A Journal of the Plague Year

by Daniel Defoe

  I was surpriz’d, not at the Sight of so many Thieves only, but at the Circumstances I was in; being now to thrust my self in among so many People, who for some Weeks, had been so shye of my self, that if I met any Body in the Street, I would cross the Way from them.

  They were equally surpriz’d, tho’ on another Account: They all told me, they were Neighbours, that they had heard any one might take them, that they were no Bodies Goods, and the like. I talk’t big to them at first; went back to the Gate, and took out the Key; so that they were all my Prisoners; threaten’d to Lock them all into the Warehouse, and go and fetch my Lord Mayor’s Officers for them.

  They beg’d heartily, protested they found the Gate open, and the Ware-house Door open; and that it had no doubt been broken open by some, who expected to find Goods of greater Value; which indeed, was reasonable to believe, because the Lock was broke, and a Padlock that hung to the Door on the out-side also loose; and not abundance of the Hats carry’d away.

  At length I consider’d, that this was not a Time to be Cruel and Rigorous; and besides that, it would necessarily oblige me to go much about, to have several People come to me, and I go to several, whose Circumstances of Health, I knew nothing of; and that even at this Time the Plague was so high, as that there dy’d 4000 a Week; so that in showing my Resentment, or even in seeking Justice for my Brother’s Goods, I might lose my own Life; so I contented my self, with taking the Names and Places where some of them lived, who were really Inhabitants in the Neighbourhood; and threatning that my Brother should call them to an Account for it, when he return’d to his Habitation.

  Then I talk’d a little upon another Foot with them; and ask’d them how they could do such Things as these, in a Time of such general Calamity; and as it were, in the Face of Gods most dreadful Judgments, when the Plague was at their very Doors; and it may be in their very Houses; and they did not know, but that the Dead-Cart might stop at their Doors in a few Hours, to carry them to their Graves.

  I cou’d not perceive that my Discourse made much Impression upon them all that while; till it happened, that there came two Men of the Neighbourhood, hearing of the Disturbance, and knowing my Brother, for they had been both dependants upon his Family, and they came to my Assistance: These being as I said Neighbours, presently knew three of the Women, and told me who they were, and where they liv’d; and it seems, they had given me a true Account of themselves before.

  This brings these two Men to a farther Remembrance: The Name of one was John Hayward,* who was at that Time under-Sexton, of the Parish of St. Stephen Coleman-street; by under-Sexton, was understood at that Time Grave-digger and Bearer of the Dead. This Man carry’d or assisted to carry all the Dead to their Graves, which were bury’d in that large Parish, and who were carried in Form; and after that Form of Burying was stopt, went with the Dead Cart and the Bell, to fetch the dead Bodies from the Houses where they lay, and fetch’d many of them out of the Chambers and Houses; for the Parish was, and is still remarkable, particularly above all the Parishes in London, for a great Number of Alleys, and Thorough-fares* very long, into which no Carts cou’d come, and where they were oblig’d to go and fetch the Bodies a very long Way; which Alleys now remain to Witness it; such as Whites-Alley, Cross-Key-Court, Swan-Alley, Bell-Alley, White-Horse-Alley, and many more: Here they went with a kind of Hand-Barrow, and lay’d the Dead Bodies on it, and carry’d them out to the Carts; which work he performed, and never had the Distemper at all, but liv’d above 20 Year after it, and was Sexton of the Parish to the Time of his Death. His Wife at the same time was a Nurse to infected People, and tended many that died in the Parish, being for her honesty recommended by the Parish Officers, yet she never was infected neither.

  He never used any Preservative against the Infection, other than holding Garlick and Rue * in his Mouth, and smoaking Tobacco;* this I also had from his own Mouth; and his Wife’s Remedy was washing her Head in Vinegar, and sprinkling her Head-Cloths so with Vinegar, as to keep them always Moist; and if the smell of any of those she waitd on was more than ordinary Offensive, she snuft Vinegar up her Nose, and sprinkled Vinegar upon her Head-Cloths, and held a Handkerchief wetted with Vinegar to her Mouth.

