A Journal of the Plague Year

by Daniel Defoe

  I cannot but leave it upon Record, that the Civil Officers, such as Constables, Headboroughs, Lord Mayor’s, and Sheriff’s-men, as also Parish-Officers, whose Business it was to take Charge of the Poor, did their Duties in general with as much Courage as any, and perhaps with more, because their Work was attended with more Hazards, and lay more among the Poor, who were more subject to be infected and in the most pitiful Plight when they were taken with the Infection: But then it must be added too, that a great Number of them died, indeed it was scarce possible it should be otherwise.

  I have not said one Word here about the Physick or Preparations that we ordinarily made use of on this terrible Occasion, I mean we that went frequently abroad up and down Street, as I did; much of this was talk’d of in the Books and Bills of our Quack Doctors, of whom I have said enough already. It may however be added, that the College of Physicians were daily publishing several Preparations, which they had consider’d of in the Process of their Practice, and which being to be had in Print, I avoid repeating them for that reason.

  One thing I could not help observing, what befell one of the Quacks, who publish’d that he had a most excellent Preservative against the Plague, which whoever kept about them, should never be infected, or liable to Infection; this Man, who we may reasonably suppose, did not go abroad without some of this excellent Preservative in his Pocket, yet was taken by the Distemper, and carry’d off in two or three Days.

  I am not of the Number of the Physic-Haters, or Physic-Despisers; on the contrary, I have often mentioned the regard I had to the Dictates of my particular Friend Dr. Heath; but yet I must acknowledge, I made use of little or nothing, except as I have observ’d, to keep a Preparation of strong Scent* to have ready, in case I met with any thing of offensive Smells, or went too near any burying place, or dead Body.

  Neither did I do, what I know some did, keep the Spirits always high and hot with Cordials, and Wine,* and such things, and which, as I observ’d, one learned Physician used himself so much to, as that he could not leave them off when the Infection was quite gone, and so became a Sot for all his Life after.

  I remember, my Friend the Doctor us’d to say, that there was a certain Set of Drugs and Preparations, which were all certainly good and useful in the case of an Infection; out of which, or with which, Physicians might make an infinite Variety of Medicines, as the Ringers of Bells make several Hundred different Rounds of Musick by the changing and Order of Sound but in six Bells; and that all these Preparations shall be really very good; therefore, said he, I do not wonder that so vast a Throng of Medicines is offer’d in the present Calamity; and almost every Physician prescribes or prepares a different thing, as his Judgment or Experience guides him: but, says my Friend, let all the Prescriptions of all the Physicians in London be examined; and it will be found, that they are all compounded of the same things, with such Variations only, as the particular Fancy of the Doctor leads him to; so that, says he, every Man judging a little of his own Constitution and manner of his living, and Circumstances of his being infected, may direct his own Medicines out of the ordinary Drugs and Preparations: Only that, says he, some recommended one thing as most sovereign, and some another; some, says he, think that Pill. Ruff.* which is call’d itself the Antipestilential Pill, is the best Preparation that can be made; others think that Venice Treacle* is sufficient of it self to resist the Contagion, and I, says he, think as both these think, viz. that the last is good to take beforehand to prevent it, and the last, if touch’d, to expel it. According to this Opinion, I several times took Venice Treacle and a sound Sweat upon it, and thought my self as well fortified against the Infection as any one could be fortifyed by the Power of Physic.

  As for Quackery and Mountebank, of which the Town was so full, I listened to none of them, and have observ’d often since with some Wonder, that for two Years after the Plague, I scarcely saw or heard of one of them about Town. Some fancied they were all swept away in the Infection to a Man, and were for calling it a particular Mark of God’s Vengeance upon them, for leading the poor People into the Pit of Destruction, merely for the Lucre of a little Money they got by them; but I cannot go that Length neither; that Abundance of them died is certain, many of them came within the Reach of my own Knowledge; but that all of them were swept off I much question; I believe rather, they fled into the Country, and tryed their Practices upon the People there, who were in Apprehension of the Infection, before it came among them.

