A Journal of the Plague Year

by Daniel Defoe

  This turn’d the Peoples Eyes pretty much towards that End of the Town; and the weekly Bills shewing an Encrease of Burials in St. Giles’s Parish more than usual, it began to be suspected, that the Plague was among the People at that End of the Town; and that many had died of it, tho’ they had taken Care to keep it as much from the Knowledge of the Publick, as possible: This possess’d the Heads of the People very much, and few car’d to go thro’ Drury-Lane, or the other Streets suspected, unless they had extraordinary Business, that obliged them to it.

  This Encrease of the Bills stood thus; the usual Number of Burials in a Week, in the Parishes of St. Giles’s in the Fields, and St. Andrew’s Holborn were from 12 to 17 or 19 each few more or less; but from the Time that the Plague first began in St. Giles’s Parish, it was observ’d, that the ordinary Burials encreased in Number considerably. For Example,

  The like Encrease of the Bills was observ’d in the Parishes of St. Brides, adjoining on one Side of Holborn Parish, and in the Parish of St. James Clarkenwell, adjoining on the other Side of Holborn; in both which Parishes the usual Numbers that died weekly, were from 4 to 6 or 8, whereas at that time they were increas’d, as follows.

  Besides this, it was observ’d with great Uneasiness by the People, that the weekly Bills in general encreas’d very much during these Weeks, altho’ it was at a Time of the Year, when usually the Bills are very moderate.

  The usual Number of Burials within the Bills of Mortality for a Week, was from about 240 or thereabouts, to 300. The last was esteem’d a pretty high Bill; but after this we found the Bills successively encreasing, as follows.

  This last Bill was really frightful, being a higher Number than had been known to have been buried in one Week, since the preceeding Visitation of 1656.

  However, all this went off again, and the Weather proving cold, and the Frost which began in December, still continuing very severe, even till near the End of February, attended with sharp tho’ moderate Winds, the Bills decreas’d again, and the City grew healthy, and every body began to look upon the Danger as good as over; only that still the Burials in St. Giles’s continu’d high: From the Beginning of April especially they stood at 25 each Week, till the Week from the 18th to the 25th, when there was buried in St. Giles’s Parish 30, whereof two of the Plague, and 8 of the Spotted-Feaver,* which was look’d upon as the same thing; likewise the Number that died of the Spotted-Feaver in the whole increased, being 8 the Week before, and 12 the Week above-named.

  This alarm’d us all again, and terrible Apprehensions were among the People, especially the Weather being now chang’d and growing warm, and the Summer being at Hand:* However, the next Week there seem’d to be some Hopes again, the Bills were low, the Number of the Dead in all was but 388, there was none of the Plague, and but four of the Spotted-Feaver.

  But the following Week it return’d again, and the Distemper was spread into two or three other Parishes (viz.) St. Andrew’s-Holborn, St. Clement’s-Danes, and to the great Affliction of the City, one died within the Walls, in the Parish of St. Mary-Wool-Church, that is to say, in Bearbinder-lane near the Stocks market; in all there was nine of the Plague, and six of the Spotted-Feaver. It was however upon Inquiry found, that this French-man who died in Bearbinder-lane, was one who having liv’d in Long-Acre, near the infected Houses, had removed for fear of the Distemper, not knowing that he was already infected.

  This was the beginning of May, yet the Weather was temperate, variable and cool enough—and People had still some Hopes: That which encourag’d them was, that the City was healthy, the whole 97 Parishes buried but 54, and we began to hope, that as it was chiefly among the People at that End of the Town, it might go no farther; and the rather, because the next Week which was from the 9th of May to the 16th there died but three, of which not one within the whole City or Liberties,* and St. Andrew’s buried but 15, which was very low: ’Tis true, St. Giles’s buried two and thirty, but still as there was but one of the Plague, People began to be easy, the whole Bill also was very low, for the Week before, the Bill was but 347, and the Week above-mentioned but 343: We continued in these Hopes for a few Days, But it was but for a few; for the People were no more to be deceived thus; they searcht the Houses, and found that the Plague was really spread every way, and that many died of it every Day: So that now all our Extenuations abated, and it was no more to be concealed, nay it quickly appeared that the Infection had spread it self beyond all Hopes of Abatement; that in the Parish of St. Giles’s, it was gotten into several Streets, and several Families lay all sick together; And accordingly in the Weekly Bill for the next Week, the thing began to shew it self; there was indeed but 14 set down of the Plague, but this was all Knavery and Collusion, for in St. Giles’s Parish they buried 40 in all, whereof it was certain most of them died of the Plague, though they were set down of other Distempers; and though the Number of all the Burials were not increased above 32, and the whole Bill being but 385, yet there was 14 of the Spotted-Feaver, as well as 14 of the Plague; and we took it for granted upon the whole, that there was 50 died that Week of the Plague.

