In the Raignes of William the Conquerour, Rufus, and Hen: 1. (his Brother,) Death walked vp and downe this Land in strange shapes: Men, Women, and Children, fell by the Pestilence: So great were the numbers of those who dyed, that the numbers of the liuing could harldy bury them. Cattell were stricken in the Feild, Birds drop’d from the Ayre, Fishes, perish’d in the Waters, Famine followed, Tillage went to Ruine, so that the Earth, which wont to feed others, had in the end no meate for her selfe.
Then, for foure Kings together, little mention is made of any deuouring mortality of people by the Pestilence; yet were there blazing Starres, Earthquakes, Stormes of Hayle, which kill’d Cattell, and beat downe Corne: with the Apparition of Spirits in the Ayre, in the likenesse of strange, vgly Fowle, flying with fire in theyr Beakes, and doing much mischiefe to Houses.
But presently after in the Raigne of Hen: 3. the Kingdome in generall was torne in pieces, by two Dragons, (Dearth, or want of victuals, and an exceeding great sweeping Plague.)
So, Edward the second, saw the fall of his people, and the famishing of his Countrey by the two fore-named Tyrants.
So, Edw. 3. in his long Raigne of fiftie yeeres, lamented the losse of his then warlike Nation, so struck downe by a Pestilent Contagion, that many who had he•l•h in the morning, lay in their Graues at night: Forty Bodies at one time, crowding in those cold Beds together, for want of more and better roome.
Thirteene yeares after, Death spread his Cullors againe, and then in that dismall Battell Henry Duke of Lancaster, his Dutchesse, and the Earle of Warwicke, fell vnder the cruell Conquerours hands.
Besides in one yeare, in a plot of ground, being at that time in Compasse, thirteene Acres, (then called Spittle-Croft, or the Charter-house, founded by Gualter Manny Knight of the Garter, who there lyes Intoomb’d,) were buried 50000. Persons, besides those who tooke vp their euerlasting lodgings in other places. In this yeare, the Blacke Rod smarted deeply: The Sword of Diuine Iustice had a sharpe terrible edge, and where it hit, it strucke home.
Few of the then following Kings, but had their Subjects snatched from them by these hot and speeding calamities. We will now, (omitting all the rest) looke onely, at these two great Plagues indeed, (fresh, too fresh in our memories) the first, beginning when Q. Elizabeth left vs, and that K. Iames, tooke vs to be his people: The second, when K. Iames tooke his way to Heauen, and left both all his Kingdomes, and their mighty Nations, to his Royall Sonne, our most gracious Soueraigne King Charles, whose yeares the great Arithmetician of Heauen, multiply, and blesse the numbers, till they bee all golden ones. But, let vs now draw our Arrowes, to the Marke we ayme at; Those two last Visitations, this Hydra-Sicknesse with so many Heads, The Plague! Why carryes it the Name of Plague? Plaga signifies a stripe, and this Sicknesse, comes with a blow, or stripe, giuen by the hand of Gods Angell, when (as he did to Dauid) he sends him to strike a people for their sins.
Our sinnes therefore, were and are the Whirlewinds, breaking open Iehouahs Armory, and forcing him (the better to keepe vs from further Rebellion) to shoot his fiery and consuming indignation against vs. He hath seuerall sorts of weapons; seuerall Punishments, for seuerall Offences.
When Q. Elizabeth departed, and went on her Progresse to Heauen; what a Traine followed her! How many thousands of Coffins, wayted on her Herse! ’Tis fit, at the Deaths of great Princes, that there should be a great number of Mourners. And so, at the comming in of new Kings, there is a kind of State to be obserued, that multitudes of the old Subiects, who haue done seruice to their Country before, should giue way to others, to step into their places.
At the Arriuall therefore of King Iames, vpon this, his Crowne-Land, God beate a Path (narrow at first, though it stretched wider) to lead vs by the hand as it were, to this Funerall Ceremony of dying Subiects.
We were at the Coronation of our new King, (King Iames) not a new Nation, but the selfe-same stiffe-necked people we were before. As mighty in our sinnes, as in our Multitudes. Roome therefore must be made; for our sins were so Ru••ianly, and such roaring Boyes, they did nothing but iustle one another for the wall, to try, which sinne should haue the vpper hand.
