Даниэль Дефо - History of the Plague in London

Even when the north and northwest suburbs were fully infected, viz., Cripplegate, Clerkenwell, Bishopsgate, and Shoreditch, yet still all the rest were tolerably well. For example:—

From the 25th of July to the 1st of August the bill stood thus of all diseases:—

St. Giles's, Cripplegate 554

St. Sepulchre's 250

Clerkenwell 103

Bishopsgate 116

Shoreditch 110

Stepney Parish 127

Aldgate 92

Whitechapel 104

All the 97 parishes within the walls 228

All the parishes in Southwark 205

―–

1,889

So that, in short, there died more that week in the two parishes of Cripplegate and St. Sepulchre's by forty–eight than all the city, all the east suburbs, and all the Southwark parishes put together. This caused the reputation of the city's health to continue all over England, and especially in the counties and markets adjacent, from whence our supply of provisions chiefly came, even much longer than that health itself continued; for when the people came into the streets from the country by Shoreditch and Bishopsgate, or by Old Street and Smithfield, they would see the outstreets empty, and the houses and shops shut, and the few people that were stirring there walk in the middle of the streets; but when they came within the city, there things looked better, and the markets and shops were open, and the people walking about the streets as usual, though not quite so many; and this continued till the latter end of August and the beginning of September.

But then the case altered quite; the distemper abated in the west and northwest parishes, and the weight of the infection lay on the city and the eastern suburbs, and the Southwark side, and this in a frightful manner.

Then indeed the city began to look dismal, shops to be shut, and the streets desolate. In the High Street, indeed, necessity made people stir abroad on many occasions; and there would be in the middle of the day a pretty many [259] "Pretty many," i.e., a fair number of. people, but in the mornings and evenings scarce any to be seen even there, no, not in Cornhill and Cheapside.

These observations of mine were abundantly confirmed by the weekly bills of mortality for those weeks, an abstract of which, as they respect the parishes which I have mentioned, and as they make the calculations I speak of very evident, take as follows.

The weekly bill which makes out this decrease of the burials in the west and north side of the city stands thus:—

St. Giles's, Cripplegate 456

St. Giles–in–the–Fields 140

Clerkenwell 77

St. Sepulchre's 214

St. Leonard, Shoreditch 183

Stepney Parish 716

Aldgate 629

Whitechapel 532

In the 97 parishes within the walls 1,493

In the 8 parishes on Southwark side 1,636

―–

6,076

Here is a strange change of things indeed, and a sad change it was; and, had it held for two months more than it did, very few people would have been left alive; but then such, I say, was the merciful disposition of God, that when it was thus, the west and north part, which had been so dreadfully visited at first, grew, as you see, much better; and, as the people disappeared here, they began to look abroad again there; and the next week or two altered it still more, that is, more to the encouragement of the other part of the town. For example:—

Sept. 19–26.

St. Giles's, Cripplegate 277

St. Giles–in–the–Fields 119

Clerkenwell 76

St. Sepulchre's 193

St. Leonard, Shoreditch 146

Stepney Parish 616

Aldgate 496

Whitechapel 346

In the 97 parishes within the walls 1,268

In the 8 parishes on Southwark side 1,390

―–

4,927

Sept. 26–Oct. 3.

St. Giles's, Cripplegate 196

St. Giles–in–the–Fields 95

Clerkenwell 48

St. Sepulchre's 137

St. Leonard, Shoreditch 128

Stepney Parish 674

Aldgate 372

Whitechapel 328

In the 97 parishes within the walls 1,149

In the 8 parishes on Southwark side 1,201

―–

4,328

And now the misery of the city, and of the said east and south parts, was complete indeed; for, as you see, the weight of the distemper lay upon those parts, that is to say, the city, the eight parishes over the river, with the parishes of Aldgate, Whitechapel, and Stepney, and this was the time that the bills came up to such a monstrous height as that I mentioned before, and that eight or nine, and, as I believe, ten or twelve thousand a week died; for it is my settled opinion that they [260] The officers. never could come at any just account of the numbers, for the reasons which I have given already.

Nay, one of the most eminent physicians, who has since published in Latin an account of those times and of his observations, says that in one week there died twelve thousand people, and that particularly there died four thousand in one night; though I do not remember that there ever was any such particular night so remarkably fatal as that such a number died in it. However, all this confirms what I have said above of the uncertainty of the bills of mortality, etc., of which I shall say more hereafter.

And here let me take leave to enter again, though it may seem a repetition of circumstances, into a description of the miserable condition of the city itself, and of those parts where I lived, at this particular time. The city, and those other parts, notwithstanding the great numbers of people that were gone into the country, was [261] Were. vastly full of people; and perhaps the fuller because people had for a long time a strong belief that the plague would not come into the city, nor into Southwark, no, nor into Wapping or Ratcliff at all; nay, such was the assurance of the people on that head, that many removed from the suburbs on the west and north sides into those eastern and south sides as for safety, and, as I verily believe, carried the plague amongst them there, perhaps sooner than they would otherwise have had it.

Here, also, I ought to leave a further remark for the use of posterity, concerning the manner of people's infecting one another; namely, that it was not the sick people only from whom the plague was immediately received by others that were sound, but the well. To explain myself: by the sick people, I mean those who were known to be sick, had taken their beds, had been under cure, or had swellings or tumors upon them, and the like. These everybody could beware of: they were either in their beds, or in such condition as could not be concealed.

By the well, I mean such as had received the contagion, and had it really upon them and in their blood, yet did not show the consequences of it in their countenances; nay, even were not sensible of it themselves, as many were not for several days. These breathed death in every place, and upon everybody who came near them; nay, their very clothes retained the infection; their hands would infect the things they touched, especially if they were warm and sweaty, and they were generally apt to sweat, too.

Now, it was impossible to know these people, nor did they sometimes, as I have said, know themselves, to be infected. These were the people that so often dropped down and fainted in the streets; for oftentimes they would go about the streets to the last, till on a sudden they would sweat, grow faint, sit down at a door, and die. It is true, finding themselves thus, they would struggle hard to get home to their own doors, or at other times would be just able to go into their houses, and die instantly. Other times they would go about till they had the very tokens come out upon them, and yet not know it, and would die in an hour or two after they came home, but be well as long as they were abroad. These were the dangerous people; these were the people of whom the well people ought to have been afraid: but then, on the other side, it was impossible to know them.