A Journal of the Plague Year (Oxford World's Classics)

by Defoe, Daniel

  This, I say, took away all Compassion; self Preservation indeed appear’d here to be the first Law. For the Children ran away from their Parents, as they languished in the utmost Distress: And in some Places, tho’ not so frequent as the other, Parents did the like to their Children; nay, some dreadful Examples there were, and particularly two in one Week of distressed Mothers, raveing and distracted, killing their own Children; one whereof was not far off from where I dwelt; the poor lunatick Creature not living herself long enough to be sensible of the Sin of what she had done, much less to be punish’d for it.

  It is not indeed to be wondred at, for the Danger of immediate Death to ourselves, took away all Bowels of Love, all Concern for one another: I speak in general, for there were many Instances of immovable Affection, Pity, and Duty in many, and some that came to my Knowledg; that is to say, by here-say.

  For I shall not take upon me to vouch the Truth of the Particulars.

  To introduce one, let me first mention, that one of the most deplorable Cases, in all the present Calamity, was, that of Women with Child; who when they came to the Hour of their Sorrows, and their Pains came upon them, cou’d neither have help of one Kind or another; neither Midwife or Neighbouring Women to come near them; most of the Midwives were dead; especially, of such as serv’d the poor; and many, if not all the Midwives of Note were fled into the Country: So that it was next to impossible for a poor Woman that cou’d not pay an immoderate Price to get any Midwife to come to her, and if they did, those they cou’d get were generally unskilful and ignorant Creatures; and the Consequence of this was, that a most unusual and incredible Number of Women were reduc’d to the utmost distress. Some were deliver’d and spoil’d by the rashness and ignorance of those who pretended to lay them. Children without Number, were, I might say murthered by the same, but a more justifiable ignorance, pretending they would save the Mother, whatever became of the Child; and many Times, both Mother and Child were lost in the same Manner; and especially, where the Mother had the Distemper, there no Body would come near them, and both sometimes perish’d: Sometimes the Mother has died of the Plague; and the Infant, it may be half born, or born but not parted from the Mother. Some died in the very Pains of their Travail, and not deliver’d at all; and so many were the Cases of this Kind, that it is hard to Judge of them. Something of it will appear in the unusual Numbers which are put into the Weekly Bills (tho’ I am far from allowing them to be able to give any Thing of a full Account) under the Articles of

  Child-Bed.

  Abortive and Stilborn

  Chrisoms and Infants.

  Take the Weeks in which the Plague was most violent, and compare them with the Weeks before the Distemper began, even in the same Year: For Example:

  To the Disparity of these Numbers, is to be considered and allow’d for, that according to our usual Opinion, who were then upon the Spot, there were not one third of the People in the Town, during the Months of August and September, as were in the Months of January and February: In a Word, the usual Number that used to die of these three Articles; and as I hear, did die of them the Year before, was thus:

  This inequallity, I say, is exceedingly augmented, when the Numbers of People are considered: I pretend not to make any exact Calculation of the Numbers of People, which were at this Time in the City; but I shall make a probable Conjecture at that part by and by: What I have said now, is to explain the misery of those poor Creatures above; so that it might well be said as in the Scripture. Wo! be to those who are with Child; and to those which give suck in that Day.* For indeed, it was a Wo to them in particular.

  I was not conversant in many particular Families where these things happen’d; but the Out-cries of the miserable, were heard afar off. As to those who were with Child, we have seen some Calculation made, 291 Women dead in Child bed in nine Weeks; out of one third Part of the Number, of whom there usually dy’d in that Time, but 48 of the same Disaster. Let the Reader calculate the Proportion.

  There is no Room to doubt but the Misery of those that gave Suck was in Proportion as great. Our Bills of Mortality cou’d give but little Light in this; yet, some it did, there were several more than usual starv’d at Nurse, But this was nothing: The Misery was, where they were (1st) starved for want of a Nurse, the Mother dying, and all the Family and the Infants found dead by them, meerly for want; and if I may speak my Opinion, I do believe, that many hundreds of Poor helpless Infants perish’d in this manner, (2dly) Not starved (but poison’d) by the Nurse, Nay even where the Mother has been Nurse, and having receiv’d the Infection, has poison’d, that is, infected the Infant with her Milk, even before they knew they were infected themselves; nay, and the Infant has dy’d in such a Case before the Mother. I cannot but remember to leave this Admonition upon Record, if ever such another dreadful Visitation should happen in this City; that all Women that are with Child or that give Suck should be gone, if they have any possible Means out of the Place; because their Misery if infected, will so much exceed all other Peoples.

