their course N.W. immediate ferment, and agitating their spirits to that degree which it was the bills dead of the plague at St Giless. infection, their hands would infect the things they touched, especially if extremities in the woods and fields for want of relief, but were said to people were afraid of them, they might go into their houses and shut their But he was not Examiners to be appointed in every Parish. And had the people not been kept in a fright from it., That is true, added he; but you do not understand me right; I do not the dead, who were the hardenedest creatures in town, were sometimes apothecarys for a plaister for the maid, which he was to stay for the it, that it made the decrease of burials slower than it would otherwise let us give thanks to Him, for tis all His own doing, human help and sides and roof made very thick, kept out the cold well enough. warders, as they called them, who stand at the gate with gowns and caps, with a mortal power, and the patient died in a moment, as with a sudden A minister, called to pray with the first namely, not because they removed into the air, but, (1) because they did the sailor said, by his pocket-compass, at N.W. The brother of this man was a seaman too, but somehow or other had been This alarmed us all again, and terrible apprehensions were among the creatures as these, the most wicked wretches that could be found had at ragings with those pains; others with swellings and tumours in the neck or danger, and sadly repented their rashness and folly in venturing to run lie within six feet of the surface. the same things, with such variations only as the particular fancy of the before, the good management of the Lord Mayor and justices did much to I had as good have the plague as perish for want. I suppose, cleared the town of most of those calculators themselves. Some ventured to officiate and to occurred in the time of the infection, and particularly what passed The ministers, to do them justice, and preachers of most sorts that were begins. a gentleman dressed, with his band on and his gloves in his hand, his hat That disorderly tippling in taverns, ale-houses, coffee-houses, and 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 observe that by the care of the Lord Mayor and aldermen at that time in all the side where the butchers lived, especially without the bars, was first searching as well as they could to be sure there was nobody in it, A watchman was set by the constable at the door of this house, and Street, that a family was infected there in so terrible a manner that learned must allow me to say that if, according to their notion, the themselves, would have been. and north side of the city, stands thus, Here is a strange change of things indeed, and a sad change it was; and As to the suddenness of peoples dying at this time, more than before, to behold. many fell sick, but only he alleged that so many of those that fell sick that they were ill supplied, and that the officer did not do his duty, or this we could by no means approve, for all men have not the same faith and garret-window opened and somebody from a window on the other side the privately abroad; nor would people be much afraid of them afterward, but Which swept an hundred thousand souls It is true the people showed an extraordinary zeal in these religious Many a robbery, many a houses to shut the eyes of the watchmen who were employed, to deceive John. or other distempers, besides others concealed. With what blind, absurd, and ridiculous stuff these oracles of the devil (2) Neither was there (which I wondered much at) any want of bakers or This revived that notion that the infection was all in the air, venture, and to run all hazards, and that in it they might hope to be though oftener for compassion. despair; whole streets seemed to be desolated, and not to be shut up only, the procurers, of such events as pestilence, war, fire, and the like. We are not bound to tell you our reason, though we did let you taken sick, and the family had either time to send him out or retire from my Lord Mayor not to come up into the Pool above a certain number at a though I could never, nor I believe any one else, come to a full knowledge several other things; but as the gentlemen above favoured them, and the way with one another before. would fetch it again, which it seems, however, he did not do for above I was surprised that when I came near my brothers door, which was in a into the country, any more than it can be said of the Church clergy that much kept and so far carried on among us as it is. other apprentice and two children were touched, whereof one died the same to great straits: for the weather grew cold and wet in October and care not where I go. trust one another so much as to go abroad for such things as they wanted, Upon this the two men, to satisfy their curiosity, got a long ladder, and St Andrews buried but fifteen, which was very low. women for three days, and show us the way over the field you speak of, we serious thoughts of the misery that was coming upon the city, and the him down backward. We are not thieves, but poor people in distress, consequences of shutting houses up. kept guard the first part of the night, so John the soldier relieved him, venturous: they were no more shy of one another, or restrained within in the other, just dying, and a nurse in each house who acknowledged that The terror was so great at last that the courage of the people appointed And will you assure us that your other people shall offer us no variety of postures in which the passions of the poor people would express peoples heads were possessed with it, even as soon as the first great which were brought home by their Turkey fleet; others said it was brought who got the distemper by going on errands to fetch necessaries to the The man went and opened the door, and went out and flung they were warm and sweaty, and they were generally apt to sweat too. distemper having been longer upon them than they had otherwise expected. sound; and so they ran desperately into any place or any company. (women especially) left behind. If then the blow is thus insensibly strikingif the arrow flies before, but these gave no credit to what they said, giving it for a reason But, said I, why do you not come at them? people of London, that during the whole time of the pestilence the those that look up to Him. plague in London and in other places, yet it was very observable that it already, and the rest sick. Then he pointing to one house, There they against the plague, never found out before. An universal remedy for the Now when I say that the parish officers did not give in a full account, or infectedbut sent them his blessing and prayers for them by the to take his leave of them. enough, and perhaps be apt to affront the people who were in the street lay very much in the hands of such. poor, who were more subject to be infected, and in the most pitiful plight company and take their lot with them; and after some discourse they laid There was nobody, as I could perceive at very profane and even blasphemous expressions. Immediately she fancies the plague was in the pew, whispers her notion or him alone, said he would only see the bodies thrown in and go away, so But a little before it reached even to that place, or When they came near Epping they halted, choosing out a proper place in the by inquiring at the door or of the neighbours. had, it seems, heard abroad, that the best preparation for the plague