A Journal of the Plague Year

by Daniel Defoe

  This lay close to me, and my Mind seemed more and more encouraged to stay than ever, and supported with a secret Satisfaction, that I should be kept: Add to this that turning over the Bible, which lay before me, and while my Thoughts were more than ordinarily serious upon the Question, I cry’d out, WELL, I know not what to do, Lord direct me! and the like; and [at] that Juncture I happen’d to stop turning over the Book at the 91st Psalm,* and casting my Eye on the second Verse, I read on to the 7th Verse exclusive; and after that, included the 10th, as follows. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress, my God, in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisom pestilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust: his truth shall be thy shield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day: Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness: nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon-day. A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine Eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation: There shall no evil befal thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling, &c.

  I scarce need tell the Reader, that from that Moment I resolv’d that I would stay in the Town, and casting my self entirely upon the Goodness and Protection of the Almighty, would not seek any other Shelter whatever; and that as my Times were in his Hands, he was as able to keep me in a Time of the Infection as in a Time of Health; and if he did not think fit to deliver me, still I was in his Hands, and it was meet he should do with me as should seem good to him.

  With this Resolution I went to Bed; and I was farther confirm’d in it the next Day, by the Woman being taken ill with whom I had intended to entrust my House and all my Affairs: But I had a farther Obligation laid on me on the same Side; for the next Day I found my self very much out of Order also; so that if I would have gone away, I could not, and I continued ill three or four Days, and this intirely determin’d my Stay; so I took my leave of my Brother, who went away to Dorking in Surry, and afterwards fetch’d a Round farther into Buckinghamshire, or Bedfordshire, to a Retreat he had found out there for his Family.

  It was a very ill Time to be sick in, for if any one complain’d, it was immediately said he had the Plague; and tho’ I had indeed no Symptoms of that Distemper, yet being very ill, both in my Head and in my Stomach, I was not without Apprehension, that I really was infected; but in about three Days I grew better, the third Night I rested well, sweated a little, and was much refresh’d; the Apprehensions of its being the Infection went also quite away with my Illness, and I went about my Business as usual.

  These Things however put off all my Thoughts of going into the Country; and my Brother also being gone, I had no more Debate either with him, or with my self, on that Subject.

  It was now mid-July, and the Plague which had chiefly rag’d at the other End of the Town, and as I said before, in the Parishes of St. Giles’s, St. Andrews Holbourn, and towards Westminster, began now to come Eastward towards the Part where I liv’d. It was to be observ’d indeed, that it did not come strait on towards us; for the City, that is to say within the Walls, was indifferent healthy still; nor was it got then very much over the Water into Southwark; for tho’ there died that Week 1268 of all Distempers, whereof it might be suppos’d above 900 died of the Plague; yet there was but 28 in the whole City, within the Walls; and but 19 in Southwark, Lambeth Parish included; whereas in the Parishes of St. Giles, and St. Martins in the Fields alone, there died 421.

  But we perceiv’d the Infection kept chiefly in the out-Parishes, which being very populous, and fuller also of Poor, the Distemper found more to prey upon than in the City, as I shall observe afterward; we perceiv’d I say, the Distemper to draw our Way; (viz.) by the Parishes of Clerken-Well, Cripplegate, Shoreditch, and Bishopsgate; which last two Parishes joining to Aldgate, White-Chapel, and Stepney, the Infection came at length to spread its utmost Rage and violence in those Parts, even when it abated, at the Western Parishes where it began.

  It was very strange to observe, that in this particular Week, from the 4th to the 11th of July, when, as I have observ’d, there died near 400 of the Plague in the two Parishes of St. Martin’s, and St. Giles in the Fields only, there died in the Parish of Aldgate but four, in the Parish of White-Chapel three, in the Parish of Stepney but one.

  Likewise in the next Week, from the 11th of July to the 18th, when the Week’s Bill was 1761, yet there died no more of the Plague, on the whole Southwark Side of the Water than sixteen.

