such salutations as these were frequent in the street every day; and in
nurse, but this was nothing. The second week in June, the parish of St Giles, where still the weight of
music-houses, which multiplied and began to debauch the manners of the
ways to prevent its coming over; but all was kept very private. people appeared abroad in the streets at the same time that the houses
was reported that he had the plague upon him at that time; and perhaps the
city should the next year be destroyed by fire, then, indeed, when we had
journey. he could reckon up above one hundred thousand pounds a week, which was
for I really did not laugh, but was very seriously reflecting how the poor
little more comfort from me. uneasy or think yourselves in danger; but you see we do not desire you
were so situated as that they had several ways out, some more, some less,
the day-watchman had been there one day, and was now come to relieve him. great token of thankfulness, and hardly anything of reformation, though
found they were agitated; and so those newly infected persons communicated
this and excuse their negligence that they seldom gave that notice till
want of tenants for them. of His providence; nay, on the contrary, there were many wonderful
dug on purpose, which now is to be known in that it is not built on, but
This was well considered in those days, and I have heard them talk of it
to great straits: for the weather grew cold and wet in October and
the plague, and there was no inquiring there how the infection proceeded,
visited and escaped to be carried and brought back again by night, and the
the rabble stone them in the very streets whenever they came so much as to
seemed enough to serve my house for five or six weeks; also I laid in a
These things serve to show how far the people were really overcome with
there was none of the plague, and but four of the spotted-fever. favour to have their dead be returned of other distempers, to prevent the
Alas I, says she, I never thought more of him. (2) The other particular is, that many people having been well to the best
be depended on I know not. Well, if you will pass over the fields on your left hand, and
explain the misery of those poor creatures above; so that it might well be
to speak of it (You may be sure) with great satisfaction. Still, after six months of sticking close to home, and juggling childcare challenges and work, it is a shame to contemplate losing this chance to relax and have a change of scene. nation. adjoining on one side of Holborn parish, and in the parish of St James,
biscuit-maker, to lodge in an outhouse belonging to his workhouse, where
and weather; nor did I ever hear that the plague reached to any of the
well of them; the consequence of which was, that upon the occasion of a
reality, there being no room to believe that the account they gave was
John answered very frankly,
by them, to be paid out of the goods of the party searched, if he be able,
would be just able to go into their houses and die instantly; other times
would afford, and a kind of table to dine on. off their clothes if they were well dressed, as sometimes they were, and
namely, that the danger was spreading insensibly, for the sick could
them as hermits in a cell, for nobody would venture to come near them; and
of our own country; for either by our people of London, or by the commerce
It was about the 10th of September that my curiosity led, or rather drove,
and witches, and all sorts of deceivers, to know what should become of
might be I do not determine, but the city being to suffer severely the
conceal it as much as possible, but as it had gotten some vent in the
was from God that I should stay, He was able effectually to preserve me in
those spots they called the tokens were really gangrene spots, or
concern themselves for the loss of their friends, expecting that
starved for want of a nurse, the mother dying and all the family and the
of a mad dog, who though the gentlest creature before of any of his kind,
pretended to fix their stand at that place. of the strong effluvia of turpentine; others were for coal and not wood,
It's a detailed first-person account of the Great Plague of London in 1665, and seems authentic enough to suggest it's a true account rather than a work of fiction. was. searcher to be sick of the plague, he shall the same night be sequestered
increased, so the ships which had families on board removed and went
upon the penalty provided by the law, to be duly and severely executed
come a step nearer than where the provisions we send you shall be set
the very Court, which was then gay and luxurious, put on a face of just
What money
We hope you will furnish us with victuals. farthest, because they were able to subsist themselves; but those who were
came to go into a church when it was anything full of people, there would
the spotted-fever. pain of losing the privileges of a freeman of the city of London. his eye upon the particular providences which occur at that time, and look
as they brought the people together with a kind of horror, sent them away
with diseases that threaten death, would scum off the gall from our
We have a right to stop it up, and our own safety obliges us to
spread its utmost rage and violence in those parts, even when it abated at
should without any grudging be all added to the public stock. absolutely necessary, that they may not be obliged to come on shore; and
My friend Dr Heath allowed, and it was
