A Journal of the Plague Year

by Daniel Defoe

  Here giving the Ferry-Man Money before-hand, they had a supply of Victuals and Drink, which he brought and left in the Boat for them, but not without, as I said, having receiv’d the Money before-hand. But now our Travellers were at a great Loss and Difficulty how to get the Horse over, the Boat being small and not fit for it, and at last cou’d not do it without unloading the Baggage, and making him swim over.

  From the River they travelled towards the Forest, but when they came to Walthamstow the People of that Town denied to admit them, as was the Case every where: The Constables and their Watchmen kept them off at a Distance, and Parly’d with them; they gave the same Account of themselves as before, but these gave no Credit to what they said, giving it for a Reason that two or three Companies had already come that Way and made the like Pretences, but that they had given several People the Distemper in the Towns where they had pass’d, and had been afterwards so hardly us’d by the Country, tho’ with Justice too, as they had deserv’d; that about Brent-Wood or that Way, several of them Perish’d in the Fields, whether of the Plague, or of mere Want and Distress, they could not tell.

  This was a good Reason indeed why the People of Walthamstow shou’d be very cautious, and why they shou’d resolve not to entertain any Body that they were not well satisfied of. But as Richard the Joyner, and one of the other Men who parly’d with them told them, it was no Reason why they should block up the Roads, and refuse to let People pass thro’ the Town, and who ask’d nothing of them, but to go through the Street: That if their People were afraid of them, they might go into their Houses and shut their Doors, they would neither show them Civility nor Incivility, but go on about their Business.

  The Constables and Attendants, not to be perswaded by Reason, continued Obstinate, and wou’d hearken to nothing; so the two Men that talk’d with them went back to their Fellows, to consult what was to be done: It was very discouraging in the whole, and they knew not what to do for a good while: But at last John the Soldier and Biscuit-Baker considering a-while, Come, says he, leave the rest of the Parly to me; he had not appeared yet, so he sets the Joyner Richard to Work to cut some Poles out of the Trees, and shape them as like Guns as he could, and in a little time he had five or six fair Muskets, which at a Distance would not be known; and about the Part where the Lock of a Gun is he caused them to wrap Cloths and Rags, such as they had, as Soldiers do in wet Weather, to preserve the Locks of their Pieces from Rust, the rest was discolour’d with Clay or Mud, such as they could get; and all this while the rest of them sat under the Trees by his Direction, in two or three Bodies, where they made Fires at a good Distance from one another.

  While this was doing, he advanc’d himself and two or three with him, and set up their Tent in the Lane within sight of the Barrier which the Town’s Men had made, and set a Centinel just by it with the real Gun, the only one they had, and who walked to and fro with the Gun on his Shoulder, so as that the People of the Town might see them; also he ty’d the Horse to a Gate in the Hedge just by, and got some dry Sticks together and kindled a Fire on the other side of the Tent, so that the People of the Town cou’d see the Fire and the Smoak, but cou’d not see what they were doing at it.

  After the Country People had look’d upon them very earnestly a great while, and by all that they could see, cou’d not but suppose that they were a great many in Company, they began to be uneasie, not for their going away, but for staying where they were; and above all perceiving they had Horses and Arms, for they had seen one Horse and one Gun at the Tent, and they had seen others of them walk about the Field on the inside of the Hedge, by the side of the Lane with their Muskets, as they took them to be, Shoulder’d: I say, upon such a Sight as this, you may be assured they were Alarm’d and terribly Frighted; and it seems they went to a Justice of the Peace to know what they should do; what the Justice advis’d them to I know not, but towards Evening they call’d from the Barrier, as above, to the Centinel at the Tent.

  What do ye want? says John1

  Why, what do ye intend to do? says the Constable.

  To do, says John, What wou’d you have us to do?

  Const. Why don’t you be gone? what do you stay there for?

  John. Why do you stop us on the King’s Highway,* and pretend to refuse us Leave to go on our Way?