  It must be confest, that tho’ the Plague was chiefly among the Poor;* yet, were the Poor the most Venturous and Fearless of it, and went about their Employment, with a Sort of brutal Courage; I must call it so, for it was founded neither on Religion or Prudence; scarce did they use any Caution, but run into any Business, which they could get Employment in, tho’ it was the most hazardous; such was that of tending the Sick, watching Houses shut up, carrying infected Persons to the Pest-House; and which was still worse, carrying the Dead away to their Graves.

  It was under this John Hayward’s Care, and within his Bounds, that the Story of the Piper,* with which People have made themselves so merry, happen’d, and he assur’d me that it was true. It is said, that it was a blind Piper; but as John told me, the Fellow was not blind, but an ignorant weak poor Man, and usually walked his Rounds about 10 a-Clock at Night, and went piping along from Door to Door, and the People usually took him in at Public Houses where they knew him, and would give him Drink and Victuals, and sometimes Farthings; and he in Return, would Pipe and Sing, and talk simply, which diverted the People, and thus he liv’d: It was but a very bad Time for this Diversion, while Things were as I have told; yet the poor Fellow went about as usual, but was almost starv’d; and when any Body ask’d how he did, he would answer, the Dead Cart had not taken him yet, but that they had promised to call for him next Week.

  It happen’d one Night, that this poor Fellow, whether some body had given him too much Drink or no, John Hayward said, he had not Drink in his House; but that they had given him a little more Victuals than ordinary at a Public House in Coleman-street; and the poor Fellow having not usually had a Bellyfull, or perhaps not a good while, was laid all along upon the Top of a Bulk or Stall, and fast a sleep at a Door, in the Street near London-Wall, towards Cripplegate, and that upon the same Bulk or Stall, the People of some House, in the Alley of which the House was a Corner, hearing a Bell, which they always rung before the Cart came, had laid a Body really dead of the Plague just by him, thinking too, that this poor Fellow had been a dead Body as the other was, and laid there by some of the Neighbours.

  Accordingly when John Hayward with his Bell and the Cart came along, finding two dead Bodies lie upon the Stall they took them up with the Instrument they used, and threw them into the Cart; and all this while the Piper slept soundly.

  From hence they passed along, and took in other dead Bodies, till, as honest John Hayward told me, they almost burried him alive, in the Cart, yet all this While he slept soundly; at length the Cart came to the Place where the Bodies were to be thrown into the Ground, which, as I do remember, was at Mount-mill; and as the Cart usually stopt some Time before they were ready to shoot out the melancholly Load they had in it, as soon as the Cart stop’d, the Fellow awaked, and struggled a little to get his Head out from among the dead Bodies, when raising himself up in the Cart, he called out, Hey! where am I? This frighted the Fellow that attended about the Work, but after some Pause John Hayward recovering himself said, Lord bless us. There’s some Body in the Cart not quite dead! So another call’d to him and said, Who are you? the Fellow answered, I am the poor Piper. Where am I? Where are you! says Hayward; why, you are in the Dead-Cart, and we are a-going to bury you. But I an’t dead tho’, am I? says the Piper; which made them laugh a little, tho’ as John said, they were heartily frighted at first; so they help’d the poor Fellow down, and he went about his Business.

  I know the Story goes, he set up his Pipes in the Cart, and frighted the Bearers, and others, so that they ran away; but John Hayward did not tell the Story so, nor say any Thing of his Piping at all; but that he was a poor Piper, and that he was carried away as above I am fully satisfied of the Truth of.

  It is to be noted here, that the Dead Carts in the City were not confin’d to parti
cular Parishes, but one Cart went thro’ several Parishes, according as the Numbers of Dead presented; nor were they ty’d to carry the Dead to their respective Parishes, but many of the Dead, taken up in the City, were carried to the Burying Ground in the Out-parts, for want of Room.

  I have already mentioned the Surprize, that this Judgment was at first among the People. I must be allowed to give some of my Observations on the more serious and religious Part. Surely never City, at least, of this Bulk and Magnitude, was taken in a Condition so perfectly unprepar’d for such a dreadful Visitation, whether I am to speak of the Civil Preparations, or Religious; they were indeed, as if they had had no Warning, no Expectation, no Apprehensions, and consequently the least Provision imaginable, was made for it in a publick Way; for Example.