  This however is certain, not a Man of them appear’d for a great while in or about London; there were indeed several Doctors, who published Bills, recommending their several physical Preparations for cleansing the Body, as they call it, after the Plague, and needful, as they said, for such People to take, who had been visited and had been cur’d; whereas I must own, I believe that it was the Opinion of the most eminent Physicians at that time, that the Plague was itself a sufficient Purge; and that those who escaped the Infection needed no Physic to cleanse their Bodies of any other things; the running Sores, the Tumors, &c. which were broke and kept open by the Directions of the Physicians, having sufficiently cleansed them; and that all other Distempers and Causes of Distempers were effectually carried off that Way; and as the Physicians gave this as their Opinions, wherever they came, the Quacks got little Business.

  There were indeed several little Hurries, which happen’d after the Decrease of the Plague, and which whether they were contriv’d to fright and disorder the People, as some imagin’d, I cannot say, but sometimes we were told the Plague would return by such a Time; and the famous Solomon Eagle* the naked Quaker, I have mention’d, prophesy’d evil Tidings every Day; and several others telling us that London had not been sufficiently scourg’d, and the sorer and severer Strokes were yet behind; had they stop’d there, or had they descended to Particulars, and told us that the City should the next Year be destroyed by Fire; then indeed, when we had seen it come to pass, we should not have been to blame to have paid more than a common Respect to their Prophetick Spirits, at least we should have wonder’d at them, and have been more serious in our Enquiries after the meaning of it, and whence they had the Fore-knowledge: But as they generally told us of a Relapse into the Plague, we have had no Concern since that about them; yet by these frequent Clamours, we were all kept with some kind of Apprehensions constantly upon us, and if any died suddenly, or if the spotted Fevers at any time increased, we were presently alarm’d; much more if the Number of the Plague encreased, for to the End of the Year, there were always between 2 and 300 of the Plague; on any of these Occasions, I say, we were alarm’d anew.

  Those who remember the City of London before the Fire, must remember that there was then no such Place as that we now call Newgate-Market. But that in the Middle of the Street, which is now call’d Blow-bladder Street, and which had its Name from the Butchers, who us’d to kill and dress their Sheep there; (and who it seems had a Custom to blow up their Meat with Pipes to make it look thicker and fatter than it was, and were punish’d there for it by the Lord Mayor) I say, from the End of the Street towards Newgate, there stood two long Rows of Shambles for the selling Meat.

  It was in those Shambles, that two Persons falling down dead, as they were buying Meat, gave Rise to a Rumor that the Meat was all infected, which tho’ it might affright the People, and spoil’d the Market for two or three Days; yet it appear’d plainly afterwards, that there was nothing of Truth in the Suggestion: But no Body can account for the Possession of Fear when it takes hold of the Mind.

  However it pleas’d God by the continuing of the Winter Weather to restore the Health of the City, that by February following, we reckon’d the Distemper quite ceas’d,* and then we were not so easily frighted again.

  There was still a Question among the Learned, and at first it perplex’d the People a little, and that was, in what manner to purge the Houses and Goods, where the Plague had been; and how to render them habitable again, which had been left empty during the time of the Plague; Abundance of Per
fumes and Preparations were prescrib’d by Physicians, some of one kind and some of another, in which the People, who listened to them, put themselves to a great, and indeed in my Opinion, to an unnecessary Expence; and the poorer People, who only set open their Windows Night and Day, burnt Brimstone, Pitch, and Gun-powder* and such things in their Rooms, did as well as the best; nay, the eager People, who as I said above, came Home in haste and at all Hazards, found little or no Inconvenience in their Houses nor in the Goods, and did little or nothing to them.