  Const. We are not bound to tell you our Reason, though we did let you know, it was because of the Plague.

  John. We told you we were all sound, and free from the Plague, which we were not bound to have satisfied you of, and yet you pretend to stop us on the Highway.

  Const. We have a Right to stop it up, and our own Safety obliges us to it; besides this is not the King’s Highway, ’tis a Way upon Sufferance; you see here is a Gate, and if we do let People pass here, we make them pay Toll.

  John. We have a Right to seek our own Safety as well as you, and you may see we are flying for our Lives, and ’tis very unchristian and unjust to stop us.

  Const. You may go back from whence you came; we do not hinder you from that.

  John. No, it is a stronger Enemy than you that keeps us from doing that; or else we should not ha’ come hither.

  Const. Well, you may go any other way then.

  John. No, no: I suppose you see we are able to send you going, and all the People of your Parish, and come thro’ your Town, when we will; but since you have stopt us here, we are content; you see, we have encamp’d here, and here we will live: we hope you will furnish us with Victuals.

  Const. We furnish you! What mean you by that?

  John. Why you would not have us Starve, would you? If you stop us here, you must keep us.

  Const. You will be ill kept at our Maintenance.

  John. If you stint us, we shall make ourselves the better Allowance.

  Const. Why you will not pretend to quarter upon us by Force, will you?

  John. We have offer’d no Violence to you yet, why do you seem to oblige us to it? I am an old Soldier, and cannot starve, and if you think that we shall be obliged to go back for want of Provisions, you are mistaken.

  Const. Since you threaten us, we shall take Care to be strong enough for you: I have Orders to raise the County upon you.

  John. It is you that threaten, not we: And since you are for Mischief, you cannot blame us, if we do not give you time for it; we shall begin our March in a few Minutes.1

  Const. What is it you demand of us?

  John. At first we desir’d nothing of you, but Leave to go thro’ the Town; we should have offer’d no Injury to any of you, neither would you have had any Injury or Loss by us. We are not Thieves, but poor People in distress, and flying from the dreadful Plague in London, which devours thousands every Week: We wonder how you could be so unmerciful!

  Const. Self-preservation obliges us.

  John. What! to shut up your Compassion in a Case of such Distress as this?

  Const. Well, if you will pass over the Fields on your Left-hand, and behind that part of the Town, I will endeavour to have Gates open’d for you.

  John. Our Horsemen cannot2 pass with our Baggage that Way; it does not lead into the Road that we want to go; and why should you force us out of the Road? besides, you have kept us here all Day without any Provisions, but such as we brought with us; I think you ought to send us some Provisions for our Relief.

  Const. If you will go another Way, we will send you some Provisions.

  John. That is the way to have all the Towns in the County stop up the Ways against us.

  Const. If they all furnish you with Food, what will you be the worse, I see you have Tents, you want no Lodging.

  John. Well, what quantity of Provisions will you send us?

  Const. How many are you?

  John. Nay, we do not ask enough for all our Company, we are in three Companies; if you will send us Bread for twenty Men, and about six or seven Women for three Days, and shew us the Way over the Field you speak of, we desire not to put your People into any fear for us, we will go out of our Way to oblige you, th
o’ we are as free from Infection as you are.

  Const. And will you assure us that your other People shall offer us no new Disturbance.

  John. No, no, you may depend on it.

  Const. You must oblige your self too that none of your People shall come a step nearer than where the Provisions we send you shall be set down.

  John. I answer for it we will not.1

  Accordingly they sent to the Place twenty Loaves of Bread, and three or four large pieces of good Beef, and opened some Gates thro’ which they pass’d, but none of them had Courage so much as to look out to see them go, and, as it was Evening, if they had looked they cou’d not have seen them so as to know how few they were.

  This was John the Soldier’s Management. But this gave such an Alarm to the County, that had they really been two or three Hundred, the whole County would have been rais’d upon them, and they wou’d ha’ been sent to Prison, or perhaps knock’d on the Head.

