History of the Plague in London

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 myself 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 returned to give thanks, I desire to be as that one, and to be thankful for myself.

Nor will I deny but there were abundance of people who, to all appearance, were very thankful at that time: for their mouths were stopped, even the mouths of those whose hearts were not extraordinarily long affected with it; but the impression was so strong at that time, that it could not be resisted, no, not by the worst of the people.

It was a common thing to meet people in the street that were strangers, and that we knew nothing at all of, expressing their surprise. Going one day through Aldgate, and a pretty many people being passing and repassing, there comes a man out of the end of the Minories; and, looking a little up the street and down, he throws his hands abroad: "Lord, what an alteration is here! Why, last week I came along here, and hardly anybody was to be seen." Another man (I heard him) adds to his words, "'Tis all wonderful; 'tis all a dream." – "Blessed be God!" says a third man; "and let us give thanks to him, for 'tis all his own doing." Human help and human skill were at an end. These were all strangers to one another, but such salutations as these were frequent in the street every day; and, in spite of a loose behavior, the very common people went along the streets, giving God thanks for their deliverance.

It was now, as I said before, the people had cast off all apprehensions, and that too fast. Indeed, we were no more afraid now to pass by a man with a white cap upon his head, or with a cloth wrapped round his neck, or with his leg limping, occasioned by the sores in his groin, – all which were frightful to the last degree but the week before. But now the street was full of them, and these poor recovering creatures, give them their due, appeared very sensible of their unexpected deliverance, and I should wrong them very much if I should not acknowledge that I believe many of them were really thankful; but I must own that for the generality of the people it might too justly be said of them, as was said of the children of Israel after their being delivered from the host of Pharaoh, when they passed the Red Sea, and looked back and saw the Egyptians overwhelmed in the water, viz., "that they sang his praise, but they soon forgot his works."346

I can go no further here. I should be counted censorious, and perhaps unjust, if I should enter into the unpleasing work of reflecting, whatever cause there was for it, upon the unthankfulness and return of all manner of wickedness among us, which I was so much an eyewitness of myself. I shall conclude the account of this calamitous year, therefore, with a coarse but a sincere stanza of my own, which I placed at the end of my ordinary memorandums the same year they were written: —

A dreadful plague in London was,In the year sixty-five,Which swept an hundred thousand soulsAway, yet I alive.H.F.347

1

At first, a weekly; with the fifth number, a bi-weekly; after the first year, a tri-weekly.

2

Preface to his pamphlet entitled Street Robberies.

3

For a very different estimate, see Saintsbury's Selections from Defoe's Minor Novels.

4

It was popularly believed in London that the plague came from Holland; but the sanitary (or rather unsanitary) conditions of London itself were quite sufficient to account for the plague's originating there. Andrew D. White tells us, that it is difficult to decide to-day between Constantinople and New York as candidates for the distinction of being the dirtiest city in the world.

5

Incorrectly used for "councils."

6

In April, 1663, the first Drury Lane Theater had been opened. The present Drury Lane Theater (the fourth) stands on the same site.

7

The King's ministers. At this time they held office during the pleasure of the Crown, not, as now, during the pleasure of a parliamentary majority.

8

Gangrene spots (see text, pp. 197, 198).

9

The local government of London at this time was chiefly in the hands of the vestries of the different parishes. It is only of recent years that the power of these vestries has been seriously curtailed, and transferred to district councils.

10

The report.

11

Pronounced Hō´burn.

12

Was.

13

Were.

14

Outlying districts; so called because they enjoyed certain municipal immunities, or liberties. Until recent years, a portion of Philadelphia was known as the "Northern Liberties."

15

Attempts to believe the evil lessened.

16

Was.

17

Were.

18

The chief executive officer of the city of London still bears this title.

19

One of the many instances in which Defoe mixes his tenses.

20

Whom. We shall find many more instances of Defoe's misuse of this form, as also of others (see Introduction, p. 15).

21

Used almost in its original sense of a military barrier.

22

Whom.

23

See Matt, xxvii. 40; Mark xv. 30; Luke xxiii. 35.

24

Denial.

25

The civil war between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians, 1642-51.

26

Whom.

27

This argument is neatly introduced to account for the narrator's staying in the city at all, when he could easily have escaped.

28

Explained by the two following phrases.

29

Whom.

30

"Lay close to me," i.e., was constantly in my mind.

31

Kept safe from the plague.

32

"My times are in thy hand" (Ps. xxxi. 15).

33

Dorking is about twenty miles southwest of London.

34

Rather St. Martin's-in-the-Fields and St. Giles's.

35

Was.

36

Charles II. and his courtiers. The immunity of Oxford was doubtless due to good drainage and general cleanliness.

37

Eccl. xii. 5.

38

Have seen.

39

Nor. This misuse of "or" for "nor" is frequent with Defoe.