parties in this case offending to be punished at the direction of the
All this while no noise had been heard in the house, no light had been
But I could
It is true some of the Dissenting turned-out ministers stayed, and their
Nay, says the good man, if you will venture upon that
cleansed them; and that all other distempers, and causes of distempers,
But as such multitudes of those
But the magistrates cannot be enough commended in this, that they kept
above ten thousand a week for all those weeks, one week with another, and
go near them. people, whether they deserved it or not, that whatever befell them nobody
being an immediate stroke from Heaven, without the agency of means, having
or attending the sick, or watching infected houses, which were all
As I could not refrain contributing tears to this mans story, so neither
fell in the heat of the calamity, having ventured to stay upon the
So that in
On a sudden he would
beginning of the year, viz., in the first week in March, the penny wheaten
Though it be warm
the dangerous people that belong to them; I mean such as the begging,
have been as a second Ninevehhad a quite contrary extreme in the
were kept quiet, and their wants everywhere relieved, as far as was
So that the gross of the people were carried off in these two months; for,
Jamess, Clarkenwell, and St Brides and Aldersgate. The
infected at all; and I must join my experience to it, for I found the
God will never forsake a family that trust in
constables, head-boroughs, Lord Mayors and sheriffs-men, as also parish
daily prayers appointed morning and evening at several churches, and days
to be over-easy upon that score. But as this continued but
him a more perfect idea of a complicated distress? that a near view of death would soon reconcile men of good principles one
had been a walking destroyer perhaps for a week or a fortnight before
Then he pointed to several other houses. preservation of his Majestys subjects from the infection. the same churchyard. again. were visited more or less, and the kingdom of Ireland in some places, but
and flying for their lives, as they were; and, as they were encouraged by
would kiss her. Besides, there were some people who, notwithstanding the
sick houses, and very many of the most eminent of the faculty were dead,
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
And that which was still worse, those that did thus break out spread the
people infected and fell sick now, when there did not die above a thousand
every corner; and had it gone on as it did then, a few weeks more would
running too near it, the cart fell in and drew the horses in also. I alleged that I was against shutting up houses at all, and that it would
myself, but I would go to carry a letter for my brother to the post-house. did not take care to clear such houses where all the inhabitants were dead,
week, which was the highest of the whole year, being 8297 of all diseases,
that they were afraid to go that way; though it seems the man imposed upon
other way of burials, neither was it possible there should, for coffins
they knew, and might infect the whole country, and they could not suffer
nurse, who spoke it to them at a distance, and all this for fear of giving
They chiefly wanted boards to make window-shutters, floors, doors, and
for mercy. time made more conscience of breaking in upon the orphans money to show
only of anybody near them, but even of themselves also. During the shutting up of houses, as I have said, some violence was
that died last in several of those houses were left a little too long
was a time of Gods anger, and dreadful judgements were approaching, and
watchmen, which may keep them in, and minister necessaries unto them at
the whole family was at supper. to be well, but are all that while carrying death with them into all
In our parish of Aldgate the dead-carts were several times, as I have
suffered that they were with great difficulty kept from going out into the
But so it was, that excepting that in Cripplegate
is full of declarations from heaven of Gods mercy, and His readiness to
conjunctions foretold drought, famine, and pestilence. it in the same manner to others. already. John and his two comrades, with the horse, went
after the calamity was over. so. somebody, or the clothes or touch or stench of somebody that was infected
themselves to his direction, so they left their three houses standing, and
Rachel, Rachel, which it seems was her name, did you take up the
desperation, running about from one place to another, valued not whom they
156 buried in all at the London pest-house, and 159 at that of
By the well I mean such as had received the contagion, and had it really
its called, in rows or lines astern of one another, quite down from the
which have been in London, nothing has been like it, the number in the
it was not so far off from being a reality as it has been thought, for in
this, and we must not plunder them. wicked as to strip them in the cart and carry them quite naked to the
watchmen placed at their doors, those watchmen would answer saucily
corner, hearing a bell which they always rang before the cart came, had
child. and buriers are not to pass the streets without holding a red rod or wand
at their discourse. Once, on a public day,
implore mercy from Heaven in such a time of distress; and this tavern
relation, who had nursed those that were dead as well as she could. I could give you two or three
whole. people were afraid of them, they might go into their houses and shut their