  I could tell here dismal Stories of living Infants being found sucking the Breasts of their Mothers, or Nurses, after they have been dead of the Plague. Of a Mother, in the Parish where I liv’d, who having a Child that was not well, sent for an Apothecary to View the Child, and when he came, as the Relation goes, was giving the Child suck at her Breast, and to all Appearance, was her self very well: But when the Apothecary came close to her, he saw the Tokens upon that Breast, with which she was suckling the Child. He was surpriz’d enough to be sure; but not willing to fright the poor Woman too much, he desired she would give the Child into his Hand; so he takes the Child, and going to a Cradle in the Room lays it in, and opening its Cloths, found the Tokens upon the Child too, and both dy’d before he cou’d get Home, to send a preventative Medicine to the Father of the Child, to whom he had told their Condition; whether the Child infected the Nurse-Mother, or the Mother the Child was not certain, but the last the most likely.

  Likewise of a Child brought Home to the Parents from a Nurse that had dy’d of the Plague; yet, the tender Mother would not refuse to take in her Child, and lay’d it in her Bosom, by which she was infected, and dy’d with the Child in her Arms dead also.

  It would make the hardest Heart move at the Instances that were frequently found of tender Mothers, tending and watching with their dear Children, and even dying before them, and sometimes taking the Distemper from them, and dying when the Child, for whom the affectionate Heart had been sacrificed, has got over it and escap’d.

  The like of a Tradesman in East-Smith-field, whose Wife was big with Child of her first Child, and fell in Labour, having the Plague upon her: He cou’d neither get Midwife to assist her, or Nurse to tend her; and two Servants which he kept fled both from her. He ran from House to House like one distracted, but cou’d get no help; the utmost he could get was, that a Watchman who attended at an infected House shut up, promis’d to send a Nurse in the Morning: The poor Man with his Heart broke, went back, assisted his Wife what he cou’d, acted the part of the Midwife; brought the Child dead into the World; and his Wife in about an Hour dy’d in his Arms, where he held her dead Body fast till the Morning, when the Watchman came and brought the Nurse as he had promised; and coming up the Stairs, for he had left the Door open, or only latched: They found the Man sitting with his dead Wife in his Arms; and so overwhelmed with Grief, that he dy’d in a few Hours after, without any Sign of the Infection upon him, but meerly sunk under the Weight of his Grief.

  I have heard also of some, who on the Death of their Relations, have grown stupid with the insupportable Sorrow, and of one in particular, who was so absolutely overcome with the Pressure upon his Spirits, that by Degrees, his Head sunk into his Body, so between his Shoulders, that the Crown of his Head was very little seen above the Bones of his Shoulders; and by Degrees, loseing both Voice and Sense, his Face looking forward, lay against his Collar-Bone, and cou’d not be kept up any otherwise, unless held up by the Hands of other People; an
d the poor Man never came to himself again, but languished near a Year in that Condition and died: Nor was he ever once seen to lift up his Eyes, or to look upon any particular Object.

  I cannot undertake to give any other than a Summary of such Passages as these, because it was not possible to come at the Particulars, where sometimes the whole Families, where such Things happen’d, were carry’d off by the Distemper: But there were innumerable Cases of this Kind, which presented to the Eye, and the Ear; even in passing along the Streets, as I have hinted above, nor is it easy to give any Story of this, or that Family, which there was not divers parallel Stories to [be] met with of the same Kind.

