Due Preparations for the Plague (1722): And, Mere Nature Delineated (1726) [5] 1851967230, 9781851967230

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WRITINGS ON TRAVEL, DISCOVERY AND HISTORY BY DANIEL DEFOE General Editors: W. R. Owens and P. N. Furbank

Volume 5: DUE PREPARATIONS FOR THE PLAGUE (1722) and MERE NATURE DELINEATED (1726) Edited by Andrew Wear

LONDON

PICKERING & CHATTO 2002

Published by Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited 21 Bloomsbury Way, London, WCIA 2TH Old Post Road, Brookfield, Vermont 05036, USA www.pickeringchatto.com All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without prior permission of the publisher. Copyright © Pickering & Chatto (Publishers) Limited 2002 BRITISH LIBRARY CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION DATA

Defoe, Daniel, 1660 or 1–1731 Writings on Travel, Discovery and History by Daniel Defoe Part 2 editors, W. R. Owens, P. N. Furbank. – (The Pickering Masters) 1. Defoe, Daniel, 1660 or 1–1731 – Journeys 2. Great Britain – Description and travel 3. Great Britain – History – 18th century I. Title II. Owens, W. R. III. Furbank, P. N. (Philip Nicholas) 914.1’071 ISBN 1851967230

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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING - IN - PUBLICATION DATA A catalogue record for this title is available from the Library of Congress

This publication is printed on acid-free paper that conforms to the American National Standard for the Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials Typeset by P&C Printed by Cromwell Press, Trowbridge

CONTENTS

Acknowledgements Introduction Due Preparations for the Plague (1722)

vi 1 27

Mere Nature Delineated (1726)

151

Explanatory notes Textual notes Index

233 255 257

v

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to thank Dr David Aickin who researched and wrote up many of the notes to this volume; his expert assistance was invaluable. I would also like to thank the general editors of the series, W. R. Owens and P. N. Furbank, who have given me the benefit of their immense knowledge of Defoe. Their comments on early drafts were extremely useful.

vi

INTRODUCTION

Events often shaped Daniel Defoe’s writings. The first treatise in this volume, Due Preparations for the Plague (1722), was written in response to an outbreak of plague in France in 1720 that appeared to threaten England. The second, Mere Nature Delineated (1726), was written on the occasion of the discovery in 1725 of a young boy in the forests near Hanover who appeared to have grown up having had no contact with human beings. Defoe’s journalistic sense shows itself in these two works, yet there is much more in them than journalistic sensationalism. In the 1720s Defoe was in his sixties. His turbulent and complicated political career lay in the past. As a writer he was at the height of his literary powers. Robinson Crusoe was published in 1719, The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders left the press in January 1722, and A Journal of the Plague Year appeared around 15–17 March 1722, just after Due Preparations for the Plague which was on sale on the 6–8 February. Between 1722 and the appearance of Mere Nature Delineated in 1726 Defoe’s productivity showed no signs of diminishing. He published the first volume of A Tour thro’ the Whole Island of Great Britain (1724), A New Voyage Round the World (1724), as well as his social commentary on the servant-master relationship in The Great Law of Subordination (1724), EveryBody’s Business is No-Body’s Business (1725), A General History of Discoveries and Improvements (1725–6) and The Political History of the Devil (1726). By the 1720s Defoe had clearly become a highly versatile writer. As well as novels, travelogues and adventure stories he had written a wealth of political pamphlets, the first two religious-conduct volumes of The Family Instructor (1715, 1718) which flowed from his Dissenting beliefs, and a number of essays upon trade culminating in The Complete English Tradesman (1726). Paula Backscheider, in Daniel Defoe: His Life, sees Defoe turning more and more towards conduct literature in the early 1720s with Religious 1

Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5

Courtship (1722) and Due Preparations for the Plague having much in common with the discussion of conduct and of expected duties in Moll Flanders and Colonel Jack published in the same year.1 Certainly, Due Preparations for the Plague was a sober exposition of the practical precautions that the head of a family could take to avoid plague and also of how a Christian should prepare for death. Due Preparations for the Plague can be divided into four parts. In the first Defoe discusses what measures ought to be taken to prevent plague, and weighs up the value of the French measures which the British government proposed to copy. Defoe then moves from discussing national policy to, unusally for a plague treatise, narrating the stories of two families living in London during the Great Plague of 1665. In the first story he shows how plague can be avoided when a family, whose experiences are based upon those of several families, isolates itself from all contact with the outside world. He then discusses how one should prepare oneself spiritually for death. Defoe recounts the story of another family. Some of its members were willing to prepare themselves for death well before the plague arrived in their neighbourhood, whilst one, the elder brother, could not bring himself to do so. The fourth part of the book describes the adventures of this family when they fled from plague by taking refuge in a ship. Defoe drew upon the past, especially upon the last outbreak of plague, that of 1665, when he discussed the course and consequences of the disease. In 1665 Defoe would have been five years old and might have a few memories of the plague; most of his readers would have had none. This is not surprising. After the great European outbreak of plague of 1347–51, the Black Death as it later came to be called, plague outbreaks usually occurred every twenty or thirty years. A generation, or more than one generation as in the years between 1665 and 1722, could grow up with no experience of plague. Doctors, likewise might have never seen a plague case.2 Due Preparations for the Plague and A Journal of the Plague Year were thus designed to remind Defoe’s readers what plague was about. Together with the religious and medical treatises published at the time they are part of a process of cultural recollection. 1 Paula Backscheider, Daniel Defoe: His Life (Baltimore, 1989), pp. 505–8. 2 See, for instance, George Starkey, Nature’s Explication and Helmont’s Vindication (London, 1657), p. 254. He declared that as he had no experience of plague he would not write about it; Thomas Willis, ‘Of Fevers’ in Dr Willis’s Practice of Physick, trans. S. Pordage (London, 1684), p. 111: ‘Concerning the Plague, we cannot so readily write Examples and Histories of sick persons, with exact Diaries of the Symptomes; because these kind of Sicknesses came not every year…’

2

Introduction

Plague was a dramatic disease. It killed enormous numbers. Around a fifth of London’s population died in the plagues of 1563, 1603, 1625 and 1665 (less in the outbreaks of 1578, 1593 and 1636), a third of Norwich’s population died in 1579 and even more in Newcastle in 1636 and in Colchester in 1666.3 The symptoms of plague were horrific. Plague treatises reported that some victims died quickly and suddenly without symptoms,4 but most experienced the intense agonies of the buboes, the swellings in the neck, armpits or groin that drove people mad with pain so that some ran out naked in the streets or jumped from windows. The disease would run its course over the span of a few days until in the late stages the body became marked with the deadly plague ‘tokens’, the red, purple and blue spots that presaged certain death. Some would escape the tokens and recover, but they were in the minority. Plague also dramatically illustrated the breakdown of social and cultural order. The same elements of disorder that Boccaccio described as happening in Florence in 1348 were to be repeated in nearly every subsequent outbreak of plague.5 Those who could do so fled. The well-to-do with houses or relatives in the countryside left the city, and the absence of the governing classes rendered the city rudderless. Family obligations were broken, spouses deserted each other, children their parents and vice-versa. The sheer numbers of the dead overwhelmed the space available for normal burials. Instead, mass burial in communal pits was used. Thus the individualised religious ceremony of burial that symbolised the cultural management of death and expressed the link between this world and the next disappeared. Defoe, like Thomas Dekker, the great English writer on plague before him, took full advantage of the dramatic possibilities presented by plague.6 For instance, he described how the first family isolated from the rest of London ‘heard a Bell go ringing Nightly along the Streets, but knew not what it meant’, and how the porter that stood outside their house told them that a bell-man with a cart was carrying away the dead bodies. Defoe then explains:

3 Paul Slack, The Impact of Plague in Tudor and Stuart England (London, 1985), pp. 14– 16, 145–51; Roger Finlay, Population and Metropolis: the Demography of London 1580–1650 (Cambridge, 1981), pp. 17, 112. 4 See, for instance, Stephen Bradwell, A Watch-man for the Pest (London, 1625), To the Reader A2r-v. 5 Giovanni Boccaccio, The Decameron (1348–51), Introduction. See Philip Ziegler, The Black Death (London, 1969), pp. 43–53 for an excellent discussion of Boccaccio’s account. 6 See F.P. Wilson (ed.), The Plague Pamphlets of Thomas Dekker (Oxford, 1925).

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Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5 it was indeed impossible to Bury so many in the ordinary way, for there died four Thousand People in five Weeks time in that Parish [Cripplegate]; so that neither cou’d Coffins be made or Graves dug for them, or even Churchyards be found to lay them in, so … they dug vast Pits, and threw the Bodies into them Nightly by Cart-loads, always covering those with Earth in the Morning, who were thrown in over Night, and then next Night throwing in more Bodies and more Earth, and so on till the Pit was fill’d; so that as it was reported by the Parish Officers about 2200 People were thrown into one of those Pits.7

The anonymity of mass burial would have evoked horror in Defoe’s readers, as would ‘that dismal Cry, Bring out your Dead’ uttered by the bell man between twelve and one at night that was heard by the elder brother in the second family (p. 136). Such horror in the presence of plague was one reason why Defoe urged his readers to prepare their minds for death well before the advent of plague and the lonely death that followed. In doing so he further evoked the terror of plague. When ‘the Visitation [of plague] begins’ there will be no time for repentance: all will be fill’d with Horror and Desolation, every one mourning for himself; no Composure, no Compassion, no Affection; none to Comfort, none to Assist; nothing but Death in all its most dismal Shapes, and in its most frightful Appearances. (p. 95)

Pain would also hinder repentance: ‘what calling upon God in the Agonies of a Plague Swelling’ (p. 111). Fear and horror mixed with the breakdown of social norms run through Due Preparations for the Plague. Their presence makes sense of the obsessive precautions taken by the first family to cut themselves off from any contact with the outside world and of the second family’s intense need for religious succour.

Prevention of Plague and Public Policy In the beginning of Due Preparations for the Plague Defoe argues very strongly against the government’s proposed method of preventing plague. In 1720 as plague devastated Marseilles, Walpole asked the celebrated physician Richard Mead for advice. Mead recommended to the government a policy of strict quarantine of shipping and of towns backed by military 7 Due Preparations for the Plague, below, pp. 66–7.

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Introduction

force. The Quarantine Act of January 1721 put these recommendations into effect. As in France, ‘Lines’ of soldiers were to surround infected towns. The sick were to be moved into pesthouses, by force if necessary; and attempts to evade quarantine could be punished by death. Although there were a number of anonymous medical treatises and one by the little known George Pye which argued that plague was not contagious and so quarantine was not required, the vociferous opposition to the Quarantine Act was political. The Levant Company complained about the destruction of trade, the City of London argued about the cost of building pesthouses, whilst Tories and rebellious Whigs labelled the measures ‘French’ and an affront to English liberties. Such combined opposition led Walpole to secure the repeal of the penal clauses of the Act, though not quarantine itself, in February 1722, around the time that Due Preparations for the Plague was published.8 Defoe’s book was, therefore, overtaken by events and his complaints about the proposed exercise of coercive force in England along the French model became less relevant. Nevertheless, how to prevent plague was a perennial question. Defoe went beyond condemning the cruelty and ineffectiveness of the French measures and of the Quarantine Act. He proposed his own solution. Although he attacked Mead’s draconian quarantine measures, he agreed with Mead that the plague was contagious. The belief had been long held. At the time of the Black Death civic authorities and the general population quickly came to believe that plague was contagious. Its rapid spread made the conclusion inevitable. The university-educated ‘learned’ physicians took longer to agree, as the concept of contagion was largely unknown to the Greek medical writers, the source of university medical knowledge. By the sixteenth century, however, most physicians also believed that plague was contagious. During this period another theory was developed as to the cause of plague which became merged with contagion. Miasma, evil-smelling putrid poisonous air from cesspits, sewers, rubbish dumps and other sources of filth and putrefaction as well as from swamps was believed to carry plague. One could catch plague, therefore, from person to person contact (a plague victim was thought to breathe out miasmic fumes) or from sources of dirt and putrefaction. In addition, the plague agent was often thought to lodge in clothes and goods. The twin pillars of preventative policy were quarantine of people and goods and the clean-up of environmental sources of dirt and putrefaction. These policies were first put into effect on an organised basis by the North Italian states. Venice, 8 Slack, Impact of Plague, pp. 327–37. See also Charles F. Mullett, The Bubonic Plague and England (Lexington, 1956), pp. 268–77.

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Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5

Florence, Genoa and Milan set up temporary health boards, and by the early sixteenth century had made them permanent.9 England never established a health board although in 1631, Charles I’s physician, Theodore Turquet de Mayerne, was to recommend that one be set up. In its absence, the State took advice from the London College of Physicians, and individual physicians like Mead. In 1578 the Privy Council finally initiated nationwide measures against plague. Its Plague Orders, which were repeated at every plague outbreak with little change until 1666, emphasised that plague was contagious and underlined the need to isolate plague victims. The Orders denied that miasma caused plague, but medical treatises and the Advice of the London College of Physicians appended to the Orders stressed both contagion and miasma, and saw both people and places as sources of contagion. In this way contagionist and miasmatic causes seemed to merge together. However, in response to Mead’s strong contagionist views, which he publicised together with his advice on quarantine in A Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion and the Methods to be used to Prevent it (1720), Pye and others substituted miasma for contagion and denied that plague was spread by person to person contact. Defoe strongly disagreed; he was adamant that plague was contagious. He wrote ‘There are infinite Numbers perish in a Plague, that is true, and this convinces us that it is a Contagion convey’d from and catch’d of one another’ (p. 82). Defoe pointed out that ‘the whole Christian World’ (p. 85) believed plague to be contagious, having earlier reminded his readers, in what was a standard rejoinder to critics of plague measures, that only the infidel Turks took no precautions. They fatalistically waited upon God’s will and ‘upon Principles of Predestination, Visit their Friends when the Plague is upon them, go promiscuously and unconcern’d one among another upon their ordinary Occasions …’ (p. 51).10 Defoe’s preferred method of preventing the spread of plague was based upon ‘separating the People as much as possible from one another’. His solution was original. He accepted what actually happened during plague 9 See Carlo M. Cipolla, Public Health and the Medical Profession in the Renaissance (Cambridge, 1976), pp. 11–18. 10 The same point is made several times in Defoe’s A Journal of the Plague Year. For example, H.F.’s brother relates how ‘the Turks and Mahometans in Asia and other places… presuming upon their profess’d predestinating Notions, and of every Man’s End being predetermin’d and unalterably before-hand decreed, they would go unconcern’d into infected Places, and converse with infected Persons, by which Means they died at the Rate of Ten or Fifteen Thousand a Week’. See A Journal of the Plague Year, ed. Louis Landa (Oxford, 1972), p. 11.

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Introduction

and turned it into a means of prevention. He wrote that quarantine was cruel as it condemned the well to catch plague from the sick, and was analogous to the previous policy of household quarantine or ‘shutting up’ the healthy with plague victims (discussed below). To allow flight and not to hinder the instinct for self-preservation was humane, and it was also, argued Defoe, an efficient means of preventing plague. It diffused the dense population of towns and cities thinly across the countryside, and by putting space between people made it less easy for plague to spread. However, Defoe was a realist. He accepted that usually only the well-todo were able to flee. The problem was the poor. They did not have the resources to escape. They lacked the savings of the wealthy, houses in the countryside, and relatives able to support them. The destitute poor faced starvation if they fled to the countryside and intense hostility from villagers who feared the spread of plague.11 Moreover, the Poor Laws helped to ensure that the poor would stay put. Support to the destitute poor from the parish rates was only given to those who had been born in the parish or were long-stay residents; newcomers would be refused relief, whipped and sent back to their parish of birth. The poor fleeing from plague could not expect to be given any welfare provision. Defoe argued that London’s poor should be dispersed by any means possible. The parish authorities could subsidise the travel of the parish-born poor to relatives if they had any. The poor who did not belong to a parish should be sent back to their own parish. Defoe stressed that it was important to send the children of ‘the poorer and middling sort of People remov’d at such a time … into Places of Health and Air’ (p. 43). Private charity and state funds should be raised, argued Defoe, in support of such a scheme. The result of not having one child under fourteen left in the city and clearing London of the poor would preserve the city’s health as well as that of those who had been evacuated out of it. There was another reason why Defoe focused upon the poor. They were seen as a source of the plague. By the late fifteenth century plague had become associated in the minds of the civic authorities of Florence with the poor. In England by the later sixteenth century poverty and plague were also being linked to each other.12 Plague appeared to be most rife in the overcrowded and filthy areas where the poor lived. This, together with the 11 For accounts of the cruelty of country people see Thomas Dekker, The Wonderfull Yeare (1603) and A Rod for Run-awayes (1625) in Wilson, Plague Pamphlets; also V. B. The Run-awayes Answer ([London?], 1625). 12 Ann G. Carmichael, Plague and the Poor in Renaissance Florence (Cambridge, 1986), pp. 1, 103–7, 123–6; Slack, Impact of Plague, pp. 194–5, 304–6.

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Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5

flight of many of the wealthy, meant that it was the poor that were seen to suffer the most. Plague in 1665 was called the ‘Poors Plague’.13 The large numbers of poor plague victims meant that in terms of person to person contagion the poor became prime suspects as sources of the disease. Moreover, in the light of the merged contagion-miasma theory the poor were seen as capable of generating plague. Secular and medical authorities believed that as the bodies of the poor, their environments and ways of life were filthy, putrid and sinful, they could produce the putrid poisonous plague miasma. In this sense, the poor were seen to be as dangerous as cesspits, sewers and dunghills. Defoe mentions the filthy living conditions of the poor. In parts of Due Preparations for the Plague he urges that the city be cleaned up and writes ‘that these unwholesome Smells and unclean filthy places are a Cause and an Increase of the Infection’. He also repeats the traditional association between filthy environments, personal physical and spiritual intemperance and the plague (p. 47). Yet, in order to make his scheme for the dispersal of the population convincing, Defoe wrote that plague could not be transmitted any great distance in the air. Moreover, he carefully pointed out that though the poor could be infected and infect others, the poor did not produce the plague de novo: It is not so much the Poor living close and not cleanly that Infects them, their dirty Clothes and uncomfortable Lodgings, and hard Fare, does not give them the Plague, does not Infect them, if so, they would never be without it; I will not say but it makes their Cure more difficult, and want of Food and of Physick [medicine] makes them sink under it, when they have it … (p. 80)

Defoe was not so original that he could consider reforming the living conditions of the poor as the public health movement began to do in the next century.14 But working within the social framework of the time Defoe was able to reconceptualise the role of the poor in a plague outbreak. He was also able to formulate new practical measures that would preserve the health of both the rich and the poor.

13 Nathaniel Hodges, Loimologia: Or an Historical Account of the Plague in London in 1665 (London, 1720), p.15. This was a translation by John Quincy of Hodges’ 1672 Latin text. 14 However, in plague epidemics, the authorities issued orders to prevent building and overcrowding in London, and attempted to stop the rental of rooms, which were often packed tight with people. Walter Bell, The Great Plague of London (first. edn, 1924; London 1994), pp. 25–84; F.P. Wilson, The Plague in Shakespeare’s London (Oxford, 1927), pp. 24–6.

8

Introduction

The Isolation of the Sick The isolation of the sick was a contentious issue. It also evoked one of the enduring images of horror associated with the plague: the locking up of the healthy with the sick and their lonely deaths. It was an image that had not paled since the last outbreak of plague in 1665, though the government in 1720–22 did not envisage household quarantine. Mead had argued that plague victims should be moved from their houses to pesthouses.15 Defoe, who reflected the popular view that Mead’s advice threatened the liberty of the subject, wrote that the sick should be allowed to stay in their own houses. He reasoned that moving them through a town increased the risk of spreading plague. Those who were well but had been in contact with the sick should be placed in an isolation facility, a barracks or in tents, and after a quarantine of twenty days should be allowed to go wherever they wanted. Both Mead and Defoe rejected the previous policy of isolating the sick: the ‘shutting up’ of the healthy with the sick of a household for forty days.16 The Plague Orders of 1578 had ignored the use of lazarettos or pesthouses to quarantine the sick as was the practice in Italy. Instead, they ordered that once a member of a household became ill with plague then everyone in that household would be locked up, with a watchman patrolling the doors to ensure no one escaped. Parish officers were to supply the house with food, and local rates were supposed to finance the measures. In practice, parishes with large numbers of poor people found the policy difficult to implement. Shutting up continued until 1666, when with the current outbreak of plague near its end, the Privy Council created new Plague Orders and abandoned the policy of shutting up. Instead, towns had to build a pesthouse to which the sick were to be moved, whilst the healthy would be quarantined for forty days in their own homes.17 London in 1665 already had five pesthouses, but they were far too small for the numbers of sick and shutting up was resorted to. (They had a total capacity of not more than 600 patients.18) In St Giles, Cripplegate, the parish did not have

15 Richard Mead, A Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion and the Methods to be used to Prevent it (London, 1720), pp. 21–3, 39. 16 Ibid., pp. 34–5. H. F. in A Journal of the Plague Year, says, similarly, ‘I believed then, and do believe still, that the shutting up Houses thus by Force, and restraining, or rather imprisoning People in their own Houses … was of little or no Service in the Whole’ (p. 71). 17 Slack, Impact of Plague, p. 223. 18 Ibid., pp. 222–3, Bell, The Great Plague, pp. 37–9.

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the financial resources to feed the huge numbers of sick so ‘all have liberty lest the sick poor should be famished within doors’.19 Shutting up was bitterly attacked, although it was recommended by the London College of Physicians as well as by the State. It was considered socially biased, cruel and unchristian. The law made no distinction between the rich and poor, but in practice it was the poor who had to submit to being shut up, the rich having fled into the countryside. In this sense, household quarantine was socially unfair. The opponents of shutting up also argued that the policy, given the infectiousness of plague, heartlessly condemned the healthy to near-certain death. Moreover, the only visitors allowed into a shut up house were nurses, surgeons and physicians if any were available. This made it impossible to practice the important religious and social duty of neighbourly care. Nearly all acknowledged that visiting a plague victim was highly dangerous, and fear would have put off many from seeing or caring for the sick. As John Donne put it ‘the infectiousness of the disease deterrs them who should assist from comming: Even the Phisician dares scarse come, Solitude, is a torment, which is not threatened in hell itselfe’.20 Yet there was a strong sense amongst some religious writers that the State should not countenance the breaking of one of the traditional six works of mercy that over the centuries had been at the heart of Christian charity.21 One plague tract, Golgotha Or, A Looking-Glass for London (1665) declared: the Doctors, and those who stand upon their Sword to execute this violent advice upon the Poor so generally, would not be willing to be so done unto, or to have their Wives and Children so dealt with in their calamity.

The horror of being shut up was argument enough against the policy: It’s full of evil effects … [it] naturally distracts men, filling them with horror of heart, both those that are shut up, and those that live daily in fear thereof; Most that are shut-up being surprized, unprovided, unsettled in heart and house, needing then most the use of a sure friend, made for the day of adversity 19 Slack, Impact of Plague, p. 238 20 John Donne, Devotions Upon Emergent Occasions, ed. John Raspa (Oxford, 1987), pp. 24–5. 21 The six works of mercy were based on Matthew 25:35–6: ‘For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison and ye came unto me.’ In the thirteenth century a seventh work, that of burying the dead was added based on Tobit 1:16–17. See John D. Thomson and Grace Goldin, The Hospital: A Social and Architectural History (New Haven, 1975), p. 6.

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Introduction Pro[verbs] 17, 17… and are under soul-sinkings, and none to succour them;… not a friend to come nigh them in their many, many, heart and house cares and perplexities, compelled (though well) to lie by, or upon the Death-bed (perhaps) of their dear relation… afrighted children howling by their side, fitted by fainting affliction to receive the impression of a thousand fearful thoughts of the long night they have to reckon before release, after the last of the Family, so dismally exposed, shall sink by degrees, one after another, in the den of this dismal likeness to Hell: no drop of water (perhaps) but what comes at leisure of a drunken or careless Halbert-bearer at the door [the watchman].22

Although shutting up had been officially abolished it remained vividly in Defoe’s mind. In A Journal of the Plague Year he debated at length on whether it was a just and effective policy. In it he sympathised more with the point of view that the authorities had taken in 1665 than he does in Due Preparations for the Plague, but in both books he came out against the practice. Shutting up, of course, was in place during the 1665 plague outbreak which is the setting for Defoe’s two works on the plague. Shutting up helped to create a backdrop of fear and horror in Defoe’s story of the two families in Due Preparations for the Plague. For instance, the head of the first family (who in Defoe’s mind is naturally the father) nails up the windows of the house and closes the wooden shutters. He did this because of the danger of the infectious air of shut up houses escaping when their windows were opened. It was observed by curious People, that in the Houses which were Infected, and had been shut up, and where several Persons, or perhaps the whole Family, had died, there was a strange Clammy or Dewy Sweat on the inside of the Glass of the Windows… that this did not melt off with the Heat of the Sun… That this was the poisonous Air breathed out of the infected People’s Bodies who had died of the Plague was not doubted. (pp. 64–5)

The first family literally shut themselves up. They had a porter at the door who was analogous to the parish watchman. They were all healthy and voluntarily isolated themselves from the world, having taken great care to take in copious amounts of provisions which Defoe lovingly enumerates. However, when the father fell ill, he wanted to be sent to the pesthouse to protect his family, but ‘his Wife and all the Children declar’d against it, and protested to him every one of them, that they would rather have the Distemper with him, and leave the Consequence to God’s Mercy’ 22 Anon., Golgotha Or, A Looking-Glass for London (London, 1665), pp. 9, 10–11.

