A Journal of the Plague Year

by Daniel Defoe

  I wish I cou’d say, that as the City had a new Face, so the Manners of the People had a new Appearance: I doubt not but there were many that retain’d a sincere Sense of their Deliverance, and that were heartily thankful to that sovereign Hand, that had protected them in so dangerous a Time; it would be very uncharitable to judge otherwise in a City so populous, and where the People were so devout, as they were here in the Time of the Visitation it self; but except what of this was to be found in particular Families, and Faces, it must be acknowledg’d that the general Practice of the People was just as it was before, and very little Difference was to be seen.

  Some indeed said Things were worse, that the Morals of the People declin’d from this very time; that the People harden’d by the Danger they had been in, like Sea-men after a Storm is over, were more wicked and more stupid, more bold and hardened in their Vices and Immoralities than they were before; but I will not carry it so far neither: It would take up a History of no small Length, to give a Particular of all the Gradations, by which the Course of Things in this City came to be restor’d again, and to run in their own Channel as they did before.

  Some Parts of England were now infected as violently as London had been; the Cities of Norwich, Peterborough, Lincoln, Colchester,* and other Places were now visited; and the Magistrates of London began to set Rules for our Conduct, as to corresponding with those Cities: It is true, we could not pretend to forbid their People coming to London, because it was impossible to know them assunder, so after many Consultations, the Lord Mayor, and Court of Aldermen were oblig’d to drop it: All they cou’d do, was to warn and caution the People, not to entertain in their Houses, or converse with any People who they knew came from such infected Places.

  But they might as well have talk’d to the Air, for the People of London thought themselves so Plague-free now, that they were past all Admonitions; they seem’d to depend upon it, that the Air was restor’d, and that the Air was like a Man that had had the Small Pox, not capable of being infected again; this reviv’d that Notion, that the Infection was all in the Air, that there was no such thing as Contagion from the sick People to the Sound; and so strongly did this Whimsy prevail among People, that they run all together promiscuously, sick and well; not the Mahometans, who, prepossess’d with the Principle of Predestination value nothing of Contagion, let it be in what it will, could be more obstinate than the People of London; they that were perfectly sound, and came out of the wholesome Air, as we call it, into the City, made nothing of going into the same Houses and Chambers nay even into the same Beds, with those that had the Distemper upon them, and were not recovered.

  Some indeed paid for their audacious Boldness with the Price of their Lives; an infinite Number fell sick, and the Physicians had more Work than ever, only with this Difference, that more of their Patients recovered; that is to say, they generally recovered, but certainly there were more People infected, and fell sick now, when there did not die above a Thousand, or Twelve Hundred in a Week, than there was when there died Five or Six Thousand a Week; so entirely negligent were the People at that Time, in the great and dangerous Case of Health and Infection; and so ill were they able to take or accept of the Advice of those who cautioned them for their Good.

  The People being thus return’d, as it were in general, it was very strange to find, that in their inquiring after their Friends, some whole Families were so entirely swept away, that there was no Remembrance of them left; neither was any Body to be found to possess or shew any Title to that little they had left; for in such Cases, what was to be found was generally embezzled, and purloyn’d, some gone one way, some another.

  It was said such abandon’d Effects came to the King as the universal Heir, upon which we were told, and I suppose it was in part true, that the King granted all such as Deodands* to the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen of London, to be applied to the use of the Poor, of whom there were very many: For it is to be observ’d, that tho’ the Occasions of Relief, and the Objects of Distress were very many more in the Time of the Violence of the Plague, than now after all was over; yet the Distress of the Poor was more now, a great deal than it was then, because all the Sluces of general Charity were now shut; People suppos’d the main Occasion to be over, and so stop’d their Hands; whereas particular Objects were still very moving, and the Distress of those that were Poor, was very great indeed.