  But as I am now talking of the Time, when the Plague rag’d at the Easter-most Part of the Town; how for a long Time the People of those Parts had flattered themselves that they should escape; and how they were surprized, when it came upon them as it did; for indeed, it came upon them like an armed Man, when it did come. I say, this brings me back to the three poor Men, who wandered from Wapping, not knowing whither to go, or what to do, and who I mention’d before; one a Biscuit-Baker, one a Sail-Maker, and the other a Joiner; all of Wapping, or thereabouts.

  The Sleepiness and Security of that Part as I have observ’d, was such that they not only did not shift for themselves as others did; but they boasted of being safe, and of Safety being with them; and many People fled out of the City, and out of the infected Suburbs, to Wapping, Ratcliff, Lime-house, Poplar, and such Places, as to Places of Security; and it is not at all unlikely, that their doing this, help’d to bring the Plague that way faster, than it might otherwise have come. For tho’ I am much for Peoples flying away and emptying such a Town as this, upon the first Appearance of a like Visitation, and that all People that have any possible Retreat, should make use of it in Time, and begone; yet, I must say, when all that will fly are gone, those that are left and must stand it, should stand stock still where they are, and not shift from one End of the Town, or one Part of the Town to the other; for that is the Bane and Mischief of the whole, and they carry the Plague from House to House in their very Clothes.

  Wherefore, were we ordered to kill all the Dogs and Cats:* But because as they were domestick Animals, and are apt to run from House to House, and from Street to Street; so they are capable of carrying the Effluvia or Infectious Steams of Bodies infected, even in their Furrs and Hair; and therefore, it was that in the beginning of the Infection, an Order was published by the Lord Mayor, and by the Magistrates, according to the Advice of the Physicians; that all the Dogs and Cats should be imediately killed, and an Officer was appointed for the Execution.

  It is incredible, if their Account is to be depended upon, what a prodigious Number of those Creatures were destroy’d: I think they talk’d of forty thousand Dogs, and five times as many Cats, few Houses being without a Cat, and some having several, and sometimes five or six in a House. All possible Endeavours were us’d also to destroy the Mice and Rats, especially the latter; by laying Rats-Bane, and other Poisons for them, and a prodigious multitude of them were also destroy’d.

  I often reflected upon the unprovided Condition, that the whole Body of the People were in at the first coming of this Calamity upon them, and how it was for Want of timely entring into Measures, and Managements, as well publick as private, that all the Confusions that followed were brought upon us; and that such a prodigious Number of People sunk in that Disaster, which if proper Steps had been taken, might, Providence concurring, have been avoided, and which, if Posterity think fit, they may take a Caution, and Warning from: But I shall come to this Part again.

  I come back to my three Men: Their Story has a Moral in every Part of it, and their whole Conduct, and that of some who they join’d with, is a Pattern for all poor Men to follow, or Women either, if ever such a Time comes again; and if there was no other End in recording it, I think this a very just one, whether my Account be exactly according to Fact or no.

  Two of them are said to be Brothers, the one an old Soldier, but now a Biscuit Baker; the other a lame Sailor, but now a Sail-Maker; the Third a Joiner. Says John the Biscuit Baker, one Day to Thomas his Brother, the Sail-maker, Brother Tom, what will become of us? The Plague grows hot in the City, and encreases this way: What shall we do?

  Truly, says Thomas, I am at a great Loss what to do, for I find, if it comes down into Wapping, I shall be turn’d out of my Lodging: And thus they began to talk of it beforehand.

  John, Turn’d out of your Lodging, Tom! if you are, I don’t know who will take you in; for People are so afraid of one another now, there’s no getting a Lodging any where.

  Tho. Why? The People where I lodge are good civil People, and have Kindness enough for me too; but they say I go abroad every Day to my Work, and it will be dangerous; and they talk of locking themselves up, and letting no Body come near them.

  John, Why, they are in the right to be sure, if they resolve to venture staying in Town.

  Tho. Nay, I might e’en resolve to stay within Doors too, for, except a Suit of Sails that my Master has in Hand, and which I am just a finishing, I am like to get no more Work a great while; there’s no Trade stirs now; Workmen and Servants are turned off every where, so that I might be glad to be locked up too: But I do not see they will be willing to consent to that, any more than to the other.