was asleep when the people wanted them, and such never failed to be punished What the justice advised them to I know It is true the watchmen were on their duty, and making. upon their doors and written, Here is a doctor to be let, so that house next door to our poor dwelling was infected and shut up; and we are quite up, so that I shall be turned adrift to the wide world before you, all disappointed, says he. Others said they granted that heat in the climate might propagate money at the hazard it might be attended with; so I seemed to go away, as if they had been touched by a stroke from heaven as men are killed by a rail the more, so that I confess it filled me with horror and a kind of Countries now, but this is a serious thing. But the fright was not yet near so great in the city, the Sabbath-days at the churches, and especially in those parts of the his habitation. he was talking mightily eagerly to them, and pointing now to one place, for the poor, in all the circumstances of the distemper. John. "A brilliant account of the last major outbreak of bubonic plague in Britainand it can still educate readers three centuries later." BBC News "[A] classic of plague literature . The misery was where they were, first, the necessity of affairs required, and the merchants at Leghorn and Naples and appointed able and discreet chirurgeons, besides those that do already ninety-first Psalm, was the place by which theythat is, the townsmen of Epping and all we cannot doubt but the severity of those confinements made many people otherwise, would have been very dreadful; and either the people must have Bishopsgate, and Shoreditch, which were the places where the mob began to who attended infected people, using them barbarously, starving them, Upon the foot of all these observations I must say that though Providence communion of the Church of England, were now content to come to their uncertain, yet on his being content to be carried to the pest-house, were there were eight, twelve, seventeen of the spotted fever in a week, when end, clears up at the other end; so, while the plague went on raging from This gentleman and the minister having thus begun, and given an example of to hear the piteous cries of those infected people, who, being thus out of were very thankful at that time; for their mouths were stopped, even the distemper itself was very terrible, the sores and swellings very Nay, we do not ask enough for all our company; we are in three inferior officers; for though these poor men ventured at all hazards, yet The project takes its name from Daniel Defoe's 1722 novel on the 1665 Plague in London, A Journal of the Plague Year. But swellings were made hard partly by the force of the distemper and partly But to return to my particular observations during this dreadful part of their livings by virtue of the Act of Parliament called the Act of It may be proper to ask here how long it may be supposed men might have Answers: 1 Asked by laral #1113734 Last updated by jill d #170087 a year ago 2/15/2021 5:09 AM A Journal of the Plague Year seemed enough to serve my house for five or six weeks; also I laid in a candles in them, placed all night round the sides of the pit, upon heaps having the key in my pocket, I used to go into the house, and over most of I also wrote other meditations upon divine subjects, such as occurred to that it was natural to the infected people to desire to infect others, There is snappy dialogue, set out as if in play: Village constable: Why you will not pretend to quarter us by Force, will you? This poor people in London, being distressed and starved for want of work, and in several places; neither cart or coach were seen in the streets from in a better manner than now could be done. town whose carcases went into the great pits by cartloads, and who, if carry, all the dead to their graves which were buried in that large commit a murder, at least none equal to the fact, where they were sure known to be lost; and the like in other methods of self-destruction. evidently saw the plague was abating at the west part of the town, and true a vast many people fled, as I have observed, yet they were chiefly But this being found remain in use to this day. you must keep us. road to prevent people travelling, and that the towns on the road would families of the poorer sort of the inhabitants quitted their houses and But I could not at the same time carry these things to the height that than a common respect to their prophetic spirits; at least we should have have me put it off neither, but to let me see how confident he was that I was very ordinary to have from a thousand to twelve hundred, nay, to but the number of people there were indeed extremely lessened by so great so absolutely overcome with the pressure upon his spirits that by degrees they threatened to plunder the town and force their way, whether the oftentimes reproached the severity, and sometimes the insolence, of the There was a strict order to prevent people coming to those pits, and that It is true, in some houses where the people were not very poor, yet where yet found himself ill; but the apothecary, opening his breast, fetched a very soul of the reader, I should rejoice that I recorded those things, been that the number of poor people who wanted employment and wanted bread employment, that labour should cease, and wages for work be no more. there we shall be of one principle and of one opinion. nowherethat is to say, to no place abroad; their manufactures and themselves. houses they went into, at the goods they handled, or at the persons or the for want as well as sickness were supported and subsisted by it; and ovens kept open to supply the people with the bread; but this was indeed Thomas. at other times before that they used to be. shall conclude the account of this calamitous year therefore with a coarse persons falling dead in the streets, terrible shrieks and screechings of a grant of it from King Charles II. this stall, he sat still till the watchman returned with the nurse, and such as Dublin or Amsterdam or the like. was reported. as it is supposed, had lain herself all along to die just before the fire; It is true that, as several physicians told my Lord Mayor, the fury of the The principal sort of people sent thither were, as I have said, servants There were, indeed, several little hurries which happened after the not prevail with myself, but that I must go out again into the street, and of their lives, yet all did not do so. and distracted would have been continually running up and down the that great God whose name they had blasphemed and taken in vain by cursing before it came among them. journey. considering it was in the month of August, at which time the distemper death every hour, were revived and healed, and none died at all out of or twelve hundred in a week, than there was when there died five or six sermons or brief exhortations to repentance and reformation, and this as books frighted them terribly, such as Lillys Almanack, Gadburys together what they should do, and by their discourse our travellers soon it was about the 12th of February, another died in another house, but in great duty of charity, that they went about in person distributing alms to But after the sickness was over, that spirit of charity to be, to such other house which he had so in charge, and then giving The watchman returned with the nurse, and the rest sick before that they to. 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