  The Lord Mayor and Sheriffs had made no Provision as Magistrates, for the Regulations which were to be observed; they had gone into no Measures for Relief of the Poor.

  The Citizens had no publick Magazines, or Store-Houses for Corn, or Meal, for the Subsistence of the Poor; which, if they had provided themselves, as in such Cases is done abroad, many miserable Families, who were now reduc’d to the utmost Distress, would have been reliev’d, and that in a better Manner, than now could be done.

  The Stock of the City’s Money, I can say but little to, the Chamber of London was said to be exceeding rich;*and it may be concluded, that they were so, by the vast Sums of Money issued from thence, in the re-building the publick Edifices after the Fire of London, and in Building new Works, such as, for the first Part, the Guild-Hall, Blackwell-Hall, Part of Leaden-Hall, Half the Exchange, the Session-House, the Compter; the Prisons of Ludgate, Newgate, & c. several of the Wharfs, and Stairs, and Landing-places on the River; all which were either burnt down or damaged by the great Fire of London, the next Year after the Plague; and of the second Sort, the Monument, Fleet-ditch with its Bridges, and the Hospital of Bethlem, or Bedlam, & c. But possibly the Managers of the City’s Credit, at that Time, made more Conscience of breaking in upon the Orphan’s Money* to shew Charity to the distress’d Citizens than the Managers in the following Years did, to beautify the City, and re-edify the Buildings, tho’ in the first Case, the Losers would have thought their Fortunes better bestow’d, and the Publick Faith of the City have been less subjected to Scandal and Reproach.

  It must be acknowledged that the absent Citizens, who, tho’ they were fled for Safety into the Country, were yet greatly interested in the Welfare of those who they left behind,* forgot not to contribute liberally to the Relief of the Poor, and large Sums were also collected among Trading-Towns in the remotest Parts of England; and as I have heard also, the Nobility and the Gentry, in all Parts of England, took the deplorable Condition of the City into their Consideration, and sent up large Sums of Money in Charity, to the Lord Mayor and Magistrates, for the Relief of the Poor; the King also, as I was told, ordered a thousand Pounds a Week to be distributed in four Parts; one Quarter to the City and Liberties of Westminster; one Quarter, or Part, among the Inhabitants of the Southwark Side of the Water; one Quarter to the Liberty and Parts within of the City, exclusive of the City within the Walls; and, one fourth Part to the Suburbs in the County of Middlesex, and the East and North Parts of the City; But this latter I only speak of as a Report.

  Certain it is, the greatest Part of the Poor, or Families, who formerly liv’d by their Labour, or by Retail-Trade, liv’d now on Charity; and had there not been prodigious Sums of Money given by charitable, well-minded Christians, for the Support of such, the City could never have subsisted. There were, no Question, Accounts kept of their Charity, and of the just Distribution of it by the Magistrates: But as such Multitudes of those very Officers died, thro’ whose Hands it was distributed; and also that, as I have been told, most of the Accounts of those Things were lost in the great Fire which happened in the very next Year, and which burnt even the Chamberlain’s Office, and many of their Papers; so I could never come at the particular Account, which I used great Endeavours to have seen.

  It may, however, be a Direction in Case of the Approach of a like Visitation, which God keep the City from; I say, it may be of use to observe that by the Care of the Lord Mayor and Aldermen, at that Time, in distributing Weekly, great Sums of Money, for Relief of the Poor, a Multitude of People, who would otherwise have perished, were relieved, and their Lives preservd. And here let me enter into a brief State of the Case of the Poor at that Time, and what was apprehended from them, from whence may be judg’d hereafter, what may be expected, if the like Distress should come upon the City.

  At the Beginning of the Plague, when there was now no more Hope, but that the whole City would be visited, when, as I have said, all that had Friends or Estates in the Country, retired with their Families, and when, indeed, one would have thought the very City it self was running out of the Gates, and that there would be no Body left behind, you may be sure, from that Hour, all Trade, except such as related to immediate Subsistence, was, as it were, at a full Stop.