  But this Face of things soon changed, and it began to thicken in Cripplegate Parish especially, and in Clerken-Well; so, that by the second Week in August, Cripplegate Parish alone, buried eight hundred eighty six, and Clerken-Well 155; of the first eight hundred and fifty, might well be reckoned to die of the Plague; and of the last, the Bill it self said, 145 were of the Plague.

  During the Month of July, and while, as I have observ’d, our Part of the Town seem’d to be spar’d, in Comparison of the West part, I went ordinarily about the Streets, as my Business requir’d, and particularly went generally, once in a Day, or in two Days, into the City, to my Brother’s House, which he had given me charge of, and to see if it was safe: And having the Key in my Pocket, I used to go into the House, and over most of the Rooms, to see that all was well; for tho’ it be something wonderful to tell, that any should have Hearts so hardned, in the midst of such a Calamity, as to rob and steal; yet certain it is, that all Sorts of Villanies, and even Levities and Debaucheries were then practis’d in the Town, as openly as ever, I will not say quite as frequently, because the Numbers of People were many ways lessen’d.

  But the City it self began now to be visited too, I mean within the Walls; but the Number of People there were indeed extreamly lessen’d by so great a Multitude having been gone into the Country; and even all this Month of July they continu’d to flee, tho’ not in such Multitudes as formerly. In August indeed, they fled in such a manner, that I began to think, there would be really none but Magistrates and Servants* left in the City.

  As they fled now out of the City, so I should observe, that the Court removed early, (viz.) in the Month of June,* and went to Oxford, where it pleas’d God to preserve them; and the Distemper did not, as I heard of, so much as touch them; for which I cannot say, that I ever saw they shew’d any great Token of Thankfulness, and hardly any thing of Reformation,* tho’ they did not want being told that their crying Vices might, without Breach of Charity, be said to have gone far, in bringing that terrible Judgment* upon the whole Nation.

  The Face of London was now indeed strangely alter’d, I mean the whole Mass* of Buildings, City, Liberties, Suburbs, Westminster, Southwark and altogether; for as to the particular Part called the City, or within the Walls, that was not yet much infected;* but in the whole, the Face of Things, I say, was much alter’d; Sorrow and Sadness sat upon every Face; and tho’ some Part were not yet overwhelm’d, yet all look’d deeply concern’d; and as we saw it apparently coming on, so every one look’d on himself, and his Family, as in the utmost Danger: were it possible to represent those Times exactly to those that did not see them, and give the Reader due Ideas of the Horror that every where presented it self, it must make just Impressions upon their Minds, and fill them with Surprize. London might well be said to be all in Tears; the Mourners did not go about the Streets indeed, for no Body put on black, or made a formal Dress of Mourning for their nearest Friends; but the Voice of Mourning was truly heard in the Streets; the shriecks of Women and Children at the Windows, and Doors of their Houses, where their dearest Relations were, perhaps dying, or just dead, were so frequent to be heard, as we passed the Streets, that it was enough to pierce the stoutest Heart in the World, to hear them. Tears and Lamentations were seen almost in every House, especially in the first Part of the Visitation; for towar
ds the latter End, Mens Hearts were hardned, and Death was so always before their Eyes, that they did not so much concern themselves for Loss of their Friends, expecting, that themselves should be summoned the next Hour.

  Business led me out sometimes to the other End of the Town, even when the Sickness was chiefly there; and as the thing was new to me, as well as to every Body else, it was a most surprising thing, to see those Streets, which were usually so thronged, now grown desolate, and so few People to be seen in them, that if I had been a Stranger, and at a Loss for my Way, I might sometimes have gone the Length of a whole Street, I mean of the by-Streets, and see no Body to direct me, except Watchmen, set at the Doors of such Houses as were shut up; of which I shall speak presently.

  One Day, being at that Part of the Town, on some special Business, Curiosity led me to observe things more than usually; and indeed I walk’d a great Way where I had no Business; I went up Holbourn, and there the Street was full of People; but they walk’d in the middle of the great Street, neither on one Side or other, because, as I suppose, they would not mingle with any Body that came out of Houses, or meet with Smells and Scents from Houses that might be infected.