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(p. 74). For a while, until it was clear that the father did not have plague, the family was willing to be shut up like the poor.

Medical Authority A common lay and medical culture existed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. The belief that one could diagnose and treat illness was spread across society. Lay people, patients, family members, neighbours and charitable women often treated the most serious of illnesses, and used an enormous range of remedies for any one condition. In the medical market place of wise women, herbalists, mountebanks, empirics, astrologers, apothecaries, surgeons and physicians no one group was able to achieve a monopoly of practice, and this also led to a variety of opinions about diseases and to a multitude of remedies for any one of them.23 It is not surprising, therefore, that Defoe felt free to give his views about purely medical matters as well as about the politically contentious issue of quarantine. At this time medical authority had not silenced lay opinion. Defoe felt able partly to contradict Mead’s view that evacuations such as bleeding, purging or sweating should not be resorted to as they weakened the patient.24 He believed that evacuations carried out well before the onset of plague were helpful in getting the body in the right state to fight the disease. He did agree, however, with Mead that once a patient had caught plague that evacuations were deleterious. Defoe’s support of evacuations reflected medical orthodoxy. It was widely believed by medical practitioners and the lay public that many diseases were caused by corruption and putrefaction inside the body and that evacuations would expel the ill-making material. In this case, Defoe argued that evacuations would cleanse the body of any lingering corrupt matter. His emphasis on cleaning out the body also links to the cleansing of the environment and to the cleansing of the corrupt morals of the nation and the individual. Both physical and spiritual purification were seen as necessary by Defoe and other writers on the plague given their view that plague was caused by sin as well as by physical causes (see further below). What is surprising and idiosyncratic is Defoe’s prescription of mercury to cleanse the blood. This was a substance that was notorious for its appalling side effects; ulceration, swelling and pain in the gums, cheeks, tongue 23 On the medical culture of early modern England see Andrew Wear, Knowledge and Practice in English Medicine, 1550–1680 (Cambridge, 2000), pp. 11–45. 24 Mead, A Short Discourse, p. 49.

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Introduction

and throat together with long term damage to the bones. The use of mercury also involved social and moral stigma as it was the drug of choice for the pox, what was probably modern-day syphilis. Hence Defoe’s reassurance that it was ‘certainly administer’d in modern Practice with great Success, in Cases not at all Venereal, and consequently not Scandalous’ (p. 49). He also took care to recommend that it should be taken in moderate doses for only a few days so it produced ‘gentle Salivations’. In practice, pints of saliva resulted from the use of mercury. Throughout Due Preparations for the Plague Defoe shows that he had steeped himself in the literature on plague, yet he was always willing to express independent points of view as well as recording the reactions, practices and theories of the past.

The Bills of Mortality The enormous number of the dead contributed to the horror of the plague. In Due Preparations for the Plague and in A Journal of the Plague Year Defoe was able to give precise, if not accurate, figures of how many had died in London. He used the figures provided by the bills of mortality to chart the geographical spread of plague, its initial low numbers, the huge increase in the dead and then their decline. The numbers give a sense of concrete validity to the human damage caused by plague and they helped frame Defoe’s narratives. The bills of mortality enumerated the weekly number of deaths in the London parishes together with the causes of death. The bills had first started to be put together around 1519 and were being published on a regular basis by the early years of the seventeenth century. The parish clerks collected the statistics from information provided by the ‘searchers of the dead’, old women who were usually poor and in need of parish support. The accuracy of the bills were questioned by Defoe. He suspected that families hid plague deaths to avoid being shut up, and that parish clerks also took part in the practice, especially in the initial stages, to avoid damaging the economic life of the parish. Mead had also declared that the diagnostic abilities of the searchers were poor. He labelled them ‘ignorant old women’ and wanted them replaced with ‘understanding and Diligent Men’.25 Given Defoe’s scepticism of ‘Oral Tradition’ and of popular 25 Ibid., p. 38; earlier John Graunt, in the first work of demographic analysis had considered the trustworthiness of ‘the perhaps, ignorant and careless Searchers Reports’ and he concluded that by and large with the exception of the pox, which was often hidden, they were reliable. John Graunt, Natural and Political Observations …Upon the Bills of Mortality (fifth edn, London, 1676), pp. 16–21.

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Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5

knowledge about the plague (pp. 83–4) he would probably have agreed with Mead. However, the fact that laywomen diagnosed the cause of death, even in such a disease where a family’s or a city’s life and livelihood might depend on their finding, again indicates that lay people were accorded a significant degree of medical expertise.

Preparation for Death Defoe’s account of how the first family isolated themselves needs little elucidation. Running through the story is the intense fear of any contact with possible sources of plague, whether through people, the air, or from physical objects like letters. Defoe is concerned with the preservation of the body, and his description, which deals with material practicalities, is easily understood in today’s largely secular western world. In a few places, however, Defoe reminds his readers that the first family’s self-preservation also depends on prayer and the will of God. It was in his narration of how the second family faced plague that Defoe fully grasped hold of the spiritual dimensions of the disease. Plague had been seen as one of the ‘three arrows of God’: pestilence, war and famine,26 sent by God to punish the sins of a community, hence its epidemic nature. Plague provided the occasion for much moralising and the medical and religious causes of plague bore some analogies to each other. Just as public communal sources of dirt might cause or encourage the spread of plague so communal sins and corruption brought down God’s anger in the form of plague. Parishes cleaned up their streets and cesspits, and in their churches national days of prayer were devoted to repentance and to asking God to stop his punishment. By the 1665 epidemic the number of religious plague tracts in relation to the number of medical plague treatises had declined.27 However, the churches were full, and despite increasing secularisation the terrors of plague brought into play old religious responses. Defoe was a Dissenter who retained a religious intensity which the Restoration of Charles II in 1660 had made unfashionable. He was in no doubt that plague was sent by God working through secondary, physical, causes. However, Defoe was aware of a thorny problem: were all who caught plague being punished as sinners? His answer is that plague was: 26 See, for instance, William Gouge, Gods Three Arrowes, Plague, Famine, Sword (London, 1631). 27 Slack, Impact of Plague, pp. 228–47 traces the changing balance between religious and medical explanations of plague.

14

Introduction a National Judgement… but I do not think it must always be call’d a Token of God’s Vindictive Hand to any particular Person; for then no Body would have any hope of being at Peace with God that had the Distemper. (p. 137–8)

In this way Defoe bypasses the old paradox that the just and the penitent as well as sinners appear to be providentially punished with plague. Repentance has a twofold meaning for Defoe. It might lead God to ‘withhold his Hand, and the Hand of his destroying Angel from our Houses, and our Families, and our Persons’ (p. 96). It was also an essential ingredient in preparing for death. It is this second use of repentance that Defoe focuses upon. He proceeds to write an Ars Moriendi or treatise on the art of dying. The genre began in the Middle Ages and continued through to the heyday of Puritan England. One reason for preparing one’s mind for death was the psychomachy or battle for the soul between God and Satan at the time of dying when a person was weak and most open to temptation. Another reason was to present a calm acceptance of death to onlookers and to show a readiness to die and an eagerness to meet Christ. This would reassure them that by ‘dying well’ the dying person had gone to heaven. Hence, the detailed descriptions in diaries and letters of how someone had died. More fundamentally, dying well meant seeking forgiveness for one’s sins, by recollecting past sins and by repentance purging oneself of them. Although Protestant England no longer believed in the efficacy of the Catholic last rites and confession, in the sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries religious writers like William Perkins still stressed the special nature of the time of dying when a man or woman’s fate hanged in the balance.28 It is clear that Defoe shared in this belief. By the time of the Restoration, Anglicans no longer put a great emphasis on the deathbed scene. Nonconformists, however, continued to do so. Defoe’s art of dying stresses that one should have achieved a mind at peace with one’s conscience and with God by having examined its past record of sins and sincerely repented of them. In addition, by prayer and ‘humiliation’ or prostration before God one should have arrived at a calm acceptance of death: ‘to be prepared, is to be past being frighted, and to be in the only Condition that gives Courage’ (p. 101). 28 On dying well see M.C. O’Connor, The Art of Dying (New York, 1966); D. Stannard, The Puritan Way of Death (New York, 1977); P. Ariès, The Hour of our Death (Harmondsworth, 1983); C. Gittings, Death, Burial and the Individual in Early Modern England (London, 1984); David Cressy, Birth, Marriage and Death. Ritual, Religion and the Family in England, 1480–1750 (Oxford, 1998); William Perkins, The Workes (3 vols, London, 1616–18), Vol. I, A Salve for a Sicke Man Or, A Treatise Containing the Nature… of Death, As Also the Right Manner of Dying Well, pp. 487–514.

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Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5

A necessary condition for such preparation was to accept the reality of plague and the real possibility of dying. Such an acceptance, writes Defoe, might frighten people, damage trade and lessen the nation’s credit. At a time of plague, however, materialistic considerations had to give way to spiritual ones. In the last part of Due Preparations for the Plague self-preservation becomes the order of the day, when the sister, who is best prepared for death, agrees to her elder brother’s plan to escape the plague by putting out to sea. However, this is not a contradiction for Christian teaching emphasised that all should try to preserve their lives; to do otherwise was seen as a type of self murder. Moreover, the elder brother, by not having achieved a calm, repentant state of mind, is shown to react in a panicky and rash manner to events. Defoe indicates that at a time of intense fear and danger a calm pragmatism that plans ahead to avoid contagion, and a spiritual preparation for death that leads to its calm acceptance, are both necessary. Mere Nature Delineated or, a Body without a Soul is a very different work from Due Preparations for the Plague. Whereas the threat of plague brought a number of serious treatises on the subject, the discovery of the wild boy of Hamelen was a news item, a sensation that lasted intermittently for a few months. Many paragraphs were written in the newspapers about Peter, as he came to be called, and a few short pamphlets including two satirical pieces by Jonathan Swift were published.29 Defoe produced, however, the longest discussion by far of the case of the wild boy. Like Swift he was satirical: the reception of Peter, who could not speak and appeared to have no sense of social behaviour, at George I’s court at Hanover and London was too tempting. However, Defoe also had more serious aims in mind. Using the case of Peter he wanted to explore the nature of the soul and its capabilities; the soul in Defoe’s sense being equivalent to the modern meaning of mind, with the proviso that its faculties or powers such as reasoning and understanding were God-given. He also emphasised in Mere Nature Delineated the necessity of education in making a person a fully developed human being, and at the same time he took the opportunity to attack deists. In the final part of Mere Nature Delineated Defoe is being satirical; playing on the two senses of the word ‘fool’, he directs his satire at ‘state fools’ especially the Jacobites whom he had consistently opposed throughout his adult life. Mere Nature Delineated gathers together many of Defoe’s interests and pet hates, but running through the treatise there is also a serious 29 Swift’s writings on the wild boy, which were published anonymously, are The most Wonderful Wonder that ever Appeared to the Wonder of the British Nation (London, 1726) and It cannot Rain but it Pours: Or, London Strow’d with Rarities (London, 1726).

16

Introduction

enquiry about the reported case of Peter, the boy who was the product of ‘mere nature’.

The Appearance of the Wild Boy of Hamelen The notion of children brought up by animals or living in a state of nature without human contact goes back to the roots of Western European civilisation. The legendary founders of Rome, Romulus and Remus, were left to die after their mother, who had been raped by the god Mars, gave birth to them. However, they were suckled by a she-wolf and survived. Also well known were the medieval stories of Orson and his brother Valentine who were lost in the forest, with Orson growing up to be a wild man of the woods whilst his brother was quickly returned to civilisation. The story of the discovery of Peter the wild youth of the German forests would not, therefore, have appeared altogether strange (Defoe referred to both legends), though this does not mean that it was not also seen as a marvel and a sensation. In December 1725 a boy, about thirteen or fifteen years old, was brought to George I’s court in Hanover. The report in the St. James’s Evening Post of 14 December 1725 and in other papers, which Defoe reproduced nearly word for word, described how the boy ‘was found some time ago in a wood near Hamelin… walking upon his Hands and Feet, climbing up trees like a squirrel, and feeding upon grass and moss of trees. ’Tis not known by what strange fate he came into the wood, because he cannot speak.’ The report then described how the boy was presented to the King ‘while at Dinner, when his Majesty made him taste of all the dishes that were served up at table; and, in order to bring him by degrees to human diet, his Majesty had ordered that he have such provisions as he likes best’. The King also ordered ‘that he may have such instruction as may fit him for human society’. Early in 1726 Peter was brought over to London, ‘being a great curiosity’, and Bryce’s Weekly of 8 April reported that ‘the wild boy was last Night carried in to the Drawing Room at St. James’s [Palace], into the Presence of the King, Royal Family, and many of the Nobility’. Peter’s reception at Court was reported in minute detail, and the Court’s interest heightened public curiosity in the story, allowing not only the behaviour of Peter but also of the royal household to be brought into public view: He is supposed to be about 12 or 13 (some think 15) Years Old, and appears to have but very little Idea of Things; however, it was observed, he took the 17

Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5 most notice of His Majesty (whom he had seen before); and the Princess giving him her Glove, he tried to put it on his own Hand, and seemed much pleased with the Gold Watch, which was held to strike at his Ear. They have put him in blue Cloaths lin’d with Red, and Scarlet Stockings; but have Trouble enough to get them on and off, by reason of his Awkwardness; and the Wearing of them seems extremely uneasy to him. He can’t be brought to lie down on a bed, but sits and sleeps in a Corner of the Room. From whence ’tis conjectured, that he used to sleep in a Tree, for Security against Wild Beasts; they being forced to saw down one when he was taken. The Report of his being hairy on his Body is not true; however, the Hair of his Head grows lower on his Forehead than common. We hear, he is to be Committed to the Care of Dr. Arbuthnot, one of the King’s Physicians, in order to try whether he can be brought to the Use of Speech, and made a sociable Creature. He hath begun to sit for his Picture.

At the request of Caroline, the wife of the Prince of Wales, Peter was moved to Leicester House where George I’s son held court. It was probably there, in Michael Newton’s view, that Peter was transferred to Dr John Arbuthnot to be educated.30 On 28 June 1726 Peter was baptised at Arbuthnot’s house, which was a further step in the attempt to make him ‘a sociable creature’.31 However, in November it was reported that Arbuthnot had failed ‘to bring the wild youth, either to the use of speech, or pronunciation of any words, which some impute to his want of understanding, because he still retains the natural wildness in all his actions and behaviour.’32 On the 23 July 1726 Defoe published Mere Nature Delineated; Or, A Body without a Soul. Being Observations upon the Young Forester Lately brought to Town from Germany. With Suitable Applications. Also, A Brief Dissertation upon the usefulness and Necessity of FOOLS whether Political or Natural. A major factor that led Defoe to write the treatise was his recent acquaintance with Henry Baker, a former bookseller’s apprentice, who from 1720 had been teaching deaf children to speak, lip-read and to read and write. Baker saw Defoe and his family in 1724 at their new house in Newington (Stoke Newington) where they usually met once a week. As Maximillian Novak points out, Defoe would have found Baker’s company and conversation congenial. He 30 Michael Newton, Savage Girls and Wild Boys. A History of Feral Children (London, 2002), p. 30. Newton gives an illuminating and extended account of Peter on pp. 24–52. 31 Edinburgh Evening Courant, 5 July 1726, cited by James Burnett, Lord Monboddo: ‘The Difference between Man and Brute further Illustrated and Explained, with Additional Facts and Observations concerning the Oran Outang and Peter, the Wild Boy.’ In Antient Metaphysics, vol. 3 (London, 1784), p. 60. 32 From Wye’s Letter printed in the Edinburgh Evening Courant, 14 November 1726, in Burnett, ‘The Difference between Man and Brute’. p. 61.

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Introduction

had a wide range of literary and scientific interests: he was to write on the microscope, translate Molière, compose poetry and become President of the Royal Society.33 In 1727 Baker became engaged to Sophia, Defoe’s youngest daughter. In 1729 they married, though not before a series of fraught and protracted negotiations between Defoe and Baker over Sophia’s dowry.34 However, that was in the future. In Mere Nature Delineated Defoe praised ‘The ingenious Mr. Baker… who is eminently known for a surprizing Dexterity in Teaching such as have been born Deaf and Dumb, both to speak, and understand what is said when others speak to them’.35 When Defoe expressed doubt whether Peter at his late age could be taught to speak he wrote: Whether Mr. Baker himself could accomplish it or not, I know not; but I much doubt, whether any Man in England is able to do it; I am told, That no-body can, if he cannot. (p. 192)

Scepticism permeates Mere Nature Delineated. Defoe doubted the account of the boy’s discovery and past history, he doubted whether he had a normal mind or soul and whether he could be educated. Yet at times he stilled his doubts so that he could discuss how someone like Peter could be educated and socialized. Defoe began Mere Nature Delineated by sceptically examining whether a child could have grown up without human society and could have survived alone. These two questions were central to the common perception of Peter as animal-like. Defoe was full of disbelief. Peter, he thought, could not have survived as an animal. He was lacking in God’s providential design that made animals perfectly adapted to their environment. For instance, German forests were bitterly cold in winter and the animals that lived in such climates had ‘thick Hides, Fleeces of Wool, Coats of Hair, Feathers, and the like, sufficient to preserve their natural Heat from the violent Assaults of the Cold’ (p. 158). Animals, moreover, know what food to eat, and have been given by God bodies that allow them to search or to hunt for food (p. 158). But man, declared Defoe, had not been designed as ‘a Savage’, so that: A Man is no more fit to be a Beast, than a Beast is to be a Man; the rational Part being taken away from him, his Carcass, left utterly destitute, is unqualified to live; his Skin is tender, not fenc’d against Blows and Disasters, 33 Maximillian E. Novak, Daniel Defoe, Master of Fictions: His Life and Ideas (Oxford, 2001), pp. 649–50. On Baker see George Potter, ‘Henry Baker, FRS. (1698–1774),’ Modern Philology, 29 (1932), 301–21 and G. L. E. Turner, ‘Henry Baker, FRS.: Founder of the Bakerian Lecture’, Notes and Records of Royal Society of London, 29 (1974), 53–77. 34 Novak, Defoe, pp. 676–7; Backscheider, Defoe, pp. 502–3. 35 Mere Nature Delineated, below, p. 178.

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Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5 as is that of the Horse or the Ox; the very Bushes and Briers, which are the Safety and Retreat of other Creatures, will wound and tear him. (p. 158)

Defoe asked if the boy had been in his wild animal-like condition for a long time how could he have survived? If, on the other hand, he had been only a short time in the woods why then could he not speak? Instead, he seemed to have neither ‘that secret Something, which we, for want of a better word, call Instinct’ nor was he possessed of a soul, ‘being uninhabited by anything superior to a Beast.’ The apparent result was ‘this poor abandon’d Creature, not qualify’d for a Beast, and but ill to be a Man’ (p. 160). Defoe pointed out other inconsistencies in the accounts given of the wild boy and he made it clear that he did not believe the reports. Nevertheless, he wrote that he was willing to suspend his disbelief. He would assume that the boy had lived in the woods alone for a long time, had a soul, and that its powers were locked in, unable to express themselves. What did Defoe mean by soul? As a Dissenter and a believer in the literal truth of the Bible, Defoe had no doubt that the soul was infused into the body by God. However, the understanding of what the Christian soul consisted of had been influenced from the middle ages by Greek philosophy, especially that of Aristotle. Like Aristotle, Defoe envisioned the soul as having capacities or functions (often in Aristotle, indeed, the soul is equivalent to a function). Defoe wrote that the characteristics of the soul such as memory, ‘Understanding, Inquiry, Reasoning’ distinguish us from animals. This difference was divinely ordained. Defoe’s sense of soul is very nearly the same as that of the modern meaning of mind, but I will retain soul in the rest of the Introduction when it is used by Defoe. The powers of the soul such as the ability to reason inhered in it. Neither Descartes nor Locke, whose philosophies opposed each other’s on most things, disagreed about that proposition. However, on the issue of knowledge they differed profoundly, and Defoe sided on the whole with Locke. Defoe did not subscribe to Descartes’s position: that the soul or mind had innate knowledge. Instead, he implicitly followed the empirical philosophy of Locke, in which the mind was initially empty, like a tabula rasa, a clean slate or a piece of white paper. In his Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690) Locke argued that out of experience, especially repeated experiences, ideas were formed which filled the mind. Words, rather than signifying a one to one relationship between themselves and the objects in the outside world, represent the ideas of these objects. Words, in Locke’s philosophy, allow us to form ideas and to express ideas to ourselves and to others. A consequence of this is that without words we cannot form, let alone communicate, ideas. As 20

Introduction

Defoe put it when wondering how the speechless wild boy could think without words, ‘Words are to us, the Medium of Thought … and we know not how to think, or act, or intend to act, but in the Form of Words’ (p. 178). Words were what in Locke’s view most visibly separated men from animals. Animals did not have ‘the power of abstracting’. We know this, he argued, because animals ‘have no use of words, or any other general signs’.36 It was from Locke, perhaps, that Defoe got the idea of comparing the wordless situation of the wild boy with that of the deaf-and-dumb. Locke had written that those who, because of a bodily defect, cannot speak ‘fail not to express their universal ideas by signs, which serve them instead of general words, a faculty we see beasts come short of’.37 On the other hand, Locke was not sure if ‘idiots’, which the law saw as having no reason or will, shared in the human ability to reason and acquire knowledge. He believed that it depended on the degree to which their capabilities were impaired.38 Locke’s philosophy helps to make sense of Defoe’s preoccupation with words and thought and how he understood the reasoning ability of idiots. It also makes it easier to understand why Defoe at times seems to slither between considering Peter as an uneducated child, a wild human of the woods, or an idiot or natural fool. When arguing against the existence of innate ideas Locke had stated that in ‘a wild inhabitant of the woods’, in ‘a child untaught’, in ‘idiots’ and ‘the grossly illiterate’ there are not already present in their minds any ‘general maxims’ or ‘universal principles of knowledge.39 The mental abilities of Locke’s examples obviously differed, but what they had in common was empty minds, which is what Defoe believed Peter also possessed. Moreover, according to Locke, it was language which allowed human beings to be sociable: God, having designed man for a sociable creature, made him not only with an inclination and under a necessity to have fellowship with those of his own 36 John Locke, An Essay Concerning Human Understanding, annotated by Alexander Campbell Fraser, 2 vols (New York, 1959), 1, pp. 207–8 (Bk 2, ch. 11, section 10). I follow here Goodey’s account of Locke’s views on idiots and fools: C.F. Goodey, ‘John Locke’s Idiots in the Natural History of the Mind’, History of Psychiatry, 5 (1994), 215–50, here 217– 19. See also Peter Rushton, ‘Idiocy, the Family and the Community in Early Modern NorthEast England’, in David Wright and Anne Digby (eds), From Idiocy to Mental Deficiency (London, 1996), pp. 44–64. 37 Locke, An Essay, 1, p. 208 ( Bk. 2, ch. 11, section 11). 38 Ibid., p. 209 (Bk. 2, ch. 11. Section 12). 39 Ibid., pp. 60–2 (Bk. 1, ch. 1, section 27); Goodey, ‘Locke’s Idiots’, p. 22.

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Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5 kind, but furnished him also with language, which was to be the great instrument and common tie of society.40

The wild boy lacking language could not belong to society, and in enlightenment eyes only the sociable human being was a complete human being. So how was a wild boy to acquire knowledge and language? Education was the key. The empty mind could be filled by education. Locke, whose Some Thoughts Concerning Education (1693) set the agenda for radical educational thinking in eighteenth-century England, admitted that a few geniuses might not need much education, but: Examples of this kind are but few, and I think I may say of all the Men we meet with, Nine parts of Ten are what they are, Good or Evil, useful or not, by their Education. Tis that which makes the great difference in Mankind.41

Defoe was perhaps even more egalitarian. He believed in ‘a Parity of Souls’ (p. 194), that is to say everyone normally had the same mental abilities. Mental handicap or illness or accidental damage to the brain, the organ of the soul, might hinder the use of the soul’s powers. However, in the majority of cases, the ‘Difference in Souls’, and here Defoe meant the difference in the extent to which the soul’s potential was actualised, derive from this one Article: That the Man is a Rational, or a Stupid, just as he is handled by his Teachers; and that as he can neither speak, read, write, dance… without being taught, so neither can he know, think, retain [memorize], judge, discern, distinguish, determine, or any of those Operations, in which the Soul is wholly the Operator, without the Guidance of an Instructor. (p. 193)

Lack of education, argued Defoe, had left the wild youth in the state that he was found: ‘little more than a Man-Brute’ (p. 194). Education was necessary for ‘finishing’ or ‘polishing’ human beings which is why princes are praised for founding ‘noble Foundations for Erudition’. Defoe was not referring to the social polish that a finishing school might provide but to the acquisition of the most fundamental aspects of thought and language: Is it [education] not to make Men know and understand Things, as well as Words, to speak Sense as well as Tongues, to judge and reason upon Objects laid before them, draw Consequences, form Arguments; in a Word, to exert the grand Faculties of the Soul. (p. 194)

Peter was given no advantages by Nature: ‘he is certainly just where Nature left him, as to Instruction or Understanding; his Soul, if he has one, 40 Locke, An Essay, 2, p.3 (Bk. 3, ch. 1, section 1). 41 John Locke, Some Thoughts Concerning Education (London, 1693), p. 2.