40

The four inns of court in London which have the exclusive right of calling to the bar, are the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn. The Temple is so called because it was once the home of the Knights Templars.

41

The city proper, i.e., the part within the walls, as distinguished from that without.

42

Were.

43

The population of London at this time was probably about half a million. It is now about six millions. (See Macaulay's History, chap. iii.)

44

Acel´dama, the field of blood (see Matt. xxvii. 8).

45

Phlegmatic hypochondriac is a contradiction in terms; for "phlegmatic" means "impassive, self-restrained," while "hypochondriac" means "morbidly anxious" (about one's health). Defoe's lack of scholarship was a common jest among his more learned adversaries, such as Swift, and Pope.

46

It was in this very plague year that Newton formulated his theory of gravitation. Incredible as it may seem, at this same date even such men as Dryden held to a belief in astrology.

47

William Lilly was the most famous astrologer and almanac maker of the time. In Butler's Hudibras he is satirized under the name of Sidrophel.

48

Poor Robin's Almanack was first published in 1661 or 1662, and was ascribed to Robert Herrick, the poet.

49

See Rev. xviii. 4.

50

Jonah iii. 4.

51

Flavius Josephus, the author of the History of the Jewish Wars. He is supposed to have died in the last decade of the first century A.D.

52

So called because many Frenchmen lived there. In Westminster there was another district with this same name.

53

"Gave them vapors," i.e., put them into a state of nervous excitement.

54

Soothsayers.

55

In astrology, the scheme or figure of the heavens at the moment of a person's birth. From this the astrologers pretended to foretell a man's destiny.

56

Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar of the thirteenth century, had a knowledge of mechanics and optics far in advance of his age: hence he was commonly regarded as a wizard. The brazen head which he manufactured was supposed to assist him in his necromantic feats; it is so introduced by Greene in his play of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1594).

57

A fortune teller who lived in the reign of Henry VIII., and was famous for her prophecies.

58

The most celebrated magician of mediæval times (see Spenser's Faërie Queene and Tennyson's Merlin and Vivien).

59

Linen collar or ruff.

60

Him.

61

The interlude was originally a short, humorous play acted in the midst of a morality play to relieve the tedium of that very tedious performance. From the interlude was developed farce; and from farce, comedy.

62

Charles II. and his courtiers, from their long exile in France, brought back to England with them French fashions in literature and in art.

63

To be acted.

64

Buffoons, clowns.

65

About 62½ cents.

66

About twenty-five dollars; but the purchasing power of money was then seven or eight times what it is now.

67

Strictly speaking, this word means "love potions."

68

Exorcism is the act of expelling evil spirits, or the formula used in the act. Defoe's use of the word here is careless and inaccurate.

69

Bits of metal, parchment, etc., worn as charms.

70

Making the sign of the cross.

71

Paper on which were marked the signs of the zodiac, – a superstition from astrology.

72

A meaningless word used in incantations. Originally the name of a Syrian deity.

73

Iesus Hominum Salvator ("Jesus, Savior of Men"). The order of the Jesuits was founded by Ignatius de Loyola in 1534.

74

The Feast of St. Michael, Sept. 29.

75

This use of "to" for "of" is frequent with Defoe.

76

The Royal College of Physicians was founded by Thomas Linacre, physician to Henry VIII. Nearly every London physician of prominence is a member.

77

The city of London proper lies entirely in the county of Middlesex.

78

Literally, "hand workers;" now contracted into "surgeons."

79

Cares, duties.

80

Consenting knowledge.

81

Disposed of to the public, put in circulation.

82

That is, by the disease.

83

Happen.

84

Engaged.

85

Heaps of rubbish.

86

A kind of parish constable.

87

The writer seems to mean that the beggars are so importunate, there is no avoiding them.

88

Fights between dogs and bears. This was not declared a criminal offense in England until 1835.

89

Contests with sword and shield.

90

The guilds or organizations of tradesmen, such as the goldsmiths, the fishmongers, the merchant tailors.

91

Were.

92

Chemise.

93

This word is misplaced; it should go before "perish."

94

Before "having," supply "the master."

95

Fences.

96

From.

97

This old form for "caught" is used frequently by Defoe.

98

Came to grief.

99

"Who, being," etc., i.e., who, although single men, had yet staid.

100

The wars of the Commonwealth or of the Puritan Revolution, 1640-52.

101

Holland and Belgium.

102

"Hurt of," a common form of expression used in Defoe's time.

103

Manager, economist. This meaning of "husband" is obsolete.

104

A participial form of expression very common in Old English, the "a" being a corruption of "in" or "on."

105

Were.

106

"'Name of God," i.e., in the name of God.

107

Torches.

108

"To and again," i.e., to and fro.

109

Were.

110

As if.

111

Magpie.

112

This word is from the same root as "lamp." The old form "lanthorn" crept in from the custom of making the sides of a lantern of horn.

113

Supply "be."

