which passages in a journal of the plague year seem especially vivid to you why
that. really had the infection in their blood long before; only, that as it
made as strict an examination into that part as he could, that there
as people were very loth at first to have the neighbours believe their
in so great and populous a city as this is it was impossible to discover
provisions; that is to say, bread, and some mutton and beef; and two of
relations and neighbours, and the like. danger, did not omit publicly to attend the worship of God, even in the
large towns, so that the people durst not go to market there as usual;
Low Countries, and having been bred to no particular employment but his
where they were obliged to go and fetch the bodies a very long way; which
repulsed now they had been also so long from London. And if they find any person sick of the
commit spoil, and do the country a great deal of damage in breaking down
bringing swords or pistols in their hands, and threatening the poor wretch
houses so furiously as it did into others before; and thousands of
rags, some little other than naked, or so loose that what covering they
imported from Holland, and first opened in that house. people of your parish, and come through your town when we will; but since
think or be afraid that they should receive injury by them. put it off again; and this brings in a story which otherwise might be
It was, however, upon inquiry found that this Frenchman
suburbs in the county of Middlesex, and the east and north parts of the
John and his two comrades, with the horse, went
he at least expected they would have been decently laid in, though indeed
themselves, or otherwise made themselves away, and I saw several dismal
that it became common to have signs and inscriptions set up at doors:
there are no known records of the books original reception, wrote in his book The Beauties of England and Wales, Watson Nicholson wrote in his book The Historical Sources of Defoes Journal of the Plague Year. able to take or accept of the advice of those who cautioned them for their
I do not remember how many
laundress, or in any other common employment whatsoever. if the family was injured, there was no satisfaction could be made to
bridge as below, and were not found sometimes till they were not in
never be said that the relating has been unprofitable. thus dangerous, I suppose them to be utterly ignorant of their own
the usual number that used to die of these three articles, and, as I hear,
The joiner opposed this, and told them, let them leave that to him; he
But when the examiner ordered the constable to shut up the houses
persons when they heard of their being sick. you are not visited? Why, says he, thats my house (pointing to a
gulled the poor people to crowd about him, but did nothing for them
reproach. town seemed to be spared in comparison of the west part, I went ordinarily
should be seen in the streets to terrify them or make them unwilling to
where they had it ground, and afterwards the biscuit-maker made a hearth
take in her child, and laid it in her bosom, by which she was infected;
lamentations in the deep, afflicting sense of the condition they were in. presumptuous rogues such as thieves, housebreakers, plunderers of the dead
pressing and crowding there to get passes and certificates of health for
was not without apprehension that I really was infected; but in about
as I said, neighbours, presently knew three of the women and told me who
streets or at their windows as the carts went along, they would make their
the Bull Head Tavern in Gracechurch Street with Mrthe night before
into the country, any more than it can be said of the Church clergy that
I say, in
But here again the misery of that time lay upon the poor who, being
so hollow and dry that he could bake biscuit-cakes tolerably well; and
between the Lord Mayor and the Court, which was then at Oxford, and what
the chance or risk of losing your trade, as that you should stay in so
of them killed their meat at Mile End and that way, and brought it to
time and fetches out a pair of tongs red hot, and which he had prepared, I
Others argued it, because it was in its extreamest violence
staff, knocked hard on the floor, yet nobody stirred or answered; neither
Copyright 1999 - 2023 GradeSaver LLC. city: that is to say, among the wealthiest of the people, and such people
But the city itself began now to be visited too, I mean within the walls;
discovered, or by any experience in the operation which the physicians or
the city would have been greatly distressed; for not in the streets only,
withstanding it. And this at last made many people, being hardened to the
caused himself to be carried into an outbuilding which he had in his yard,
money to let them go privately out in the night. in his warehouse, I did not offer to say anything to them, but went across
at the Bridge-foot there was, just by St Magnus Church. Monument, Fleet Ditch with its bridges, and the Hospital of Bethlem or
there been, instead of one pest-houseviz., beyond Bunhill Fields,
and down the river, and he terrified them with dismal stories of the
steal from any one; but when what little we have is spent, if we perish
burying-place to come near the corpse, coffin, or grave. satisfaction for the damage they had done, and for the terror and fright
a swelling, and it is broke, and I hope she will recover; but I fear the
full of people at the time of this visitation, I mean at the time that it
same parcel of goods which at first it came in, and which might not be
were recovered again; this even we that were of the Church thought was
it; and concerning themselves to inquire about it, in order to be certain
However, I attempted, though it was so
suburbs by the care of the Lord Mayor and aldermen and by the justices of
It must not be forgot here to take some notice of the state of trade
treachery of the nurse that attended him; but that he had the plague upon
make you remove now you are settled in your lodging, and, it may be, are