22

Introduction

untouch’d by any outward Application, no Exercise for his Faculties, no Speech, no Sense of other People’s Words, or of the Reason of their Actions; no Knowledge…’ (pp. 194–5). Defoe would have taken the side of nurture in the modern nature versus nurture debate. Nevertheless, he believed that in Peter’s case nurture in the form of education would have a struggle on its hands. The problem was that at his age he was no longer so easily moulded and shaped as a very young child would have been. Defoe kept returning to the analogy between Peter and deaf persons; and to illustrate the problem of learning at a late age to speak, he used the story of a girl growing up in a family of deaf and dumb siblings, where everyone communicated with sign language, the ‘Language of the Fingers’ (p. 200). Although she could hear and speak, in her world words were sounds without meaning. When it was discovered she had the capacity to hear and speak, the attempt to get her to speak was painfully slow and not completely successful. Similarly, Defoe doubted if Peter could be successfully taught to speak. He would need to be taught the sound of words and how to speak them. Peter would have to be painstakingly shown how to link words to particular meanings and objects. Memory would be important here; it could not be taught, a person either has it or has not. Defoe’s account of Peter’s education is also a description of what a model education might consist of. After speech, reading and then writing would be taught. This might take five years and then another seven would be required to teach Peter the contents of human knowledge, science and religion, by which time he would be around twenty-six. Defoe concluded his thoughts on Peter’s future education by pinpointing the need for starting to learn from infancy. ‘What a terrible Loss he has sustained for want of Speech, and that Speech only lost for want of early Erudition, seeing he could hear from his Childhood?’ (p. 207). The wild youth’s teachers would face difficulties, in Defoe’s opinion, which involved intractable, almost philosophical issues. The rigidities in the muscles of the tongue of an older child might be an obstacle in getting it to speak, but furthermore the nature of the link between words and thought would need to be understood if the deaf (or the wild boy) could be taught to speak. Defoe has a long digression on this topic. He asked ‘How does a dumb Man think? … What Ideas do they entertain of Things without their Names? it is indeed inconceivable’ (p. 179). Only, wrote Defoe, when someone who has been deaf and dumb has recovered their hearing and speech would we know the answer. But until such time Defoe is not content to believe that those who cannot speak have no thoughts or ideas, for that would be to think that all ‘Mutes are Fools’ or mentally deficient, 23

Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5

which he does not think is true. It is clear to Defoe that the deaf are capable, they use their soul’s powers of understanding and of will to engage in activities which do not require speech or hearing, for instance fencing, dancing or painting. Defoe never formed a successful theory as to what went on in the minds of those who could not speak. But, like other enlightenment writers, he was interested in the psychology of happiness. He asked whether Peter and those who were speechless and could not link words and thoughts were happy. The intensity of his enquiry looks forward to the focus on the individual of late enlightenment sensibility. The ambivalence that permeates Mere Nature Delineated, between objective scientific curiosity and satirical and even flippant moralising, is present in Defoe’s discussion of this issue. In a lengthy poem ‘On the Deaf and Dumb being taught to speak’ (pp. 182–8), Defoe conventionally expands upon the theme of how lucky the deaf and dumb are not to know about crime, scandals, grief, rage and the rest of human turmoil and sin. Yet he considers the state in which the deaf and dumb are in to be ambiguous. They might feel no loss themselves, though others like Defoe can discern it: The Soul’s a Prisoner, fetter’d down for Life, Yet feels no Bonds, and therefore knows no Grief. (p. 185)

On the other hand, they also are not aware of the potential consolations of their situation: Too happy, could they know for their Relief, The solid Negatives of silent Life: How free from all the Clamours of the loud Rage of the Fierce, and Insults of the Proud, With all the dreadful Pangs of Household Strife, An universal Calm o’erspreads their Life. (p. 185)

Such possible consolations, as Defoe had argued earlier in Mere Nature Delineated, only make sense to humans. When they are absent in someone like Peter, ‘this, as he is suppos’d to be really a living Soul, is a Felicity; but if we consider him in meer Nature, I cannot see that it is any Advantage at all’ (p. 180). Moreover, Defoe believed that ‘an untaught Man… is ten thousand times more miserable than a Brute’ (p. 194). A man that was ‘meer nature’ was neither animal nor human being, and was inevitably unhappy.

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Introduction

Defoe and original sin Mere Nature Delineated is ultimately a pessimistic work. Defoe did not think that there was much future for the wild youth; even if he had a soul and could be taught the results would be poor. This contrasts with Locke’s optimistic view of human nature, in which the individual living in society has the power of self-fashioning him or herself. Such a view was congenial to the Whigs and their celebration of progress. Tories, on the other hand, who believed that the world had gone to the dogs, found the Hobbesian limits and spurs to human action – power, competition, sexual desire and fear – more akin to their way of thinking. Defoe’s position on the philosophicalpolitical fashions of the early eighteenth century was not a simple one. As a Whig he sided with Locke, though as a political journalist he was well aware of the power of Hobbesian forces. Moreover, as a Dissenter, he disagreed with those of Locke’s followers who had gone on to develop deistic points of view. Defoe believed both in revealed religion and in the reality of original sin. Defoe stresses the formative power of evil. He describes the soul of the wild boy, in his original state, as untainted by the feelings of ambition, envy, malice and revenge; it knows neither good or evil. Defoe believes that by a strange paradox, ‘And here a Speculation of infinite Force and Signification occurs to me’ (p. 181), Peter has a choice between being an innocent animal or a ‘fallen’ human being: for all human beings are ‘fallen’ as a result of original sin. As soon as the soul’s powers are unlocked, as soon as Peter is educated into virtue and religion he will know their opposites. Defoe emphasised his point by referring to the Biblical context of the Fall of Adam and Eve: Even the Tree of Knowledge has this Part discover’d in its Title, and no doubt they came together; it was the Tree of knowledge of Good and of Evil, they were taken in together, and are still inseparable.

In the next sentence Defoe asks ‘But whence then comes the Knowledge of Evil to prevail?’ He gives no rational reason. Rather, he asserts that it was easier for the soul to follow the natural instincts of ‘Meer Nature’, which were also shaped by original sin, and reach ‘what is gross, sordid and brutish; whereas Wisdom and virtuous Principles are all up Hill, against the Stream, and are rather acquir’d than natural’ (p. 181). Defoe’s belief in ‘original Depravity’, original sin, underpinned his view that education, which enables us to enjoy the human condition, came with strings attached, and that neither education nor any putative inborn tendency led effortlessly to virtue. 25

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At the heart of Mere Nature Delineated is another strand of pessimism. This was Defoe’s belief that Peter was a fool, that he was mentally handicapped, perhaps not as badly as an ‘idiot’, but still unable to take advantage of the education that would be offered to him. Defoe suppresses this belief so he can write about education, teaching the deaf to speak and about the nature of the soul. However, he thought that in reality it was likely that Peter had no soul, that his mind was damaged. Defoe’s thoughts on education were written, he declared: by the Way, upon a Supposition, That he is capable of learning at all, which, however, I do not grant, neither am I much prepossess’d yet, in Favour of his Capacities. (p. 206)

Aftermath In June 1782 James Burnett, Lord Monboddo, visited Peter at a farmhouse near Berkhamstead. Monboddo was in the middle of writing his monumental work Of the Origin and Progress of Language. The first volume had been published in 1773 and the sixth and last was to appear in 1792. He was also engaged in writing another six-volume work, Ancient Metaphysics, and in the third volume of 1784 he appended the case of ‘Peter the Wild Boy’. Monboddo used the example of Peter to show that a human being and an orang-utan could both subsist in the same state of nature, without clothes, houses, fires or speech.42 He found Peter ‘now about 70 years of age’ with a pension from the king and being looked after by a farmer and his wife.43 Peter could only articulate a few words, but Monboddo did not think that Peter was an idiot, and was sure that he showed understanding. He thought that Peter’s age when discovered was crucial in explaining why he could only speak a few words.44 In the end, Monboddo and the people who cared for him saw him as an easy-tempered ‘savage’, fond of music, gin and, until the year before Monboddo visited him, very strong.45 All in all, he had probably a better life than Defoe had envisioned for him, yet Defoe’s judgement was vindicated in one respect: Peter had hardly learned to talk.

42 43 44 45

26

Burnett, Metaphysics, 3, p. 68. See also Newton, Savage Girls and Wild Boys, pp. 51–2. Burnett, Metaphysics, 3, pp. 63–4. Ibid., 3, pp. 65–6, 373. Ibid., 3, pp. 368–70.

DUE

PREPARATIONS FOR THE

PLAGUE, As well for

SOUL as BODY. Being some seasonable THOUGHTS upon the Visible Approach of the present dreadful C ONTAGION in France; the properest Measures to prevent it, and the great Work of submitting to it.

PSAL. XCI. 10. There shall no Evil befal thee, neither shall the Plague come nigh thy Dwelling.

LONDON: Printed for E. MATTHEWS , at the Bible, and J. B ATLEY at the Dove in Pater-Noster Row. M DCC XXII.

THE INTRODUCTION.

BEFORE I enter upon the Subject of Preparation for so terrible a Visitation, as this of the Plague; ’tis meet I should say something of the Reasons we have to be Apprehensive of it in this Nation; if the Reasons of our Fears are not good, the Seasonableness of the whole Work will be call’d in Question; and it may be, look’d on, as an officious Prophesying of Evil Tidings. To talk of Preparations for a Danger which we are not in danger of; would be a needless Alarming the People, and is a Thing often times attended with ill Consequences to the Publick, being injurious to Commerce, to Credit, and to the Civil Peace. Blessed be God, the Evil is yet at a Distance, and the Danger may be said to be remote; But as we (1.) find it to be a terrible spreading Distemper, furious and raging beyond what was ever known in this Country, sweeping away Old and Young, till it has desolated whole Towns, and even some populous Cities. (2.) That it spreads apace this way, having already advanc’d it self above 100 Miles in these Eight Months past; and that we have some reason to believe that it was come much nearer than they allow’d us to know of, on these Accounts, I think, it is reasonable, at least to put our selves in a Posture, not to be surpriz’d if we should meet with the same here. Besides, I am far from being singular in my Apprehensions; the Government are evidently in the same Concern; and therefore we have had several Proclamations, Orders of Council1, and other Directions for Ships performing Quarantine, and for Goods to be Opened and Air’d which come from suspected Places; and one Act of Parliament2 has been pass’d to Enforce those Orders, upon the highest Penalties, nay, even upon pain of Death: And so cautious was the Parliament in this Point, that they put the Nation to the Expence of 25000 l. Sterling, to Burn two Turkey Ships which were but suspected to have Goods on Board, which might contain an Infection, and which might bring the Plague among us, which 25000 l. has been paid to the Merchants and Owners of the Ships and Cargo, in Satisfaction of the Damages done them.

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Can any Man say that the Government have not had Occasion for these Measures? Let such look to what has been done in Holland, where they not only Burn’d two Ships, but Hang’d a Man for Attempting to save some Goods out of the Wreck of one Ship that was Cast away, and which should otherwise have been Burnt, as coming from Places Infected, or supposed to be Infected with the Plague. Now while we receive daily, such afflicting and melancholly Accounts from Abroad of the spreading of the Plague, and of its Approaches this Way; and find not only private Persons, but even the Government itself, and Neighbouring Governments also, justly alarm’d, Who can be wholly unconcern’d about it? Certain it is, that if it proceeds much farther, nothing but the distinguishing Goodness of God can be said to keep it from reaching hither; the Intercourse of Commerce, and the many necessary Occasions of passing and re-passing between the two Kingdoms, being so great and a full stop of that Intercourse, being so many ways Impracticable, as we see it is. If then we are in Expectation, and under just Apprehensions of it, what Appearance is there of our Preparations for it? Never less, I think, was to be seen in any Nation under Heaven; whether we speak of Preparations to avoid and escape it, or of Preparations to wait and expect it; whether we speak of Preparations for the Soul or for the Body: And this alone has been the Occasion of writing this Book. We have indeed some Physicians who have given their Opinions in the Matter of our managing our selves with respect to Medicine, in Case of the Plague breaking out among us; and into this purpose they treat a little (tho’ very superficially) of the Nature of the Disease, the best preventive Remedies, &c. But even in this Part, however, as I said, superficial at best, yet they differ with, contradict, and oppose one another, and leave their Readers as uncertain and dissatisfy’d, as far to seek, and at a loss for their Conduct, as they were before. As to the other Part, and what we should think of doing when we set such an awful Providence in a clear Light before us, with respect to our religious Preparations, and for our meeting and submitting our selves to all the Dispensations of Providence of what kind soever, which doubtless, is the Duty of every Christian; of this, indeed, I have seen, I may say, nothing at all offer’d in Publick; on the contrary, the whole World is intent and busy on their ordinary Occasions; Men pursue the usual Course of the World, they push their Interest, their Gain, or their Pleasures and Gaity, with the same Gust, or rather more than ever: Nay, the cry of the Nation’s Follies, grows lowder and lowder every Day; and so far we are from considering, that when God’s Judgments are abroad in the Earth, the Inhabitants should learn Righteousness; that we are rather learning to be more superlatively wicked than ever; witness the Increase of Plays and Play-Houses,3 one being now Building, tho’ so many already in use; witness the Publick Trading and Stockjobbing4 on the Sabbath-day; Witness the raging Avarice of the Times, by which the civil Interest of the Nation, is ruin’d and destroy’d. Witness also our Feuds, 30

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Divisions and Heats, as well in religious Differences, as those that are Political, which are all carry’d up to dreadful Extremes. Upon these many Accounts, this Work has been set on Foot, which though in the Design of it, ’tis Calculated for the present particular Occasion of the Terrors we are under about the Plague, which I may very well call impending, yet may be useful many ways, both to us and to Posterity, though we should be spar’d from that Portion of this Bitter Cup which I verily believe is reserv’d for us. To make this Discourse Familiar and Agreeable to every Reader, I have endeavour’d to make it as Historical as I could, and have therefore intermingled it with some Accounts of Fact, where I could come at them, and some by report, suited to and Calculated for the Moral, endeavouring by all possible and just Methods to encourage the great Work of Preparation, which is the main end of this Undertaking. The Cases I have stated here, are suited with the utmost Care to the Circumstances past, and more especially as they are reasonably supposed to suit those to come; and as I very particularly remember the last Visitation of this Kind, which afflicted this Nation in 1665, and have had Occasion to Converse with many other Persons who liv’d in this City all the while: I have chosen some of their Cases as Precedents for our present Instructions. I take leave so far to Personate the particular People in their Histories, as is needful to the Case in hand, without making use of their Names, tho’ in many Cases I cou’d have descended to the very Names and Particulars of the Persons themselves. But ’tis the Example that is the Thing aim’d at; the Application to the same Measures is argued, from the Reason and Nature of the Thing, as well as from the Success, and I recommend the Experiments said here to be made, no farther than they appear rational and just, with whatever Success they had been practis’d. As to the religious History here mention’d; till I see some just Exception rais’d against the Pattern laid before us in every Part of it, I cannot suggest there will lie any against the manner of relating it, and for that reason I make no Apology for that Part, but proceed directly to the Work itself.

31

D UE PREPARATIONS , &c.

PERHAPS my Method in the Preparations I am now to speak of, may be something Singular; but I hope they shall not be the less Profitable. I shall make no more Introductions. I divide my Subject into two Generals. I. Preparations against the Plague. II. Preparations for the Plague. The first of these I call Preparations for the Body. The Second I call Preparations for the Soul. Both I hope, may be useful for both, and especially the First shall be subservient to the Last. 1. Preparations against the Plague; and these I divide into (1.) General, Publick and National Preparations, namely, for keeping it out of the Country or City, or Town we live in, and preventing it spreading and penetrating from one place to another: The Measures which are now taking, being I must needs say, very Deficient; and (2.) Particular Preparations, such as relate to Persons and Families for Preserving us from Infection in our Houses, when it pleases God that it shall come into the City, or Place wherein we live. General Preparations, seem to be confin’d to the Measures which the Government or Magistrates may take to preserve the People from Infection. The main Thing the Government seem to have their Eyes upon in this Nation, is to Limit and Prohibit Commerce with Places Infected, and restrain the Importation of such Goods as are subject to be infected; here it is granted, that some Goods are apt more than others to retain the poisonous Effluvia5 which they may have receiv’d in Foreign Parts, and by Consequence, are apt to emit those Effluvia again when they Arrive here and come to be spread: These Poisonous or Infectious Effluvia or Particles, as some call them, take hold or seize upon the People who are handling them: I need not innumerate the particular sorts of Goods which are thus 33

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esteem’d susceptible of Infection: Abundance has been said on that Subject by other Authors, and all our Proclamations, Acts of Parliament, &c. which have been pass’d on this Subject, have taken Notice of them. It is true, that as I have hinted before, our Government have seem’d sufficiently Careful to settle such Limitations of Commerce, Prohibitions and Quarantines, as have been necessary to be observ’d by Ships and Passengers, coming in to his Majesty’s Dominions, with respect to the Places Suspected, as well as to such as are known to be now Visited; and also, to Extend those Limitations and Restrictions to more Places and Ports as they have thought fit, and as the Infection has been found to advance nearer and nearer, and had the Injunctions thus laid on our People, been punctually and duly Observ’d, possibly we might with some Ground have been encouraged to hope for Deliverance, or at least to have flatter’d our selves with a possibility of Guarding our Principal Places against it. But I must not omit that we are not a Nation qualify’d so well to resist the Progress of such a Distemper, or the Entrance of it into our Country, as others are; we have a Set of Men among us, so bent upon their Gain, by that we call Clandestine Trade, that they would even venture to Import the Plague it self, if they were to get by it, and so give it to all that liv’d near them, not valuing the gross and horrid Injustice that they do to other People; what a Man ventures for himself is nothing, because it is his own Act and Deed; but what he ventures for others, is the worst of Violence upon them, and perhaps in such a Case as this, is the worst sort of Murther. This Vice in our Commerce, is introduc’d by the Necessity this Nation has been in, of Clogging Foreign Trade with heavy Duties and Imposts; which gives Encouragement to Smugglers and Runners of Goods, to venture at all Hazards to bring such Goods in upon us privately; and these Men, I doubt I may say without Injuring them, Value not what the Goods are or whence they come, so they can but bring them on Shore free of the Duties and Imposts I speak of: We have Examples of this before us, which justifies the Charge, and I need say no more to prove it. The Preparations against the Plague in this Case, must be the Work of the Government. It is confess’d, that this is a Difficulty even to the Government it self, and it will be hard to say what they can do more than is done Effectually to prevent this dreadful Trade, and without some very great Severity, I believe it will never be done; and yet till it is done, we cannot pretend to take effectual Measures in this Nation for preventing the Plague coming among us. The Physicians seem at present to fall in with the French Methods, viz. of preventing the spreading of Infection, by surrounding the Towns where it shall happen to be, with Troops of Soldiers; Cutting off all Communication 34

Due Preparations for the Plague

with the Countries, or Parts of the Country where such Towns are that shall be infected: This Dr. Mead6 has been pleas’d to propose also in his Treatise, call’d, A Short Discourse. I must Confess, I do not see that this can be made practicable in England; and we see already it has not been Effectual in France, notwithstanding greater Severities have been us’d there, than I presume will ever be allow’d to be us’d here: For Example, The Plague began in Provence,7 in a Part of the Country the most easily separated from the rest of the World of any that can be singled out on their Side, as will appear by the Situation of the Country. The South Part of Provence, or as some call it, the Lower Provence, is surrounded by Water on three Sides, and by the unpassable Mountains of Piedmont and Niece on the fourth Side; That is to say, it is Bounded by the Sea from the said Mountains to the Mouth of the Great River Rhosne, on the South: On the West, it is Bounded by the said River Rhosne, to the Mouth of the Durance, on the South-side of the District of Avignon: And on the North, it is Bounded by the said River Durance, to the Mouth of the River Verdon, and thence by the River Verdon,8 to the Foot of the said Mountains of Piedmont. On the South-side, ’tis allow’d there needed no Guard, the Nature of the Thing Arm’d all the World, from receiving any Vessel coming from Provence, or suffering the People out of them to Land; and if I am not misinform’d, several People that did put to Sea, (as it were desperate from thence) are still missing, and it is believ’d have Perish’d at Sea, having not been allow’d to set their Feet on Shore in any part of the World. On the Side of the Rhosne, the West Banks of that River have been so well Guarded, that nothing has been able to pass; and tho’ the Islands in the Mouth of the Rhosne, have been Infected, the distress’d People of Arles, having almost by Force gotten out among them at La Camorgue, Salons, and other Places; yet the River being Great and the Navigation of it wholly stopp’d, the Distemper has been kept off on that Side. On the East Side also, the Mountains and the Frontiers of Nice, have been so well Guarded by the Troops of Piedmont, and the Passes of those Mountains are so few, so difficult, and so easy to be clos’d up, that very few of the People have attempted to Escape that way, and those that have attempted it, have been fir’d at and driven back; or if pressing forward have been Kill’d. But on the North Side, the Case has been quite different, for the Durance and the Verdon are smaller Rivers, and in many Places Fordable; so that in spight of all the Guards plac’d in their Lines, and the Vigilance of the Patroles on the Bank of the River, Men have made their Escape in the Dark, and by private Ways, and have gotten into the Mountains, and from 35

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thence being acquainted with the Country, have pass’d on from Place to Place till they have found Retreats and been receiv’d by their Friends, and Conceal’d as they desir’d; some indeed, have been discover’d and have been driven back, and others have been Kill’d; but certain it is, that among the many of these desperate People, which have thus got away, some have been Touch’d with the Contagion: Nay, some that perhaps have thought themselves Sound and in Health, and these have carry’d it with them to the Places where they made their Retreat. Thus a Galley Slave, who made his Escape from Marseilles, and as it is said, reach’d to his Brother’s House at La Camorgue in the Gevaudan,9 carry’d the Plague with him; and thus it broke out at once 140 Miles off of Marseilles, and all the Precautions, Guards, Lines, Patroles, &c. used to prevent its coming out of the Nether Provinces, were at once Defeated. By the same Accident, it has spread it self in the Gevaudan from one Village to another, and from one Town to another, till as by the last Account we are told, above an Hundred Villages and Towns are Visited in that Part of the Country, and the Infection is spread into the Vivarez on one Side, the Diocess of Uzes on another, the Province of Auvergne on a third, and into Rovergue on a fourth Side, and yet at all these Places, the Towns Infected are immediately Invested, and all Communication with them cut off as soon as it is known they are Infected; and all the other Regulations observ’d, which are directed by the Government there. This now is the Effect of surrounding of Towns with Lines and with Soldiers; and Imprisoning the People against their Will, forbidding the Sound separating themselves from the Sick, which they must needs take for an unsufferable Cruelty, and by which means they make the People Desperate and Mad: So that rather than stay in the Place to be poisoned with the Breath of dying People, and be certainly Infected with the stench of Bodies Dead or Sick of the Plague, they venture at all Hazards to make their Escape, and in Effecting this, Infect their Friends; and thus it will be among us I doubt not, if ever such Methods are put in practice here. Besides, as they can have no pretence to Invest a Town, or Prohibit the Inhabitants from quitting it till it is Infected, they put those Inhabitants upon all possible means of Concealing the Infection when it is begun, till those who are in the Secret of it can make their Escape; and thus they Travel securely with the Distemper upon them, and emit the Effluvia of Infection wherever they come: Thus the City of Avignon was Infected a Month and Seven days, viz. from the 17th of August to the 23d of September before it was publickly known in the Country round; so that People went freely into the City from all the Villages about Avignon, and the Citizens went freely out into the Country, and the Distemper was fetch’d by one 36

