History of the Plague in London

by Daniel Defoe

that about Brentwood[198] or that way, several of themperished in the fields, whether of the plague, or of mere want anddistress, they could not tell.

  This was a good reason, indeed, why the people of Walthamstow should bevery cautious, and why they should resolve not to entertain anybody thatthey were not well satisfied of; but as Richard the joiner, and one ofthe other men who parleyed with them, told them, it was no reason whythey should block up the roads and refuse to let the people pass throughthe town, and who asked nothing of them but to go through the street;that, if their people were afraid of them, they might go into theirhouses and shut their doors: they would neither show them civility norincivility, but go on about their business.

  The constables and attendants, not to be persuaded by reason, continuedobstinate, and would hearken to nothing: so the two men that talked withthem went back to their fellows to consult what was to be done. It wasvery discouraging in the whole, and they knew not what to do for a goodwhile; but at last John, the soldier and biscuit baker, consideringawhile, "Come," says he, "leave the rest of the parley to me." He hadnot appeared yet: so he sets the joiner, Richard, to work to cut somepoles out of the trees, and shape them as like guns as he could; and ina little time he had five or six fair muskets, which at a distance wouldnot be known; and about the part where the lock of a gun is, he causedthem to wrap cloth and rags, such as they had, as soldiers do in wetweather to preserve the locks of their pieces from rust; the rest wasdiscolored with clay or mud, such as they could get; and all this whilethe rest of them sat under the trees by his direction, in two or threebodies, where they made fires at a good distance from one another.

  While this was doing, he advanced himself, and two or three with him,and set up their tent in the lane, within sight of the barrier which thetownsmen had made, and set a sentinel just by it with the real gun, theonly one they had, and who[199] walked to and fro with the gun on hisshoulder, so as that the people of the town might see them; also he tiedthe horse to a gate in the hedge just by, and got some dry stickstogether and kindled a fire on the other side of the tent, so that thepeople of the town could see the fire and the smoke, but could not seewhat they were doing at it.

  After the country people had looked upon them very earnestly a greatwhile, and by all that they could see could not but suppose that theywere a great many in company, they began to be uneasy, not for theirgoing away, but for staying where they were; and above all, perceivingthey had horses and arms (for they had seen one horse and one gun at thetent, and they had seen others of them walk about the field on theinside of the hedge by the side of the lane with their muskets, as theytook them to be, shouldered),--I say, upon such a sight as this, you maybe assured they were alarmed and terribly frightened; and it seems theywent to a justice of the peace to know what they should do. What thejustice advised them to, I know not; but towards the evening they calledfrom the barrier, as above, to the sentinel at the tent.

  "What do you want?" says John.

  "Why, what do you intend to do?" says the constable.

  "To do?" says John; "what would you have us to do?"

  _Const._ Why don't you begone? What do you stay there for?

  _John._ Why do you stop us on the King's highway, and pretend to refuse us leave to go on our way?

  _Const._ We are not bound to tell you the reason, though we did let you know it was because of the plague.

  _John._ We told you we were all sound, and free from the plague, which we were not bound to have satisfied you of, and yet you pretend to stop us on the highway.

  _Const._ We have a right to stop it up, and our own safety obliges us to it; besides, this is not the King's highway, it is a way upon sufferance. You see here is a gate, and if we do let people pass here, we make them pay toll.

  _John._ We have a right to seek our own safety as well as you; and you may see we are flying for our lives, and it is very unchristian and unjust in you to stop us.

  _Const._ You may go back from whence you came, we do not hinder you from that.

  _John._ No, it is a stronger enemy than you that keeps us from doing that, or else we should not have come hither.

  _Const._ Well, you may go any other way, then.

  _John._ No, no. I suppose you see we are able to send you going, and all the people of your parish, and come through your town when we will; but, since you have stopped us here, we are content. You see we have encamped here, and here we will live. We hope you will furnish us with victuals.

  _Const._ We furnish you! What mean you by that?

  _John._ Why, you would not have us starve, would you? If you stop us here, you must keep us.

  _Const._ You will be ill kept at our maintenance.

  _John._ If you stint us, we shall make ourselves the better allowance.

  _Const._ Why, you will not pretend to quarter upon us by force, will you?

  _John._ We have offered no violence to you yet, why do you seem to oblige us to it? I am an old soldier, and cannot starve; and, if you think that we shall be obliged to go back for want of provisions, you are mistaken.

  _Const._ Since you threaten us, we shall take care to be strong enough for you. I have orders to raise the county upon you.

  _John._ It is you that threaten, not we; and, since you are for mischief, you cannot blame us if we do not give you time for it. We shall begin our march in a few minutes.

  _Const._ What is it you demand of us?

  _John._ At first we desired nothing of you but leave to go through the town. We should have offered no injury to any of you, neither would you have had any injury or loss by us. We are not thieves, but poor people in distress, and flying from the dreadful plague in London, which devours thousands every week. We wonder how you can be so unmerciful.

  _Const._ Self-preservation obliges us.

  _John._ What! To shut up your compassion, in a case of such distress as this?

  _Const._ Well, if you will pass over the fields on your left hand, and behind that part of the town, I will endeavor to have gates opened for you.

  _John._ Our horsemen cannot pass with our baggage that way. It does not lead into the road that we want to go, and why should you force us out of the road? Besides, you have kept us here all day without any provisions but such as we brought with us. I think you ought to send us some provisions for our relief.

  _Const._ If you will go another way, we will send you some provisions.

  _John._ That is the way to have all the towns in the county stop up the ways against us.

  _Const._ If they all furnish you with food, what will you be the worse? I see you have tents: you want no lodging.

  _John._ Well, what quantity of provisions will you send us?

  _Const._ How many are you?

  _John._ Nay, we do not ask enough for all our company. We are in three companies. If you will send us bread for twenty men and about six or seven women for three days, and show us the way over the field you speak of, we desire not to put your people into any fear for us. We will go out of our way to oblige you, though we are as free from infection as you are.

  _Const._ And will you assure us that your other people shall offer us no new disturbance?

  _John._ No, no; you may depend on it.

  _Const._ You must oblige yourself, too, that none of your people shall come a step nearer than where the provisions we send you shall be set down.

  _John._ I answer for it, we will not.

  Here he called to one of his men, and bade him order Captain Richard andhis people to march the lower way on the side of the marshes, and meetthem in the forest; which was all a sham, for they had no CaptainRichard or any such company.

  Accordingly, they sen
t to the place twenty loaves of bread and three orfour large pieces of good beef, and opened some gates, through whichthey passed; but none of them had courage so much as to look out to seethem go, and as it was evening, if they had looked, they could not haveseen them so as to know how few they were.

  This was John the soldier's management; but this gave such an alarm tothe county, that, had they really been two or three hundred, the wholecounty would have been raised upon them, and they would have been sentto prison, or perhaps knocked on the head.

  They were soon made sensible of this, for two days afterwards they foundseveral parties of horsemen and footmen also about, in pursuit of threecompanies of men armed, as they said, with muskets, who were broke outfrom London and had the plague upon them, and that were not onlyspreading the distemper among the people, but plundering the country.

  As they saw now the consequence of their case, they soon saw the dangerthey were in: so they resolved, by the advice also of the old soldier,to divide themselves again. John and his two comrades, with the horse,went away as if towards