The Thunderer looking downe vpon this, was loath, to shoot his Arrowes feathered with Lightning, and headed with Vengeance, vtterly to confound the Mis-dooer. No; Pitty stood in his eyes, and Compassion lean’d vpon his Bosome. So that spying two Rods lying before him, A White one, and a Blacke, the Blacke he threw by, till he should haue time (by compulsion) to vse it; And then, taking vp the white Rod, he lay’d it gently, vpon the head onely of one, who forthwith dyed of the Plague: And this was on the thirteenth of Ianuary, in the yeare 1602. Now almost twenty eight yeares agoe.
There dyed then but one of the Plague! O sparing Mercy! From such a huge Tree (as London is,) so laden with all sorts of Fruit, but one Apple to drop to the ground! No more to be shaken downe! But one windfall! A Mountainous Quarry of stony hearts, to haue but one poore pibble, digg’d away!
In the next weeke (that yeere) soft Mercy forgot the white Rod too and strucke None, None at all; Not One! In the Weeke after, foure felt the smart: Then 1. againe. Then none againe: then 3. then none: then 3. then 2. then 3. then 2. then 6. then 4. then 4. and then 8. So that in 15. Weekes, which by this time reached to the end of Aprill, there dyed of the Plague but 39. This was the Rod of Mercy, the white Rod, the Fatherly Correction! It goes on a little quicker; for then the Number swelling vp, and increasing by Tens, amounted in Iune (23. day) to 72. (the highest;) So there dyed in these other 9. weekes, the full number of 297.
It increased then to hundreds weekely, so that in Iuly there dyed 917. in one weeke here. The white Rod, (no amendment in our liues being seene) was for a time layd by, and the blacke officer of Death, comming abroad, thousands were stricken downe euery weeke: So that from Iuly 28. to October 13. being 12. weekes, were buried, twenty fiue thousand, sixe hundred and sixe. Here, the Diuine Iustice, sate in her full Throne, roab’d in Scarlet, with a face threatning Terrors.
But Mercy then step’d in, and held hands with Iustice, so that a Retreat was sounded; The terrible Execution, was not so hotly pursued; The Pestilentiall Enemy, retyr’d a little, and fell backe, yet so; that from October the 20. to Decemb. the 1. being seauen weekes, there dyed 600. and odde, 500. and odde, 400.200.100. and odde still euery weeke. And then abated againe to tens, (as at first it did rise by tens,) the greatest number of the Dead, in December 22. being onely 74.
So that in all these maine Battels, Seidges, Sallyes, Batteries, and skyrmishes; (Continuing for a whole yeare together, in and about London, (then the most desolate of Cities,) there dyed, of all Diseases, 38244. Out of which number the Plague challenged, 30578. for her share: yet the yeare immediately following, (Giue thankes (ô noble Troynouant) giue thankes) thou then didst freely walke vp, and downe in health, when all thy Neighbours and Friends (when all the Shires in England) were mortally beleaguer’d by the same furious Enemy.
Now, as when Q. Elizabeth resigned her Crowne and Scepter to King Iames, and that he fate in the Throne, all these changes were visibly seene: So, when the Royall Father went to rest, and that his most Princely Sonne (CHARLES, our Royall succeeding King, and now gracious Soueraigne) was the Top-branch, of the Tree, (Nay, the Caedar it selfe,) A second Angell was sent downe, to turne ouer the Audit-Bookes of our Transgressions.
And finding London (for her part) to be run out, in deepe Arrerages, she was not too suddainly nor too Rigorously call’d vpon, but the Steward of Gods Court, (Mercy) pointing with her white wand, onely at One, set a fine of Death vpon his head, and that party was taken from thence on the sixth of Ianuary, Anno 1624. And this was the first Weekes worke of the Plague for that yeare. It began at One.
Death then had little to doe within the Walles or without, for his Infections, by the space of 12. weekes following; In which time there dyed no more but 26. of the Sicknesse. And then for 11. weekes following the former, it amounted to 480. The other foure weeks succeeding them, (wherein they fel
l by hundreds,) could shew in their Bils, of all Diseases, 3314, out of which the Plague tooke 1387.