  However, in general, prudent cautious People did enter into some Measures for airing and sweetning their Houses,* and burnt Perfumes, Incense, Benjamin, Rozin, and Sulphur in the Rooms close shut up, and then let the Air carry it all out with a Blast of Gun-powder; others caused large Fires to be made all Day and all Night, for several Days and Nights; by the same Token, that two or three were pleas’d to set their Houses on Fire, and so effectually sweetned them by burning them down to the Ground; as particularly one at Ratcliff, one in Holbourn, and one at Westminster; besides two or three that were set on Fire, but the Fire was happily got out again, before it went far enough to burn down the Houses; and one Citizen’s Servant, I think it was in Thames Street, carryed so much Gun-powder into his Master’s House for clearing it of the Infection, and managed it so foolishly, that he blew up part of the Roof of the House. But the Time was not fully come, that the City was to be purg’d by Fire, nor was it far off; for within Nine Months more I saw it all lying in Ashes; when, as some of our Quacking Philosophers pretend, the Seeds of the Plague were entirely destroy’d* and not before; a Notion too ridiculous to speak of here, since, had the Seeds of the Plague remain’d in the Houses, not to be destroyed but by Fire, how has it been, that they have not since broken out? Seeing all those Buildings in the Suburbs and Liberties, and in the great Parishes of Stepney, White-Chapel, Aldgate, Bishopsgate, Shoreditch, Cripplegate and St. Giles’s, where the Fire never came, and where the Plague rag’d with the greatest Violence, remain still in the same Condition they were in before.

  But to leave these things just as I found them, it was certain, that those People, who were more than ordinarily cautious of their Health, did take particular Directions for what they called Seasoning of their Houses, and Abundance of costly Things were consum’d on that Account, which, I cannot but say, not only seasoned those Houses, as they desir’d, but fill’d the Air with very grateful and wholesome Smells, which others had the Share of the Benefit of, as well as those who were at the Expences of them.

  And yet after all, tho’ the Poor came to Town very precipitantly, as I have said, yet I must say, the rich made no such Haste; the Men of Business indeed came up, but many of them did not bring their Families to Town till the Spring came on, and that they saw Reason to depend upon it, that the Plague would not return.

  The Court indeed came up soon after Christmas, but the Nobility and Gentry, except such as depended upon, and had Employment under the Administration, did not come so soon.

  I should have taken Notice here, that notwithstanding the Violence of the Plague in London and in other Places, yet it was very observable, that it was never on Board the Fleet;* and yet for some time there was a strange Press in the River, and even in the Streets for Sea-Men to man the Fleet. But it was in the Beginning of the Year, when the Plague was scarce begun, and not at all come down to that part of the City, where they usually press for Seamen; and tho’ a War with the Dutch was not at all grateful to the People at that time, and the Seamen went with a kind of Reluctancy into the Service, and many complain’d of being drag’d into it by Force, yet it prov’d in the Event a happy Violence to several of them, who had probably perish’d in the general Calamity, and who after the Summer Service was over, tho’ they had Cause to lament the Desolation of their Families, who, when they came back, were many of them in their Graves; yet they had room to be thankful, that they were carried out of the Reach of it, tho’ so much against their Wills; we indeed had a hot War with the Dutch that Year, and one very great Engagement at Sea,* in which the Dutch were worsted; but we lost a great many Men and some Ships. But, as I observ’d, the Plague was not in the Fleet, and when they came to lay up the Ships in the River, the violent part of it began to abate.

  I would be glad, if I could close the Account of this melancholy Year with some particular Examples historically; I mean of the Thankfulness to God our Preserver for our being delivered from this dreadful Calamity; certainly the Circumstances of the Deliverance, as well as the terrible Enemy we were delivered from, call’d upon the whole Nation for it; the Circumstances of the Deliverance were indeed very remarkable, as I have in part mention’d already, and particularly the dreadful Condition, which we were all in, when we were, to the Surprize of the whole Town, made joyful with the Hope of a Stop of the Infection.

  Nothing but the immediate Finger of God, nothing but omnipotent Power could have done it; the Contagion despised all Medicine, Death rag’d in every Corner; and had it gone on as it did then, a few Weeks more would have clear’d the Town of all, and every thing that had a Soul: Men every where began to despair, every Heart fail’d them for Fear, People were made desperate thro’ the Anguish of their Souls, and the Terrors of Death sat in the very Faces and Countenances of the People.