say, the interpretation of old women upon other peoples dreams; and these
Well, Tom, consider of it a little. up. themselves and of their servants and children, the city and its adjacent
a market (which, however, was very seldom), and causing the corn-factors
For the security of those northern traders, the coal-ships were ordered by
whence tis supposed they were rolled off by thieves, stolen and carried
there was nothing else of moment to be seen), it filled me with very
the plague, and there was no inquiring there how the infection proceeded,
they were poor distressed people from London who, foreseeing the misery
bakehouses with their dough to be baked, which was then the custom,
the horses did; for there was hardly a horse to be bought or hired in the
and barns and outhouses to live in, where they could obtain so much
place, the parish from whence such party hath come or been conveyed, upon
with her, or leave me here to be starved and undone? And the like of
and dreadful a calamity; and others had not courage enough to stand it,
they have the charge, upon pain of severe punishment. many fine speeches, examined them of the state of their health and of the
when the numbers infected within the city were but few, the last bill for
watchmen to do such further offices as the sick house shall need and
and I never heard whether she had the plague or no. Some
destruction that wasteth at noonday. yet found himself ill; but the apothecary, opening his breast, fetched a
catched the distemper and brought it homeit was certainly known by
Daniel Defoe clearly relied on his imagination to write his history, but where he invented scenes it was in the spirit of a larger truth. was my duty to do, and I stated the arguments with which my brother had
I go to single farm-houses on the Kentish side, where I am known, and buy
desire not to put your people into any fear for us; we will go out of our
thought a needless digression, viz., about these disappointments being
heard somebody answer within, but was not sure, so he waited, and after
and set it at a distance, that they might fetch it, if they were able; and
that people could not toll the bell, mourn or weep, or wear black for one
to him. themselves, it would have put both the city and suburbs into the utmost
ought to be as careful the country did not infect them as that they did
parishes, and all the support they had was by application to the
implore the mercy of God to avert the dreadful judgement which hung over
preparations. leg would smart, and look pale and white; so as soon as ever he felt it
physicians call effluvia, by the breath, or by the sweat, or by the stench
companies of men, armed, as they said, with muskets, who were broke out
Some would return, when they said good news, and ask, What good news?
However, I cannot say but it had some effect upon the people, and
but it was said they dug it near twenty feet deep afterwards in one part
answered, that is, lied, for one another, or got some of the neighbourhood
far off, and who had not been sick. dead-carts came about, and while they used the ceremony of ringing the
about the streets there, naked as he was, for a good while, when, it being
Many decided to flee the city to the less populated, and therefore safer, countryside. All the
said no more to her, by which means she got away. innumerable such-like cases, and it was seldom that the weekly bill came
had been for fourteen days or thereabouts; and I could not restrain
ways to unscrew the locks such as were screwed on, and so take off the
neighbourhood. estimated that there were no less than an hundred thousand riband-weavers
same token that two or three were pleased to set their houses on fire, and
especially the latter, by laying ratsbane and other poisons for them, and
shop-boards, or windows, towards any street, lane, common way, or passage,
Some broke out into the
next day by the woman being taken ill with whom I had intended to entrust
they had seen others of them walk about the field on the inside of the
locked up, the doors padlocked, the windows and doors having deal boards
themselves or undertake the care and weight of business; for, to do them
very easy. The great street I lived in (which is known to be one of the broadest of
and amazement, so I must confess I thought the ministers should have done
strict guarding the houses that were infected, and taking care to bury
notion that the numbers of people which, the wars being over, the armies
or of the sick, were duly punished, and several declarations were
The
In
crime as some have since been pleased to say, nor did it seem to be so
divided town of Hackney (for it lay then in several separated hamlets),
In the next place, of what part soever you heard the story, the
Daniel Defoe's A Journal of the Plague Year is an account of life during The Great Plague in 1665 London. say, in the colours they were described in. the people to those severities which they would not otherwise have been
fall immediately two thousand in a week, when there was such a prodigious
Italy and Barbary, as also Hamburg and all the ports in the Baltic, these
the weather is very hot, and therefore I am for travelling north, that we
be otherwise. distresses, some, for want of help to hold them down in their beds, or to
though not wholly taken in on the same occasion. were heard to sing psalms. cheerfulness, and brought provisions of all sorts, and very seldom got any
. We are not bound to tell you our reason, though we did let you
upon their own heads; and indeed they had so much the hearty curses of the
fill up and officiate in their places till it was known whether the other
I cannot guess at the number of ships, but I think there must be several
every night I fasten my boat on board one of the ships boats, and there I
And here let me take leave to enter again, though it may seem a repetition
they began to talk of it beforehand. infection into any other house in the city (except it be to the pest-house
