History of the Plague in London

by Daniel Defoe

totake an exact tale[156] of the dead bodies, which were all huddledtogether in the dark into a pit; which pit, or trench, no man could comenigh but at the utmost peril. I have observed often that in the parishesof Aldgate, Cripplegate, Whitechapel, and Stepney, there were five, six,seven, and eight hundred in a week in the bills; whereas, if we maybelieve the opinion of those that lived in the city all the time, aswell as I, there died sometimes two thousand a week in those parishes.And I saw it under the hand of one that made as strict an examination ashe could, that there really died a hundred thousand people of the plaguein it that one year; whereas, in the bills, the article of the plaguewas but 68,590.

  If I may be allowed to give my opinion, by what I saw with my eyes, andheard from other people that were eyewitnesses, I do verily believe thesame; viz., that there died at least a hundred thousand of the plagueonly, besides other distempers, and besides those which died in thefields and highways and secret places, out of the compass[157] of thecommunication, as it was called, and who were not put down in the bills,though they really belonged to the body of the inhabitants. It was knownto us all that abundance of poor despairing creatures who had thedistemper upon them, and were grown stupid or melancholy by their misery(as many were), wandered away into the fields and woods, and into secretuncouth[158] places, almost anywhere, to creep into a bush or hedge, anddie.

  The inhabitants of the villages adjacent would in pity carry them food,and set it at a distance, that they might fetch it if they were able;and sometimes they were not able. And the next time they went they wouldfind the poor wretches lie[159] dead, and the food untouched. The numberof these miserable objects were[160] many; and I know so many thatperished thus, and so exactly where, that I believe I could go to thevery place, and dig their bones up still;[161] for the country peoplewould go and dig a hole at a distance from them, and then, with longpoles and hooks at the end of them, drag the bodies into these pits, andthen throw the earth in form, as far as they could cast it, to coverthem, taking notice how the wind blew, and so come on that side whichthe seamen call "to windward," that the scent of the bodies might blowfrom them. And thus great numbers went out of the world who were neverknown, or any account of them taken, as well within the bills ofmortality as without.

  This indeed I had, in the main, only from the relation of others; for Iseldom walked into the fields,[162] except towards Bethnal Green andHackney, or as hereafter. But when I did walk, I always saw a great manypoor wanderers at a distance, but I could know little of their cases;for, whether it were in the street or in the fields, if we had seenanybody coming, it was a general method to walk away. Yet I believe theaccount is exactly true.

  As this puts me upon mentioning my walking the streets and fields, Icannot omit taking notice what a desolate place the city was at thattime. The great street I lived in, which is known to be one of thebroadest of all the streets of London (I mean of the suburbs as well asthe liberties, all the side where the butchers lived, especially withoutthe bars[163]), was more like a green field than a paved street; and thepeople generally went in the middle with the horses and carts. It istrue that the farthest end, towards Whitechapel Church, was not allpaved, but even the part that was paved was full of grass also. But thisneed not seem strange, since the great streets within the city, such asLeadenhall Street, Bishopsgate Street, Cornhill, and even the Exchangeitself, had grass growing in them in several places. Neither cart norcoach was seen in the streets from morning to evening, except somecountry carts to bring roots and beans, or pease, hay, and straw, to themarket, and those but very few compared to what was usual. As forcoaches, they were scarce used, but to carry sick people to thepesthouse and to other hospitals, and some few to carry physicians tosuch places as they thought fit to venture to visit; for really coacheswere dangerous things, and people did not care to venture into them,because they did not know who might have been carried in them last; andsick infected people were, as I have said, ordinarily carried in them tothe pesthouses; and sometimes people expired in them as they went along.

  It is true, when the infection came to such a height as I have nowmentioned, there were very few physicians who cared to stir abroad tosick houses, and very many of the most eminent of the faculty[164] weredead, as well as the surgeons also; for now it was indeed a dismal time,and for about a month together, not taking any notice of the bills ofmortality, I believe there did not die less than fifteen or seventeenhundred a day, one day with another.