114

Inclination.

115

In expectation of the time when.

116

Their being checked.

117

This paragraph could hardly have been more clumsily expressed. It will be found a useful exercise to rewrite it.

118

"To have gone," i.e., to go.

119

Spotted.

120

"Make shift," i.e., endure it.

121

Device, expedient.

122

"In all" is evidently a repetition.

123

Objects cannot very well happen. Defoe must mean, "the many dismal sights I saw as I went about the streets."

124

As.

125

"Rosin" is a long-established misspelling for "resin." Resin exudes from pine trees, and from it the oil of turpentine is separated by distillation.

126

As distinguished from fish meat.

127

Defoe uses these pronouns in the wrong number, as in numerous other instances.

128

The projecting part of a building.

129

Their miraculous preservation was wrought by their keeping in the fresh air of the open fields. It seems curious that after this object lesson the physicians persisted in their absurd policy of shutting up infected houses, thus practically condemning to death their inmates.

130

Used here for "this," as also in many other places.

131

Supply "with."

132

Such touches as this created a widespread and long-enduring belief that Defoe's fictitious diary was an authentic history.

133

"Running out," etc., i.e., losing their self-control.

134

Idiocy. In modern English, "idiotism" is the same as "idiom."

135

Gangrene, death of the soft tissues.

136

Before "that" supply "we have been told."

137

Hanging was at this time a common punishment for theft. In his novel Moll Flanders, Defoe has a vivid picture of the mental and physical sufferings of a woman who was sent to Newgate, and condemned to death, for stealing two pieces of silk.

138

Cloth, rag.

139

They could no longer give them regular funerals, but had to bury them promiscuously in pits.

140

Evidently a repetition.

141

In old and middle English two negatives did not make an affirmative, as they do in modern English.

142

It is now well known that rue has no qualities that are useful for warding off contagion.

143

"Set up," i.e., began to play upon.

144

Constrained.

145

Because they would have been refused admission to other ports.

146

Matter. So used by Sheridan in The Rivals, act iii. sc. 2.

147

Probably a misprint for "greatly."

148

This.

149

Are.

150

He has really given two days more than two months.

151

A count.

152

Range, limits.

153

Unknown.

154

Lying.

155

Was.

156

Notice this skillful touch to give verisimilitude to the narrative.

157

Country.

158

"Without the bars," i.e., outside the old city limits.

159

Profession.

160

The plague.

161

The legal meaning of "hamlet" in England is a village without a church of its own: ecclesiastically, therefore, it belongs to the parish of some other village.

162

All Protestant sects other than the Established Church of England.

163

A groat equals fourpence, about eight cents. It is not coined now.

164

A farthing equals one quarter of a penny.

165

About ten miles down the Thames.

166

The t is silent in this word.

167

Hard-tack, pilot bread.

168

Old form for "rode."

169

See the last sentence of the next paragraph but one.

170

Roadstead, an anchoring ground less sheltered than a harbor.

171

Substitute "that they would not be visited."

172

The plague.

173

Nota bene, note well.

174

Dul´ich. All these places are southward from London. Norwood is six miles distant.

175

Old form of "dared."

176

Small vessels, generally schooner-rigged, used for carrying heavy freight on rivers and harbors.

177

London Bridge.

178

This incident is so overdone, that it fails to be pathetic, and rather excites our laughter.

179

Supply "themselves."

180

Barnet was about eleven miles north-northwest of London.

181

Holland and Belgium.

182

See Luke xvii. 11-19.

183

Well.

184

With speed, in haste.

185

This word is misplaced. It should go immediately before "to lodge."

186

Luck.

187

Whom.

188

A small sail set high upon the mast.

189

"Fetched a long compass," i.e., went by a circuitous route.

190

The officers.

191

Refused.

192

Nearly twenty miles northeast of London.

193

He. This pleonastic use of a conjunction with the relative is common among illiterate writers and speakers to-day.

194

Waltham and Epping, towns two or three miles apart, at a distance of ten or twelve miles almost directly north of London.

195

Pollard trees are trees cut back nearly to the trunk, and so caused to grow into a thick head (poll) of branches.

196

Entertainment. In this sense, the plural, "quarters," is the commoner form.

197

Preparing.

198

Peddlers.

199

"Has been," an atrocious solecism for "were."

200

To a miraculous extent.

201

"Put to it," i.e., hard pressed.

202

There are numerous references in the Hebrew Scriptures to parched corn as an article of food (see, among others, Lev. xxiii. 14, Ruth ii. 14, 2 Sam. xvii. 28).

203

Supply "(1)."

204

Soon.

205

Substitute "would."

206

Whom.

207

Familiar intercourse.

208

Evidently a repetition.

209

"For that," i.e., because.

210

Singly.

211

Supply "to be."

212

Buildings the rafters of which lean against or rest upon the outer wall of another building.

213

Supply "of."

214