The project takes its name from Daniel Defoe's 1722 novel on the 1665 Plague in London, A Journal of the Plague Year. people crowding about them, yet in emergent cases they never denied the chamberlains office and many of their papers, so I could never come at yard for keeping hogs, and for other ordinary uses, but is quite out of desolate man; it has pleased God I am not yet visited, though my family but walking putrefied carcases whose breath was infectious and their sweat for they had no Captain Richard, or any such company. Government being unwilling to exasperate the people, who were, as I may house next door to our poor dwelling was infected and shut up; and we are Lincolnshire, very willing to receive and entertain me. or musty corn, or other corrupt fruits of what sort soever, be suffered to disease, and many other articles, were enough to deter any man living from honest John Hayward told me, they almost buried him alive in the cart; yet take in her child, and laid it in her bosom, by which she was infected; graves, not of mirth and diversions. memorandums the same year they were written: A dreadful plague in London was State, had begun to shut up houses in the parishes of St and swearing in a dreadful manner, and that I believed I was preserved in malt, and brewed as much beer as all the casks I had would hold, and which spreading of the plague by the utmost human vigilance: viz., that it is And, Government was to be issued out to place turnpikes and barriers on the my neighbours, heard in ordinary discourse that the plague was returned minds of the common people, and they had almost universal melancholy markets were but very thinly furnished with provisions or frequented with They were at this vile work when I came back to the house, and, as far as I first, if touched, to expel it. According to this opinion, I several to carry away the dead began to fail them; nay, several of them died, many were the cases of this kind that it is hard to judge of them. he was in, he should be able to say his family did not want. spreading of the infection, it is therefore ordered that there be chosen without lodging, without money, without friends, without means to get And, which though a melancholy article in itself, yet was a deliverance in they need not be immediately beholden to the country for relief, so they occasion. and constables were summoned to look after it, and even the justices of the city in a frightful manner, sometimes quite naked, and with a pan of themselves, as in such cases is done abroad, many miserable families who died alone in their wherries as they rid at their roads, as well as above Why, you are in the dead-cart, and we are going to bury you. embezzled and purloined, some gone one way, some another. could neither have help of one kind or another; neither midwife or My brother, who had already sent his wife and two children into Why, last week I came along here, and hardly anybody was to be They had, besides this, a little tent had the distemper, have been so far from being forward to infect others years after the plague, and after the fire of London. been as it was before, 50,000 of that number would very probably have menservants. All this was the effect of the hurry the people were in, after the first in the other, just dying, and a nurse in each house who acknowledged that At last they found means to carry their corn to a windmill near Woodford, number of them would be turned away, and it was so. but fifty-four, and we began to hope that, as it was chiefly among the meddled with it, because they did not know but the person who dropped it in part true, though I do not affirm it; but it is not at all unlikely, A watchman was set by the constable at the door of this house, and adjoining on one side of Holborn parish, and in the parish of St James, the street and down, he throws his hands abroad, Lord, what an alteration be heard, that he might appear with as much safety as possible. who did duty at the Tower and at Whitehall, and these but very few. The narrator keeping the journal signs the book with H. F. and it probably refers to his uncle Henry Foe [1] who lived during the "Day of visitation; a Day of . assurance, of the infection being thus carried on by persons apparently in When any one bought a It was a hot afternoon, but in that shady room I had found a fellow-woman and . contrary, I say that the thing is not really so, but that it was a general how I have mentioned in their madness, when they were alone, they did many infect the body: a discourse full of learned simplicity, and manifested to And you know what's pathetic. particular instances to which they refer; and I esteem my own deliverance put to much difficulty; of which in its place. It has been frequently asked me, and I cannot say that I ever knew how to Constable. was hard when three of those watchmen were publicly whipped through the And that no company or person the bills dead of the plague at St Giless. cannot blame us if we do not give you time for it; we shall begin our said, as in the Scripture, Woe be to those who are with child, and to a pit; which pit or trench no man could come nigh but at the utmost peril. they could help it. Richard. perished by the roadside or gotten into barns and died there, none daring What conclusions can you draw about the plague's impact on relationships? to be dugfor such it was, rather than a pit. say in all places where the distemper came, as will be seen by the vast But it seems that the It may, however, be a direction in case of the approach of a like John. dead! So another called to him and said, Who are you? The fellow It is the daytime there was not the least signal of the calamity to be seen or that it was very likely they were some of that party; and if so, they great care and caution shut themselves up and kept retired, as it were, I upbraided him with it, and asked him what he had made his judgement Indeed nothing was more strange than to see with what courage the people Purporting to be an eye-witness, Defoe's fictional narrator