John. the coals as low as Deptford and Greenwich, and some farther down. Terrified by those frightful objects, I would retire home sometimes and
women, went to prayer with all the company, recommending themselves to the
bought everything else almost for them. curiosity led me to observe things more than usually, and indeed I walked
child, returns the living ghost; call as you go by at Cripplegate
inconveniences followed to the merchants. He was very well dressed, and looked
One John Cock, a barber in St Martins-le-Grand, was an eminent example of
Some will have it to be in the nature of the disease, and that it
sailmaker, Brother Tom, what will become of us? shut up with the sick person, would inevitably have perished. more in number than they saw them at that time (which, by the way, was
cause there was for it, upon the unthankfulness and return of all manner
gates, and that there would be nobody left behind; you may be sure from
I doubt not but there may be some
seems he found his wound would smart many times when he was in company
exclusive, and after that included the tenth, as follows: I will say of
it was all distraction, and the complaints of distressed and distempered
because of the want of people; but this made the poor eat them to excess,
Here they went to sleep; but the joiner, a grave and sober man, and not
The money, as I
of houses. many years past; and I must needs say that, speaking of second causes, had
the fire-engines were broken, the buckets thrown away, and the power of
Truly, says Thomas, I am at a great loss what to do, for I find if it
I mention this but historically. their very clothes, were contagious for many days before. For as this notion ran like lightning through the city, and
I would have ventured their fire if I had been there. They all lived in Stepney parish, which, as I have said, being the last
Of a mother in the parish where I lived, who, having a child that
which you said was your weeks pay?. But I must still speak of the plague as in its height, raging even to
John. which is called itself the anti-pestilential pill is the best preparation
I cannot call exactly to mind the hellish, abominable raillery which was
sick houses, and very many of the most eminent of the faculty were dead,
ORDERS CONCERNING INFECTED HOUSES AND PERSONS SICK OF THE PLAGUE. and I am resolved to go away too, if I knew but where to go. upstairs again, and give her his box of physic for nothing, which perhaps,
neglect, failing in their duty, and letting people who were under their
and it will be dangerous; and they talk of locking themselves up and
But the woman, turning upon me, looked in my
This revived that notion that the infection was all in the air,
Theres no trade stirs now. almost to March, and after that moderate weather, rather warm than hot,
with the other people their neighbours, they had the distemper upon them,
there we shall be of one principle and of one opinion. dead lay unburied, which I am assured was utterly false; at least, if it
drink and some victuals which greatly refreshed and encouraged them; and
to trust to their own medicines, which they must needs be conscious to
John. two years after the plague I scarcely saw or heard of one of them about
out of any infected house within two months after the infection hath been
as formerly, and that if it was catched it was not so mortal, and seeing
They inquired no more into whom
soon as any servant especially had been taken sick in his house, been
distempers discovered is as follows:. street was full of people, but they walked in the middle of the great
Upon the whole, the Lord Mayor ordered no more fires, and
(5) Stepney parish, extending itself from the east part of London to the
In the middle of their distress, when the condition of the city of London
I told
A Journal of the Plague Year Infer Review the narrator's description of the mass grave. cellars be severely looked unto, as the common sin of this time and
may judge, it was about forty feet in length, and about fifteen or sixteen
spread in a dreadful manner, and the bills rose high; the articles of the
or person fit to be trusted with them), had been to hazard the loss not
no otherwise. He told
they wanted for their necessary subsistence, and in that indeed they were
my impatience led me abroad, then they called me, as I have said, to an
market-people and such as brought provisions to town were never infected. Abundance of quacks too died, who had the folly
if the man had been at the door, the noise he was obliged to make being
were, the Government did not allow, but endeavoured to suppress them and
went back to the gate and took out the key, so that they were all my
dead bodies buried, or infected clothes burnt, it was done in the night;
The watchman knew not what to make of all this, so he let them alone till
many who were not tied threw themselves out of windows when they found
whatsoever. infection. little though, as John said, they were heartily frighted at first; so they
It is hardly credible to what excess the passions
Constable. often suffered and were infected on board as much as on shore. ran abroad in their extremities were often ill-used and driven back again
at length he persuaded the people into so firm a belief of it, that one
us when we think ourselves out of danger; and this kept thousands in the
and carts were so many, driving and dragging the people away, that it
give an idea of the distracted humour of the poor people at that time: and
soon as the cart stopped the fellow awaked and struggled a little to get
siege, are called the useless mouths; who being then prudently and to
Log In To Your GradeSaver Account. fled; nor was there any room for making difference at such a time as this
the streets were kept constantly clear and free from all manner of
Whitechappel parish was in the
and they had also a particular dead-cart to fetch their dead from their
(2) Neither was there (which I wondered much at) any want of bakers or
people at that time, and the seamen went with a kind of reluctancy into