  The next Bill was from the 23d of May to the 30th, when the Number of the Plague was 17: But the Burials in St. Giles’s were 53, a frightful Number! of whom they set down but 9 of the Plague: But on an Examination more strictly by the Justices of the Peace, and at the Lord Mayor’s Request, it was found there were 20 more, who were really dead of the Plague in that Parish, but had been set down of the Spotted-Feaver or other Distempers, besides others concealed.

  But those were trifling Things to what followed immediately after; for now the Weather set in hot,* and from the first Week in June, the Infection spread in a dreadful Manner, and the Bills rose high, the Articles of the Feaver, Spotted-Feaver, and Teeth, began to swell:* For all that could conceal their Distempers, did it to prevent their Neighbours shunning and refusing to converse with them; and also to prevent Authority shutting up their Houses, which though it was not yet practised, yet was threatned, and People were extremely terrify’d at the Thoughts of it.

  The Second Week in June, the Parish of St. Giles’s, where still the Weight of the Infection lay, buried 120, whereof though the Bills said but 68 of the Plague; every Body said there had been 100 at least, calculating it from the usual Number of Funerals in that Parish as above.

  Till this Week the City continued free, there having never any died except that one Frenchman, who I mention’d before, within the whole 97 Parishes. Now there died four within the City, one in Wood street, one in Fenchurch street, and two in Crooked-lane: Southwark was entirely free, having not one yet died on that Side of the Water.

  I liv’d without Aldgate about mid-way between Aldgate Church and White-Chappel-Bars, on the left Hand or North-side of the Street; and as the Distemper had not reach’d to that Side of the City, our Neighbourhood continued very easy: But at the other End of the Town, their Consternation was very great; and the richer sort of People, especially the Nobility and Gentry, from the West part of the City throng’d out of Town,* with their Families and Servants in an unusual Manner; and this was more particularly seen in White-Chapel; that is to say, the Broad-street where I liv’d: Indeed nothing was to be seen but Waggons and Carts, with Goods, Women, Servants, Children, &c. Coaches fill’d with People of the better Sort, and Horsemen attending them, and all hurrying away; then empty Waggons, and Carts appear’d and Spare-horses with Servants, who it was apparent were returning or sent from the Country to fetch more People: Besides innumerable Numbers of Men on Horseback, some alone, others with Servants, and generally speaking, all loaded with Baggage and fitted out for travelling, as any one might perceive by their Appearance.

  This was a very terrible and melancholy Thing to see, and as it was a Sight which I cou’d not but look on from Morning to Night; for indeed there was nothing else of Moment to be seen, it filled me with very serious Thoughts of the Misery that was coming upon the City, and the unhappy Condition of those that would be left in it.

/>   This Hurry of the People was such for some Weeks, that there was no getting at the Lord-Mayor’s Door without exceeding Difficulty; there was such pressing and crouding there to get passes and Certificates of Health,* for such as travelled abroad; for without these, there was no being admitted to pass thro’ the Towns upon the Road, or to lodge in any Inn: Now as there had none died in the City for all this time, My Lord Mayor gave Certificates of Health without any Difficulty to all those who liv’d in the 97 Parishes, and to those within the Liberties too for a while.