  In that very Moment, when we might very well say, Vain was the Help of Man;* I say in that very Moment it pleased God, with a most agreeable Surprize, to cause the Fury of it to abate, even of it self, and the Malignity declining, as I have said, tho’ infinite Numbers were sick, yet fewer died; and the very first Week’s Bill decreased 1843, a vast Number indeed!

  It is impossible to express the Change that appear’d in the very Countenances of the People, that Thursday Morning, when the Weekly Bill came out; it might have been perceived in their Countenances, that a secret Surprize and Smile of Joy sat on every Bodies Face; they shook one another by the Hands in the Streets, who would hardly go on the same Side of the way with one another before; where the Streets were not too broad, they would open their Windows and call from one House to another, and ask’d how they did, and if they had heard the good News, that the Plague was abated; Some would return when they said good News, and ask, what good News? and when they answered, that the Plague was abated, and the Bills decreased almost 2000, they would cry out, God be praised; and would weep aloud for Joy, telling them they had heard nothing of it; and such was the Joy of the People that it was as it were Life to them from the Grave. I could almost set down as many extravagant things done in the Excess of their Joy, as of their Grief; but that would be to lessen the Value of it.

  I must confess my self to have been very much dejected just before this happen’d; for the prodigious Number that were taken sick the Week or two before, besides those that died, was such, and the Lamentations were so great every where, that a Man must have seemed to have acted even against his Reason, if he had so much as expected to escape; and as there was hardly a House, but mine, in all my Neighbourhood, but what was infected; so had it gone on, it would not have been long, that there would have been any more Neighbours to be infected; indeed it is hardly credible, what dreadful Havock the last three Weeks had made, for if I might believe the Person, whose Calculations I always found very well grounded, there were not less than 30000 People dead, and near 100 thousand fallen sick in the three Weeks I speak of; for the Number that sickened was surprising, indeed it was astonishing, and those whose Courage upheld them all the time before, sunk under it now.

  In the Middle of their Distress, when the Condition of the City of London was so truly calamitous, just then it pleased God, as it were, by his immediate Hand to disarm this Enemy; the Poyson was taken out of the Sting, it was wonderful, even the Physicians themselves were surprized at it; wherever they visited, they found their Patients better, either they had sweated kindly, or the Tumours were broke, or the Carbuncles went down, and the Inflammations round them chang’d Colour, or the Fever was gone, or the violent Headach was asswag’d, or some g
ood Symptom was in the Case; so that in a few Days, every Body was recovering, whole Families that were infected and down, that had Ministers praying with them, and expected Death every Hour, were revived and healed, and none died at all out of them.

  Nor was this by any new Medicine found out, or new Method of Cure discovered, or by any Experience in the Operation, which the Physicians or Surgeons had attain’d to; but it was evidently from the secret invisible Hand of him, that had at first sent this Disease as a Judgment upon us; and let the Atheistic part of Mankind call my Saying this what they please, it is no Enthusiasm; it was acknowledg’d at that time by all Mankind; the Disease was enervated, and its Malignity spent, and let it proceed from whencesoever it will, let the Philosophers search for Reasons in Nature to account for it by, and labour as much as they will to lessen the Debt they owe to their Maker; those Physicians, who had the least Share of Religion in them, were oblig’d to acknowledge that it was all supernatural,* that it was extraordinary, and that no Account could be given of it.

  If I should say, that this is a visible Summons to us all to Thankfulness, especially we that were under the Terror of its Increase, perhaps it may be thought by some, after the Sense of the thing was over, an officious canting of religious things, preaching a Sermon instead of writing a History, making my self a Teacher instead of giving my Observations of things; and this restrains me very much from going on here, as I might otherwise do: But if ten Lepers were healed,* and but one return’d to give Thanks, I desire to be as that one, and to be thankful for my self.