And all these three Reckonings, grew to this last heighth, from the sixth of Ianuary, Anno 1624. to the 7. of Iuly, Anno 1625. being fully seauen and twenty weekes. But then on the 14. of Iuly, (being the same Moneth) the dead Marches began to come in by thousands in a company.
Obserue therefore in what dreadfull Equipage, the two Armies of both our Kings, (I meane King IAMES, and King CHARLES,) went along to those fearefull Encounters.
King IAMES. 1603.
28. Iuly.
1728
1496
4. August.
2256
1922
11. August.
2077
1745
18. Aug.
3054
2713
25. Aug.
2853
2539
1. Septemb.
3385
3035
8. Septemb.
3078
2724
15. Sept.
3129
2818
22. Sept.
2456
2195
29. Sept.
1961
1732
6. October.
1831
1641
13. October.
1312
1146
In all.
Plague
29120
25606
King CHRLES. 1625.
14. Iuly.
1741
1004
21. Iuly.
2850
1819
28. Iuly.
3583
2471
4. August.
4517
3659
11. Aug.
4855
4115
18. Aug.
3205
4463
25. Aug.
4841
4218
1. Septemb.
3897
3344
8. Septemb.
3157
2550
14. Sept.
2148
1672
22. Sept.
1994
1561
In all.
Plague.
38788
30876
So, by this Accompt, there fell in that great ouerthrow giuen to King Iames his Subjects, for 12. Weeks together, (when they drop’d downe by thousands) the full number of twenty nine thousand, one hundred and twenty: The terror and cruelty of the Plague sweeping from that number, twenty fiue thousand, sixe hundred and sixe.
But in that lamentable defeature of Bodies, which fell vpon vs in the raigne of K. Charles, Anno 1624. to the end of that yeere in 1625. There dyed in all, (within the Compasse of eleuen Weeks, thirty eight thousand, seauen hundred fourescore and eight: of which the blacke Rod of Pestilence smote, thirty thousand, eight hundred seauenty and sixe. The difference of the numbers in those twelue Weekes in King Iames his Raigne, and those eleuen in that yeere of King Charles, being: 14. thousand, nine hundred, thirty and eight: The latter exceeding the former (in a few weekes) by so much. The number of all the dead for those two yeares of the two Kings, Amounting to one hundred fifty, eight thousand, fiue hundred and foure.
Now, if within so small a Compasse, as a Citty, and the adiacent places, so many went out of the world, how many millions, did the whole Kingdome loose!
But note the exceeding, Incomprehensible loue of a Father to vs his Children; The mildnesse and Mercy, of our Iudge! On the 22. of December, which ended that yeere of 1604. (going on to 1605.) there was strucke but one: It began with one, and ended with one. O iust and euen Ballance, of the Heauenly Compassion! How much are we in Thankes indebted (for more we are not able to pay) for this wonderfull sparing vs, Now, in this third Visitation! In that former yeares Iuly, about this time, there dyed 2471. of the Sicknesse; Now (praised be Heauen) the greatest number is but sixty seauen. Here was a Fall! There is a Fauour.
In the end, this fall from such a great number to one, came to nothing,- (A Cypher.) And so continued a long time. Heauen held out a Flagge of Truce, and all was quiet; The Bils proclaimed no such mortall wars; The Sexton opened some few Graues for common Diseases, to lye in, and for fiue yeares together, the burning Pestilence, had not kindled her fires amongst vs
Yet in that interim of yeares, other calamities afflicted vs; Warres eate vp many of our Gallants, the Sea swallowed others; Quarrels tooke away some, by the fatall stabbe or desperate fighting in the Feild. We haue but one doore, at which we come into the World, but a thousand Gates (set wide open) to send vs out of it. For such ill bargaines doe we make with life, that the Body and the Soule, being deere Partners, and setting vp together, doe euery day, by many deuises, plots, and conspiracies vndoe one another.
What one sinne, Vice or ill custome, since the Departure of the last great Sicknesse is gone out of the Kingdome, or hath forsaken the City?