  They were soon made sensible of this, for two Days afterwards they found several Parties of Horsemen and Footmen also about, in pursuit of three Companies of Men arm’d, as they said, with Muskets, who were broke out from London, and had the Plague upon them; and that were not only spreading the Distemper among the People, but plundering the Country.

  As they saw now the Consequence of their Case, they soon saw the Danger they were in, so they resolv’d by the Advice also of the old Soldier, to divide themselves again. John and his two Comrades with the Horse, went away as if towards Waltham; the other in two Companies, but all a little asunder, and went towards Epping.

  The first Night they Encamp’d all in the Forest, and not far off of one another, but not setting up the Tent, lest that should discover them: On the other hand Richard went to work with his Axe and his Hatchet, and cutting down Branches of Trees, he built three Tents or Hovels, in which they all Encamp’d with as much Convenience as they could expect.

  The Provisions they had had at Walthamstow serv’d them very plentifully this Night, and as for the next they left it to Providence; they had far’d so well with the old Soldier’s Conduct, that they now willingly made him their Leader; and the first of his Conduct appear’d to be very good: He told them that they were now at a proper Distance enough from London; that as they need not be immediately beholden to the County for Relief, so they ought to be as careful the Country did not infect them, as that they did not infect the Country; that what little Money they had they must be as frugal of as they could; that as he would not have them think of offering the Country any Violence, so they must endeavour to make the Sense of their Condition go as far with the Country as it could: They all referr’d themselves to his Direction; so they left their 3 Houses standing, and the next Day went away towards Epping; the Captain also, for so they now called him, and his two Fellow Travellers laid aside their Design of going to Waltham, and all went together.

  When they came near Epping they halted, choosing out a proper Place in the open Forest, not very near the High-way, but not far out of it on the North-side, under a little cluster of low Pollard-Trees: Here they pitched their little Camp, which consisted of three large Tents or Hutts made of Poles, which their Carpenter, and such as were his Assistants, cut down and fix’d in the Ground in a Circle, binding all the small Ends together at the Top, and thickning the sides with Boughs of Trees and Bushes, so that they were compleatly close and warm. They had besides this, a little Tent where the Women lay by themselves, and a Hutt to put the Horse in.

  It happened that the next day, or next but one was Market-day at Epping; when Capt. John, and one of the other Men, went to Market, and bought some Provisions, that is to say Bread, and some Mutton and Beef; and two of the Women went separately, as if they had not belonged to the rest, and bought more. John took the Horse to bring it Home, and the Sack (which the Carpenter carry’d his Tools in) to put it in: The Carpenter went to Work and made them Benches and Stools to sit on, such as the Wood he cou’d get wou’d afford, and a kind of a Table to dine on.

  They were taken no Notice of for two or three Days, but after that, abundance of People ran out of the Town to look at them, and all the Country was alarmed about them. The People at first seem’d afraid to come near them, and on the other Hand they desir’d the People to keep off, for there was a Rumour that the Plague was at Waltham, and that it had been in Epping two or three Days. So John called out to them not to come to them, For, says he, we are all whole and sound People here, and we would not have you bring the Plague among us, nor pretend we brought it among you.

  After this the Parish Officers came up to them and parly’d with them at a Distance, and desir’d to know who they were, and by what Authority they pretended to fix their Stand at that Place? John answered very frankly, they were poor distressed People from London, who foreseeing the Misery they should be reduc’d to, if the Plague spread into the City, had fled out in time for their Lives, and having no Acquaintance or Relations to fly to, had first taken up at Islington, but the Plague being come into that Town, were fled further, and as they suppos’d that the People of Epping might have refus’d them coming into their Town, they had pitch’d their Tents thus in the open Field, and in the Forest, being willing to bear all the Hardships of such a disconsolate Lodging, rather than have any one think or be afraid that they should receive Injury by them.

