History of the Plague in London

whole warehouses filled with merchandise andmanufactures, such as come from all parts of England, were consumed inthe fire of London the next year after this terrible visitation. It isincredible what a trade this made all over the whole kingdom, to makegood the want, and to supply that loss; so that, in short, all themanufacturing hands in the nation were set on work, and were littleenough for several years to supply the market, and answer the demands.All foreign markets also were empty of our goods, by the stop which hadbeen occasioned by the plague, and before an open trade was allowedagain; and the prodigious demand at home falling in, joined to make aquick vent[306] for all sorts of goods; so that there never was knownsuch a trade all over England, for the time, as was in the first sevenyears after the plague, and after the fire of London.

  It remains now that I should say something of the merciful part of thisterrible judgment. The last week in September, the plague being come toits 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 itwould assuage in a few days; but when I saw the weekly bill of thatweek, which was the highest of the whole year, being 8,297 of alldiseases, I upbraided him with it, and asked him what he had made hisjudgment from. His answer, however, was not so much to seek[307] as Ithought it would have been. "Look you," says he: "by the number whichare at this time sick and infected, there should have been twentythousand dead the last week, instead of eight thousand, if theinveterate mortal contagion had been as it was two weeks ago; for thenit 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 thatnow not above two in five miscarry. And observe it from me, the nextbill will decrease, and you will see many more people recover than usedto do; for though a vast multitude are now everywhere infected, and asmany 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 nowto 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 twothousand.

  It is true, the plague was still at a frightful height, and the nextbill was no less than 6,460, and the next to that 5,720; but still myfriend's observation was just, and it did appear the people did recoverfaster, and more in number, than they used to do; and indeed if it hadnot been so, what had been the condition of the city of London? For,according to my friend, there were not fewer than 60,000 people at thattime infected, whereof, as above, 20,477 died, and near 40,000recovered; whereas, had it been as it was before, 50,000 of that numberwould very probably have died, if not more, and 50,000 more would havesickened; for in a word the whole mass of people began to sicken, and itlooked as if none would escape.

  But this remark of my friend's appeared more evident in a few weeksmore; for the decrease went on, and another week in October it decreased1,843, so that the number dead of the plague was but 2,665; and the nextweek it decreased 1,413 more, and yet it was seen plainly that there wasabundance of people sick, nay, abundance more than ordinary, andabundance fell sick every day; but, as above, the malignity of thedisease abated.

  Such is the precipitant disposition of our people (whether it is so ornot all over the world, that is none of my particular business toinquire; but I saw it apparently here), that, as upon the first sight ofthe infection they shunned one another, and fled from one another'shouses and from the city with an unaccountable, and, as I thought,unnecessary fright, so now, upon this notion spreading, viz., that thedistemper was not so catching as formerly, and that if it was catched itwas not so mortal, and seeing abundance of people who really fell sickrecover again daily, they took to such a precipitant courage, and grewso entirely regardless of themselves and of the infection, that theymade no more of the plague than of an ordinary fever, nor indeed somuch. They not only went boldly into company with those who had tumorsand carbuncles upon them that were running, and consequently contagious,but eat and drank with them, nay, into their houses to visit them, andeven, as I was told, into their very chambers where they lay sick.

  This I could not see rational. My friend Dr. Heath allowed, and it wasplain to experience, that the distemper was as catching as ever, and asmany fell sick, but only he alleged that so many of those that fell sickdid not die; but I think that while many did die, and that at best thedistemper itself was very terrible, the sores and swellings verytormenting, and the danger of death not left out of the circumstance ofsickness, though not so frequent as before,--all those things, togetherwith the exceeding tediousness of the cure, the loathsomeness of thedisease, and many other articles, were enough to deter any man livingfrom a dangerous mixture[308] with the sick people, and make them[309]as anxious almost to avoid the infection as before.

  Nay, there was another thing which made the mere catching of thedistemper frightful, and that was the terrible burning of the causticswhich the surgeons laid on the swellings to bring them to break and torun; without which the danger of death was very great, even to the last;also the insufferable torment of the swellings, which, though it mightnot make people raving and distracted, as they were before, and as Ihave given several instances of already, yet they put the patient toinexpressible torment; and those that fell into it, though they didescape with life, yet they made bitter complaints of those that had toldthem there was no danger, and sadly repented their rashness and folly inventuring to run into the reach of it.

  Nor did this unwary conduct of the people end here; for a great manythat thus cast off their cautions suffered more deeply still, and thoughmany escaped, yet many died; and at least it[310] had this publicmischief attending it, that it made the decrease of burials slower thanit would otherwise have been; for, as this notion ran like lightningthrough the city, and the people's heads were possessed with it, even assoon as the first great decrease in the bills appeared, we found thatthe two next bills did not decrease in proportion: the reason I take tobe the people's running so rashly into danger, giving up all theirformer cautions and care, and all shyness which they used to practice,depending that the sickness would not reach them, or that, if it did,they should not die.

  The physicians opposed this thoughtless humor of the people with alltheir might, and gave out printed directions, spreading them all overthe city and suburbs, advising the people to continue reserved, and touse still the utmost caution in their ordinary conduct, notwithstandingthe decrease of the distemper; terrifying them with the danger ofbringing a relapse upon the whole city, and telling them how such arelapse might be more fatal and dangerous than the whole visitation thathad been already; with many arguments and reasons to explain and provethat part to them, and which are too long to repeat here.

  But it was all to no purpose. The audacious creatures were so possessedwith the first joy, and so surprised with the satisfaction of seeing avast decrease in the weekly bills, that they were impenetrable by anynew terrors, and would not be persuaded but that the bitterness of deathwas passed; and it was to no more purpose to talk to them than to aneast wind; but they opened shops, went about streets, did business, andconversed with anybody that came in their way to converse with, whetherwith business or without, neither inquiring of their health, or so muchas being apprehensive of any danger from them, though they knew them notto be sound.

  This imprudent, rash conduct cost a great many their lives who had withgreat care and caution shut themselves up, and kept retired, as it were,from all mankind, and had by that means, under God's providence, beenpreserved through all the heat of that infection.

  This rash and foolish conduct of the people went so far, that theministers took notice to them of it, and laid before them both the follyand danger of it; and this checked it a little, so that they grew morecautious. But it had another effect, which they could not check: for asthe first rumor had spread, not over the city only, but into thecountry, it had the like effect; and the people were so tired with beingso long from London, and s
o eager to come back, that they flocked totown without fear or forecast, and began to show themselves in thestreets as if all the danger was over. It was indeed surprising to seeit; for though there died still from a thousand to eighteen hundred aweek, yet the people flocked to town as if all had been well.

  The consequence of this was, that the bills increased again four hundredthe very first week in November; and, if I might believe the physicians,there were above three thousand fell sick that week, most of themnewcomers too.

  One John Cock, a barber in St. Martin's-le-Grand, was an eminent exampleof this (I mean of the hasty return of the people when the plague wasabated). This John Cock had left the town with his whole family, andlocked 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 905per week of all diseases, he ventured home again. He had in his familyten persons; that is to say,