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and carried by the other, without any precaution to all the Neighbouring Towns for several Leagues round the Place, several of which Towns are more fatally touch’d with the Contagion than the City itself, as Bedarides and Sorgues,10 on the North, Barbantine on the South, and even at length the City of Orange11 it self; and now they are oblig’d to quit the old Lines and post on the Bank of the River Durance, and to draw a new Line near 100 Miles in Length, to wit, from St. Paul de Trois Chasteau12 on the Rhosne to Montbrun East, and from thence down to Lauris on the Durance13 on the South, and so on the Bank of that River to its fall into the Rhosne West; and yet all these Lines seem not to be capable to effect the Thing propos’d by them, for when the Inhabitants are thus made desperate by Locking up the Sound with the Sick, they do and will find ways to Escape whatever Hazard it may be to themselves or others. Whereas if the People were left at their Liberty, except as was practis’d here in the time of the last Visitation, viz. by shutting up Houses14 known to be Infected. I say, if the People were left at Liberty, those that did flee at all, would flee before they were Infected, and thereby save their Lives, and likewise not carry the Distemper with them when they went. In the next place, the Cutting off the Communication of one part of the Country with another in England, would be such a General Interruption of Trade, that it would entirely ruin the Countries and Towns so cut off, and the People would be very Tumultuous and uneasy upon that Head. It seems to me a much more rational Method, that as soon as any Town or Village appears to be Visited, all the Sound People of the Town be immediately removed and oblig’d to go to some certain particular Place, where Barracks should be built for them, or Tents pitch’d for them, and where they should be oblig’d to perform a Quarantain of Days,15 and after that to be admitted to go whether they pleas’d; except back to the Town from whence they came, if they thought fit to remain where they were till the Town or Village infected was entirely restor’d, and had been so for a full Quarantain, then they might be admitted again; and if any Families prov’d to have the Distemper in their Encampment, they should remove again, leaving the Sick Families behind: And thus continually moving the Sound from the Sick, the Distemper would abate of Course, and the Contagion be less strong by how much fewer Persons were Infected with it, Nothing is more certain than that the Contagion strengthens, and the infectious Particles in the Air, if any such there are, encrease in Quantity, as the greater Number of Sick Bodies are kept together: The Effluvia emitted from Bodies Infected, are more Rank and more Contagious, and are carry’d farther in the Air, the more Bodies are Infected, and are therefore more apt to be receiv’d from House to House; and were it possible for all the People 37

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in the Populous Cities and Towns in England, to separate on such an Occasion as this, and spread themselves over the whole Kingdom in smaller Numbers, and at proper Distances from one another, ’tis evident even to Demonstration, that the Plague would have but very little Power, and the Effects of it be very little felt: For we see evidently that the Plague is carry’d from one to another, by Infected Persons conversing with one another, or by Cloths, Goods, Houshold Stuff or Merchandizes, (which have been Infected) being carried from one Place to another and not by any General Stagnation of Air, or Noxious Fumes infecting the Air, or Poisonous Particles carry’d by the Winds from one Country to another, or from one City to another, as some have imagin’d. The Effluvia of Infected Bodies may, and must be indeed convey’d from one to another by Air, so Words are convey’d from the Mouth of the Speaker to the Ear of the Hearer by the Interposition and Vibration of the Air, and the like of all Sounds; but those Effluvia cannot extend themselves a great Way, but like ill Smells as they spread they die in the Air, or ascend and separate, lose themselves, and are rarify’d in the Air, so as to lose all their Noxious or Infectious Quality. As the Flavour of an Orange Garden, which in calm Weather would be most sensibly felt at a Distance all round the Trees, will be lost immediately, in a High Wind, and be only smelt that way which the Wind Blows. In the like Case, I would caution those People who live in the out Parts of, or adjacent Places to infected Towns, to observe the Blowing of the Winds, and if the Wind Blows from the City towards them, let them for the Time keep their Windows shut on that Side next the said Town or City Infected, and especially not stand Talking or drawing in the Air into their Mouths that way; but if the Wind blows the other way, and Blows to the said infected City or Town, then they may freely open their Windows and Doors, and Breathe or Talk as they will; and this, because the Stench of the Town may be carried some small length on the Wings of the Wind; But let no Man fill the Heads of his Neighbours with the Whimsey of doing this at any considerable Distance, such as four or five Miles or more; the Nature of the Thing making it impossible that the poisonous Effluvia can keep together so long, or fly so low as in that part of the Air we Breathe in, at so great a Distance from the Place. If on the contrary, we pretend by Lines and Troops to Invest, or Surround an infected Place, or a Part of the Country where such an infected Town may lie: I affirm, that it is not to be expected that this can be so effectually done, as to be certain that none of the People shall get out: And besides, the Cruelty of Locking up so many Sound People with the Sick, I say, it will never be effectually done. 38

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First of all, for the standing Troops, they are not sufficient in Number, and ’tis suppos’d the Parliament will hardly consent to raise a new Army for such a Purpose: As for the Militia, how far they may be depended upon for such a Service, I refer to judgment: The Militia are Compos’d of the Inhabitants of the Neighbouring Towns and Counties where they serve; it will not be easy to prevent their conniving at the Escape of an Innocent Neighbour, or to prevail upon them to Kill a poor honest Countryman, for endeavouring only to save his own Life, or to prevent their taking Money to wink and look another way, or to take a wrong Aim if they Shoot; and after all suppose them faithful, it will not be so difficult for bold and resolute Men, who being made desperate by the Distress they are in, care not for the Risque, and are as willing to die one way as another: I say, it will not be so difficult for 20 or 30 Men to join together in the Night; and with Arms in their Hands, to break through the Militia Men; who ’tis known are no great Schollars at the Trade of Souldering, when if they were regular Troops, they would not venture it upon any Terms. I shall not enter here upon the Debate of the Invasion of Liberty, and the Ruin of Property, which must necessarily attend such a Practice as this, I mean in Case of Investing Towns; the Equity of the Case does by no means agree with things done in Cases of other Extremities, as the Blowing up of Houses in Case of Fire, Drowning Lands in Case of an Enemy, and the like; but this is really shedding Innocent Blood, which is a kind of Evil not to be done that good may come, no not of any kind. More especially, I object against this, as it is not likely to answer the Means propos’d: For example, should an Infected Person by any adventure whatever, Land at a Town on our Coast, and which God of his infinite Mercy avert, should he Infect the Family where he is Lodg’d: Shall 20 or 30000 People, who perhaps Inhabit that Town, be immediately surrounded, and as it were ty’d to the infected Family, till Five Parts in Six of them perish? This was, as I am inform’d, the Case of the City of Thoulon,16 only that the Number dead there, was exceedingly more; certainly if on the first Suprize, the Inhabitants of that Place had been permitted, or indeed, order’d to retire to some proper Place at a Distance from the City, and separated as they might have been the Lives of 40000 People in that Town, and the Villages near it, had been saved. It is true, that in the Time of the last great Plague here, Houses Infected were shut up; and it is true, that the shutting up a House is the same Thing in its Proportion, for that the Sound are there shut up with the Sick as it is in a Town; but the Case with Submission is not the same, for here the Sound have time to go away, they may Conceal the Infected Sick Person so long, till they that are willing in the Family to remove are removed, and 39

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then they are not driven back again like Murtherers, or Shot dead for going away. Besides, in private Houses, there is some difference in the Equity of it, how they are all of a Family, and have some Obligation upon them to take the Risque one with another; but it is not the same in a whole Town, and I cannot but think Men have a natural Right to flee for the Preservation of their Lives, especially while they are Sound and Untainted with the Infection; and ’tis a piece of Cruelty inconsistent with Reason, that because the Distemper has reach’d, suppose a House or Family, at one end of a Town, that therefore the Families at the other end of the Town who are untouch’d, should be Imprison’d and be bound to stay where they are till it comes to them; and thus as it were, Condemn them to Death for that which is their Disaster not their Crime, and kill those People for the good of others, of whom the others were in no Danger. As for the Arguments drawn from Necessity and the publick Safety, ’tis fully answer’d in the Proposal above, of removing the Sound People wholly from the Place, and causing them to Encamp either in Tents or Barracks, as the Season will permit, till the Infection is over. And this I take to be a much better way, (especially where the Towns are not too large,) than removing the Sick immediately into Barracks, because the Sound can go safely away from the Sick, and injure no Body in the Remove, whereas the People to be concern’d in removing the Sick, and the Houses they go out of, nay, even the Air as they go along or are carried along, may receive the Infection from them, and it may be many ways dangerous to remove them, as well to others as to themselves: But there is no Danger of any kind in the Sound going away from the Sick, except the Danger of any infected Person going with them, which must be carefully Guarded against; and they must remove their Camp as often as we find that happen. It is true, this cannot be done in London, or in other considerable Cities in General; that is to say, not by all the Inhabitants, and there will be always a great Number of People, who care not to remove, whatever Hazard they run: Some if they should remove, know not whether to go; others have not Subsistence to Support them if they remove, and others even though they cou’d remove and have Substance sufficient, yet will not venture. These we have nothing to say to, neither is there room to say any thing of them; what is said above relates only to such as being desirous to remove, are not permitted, no not altho’ they are really Sound and free from the Infection. Yet there are effectual Measures for London, and other great Cities, For Example, First, That upon the Approach of the Infection, Proclamation 40

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should be made, that all People that intend to remove themselves and Families, should do it within such a certain time. Secondly, All reasonable Encouragement should be given to the poorer sort of People, who had any Friends or Relations to receive them, to remove with their Families; even to the giving them reasonable Allowances for their Travelling; that as many poor Families as possible may quit the City and separate, which would be their Safety, and Contribute much to the Safety of the whole City also. Thirdly, That all such Persons as have no legal Settlement in the Parishes within the City and Liberties, &c. should be forthwith pass’d away by Authority, and sent home to the Parishes and Counties from whence they came; no Beggars, Vagabonds, or loose People to be suffer’d in the Streets.17 Fourthly, All the Parish Pensioners, Alms poor, and Poor chargeable upon the Parish, as also all the Hospital poor, should be immediately remov’d at the Expence of the Parishes respectively, to such Places as each Parish cou’d procure for them, at least 20 Miles from London, and to be maintained there at the Charge of the publick Parishes to which they belong. Fifthly, All Occasion of bringing People to London, by the necessity of Business, should be as much as possible prevented; to which purpose the Terms must be Adjourn’d, the Inns of Court shut up; no Man should be Arrested for Debt, so as to be put in Prison above a certain Time; but that if he cou’d not give Bail, or some Pledge for his Appearance, such Debtors should be remov’d to such publick Places as the Officers of the City should be oblig’d to prepare, at the Distance of 15 Miles at least. Sixthly, That all the Prisoners for Debt should be immediately removed to the same Places as above.18 Seventhly, That all Criminals, Felons and Murtherers, should be forthwith Tried, and such as are not Sentenc’d to Die, should be immediately Transported or let out, on Condition of going 40 Miles from the City, not to return on pain of Death. Eighthly, That all the Children of Christ-Hospital, call’d the Blew Coat Boys and Girls,19 be immediately removed by the Governours of the said Hospital to Hertford and Ware, where they have Houses for their Reception. Ninethly, That all Work-house Children, Charity Children, and all the Children of the Poor, as are not in Condition to maintain them, should be remov’d into the Country, at least 30 Miles from the City, and be maintained there by the Publick. Tenthly, That all Masters of Familes, who purpose to abide the Extremity, be Exhorted to send all their Children that are under Fourteen Years of Age into the Country; and if any of them are destitute of Places and Friends to 41

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send them to, on paying a reasonable Sum to the Common Treasure of the City, care should be taken to provide Accommodations for them in the Country at the publick Expence, where they should be well provided for, for a Year. Eleventhly, That the Governours of the Blew Coat Hospital, should undertake on the Payment to them of a reasonable Sum of Money by the City, to provide Maintenance for all such Children as the City should recommend to them; and to be kept in the Terms of the Hospital; that is to say, as they now keep their other Children, not exceeding the Number of Twenty Thousand. Twelfthly, That the Governours of the Work Houses, do the like in Proportion, so that in short, all the Children in the City and Suburbs should be sent away. These Evacuations of People, would greatly lessen the Numbers of the Poor in London, and consequently take away the Fuel which the Fire of the Pestilence generally Feeds upon. Thirteenthly, That after the Time first limited for all People, that please to remove, if any Person after that should desire to remove, He should not be hinder’d otherwise, than on the Conditions following. I. On bringing good Testimony of his Body being Sound and not Infected: This Testimony to be given by some able Physician or Surgeon, or other Person, after their having search’d the Person three Days successively. II. On the Persons performing a Vinctine,20 that is to say, a Restraint of 20 Days, in such Barracks or Houses as shall be appointed by the Magistrates of the City, at some Place Five Miles at least from the Suburbs; after which, and no Sickness appearing upon him, he shall have Testimonials of Health, and may go whether he pleases. All these Measures being taken at the Beginning of the Infection, or at the first Approaches of it, we might reasonably hope, Gods infinite Mercy concurring, that the City would be in a Posture to bear the Visitation, much better than ever it was before; for tho’ there would still be many Thousands of the Inhabitants left, yet they would live at large, be unincumber’d with Poor, and with Children, and with all the Stench and Filth that attend those who want Conveniencies, and who would in such a Calamity only serve to Infect one another, and strengthen the Contagion in general. It might be reasonable to suppose, that upon this dispersing of the poor People, and sending away the Children of all sorts, two Thirds of the Inhabitants of London would be Absent, including all the Families of the 42

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better inhabitants, who would Voluntarily remove and take Country Lodgings; of this latter Part we might make some Guess, by what was the Case in the last Plague in 1665: the removing of the Inhabitants was at that time very great, if we may believe the Report of those that were then living; I say it was then very great, for first the whole Court remov’d to Oxford, there was neither Parliament or Term held in London; so that all the Nobility and Gentry, and Lawyers, vanish’d as it were at once, and there was scarce a living Creature to be seen about the Court; White-Hall was Uninhabited, the Park shut up,21 the Passages every where stop’d, nothing was to be seen at the great Houses of the Nobility in Westminster and parts adjacent, but a Servant or two to look after the House, or perhaps no Body within only a Watchman or two at the Gate Night and Day, to prevent Robbing the House; and as the Plague began in St. Giles’s Parish, the People at that End of the Town fled first; so that the Streets look’d desolate, the Grass grew at the Doors and upon the Steps of the Houses, and the Streets were in several Places barricado’d at both Ends, the Inhabitants being entirely removed and gone. In the City, that is to say, within the Walls, as I have been told above Seven Thousand Houses were quite empty and the Doors lock’d up; and in most of the rest the Families were thin, half or more of them gone; and this was, without doubt, the Reason why the Number that dy’d in the City, was much smaller in proportion than in any other part, there dying more by 4551 in the two Parishes of Stepney and White Chappel, than in the whole 97 Parishes within the Walls. This was doubtless owing to the fewness of the Inhabitants within the Walls, where the People being generally Wealthy, provided for themselves and their Families by an early Flight into the Country; whereas in the Outparts, the People living thicker and closer together, and being Poor and wanting Conveniencies, and not able to flee for want of Friends or Money, or both, died in heaps and strengthen’d the Contagion by their Numbers. It is a Consideration well worth the Concern of the Publick, how many ways a useful and valuable Charity it would be to have the Children of the poorer and middling sort of People remov’d at such a time as that, into Places of Health and Air, and to have them taken care of for one Year: I cannot think but well inclined Christians, were it propos’d to them, would Contribute largely to such a Proposal, and what Charity and Alms would not effect, publick Stocks should supply: I cannot doubt but a Parliament wou’d consider such a Thing, and establish some Fund payable by the City, either by a Tax on Coals, a Toll on Cattle and Corn, consum’d in the City, or some such Thing, upon the Security of which, Money wou’d be easily rais’d to answer the Expence. 43

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By this means, the Lives of an Hundred Thousand poor innocent Creatures, who, as God was pleas’d to say of Nineveth,22 know not their Right hand from their Left, would be sav’d, and those Children be preserv’d for the Good of Posterity; most of whom would otherwise inevitably Perish, some by Want, some by Neglect, some by the loss of their Parents, and the rest by the Distemper. But by this means, not a Child would be left in the whole City of London, and in all its vast extended Suburbs; whereas the Distress of poor Families in the time of the last Plague, by reason of the great Numbers of Children that lay starving upon their Hands, was inexpressible, and the Numbers of them that Perish’d in the Streets and in empty Houses, and in other Places full of Misery, added exceedingly to the Height of the Bills of Mortallity.23 When I say an Hundred Thousand, I do not suggest that there are but an Hundred Thousand Children of 14 Years old and under, I believe there would be found near three times the Number within the Extent of the Bills of Mortallity; but I suppose, One Hundred Thousand of these to be meerly the Children of Misery and Distress, such as must be wholly provided for by Charity, and that the rest should be either dispos’d of by their Parents, or by the City; that is, by the Publick, the Parents paying a competent Sum towards their Maintenance as their Ability should appear. Be it which way it will, I insist upon it, that there should not a Child be left in the City under 14 Years of Age: I could give many Reasons why such a Step as this would be so necessary for the Preserving the Health of the City, but I think it will not be disputed. Having thus clear’d the City of all the Poor, and of all the Children, and of all the whole Families of those who can and will voluntarily flee, I think it will not be needful to say, that all other living Creatures should be sent away or destroyed: Such as Dogs, Cats, Monkeys, Parrots, and any Creatures that eat Flesh all should be destroy’d, whether it be Beast or Bird, and especially all the Weasels, Rats and Mice if possible, the first of these, as to Dogs and Cats, was done in the last Visitation Anno 1665, but not the latter. Also it is my Opinion, that there should not be a Swine, Hog or Sow, left alive among the Streets, or near them, no, nor a Horse, not that the Horse himself abstractedly consider’d, cou’d be dangerous; but as the Stables they are kept in, their Dung, and the Stale or Water, that comes from them, occasions an ill Scent: It should be prevented by removing the Horses also of all sorts. Much is said, and great Stress is laid by our Physicians upon the Article of Cleanliness, and removing every thing that is Nasty and Filthy out of the Streets; and in Consequence of this, we find the Grand Juries24 of Lon44

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don and Middlesex, presenting the need there is to put the Laws in Execution for Paving and Cleansing the Streets, that no noisome offensive Stench may rise from the Dirtiness and Heaps that are usually found there, especially in the Out parts. I cannot say, but there may be something in this; but they that go thus far, would do well to go farther, and consider those most loathsome and By-places, call’d Tide-Ditches, which are kept open on the other Side of the Water, both above Bridge and below: They begin from that Inlet of Water at the Faulcon Sluice, spreading every way towards the Fields, call’d St. George’s Fields, and running thro’ Bandyleg’d-Walk,25 and on the Back of the Old Bear Garden up to the Mint:26 These filthy Places receive all the Sinks, Necessary-houses, and Drains, from Dye-houses, Wash-houses, Fell Mongers,27 Slaughter-houses, and all kinds of offensive Trades; they are continually full-of Carrion, and the most odious of all offensive Stench proceeds from them; also the other Part of the said Ditches Westward, as far as Lambeth, many of which lye a great Depth in Mud; and from whence such Filthy unsufferable Smells are sensibly perceiv’d, as makes People loath to pass by them. The like of these are to be seen below Bridge, from Battle-Bridge to Horsly-Down,28 and all along the Back of Rotherhith, at least on the hither part of it, and are justly the Terror even of the Inhabitants themselves. I could say much more on these Heads were it needful, and must add, that I wonder much, that while the Grand Jury has presented this Affair of Cleansing and Paving the Streets, they should omit such notorious Fountains of Stench, enough to Corrupt the very Air, and to make People sick and faint as they pass by. Next to these the Hog-keepers yards at White-Chappel, where Swine, which are fed with Carrion, and the Offall of Dead Beasts are kept, whose Smell is so unsufferably Nauceous that People are not able to go that way. These things would be well worth presenting to the Court of Justice, and a Lord Mayor; and I must say, That if Stinks and Nastiness will Infect a Town, ’tis owing to nothing but the Wonders of Divine Goodness that this Place (Southwark Side especially) should be at any time free from Infection. I might here put the Inhabitants of this City in mind, and especially the People of Southwark,29 that in the last great Plague,30 the Infection held longer in Southwark, in proportion to the Place, than in any part of the City or Suburbs; and there died more by abundance in that part, in proportion to the Numbers of People; and this they would do well to consider of, upon the Occasion now before us, and of the Parishes in Southwark, St. Olaves31 and St. Saviours,32 which are the particular Parishes, where the worst of 45

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those abominable Tide Ditches are, buried many more in proportion to their Extent, than any of the Parishes on that Side the Water. For EXAMPLE, From the 19th to the 26th of Sept. the Burials, stood thus: St. Saviour Southwark 341 St. Olaves Southwark 324 St. Martins in the Fields, was but 171 St. Giles in the Fields 107 St. Giles Cripplegate 225 From the 26th of Sept. to the 3d of Octob. St. Saviour Southwark 352 St. Olaves Southwark 278 St. Martins in the Fields 143 St. Giles Cripplegate 196 St. Giles in the Fields 78 From the 10th to the 17th of October. St. Saviour Southwark 227 St. Olaves Southwark 212 St. Martins in the Fields 60 St. Giles in the Fields 88 St. Giles Cripplegate 43 From the 17th, to the 24th of October. St. Saviour Southwark 101 St. Olaves Southwark 102 St. Martins in the Fields 38 St. Giles in the Fields 38 St. Giles Cripplegate 28 In like manner the Parishes of Stepney and White-Chappel and Aldgate, where those Slaughter-Houses and Hog-Houses are kept, retain’d the Infection longer than any other of the Parishes in or about the City of London; much of which, (if the skilfull Physicians may be Credited) was owing to those vile Places abovesaid. Another Observation of this kind may be made, which will have the like Experience to support it; and this is, that it may be observed, that those 46

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Places of the City itself, as well as of the Outparts which lye on the Shore or the Bank of the River, buried more People in Proportion to the Extent of their Parishes than any other; which may very well be placed to the Account of the Gulleys and Common Shores, the Bog-Houses and Kennels33 of the City, which bring all the Wash and Filth of the Streets into the River, under the very Noses of the Inhabitants, and which, though it may be true, that the Tides do twice a Day come up and cover the Mouths of the said Shores and Gulleys and carry away the Filth, &c. yet when the Tide Ebbs away, it is to be seen what quantities of Carrion and Nastiness are left above Ground, and how Nauceious such Things are to the Inhabitants. Whether this was the Occasion or not, that those Parishes butting on the Thames Side, were more Sickly than the rest, I leave to the Judgment of all indifferent Persons; and especially to those who Affirm, that these unwholsome Smells and unclean filthy Places are a Cause, and an Increase of the Infection. The C ASE is this, In the City in the Parishes following, the Burials stood thus for the Year 1665. St. Alhallows Barking 514 St. Alhallows the Great 455 St. Andrew by the Wardrobe 476 St. Anne in Blackfryars 652 St. Michael at Queenhith 203 St. Michael Bassishaw 253 Two of these are only counted large Parishes, that is to say, St. Alhallows Barking, St. Ann in Blackfryars; but all of them buried more in proportion, than other Parishes of the like Magnitude by a great many. Likewise of the Parishes without the Walls, as particularly St. Margarets Westminster, buried more of the Plague than St. Martins in the Fields, by almost a Thousand, although the Parish of St. Margarets is not suppos’d to be half so big as that of St. Martins. St. Martins in the Fields 2183 St. Margaret Westminster 3742 The like might be said of other Places, but the Proportions are not so well known, so I dwell no longer upon that Part: I have mentioned these 47

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Things, to show how the Opinions of the Physicians concerning Nastiness and Nauceious Smells, that they are Injurious and Dangerous, that they propagate Infection, and are a means to encrease the Plague, is just, and that Measures ought to be taken to prevent these Things, by keeping the Streets clean, well Pav’d and Swept, as the Grand Juries have presented: Adding withal, That the Tide Ditches in Southwark, at the Falcon, Lambeth, Rotherhith Horslydown, &c. should be cleans’d and kept full of Water by proper Sluices, to be emptied and let go every Spring-Tide, or else fill’d up and not suffer’d any more: Also that the Gulleys and Common Shores, running into the Thames on the City Side; such as one at St. Catharines, one at Iron-Gate, one near the Custom House, one at Billingsgate,34 another at Dowgate,35 and several others, ought to be sunk Deeper, Arch’d over, and carry’d down to low Water Mark. But I leave this, as also the Managing of Fleet Ditch, and the upper part of it, especially between Holborn-Bridge and Hockley in the Hole, a Nauceious and abominable Sink of publick Nastiness. I say, I leave these Things to the Consideration of the Magistrates, who, if they have any Regard to the Health of the Inhabitants, will certainly think that part worth their while to take Notice of. I go on (2.) in my own Method to such Precautions or Preparations, as are Private and Personal; and which I observe, are not much thought of by many People, though I believe the most necessary of all the rest. It is true, that the nauceious Places which I have mention’d, are of dangerous Consequence in their kind: But I must say, that People ought to turn their Thoughts to Cleansing a worse Jakes36 than that of the Tide-Ditches in Southwark or Fleet-Ditch, &c. and that is, that the People, especially such as are to stay here at all Adventures, should Universally cleanse themselves, cleanse their Bodies of all Scorbutick Distempers,37 ill Habits, and especially bad Digestures, gross Distempers, and the like: It is the Doctor’s Business to tell every Man according to his particular Constitution, and according to the Temperature of his Body and Blood38 what is fit for him to do. I only here Argue the Necessity of the Thing in General, and touch some general Methods, &c. I know Doctor Mead, is not a great Friend to Evacuations in General,39 and he says, indeed, that he would not have Men bring themselves too low, and make too large Evacuations, for that it is best to keep the Spirit in some Vigor, and this is good Advice, where Men are in a State of perfect Health as ’tis call’d, because Nature ought to be Cherish’d and kept in Heart, that she may be able to encounter the great Enemy that threatens to Invade her. But the Doctor, with Submission to his skill, mistakes the Case: At the time of the Infection I would not by any means have People 48