  Tho’ the Health of the City was now very much restor’d, yet Foreign Trade did not begin to stir, neither would Foreigners admit our Ships into their Ports for a great while; as for the Dutch, the Misunderstandings between our Court and them had broken out into a War the Year before; so that our Trade that way was wholly interrupted; but Spain and Portugal, Italy and Barbary, as also Hamburgh, and all the Ports in the Baltick, these were all shy of us a great while, and would not restore Trade with us for many Months.

  The Distemper sweeping away such Multitudes, as I have observ’d, many, if not all the out Parishes were oblig’d to make new burying Grounds, besides that I have mention’d in Bunhil-Fields, some of which were continued, and remain in Use to this Day; but others were left off, and which, I confess, I mention with some Reflection, being converted into other Uses, or built upon afterwards, the dead Bodies were disturb’d, abus’d, dug up again, some even before the Flesh of them was perished from the Bones, and remov’d like Dung or Rubbish to other Places; some of those which came within the Reach of my Observation, are as follow.

  1. A piece of Ground beyond Goswel Street, near Mount-Mill, being some of the Remains of the old Lines or Fortifications of the City, where Abundance were buried promiscuously from the Parishes of Aldersgate, Clerkenwell, and even out of the City. This Ground, as I take it, was since made a Physick Garden,* and after that has been built upon.

  2. A piece of Ground just over the Black Ditch, as it was then call’d, at the end of Holloway Lane, in Shoreditch Parish; it has been since made a Yard for keeping Hogs, and for other ordinary Uses, but is quite out of Use as a burying Ground.

  3. The upper End of Hand-Alley in Bishopsgate Street, which was then a green Field, and was taken in particularly for Bishopsgate Parish, tho’ many of the Carts out of the City brought their dead thither also, particularly out of the Parish of St. All-hallows on the Wall; this Place I cannot mention without much Regret, it was, as I remember, about two or three Years after the Plague was ceas’d that Sir Robert Clayton* came to be possest of the Ground; it was reported, how true I know not, that it fell to the King for want of Heirs, all those who had any Right to it being carried off by the Pestilence, and that Sir Robert Clayton obtain’d a Grant of it from King Charles II. But however he came by it, certain it is, the Ground was let out to build on, or built upon by his Order: The first House built upon it was a large fair House still standing, which faces the Street, or Way, now call’d Hand-Alley, which, tho’ call’d an Alley, is as wide as a Street: The Houses in the same Row with that House Northward, are built on the very same Ground where the poor People were buried, and the Bodies on opening the Ground for the Foundations, were dug up, some of them remaining so plain to be seen, that the Womens Sculls were distinguish’d by their long Hair, and of others, the Flesh was not quite perished; so that the People began to exclaim loudly against it, and some suggested that it might endanger a Return of the Contagion: After which the Bones and Bodies, as fast as they came at them, were carried to another part of the same Ground, and thrown all together into a deep Pit, dug on purpose, which now is to be known, in that it is not built on, but is a Passage to another House, at the upper end of Rose Alley, just against the Door of a Meeting-house, which has been built there many Years since; and the Ground is palisadoed off from the rest of the Passage, in a little square, there lye the Bones and Remains of near Two thousand Bodies, carried by the Dead-Carts to their Grave in that one Year.

  4. Besides this, there was a piece of Ground in Moorfields, by the going into the Street which is now call’d Old Bethlem, which was enlarg’d much, tho’ not wh
olly taken in on the same occasion.

  N.B. The Author of this Journal, lyes buried in that very Ground, being at his own Desire, his Sister having been buried there a few Years before.

  5. Stepney Parish, extending it self from the East part of London to the North, even to the very Edge of Shoreditch Church-yard, had a piece of Ground taken in to bury their Dead, close to the said Churchyard; and which for that very Reason was left open, and is since, I suppose, taken into the same Church-yard; and they had also two other burying Places in Spittlefields, one where since a Chapel or Tabernacle has been 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 of Stepney at that time; one where now stands the Parish Church of St. Paul’s Shadwel, 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 cou’d name many more, but these coming within my particular Knowledge, the Circumstance I thought made it of Use to record them; from the whole, it may be observ’d, that they were oblig’d in this Time of Distress, to take in new burying Grounds in most of the out Parishes, for laying the prodigious Numbers of People which died in so short a Space of Time; but why Care was not taken to keep those Places separate from ordinary Uses, that so the Bodies might rest undisturb’d, that I cannot answer for, and must confess, I think it was wrong; who were to blame, I know not.

