History of the Plague in London

The plague.

215

"Middling people," i.e., people of the middle class.

216

At the mouth of the Thames.

217

Awnings.

218

Two heavy timbers placed horizontally, the upper one of which can be raised. When lowered, it is held in place by a padlock. Notches in the timbers form holes, through which the prisoner's legs are thrust, and held securely.

219

The constables.

220

The carters.

221

The goods.

222

In spite of, notwithstanding.

223

Supply "who."

224

"Cum aliis," i.e., with others. Most of the places mentioned in this list are several miles distant from London: for example, Enfield is ten miles northeast; Hadley, over fifty miles northeast; Hertford, twenty miles north; Kingston, ten miles southwest; St. Albans, twenty miles northwest; Uxbridge, fifteen miles west; Windsor, twenty miles west; etc.

225

Kindly regarded.

226

Which.

227

The citizens.

228

Such statements.

229

For "so that," substitute "so."

230

How.

231

It was not known in Defoe's time that minute disease germs may be carried along by a current of air.

232

Affected with scurvy.

233

"Which," as applied to persons, is a good Old English idiom, and was in common use as late as 1711 (see Spectator No. 78; and Matt. vi. 9, version of 1611).

234

Flung to.

235

Changed their garments.

236

Supply "I heard."

237

At.

238

Various periods are assigned for the duration of the dog days: perhaps July 3 to Aug. 11 is that most commonly accepted. The dog days were so called because they coincided with the heliacal rising of Sirius or Canicula (the little dog).

239

An inn with this title (and probably a picture of the brothers) painted on its signboard.

240

Whom.

241

The Act of Uniformity was passed in 1661. It required all municipal officers and all ministers to take the communion according to the ritual of the Church of England, and to sign a document declaring that arms must never be borne against the King. For refusing obedience to this tyrannical measure, some two thousand Presbyterian ministers were deprived of their livings.

242

Madness, as in Hamlet, act iii. sc. 1.

243

"Represented themselves," etc., i.e., presented themselves to my sight.

244

"Dead part of the night," i.e., from midnight to dawn. Compare,

"In the dead waste and middle of the night."

Hamlet, act i. sc 2.

245

"Have been critical," etc., i.e., have claimed to have knowledge enough to say.

246

Being introduced.

247

The plague.

248

"First began" is a solecism common in the newspaper writing of to-day.

249

Literally, laws of the by (town). In modern usage, "by-law" is used to designate a rule less general and less easily amended than a constitutional provision.

250

"Sheriff" is equivalent to shire-reeve (magistrate of the county or shire). London had, and still has, two sheriffs.

251

Acted.

252

The inspection, according to ordinance, of weights, measures, and prices.

253

"Pretty many," i.e., a fair number of.

254

The officers.

255

Were.

256

"Falls to the serious part," i.e., begins to discourse on serious matters.

257

See note, p. 28. The Mohammedans are fatalists.

258

A growth of osseous tissue uniting the extremities of fractured bones.

259

Disclosed.

260

The officers.

261

Leading principle.

262

Defoe means, "can burn only a few houses." In the next line he again misplaces "only."

263

Put to confusion.

264

Left out of consideration.

265

The distemper.

266

A means for discovering whether the person were infected or not.

267

Defoe's ignorance of microscopes was not shared by Robert Hooke, whose Micrographia (published in 1664) records numerous discoveries made with that instrument.

268

Roup is a kind of chicken's catarrh.

269

Them, i.e., such experiments.

270

From the Latin quadraginta ("forty").

271

From the Latin sexaginta ("sixty").

272

Kinds, species.

273

Old age.

274

Abscesses.

275

Himself.

276

The essential oils of lavender, cloves, and camphor, added to acetic acid.

277

In chemistry, balsams are vegetable juices consisting of resins mixed with gums or volatile oils.

278

Supply "they declined coming to public worship."

279

This condition of affairs.

280

Collar.

281

Economy.

282

Supply "they were."

283

Action (obsolete in this sense). See this word as used in 2 Henry IV., act iv. sc. 4.