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bring themselves down or sink their Spirits by too large Evacuations: But taking the Case early, and by way of Preparation, that is to say, six Months or more before the Infection comes, then it is quite another Thing; then there is time to recover the Spirits and restore the Blood, before the time of the Distress comes upon them. Then is the time, to Cleanse the Jakes, as I call it, I mean the Stomach, and to Purge off the foul corrupted Humours, colected by long Intemperance, luxurious Eating, Gorging the Stomach with Sauces and high Diet, Inflaming the Blood with innumerable Debauches of Wine and the like: I say now is the time for Cleansing the Stomach and Bowels, and for preparing the Body, by delivering Nature from all the Burthens she was loaded with before. Besides, where an ill state of Health is the Case, though it be not so long before the time, the Thing differs extremely, and the Man is under a different Necessity: For he is concern’d to deliver himself from the Enemy he has already within him, least that Enemy should Confederate with the Enemy without, and so the Man should be plung’d before he is aware. That the State of our Body at the time of the Infection, renders it more or less susceptible of the Infection itself, no Man of common Sense will Dispute. There is a Sympathy of Parts between the Body and the Distemper, while the Body is clogg’d, the Blood corrupt, the Stomach foul, doubtless to receive infected poisonous Vapours into the Body at that time, must put the whole Mass of Blood into new Ferments:40 We receive Poison one of another, and we emit Poison one to another; and thus the Plague is propagated, though we know not the Modus in every particular Person, for I will not doubt that the Infection or Distemper is Contagious. If we would be freed from receiving Infection, we should certainly assure our selves that we have no Infection already lodg’d in us; and this must be try’d in an effectual Manner: The Glands of the Stomach should be cleans’d by frequent Emeticks but gentle, the Venome of antient Distempers, should be purg’d out of the Blood, and therefore gentle Salivations41 would be excellent Preparations where they can be allow’d of; and let no Man object the Scandal of that Medicine, it is certainly administer’d in modern Practice with great Success, in Cases not at all Venereal, and consequently not Scandalous: The Blood as well as the Body must be Cleans’d, and nothing can so effectually give, as it were, a New and Infant Blood as this of Salivation: And I durst Mortgage all my Skill in Physick, if any one Person, who being in an ordinary State of Health, so as not to be Sick of any capital42 Distemper, having taken this a few Days, and in but a moderate Degree. I say, if any one of these should be affected by the Plague. But pray take this with you as you go, that the Evacuations or other Remedies which I am now speaking of, are not suppos’d to be so much as 49

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thought of after the Infection is come; Nay, not only not after it is come into the Body, and has touch’d the Spirits,43 but I say, not after it is come into the Place, for then when the Enemy is at the Door, all the Forces of Nature are to be muster’d together; but all the Reinforcements and Encouragements that are proper to strengthen Nature for her Defence, should be brought to her Aid. No Garrison ought to have their Fortifications to build, when the Siege against them is laid; all the Parts should be done and finished before, and when the Siege is laid and the Enemy are Battering their Works the Business then is to Counter Batter him, Harrass him with continual Sallies, and be Vigilant, ready on all his Assaults to repel his Forces. The Simily or Allusion, I hope, is not improper, due Evacuations as above, and after that temperate and wholesome Dyet are the Fortifications of Nature, and ought to be the Practice of Time as long before Hand as possible: But when the Enemy is come, then reasonable Encouragement ought to be given to the Animal Spirits,44 which are the Garrison that are to defend the Fortress of Life; The Man must, as it is call’d, be kept in Heart45 and well supported, that he may not be sunk with Apprehensions46 before it comes, or be surpriz’d with the Attack when it comes. There is another sort of Encouragement to prevent these Fears and Surprizes, which I would advise every Christian to prepare, and to furnish himself with, and that is the Fortifications of the Mind: But of that I shall speak by itself. What I say now, is to explain my Opinion about Purging and Cleansing the Body by due Evacuations, Namely, That I particularly limit this to the time we have to prepare against the Plague; and that these Purgings and Cleansings should be done now immediately, that Nature being delivered in time from all foulness of the Stomach, or Burthens on the Constitution, may be strengthen’d again, and restor’d in time, by proper Assistance, for the Combat with her great Enemy. All Sinks and Receptacles of Filthiness, say the Doctors, must be Cleans’d for the preserving our Healths, by sweetening the Air we breathe in, but what a Sink and Receptacle of Filth is the Body of Man? How is he to be restor’d but by Cleansing and Purging off the noxious Slime and Corroded Juices which are dispersed in all the Vessels of his Body, even those Vessels which common Catharticks47 will not reach. It is upon this Account, that I propose to as many as have Courage for such a Medicine the use of a gentle Salivation. The Mercury is represented to be a Strainer to the Blood, which takes all the Flegmatick and corrupted Parts away from it, giving a change to the whole Mass of Blood, and consequently giving a new Constitution to the 50

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Body; the Man lays, or has laid in him, new Principles of Life, and these are not by far so subject to Infection as other Bodies are. They who do not think fit to do this, must run more risque than other People; and how can such promise themselves safety when an Infection comes? Who can think himself safe in a Magazine of Powder with a Candle in his Hand? if Men will meet an Infection with gross and foul Bodies, corrupted with the nauceious Fumes of ill digested Meats;48 with a Blood inflam’d with Excesses and Intemperance, whether of one sort or of another, and will not apply themselves to such Remedies for recovering the Rectitude of their Constitutions as Reason and Physick directs; such Men may as well follow the Practice of the Turks, who upon Principles of Predestination, Visit their Friends when the Plague is upon them, go promiscuously and unconcern’d one among another upon their ordinary Occasions, without to much as Enquiring whether the Plague be among them or not, or declining them when they know it is. But if we believe the Plague is receiv’d by Contagion, and that Means may be made use of to prevent it, we ought then to use those Means which are proper, and use them in the time that is proper too otherwise we may as well omit the Means wholly, and leave all to Nature and Providence. I might enter here upon an easy Proof, that our ordinary way of Living in England, requires these Evacuations more than is the Case of the People of other Nations, and that if the Infection should come among us, which I pray God to prevent, it will find much more Fuel to feed on, than it does in other Countries where People live more Temperately, and where they feed cleaner than we do here. We saw plainly the Difference in this Matter, in the late great Plague in Sweeden and Denmark, where the Malignity of the Distemper was far less, than in England in 1665, and even in the Plague in 1665, we found our People in the South Parts, where we live more plentifully and feed more grosly, were much more violently Infected, than in Scotland, or in the North of England, even in proportion to the Numbers. Next therefore to Medicines for the Carrying off the Fund of Distemper which is to be found in us, and which we owe to the irregular Diet and intemperance of our People, I must recommend to all People, to alter their manner of Life; to Eat, but especially to Drink more moderately; and in a Word, to L IVE TEMPERATELY and Sparing; to Eat less Flesh, less Sauce, and less of the half Digested Juices and Gravy of their Meats, which a most pernicious Custom has enur’d them to, by which they are brought to Eat their Meat half Roasted and half Boil’d. It is a most unaccountable Habit that we are brought to by our vitiated Appeties in this Nation, Namely, to Eat our Flesh Meat, of which also we 51

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feed immoderately, almost Raw: Indeed some People may be said to feed little different from the Tartars, who Eat their Horse-flesh Raw; if we were but to be seen by the People of any other Country how we Eat, especiallyour Wild Fowl, the Flesh scarce warm thro’, and all the undigested Impurities of the Entrails and Inside of them serving for our Sauce. I say, when Strangers see us feeding thus, they must be allow’d to take us, as they do, to be, if not Canibals, yet a sort of People that have a canine Appetite; and it was the modestest Thing I cou’d expect of them, when in Foreign Countries, I have heard them describe our way of Feeding in England, and tell us that we Devour our Meat, but do not Eat it; viz: Devour it as the Beasts of Prey do their Meat with the Blood running between our Teeth. Let no Man flatter himself in his feeding in this gross Manner; the Body so fed is prepared not against, but for a Contagion; and we have much reason to fear, that if we should now be visited, such a Visitation will find us half prepar’d for it to work upon, and consequently we shall receive the Distemper with more Danger. Some People tell us of the Plague being propagated by Insects, and these carried from Place to Place in the Air, in an unaccountable manner; which if it were true, one Place would be apparently Infected as well as any other and at the same time, as Blites in our Orchards, frequently run over the whole Kingdom. I leave those Philosophers to be confuted by the Physicians, who have much better and more rational Accounts to give of the beginning propagating and spreading the Infection: But that foul Bodies and gross Feeding make us more receptible of Infection than we should otherwise be, this seems to be a Truth that both Sides must grant. Temperate Diet, and avoiding Excesses in strong Drink, which so many ways debauch not the Head only but even the whole Constitution, should be avoided as carefully before the Plague, I say as carefully as we would avoid Conversing with an infected Body in the time of the Plague. If I can give any Credit to the Assurances of these who lived in London, in the Time of the last great Plague, few of those People we call Drunken Sots,49 escap’d the Distemper; it is an odd way of observing on such things, and therefore I desire to explain my self: By the Word Drunken Sots, I mean a sort of People, who have by a Habit of Drinking to Excess brought themselves to Sotism that have debilitated themselves, their Bodies as well as their Understandings, and are come to dozing over their Drink; who make their Drink their Food, Eat little, and Sip to keep their Spirits up; I need not describe what I mean by a Sot, but according to my Friend’s Relation, these Men all went off; some that Drank hard, but had strong Constitutions and that were not Conquer’d by their Drink, tho’ they were often 52

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Drunk, out liv’d it, and had not the Distemper, but the other were generally carry’d off. What I infer from this, is, that Intemperance in Drinking, as it is destructive to the Constitution, so it is a most dreadful Induction to the Plague; when the Spirits are attack’d by the Venom of the Infection, they being already Exhausted, are in no Condition to Defend the Body, and so the Man dies of Course. We make a great stir, as I have said about avoiding ill Smells in a time of Infection, and* one tells us, weakly enough, that the City of London, was so close Built in the time of the Plague in 1665, that the Air had not a free Course, sufficient to Purify the Streets, also that the Streets were not Pav’d, &c. which ’tis insinuated added to the ill Smells which propagated the Distemper, both which as they are but trifling in themselves, so, they are really false in Fact; for the Streets of London were Pav’d then as well as now, and the Streets that were then, may be judg’d by the Breadth, and Buildings of those Streets which remain still, where the Fire did not come, and which, though they are not quite so open and wide as the New Buildings are, yet are they far from being so close as to affect the Health of the City: Besides the Weakness of his Inference is Evident another way, (viz.) it is apparent that the greatest Rage of the Infection at that time was in the Out-parts, where the Buildings were the same as they are now, as in the Parishes of St. Giles in the Fields, St. Martins in the Fields, St. Andrews Holbourn, &c. on the West Part of the Town; and in the Parishes of Cripplegate, Bishopsgate, Aldgate, White-Chappel, Stepney, &c. on the East and North, in all which Parts the Neighbourhood of the Fields prevented all interruption of Air; whereas in the Close built City, as he calls it, they were Healthyer than in any other Part. Dr. Mead, likewise opposes his private Opinion against the common Experience of the Town, in the late Plague 1665, and against the Advice of all the Physicians that were then in practice, about keeping Fires in the Houses and Streets at that time, which was used with very good Success;50 and it was found by Experience, that those People who kept Fires Night and Day in their Houses, were much freer than others from the Infection; the Heat of the Fire rarifying the Air, and dissipating, if not consuming the infectious Vapours or Particles, call them which we will, with which the Air on such Occasions is suppos’d to be fill’d. It was on this account that the Citizens, by order of the Lord Mayor, and the Lord Mayor by advice of the College of Physicians, kept great Fires Night and Day at the Corners of the Streets, at the Gate of the Exchange, * Bradley in his Book call’d, the Plague of Marseilles Consider’d.51

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and in other publick Places; by which they believ’d at least the Passing and Re-passing the principal Streets of the City, where the greatest Numbers of People came, was kept wholesome, or at least more wholesome than other Places. The great Quantity of Coals burnt in Publick and in Private on that Occasion, may Confute that foolish Assertion of the Author above mention’d, first, viz That at that time Sea-Coal52 was hardly in Use: I think I need say no more of that ridiculous part, than to Quote a Paragraph out of his Book, every Branch of which is contradicted by the Knowledge and Experience of Thousands now living; his Words are as follow, viz. ‘London, at the time of the Plague, 1665 was, perhaps, as much crouded with People as I suppose Marseilles to have been when the Plague begun; the Streets of London were, in the time of the Pestilence, very narrow, and, as I am inform’d, unpaved for the most part; the Houses by continued Jetts one Story above another, made them almost meet at the Garrets, so that the Air within the Streets was pent up, and had not a due Freedom of Passage, to purify it self as it ought; the Food of the People was then much less invigorating than in these Days; Foreign Drugs were but little in Use, and even Canary Wine53 was the highest Cordial the People would venture upon; for Brandy, some Spices, and hot spirituous Liquors were then not in Fashion; and at that time Sea Coal was hardly in Use, but their firing was of Wood; and, for the most part, Chestnut, which was then the chief Furniture of the Woods about London, and in such Quantity, that the greatest Efforts were made by the Proprietors, to prevent the Importation of Newcastle Coal, which they represented as an unwholesome Firing, but I suppose, principally, because it would hinder the Sale of their Wood; for the generality of Men were (I imagine) as they are now, more for their own Interest than for the Common Good. ‘The Year 1665 was the last that we can say the Plague raged in London, which might happen from the Destruction of the City by Fire, the following Year 1666, and besides the Destroying the Eggs, or Seeds, of those poisonous Animals, that were then in the stagnating Air, might likewise purify that Air in such a Manner, as to make it unfit for the Nourishment of others of the same Kind, which were swimming or driving in the Circumambient Air: And again, the Care that was taken to enlarge the Streets at their Rebuilding, and the keeping them clean after they were rebuilt might greatly contribute to preserve the Town from Pestilence ever since’.54 Nothing can be more contrary to Experience and the Truth of Fact, than this whole Story together or apart, (1.) to say London was supply’d with Wood for Fuel, in the Year 1665, and that Coal was hardly in use: Whereas in a very little while after, we found the Parliament thought 1s.6d. per 54

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Chaldron55 upon Coals, a sufficient Tax for the rebuilding St. Paul’s Cathedral, and all the Churches that were lost by the Fire; and I appeal to the Coal Meeters Books,56 which were then set up, for the quantity of Coals then consum’d in London and the Parts adjacent. Then that the Woods about London, were chiefly of Chesnut: That they were so about 300 Years before, I believe may be true; but as the oldest Man alive cannot remember one Wood of Chesnut standing near London, or so much as a Chesnut Tree left among all the Woods near London; ’tis strange this Gentleman should take upon him to write that, which so many People now alive can contradict. Again, as to the Wines, which People then drank, this Gentleman is most ridiculously mistaken; for when he gives the Want of the use of Brandy, and hot spirituous Liquors for a Proof that the Plague encreased upon them, their Diet not being so invigorating as now; on the contrary; I insist that the Food of the People was rather more invigorating than it is now: For as this Gentleman chiefly mentions the Wines they drank. I oppose to it, and appeal to the Knowledge of the whole Town, that if they had not so great a variety of Wines to drink, they had no adulterated Wines to Poison and Debauch their Blood as we have. If Canary was their highest Cordial, I must tell him, that they had then only the best, most generous and most sanative Wine in the World for their Cordial; and well it were, if we their Self-wise Posterity had such Cordials as they had; that is to say, that our Canary was only our Cordials, and that our other Wines were not adulterated and poison’d as they are, and especially considering that we do not drink Wine now, by Drams, that is to say, by small Quantities, and as Cordials, as they did; but by Quarts and Gallons, that we make our Physick our Food and drink Diseases upon our selves which our Ancestors at the late Plague knew nothing of. In like manner ’tis a mistake to say, that they had no Brandy or Cordials at that time; the Custom House-Books abundantly contradict it; and it is too recent in our Memory, for any Man of Years to forget, that the People had their Aquavitæ,57 and other Distill’d Waters to drink as Cordials, on all occasions that required Cordials. But it is true, that there was not Two Thousand Brandy shops, and Twelve Hundred Punch Houses58 in London, as they say there are now; and that the Spirits which are now Distill’d, (or rather half drawn) from Malt and musty Grounds, are rather adapted to Poison and Destroy Mankind, than to be Cordials to their Blood. It is out of question that the People of England, liv’d more regular, and if I may judge of it, far’d better in those Days by far than they do now: What they Eat and Drank then, was much more invigorating than our way of living now is; for this Gentleman, though a Member of the Royal-Society59 55

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must not tell us that Intemperance is an invigorating way of living; drinking Wine as we drink Wine, corrupted, adulterated and poison’d; drinking Punch by Gallons, made of Malt Spirits, stinking, as I may justly call it, of the humid, and half drawn from the half Brew’d Worts:60 Cou’d any Man of common Sense instance the Temperate living of those Days, as a reason why the Plague spread with more Violence, and then bring up the Drunken sordid swallowing down foul Liquors, and gorging ourselves with Poison and Stench, as a reason why we should bear it off better than they? On the contrary I must insist, that our Vices which are already a Plague upon our Morals, are a dreadful kind of Fuel for a Contagion, and miserably prepare us for a Plague upon our Bodies: As to the Havock they make of Conscience and Religion, and the Ruin they are to Souls, I refer that to its Place. Our Fore-fathers had Sins enough no doubt, and for which Heaven brought Judgments upon them most righteously; but our Fore-fathers never were guilty of the Luxury that we practise, neither in kind or in degree. But besides this, the Author I am speaking of, should have gone a little farther back too, for the Deficiency in good Liquors which he mentions, than the Year Sixty Five; for the Flux of Wine from France, which began to supply us, and the Breach made on Peoples Morals by Excesses, were really begun sometime before: Namely, at the Restoration of Civil Peace,61 and the People were arriv’d to some degrees of Proficiency in Debauchery by that time, though not to the violent Height which they are come to since. I bring it home to our present Case thus; if the Plague made such Progress in those days, when People liv’d in a so much more temperate manner than they do now, how much more reason have we to apprehend its Progress now, when the Bodies of Men are debauch’d with Excesses, in Meats and Drinks, and all kinds of Intemperance? From the whole, it is highly to the Purpose to press our People to use proper Remedies, to cleanse their Bodies of all the Gross Exhalations and Nauceous Humours, which fly up to the Brain from a foul Stomach and from corrupted Juices in the Body; and to shew how much reason there is to change our way of Living, and begin a temperate Course of Diet, that Nature after having had the Assistance of Medicine, may be invigorated and supported for the Combat she is to enter into. I perswade my self, that what I have said here is so just and is supported by such Reasons as it will not be disputed: I cannot but think, that if those Things were effectually consider’d and put in Practice, the People of this City, wou’d fare much better for it in a time of Infection; and I am sure they would have particular Satisfaction in the Experiment. 56

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I include these Preparations, under the Head of Private, as oppos’d to the Publick Preparations, I spoke of in the first General; but they are a kind of Publick, as they are different from the Preparations last mention’d, which are Personal and Particular. I must for the sake of this Head suppose, that the Plague (God forbid it) was at the Door, or perhaps really begun in the Nation: Next to the Physicking the Body, as I have said, and entring into a regular and temperate Life, it comes to be consider’d, How Families are to manage themselves, and in what manner of Posture People should propose to put themselves, if possible, to prevent the Contagion breaking in upon them. The Pestilence, being as has been said, a Contagious Distemper, it is one of the first Principles in the Argument now in Hand, that every Family should keep themselves from Conversing with one another, that is to say, from Conversing with the Streets as much as possible. When a House is Infected with the Plague, we shut it up; this was done in the late Plague 1665 with great Severity; the Design is to keep the common People from conversing with the infected Family: When a House is Sound and un-infected, they should shut themselves up, to keep them from conversing with the common People, who perhaps may be infected: The first is done to keep the Family from giving the Plague to the common People, the last should be done to keep the common People from giving the Plague to the Family; and the Reasons are a just Alternative, Nature dictates the one as well as the other; and let the Inconveniences be what they will, it is certain the thing is so necessary, and the Success so visible and promising, that no Family can repent the Design of doing it; many have repented soreley that they did not do it, or did not do it in time. Now ’tis no new thing to direct People to keep as retir’d in their Houses as possible in a time of Infection; but, the Case is, that People will not 57

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confine themselves, or will not put themselves in a condition to do it effectually; and I must add, that not to do it effectually, that is strictly, is not to do it at all: Nay, not to do it strictly is worse than not to do it at all, as I shall show presently. I know a Family at this time living in Marseilles, who having effectually lock’d themselves up within their own House, and never convers’d with the People of the Town, never had the Distemper at all; and yet Marseilles, if we may believe the Accounts we have seen from thence, was in a far more violent manner Infected, than ever the City of London was. If we may believe the Accounts from Provence, there died in Marseilles, and the Villages within a League of it, above Sixty Thousand People. If we may believe the Bills of Mortality publish’d in the City of London, for the Year 1665, there died of the Plague in London, and the Villages about it, that is to say, within the Lines of Communication, Sixty Eight Thousand Five Hundred Ninety Six in that Year, and no more. Now all People that know the two Cities of London and Marseilles, will acknowledge there is no Comparison in the Dimensions, or in the Number of Inhabitants between the one and the other: If there died 60000 People in Marseilles, it will be granted that there died at least two Thirds of the People; for they who reckon 90000 People to have been in that City, for the usual Number of Inhabitants, are, in my Opinion, sure to reckon enough: Should the Plague then of 1665 have swept away in London, a Proportion to what it did in Marseilles, there must have died even then above Four Hundred Thousand People, which would have been a Dreadful time indeed. Again, the Case in London was really moderate, compar’d to that of Marseilles; for though it is true, there were but few People seen in the Streets in London in the Height of the Infection; yet on the other Hand, the dead Bodies did not lie unburied in the Streets in Heaps; the Sick were not laid out in Blankets and on Couches in the Streets, to Expire in the open Air; the poison’d Bed-Clothes and Furniture in which the Infected had liv’d, and on which the miserable Wretches had given up the Ghost, was not to be seen in London, lying out in the Streets and at the Doors to be trampled on as the People went along, all which was the Case at Marseilles; so that if the Particles of Infection were in the Air, as some People suggest, it was next to impossible to escape it there. Now if the Family I speak of, did escape the Infection in such a Place as Marseilles, and in such a time, and next under God’s Providence by the circumspection they used, with regard to conversing with others, much more might it be so in the City of London, whatever may happen; if the Distem58

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per be not so violent as to despise all Precaution, and to Infect People that never come abroad. It is true for a Family in London, to live perfectly retir’d in time of a Visitation, is scarce practicable, nay, unless they are sufficiently stor’d with Provisions of all sorts for their subsistence, with Physick, Clothes, and all other Necessaries, it is not possible; and for want of this, as well at Marseilles as at London, many Thousands of Familes were Infected, who might otherwise have been preserved. In order to direct any particular Family, who have Substance to enable them to shut themselves up in so strict a manner as would be absolutely necessary for preserving them effectually from Contagion, to be receiv’d from any other Person, or the Goods or Clothes of any that are Infected, I shall here describe a Family so shut up, with the Precautions they used, how they maintained an absolute Retreat from the World, and how far they provided for it; it being partly Historical and partly for Direction; by which Pattern, if any Family upon the like occasion, thinks fit to act, they may, I doubt not, with the Concurrence of Providence hope to be preserv’d. THE FAMILY I speak of, liv’d in the Parish of St. Albans Wood-Street: They consisted of the Master of the Family and his Wife, being either of them between Forty and Fifty Years of Age, the Man about Eight and Forty, the Wife about Two and Forty and in pretty good State of Health; there were Five Children, Three Daughters and Two Sons, Two Maid Servants and an Apprentice; the Person was a considerable Dealer, and by Trade a Wholesale Grocer: He had another Apprentice near out of his Time; a Porter and a Boy, who he kept all employ’d in his Business; but seeing the Desolation that was coming upon the City, he dimiss’d the Boy, gave him sufficient to carry him to his Friends in Staffordshire, and made him go away directly with the Carrier; his Eldest Apprentice he gave the remainder of his Time to, and he went away likewise by Consent; as to the Porter, he did not lodge in his House before, so there was no occasion of dismissing him; but being a poor Man and likely to fall into Distress for want of his Employ, he oblig’d him to come every day and sit at the Door, from Nine in the Morning to Six at Night as a Watchman, and to receive any Orders, go of necessary Errands, carry Letters to and from the Post-house, and the like, and had a Wicket62 made in the Door, to take in or give out any thing they thought fit; besides which, there was a Rope fasten’d to a little Pully, to draw up any thing from the Streets, or let any thing down; by this Rope they often let down Victuals and Cordials, and what else they thought fit to this poor Man the Porter, and especially his Wages constantly every Week or oftner as he wanted it. 59