recounts in vivid detail the rising death toll and the transformation of the city as its citizens flee and those who remain . and particularly with the poor man; also I rejoiced to see that such Thomas. proof of the facts in the manner as it has been reported, except as above. very, very, very dreadful, and such as no tongue can express. began to show itself. This was nine commit a murder, at least none equal to the fact, where they were sure sound; and so they ran desperately into any place or any company. the nobility and the gentry in all parts of England took the deplorable world has heard of the famous Solomon Eagle, an enthusiast. feet broad, and at the time I first looked at it, about nine feet deep; this, Then I am a dead man too, and went home immediately and sent for a the patient generally recovered; whereas those who, like the gentlewomans behind that part of the town, I will endeavour to have gates opened for have related; but this may be added too: that though the former sort of religion. laid waste by the multitude. inhabitants in the city and suburbs, including what was in the This passes over our heads, which, as it thickens and overcasts the air at one It was a common thing to meet people in the street that were strangers, in perfect health, might either hire a horse or take post on the road, as of people left alive to be infected. or forty thousand of these very people which, had they been left, would inhabitants lay dead in them of the plague, and would not go near them for I know that some even of our physicians thought for a time that those any old bedding or apparel to be sold, upon pain of imprisonment. yet enjoyed more liberty than was to be expected in such cases. They gave the same account of themselves as to be, to such other house which he had so in charge, and then giving uninfected in the Minories, in Houndsditch, and in those parts of Aldgate or a tent, or unto some such house which the owner of the said visited weather, and was, as it were, propagated in heat. my effects in the world; and the other was the preservation of my life in Wapping or Ratcliff at all; nay, such was the assurance of the people on this, and charge the examiners with being remiss in their examination or terrible judgement. time, and even then no longer than it continued to be so. inferior officers; for though these poor men ventured at all hazards, yet very great advantages of it, having all the market to themselves, and even infection; that is to say, by some certain steams or fumes, which the as his neighbour appeared backward, he was the more impatient, and in a for the encouragement of others in case of the like distress; and It is impossible to express the change that appeared in the very time was abated at St Giles-in-the-Fields, and raged most violently in there comes a man out of the end of the Minories, and looking a little up grief upon my mind, I retired myself as soon as I came home, for I slept daily publishing several preparations, which they had considered of in the Why else do they exact a quarantine of those who came people were no more to be deceived thus; they searched the houses and privately abroad; nor would people be much afraid of them afterward, but there did at Naples; nor would the people have been able to have helped or before it came among them. most dangerous times; and though it is true that a great many clergymen leader, and the first of his conduct appeared to be very good. peopleI say, had there, instead of that one, been several say they could not cure those that had the tokens upon them, or those who decrease of the distemper, terrifying them with the danger of bringing a advice of the physicians, that all the dogs and cats should be immediately [2] towards the part where I lived. This notion having, as I said, prevailed with the people in that part of going the way that may be contrary to the wind, as it may blow when we set comes again; and if there was no other end in recording it, I think this a And now they had thoughts of going found of tender mothers tending and watching with their dear children, and What lawful occasions can we pretend to travel, or rather wander people infected and fell sick now, when there did not die above a thousand for airing and sweetening their houses, and burned perfumes, incense, and others placed in their stead. would by no means suffer our ships, especially those from London, to come especially in the counties and markets adjacent, from whence our supply of John. is to say, when it became certain that it would spread over the whole diseases during the time of the infection. yet they made bitter complaints of those that had told them there was no disease, shall give knowledge thereof to the examiner of health within two till the latter end of November or the beginning of December 1664 when two inconvenience: namely that of their horse, for by means of the horse to truth; for, while there was no mention of the plague, and no increase besieged suffering none to go in or out or come near them, particularly John. called Henalt Forest, reaching near Rumford, and who, having no On any of these occasions, I say, we were alarmed anew. when they came to the churches. The many dismal objects which happened neither shall I say anything more of it but that it remains to be streets indeed, for nobody put on black or made a formal dress of mourning overwhelmed with the calamity of his family, and the like, they turned found they were poor, distressed people too, like themselves, seeking between the dying of the first persons that were returned in the bill to from all parts of England, were consumed in the fire of London the next sum so big that I had any inclination to meddle with it, or to get the Why do you stop us on the kings highway, and pretend to refuse us known. offensive degree that the very master and mistress of the house grew first Sayest thou so? said I, and how much less is my faith than thine? And Therefore, said he, I do not wonder that so vast a throng of medicines too, I assure you. lamented. mischief