  I should have mention’d, that the Quakers had at that time also a burying Ground,* set a-part to their Use, and which they still make use of, and they had also a particular dead Cart to fetch their Dead from their Houses; and the famous Solomon Eagle, who, as I mentioned before, had predicted the Plague as a Judgment, and run naked thro’ the Streets, telling the People, that it was come upon them, to punish them for their Sins, had his own Wife died the very next Day of the Plague, and was carried one of the first in the Quakers dead Cart, to their new burying Ground.

  I might have throng’d this Account with many more remarkable Things, which occur’d in the Time of the Infection, and particularly what pass’d between the Lord Mayor and the Court, which was then at Oxford, and what Directions were from time to time receiv’d from the Government for their Conduct on this critical Occasion. But really the Court concern’d themselves so little, and that little they did was of so small Import, that I do not see it of much Moment to mention any Part of it here, except that of appointing a Monthly Fast in the City, and the sending the Royal Charity to the Relief of the Poor, both which I have mention’d before.

  Great was the Reproach thrown on those Physicians* who left their Patients during the Sickness, and now they came to Town again, no Body car’d to employ them; they were call’d Deserters, and frequently Bills were set up upon their Doors, and written, Here is a Doctor to be let! So that several of those Physicians were fain for a while to sit still and look about them, or at least remove their Dwellings, and set up in new Places, and among new Acquaintance; the like was the Case with the Clergy, who the People were indeed very abusive to, writing Verses and scandalous Reflections upon them, setting upon the Church Door, here is a Pulpit to be let, or sometimes to be sold, which was worse.

  It was not the least of our Misfortunes, that with our Infection, when it ceased, there did not cease the Spirit of Strife and Contention, Slander and Reproach, which was really the great Troubler of the Nation’s Peace before: It was said to be the Remains of the old Animosities, which had so lately involv’d us all in Blood and Disorder. But as the late Act of Indemnity* had laid asleep the Quarrel it self, so the Government had recommended Family and Personal Peace upon all Occasions, to the whole Nation.

  But it cou’d not be obtain’d, and particularly after the ceasing of the Plague in London, when any one that had seen the Condition which the People had been in, and how they caress’d one another at that time, promis’d to have more Charity for the future, and to raise no more Reproaches: I say, any one that had seen them then, would have thought they would have come together with another Spirit at last. But, I say, it cou’d not be obtain’d; the Quarrel remain’d, the Church and the Presbyterians were incompatible; as soon as the Plague was remov’d, the dissenting outed Ministers who had supplied the Pulpits, which were deserted by the Incumbents, retir’d, they cou’d expect no other; but that they should immediately fall upon them, and harrass them, with their penal Laws,* accept their preaching while they were sick, and persecute them as soon as they were recover’d again, this even we that were of the Church thought was very hard, and cou’d by no means approve of it.

  But it was the Government, and we cou’d say nothing to hinder it; we cou’d only say, it was not our doing, and we could not answer for it.

  On the other Hand, the Dissenters reproaching those Ministers of the Church with going away, and deserting their Charge, abandoning the People in their Danger, and when they had most need of Comfort and the like, this we cou’d by no means approve; for all Men have not the same Faith, and the same Courage, and the Scripture commands us to judge the most favourably, and according to Charity.

  A Plague is a formidable Enemy, and is arm’d with Terrors that every Man is not sufficiently fortified to resist, or prepar’d to stand the Shock against: It is very certain, that a great many of the Clergy, who were in Circumstances to do it, withdrew, and fled for the Safety of their Lives; but ’tis true also, that a great many of them staid, and many of them fell in the Calamity, and in the Discharge of their Duty.

