the bellman to go to such-and-such houses and fetch out the people,
for that they were all dead.
And, indeed, the work of removing the dead bodies by carts was
now grown so very odious and dangerous that it was complained of
that the bearers did not take care to dear such houses where all the
inhabitants were dead, but that sometimes the bodies lay several days
unburied, till the neighbouring families were offended with the
stench, and consequently infected; and this neglect of the officers was
such that the churchwardens and constables were summoned to look
after it, and even the justices of the Hamlets were obliged to venture
their lives among them to quicken and encourage them, for
innumerable of the bearers died of the distemper, infected by the
bodies they were obliged to come so near. And had it not been that
the number of poor people who wanted employment and wanted
bread (as I have said before) was so great that necessity drove them to
undertake anything and venture anything, they would never have
found people to be employed. And then the bodies of the dead would
have lain above ground, and have perished and rotted in a dreadful manner.
But the magistrates cannot be enough commended in this, that they
kept such good order for the burying of the dead, that as fast as any of
these they employed to carry off and bury the dead fell sick or died, as
was many times the case, they immediately supplied the places with
others, which, by reason of the great number of poor that was left out
of business, as above, was not hard to do. This occasioned, that
notwithstanding the infinite number of people which died and were
sick, almost all together, yet they were always cleared away and
carried off every night, so that it was never to be said of London that
the living were not able to bury the dead.
As the desolation was greater during those terrible times, so the
amazement of the people increased, and a thousand unaccountable
things they would do in the violence of their fright, as others did the
same in the agonies of their distemper, and this part was very
affecting. Some went roaring and crying and wringing their hands
along the street; some would go praying and lifting up their hands to
heaven, calling upon God for mercy. I cannot say, indeed, whether
this was not in their distraction, but, be it so, it was still an indication
of a more serious mind, when they had the use of their senses, and
was much better, even as it was, than the frightful yellings and cryings
that every day, and especially in the evenings, were heard in some
streets. I suppose the world has heard of the famous Solomon Eagle,
an enthusiast. He, though not infected at all but in his head, went
about denouncing of judgement upon the city in a frightful manner,
sometimes quite naked, and with a pan of burning charcoal on his
head. What he said, or pretended, indeed I could not learn.
I will not say whether that clergyman was distracted or not, or
whether he did it in pure zeal for the poor people, who went every
evening through the streets of Whitechappel, and, with his hands lifted
up, repeated that part of the Liturgy of the Church continually, ‘Spare
us, good Lord; spare Thy people, whom Thou has redeemed with Thy
most precious blood.’ I say, I cannot speak positively of these things,
because these were only the dismal objects which represented
themselves to me as I looked through my chamber windows (for I
seldom opened the casements), while I confined myself within doors
during that most violent raging of the pestilence; when, indeed, as I
have said, many began to think, and even to say, that there would
none escape; and indeed I began to think so too, and therefore kept
within doors for about a fortnight and never stirred out. But I could
not hold it. Besides, there were some people who, notwithstanding
the danger, did not omit publicly to attend the worship of God, even in
the most dangerous times; and though it is true that a great many