Fasting and Prayer, (whilst Gods Artillery shot off, and battered downe the Wals of our flesh, making breaches into the liues and estates of thousands) Ran euery weeke to the holy Temples. Much Condoling, there was, much crying for Mercy, and mercy came downe. But where is fasting now, vnlesse with those that are almost staru’d with hunger? At how few mens dores sits Charity? Yet are there great numbers of Religious, Godly, and Faithfull Relieuers of the Poore: But take all this City in a lumpe together, and how little true Charity, true Loue, true Christianity, true Friendship is there one to another? What cruelty dwels in our hearts, if we catch a man (by Law) at aduantage? How doe we grinde his Bones, and gnaw his heart in peeces? How doe Tradesmen enuy one another? How doe Gentlemen vndoe themselues and their Posterities by Ryots? How doe an infinite number of Schollers complaine of want? How doe Souldiers gape after spoyle! What Couetous Farmer, but is glad of a deere yeare? A dearth of Corne makes such Cormorants Fat? Is not Pride, (which fiue yeares agoe shew’d not her face in the Citty, being afraid of the Plague) now to bee seene jetting vp and downe in euery street! Does not the Drunkard that was then, haunt still the same Tauernes!
The Body is both the Caroach, in which, the Soule (being the Queene of life) rides, and the Coachman too, that driues her from one place to another, from one wickednesse to a worse; And the Horses, that draw vs, are our wilde passions, or our intemperate desires. Our sinnes with a Dyals motion, leade vs to destruction, in a soft pace, but insensible: Our Ruines steale vpon vs with woolly feet, all the time it comes after vs, but being ouertaken, It smites home: for, sinne is such a Boone companion, it goes to Bed with vs, and all night sits waking, on those very Pillowes, on which we lay our heads: when we rise, It makes vs ready, waytes when we goe forth, followes vs all day, and is more seruile, more fawning, more flattering then a slaue; And neuer goes in mourning, till he sees vs going to our Graues.
The Soule is the Mistresse, the Body the Chambermaid, that rules that Mistresse; if the Soule sayes, I will rise, and doe good to day: O sayes the Chambermaid you are young enough, lye longer, take your ease, be merry, and care for nothing; Twenty yeeres hence you may doe these pious deeds, and by this wicked Councell of the Mayd, the Mistresse pulls backe her hand.
Thus from time to time, we deferre doing well, and thus from houre to houre, we headlong run vpon our owne miseries.
This being perceiued by him, whose eye measures all mens Actions. Now againe, (this yeare) hath he opened his Quiuer, and is still shooting the blacke and dismall Arrowes of the Pestilence, both at Country, and City: In many places of the Country, these darts of Contagion sticke vp to the very feathers; some harts haue beene strucke quite through here in the City, yet nothing to that Army which fell in the last Plague.
This began in March last, and then, from the eleuenth day of March, to the eighteenth, it rise to foure. The totall of all that dyed that weeke, being 153. And of the Christenings 187. So that 34. came into the World more then went out of it.
So that in 8. of the greatest Weekes of sicknesse this Summer, (omitting the rest) there haue dyed of all Diseases, within London (being 97. Parishes within the Walles,) and the nine out-Parishes, and the Pest-house 1593.
Of the Plague in those 8. Weekes, 165. to which adde 54. of the sicknesse last Weeke, and 67. this Bartholmew weeke, it maketh 286.
Of Children in that short time, 402. of Consumptions some 300.
And to repaire these losses and ruines amongst vs, obserue the numbers of Children christened, which in those few weeks amount to 1434. out of which deduct 402. buried, there remaines 1032. aliue. Then take that Number from the former 1594. of all diseases, there haue for these 8. Weekes but 561. departed out of the World more than are come into it: Westminster being not reckoned in this Accompt, The Burials there being very few, Neither is the greatest number of dead Bodies formerly set downe, so terrible as so to hurt, spartle, and afflict so mighty and populous a City, as we see it does, but that Country Townes round about, are infected, and for that cause onely are Faires and Concurses of People forbidden, for feare the Contagion by Throngs meeting together, (mingled with some infected Persons) should increase.
In the former passages of this yeares sicknesse, Note the great Mercy of God extended to Infants, in calling such a number of them to Heauen, because he would haue that place glorified with some white pure, and vnspotted Soules, snatched from the Societie of the wicked.
Complete Dramatic Works of Thomas Dekker Page 264