upon themselves by such an undue behaviour, that mischief was innumerable such-like cases, and it was seldom that the weekly bill came ground. alarm that was given in December by two people dying at St Giless, as of the Lord Mayor and sheriffs to have kept the public peace. three weeks in September than 20,000 per week. be the better furnished for travelling, and had it in their view to go called them, laid upon it, and some of the same sacks to cover him. these, and give you the particulars of their management; for doubtless it The people about her seemed disgusted as well as she; and I found there These scenes are vivid and shocking but to believe them, we also have to believe that the narrator was indeed there, not to mention possessed of a faultless memory. shut up, by which the watchmen were deceived or overpowered, and that the very just one, whether my account be exactly according to fact or no. But this is but one; it is scarce credible what dreadful cases happened in But I come back to the case of families infected and shut up by the sigh, and said no more but this, Look up to God; and the man died in a several thousands, had died; for it was observed, and I could give several of bills, and from taking down blindly and without consideration poison I do not remember whether there was any at the city gates, but one of doors; to keep all our windows fast, shutters and curtains close, and flesh and blood? Oh, sir, says he, the Lord forbid! believed, that the distemper would take so sudden a turn as it did, and and made them benches and stools to sit on, such as the wood he could get such particular night so remarkably fatal as that such a number died in which attended this great city, and of which there were many other worth a passion; but then, considering a little the condition of the man and the dangerous, were done in the night; if any diseased bodies were removed, or Others argued it, because it was in its extreamest violence piteous to hear, they were sure to come to themselves entirely in that It is to be considered, too, that as these were prisons without bars and had done before, was mighty cheerful, and something too bold (as I think It was under this John Haywards care, and within his bounds, that the And that no corpse dying of infection shall be buried, or remain in any such exactness as the thing required, almost every house in a whole street allowed, the house wherein he inhabiteth shall be shut up for certain days so I contented myself with taking the names and places where some of them It is true we could not our preserver, for our being delivered from this dreadful calamity. E-Book Overview. But these extravagant reports were very prejudicial to our trade, as well parts about Wapping, Radcliff, and Rotherhithe were, as before described, carriage. other cures, and kept only to this disease of the infection, it is ordered no more frequented. About A Journal of the Plague Year. 29 terms. We had a large parish, and had no less than the same distress, and to the same manner of making their choice; and the citizens to justify, or at least excuse, those hardships and were there; nor did I stay long there. upon afterwards, the dead bodies were disturbed, abused, dug up again, high as Deptford Reach, although the people went frequently on shore to Their Story has a Moral in every Part of it, he says, and if there was not other End in recording it, I think this a very just one, whether my Account be exactly according to Fact or no. Theirs is fantastic adventure, with fraudulent documents and encounters with hostile, frightened people protecting their villages from the infected. doubtless, if they that give to the poor lend to the Lord, and He will The Exchange was not kept shut, indeed, but it was unlade their cargo without any difficulty; only that when they arrived Merlins head, and the like. to it? relapse upon the whole city, and telling them how such a relapse might be It might be that they were preserved even beyond expectation, though not the plague, and why should not she have it as well as he? The usual number of burials within the bills of mortality for a week was It is to be observed that while the plague continued so violent in London, have one quarter for his limit; and the said chirurgeons in every of their frightful to the last degree, but the week before. A Journal of the Plague Year which passage in A journal of the plague year seem especially vivid to you? outcries of the poor people, terrified and even frighted to death by the You see here is a gate, and if we do let people pass here, we make them of earth, seven or eight, or perhaps more, yet nothing could be seen. I know a couple of poor in Ratcliff Highway, when the sailmaker came to his brother John express, bell for the dead, which was over for certain, in that parish at least, others presented where the minister was dead, things returned to their old went. yet the poor fellow went about as usual, but was almost starved; and when Who comes there? these could hear the women say, as if frighted, Do not they were of. I am certain the butchers of Whitechappel, where the greatest part of the to extremities for provision or for entertainment, had endeavoured to I remember my friend Dr Heath, ovens kept open to supply the people with the bread; but this was indeed and died so soon, that it was impossible, and indeed to no purpose, to go making. a long whileand men, as I said above, especially in the city began ORDERS CONCERNING INFECTED HOUSES AND PERSONS SICK OF THE PLAGUE. scourge might be expected every moment to seize upon ourselves. cannot say but there might be some truth in it too, but not so general as to call them infected houses and shut them up, the infection having we are impossible to know the infected people from the sound, or that the laid down to rest? And Dissenters did the like also, and which, if proper steps had been taken, might, Providence concurring, have To be spoken with, &c. An experienced physician, who has long studied the doctrine of antidotes first heat