  John, Why, what will you do then Brother? and what shall I do? for I am almost as bad as you; the People where I lodge are all gone into the Country but a Maid, and she is to go next Week, and to shut the House quite up, so that I shall be turn’d a drift to the wide World before you, and I am resolved to go away too, if I knew but where to go.

  Tho. We were both distracted we did not go away at first, then we might ha’ travelled any where; there’s no stirring now; we shall be starv’d if we pretend to go out of Town; they won’t let us have Victuals, no, not for our Money, nor let us come into the Towns, much less into their Houses.

  John, And that which is almost as bad, I have but little Money to help my self with neither.

  Tho. As to that we might make shift; I have a little, tho’ not much; but I tell you there’s no stirring on the Road. I know a Couple of poor honest Men in our Street have attempted to travel, and at Barnet, or Whetston, or there about, the People offered to fire at them if they pretended to go forward; so they are come back again quite discourag’d.

  John, I would have ventured their Fire, if I had been there; If I had been denied Food for my Money they should ha’ seen me take it before their Faces; and if I had tendred Money for it, they could not have taken any Course with me by Law.

  Tho. You talk your old Soldier’s Language, as if you were in the Low-Countries now, but this is a serious thing. The People have good Reason to keep any Body off, that they are not satisfied are sound, at such a Time as this; and we must not plunder them.

  John, No Brother, you mistake the Case, and mistake me too, I would plunder no Body; but for any Town upon the Road to deny me Leave to pass thro’ the Town in the open High-Way, and deny me Provisions for my Money, is to say the Town has a Right to starve me to Death, which cannot be true.

  Tho. But they do not deny you Liberty to go back again from whence you came, and therefore they do not starve you.

  John, But the next Town behind me will by the same Rule deny me leave to go back, and so they do starve me between them; besides there is no Law to prohibit my travelling wherever I will on the Road.

  Tho. But there will be so much Difficulty in disputing with them at every Town on the Road, that it is not for poor Men to do it, or to undertake it at such a Time as this is especially.

  John, Why Brother? Our Condition at this Rate is worse than any Bodies else; for we can neither go away nor stay here; I am of the same Mind with the Lepers of Samaria,* If we stay here we are sure to die; I mean especially, as you and I are stated, without a Dwelling-House of our own, and without Lodging in any Bodies else; there is no lying in the Street at such a Time as this; we had as good go into the Dead Car
t at once: Therefore I say, if we stay here we are sure to die, and if we go away we can but die: I am resolved to be gone.

  Tho. You will go away: Whither will you go? and what can you do? I would as willingly go away as you, if I knew whither: But we have no Acquaintance, no Friends. Here we were born, and here we must die.

  John, Look you Tom, the whole Kingdom is my Native Country as well as this Town. You may as well say, I must not go out of my House if it is on Fire, as that I must not go out of the Town I was born in, when it is infected with the Plague. I was born in England, and have a Right to live in it if I can.

  Tho. But you know every vagrant Person may by the Laws of England, be taken up, and passed back to their last legal Settlement.*

  John, But how shall they make me vagrant; I desire only to travel on, upon my lawful Occasions.

  Tho. What lawful Occasions can we pretend to travel, or rather wander upon, they will not be put off with Words.

  John, Is not flying to save our Lives, a Lawful Occasion! and do they not all know that the Fact is true: We cannot be said to dissemble.

  Tho, But suppose they let us pass, Whither shall we go?

  John, Any where to save our Lives: It is Time enough to consider that when we are got out of this Town. If I am once out of this dreadful Place I care not where I go.

  Tho. We shall be driven to great Extremities. I know not what to think of it.

  John, Well Tom, consider of it a little.

  This was about the Beginning of July,* and tho’ the Plague was come forward in the West and North Parts of the Town, yet all Wapping, as I have observed before, and Redriff, and Ratcliff, and Lime-House, and Poplar, in short, Deptford and Greenwich, all both Sides of the River from the Hermitage, and from over against it, quite down to Blackwall, was intirely free, there had not one Person died of the Plague in all Stepney Parish, and not one on the South Side of White-Chappel Road, no, not in any Parish; and yet the Weekly Bill was that very Week risen up to 1006.