  The Inns-of-Court were all shut up;* nor were very many of the Lawyers in the Temple, or Lincolns-Inn, or Greyes-Inn, to be seen there. Every Body was at peace, there was no Occasion for Lawyers; besides, it being in the Time of the Vacation too, they were generally gone into the Country. Whole Rows of Houses in some Places, were shut close up; the Inhabitants all fled, and only a Watchman or two left.

  When I speak of Rows of Houses being shut up, I do not mean shut up by the Magistrates; but that great Numbers of Persons followed the Court, by the Necessity of their Employments, and other Dependencies: and as others retir’d, really frighted with the Distemper, it was a mere desolating of some of the Streets: But the Fright was not yet near so great in the City, abstractly so called; and particularly because, tho’ they were at first in a most inexpressible Consternation, yet as I have observ’d, that the Distemper intermitted often at first; so they were as it were, allarm’d, and unallarm’d again, and this several times, till it began to be familiar to them; and that even, when it appear’d violent, yet seeing it did not presently spread into the City, or the East and South Parts, the People began to take Courage, and to be, as I may say, a little hardned: It is true, a vast many People fled, as I have observ’d, yet they were chiefly from the West End of the Town; and from that we call the Heart of the City, that is to say, among the wealthiest of the People; and such People as were unincumbred with Trades and Business: But of the rest, the Generality stay’d, and seem’d to abide the worst: So that in the Place we call the Liberties, and in the Suburbs, in Southwark, and in the East Part, such as Wapping, Ratclif, Stepney, Rotherhith, and the like, the People generally stay’d, except here and there a few wealthy Families, who, as above, did not depend upon their Business.

  It must not be forgot here, that the City and Suburbs were prodigiously full of People,* at the time of this Visitation, I mean, at the time that it began; for tho’ I have liv’d to see a farther Encrease, and mighty Throngs of People settling in London,* more than ever, yet we had always a Notion, that the Numbers of People, which the Wars being over, the Armies disbanded, and the Royal Family and the Monarchy being restor’d, had flock’d to London, to settle into Business; or to depend upon, and attend the Court for Rewards of Services, Preferments, and the like, was such, that the Town was computed to have in it above a hundred thousand people more than ever it held before; nay, some took upon them to say, it had twice as many, because all the ruin’d Families of the royal Party, flock’d hither: All the old Soldiers set up Trades here, and abundance of Families settled here; again, the Court brought with them a great Flux of Pride, and new Fashions; All People were grown gay and luxurious; and the Joy of the Restoration had brought a vast many Families to London.

  I often thought, that as Jerusalem was besieg’d* by the Romans, when the Jews were assembled together, to celebrate the Passover, by which means, an incredible Number of People were surpriz’d there, who would otherwise have been in other Countries: So the Plague entred London, when an incredible Increase of People had happened occasionally, by the particular Circumstances above-nam’d: As this Conflux of the People, to a youthful and gay Court, made a great Trade in the City, especially in every thing that belong’d to Fashion and Finery; So it drew by Consequence, a great Number of Workmen, Manufacturers, and the like, being mostly poor People, who depended upon their Labour, And I remember in particular, that in a Representation to my Lord Mayor, of the Condition of the Poor, it was estimated, that, there were no less than an Hundred Thousand Ribband Weavers* in and about the City; the chiefest Number of whom, lived then in the Parishes of Shoreditch, Stepney, White-chapel, and Bishopsgate; that namely, about Spittle-fields; that is to say, as Spittle-fields was then; for it was not so large as now, by one fifth Part.

  By this however, the Number of People in the whole may be judg’d of; and indeed, I often wondred, that after the prodigious Numbers of People that went away at first, there was yet so great a Multitude left, as it appear’d there was.

  But I must go back again to the Beginning of this Surprizing Time, while the Fears of the People were young, they were encreas’d strangely by several odd Accidents, which put altogether, it was really a wonder the whole Body of the People did not rise as one Man, and abandon their Dwellings, leaving the Place as a Space of Ground designed by Heaven for an Akeldama,* doom’d to be destroy’d from the Face of the Earth; and that all that would be found in it, would perish with it. I shall Name but a few of these Things; but sure they were so many, and so many Wizards and cunning People propagating them, that I have often wonder’d there was any, (Women especially) left behind.