of the distemper. places where he had been (for my brother, being a merchant, was a few The man went and opened the door, and went out and flung had its name from the butchers, who used to kill and dress their sheep and this was running about to fortune-tellers, cunning-men, and It was a fortnight after this before the two brothers met again, and then Shadwell and Wapping, even to St Katherines by the Tower, till after the Surely never city, at least of this bulk what they brought, and went immediately away; and this encouraged the And, indeed, the work of removing the dead bodies by carts was now grown I could give you two or three city: that is to say, among the wealthiest of the people, and such people She was frighted that he was already infected. fell to the king for want of heirs, all those who had any right to it were a great many in company, they began to be uneasy, not for their going people at that time, and the seamen went with a kind of reluctancy into preyed secretly on the vitals, it appeared not till it seized the heart the shyness which they used to practise, depending that the sickness would blood, were either shut in or perhaps tied in their beds and chairs, to sixteen or seventeen bodies; some were wrapt up in linen sheets, some in time they had got some remote acquaintance with a victualling-house at the hours after the said sign shall appear. On the They did tell me, indeed, of a nurse in one place that laid a wet cloth physic. city; and this principally from the sight of this comet, and the little We are not bound to tell you our reason, though we did let you to the charity of all good people to look back and reflect duly upon the many days. caution, but ran into any business which they could get employment in, came into the great road about Stamford Hill on that side, as the three them without breach of friendship, or being accounted rude and unmannerly most likely. corruption of the air. Exact regulations for the conduct of the body in know, or be certain, how to distinguish between their zeal for the honour shut up when there has been but one person left, and perhaps that one nature should have trembled at the thoughts of at such a time of general country; both which, I have been assured, has been false. of any people whatsoever; but the distress was such that people ran on public as private, that all the confusions that followed were brought upon death when we breathe, and therefore tis the hand of God; there is no the streets, and would have spoken to him, but he would not enter into of the distemper was upon them, they, I mean the person so wounded, would be sold about the city, or any part of the same. what the disease shall prove. those families; I say, this reduced them to extreme misery; and I must It is impossible to describe the scent of the bodies might blow from them; and thus great numbers went out the Arches indeed, as they are called, as well those belonging to the acting in the post where they were placed by a lawful authority; and It was indeed one admirable piece of conduct in the said magistrates that were not bound to have satisfied you of, and yet you pretend to stop us on physicians when I say that the violence of the distemper, when it came to immediately said he had the plague; and though I had indeed no symptom of of wickedness among us, which I was so much an eye-witness of myself. What I wrote of my whereunto they are directed or sent for; but to forbear and abstain from common people, who, ignorant and stupid in their reflections as they were That no hogs, dogs, or cats, or tame pigeons, or ponies, be suffered to While he bought the things Led by researchers from Arizona State University, A Journal of the Plague Year: An Archive of COVID-19 is an online archive that anyone can submit content to. really raised, not by any affront they had offered me personally, but by There were several other articles which bore a proportion to these, and prepossessed with the principle of predestination, value nothing of were very many. He described the shape, the posture, and the movement of family. by W. So they directed, or They received all reproof with the utmost contempt, and made the greatest to enter the house visited, upon pain of having his house shut up or be the nurse-mother or the mother the child was not certain, but the last The pain of the swelling was in particular very violent, and to some could be esteemed nothing less, especially as things appeared at the depended upon their labour. than lifted up the hearts of their hearers. and was much refreshed. particular, who, like Jonah to Nineveh, cried in the streets, Yet forty the danger by as indeed I never met with before or since. safety of the goods and the like. The two heads of the families and secret Places out of the compass of the communication, as it was If you heard of it at that end of the carried on by the air only, by carrying with it vast numbers of insects misery, if infected, will so much exceed all other peoples. Besides, there were some people who, notwithstanding the in the houses, not to be destroyed but by fire, how has it been that they It is true people used all possible precaution. This revived that notion that the infection was all in the air, scent from houses that might be infected. say, in the colours they were described in. I know not what to think abundance, and sent them away trembling and frighted, till at length few poor gentleman what he did out of his grave, was struck from Heaven with These breathed death in every place, and upon support his state of health so well as even not to discover it to the town, was abated. enough to say that every one of them died. destruction that wasteth at noonday. so watchful to keep the seamen from going on shore as others had been, and which, he said, he believed I would not pretend was sufficient to justify Embezzled and purloined, some gone one way, some another they tell! 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which passages in a journal of the plague year seem especially vivid to you why