  It is true, some of the Dissenting turn’d out Ministers staid, and their Courage is to be commended, and highly valued, but these were not abundant; it cannot be said that they all staid, and that none retir’d into the Country, any more than it can be said of the Church Clergy, that they all went away; neither did all those that went away, go without substituting Curates, and others in their Places, to do the Offices needful, 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 both Sides, and we should have consider’d, that such a time as this of 1665, is not to be paralleled in History, and that it is not the stoutest Courage that will always support Men in such Cases; I had not said this, but had rather chosen to record the Courage and religious Zeal of those of both Sides, who did hazard themselves for the Service of the poor People in their Distress, without remembring that any fail’d in their Duty on either side. But the want of Temper among us, has made the contrary to this necessary; some that staid, not only boasting too much of themselves, but reviling those that fled, branding them with Cowardice, deserting their Flocks, and acting the Part of the Hireling, and the like: I recommend it to the Charity of all good People to look back, and reflect duly upon the Terrors of the Time; and whoever does so will see, that it is not an ordinary Strength that cou’d support it; it was not like appearing in the Head of an Army, or charging a Body of Horse in the Field; but it was charging Death it self on his pale Horse;* to stay was indeed to die, and it could be esteemed nothing less, especially as things appear’d at the latter End of August, and the Beginning of September, and as there was reason to expect them at that time; for no Man expected, and I dare say, believed, that the Distemper would take so sudden a Turn as it did, and fall immediately 2000 in a Week, when there was such a prodigious Number of People sick at that Time, as it was known there was; and then it was that many shifted away, that had stay’d most of the time before.

  Besides, if God gave Strength to some more than to others, was it to boast of their Ability to abide the Stroak, and upbraid those that had not the same Gift and Support, or ought not they rather to have been humble and thankful, if they were render’d more useful than their Brethren?

  I think it ought to be recorded to the Honour of such Men, as well Clergy as Physicians, Surgeons, Apothecaries, Magistrates and Officers of every kind, as also all useful People, who ventur’d their Lives in Discharge of their Duty, as most certainly all such
as stay’d did to the last Degree, and several of all these Kinds did not only venture but lose their Lives on that sad Occasion.

  I was once making a List of all such, I mean of all those Professions and 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 the Particulars; I only remember, that there died sixteen Clergy-men, two Aldermen, five Physicians, thirteen Surgeons, within the City and Liberties before the beginning of September: But this being, as I said before, the great Crisis and Extremity of the Infection, it can be no compleat List: As to inferior People, I think there died six and forty Constables and Headboroughs* in the two Parishes of Stepney and White-Chapel; but I could not carry my List on, for when the violent Rage of the Distemper in September came upon us, it drove us out of all Measures: Men did then no more die by Tale and by Number,* they might put out a Weekly Bill, and call them seven or eight Thousand, or what they pleas’d; ’tis certain they died by Heaps, and were buried by Heaps, that is to say without Account; and if I might believe some People, who were more abroad and more conversant with those things than I, tho’ I was public enough for one that had no more Business to do than I had, I say, if I may believe them, there was not many less buried those first three Weeks in September than 20000 per Week; however the others aver the Truth of it, yet I rather chuse to keep to the public Account; seven and eight thousand per Week* is enough to make good all that I have said of the Terror of those Times; and it is much to the Satisfaction of me that write, as well as those that read, to be able to say, that every thing is set down with Moderation, and rather within Compass than beyond it.

  Upon all these Accounts I say I could wish, when we were recover’d, our Conduct had been more distinguish’d for Charity and Kindness in Remembrance of the past Calamity, and not so much a valuing our selves upon our Boldness in staying, as if all Men were Cowards that fly from the Hand of God, or that those who stay, do not sometimes owe their Courage to their Ignorance, and despising the Hand of their Maker, which is a criminal kind of Desperation, and not a true Courage.