  In the first Place, a blazing Star or Comet* appear’d for several Months before the Plague, as there did the Year after another, a little before the Fire; the old Women, and the Phlegmatic Hypocondriac Part of the other Sex, who I could almost call old Women too, remark’d (especially afterward tho’ not till both those Judgments were over) that those two Comets pass’d directly over the City, and that so very near the Houses, that it was plain, they imported something peculiar to the City alone; that the Comet before the Pestilence, was of a faint, dull, languid Colour,* and its Motion very heavy, solemn and slow: But that the Comet before the Fire, was bright and sparkling, or as others said, flaming, and its Motion swift and furious; and that accordingly, One foretold a heavy Judgment, slow but severe, terrible and frightful, as was the Plague;* But the other foretold a Stroak, sudden, swift, and fiery as the Conflagration; nay, so particular some People were, that as they look’d upon that Comet preceding the Fire, they fancied that they not only saw it pass swiftly and fiercely, and cou’d perceive the Motion with their Eye, but even they heard it; that it made a rushing mighty Noise, fierce and terrible, tho’ at a distance, and but just perceivable.

  I saw both these Stars; and I must confess, had so much of the common Notion of such Things in my Head, that I was apt to look upon them, as the Forerunners and Warnings of Gods Judgments;* and especially when after the Plague had followed the first, I yet saw another of the like kind; I could not but say, God had not yet sufficiently scourg’d the City.

  But I cou’d not at the same Time carry these Things to the heighth that others did, knowing too, that natural Causes are assign’d by the Astronomers for such Things; and that their Motions, and even their Revolutions are calculated, or pretended to be calculated; so that they cannot be so perfectly call’d the Fore-runners, or Fore-tellers, much less the procurers of such Events, as Pestilence, War, Fire,* and the like.

  But let my Thoughts, and the Thoughts of the Philosophers be, or have been what they will, these Things had a more than ordinary Influence upon the Minds of the common People, and they had almost universal melancholly Apprehensions of some dreadful Calamity and Judgment coming upon the City; and this principally from the Sight of this Co
met, and the little Allarm that was given in December, by two People dying at St. Giles’s, as above.

  The Apprehensions of the People, were likewise strangely encreas’d by the Error of the Times; in which, I think, the People, from what Principle I cannot imagine, were more addicted to Prophesies, and Astrological Conjurations, Dreams, and old Wives Tales, than ever they were before or since: Whether this unhappy Temper was originally raised by the Follies of some People who got Money by it; that is to say, by printing Predictions, and Prognostications I know not; but certain it is, Books frighted them terribly; such as Lilly’s Almanack, Gadbury’s Astrological Predictions; Poor Robin’s* Almanack and the like; also several pretended religious Books;* one entituled, Come out of her my People, lest you be partaker of her Plagues; another call’d, Fair Warning; another, Britains Remembrancer, and many such; all, or most Part of which, foretold directly or covertly the Ruin of the City: Nay, some were so Enthusiastically bold, as to run about the Streets, with their Oral Predictions, pretending they were sent to preach to the City; and One in particular, who, like Jonah to Ninevah,* cry’d in the Streets, yet forty Days, and LONDON shall be destroy’d. I will not be positive, whether he said yet forty Days, or yet a few Days. Another run about Naked,* except a pair of Drawers about his Waste, crying Day and Night; like a Man that Josephus mentions,* who cry’d, woe to Jerusalem! a little before the Destruction of that City: So this poor naked Creature cry’d, O! the Great, and the Dreadful God! and said no more, but repeated those Words continually, with a Voice and Countenance full of horror, a swift Pace, and no Body cou’d ever find him to stop, or rest, or take any Sustenance, at least, that ever I cou’d hear of. I met this poor Creature several Times in the Streets, and would have spoke to him, but he would not enter into Speech with me, or any one else; but held on his dismal Cries continually.