A JOURNAL

OF

THE PLAGUE YEAR;

BEING

OBSERVATIONS OR MEMORIALS

OF

THE MOST REMARKABLE OCCURRENCES,

AS WELL PUBLIC AS PRIVATE,

WHICH HAPPENED IN LONDON DURING THE LAST GREAT VISITATION IN 1665.

WRITTEN BY A CITIZEN WHO CONTINUED ALL THE WHILE IN LONDON;

NEVER MADE PUBLIC BEFORE.

LONDON:

PRINTED FOR E. NUTT, AT THE ROYAL EXCHANGE; J. ROBERTS, IN WARWICK LANE;

A. DODD, WITHOUT TEMPLE BAR; AND J. GRAVES, IN ST JAMES'S STREET.

LONDON:

REPRINTED BY CHARLES REYNELL, LITTLE PULTENEY STREET;

AND

PUBLISHED BY J. CLEMENTS, AT 21 AND 22, IN THE SAME STREET.

MDCCCXL.

A JOURNAL

OF

THE PLAGUE YEAR.

It was about the beginning of September, 1664, ||
that I, among the rest of my neighbours, heard,||
in ordinary discourse, that the plague was re-
turned again in Holland; for it had been very
violent there, and particularly at Amsterdam and
Rotterdam, in the year 1663, whither they say it
was brought, some said from Italy, others from
the Levant, among some goods which were
brought home by their Turkey fleet; others said
it was brought from Candia; others from Cyprus.
It mattered not from whence it came; but all
agreed it was come into Holland again.

||

and began to be alarmed all over the town, and the more, because in the last week in December, 1664, another man died in the same house, and of the same distemper; and then we were easy again for about six weeks, when none having died with any marks of infection, it was said the distemper was gone; but after that, I think it was about the 12th of February, another died in another house, but in the same parish, and in the same manner.

This increase of the bills stood thus; the usual number of burials in a week, in the parishes of St Giles's in the Fields and St Andrew's, Holborn, were from 12 to 17 or 19 each, few more or less; but from the time that the plague first began in St Giles's parish, it was observed that the ordinary burials increased in number considerably. For example

This turned the people's eyes pretty much towards that end of the town; and the weekly bills We had no such thing as printed newspapers showing an increase of burials in St Giles's parish in those days to spread rumours and reports of more than usual, it began to be suspected that things; and to improve them by the invention the plague was among the people at that end of of men, as I have lived to see practised since. the town; and that many had died of it, though But such things as those were gathered from the they had taken care to keep it as much from the letters of merchants and others who corre-knowledge of the public as possible: this possponded abroad, and from them was handed sessed the heads of the people very much, and about by word of mouth only; so that things did few cared to go through Drury lane, or the other not spread instantly over the whole nation, as streets suspected, unless they had extraordinary they do now. But it seems that the government business that obliged them to it. had a true account of it, and several councils were held about ways to prevent its coming over; but all was kept very private. Hence it was that this rumour died off again, and people began to forget it, as a thing we were very little concerned in, and that we hoped was not true; till the latter end of November, or the beginning of December, 1664, when two men, said to be Frenchmen, died of the plague in Long acre, or The rather at the upper end of Drury lane. family they were in endeavoured to conceal it as much as possible; but as it had gotten some vent in the discourse of the neighbourhood, the secretaries of state got knowledge of it. concerning themselves to inquire about it, in order to be certain of the truth, two physicians and a surgeon were ordered to go to the house and make inspection. This they did; and finding evident tokens of the sickness upon both the bodies that were dead, they gave their opinions publicly, that they died of the plague; whereupon it was given into the parish clerk, and he also returned them to the hall; and it was printed in the weekly bill of mortality in the usual manner, thus:

Plague, 2.-Parishes infected, 1.

And

From Dec. 27 to Jan. 3.

St Giles's 16 St Andrew's 17 Jan. 3 to Jan. 10. St Giles's 12 St Andrew's 25 Jan. 10 to Jan. 17. St Giles's 18 St Andrew's 18 Jan. 17 to Jan. 24. St Giles's 23 St Andrew's 16 Jan. 24 to Jan. 31. St Giles's 24 St Andrew's 15 Jan. 31 to Feb. 7. St Giles's 21 St Andrew's 23 Feb. 7 to Feb. 14. St Giles's 24 whereof 1 of the plague.

The like increase of the bills was observed in the parishes of St Bride's, adjoining on one side of Holborn parish, and in the parish of St James's, Clerkenwell, adjoining on the other side of Hol

The people showed a great concern at this, born; in both which parishes the usual numbers