  One of the worst days we had in the whole time, as I thought, was inthe beginning of September, when, indeed, good people were beginning tothink that God was resolved to make a full end of the people in thismiserable city. This was at that time when the plague was fully comeinto the eastern parishes. The parish of Aldgate, if I may give myopinion, buried above one thousand a week for two weeks, though thebills did not say so many; but it[165] surrounded me at so dismal arate, that there was not a house in twenty uninfected. In the Minories,in Houndsditch, and in those parts of Aldgate Parish about the ButcherRow, and the alleys over against me,--I say, in those places deathreigned in every corner. Whitechapel Parish was in the same condition,and though much less than the parish I lived in, yet buried near sixhundred a week, by the bills, and in my opinion near twice as many.Whole families, and indeed whole streets of families, were swept awaytogether, insomuch that it was frequent for neighbors to call to thebellman to go to such and such houses and fetch out the people, for thatthey were all dead.

  And indeed the work of removing the dead bodies by carts was now grownso very odious and dangerous, that it was complained of that the bearersdid not take care to clear such houses where all the inhabitants weredead, but that some of the bodies lay unburied till the neighboringfamilies were offended by the stench, and consequently infected. Andthis neglect of the officers was such, that the churchwardens andconstables were summoned to look after it; and even the justices of thehamlets[166] were obliged to venture their lives among them to quickenand encourage them; for innumerable of the bearers died of thedistemper, infected by the bodies they were obliged to come so near. Andhad it not been that the number of people who wanted employment, andwanted bread, as I have said before, was so great that necessity drovethem to undertake anything, and venture anything, they would never havefound people to be employed; and then the bodies of the dead would havelain above ground, and have perished and rotted in a dreadful manner.

  But the magistrates cannot be enough commended in this, that they keptsuch good order for the burying of the dead, that as fast as any ofthose they employed to carry off and bury the dead fell sick or died (aswas many times the case), they immediately supplied the places withothers; which, by reason of the great number of poor that was left outof business, as above, was not hard to do. This occasioned, that,notwithstanding the infinite number of people which died and were sick,almost all together, yet they were always cleared away, and carried offevery night; so that it was never to be said of London that the livingwere not able to bury the dead.

  As the desolation was greater during those terrible times, so theamazement of the people increased; and a thousand unaccountable thingsthey would do in the violence of their fright, as others did the same inthe agonies of their distemper: and this part was very affecting. Somewent roaring, and crying, and wringing their hands, along the street;some would go praying, and lifting up their hands to heaven, callingupon God for mercy. I cannot say, indeed, whether this was not in theirdistraction; but, be it so, it was still an indication of a more seriousmind when they had the use of their senses, and was much better, even asit was, than the frightful yellings and cryings that every day, andespecially in the evenings, were heard in some streets. I suppose theworld has heard of the famous Solomon Eagle, an enthusiast. He, thoughnot infected at all, but in his head, went about denouncing of judgmentupon the city in a frightful manner; sometimes quite naked, and with apan of burning charcoal on his head. What he said or pretended, indeed,I could not learn.

  I will not say whether that cle
rgyman was distracted or not, or whetherhe did it out of pure zeal for the poor people, who went every eveningthrough the streets of Whitechapel, and, with his hands lifted up,repeated that part of the liturgy of the church continually, "Spare us,good Lord; spare thy people whom thou hast redeemed with thy mostprecious blood." I say I cannot speak positively of these things,because these were only the dismal objects which represented themselvesto me as I looked through my chamber windows; for I seldom opened thecasements while I confined myself within doors during that most violentraging of the pestilence, when indeed many began to think, and even tosay, that there would none escape. And indeed I began to think so too,and therefore kept within doors for about a fortnight, and never stirredout. But I could not hold it. Besides, there were some people, who,notwithstanding the danger, did not omit publicly to attend the worshipof God, even in the most dangerous times. And though it is true that agreat many of the clergy did