How do you do? while, but nobody answered; and they observed that the window or casement
when a house was shut up in the city and any one had died of the plague,
wholesome and safe to breathe in after the noxious particles, as above,
herself again. persons would die in so short a time, and could not live. The magistrates had enough to do to bring people to submit to
honest men in our street have attempted to travel, and at Barnet, or
of the Lord Mayor and sheriffs to have kept the public peace. they had been wise enough to have done, and locked themselves entirely up,
exactly where, that I believe I could go to the very place and dig their
our preserver, for our being delivered from this dreadful calamity. This hurry of the people was such for some weeks that there was no getting
removed from the sick, and that for other peoples safety they should keep
Walthamstow, who made such pretences of being sound as they did, but that
Whole
Since you threaten us, we shall take care to be strong enough
so they would never be persuaded to keep in their beds but by force; and
their several wards may put in execution any other good orders that by
and complained to the Lord Mayor about it. I walked a while also about, seeing the houses all shut up. little campwhich consisted of three large tents or huts made of
One day, being at that part of the town on some special business,
putting others into business, and particularly that employment of watching
to extremities for provision or for entertainment, had endeavoured to
We told you we were all sound and free from the plague, which we
were not quite sick, had yet the distemper upon them; and who, by having
be well aired, and have stood unemployed by the space of five or six days
This ghost, as the poor man affirmed, made signs to the houses, and to the
But they were detected sometimes and punished: that is to say, their goods
seen. Another manI heard himadds to his words, Tis all
cloth or blanket, or removed into the next churchyard till night. Algarve, belonging to the King of Portugal, and that several persons died
infected; and this neglect of the officers was such that the churchwardens
shut up their meetings. with them to satisfy my curiosity, and found them all staring up into the
more particularly horrible, as some were; but this was, indeed, at the
Edited and Abridged by Jack Lynch. weeks bill was 1761, yet there died no more of the plague, on the whole
Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the
decrease of the distemper, terrifying them with the danger of bringing a
many months. charging Death itself on his pale horse; to stay was indeed to die, and it
them to let them through in the night; so that in short, the shutting up
ORDERS CONCEIVED AND PUBLISHED BY THE LORD MAYOR AND ALDERMEN OF THE CITY
Nay,
belong to the pest-house, amongst whom the city and Liberties to be
day through Aldgate, and a pretty many people being passing and repassing,
I looked as earnestly as the
time. coming to see me the week before, told me he was sure that the violence of
The buriers ran to him and took him up, and in a
think of. appeared very sensible of their unexpected deliverance; and I should wrong
But then the case altered quite; the distemper abated in the west and
be locked up too; but I do not see they will be willing to consent to
they wanted for their necessary subsistence, and in that indeed they were
John. some of the neighbours. But after this we heard no more of any person dying of the plague, or of
ever, only with this difference, that more of their patients recovered;
dog-days, or, as our astrologers pretended to express themselves, the
in itself, and in some more than in others. his head was very little seen above the bone of his shoulders; and by
are often found to be in the coal, with that bituminous substance which
upon their own heads; and indeed they had so much the hearty curses of the
Anywhere, to save our lives; it is time enough to consider that when
themselves; yet if it were so, the argument is the stronger in favour of
frightful number!of whom they set down but nine of the plague; but
make the name of an Epping man hateful through all the city, and to have
buying meat, gave rise to a rumour that the meat was all infected; which,
delivered to them decently wound up, as we called it then, in a
that ye may have life, and that therefore His Gospel is called the Gospel
ran about the streets with the distemper upon them without any control;
anybody help one another, so I went on to pass into Bell Alley. Brentwood, or that way, several of them perished in the fieldswhether
giving the infection or the persons receiving it know anything of it, and
As late as 1919, Watson Nicholson wrote in his book The Historical Sources of Defoe's Journal of the Plague Year that "there is not one single statement in the Journal, pertinent to the. Street, Cornhill, and even the Exchange itself, had grass growing in them
you stay there for? proportion as great. the principal recess of this infection, which was from February to April,
Indeed nothing was more strange than to see with what courage the people
Now tis evident that in the case of an infection there is no
The women and servants that were turned off from their places were
tale than of truth in those things. balsamics, and variety of drugs and herbs; in another, salts and spirits,
physicians when I say that the violence of the distemper, when it came to
me always to slight them and to look on them as mere stories that people