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The Master having resolv’d thus to shut himself up and all his Family; he first took Measures for storing himself with all manner of Provisions for his House; so that if possible he might not be under a Necessity to send for any thing out of Doors; resolving to make it a standing Rule, that the Door should not be opened upon any Account whatever, that the dearest Friend he had in the World should not come in to him, nor the greatest Necessity in the World, Fire excepted, oblige any one of his House to go out of the Doors into the Streets; nor would he suffer any of his Family so much as to look out of a Window into the Street, or open any Casement, except a Wooden Window made for the Purpose, where the Pully and Rope was, and that up two pair of Stairs; and this Wooden Window, he caus’d to be cover’d with thin Plates of Latin or Tin,63 that nothing Infected or Infectious should stick to it. Whenever this Wooden Window was open’d, he caus’d a Flash of Gunpowder to be made in the Room, so as to fill it with Smoke, which as soon as the Window was open’d, would gush out with some Force, so that it carry’d away what Air was at the Window, not suffering any to come in from abroad, till it was purify’d and sufficiently Sing’d with the Sulphur that goes with the Gun-powder Smoke. While this Smoke lasted, he that look’d out of the Window talk’d with the Porter at the Gate, let down to him or drew up from him what he had occasion for; but if the Smoke of the Gun-powder abated, he immediately shut the Door till he had made another Flash with Powder within. Before the time of shutting himself and Family in, and as soon as he found there would be a Necessity of it, he carefully furnish’d himself with Stores of all sorts of Provisions; but did it privately and with as little noise as he could; and his Magazine was as follows, First as he was Ten in Family, he allow’d them to Eat a Pound of Bread each per Day; but as he laid in a quantity of Meal besides, he abated one sixth Part, for Cake Bread,64 and such other sorts as might be made in the House; so he bought three Thousand Pound Weight of Biscuit Bread,65 such as is Bak’d for Ships going to Sea, and had it put up in Hogsheads as if going to be shipp’d off; so that the Biscuit-Baker knew nothing but that it was for a Ship that he was fitting out: Then he caus’d it to be taken away in a Boat, and bringing it up to Queen-Hithe, landed it there and carry’d it by Cart into his Warehouse, as if it had been Hogsheads of Grocery. In like manner he caus’d Twenty Barrels of Fine Flower, to be bought and pack’d up, as they pack up fine Flower for Barbadoes or Jamaica: I mention this because it is known, that unless Flower be thus pack’d up and press’d with great Art together in the Cask, and then Headed close up, so 60

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that no Air can get to it, it will Spoil, be Musty, Breed the Weavle and Corrupt. Then he caused a small Oven to be Built on the Top of his House, that is to say, in a Chimney in one of his Garrets, for fear, and laid in as many Fagots for the Heating it, as would serve to Heat it three times in two Weeks, for a whole Year. He then bought twelve Hogsheads of good middling Beer, which he had caused to be Brew’d on purpose for keeping, being so well Hopp’d that there was no doubt of its being Sound; and having a good Vault for keeping them, they were stow’d by themselves, and that these might be suppos’d to supply him fully, he had six half Hogsheads of other Beer laid in for present use. He took care for a reasonable quantity of Wine, Cordial Waters and Brandy, not for Mirth or plentiful Drinking, but for necessary Supplies, the Physicians also having advised, every one that could afford it, to drink moderately; so as not to suffer their Spirits to sink or be dejected as on such melancholly Occasions they might be suppos’d to do. To this end he bought a half Hogshead of the best Canary Wine that he could get in the whole City. Two small Casks of Malmsey,66 quantity about 12 Gallons each. One quarter Cask of Malaga Sack.67 One small Runlet of Tent or Muscadine.68 Two small Runlets of Aqua Vitæ. Twelve Gallons of Anniseed Water.69 Two Runlets of Eight Gallons each of Brandy, which was then very rare. His Wife and Daughters had stor’d their Closets well with many sorts of Distill’d Waters, as well Simple Waters as others, and particularly a new Cordial, prepar’d by a Prescription of the Physicians at that time, and call’d Plague-Water, of this, though very Costly, they had prepar’d the Quantity of Two dozen Bottles. Also his Wife and two Eldest Daughters, had stored their Closet with several Preparations of Medicines, as directed by the Physicians, as Mithridate, Venice-Treacle, Diascordium, and Pill. Ruff. Lond. Treacle, Diackylon, Turpentine,70 &c. Also they Collected all needful sorts of Herbs and Roots, such as Rue, Mint, Wormwood, Carduns, Angellica, Garlick, Scabius, White-Lilly-Roots, Sage, Sorrel, and other useful Simples,71 which they kept dry, to use by the Prescriptions of Medicine publish’d by the College;72 so that they might make up these Things if need was, without the help of an Apothecary or Surgeon. But to return to Provisions, 61

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The Master of the House, like a prudent Purveyor,73 took care to do every thing without Clamour or Noise; so that he might not be known to lay in a great Store of Provisions; the Danger of such Things being made publick being often great, and no doubt would have been so, had the City suffer’d any scarcity of Provisions, which however, by the Prudence of the Magistrates was prevented; but as that was more than he knew would happen, he laid in all his Provisions with the utmost privacy. Having furnish’d himself with Bread, with Flower, and with Beer; in the next Place he went to a Butcher in Rotherhith, none having yet died of the Plague on that Side of the Water; and here he caus’d three Fat Bullocks to be kill’d, and the Flesh Pickl’d and Barrel’d up, as is done for a Ship going a long Voyage; likewise six Barrels of Pork for the same pretended Occasions: These also he brought by Water to Trigg-Stairs,74 where he Landed them and Carted them to his Ware House as before, as if it had been Grocery. He then wrote to several Correspondents he had in the Country, and caus’d Twenty Flitches75 of Bacon to be sent him, some from one Place, some from another; so that they did not come to him altogether, nor above two or three from any particular Carrier. He likewise had a large Stock of Cheeses, particularly out of Wiltshire and Warwickshire and Gloucestershire, about Six Hundred Weight in the Whole; he Bought also five very large old Cheshire Cheeses; so that he had a Store of Cheese for much more than a Year. Out of Suffolk, he had sent him Twelve Firkins76 of the best Salt Butter that cou’d be had; besides that, he had several Pots of Butter sent him by particular Order from other Countries where he had Dealings. He took particular Care to lay in about a Ton and a half of good WhiteWine Vinegar, as a thing that was particularly useful on many Occasions; he laid in a double or threefold Stock of Coals and Wood for Firing, with Gun-powder and Brimstone for Scents as above. Also Salt and Pickles in abundance, being judg’d very wholesome, with some Hams, Neats-Tongues,77 and Hung Beef for Dainties, with about 20 small Jarrs or Stone Bottles of good Oil, rather for Physical78 Uses, than for Salads, for these they were sure to be without. Thus, you have, as near as I can Collect his Bill of Stores, and the Magazine79 was certainly well fill’d. It is true, every Family cou’d not do thus; but ’tis also true, that if all those that could have done so, had done it, and had done it in time, the Contagion had not spread as it did into so many substantial Families; for tho’ it was said, which however I do not grant, that none of the Market-people were Infected, who carried Provisions to supply the City; yet this I can 62

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undertake to say, and cou’d prove it by many People still living, that abundance of People got the Distemper by going to Market to Buy those Provisions; that is to say, by going out into the Street to fetch such Necessaries as they wanted, whether at Shops or in the Markets; and therefore it was the most necessary Precaution that cou’d be taken by this or any other Person, to lay in a Fund of Provisions for his whole Family; so as not to be obliged to have any Person go out of his House into the Street, or into his House from the Street, by which he was as much separated from the People of the City, as if he had liv’d several Miles off from them. I should have mention’d, that he took care to have all other needful petty Things provided, such as Shoes, Hose, Gloves, and all sorts of Linnen and wearing Clothes; so that nothing cou’d be wanted that they need go out for, of that Kind. As to Spice and Fruit, and all such Things, they had sufficient in the House by the means of their Trade as a Grocer; and as to Perfumes of many Kinds, he provided a great Quantity. Candles, he laid in about 70 or 80 Dozen, that is to say, dozen Pound, with a great many Bottles of Limon-Juice, and Lime-Juice, those Acids being very necessary on that Occasion. He doubly stor’d the House, also with Vessels of all sorts; such as Earthen-Ware, Glass-Ware, and all such perishable Things. He caus’d all the Rats and Mice in his House, to be effectually Poison’d and Destroy’d; and all the Cats and Dogs, to be Kill’d and Buried deep in the Ground in his Yard. He built up three great Terras Cisterns,80 and had them kept constantly fill’d with Water, that every Room in his House might be frequently washed, and not content with the Water of the New-River81 in his Yard, which came in by a Pipe, he caused a Well to be sunk in his said Yard, and a Pump plac’d there, that he might have Water to Dress their Provisions with, which did not run open in the City Air, or that cou’d be touch’d with any dead Carcass, or have any living Body or Clothes wash’d in it, which were Infected with the Plague. His last and greatest Concern was for fresh Meat; and this he cou’d not contrive any way for; and therefore excepting that he made some Provisions of live Fowls, which he caused to be kept for the sake of having a few Eggs in the House, and for now and then a Fowl to Eat; he resolv’d to be content without either Mutton, Lamb or Veal; and this was the greatest Mortification they suffer’d as to Provisions. With these Preparations, he began; he forbore shutting himself quite in for several Months after the Plague was begun, and even till there died above 1000 a Week; because that though the Infection was very Terrible in 63

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the Out Parishes, and especially in the West Part of the Town, that is to say, in Holbourn, St. Giles, Fleet-street, and the Strand; yet the City was very Healthy, nor was the Distemper felt within the Walls to any Degree, till the latter end of June or the beginning of July, for in the second Week in July, when there died, as by the Weekly Bills appeared, 1268 of all Distempers, there yet died but 28 of the Plague, in all the 97 Parishes within the Walls, and but 16 in the whole Body of Buildings on the Surrey Side of the Water. However, the next Week after it was doubled again; and as he foresaw the Infection o’respreading the whole City and all the Out-parts, like a dreadful Torrent, as he had always said it would do, he began to put his Resolutions more strictly in Execution; for from the beginning of July, he suffer’d none of his Family to stir out without the Walls of the City, nor in the City to any publick Place, Market, Exchange, Church, or the like; and wrote to all his Dealers and Correspondents in the Country, not to write for any more Goods, for that he could not send any thing out into the Streets to the Carriers, or receive any thing in from them. The first of July, he begun to place his Porter without the Door, where he built him a little Hutch to sit in, and where he (the Porter) receiv’d all Messages and Errands, and deliver’d them as he got admittance at a Wicket in the Door; and gave such Answers again when call’d for, as he was directed: By the 14th of July the Plague was encreased in a dreadful Manner in the Out-parts, so that the Bills amounted that Week to 1762 of all Distempers, 1500 of which might be suppos’d to die of the Plague, and the Number still encreasing, their own Parish being the second that was Infected in the City. I say on the 14th of July he shut the Wicket of his Door up, and Bolted, Barr’d and Lock’d himself in with all his House, taking the Keys into his own keeping, declaring to all his Family, that if any one of them, though it were his eldest Son or Daughter, should offer to stir out without the Door, though it was but a Yard off, they should not come in again upon any Terms whatsoever. At the same time he Nail’d up all the Casements of his Windows, or fasten’d the Wooden-shutters on the inside. N. B. They had no Sash Windows in those Days, nor for many Years after. This he did because it had been the Opinion of some Physicians, that there was at least many unwholesome Steams and Infectious Smells in the Air, especially in those close Streets, and among the Houses where the Plague was already spread; and it was more than ordinarily observed by curious People, that in the Houses which were Infected, and had been shut up, and where several Persons, or perhaps the whole Family, had died, there was a strange Clamy or Dewy Sweat on the inside of the Glass of the Windows, like the 64

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Sweat that will be on Windows in a damp Morning; that this did not melt off with the Heat of the Sun, as in other Cases, but rather consisted the stronger: That this was the poisonous Air breathed out of the infected People’s Bodies who had died of the Plague was not doubted; but whether this was Infectious in its Nature, and would if the Windows had been opened have Infected the next Houses, or the next People that had suck’d it in with their Breath; this I say, was not determin’d, neither do I determine it, tho’ to me it seems reasonable that it should do so: However, this Prudent Householder acting also by the Direction of good Physicians, closed up all his Windows as above, except the Wooden Shutter kept open for Conversing with his Porter without Doors, as above; he also made ChimneyBoards, to close up all those Chimneys in which he did not keep constant Fires, as I shall observe afterwards. Till this time he had taken fresh Meat of a Country Woman, a Higgler,82 who assuring him she brought it from Waltham-Abbey-Market, and open’d it not till she came to his Door, he had some Satisfaction in it; but now he forbid her also, and allow’d her coming no more. Now therefore he opened his Magazine, and distributed Bread by Weight to his Family: It was long e’re his Children could be brought to eat the coarse and hard Sea-Biscuit-Bread,83 and he was fain to distribute to them more Meal and fine Flower than he purposed at first, and they made themselves Cakes and small Loaves of Bread as they cou’d; but in a little time they were us’d to the other, and they found ways to soak and soften them by such mixtures as they cou’d get. Being now entirely shut up, they scarce knew how it far’d with their Neighbours; except that they heard the Knells continually Sounding; and their Porter gave them in Weekly the Bills of Mortallity, where they might see what dreadful Havock the infection made in the Town round about them. After they had been shut up about three Weeks, their Porter gave them an Account that the next House to them but two was infected; that three Houses on the other Side of the Way were shut up, and that two Servants, out of another House on the same Side of the Way but on the other Side of their House, were sent away to the Pest-House beyond Old-Street. It was observable, that it went hardest with the poor Servants of such Families, because of their being often oblig’d to go out on Errands, to fetch Things which the Families wanted to which they belong’d; as particularly, to the Markets and to the Apothecaries and Chandlers-Shops,84 which latter were at that time the principal Market for all Necessaries, except in Flesh meat, Fish, &c. 65

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It was a great Satisfaction to them, that the People in the next House to them on one Side, were all gone away into the Country at the beginning of the Visitation, and had left the House all lock’d up, all the Windows barr’d on the Inside, and Boarded up on the Out-side, and had left the Charge of the House with the Constable and Watch. The next Houses to them on the other Side were all Inhabited and all Visited, and at length all shut up, and in one or more of them the whole Families perished. By this time they heard a Bell go ringing Nightly along the Streets, but knew not what it meant, it not being like the Sound of the ordinary Bell man; and tho’ they heard a Voice with the Bell, yet as it did not go at first by their Door, so they cou’d not distinguish what it was they said; and as their Porter did not sit at their Door in the Night as he did in the Day, they cou’d not enquire; but at length their Porter inform’d them that the Numbers of People that died were so great in the Out-parts, that it was impossible to Bury them in Form, or to provide Coffins for them, no Body daring to come into the Infected Houses; and that therefore, the LordMayor and Aldermen, had order’d Carts to go about with a Bell-man to carry away the Dead Bodies; that this had been done in the Parishes of Holbourn, and St. Sepulchres, Cripple-gate, and other large Parishes above a Fortnight; and that they began now to come into the City, and that in particular to the Parish of St. Olave Silver-street, which was very Sickly, and that the Carts were come thither the Night before. This was frightful enough, Silver-street being also the next Parish to St. Albans, only on the other side of the Way, and the Distemper rag’d violently in both; so that during that Fornight, which was the middle of August, there died near fourscore in those two small Parishes, and still Encreasing; the Reason of this might be partly the Joining of both these Parishes to the Cripplegate Side of the Wall, and the Parish of Cripplegate, was at that time dreadfully Visited, the Plague being come down that way from St. Giles in the Fields, where it began; and the Weight of the Infection during the latter end of August and the beginning of September, lay chiefly on that Side the City; from whence it went on to Bishopsgate and Shoreditch, and White-Chappel, and so to Stepney, taking the City with it, which was as it were carried down with the Stream; for the Infection came, as we may say, first into the City at Cripplegate, and so spread in a few Weeks quite over it. At this time, viz. from the begining to the end of August, or the end of the first Week in September, there died from 700 to 800, and almost 900 a Week in Cripplegate Parish only; and then it was that the Carts were employ’d in that Parish, it was indeed impossible to Bury so many in the 66

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ordinary way, for there died four Thousand People in five Weeks time in that Parish; so that neither cou’d Coffins be made or Graves dug for them, or even Church-yards be found to lay them in, so that they were fain to obtain a Grant of a Piece of Land from the City in Finsbury Fields adjoining to the Artillery Ground, which was given them for a Burying Ground, and remains so to this Day; in which they dug vast Pits, and threw the Bodies into them Nightly by Cart-loads, always covering those with Earth in the Morning, who were thrown in over Night, and then next Night throwing in more Bodies and more Earth, and so on till the Pit was fill’d; so that as it was reported by the Parish Officers, about 2200 People were thrown into one of those Pits: But this is a Digression. All this while the Family continued in Health, and the chearful Parent encourag’d them to hope for Preservation whatever might happen without Doors; but when he had such bad News every Day from without Doors, and that every Night he heard the dismal Bell with the Cart, and the Voice following it in a mournful Tone, Bring out your Dead; Bring out your Dead, It cou’d not but make heavy Impressions upon the Minds of the Master and Mistress of the Family, and they began to look upon one another with sad Hearts; believing they were all but dead Corpses, and that the Visitation was so appointed by Heaven, as that it would sweep away the whole Body of the Inhabitants, and that none would be left alive. In this distress he prudently order’d all his Family to lodge on the lower Floor, that is to say, up one pair of Stairs, and that as many of them to lie single as possible; and had all the Rooms above furnished with Beds to lay any of the Family in that should be taken Sick; so that if any were taken Sick, they were to be immediately remov’d into some of those upper Rooms, as to an Infirmary, where they should be separated entirely from the rest of the Family, and a Nurse procur’d from abroad,85 to tend them, and to be drawn up by the Pully to the Wooden-Shutter, so as not to come through the House at all, or Converse with any in the Family. In ordering this, he appointed that if he himself should be taken, he would go immediately into the Infirmary, and be attended by a Nurse as above; and that none of his Children should be suffer’d to come up the Stairs or come near him; and that if he should die, his Body should be let down by the Pully also into the Cart, &c. and so of the whole House: Tho’ his Wife assur’d him, that if he was taken Ill she would go up into the Infirmary and be shut up with him. We must suppose this Gentleman to have much more Prudence than Religion, and much more care of his Body than of his Soul, and so of the rest of his Family, if he took no care all this while of his House, as to their worshiping God; be pleased therefore to suppose, That as he was a serious 67

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pious good Man, so he carefully maintain’d the Worshipping of God in his House, that three times every Day he call’d his Family together in the solemnest Manner to read to them, and pray to God with them, always committing them with the utmost Affection and Humility to the Divine Protection, and casting themselves into the Arms of God’s Infinite Mercy. Twice every Week they kept a solemn Day, giving themselves up to God by Fasting and Prayer: Every Night indeed, looking on themselves as dead Bodies, they laid down with dismal Apprehensions; but were still Comforted with finding themselves every Morning preserv’d and in Health. The careful Father was up every Morning the first in the House, and went to every Chamber Door, Servants as well as Children, to ask them how they did; and when they answer’d, Very well, left them with that short return, Give God Thanks. This he did, that if any had been Ill, they might immediately have been removed up Stairs, as is mention’d above. Hitherto he had corresponded with several of his Acquaintances and Customers in the Country, and had receiv’d Letters from them, and written Letters to them constantly; but would not do any Business, or send any Goods to them upon any Account, tho’ very much press’d to it; because he resolv’d not to open his Doors whatever Damages he suffer’d. His Letters were brought by the Post-Man, or Letter-Carrier to his Porter, where he caus’d the Porter to Smoke them with Brimstone, and with Gun-powder, then to open them, and then to sprinkle them with Vinegar; then he had them drawn up by the Pulley, then smoak’d again with strong Perfumes,86 and taking them with a pair of Hair Gloves, the Hair outermost, he read them with a large reading Glass, which read at a great Distance, and as soon as they were read burn’d them in the Fire; and at last the Distemper raging more and more, he forbid his Friends writing to him at all. In the Height of this Calamity, and when (as before) the good Man was almost discouraged, he was still more straightn’d by the loss of his poor faithful Porter; he miss’d him at the usual Time when he was wont to lower down by the Pulley a Mess of Broth to him, or some other thing warm for his Breakfast; but calling to him he did not answer, which made him afraid something was amiss with him: However, he heard nothing of him all that Day or the next; when the third Day calling again from within the Door for him, they were answer’d by a strange Voice, who spoke in a melancholly Tone that Abraham the Porter was dead. And who then are you, says the Master to the Person that spoke? I am his poor distress’d Widow, Sir, says the Answerer, come to tell you that your poor Servant is gone. He was greatly afflicted at the loss of so useful and so faithful a Person: However, he compos’d himself, Alas poor Woman, says he to her, and what can’st 68

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thou do then? O Sir, says she, I am provided for, I have the Distemper upon me, I shall not be long after him. He was perfectly astonish’d and surpriz’d at her last Words, and as he said, it made his Heart cold within him: However, as he stood surounded with the Smoke of Gun-powder, and within the Wooden-Shutter, he did not immediately retire; but said to her again; if you are in such a Condition good Woman why did you come out? I came, says she Sir, because I knew you would want poor Abraham to wait at your Door, and I would let you know: Well, but says he, if he is dead, I must want him,87 you cannot help me that are in such a Condition as you speak of. No, Sir, says she, I cannot help you, but I have brought you an Honest poor Man here that will serve you as honestly as poor Abraham did; that is kindly done, said the Master; But how do I know what he is, and as he comes with you that are Sick, as you say, how do I know that he is not Infected; I shall not dare to touch any thing that comes from him? O Sir, says she, he is one of the safe Men, for he has had the Distemper, and is recovered, so he is out of Danger, or else I would not have brought him to you: He will be very Honest. This was an encouragement to him, and he was very glad of the new Man; but would not believe the Story of his being recovered till he brought the Constable of the Parish where he liv’d, and another Person to Vouch for it; while this was doing, the poor Woman after some further Questions and some Money thrown down to her for Relief, went away. It was observable now, that whereas they found, as is said above, that it was very Melancholly at first to hear so many Knells88 going continually, so on a sudden, they now observ’d that there was not one Knell to be heard; the Reason, as his new Porter told him was, that the Number of those that died was so great, that they had forbid the Bells Ringing for any Body, and People were all fetch’d away by the Carts, Rich as well as Poor. Many Thousands of People would now have fled away if they could, but no Body would let them pass, and the enclos’d Family began to be in great Terror; for the Houses were desolated round about them, the Numbers of People that died, were scarce to be reckon’d up, the Bills gave an Account of near 1500 a Week within the Walls, notwithstanding the infinite Number of People that were gone away into the Country, so that it was his (the Master’s) Opinion, that there would not one Soul remain in the whole City, but that all would perish. However, he conceal’d his Fears as well as he was able; and continued as well his care over his Family, at his earnest Prayers to God every Day, and as I may say, every Hour for them. In the midst of this Misery, and as he began to be very well pleased and much assisted with his new Porter, and particularly in that he was one, that 69

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having had the Distemper, he concluded there was no Danger of his having it again; I say, in the midst of this he was surpriz’d with a near Affliction, for calling one Morning to his new Porter, no Body answer’d, he call’d several Times again, and all that Day and the next he heard nothing of him; but all the Satisfaction he cou’d get, was from a Watchman who stood at the Door of a House that was shut up, for all such Houses had Lord have Mercy, and a great Cross set on the Door, and a Watchman plac’d without, to prevent any coming out or going in: The Watchman hearing the Master of the House call the Porter by his Name, answer’d, and told him the poor Man that used to stand at the Door was Sick of the Plague, and he suppos’d was Dead; the Master answer’d, I know he was Sick that I had first, and is Dead; but this was another: Well Sir, says the Watchman, but he may be Sick and Dead too, I suppose, as well as the first: No, no, says the Master, you must mistake, you mean the first; No, Sir, says the Watchman, I knew your first Man Abraham was dead, but this Man was call’d Thomas Molins, was he not? Yes, says the Master, then it is he I mean, Sir, says the Watchman: Why that cannot be, says the Master, he had been ill of the Plague before and was recover’d, and he cannot have it again? Alas! Sir, says the Watchman, ’tis that I suppose makes you so hard to understand me; I know ’tis many Peoples Opinion, that when any has had it and recover they are secure; but I assure you it is a mistake, for I have been twice recover’d of it in the Pest–House, and been well a Fortnight between the whiles, and now I am abroad again; but I don’t think my self safe at all by that, for I know several that have had it three or four Times, and some that have recover’d three or four Times have notwithstanding died of it afterwards: and is my Porter Molins sick of it again, says the Master, Yes, Sir, says the Watchman, I heard he was; but I will acquaint you more particularly to Morrow. Accordingly the next Day, he call’d to the Watchman again, who told him that he had enquired and found that poor Molins the Porter was carried away by the dead Carts, as they call’d them, the Night before: He was surpriz’d exceedingly at this, and shut the Wooden-Door immediately without speaking a Word more to him; and going in sat him down, griev’d most heartily, and wept by himself a great while, to think that two poor Men had thus lost their Lives as it were to preserve him. After sometime, he consider’d that there was no room for him to be discourag’d, so went to his Wife and took a large Glass of Canary, which was his usual Cordial, and putting as good a Countenance on it as he cou’d, said nothing of the Death of the poor Man to his Family; but resolv’d to remain quietly in the Condition he was in, and as it pleas’d God that all his House continu’d in pretty good Health, he consider’d that he had great reason to 70

