by Daniel Defoe
thegoing into the street which is now called Old Bethlem, which wasenlarged much, though not wholly taken in, on the same occasion.
N.B. The author of this journal lies buried in that very ground, beingat his own desire, his sister having been buried there a few yearsbefore.
Fifth, Stepney Parish, extending itself from the east part of London tothe north, even to the very edge of Shoreditch churchyard, had a pieceof ground taken in to bury their dead, close to the said churchyard; andwhich, for that very reason, was left open, and is since, I suppose,taken into the same churchyard. And they had also two other buryingplaces in Spittlefields,--one where since a chapel or tabernacle hasbeen built for ease to this great parish, and another in Petticoat Lane.
There were no less than five other grounds made use of for the parish ofStepney at that time; one where now stands the parish church of St.Paul, Shadwell, and the other where now stands the parish church of St.John, at Wapping, both which had not the names of parishes at that time,but were belonging to Stepney Parish.
I could name many more; but these coming within my particular knowledge,the circumstance, I thought, made it of use to record them. From thewhole, it may be observed that they were obliged in this time ofdistress to take in new burying grounds in most of the outparishes forlaying the prodigious numbers of people which died in so short a spaceof time; but why care was not taken to keep those places separate fromordinary uses, that so the bodies might rest undisturbed, that I cannotanswer for, and must confess I think it was wrong. Who were to blame, Iknow not.
I should have mentioned that the Quakers[324] had at that time also aburying ground set apart to their use, and which they still make use of;and they had also a particular dead cart to fetch their dead from theirhouses. And the famous Solomon Eagle, who, as I mentioned before,[325]had predicted the plague as a judgment, and run naked through thestreets, telling the people that it was come upon them to punish themfor their sins, had his own wife died[326] the very next day of theplague, and was carried, one of the first, in the Quakers' dead cart totheir new burying ground.
I might have thronged this account with many more remarkable thingswhich occurred in the time of the infection, and particularly whatpassed between the lord mayor and the court, which was then at Oxford,and what directions were from time to time received from the governmentfor their conduct on this critical occasion; but really the courtconcerned themselves so little, and that little they did was of so smallimport, that I do not see it of much moment to mention any part of ithere, except that of appointing a monthly fast in the city, and thesending the royal charity to the relief of the poor, both which I havementioned before.
Great was the reproach thrown upon those physicians who left theirpatients during the sickness; and, now they came to town again, nobodycared to employ them. They were called deserters, and frequently billswere set up on their doors, and written, "Here is a doctor to be let!"So that several of those physicians were fain for a while to sit stilland look about them, or at least remove their dwellings and set up innew places and among new acquaintance. The like was the case with theclergy, whom the people were indeed very abusive to, writing verses andscandalous reflections upon them; setting upon the church door, "Here isa pulpit to be let," or sometimes "to be sold," which was worse.
It was not the least of our misfortunes, that with our infection, whenit ceased, there did not cease the spirit of strife and contention,slander and reproach, which was really the great troubler of thenation's peace before. It was said to be the remains of the oldanimosities which had so lately involved us all in blood anddisorder;[327] but as the late act of indemnity[328] had lain asleep thequarrel itself, so the government had recommended family and personalpeace, upon all occasions, to the whole nation.
But it[329] could not be obtained; and particularly after the ceasingof the plague in London, when any one had seen the condition which thepeople had been in, and how they caressed one another at that time,promised to have more charity for the future, and to raise no morereproaches,--I say, any one that had seen them then would have thoughtthey would have come together with another spirit at last. But, I say,it could not be obtained. The quarrel remained, the Church[330] and thePresbyterians were incompatible. As soon as the plague was removed, thedissenting ousted ministers who had supplied the pulpits which weredeserted by the incumbents, retired. They[331] could expect no other butthat they[332] should immediately fall upon them[331] and harass themwith their penal laws; accept their[331] preaching while they[332] weresick, and persecute them[331] as soon as they[332] were recovered again.This even we that were of the Church thought was hard, and could by nomeans approve of it.
But it was the government, and we could say nothing to hinder it. Wecould only say it was not our doing, and we could not answer for it.
On the other hand, the dissenters reproaching those ministers of theChurch with going away, and deserting their charge, abandoning thepeople in their danger, and when they had most need of comfort, and thelike,--this we could by no means approve; for all men have not the samefaith and the same courage, and the Scripture commands us to judge themost favorably, and according to charity.
A plague is a formidable enemy, and is armed with terrors that every manis not sufficiently fortified to resist, or prepared to stand the shockagainst.[333] It is very certain that a great many of the clergy whowere in circumstances to do it withdrew, and fled for the safety oftheir lives; but it is true, also, that a great many of them staid, andmany of them fell in the calamity, and in the discharge of their duty.
It is true, some of the dissenting turned-out ministers staid, andtheir courage is to be commended and highly valued; but these were notabundance. It cannot be said that they all staid, and that none retiredinto the country, any more than it can be said of the Church clergy thatthey all went away. Neither did all those that went away go withoutsubstituting curates[334] and others in their places, to do the officesneedful, and to visit the sick as far as it was practicable. So that,upon the whole, an allowance of charity might have been made on bothsides, and we should have considered that such a time as this of 1665 isnot to be paralleled in history, and that it is not the stoutest couragethat will always support men in such cases. I had not said this, but hadrather chosen[335] to record the courage and religious zeal of those ofboth sides who did hazard themselves for the service of the poor peoplein their distress, without remembering that any failed in their duty oneither side; but the want of temper among us has made the contrary tothis necessary: some that staid, not only boasting too much ofthemselves, but reviling those that fled, branding them with cowardice,deserting their flocks, and acting the part of the hireling, and thelike. I recommend it to the charity of all good people to look back andreflect duly upon the terrors of the time; and whoever does so will seethat it is not an ordinary strength that could support it. It was notlike appearing in the head of an army, or charging a body of horse inthe field; but it was charging death itself on his pale horse.[336] Tostay was indeed to die; and it could be esteemed nothing less,especially as things appeared at the latter end of August and thebeginning of September, and as there was reason to expect them at thattime; for no man expected, and I dare say believed, that the distemperwould take so sudden a turn as it did, and fall immediately twothousand in a week, when there was such a prodigious number of peoplesick at that time as it was known there was; and then it was that manyshifted[337] away that had staid most of the time before.
Besides, if God gave strength to some more than to others, was it toboast of their ability to abide the stroke, and upbraid those that hadnot the same gift and support, or ought they not rather to have beenhumble and thankful if they were rendered more useful than theirbrethren?
I think it ought to be recorded to the honor of such men, as well clergyas physicians, surgeons, apothecaries, magistrates, and officers ofevery kind, as also all useful people, who ventured their lives indischarge of their duty, as most certainly all such as staid did to thelast degree; and
several of these kinds did not only venture, but losttheir lives on that sad occasion.
I was once making a list of all such (I mean of all those professionsand employments who thus died, as I call it, in the way of their duty),but it was impossible for a private man to come at a certainty in theparticulars. I only remember that there died sixteen clergymen, twoaldermen, five physicians, thirteen surgeons, within the city andliberties, before the beginning of September. But this being, as I saidbefore, the crisis and extremity of the infection, it can be no completelist. As to inferior people, I think there died six and forty constablesand headboroughs[338] in the two parishes of Stepney and Whitechapel;but I could not carry my list on, for when the violent rage of thedistemper, in September, came upon us, it drove us out of all measure.Men did then no more die by tale[339] and by number: they might put outa weekly bill, and call them seven or eight thousand, or what theypleased. It is certain they died by heaps, and were