284

Which.

285

Sailors' slang for "Archipelagoes."

286

An important city in Asia Minor.

287

A city in northern Syria, better known as Iskanderoon or Alexandretta. The town was named in honor of Alexander the Great, the Turkish form of Alexander being Iskander.

288

Though called a kingdom, Algarve was nothing but a province of Portugal. It is known now as Faro.

289

The natives of Flanders, a mediæval countship now divided among Holland, Belgium, and France.

290

Colonies. In the reign of Charles II., the English colonies were governed by a committee (of the Privy Council) known as the "Council of Plantations."

291

The east side.

292

On the west side.

293

See map of England for all these places. Feversham is in Kent, forty-five miles southeast of London; Margate is on the Isle of Thanet, eighty miles southeast.

294

Commission merchants.

295

Privateers. Capers is a Dutch word.

296

Supply "he."

297

Supply "the coals."

298

"One another," by a confusion of constructions, has been used here for "them."

299

By a statute of Charles II. a chaldron was fixed at 36 coal bushels. In the United States, it is generally 26¼ hundredweight.

300

Opening.

301

"To seek," i.e., without judgment or knowledge.

302

Mixing.

303

Him.

304

This unwary conduct.

305

Think.

306

Were.

307

Accept.

308

Personal chattels that had occasioned the death of a human being, and were therefore given to God (Deo, "to God"; dandum, "a thing given"); i.e., forfeited to the King, and by him distributed in alms. This curious law of deodands was not abolished in England until 1846.

309

The southern coast of the Mediterranean, from Egypt to the Atlantic.

310

Censure.

311

Afterward.

312

"Physic garden," i.e., a garden for growing medicinal herbs.

313

Since.

314

Lord mayor of London, 1679-80, and for many years member of Parliament for the city.

315

The workmen.

316

Recognized.

317

Fenced.

318

Members of the Society of Friends, a religious organization founded by George Fox about 1650. William Penn was one of the early members. The society condemns a paid ministry, the taking of oaths, and the making of war.

319

See p. 105, next to the last paragraph.

320

Die. "Of the plague" should immediately follow "died."

321

See Note 3, p. 26.

322

The act of indemnity passed at the restoration of Charles II. (1660). In spite of the King's promise of justice, the Parliamentarians were largely despoiled of their property, and ten of those concerned in the execution of Charles I. were put to death.

323

Family and personal peace.

324

The Established Church of England, nearly all of whose ministers were Royalists. The Presbyterians were nearly all Republicans.

325

The dissenting ministers.

326

The Churchmen.

327

Of.

328

What we should call an assistant minister is still called a curate in the Church of England.

329

"I had not said this," etc., i.e., I would not have said this, but would rather have chosen, etc.

330

See Rev. vi. 8.

331

Moved away (into the country).

332

The duties of headboroughs differed little from those of the constables. The title is now obsolete.

333

Count.

334

"Must." In this sense common in Chaucer. The past tense, "should," retains something of this force. Compare the German sollen.

335

Otherwise known as theriac (from the Greek [Greek: thêriakos], "pertaining to a wild beast," since it was supposed to be an antidote for poisonous bites). This medicine was compounded of sixty or seventy drugs, and was mixed with honey.

336

Supply "died."

337

Supply "of."

338

Substitute "which."

339

Those.

340

A corruption of "benzoin," a resinous juice obtained from a tree that flourishes in Siam and the Malay Archipelago. When heated, it gives off a pleasant odor. It is one of the ingredients used in court-plaster.

341

This word should be omitted.

342

The "press gang" was a naval detachment under the command of an officer, empowered to seize men and carry them off for service on men-of-war.

343

Off Lowestoft, in 1665. Though the Dutch were beaten, they made good their retreat, and heavily defeated the English the next year in the battle of The Downs.

344

See Ps. lx. 11; cviii. 12.

345

Were.

346

See Exod. xiv., xv., and xvi. 1-3.

347

"H.F." is of course fictitious.