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be Comforted and thankful for that; and not to have any Sorrows for others to affect his Mind. In this posture he remain’d about a Fortnight more, having no manner of Correspondence with the Street, and he had resolv’d to have no more Porters; so he was perfectly without Intelligence, except that still he found the Watchman he had formerly talk’d with every Day before the Door of the House as he thought, where he was at first. But after about a Fortnight, he grew impatient with being so entirely without Intelligence, and seeing none of the Weekly Bills, nor knowing or hearing any thing but the doleful Noise of the Dead Cart, and the Bell; at the end, I say, of the Fortnight he open’d his Wooden Window, and call’d to the Watchman, ask’d him how he did? and how that House did where he was plac’d, supposing it the same where he was before? Alas! Master, says the poor Man, the distress’d Family are all dead and gone except the Journeyman,89 and he is carried to the Pest-House, and I am plac’d at Mr. —’s at the next Door, and they have three People Sick and one Dead. He ask’d him then in General, how it went in the City? He told him very bad, that the last Weeks Bill was above Eight Thousand of all Distempers, that it Decreas’d at the other end of the Town in St. Giles and in Holbourn, the People being most of them Dead or gone away; but that it Increas’d dreadfully towards Aldgate and Stepney, and also in Southwark, where it had been more moderate before than in any other part of the Town. In a Word, this being the middle of September, the Plague was now in its utmost Fury and Rage, only that as above it was abated in the West end of the Town where it began; and as the poor Man told him, it had Decreased a little in Cripple-gate Parish, tho’ there still died in that Parish, between Four and Five Hundred a Week, and in the Parish of Stepney above Eight Hundred a Week. It was heavy News to this poor Gentleman, to hear to what a dreadful Height the Calamity was come; and yet it was some Encouragement, that it begun to go off to the Eastward, and that it had Decreased so much in Cripplegate Parish, and he fail’d not to let his Family know it; but still as the Houses on both Sides of him, and almost the whole Row on the Side over against him were Distempered, and some whole Families Dead, it was very terrible to them to think how they yet liv’d in the midst of Death: His Family began now to be sorely afflicted for want of Air for Breath, and with continued Eating of Salt Meats, began to grow Scorbutick and out of Order; he did what he could by desiring them stir and be active and busy about House to preserve Health; but would by no means suffer any Window or Door to be opened; but as the Weather began to be cooler than 71

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it had been, he continued to keep Fires in every Room on that Floor where they lodg’d, and had two of his Family, who by turns sat up half a Night, and two more the other half of the Night, every Night to keep the Fires in, and watch the House for fear of Mischief. This Scorbutick Illness Increased pretty much upon them, but was greatly reliev’d at last, by his accidental reading one Day of People being Cur’d of the Scurvy at our Islands of Antegoa or Mevis, by eating Green Limons, after a long becalm’d Voyage from Guinea: Upon this he remember’d that he had a Quantity of Lime juice and Limon-juice90 in the House, which he gave plentifully about to the Family, as often as they would drink it, and in about a Week or Ten Days time, they found themselves sensibly better’d by the taking it. The Streets were now a melancholly Sight to look into, the Pavement was overgrown with Grass; it was not one time in Twenty that they look’d thro’ the Glass, for they never open’d any Casement, that they could see any Body going along, or so much as a Door open; as for the Shops they were all shut close, except that the Apothecaries and Chandlers-shops, kept a Door open for the letting People come for what they wanted; not a Coach or a Cart to be seen, except now and then a Coach carrying a Sick Body to the Pest-House; and every Night three or four Times a Night, the Dead Cart, with the Bell-man crying, Bring out your Dead. The poor Man was now so Impatient for want of his Porter, that he cou’d not content himself without opening his Wooden Window two or three Times after this, to talk with the Watchman, who continu’d posted at the Door of the House that was shut up, and to inform himself how things went; but at last he look’d for him and found he was gone too, which was a great Loss to him, and he was the more troubl’d, because he intended to have given him some Money. But one Day as he was looking thro’ the Glass, he spied the Man standing on the other Side of the Street, and looking up towards his House, upon which he ran immediately to his Wooden Window, and open’d it, tho’ not forgetting to make the usual Smoke with Gunpowder for his Preservation; when he had opened the Door, the poor Watchman told him he was glad to see him still alive, and that he had come twice before in hopes to see him, but was afraid he had not been well; that he came to tell him, that he was dismiss’d from the House he was set to Watch, most of the poor People being Dead, and that if he pleased to accept of it, he would sit at his Door in the Day time, as his two Porters had done. He was glad of his Offer, for he had not been easy for some time with being without, so he answer’d him, that he was glad to see him again, that he might give him something for what he had done for him, in telling him 72

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how things were; so he threw the poor Man two Crowns, for which he was very thankful; after which he accepted his Offer, and he took his post at the Door as the others had done before, but he wou’d not let him go to the Pest-house at all, or to any other Place, only to give him Intelligence of Things as he heard them among his Neighbours. He had not been at the Door many Days, but he call’d to his Master, and told him that he was glad to give him the good News that the Infection abated, and that the Weekly Bill was now Decreased 1837 in one Week, which had of a sudden given a great deal of Joy among the People; that the Burials in Cripplegate Parish were sunk to within 200, tho’ in Stepney Parish they were still as high as ever, being between Eight and Nine Hundred. He fail’d not to run to his Wife and Family with this good News, but was fain to moderate it too, for that his Sons began to be impatient to go abroad, which however, he was resolv’d not to suffer. This was about the last Week in September. The next Week his New Porter gave him Notice that the Plague continu’d to abate, that the Bill of Mortallity, was again Decreased between Six and Seven Hundred more, though they were yet at a frightful Height, being 5725 in a Week, of all Diseases. However, it was a comfortable Thing to think that the Violence of the Distemper began to asswage; and more especially, that it abated in that part of the City, for in this last Bill, the Burials in Cripplegate Parish of all Distempers, came to but 196, which was but a very few compar’d to 886 a Week, which had died there a few Weeks before; So that the Plague was as much ceas’d to them as it would have been to the whole City, if there had not died above 1000 or 1200 per Week. His Sons would fain have had him now, like Noah, have sent out a Dove,91 that is, to have let them have gone out of Doors to have seen how Things were, and how the City look’d; and they urg’d him the more, because they began to hear a Noise of People in the Streets passing to and fro, and that pretty often; but he kept his Guard, and would not let any one stir out on any Terms, or on any pretence whatsoever. The next Week but two, which was the third in October, there was another great Decrease of 1849 in one Bill; and now his Porter knock’d at his Door, they did not open either Door or Wicket, but spoke to him, and he told them, he desir’d to speak with his Master, to tell him some good News: The Master of the Family soon appear’d at his usual Wooden Window with one of his Sons and one of his Daughters, the Watchman told him, that now he hop’d he could assure him, that the Visitation was really going off; that there had died 1849 less the last Week than the Week 73

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before, and that the Lord Mayor had order’d the Carts to cease going about, except twice a Week in several Parts of the City, and in others but once each Night; and that there had died but 88 in Cripple-gate Parish that Week of all Diseases; that indeed it continu’d very high in Stepney, and especially in Southwark; but that in the City it was extreamly abated. He let down to the poor Man, for his good News, a Pint Bottle of good Sack, and a small Basket with Provisions for him and his Family. And now they turn’d their two Days of Fasting, which they had constantly kept in the Family every Week, into one Day of Fasting, and one Day of Thanksgiving, when on the sudden, to the great Surprize of the whole Family, the Master himself, who was the Life and Spring of all the Rest, and of all the Management, which under God, had so evidently preserv’d them, I say the Master himself was taken very Sick. It is not for me at this Distance, to describe the terrible Consternation they were all in; not only the whole Family, but the Master himself concluded he was struck with the Plague; and the Apprehension, least he should be the means to give it to any of his Children, he would oblige them to have him carry’d out to the Pest-House; his Wife and all the Children declar’d against it, and protested to him every one of them, that they would rather have the Distemper with him, and leave the Consequence to God’s Mercy. With these importunities he was prevail’d with, but order’d a Bed to be made immediately in one of the upper Rooms, mention’d before, and went presently to Bed; taking such Things as were prescrib’d publickly by the College of Physicians, to be given at any ones being first taken with the Plague, which was to provoke Sweat; upon taking these Things he fell into a violent Sweat immediately, and continu’d so all Night: Any one may suppose the Family had but little Sleep that Night; being in the utmost Concern for so careful and so kind a Father, as also very anxious to know whether their Father had the Distemper or no. No more can I represent lively enough the Joy there was in the House, when the next Day they found their Father had Sweated very violently, fallen into a good Sleep after it, and was so much refresh’d and so well, as to satisfy them all, that his Distemper was not at all Infectious; but that it rather proceeded from the great Weight and Pressure of his Cares, which had been too heavy for his Spirits, and withal, having taken some Cold as they thought, by standing too long talking at the Wooden Window to his Watchman. In short, the Sweating had reliev’d him effectually, and in two or three Days he was about House again and tolerably well, tho’ weak by Sweating a little too much. 74

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While the Master of the House lay thus, the Family had no Joy of the Decrease of the Plague; for what was the Decrease to them if it broke out now in their own House? but as soon as the Master recover’d a little, then they began to look abroad again for Intelligence: And now they cou’d see through their Windows a new Countenance of things in the Streets and upon the Houses; that the People began to go up and down the Streets very frequently; and some began to open their Shops, at least to open them half way; the Hackney-Coaches92 also were heard rumbling in the Streets, so that without calling to the Porter, they cou’d easily perceive that the Distemper was greatly Decreased, and that the People that were left, had more Courage than before, and in a word that the Plague was going off, at least in the City, and Chiefly on that Side where they liv’d. Their Porter or Watchman confirm’d it to them the next Day, when the Weekly Bill came about, which he brought to them: The Master contented himself with hearing how it was, but would not let the Bill be taken in, nor would he yet abate one tittle of his strict Guarding his Family from Conversing with the Streets by any means. It was now the last Week in October, and so greatly was the Plague Decreased, that there was but 22 Buried of it in all Cripple-gate Parish, and but 28 the Week before, which was almost as surprizing as the great rise of it at first; tho’ even this Week the Bills were high in Stepney Parish and in Southwark also. Now though this was joyful News to this, as well as to other Families, yet he was as anxious about the Danger of opening his Doors too soon, as he was before of keeping them open at first too long: He was aware that People would be rash in their Joy, and that presuming on the Health of the City being re-establish’d, they would return to their Houses and bring out their Goods, on which others had died and air them, too soon, and so perhaps bring back the Infection: And it was just as he had said, for about the middle of November, the Bills on a sudden Increased 400 at once, and rose from a Thousand to Fourteen Hundred, and the City was in a terrible Fright upon that Occasion. But it pleas’d God that it went off again, and the Weather coming in Cool, the Distemper abated again,93 and the Bills continu’d Decreasing till in the third Week of November they were once more under a Thousand a Week of all Distempers, whereof but 652 of the Plague. It is true, that considering the Number of People who were dead, which was very near an Hundred Thousand; and the great Number fled away, which according to the most moderate Guess, was at least three times as many; considering the Numbers who had had the Distemper and were recover’d, who though, as was Evident in the Case of the Second Porter, they 75

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were not entirely free from the return of the Distemper, yet were not so very easily Infected as others. I say, considering this, the dying of 652 a Week now, was as much as the dying of 2000 a Week, was at the beginning of August; and this made him continue his Caution with the same Rigour as ever, and indeed with rather more; for he remember’d well what a Consternation the People were every where in, when the Plague was so increased, as to die from Eight Hundred to a Thousand a Week of all Distempers, and even this Week I now speak of, which was from the 14th of November, to the 21st, the Bill stood at 905, whereof 652 of the Plague. Besides, there died in the City of the Plague that very Week above twice the Number as did in the Week from 21st to the 28th of July, when the Bill was 1761 in all; for then there died but 56 in all the City within the Walls, whereas now there died 127, I mean of the Plague: So that the City was not so Healthy then as the Out-parts: For Example, The great Parish of Cripplegate, was so strangely restored, that there died in the Week from the 21st to the 28th of November, no more than 10 Persons in all, and but two of them of the Plague; which perhaps was the least Number that has been known in that Parish before or since, for above an Hundred Years. All these Things he Calculated exactly, and as he said, was very loth to lose all the Fruit of his Care and Caution; and of the close Confinement he had submitted to: I say he was very loth to lose it all at once, by a rash and needless Adventure: His Reasons were so good, and their own Safety so much concern’d in it, that his Family submitted to it with the more Chearfulness, though they began to labour hard for Breath at that time, and to be very desirous of Air, having been shut up so close and so long as above. The first of December, like Noah, who opened the Window of the Ark, to send out his Dove, he opened his Street Door for the first time and walk’d out: The Bill of Mortality the Week before was 544 of all Diseases, whereof only 333 of the Plague, whereof near half of that Number were out of Stepney Parish, and the Southwark Side of the River where the Sickness continued longest, and was longest before it began. The first of December, I say he walk’d out, but suffer’d none of his Family to stir but himself; he view’d the Streets, the Houses and Shops, but convers’d with no Body, nor did he see any Body that he knew, except a few just in his own Neighbourhood; a vast Number of Houses were standing empty and deserted, the Inhabitants being gone into the Country; yet in some of those he observ’d Servants return’d, who had opened the Windows and Doors, and were, as we call it, Airing the Houses and the Goods, making Fires in all the Rooms, opening the Windows, and burning Perfumes in the Rooms, preparing them in that manner for the Return of the Families that belong’d to them. 76

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The Numbers of People in the Streets were greater indeed than he expected; but this seem’d to be occasion’d rather by the Curiosity of the People, which were left, which led them to go more abroad than otherwise they wou’d have done, for in the Back-streets and Ways, less frequented, he found very few People. He came home again in a few Hours, not having visited any Body, or made any Enquiries after any of his Friends, or any one else; and resolv’d to keep up to his Close Quarters one Week longer; nor would he buy any fresh Provisions, or suffer any one to go to Market; but resolv’d upon some new Measures which he put in Practice the Week following. He went out early in the Morning and taking his Eldest Son and his Apprentice with him, they walk’d on Foot as far as Tottenham-High-Cross,94 and finding a House there of one of his Acquaintance, which had not been Infected at all, he took Lodgings or Apartments in it for his whole Family, and the same Day return’d to London: The same Week he remov’d them all thither, carrying his own Goods and some part of his own Provisions; all which he caused to be fetch’d by Waggons belonging to the Country People, and such as he had good Information were Sound, and had not been Infected at all. Here he not only reliev’d his Family with fresh Air, which they so much wanted, but with fresh Provisions also, which he had now brought to them from Waltham Market, by his old Higgler who had supply’d the Family at the beginning of the Year. He left his House at London fast lock’d up, except the Gate into his Yard, the Key of which he gave to the Honest Watchman, and went himself, or his Son, or his Apprentice, two or three times a Week, to see that every thing was safe and in good order: And thus he continu’d till the February following; for all the Month of December and January the Plague continued in the City, and at the latter end of December it began to Increase again, which was believ’d to be by the People’s returning faster than ordinary to their Dwellings; so that the third Week in December, the Number Encreased was 83, and then there died of the Plague still 281, the whole Bill being 525. But by the beginning of February, the Family being well recover’d and refresh’d, and all in perfect Health, and the City being fill’d again with People, and in pretty good State of Health, he remov’d all back again, and came to his House, open’d his Doors, and carry’d on his Business as before. Thus, next, under the Protection of God’s Providence, a compleat Retirement from the Street and from Conversing on any account whatever with the rest of the People separating from them, and having, as we may say, nothing to do with them neither to Buy or Sell, or speak or sit with or near 77

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them, has been approv’d to be capable of effectually preserving a Man or a Family, in the Time of an Infection. I will not suppose this Man or his Family, who were so severe in Fasting and Humbling themselves before God, all the time they were under Apprehensions of the Distemper, and surrounded with daily Experience of the dreadful Calamity that lay upon the City, cou’d so far forget themselves now, as not to give God Thanks in the most solemn Manner possible for their Deliverance: That part I take for granted; they cou’d not be rational Creatures any more than Christians, and retain no sense of so signal Preservation. I will therefore, I say, take that for granted, and suggest, that the Master of the Family with the utmost Seriousness and Devotion perform’d this part, and that he oblig’d all his Family to do the like. Here is now a perfect Rule for any one to walk by, and to preserve themselves against the most violent Infection that ever yet happen’d in this Nation, for such I esteem that Plague to be: And I judge it by this, that although we call it a Plague Year, and that the Number of Persons that died, is accounted to the whole Year, that is, from the 20th of December, 1664, to the 20th of December 1665; yet the gross part of the Number perish’d within the Compass of less than four Months: Namely, from the 18th of July to the 14th of November, in which time there died 81559 People of all Distempers; whereas the whole Number in the Twelve Months as by the Yearly Bills amounts to but 97306: Or take it of the Numbers reckon’d to die of the Plague and brought in so by the Bill of Mortallity, the whole Number that died of the Plague in the Year, from the 20th of December 1664 to the 19th of December 1665 was 68596, whereof there died in the Compass of the 4 Months above mentioned, from the 18th of July to the 14th of November, 65045: So that in the whole seven Months of January, February, March, April, May, June, and December, and half July and half November, their died of the Plague 3551 and no more. Again in Nine Weeks of these four Months, the Violence of this Contagion was indeed most dreadful, and beyond all that ever was before in this Nation: For Example, From the 8th of August to the 10th of October, there was Buried 60410 Persons, an incredible Number! if we consider, that by the Judgment of all that have been seriously inquisitive in that Matter, the Bills of Mortallity neither did, nor was it possible as Circumstances were then known to be, that they shou’d give a full Account of the Numbers of People that perish’d in that dreadful Calamity: Many perish’d in the Fields and High-ways, wandering in their Distress, and Desperation from the Town, desolate and not knowing whither to go; the Villages adjacent also refusing to suffer them to come in, or to give them any shelter, Thousands perish’d in those Towns adjacent to London, which are not included in the 78

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Bills of Mortallity; which were notwithstanding Crowded with People who fled thither from London in the beginning of the Infection, expecting Safety there; which however, the Distemper being so violent, was little Protection to them, and they rather assisted to make those Towns more unhealthy than they would perhaps have otherwise been: These Towns are said to have Buried above 5000 People, some think many more, such as follows, Chelsea Kensington Knights bridge Hammersmith Fullham Brentford Chiswick Pancrass Paddington Hamstead Hornsey Edmonton

Tottenham Newington Walthamstow Low-Layton Stratford East & West Ham Barking Ilford Wanstead Woolwich Greenwich Eltham

Deptford Lusum Peckham Camberwell Clapham Battersey Putney Wimbleton Wandsworth Tooting Mitcham Stretham

Yet in this dreadful Visitation, a retreat has been effectual in the very City, and doubtless would still be so, if manag’d with the same Prudence at another time. Here is the Example: The Pattern contains compleat Directions: And I cannot doubt, but if the same method were taken by any Family, the same Security would, by the Blessing of God, be obtained. I am to observe, that whereas this Gentleman laid in a Magazine of Stores sufficient for his Family: I mean of Provisions for a whole Year; so as he was not shut up above seven Months or thereabouts, he had a great quantity of Biscuit, Beer, Cheese, Beef and other things remaining. If his Stores were short in any thing, it was in fine Flower, and Butter; but the Reason was not, that he had not duly proportion’d every thing for an equal Supply; but that his Wife, his Children, and indeed Servants and all, having not been us’d to the Coarse hard Biscuit-Bread, could at first scarce bite it with their Teeth; and contriv’d abundance of small things, Puddings and Pies, and Cakes of several sorts, and Bread, such as their own little Oven would Bake, only that wanting Yeast, they could not supply themselves with such Bread as they usually had, but were oblig’d to make it heavy and sad, not knowing how to leaven their Bread, as some Countries do. On the other Hand they mingl’d Butter, and sometimes fine Oil with their Flower, and made abundance of bak’d Things to supply the 79

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Place of Bread; and this was the Reason of their Flower not holding out so well as their Bread. However, as I may suppose when he brought his Family home again, and the Markets were open and Provisions came in plenty again, and might be eaten freely, he brought out what was left of his Magazine, that is to say, of the Eatables and Liquids, and made a Thanks-offering of it to the Poor, nor was it a small quantity in the whole, seeing he had left. 1500lb. Weight of Bread. 5 Hogsheads of his Beer. 300 lb. Weight of Cheese. 5 Flitches of Bacon 2 Barrels and a piece of Salted Beef. No Pork and no Butter or Flower. This Account is given the more largely, because it may stand as a Mark of Direction, which will not merit any Exception in the Manner. And I can assure my Reader, that several Families have been preserved in this late dreadful Plague at Marseilles by the same Method; and I have seen Letters from thence full of the Particulars, and acknowledging the Success. It is true, that the poorer Inhabitants are not able to do thus, and therefore this Example or this Advice, does not immediately reach to them. But as in the first part of this Work, I have mention’d what Care might, and indeed, ought to be taken of the Poor; viz. to remove their Wives and Children, to keep and succour them in particular, separating them from the rest. I say, that then would the remaining Inhabitants, who were able thus to retreat, do it in the manner as is here described, they would necessarily employ so many of the Men who should remain as Porters and Watchmen at their Doors, and subsist them with Provisions from within, that even those poor Men would not be expos’d to the Conversing with one another, which is the fatal part, in such Extremities as these. It is nothing but the Necessity of going about among one another, which prompts the Contagion, and extends it into every Corner of the City; if the Poor cou’d live within Doors, as the Rich may, the Poor would be as safe as the Rich are, but that Necessity that sends them abroad to get their Bread, brings them home Infected. It is not so much the Poor living close and not cleanly that Infects them, their dirty Clothes and uncomfortable Lodgings, and hard Fare, does not give them the Plague, does not Infect them, if so, they would never be without it; I will not say but it makes their Cure more difficult, and want of Food and of Physick makes them sink under it, when they have it; but it is their going abroad among one another that Infects them, and then want 80

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of Conveniences, and of being assisted and look’d after, causes them to perish faster than others. The whole Scheme of my Discourse therefore, aims at separating the People as much as possible from one another; and on this depends their Safety and Health; I mean as to second Causes and the means of preserving it: As to the Agency of Providence, I am no way Invading it, or Impeaching the Wisdom of Heaven in the directing these Things. I must say, I reject (though with Decency) the Notions of those People who take upon them to tell us, that the Plague is not convey’d by Contagion from the Bodies Infected; it seems to me to be an Ill-grounded Hypothesis, argued upon as the Persons who espouse those Notions think fit; and as the Opinion is boldly advanc’d against the Universal Experience of Mankind for many Ages, I leave them to be confuted by the same Experience. However to avoid Caviling or making this Work, which is written with a better Design, a Scene of Debate, I leave them to their own Notions, and those that please to believe them, may venture their Lives upon the Faith of it, if they think fit; but I believe few will, and in the mean time, I acknowledge as at the beginning, that I write this upon a Supposition of the common Hypothesis, namely, That the Distemper is what we call Catching or Contagious, that is to say, The Sound are Infected by the Sick; let it be in what manner they please, whether by Effluvia from their Bodies; by Animalcula95 mixt and drawn into our Bodies with our Breath; or by the Venome of the Tumours, Blanes96 and Sores, or how you please; and that Conversing with those who are Infected gives the Infection, which is propagated in that manner, from one to another: I say, I lay down this as a Principle, which Experience and the Judgment of very able Physicians, and Men of long Practice confirms to me; whose Authority I must needs say, I have not yet seen overthrown, and as the History I have given of a Family preserv’d by retiring from Conversation, is really the History of several Families, rather than of one, and is a perfect Model for future Practice. I think that Account with several others, which I cou’d give, within the Compass of my own Knowledge, or the Particulars whereof I have had from the Persons of Credit. I say, these are convincing Proofs, to me at least, of what. I build upon, namely, That the Distemper is taken by Contagion from the diseas’d Bodies, let those who believe otherwise act as they see fit; but let them remember that they cannot say they have wanted due Caution, deriv’d from innumerable Examples of those who have been Infected by their Conversing with others. I must confess, I think, the publishing such a vast variety of Opinions in this Case, as we see every Day brought to light, is like publishing the Cavils 81