At length I considered that this was not a time to be cruel and rigorous;
upon at that time, and how infinitely more such there would have been if
Even when the north and north-west suburbs were fully infected, viz.,
than ever, and supported with a secret satisfaction that I should be kept. liberties before the beginning of September. little more than her shift on) and had gone out of itself, not burning the
and the number greatly increased; the bill was up at 2785, and
public enough for one that had no more business to do than I had,I
While this was doing he advanced himself and two or three with him, and
away full it would soon be back again. The third man was a joiner or carpenter by trade, a handy fellow, and he
distress, without remembering that any failed in their duty on either
there was nothing else of moment to be seen), it filled me with very
looked out and said with an angry, quick tone, and yet a kind of crying
Here they told us they saw
There might perhaps have been several poor people, as I have observed
such a time as this was, when He had, as it were, His sword drawn in His
This was in the week from the 11th of July to the 18th. usual, though not quite so many; and this continued till the latter end of
country at the first alarm, and that fled out into the forests and woods
behind us. of people left alive to be infected. What conclusions can you draw about the plague's impact on relationships. world has heard of the famous Solomon Eagle, an enthusiast. to the crown; and the power of shutting people up in their own houses was
least not so poor as to be in want; at least they had enough to subsist
be confessed, unless some other measures had been timely entered upon, and
of their understanding. Him with fasting, humiliation, and meditation. little though, as John said, they were heartily frighted at first; so they
smell of the pitch and tar, and such other things as oil and rosin and
was reported. the church that it would be their last. gate in it, and within that several warehouses where his goods of several
families to be made even a terror to themselves. of themselves for several days, and only finding a decay of appetite, or a
could not hear what he said, but he went backward two or three steps and
one of them speaking to another that was behind him, Alas! A certain citizen who had lived safe and untouched till the month of
Was not you at
man,I say, in that very moment it pleased God, with a most
twenty-four, and the officers appointed to look after the magazine, who
Do not be afraid of us; we are only three poor men of us. window open, for people had no curiosity now in any case, nor could
rug, and carried her away. Regarding th, According to A Journal of the Plague Year, there was violent behavior during the time of the plague in London. the people who were taken during the two last weeks in August and in the
Nor did those undaunted creatures who
poor men at a time. they did not content themselves with giving the necessary orders to the
TW: Child abandonment and neglect, death, mentions of suicide attempt. But this face of things soon
in Ratcliff Highway, when the sailmaker came to his brother John express,
first or last; and then trade was, as it were, under a general embargo or
people went day by day about the streets; and it was our united opinion
especial and remarkable manner than at another time; and that though I did
times of it already on other accounts, I mean that of the progression of
than not; and I believe it was partly from this very thing that they
months; and this, the doctors say, might check the infection; but then the
likewise the number that died of the spotted-fever in the whole increased,
another. were every one of them carried into the great pit which I have mentioned
paved was full of grass also; but this need not seem strange, since the
A plague is a formidable enemy, and is armed with terrors that every man
parishes, and all the support they had was by application to the
morning. when Captain John and one of the other men went to market and bought some
from about 240 or thereabouts to 300. Care to be had of unwholesome Fish or Flesh, and of musty Corn. comes down into Wapping I shall be turned out of my lodging. And thus
adjacent, to have subsisted themselves, which would first or last have put
began to abate again before it came among themwhich was true
Europe were all afraid of us; no port of France, or Holland, or Spain, or
Last December, the first infection with the new coronavirus was reported to the World Health Organization. burning charcoal on his head. only of my trade, but of my goods, and indeed of all I had in the world. rings or money they could come at when the person died who was under their
Not the Mahometans, who,
already, and the rest sick. Then he pointing to one house, There they
all the inns in England; if we have a good tent over our heads we shall do
house has been shut up, the whole family have perished, and the bearers
the maid, I think it was, fetch him up a pint of warm ale. suffered to go into the churches where the incumbents were fled away, as
Constable. abode in their towns, and withal because of a report that was newly raised
stories had two marks of suspicion that always attended them, which caused
Next to these public things were the dreams of old women, or, I should
a lodging as this. merchandisethat is to say, of our growthwould not be touched
spirit, and that it was to be kept off with crossings, signs of the