  This Hurry, I say, continued some Weeks, that is to say, all the Month of May and June, and the more because it was rumour’d that an order of the Government was to be issued out, to place Turn-pikes* and Barriers on the Road, to prevent Peoples travelling; and that the Towns on the Road, would not suffer People from London to pass, for fear of bringing the Infection along with them, though neither of these Rumours had any Foundation, but in the Imagination; especially at first.

  I now began to consider seriously with my Self, concerning my own Case, and how I should dispose of my self; that is to say, whether I should resolve to stay in London, or shut up my House and flee, as many of my Neighbours did. I have set this particular down so fully, because I know not but it may be of Moment to those who come after me, if they come to be brought to the same Distress, and to the same Manner of making their Choice and therefore I desire this Account may pass with them, rather for a Direction to themselves to act by, than a History of my actings, seeing it may not be of one Farthing value to them to note what became of me.

  I had two important things before me; the one was the carrying on my Business and Shop; which was considerable, and in which was embark’d all my Effects in the World; and the other was the Preservation of my Life in so dismal a Calamity, as I saw apparently was coming upon the whole City; and which however great it was, my Fears perhaps as well as other Peoples, represented to be much greater than it could be.

  The first Consideration was of great Moment to me; my Trade was a Saddler,* and as my Dealings were chiefly not by a Shop or Chance Trade, but among the Merchants, trading to the English Colonies in America, so my Effects lay very much in the hands of such. I was a single Man ’tis true, but I had a Family of Servants, who I kept at my Business, had a House, Shop, and Ware-houses fill’d with Goods; and in short, to leave them all as things in such a Case must be left, that is to say, without any Overseer or Person fit to be trusted with them, had been to hazard the Loss not only of my Trade, but of my Goods, and indeed of all I had in the World.

  I had an Elder Brother at the same Time in London, and not many Years before come over from Portugal; and advising with him, his Answer was in three Words the same that was given in another Case quite different, (viz.) Master save thy self. * In a Word, he was for my retiring into the Country, as he resolv’d to do himself with his Family; telling me, what he had it seems, heard abroad, that the best Preparation for the Plague was to run away from it. As to my Argument of losing my Trade, my Goods, or Debts, he quite confuted me: He told me the same thing, which I argued for my staying, (viz.) That I would trust God with my Safety and Health, was the strongest Repulse to my Pretentions of losing my Trade and my Goods; for, says he, is it not as reasonable that you should trust God with the Chance or Risque of losing your Trade, as that you should stay in so imminent a Point of Danger, and trust him with your Life?

  I could not argue that I was in any Strait, as to a Place where to go, having several Friends and Relations in Northamptonshire,* whence our Family first came from; and particularly, I had an only Sister in Lincolnshire, very willing to receive and entertain me.

  My Brother, who had already sent his Wife and two Children into Bedfordshire, and resolv’d to follow them, press’d my going very earnestly; and I had once resolv’d to comply with his Desires, but at that time could get no Horse: For tho’ it is true, all the People did not go out of the City of London; yet I may venture to say, that in a manner all the Horses did; for there was hardly a Horse to be bought or hired in the whole City for some Weeks. Once I resolv’d to travel on Foot with one Servant; and as many did, lie at no Inn, but carry a Soldiers Tent with us, and so lie in the Fields, the Weather being very warm, and no Danger from taking cold: I say, as many did, because several did so at last, especially those who had been in the Armies in the War which had not been many Years past; and I must needs say, that speaking of second Causes, had most of the People that travelled, done so, the Plague had not been carried into so many Country-Towns and Houses, as it was, to the great Damage, and indeed to the Ruin of abundance of People.

  But then my Servant who I had intended to take down with me, deceiv’d me; and being frighted at the Encrease of the Distemper, and not knowing when I should go, he took other Measures, and left me, so I was put off for that Time; and one way or other, I always found that to appoint to go away was always cross’d by some Accident or other, so as to disappoint and put it off again; and this brings in a Story which otherwise might be thought a needless Digression, (viz.) about these Disappointments being from Heaven.