  At first the Epping People talk’d roughly to them, and told them they must remove; that this was no Place for them; and that they pretended to be Sound and Well, but that they might be infected with the Plague for ought they knew, and might infect the whole Country, and they cou’d not suffer them there.

  John argu’d very calmly with them a great while, and told them, ‘That London was the Place by which they, that is, the Townsmen of Epping and all the Country round them, subsisted; to whom they sold the produce of their Lands, and out of whom they made the Rent of their Farms; and to be so cruel to the Inhabitants of London, or to any of those by whom they gain’d so much was very hard, and they would be loth to have it remembered hereafter, and have it told how barbarous, how unhospitable and how unkind they were to the People of London, when they fled from the Face of the most terrible Enemy in the World; that it would be enough to make the Name of an Epping-Man hateful thro’ all the City, and to have the Rabble Stone them in the very Streets, whenever they came so much as to Market; that they were not yet secure from being Visited themselves, and that as he heard, Waltham was already; that they would think it very hard that when any of them fled for Fear before they were touch’d, they should be deny’d the Liberty of lying so much as in the open Fields.’

  The Epping Men told them again, That they, indeed, said they were sound and free from the Infection, but that they had no assurance of it; and that it was reported, that there had been a great Rabble of People at Walthamstow, who made such Pretences of being sound, as they did, but that they threaten’d to plunder the Town, and force their Way whether the Parish Officers would or no; That they were near 200 of them, and had Arms and Tents like Low-Country Soldiers; that they extorted Provisions from the Town by threatning them with living upon them at free Quarter, shewing their Arms, and talking in the Language of Soldiers; and that several of them being gone away towards Rumford and Brent-Wood, the Country had been infected by them, and the Plague spread into both those large Towns, so that the People durst not go to Market there as usual; that it was very likely they were some of that Party, and if so, they deserv’d to be sent to the County Jail, and be secur’d till they had made Satisfaction for the Damage they had done, and for the Terror and Fright they had put the Country into.

  John answered, That what other People had done was nothing to them; that he assured them they were all of one Company; that they had never been more in Number than they saw them at that time; (which by the way was very true) that they came out in two separate Companies, but joyn’d by the Way, their Cases being the same; that they were ready to give what Account of themselves any Body cou’d desire of them, and to give
in their Names and Places of Abode, that so they might be call’d to an Account for any Disorder that they might be guilty of; that the Townsmen might see they were content to live hardly, and only desir’d a little Room to breathe in on the Forest where it was wholsome, for where it was not they cou’d not stay, and wou’d decamp if they found it otherwise there.

  But, said the Townsmen, we have a great charge of Poor upon our Hands already, and we must take care not to encrease it; we suppose you can give us no Security against your being chargeable to our Parish and to the Inhabitants, any more than you can of being dangerous to us as to the Infection.

  ‘Why look you, says John, as to being chargeable to you, we hope we shall not; if you will relieve us with Provisions for our present Necessity, we will be very thankful; as we all liv’d without Charity when we were at Home, so we will oblige ourselves fully to repay you, if God please to bring us back to our own Families and Houses in Safety, and to restore Health to the People of London.

  ‘As to our dying here, we assure you, if any of us die, we that survive, will bury them, and put you to no Expence, except it should be that we should all die, and then indeed the last Man not being able to bury himself, would put you to that single Expence, which I am perswaded, says John, he would leave enough behind him to pay you for the Expence of.

  ‘On the other Hand, says John, if you will shut up all Bowels of Compassion and not relieve us at all, we shall not extort any thing by Violence, or steal from any one; but when what little we have is spent, if we perish for want, God’s Will be done.’

  John wrought so upon the Townsmen by talking thus rationally and smoothly to them, that they went away; and tho’ they did not give any consent to their staying there, yet they did not molest them; and the poor People continued there three or four Days longer without any Disturbance. In this time they had got some remote Acquaintance with a Victualling-House at the out-skirts of the Town, to whom they called at a Distance to bring some little Things that they wanted, and which they caus’d to be set down at a Distance, and always paid for very honestly.