  This is so lively a Case, and contains in it so much of the real Condition of the People; that I think, I cannot be too particular in it; and therefore I descend to the several Arrangements or Classes of People, who fell into immediate Distress upon this Occasion: For Example,

  1. All Master Work-men in Manufactures; especially such as belonged to Ornament, and the less necessary Parts of the People’s dress Cloths and Furniture for Houses; such as Riband Weavers, and other Weavers; Gold and Silverlace-makers, and Gold and Silverwyer-drawers, Sempstresses, Milleners, Shoe-makers, Hat-makers and Glove-makers: Also Up-holdsterers, Joyners, Cabinet-makers, Looking-glass-makers; and innumerable Trades which depend upon such as these; I say the Master Workmen in such, stopt their Work, dismist their Journeymen, and Workmen, and all their Dependants.

  2. As Merchandizing was at a full stop, for very few Ships ventur’d to come up the River, and none at all went out; so all the extraordinary Officers of the Customes, likewise the Watermen, Carmen, Porters, and all the Poor, whose Labour depended upon the Merchants, were at once dismist, and put out of Business.

  3. All the Tradesmen usually employ’d in building or repareing of Houses, were at a full Stop, for the People were far from wanting to build Houses, when so many thousand Houses were at once stript of their Inhabitants; so that this one Article turn’d all the ordinary Work-men of that Kind out of Business; such as Brick-layers, Masons, Carpenters, Joyners, Plasterers, Painters, Glaziers, Smiths, Plumbers; and all the Labourers depending on such.

  4. As Navigation was at a Stop; our Ships neither coming in, or going out as before; so the Seamen were all out of Employment, and many of them in the last and lowest Degree of Distress, and with the Seamen, were all the several Tradesmen, and Workmen belonging to and depending upon the building, and fitting out of Ships; such as Ship Carpenters, Caulkers, Rope-makers, Dry-Coopers, Sail-makers, Anchor-Smiths, and other Smiths; Block-makers, Carvers, Gun Smiths, Ship-Chandlers, Ship-Carvers and the like; The Masters of those perhaps might live upon their Substance; but the Traders were Universally at a Stop, and consequently all their Work-men discharged: Add to these, that the River was in a manner without Boats, and all or most part of the Watermen, Lightermen, Boat-builders, and Lighter-builders in like manner idle, and laid by.

  5. All Families retrench’d their living as much as possible, as well those that fled, as those that stay’d; so that an innumerable Multitude of Footmen, Serving Men, Shop-keepers, Journey-men, Merchants-Book-keepers, and such Sort of People, and especially poor Maid Servants were turn’d off, and left Friendless and Helpless without Employment, and without Habitation; and this was really a dismal Article.

  I might be more particular as to this Part: But it may suffice to mention in general; all Trades being stopt, Employment ceased; the Labour, and by that, the Bread of the Poor were cut off; and at first indeed, the Cries of the poor were most lamentable to hear; tho’ by the Distribution of Charity, their Misery that way was greatly abated: Many
indeed fled into the Countries; but thousands of them having stay’d in London, till nothing but Desperation sent them away; Death overtook them on the Road, and they serv’d for no better than the Messengers of Death, indeed, others carrying the Infection along with them; spreading it very unhappily into the remotest Parts of the Kingdom.

  Many of these were the miserable Objects of Despair which I have mention’d before, and were remov’d by the Destruction which followed; these might be said to perish, not by the Infection it self, but by the Consequence of it; indeed, namely, by Hunger and Distress, and the Want of all Things; being without Lodging, without Money, without Friends, without Means to get their Bread, or without any one to give it them, for many of them were without what we call legal Settlements,* and so could not claim of the Parishes, and all the Support they had, was by Application to the Magistrates for Relief, which Relief was, (to give the Magistrates their Due) carefully and chearfully administred, as they found it necessary; and those that stay’d behind never felt the Want and Distress of that Kind, which they felt, who went away in the manner above-noted.

  Let any one who is acquainted with what Multitudes of People get their daily Bread in this City by their Labour, whether Artificers or meer Workmen; I say, let any Man consider, what must be the miserable Condition of this Town, if on a sudden, they should be all turned out of Employment, that Labour should cease, and Wages for Work be no more.