  I mention this Story also as the best Method I can advise any Person to take in such a Case, especially, if he be one that makes Conscience of his Duty, and would be directed what to do in it, namely, that he should keep his Eye upon the particular Providences which occur at that Time, and look upon them complexly, as they regard one another, and as altogether regard the Question before him, and then I think, he may safely take them for Intimations from Heaven of what is his unquestion’d Duty to do in such a Case; I mean as to going away from, or staying in the Place where we dwell, when visited with an infectious Distemper.

  It came very warmly into my Mind, one Morning, as I was musing on this particular thing, that as nothing attended us without the Direction or Permission of Divine Power, so these Disappointments must have something in them extraordinary; and I ought to consider whether it did not evidently point out, or intimate to me, that it was the Will of Heaven I should not go. It immediately follow’d in my Thoughts, that if it really was from God, that I should stay, he was able effectually to preserve me in the midst of all the Death and Danger that would surround me; and that if I attempted to secure my self by fleeing from my Habitation, and acted contrary to these Intimations, which I believed to be Divine, it was a kind of flying from God, and that he could cause his Justice to overtake me when and where he thought fit.

  These thoughts quite turn’d my Resolutions again, and when I came to discourse with my Brother again I told him, that I enclin’d to stay and take my Lot in that Station in which God had plac’d me; and that it seem’d to be made more especially my Duty, on the Account of what I have said.

  My Brother, tho’ a very Religious Man himself, laught at all I had suggested about its being an Intimation from Heaven, and told me several Stories of such fool-hardy People, as he call’d them, as I was; that I ought indeed to submit to it as a Work of Heaven, if I had been any way disabled by Distempers or Diseases, and that then not being able to go, I ought to acquiesce in the Direction of him, who having been my Maker, had an undisputed Right of Soveraignity in disposing of me; and that then there had been no Difficulty to determine which was the Call of his Providence, and which was not: But that I should take it as an Intimation from Heaven, that I should not go out of Town, only because I could not hire a Horse to go, or my Fellow was run away that was to attend me, was ridiculous, since at the same Time I had my Health and Limbs, and other Servants, and might, with Ease, travel a Day or two on foot, and having a good Certificate of being in perfect Health, might either hire a Horse, or take Post on the Road, as I thought fit.

  Then he proceeded to tell me of the mischievous Consequences which attended the Presumption of the Turks and Mahometans in Asia and in other Places, where he had been (for my Brother being a Merchant, was a few Years before, as I have already observ’d, returned from abroad, coming last from Lisbon) and how presuming upon their profess’d predestinating Notions,
* and of every Man’s End being predetermin’d and unalterably before-hand decreed, they would go unconcern’d into infected Places, and converse with infected Persons, by which Means they died at the Rate of Ten or Fifteen Thousand a Week, whereas the Europeans, or Christian Merchants, who kept themselves retired and reserv’d, generally escap’d the Contagion.

  Upon these Arguments my Brother chang’d my Resolutions again, and I began to resolve to go, and accordingly made all things ready; for in short, the Infection increased round me, and the Bills were risen to almost 700 a-Week, and my Brother told me, he would venture to stay no longer. I desir’d him to let me consider of it but till the next Day, and I would resolve; and as I had already prepar’d every thing as well as I could, as to my Business, and who to entrust my Affairs with, I had little to do but to resolve.

  I went Home that Evening greatly oppress’d in my Mind, irresolute, and not knowing what to do; I had set the Evening wholly apart to consider seriously about it, and was all alone; for already People had, as it were by a general Consent, taken up the Custom of not going out of Doors after Sun-set, the Reasons I shall have Occasion to say more of by-and-by.

  In the Retirement of this Evening I endeavoured to resolve first, what was my Duty to do, and I stated the Arguments with which my Brother had press’d me to go into the Country, and I set against them the strong Impressions which I had on my Mind for staying; the visible Call I seem’d to have from the particular Circumstance of my Calling, and the Care due from me for the Preservation of my Effects, which were, as I might say, my Estate; also the Intimations which I thought I had from Heaven, that to me signify’d a kind of Direction to venture, and it occurr’d to me, that if I had what I might call a Direction to stay, I ought to suppose it contain’d a Promise of being preserved, if I obey’d.