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and Opinions of Divines, in the great Dispute about the Trinity,97 dangerous instead of directing to the Readers; amusing the People so, that (though in the most important Article of Religion) they know not what to conclude, or which Opinion to accept. In like manner here, in the most important Article of our Health, we are so perplex’d with the Opinions of the Physicians;98 some declaring the Plague not dangerous one way, and some that it is not dangerous another way; while by common Experience, we find it dangerous every way, and this carried up to such a Degree as it is, that we know not whom to follow, or whom to give Credit to. My short Judgment, and which I leave to Experience, is this; That be the Bodies of Sick Persons Infectious or not, be it safe to Visit and Converse with them, or be it not, Things which we may never determine in Theory; this is certain, that in declining Conversation with the Sick, nay, in declining all Communication with one another, in time of Infection, there can be but little Error, and ’tis the much safer Way for all People to act; In the Negative there can be no Danger, the retreat then, which I recommend, must be acknowledg’d to be the most innocent mistake that any Man or Family can commit. It is a fine Notion, if I had said a fine spun Notion, I had been excusable, to say that we are in no danger of Infection from Conversing with infected Bodies; But who do these Gentlemen think they shall perswade to run the Hazard of the Experiment? Nay, will the Gentlemen themselves show us the Way? and if they should we must see through the whole Visitation, before we can tell whether they are in the right or no. Nay, if it should happen that any bold Adventurer should thus Hazard the Experiment and live, even then it does not prove the Thing to be true, for he may live and not be Infected, and yet I may catch it at the first Attempt and be lost. Perhaps this Man’s Constitution, or Precautions, or particular Conduct, or his Fate, may prevent his being Infected, but yours or mine may not: There are infinite Numbers perish in a Plague, that is true, and this convinces us that it is a Contagion convey’d from and catch’d of one another, &c. Yet in the hottest and highest Infection that ever was, some have escaped and never been Infected at all, although they may have liv’d among the infected Bodies all the time: I knew a Sexton and Bearer of a Parish in London, who Dug all the Graves and help’d to carry all the Bodies that were carried in Coffins to the Grave, in the whole Parish he liv’d in, and yet never had the Distemper, and the like Instances of many others; but this is as far from proving that the Distemper is not Infecting, as it proves that Musquet Bullets do not Kill Men in an Army, because all that are Shot at or Wounded do not die. 82

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Some ascribe it the goodness of Providence, and to a mercifull Disposition for the Comfort of the Citizens of London at that time, that the Persons necessary to tend the Sick, to bury the Dead, and to assist in publick Matters were preserved, and very seldom had the Plague; as Nurses in the very Chambers of the Sick, and in the Pest-Houses, Hospitals, &c. Cart-Drivers and Bell Men that carried away the dead Bodies in the Night, and Grave Diggers who assisted to bury them, and the like; and as it was said, Market People who brought Provisions to Market, and who they say, never had the Distemper. But (1) With due deference to Oral Tradition this is a mistake; it is true poor People press’d by their own Circumstances, Trade and Workmanship being at a kind of full Stop, were glad for Bread at any Hazard, to undertake those dangerous and dismal Offices of tending the Sick, and burying the Dead; and in many Cases the Magistrates of the City oblig’d them to do it; but then it must be acknowledg’d, that many did catch the Distemper, and many of them died, though as in other Cases, not all of them. (2.) After the Sickness had been sometime among us, as in all Infections some died, so in this some had been infected and recover’d, and tho’ it is true, that it did not perfectly secure them from a Relapse, or from having it a second or a third time, or oftner as was found by Experience; yet it was a general Notion with the People that they cou’d not have it twice; and that made such as had recover’d, be the bolder in offering themselves to those Works; and perhaps too they were not so easily Infected as others were, tho’ they were not wholly secur’d; so that by the time that the Plague was come to its height most of the Nurses and necessary People above, were made up of such as had been infected and were recovered; and this particular Circumstance recommended them to the Families they were employ’d in, because they then thought they were safe from losing the Nurse they had depended on, having her die in the House, or having her carried away, when she was most wanted, and, perhaps not any other to be had. So that upon the whole, those People not dying as others did, is very far from being a convincing reason that the Plague was not Contagious, &c. as to the Market People, Higglers, &c. who brought Provisions to London, being so signally preserved by Heaven, in Mercy to the distress’d Citizens, that none of them had the Plague, or carried it home to their Families. I would be very far from lessening so great and valuable a Memorial of merciful Heaven, and of his Care for the Good of his afflicted Creatures, if I was sure of the Fact; but as I have never met with sufficient Authority for the Thing or had it prov’d, so as I might depend upon the Truth of it, I shall say no more than this to it, that as those who relate it, look upon it to be little less than miraculous, so as such I should receive it, if it was prov’d 83

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to be true; but if it were true, it neither way proves that the Distemper was not Catching. But to come a little nearer home, if this were true, what mean the Physicians and the Government in France at this time? And what are they doing there, in surrounding the Towns which are Visited with their Soldiers, keeping in the Sound with the Sick till they all Perish together? What need of the dreadful Severities they have used there, in Shooting dead so many Innocent People, who (made desperate by their Danger) have attempted to Escape, either by Force or Secretly, and to get away if possible, out of the Danger? If the poor desperate Creatures did not see, that to be lock’d up there among the Infected People was present Death to them; and that they would be unavoidably infected and lost, what pushes them upon such desperate Attempts for escape? in which they are almost sure to be discover’d, and if discover’d, are sure to be kill’d without Mercy. I say, what can push them upon such desperate Things, but the apparent Knowledge of the Distemper being catching from the Bodies of their Friends who were Infected. On the other Hand, why such Severities, nay, Cruelties and Barbarites (for if there was no reason for them, they must be call’d such) as shooting to Death two poor Innocent Children, who in meer Duty to their distress’d Father, who lay Sick in the Mountains, found means to pass the Lines in Dauphine in the Night, and go to him to carry him Relief: Which two poor Children, one 13 Years old and one 14, were shot without Mercy, and against the Entreaties and Cries of the very Inhabitants where they were taken? What need I say of such inexorable Cruelty; if Necessity and the just fear of Infection from the Bodies of those miserable Creatures, did not make it justifiable? I might instance in many other Acts of severity; such as shooting five Soldiers who had the Guard of the Lines, for having persued two Sheep, to Kill them within the Lines, least they should get back and Infect the Country; so that the poor Men were Kill’d for their extraordinary dilligence in their Duty; there are more Stories of the like Nature, which we have had publickly Printed and Written; but as I cannot depend on the Truth of the Particulars, I omit them; the general Part, namely, that they do practise these Things, and do shoot and put to Death all that attempt to Escape, if they come within their Reach, is undoubted. Now ’tis certain, the French who are a Nation of Humanity, would never Exercise such Severities upon their own People: I mean they would not as a Nation, and as a Government under wholesome Laws, if they were not fully satisfy’d that the Contagion of this Distemper is thus convey’d from the Bodies of the Infected, to the Bodies of the Sound; and that it was dangerous for the Sound to Converse with the Sick. 84

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This Opinion of theirs, ’tis evident all their Physicians come into, and it is allow’d that the French Court is not ill furnish’d with Gentlemen that have made the greatest Proficiency in the Knowledge of Medicine, and in the Study of Distempers, of any Nation whatsoever. Nor is it the Opinion of the Physicians there only, but the same Notion is entertain’d by all the Christian World, as appears by the Prohibiting Commerce, and even Conversation with any Person coming from France: which it is plain proceeds from the Apprehensions, least those Persons should be already Infected with the Distemper, and should Communicate it from their particular Bodies to the People they come among. Now if it was true, as these Men insinuate, that no Contagion can be convey’d from one Body to another; then all the Nations in Christendom proceed at present upon wrong Notions; all the People they Kill in the Severities I speak of, are unjustly and injuriously Kill’d; and there are just so many cold Blood Murthers committed by them; likewise all the Measures taken to keep the People in the places Infected, from coming among the People that are Sound and not Infected, are ridiculous, and to no purpose. I shall say no more to this Matter, the contrary is an Amusement, and, if I may give my Opinion, cannot extend very far, nor will the Gentlemen that have advanc’d it, I believe, get many Friends to it, at least not such as will venture their Lives upon the Credit of the Opinion. On the other Hand, if I go on a mistake, I err in much good Company, for I have the Practice of the whole Christian World on my Side: Nay, tho’ I were to grant it was a mistake, which however, I can by no means do, yet I am right in my Proposals, in that I am laying down Rules for the Preservation of Mankind, upon the Foot of that same Principle which they all go upon; Namely, that of the Distemper being Infectious, that is to say, That the Infection is taken from one to another by the Infected Bodies emiting poisonous Particles, either from the Pores of the Body, or from the Breath, or from some malignant Effluvia which pass from the Body Infected, and are receiv’d by the Body at that time to be Infected: When the World may, by the introducing this new Opinion, change their Methods universally, then and not before the Scheme I lay down may be Voted useless. I might proceed to some common Remedies or Preservatives which have been found useful in times of Infection to those whose Circumstances would not permit them to retire from Company, and from Conversing with their Neighbours: But our Physicians have Crowded the World with Medicines, as well Simple as Compound;99 and there is no room to say any thing after them: However, as I have no Notion, I must confess, of venturing among Infected People without any Preservative, I cannot but mention some of them; I 85

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have known that some have preserv’d themselves in the last Plague 1665, by only having a Bottle of Vinegar in their Hands, and being continually smelling to it: I my self have rid thro’ a Town Infected with the Plague, with a Bunch of Rue in my Mouth and have been secur’d, others have taken Rue and Wormwood100 together. I know a Physician who Visited several Patients, even in the Pest-House near London, in 1665; and went freely into their Chambers, but all the while he was in the Rooms would be Chewing a Stalk of Angelica101 in his Mouth, and every Morning before he went among them, drank the Quantity of an ordinary Glass of Canary, with the Stalk of Angelica steep’d in it, and he never was Infected so as to be quite Sick with it. Innumerable such Prescriptions were to be had, built on the Experience of many who have practis’d them; but nothing of all this ever comes up to the grand Experiment, which I have recommended in this Work. I mean that of separating ourselves, and retiring wholly from Conversation, whether in Families or otherwise, and laying in Store of Provisions, to shut themselves as entirely up as if Lord have Mercy, and a Cross was set on their Door. Frequent Sweatings by those that are retir’d as above, cannot but be very useful to them, as well for preventing the Mischiefs which frequently follow upon being too closely confin’d, and want of Air, as to keep the Body from any mischief receiv’d, or like to be receiv’d from the nearness of the Contagion; but then those Sweatings should be very moderate and gentle, and chiefly occasion’d by some little Stirring and Exercise, such as running up and down Stairs, or any brisk Motion, but with a strict Reserve against over tireing the Spirits or heating the Blood. I object nothing against the Medicines prescrib’d by the Physicians. Every one will act in that Case as their Opinion of the several Physicians they use prompts them; all that I have thought needful of that kind, I have tied down to Preparative Physick, as above, what is to be done when the Disaster is come, when the Body is Infected, and the Distemper has seiz’d the Blood, that is not the Business or Design of this Undertaking, nor does it come within the Compass of what we call Preparations. When the Blood is once Tainted, and the Body Infected, Preparations are then at an end: Then you must look upon the Fortress as effectually Besieg’d and formally Attack’d, and you must muster up all the Strength of Nature, and Art for your Relief. But this is not my Part, as I have said; but having brought up the several states of Health to this length, I leave it to talk of the other Part: I mean Preparations for the Plague; what Preparations I have mention’d yet, are such as are needful to preserve the Body from the Plague: And when the Person 86

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has the Plague really upon him; I have no more to say but this, he must turn his Thoughts another Way, viz. he must make Preparations for Death: I see nothing else before him, nor ought he to expect any thing else. And this brings me to the Second Part of my Work.

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THIS is the hardest part of the Work by far: But of the two, infinitely of greater Consequence; as the eternal State into which we are all to pass from this Life, is of more Consequence than the present State. Life and Time are indeed of an inestimable Value, but they are only so or principally so, as on the happy Conclusion of them, depends the eternal Welfare of the Person to whom they are so valuable; and especially, the Preparations for an Eternal State, are only to be made in time, which once slip’d away, lost and unapply’d, is irrecoverably lost for ever. The Approaches of Death, are often times inperceptible, and the Attacks sudden; the Distempers by which we are carried away are violent; and it is a double Terror to the dying Person to have the Work of dying and the Work of Repentance both upon his Hands together. O Sinner! remember that the Terrors of thy Conscience will be a Weight too heavy to be born at the same time with the Terrors of Death: Nay, the Terrors of Conscience, are those alone which give Terrors to Death, which make the Passage out of Life dreadful; and these many times make a Disease Mortal, which would not otherwise be so: Were the Diseases and Casualties of which People frequently die in this populous City rightly given into the Bills of Mortallity, many would be set down of other Distempers, than as we find them: Instead of Hang’d themselves (being Distracted) and Cut their own Throats (being Distracted) it would be said, Hang’d themselves (being in Despair) and Cut their own Throats (being in dreadful trouble of Mind); instead of pain in the Head, it would be said, pain in the Mind, instead of Convulsions, it would be said, Horror of Conscience, and the like: I doubt not but these Horrors I speak of, throw the Body into Fevers and Convulsions, and at least assist those Distempers to destroy us: It is enough to have a violent Fever drink up the Moisture and Life, and not to have the Arrows of the Almighty drinking up the Spirits; that therefore Christians may prepare in time, for the dreadful Moments which are approaching; that when the Call is heard, no 88

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other Noise may drown their Comforts; and that the Business of Life, may now without any delay be to prepare for Death. I say, that they may be mov’d to do thus, this Tract is written. The Apprehensions we are under at this time, of the approaching Calamity which afflicts our Neighbours, are a kind of Summons to this Preparation, and that more forcible, than can be given from the Mouth of Man; and many Thousands will have reason to be thankful for so long a Warning, so timely a Summons; even all those who listen to the Voice of it: Let me add a Mite to this Treasury; The goodness of God is very Conspicuous in this, that as a Pestilence sweeps whole Towns and Cities of People away, and Death rages like an overflowing Stream, that there is little or no time given for Repentance or calling upon God; little time to look up or to look in: So that Notice given of its approach, ought to be taken for the time of Interval, for both looking up and looking in, and be improv’d to that Purpose. Nay, so merciful is God to us, that we really have more time usually given us, in the Case of a Plague: I say, more time than we have in most sorts of other Distempers, and that time blest with greater Advantages: This is so much against the Common Notions we have of it, that it requires some Explanation, but you will be more fully inform’d of it, in a short Discourse which happened between some Relations in a Family in London, just before the last great Plague. The time before that dreadful Visitation was, as this is, a time of Apprehension and Terror; Something like this it is true, the Warnings were not so long or the Danger so very remote: The Distemper, according to that Eminent Physician Dr. Hodges,102 was brought to Holland on Board a Ship, in some Bales of Goods from the Levant: I think from Smyrna, as this Contagion now raging in France, was said to be brought in Bales of Goods from Zidon and the Isle of Cypras. From Holland it came over hither, how it was brought over to us, or by who, that was never particularly known, or at least not publickly: The first that died of it here, at least that was put into the Bills openly, as dead of the Plague, was in the Parish of St. Giles’s in the Fields, it was reported that the whole Family died; and I have some reason to believe they did too, but there was but one Enter’d in the Weekly Bill, and this was about December 1664. This was Heaven’s first Alarm to the City of London, for it was remarkable that the Infection begun in the Heart of the Kingdom, as I may call it; it did not begin in a remote place, as has been the Case in France, where it began at Marseilles, above Four Hundred Miles off of Paris, and so came on gradually; but it first appeared in London it self, and as I have said above, the 89

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first that was publickly given in St. Giles’s Parish, about the 20th of December 1664; as this Blow was near the Heart, so it more nearly touch’d the People, and their Apprehensions seem’d to be in Proportion more serious and affecting. Two Brothers and a Sister, the Children of one Pious and serious Mother, a Widow, liv’d together in one House in the City; they were all grown to Years of Discretion, the Sister (the Youngest) being about Nineteen, and one of the Brothers near Forty, the other about Twenty Six Years of Age; the Sister was a most Religious and well instructed Young Woman, knowing in all Religious and Heavenly Knowledge; the Brothers Men of Business engag’d in it and taken much up with it; they had been all religiously Educated, and were what we call Sober and orderly People; but being Embarrass’d in Business and hurry’d in the World, getting Money and growing Rich, they had not made the Concern of Eternal Life the chief Business of the present Life, as we all ought to do. The two Gentlemen were Merchants, had liv’d abroad, and being return’d to England, were entered into great Engagement of Business, and had vast Concerns on their Hands; were Partners, and had two or three Servants and Book-Keepers that were daily in the Counting-House,103 and doing Business, as well at the Water-side, as at the Royal-Exchange104 with their Masters. As the Eldest of the two Brothers was a Widower, and had but two Children, who were very small, and that the youngest Brother was a Batchelor, the young Lady their Sister was their House-Keeper, and they call’d her familiarly their Governess, and such she was indeed many ways; being not only the Guide of their whole Family which was large, but a faithful Monitor to themselves also as occasion presented; tho’ not at first with all the Success that she wish’d for: Their Heads and Hearts as above, being wholly taken up with Business and the World. The old Lady did not live in the House with them, but having two or three younger Children with her, liv’d a little way out of Town, having also two other Sons, young Gentlemen of about Nineteen or Twenty Years of Age, who were abroad in Spain or Italy, and plac’d in very good Business by the Directions and on Account of their Brothers. The good Mother of this Family having early Impressions of the Danger that was impending, began to have a heavy Heart, and be deeply concern’d on account of her Sons; and having receiv’d early Impressions as all the Town indeed had, that a heavy and grievous Judgment was coming upon the City, and upon the whole Nation; and as she came frequently to Town to her Sons, which was as it were her other Family, she fail’d not on every Occasion to be putting them in mind what a Stroke, as she said, was com90

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ing upon the Nation, and upon the City in particular; and to let them know what a dismal time it would be with all those People especially, whose eternal State was not secur’d, and who had not the Comfort of a safe Passage out of Life in their View. This she urg’d upon her Children every time she came to see them, and particularly would be representing to them how it was in London in the time of the great Plague, as it was then call’d, which had been 29 Years before, which I, says she, very well remember, having liv’d here all that while, and lost several Relations and Acquaintances who died of the Infection, at which time there died 10400 People of the Plague in the City only; and likewise in the Plague Eleven Years before that, viz. in 1624,105 when there died of all Distempers, above 54000 People in London and the OutParishes, not reckoning the City of Westminster, or the Parishes of Stepney, Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Rotherhith or Christ-Church, and Newington in Surrey. She talk’d so often of it, that her Eldest Son us’d to tell her that she was a little too Possitive, that it look’d as if she would be thought Prophetick; that the Plague was not actually broken out because one Man had dy’d of it; that he believ’d it was always in one part or other of the City a little; that the Plague in 1636, which she remember’d held 8 Years, and that every Year there died more or less, from 300 to 3000, that there was yet no Publication of it, and I hope, Madam, says he, there will not; and therefore that we shou’d not be always allarming one another, as if it was at the Door; that the Calamity was terrible enough when it came; but that to be always in a Fright about it, was to make it a Judgment when it was no Judgment, and the like; in a Word, like her Sister Preachers, Mary Magdalen, &c. her Words seem’d to them as Idle Tales, Luke 24. 11.106 However, like a true affectionate Mother she continu’d her monitory Discourses to them; you Sons, says she, are grown up, and are above my Admonition as the Mother, but you cannot be out of the reach of Exhortation, and my speaking to you, says she, is with so much regard to your Years, that you ought not however to take it amiss that I press you to prepare for the dreadful time of a Visitation if it should come. No Madam, says the Eldest Son, none of your Children will take it amiss, but we think you make your Company, which was always pleasant to us, be a little Melancholly, for that you are always upon this frightful Subject: I doubt it is too much upon your mind and makes you heavy Hearted, when you might be Chearful; and then their Discourse began. Mother. I cannot look back Child without Horror of Mind, upon the dreadful time, in the Year 1625. I was but newly Marry’d and Settl’d in the World, and we were all full of Mirth, as you are now, and on a sudden 91

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the Distemper broke out, and all our Smiles were turn’d into Lamentations and Tears. Son. It came suddenly it may be, without any Warning. Mother. No, no, People had Warning too; but we that were young People then, just as you are now, we would take no Notice of it; we were Marrying and giving in Marriage to the very Day that it came upon us; and when good People spoke to us of Repenting, and preparing to meet the Lord in his Day of Wrath, and humble ourselves under his mighty Hand; we thought them just as you do now, too Melancholly and Flegmatick;107 that they did not do well to Alarm the People, and put Families and Cities into Frights and Disorders: And thus we went on. Son. Well Madam, and yet for all that it may be you thought as seriously of it when it came as they did. Mother. Ay Son, but they that had thought seriously of it so long before us, had a great advantage of us, and were so much before us in their Preparations. Son. They had so much more indeed to answer for, if they were not better prepar’d. Mother. I think, Son, it should be rather said, we had so much the more to answer for if we were worse prepar’d. Son. But Madam, What can we do in the Case as it stands now? every one ought to prepare for Death, whether there be a Plague in the Town or no: Death comes in many other Shapes than that of a Pestilence. Mother. That is true Child, and I do not speak against daily Preparations for Death, God forbid I should; but when an infection comes, Child, Death seems to come with more Terrors about him, cuts down swifter, and we have less time to think of what is to follow. Son. Some reflect upon the Severity of the Judgment upon that very Score, in that People are swept away with a Stroke, and have scarce time to look up. Mother. No Son, let none say so, for I affirm, that God’s Mercies are so interspers’d with his Judgments, that we have abundant Cause to acknowledge them, and ought to keep our Eye upon it in this particular; namely, That God always gives more time to People to prepare for Death in the Case of a Plague than of an ordinary Distemper. Son. How Madam! That cannot be for in the Plague People often die in Twelve Hours after they are taken,108 whereas in Fevers and other Distempers, they generally lie as many Days or more. Mother. Ay Son, but then you do not consider that the Plague generally approaches a Country by slow Degrees, and you have many Months Warn92

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ing of it before it comes; so that if it swept all away in a Day, there is no room to call it Severity, for every one had Warning of it before Hand. Son. But People do not look on the Judgment as particular, till it touches them Personally, or that it Points to them in a Family Capacity, that is to say, till it has gotten into the House. Mother. That Folks do not take Warning, is their Folly and Fault; but that God gives them Warning is their Mercy, if they know how to make use of it. Son. Every Body is willing to hope they shall escape. Mother. But every Body ought to provide as if they were not to escape: Every Soldier in the Army hopes to escape being Kill’d, but every Soldier puts on his Head-piece that he may fare the better if he is hit. Son. We should prepare no doubt, but to be apprehensive continually, as if we were sure to have the Distemper, is even to fright us into it: All Physicians agree that we should keep our Minds Easy and Calm, that the Passion of Fear and Anger prepare the Heart to receive and nourish the Infection, at least to dispirit and debillitate it, so that it is not duly Fortify’d and Encourag’d to resist the Approaching Enemy which it is to struggle with. Mother. You greatly mistake the thing, Child, and mistake my meaning: I am of the same Mind, and say as the Doctors do, though upon other Grounds; the Mind should be kept calm and free, that Nature might be assisted to repulse the Enemy that Attacks her; but then I say that nothing can Animate and Encourage the Mind like a firm Resignation to the Will of God, and a comfortable Hope that it shall be well with us beyond Life; this is certainly the best Preparation for the Distemper. Son. I do not deny but we should be always preparing for Death, but we should not be discouraging our selves before it comes. Mother. What do you call discouraging your selves, Preparation is the only Way to avoid being discourag’d? Son. You talk of Preparation, as if I was sure it would come upon me. Mother. As soon as we have reason to be satisfied that the Distemper is begun and is among us, I think every one, speaking of his Preparations, should look upon himself as if absolutely struck, as much as if he saw the Tokens upon his Flesh. Son And is not that all Flegmatick and Vapours, Madam? Do not many do ye think, in the Plague as they do in other Distempers, fancy they have it, till they really bring it, and so have it because they fancied they should have it?109 Mother. You forgot what I said, Son: I said as to our Preparations. 93

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Son. You distinguish nicely, Madam, but others will take it another Way: You say we should always look upon our Case as if we really had the Distemper; certainly that would be poreing too much upon a Thing so dreadful! Why it would make some People go distracted? Mother. I distinguish clearly, Son, tho’ not so nicely as you would have me: I say, as to our Preparations, we should do thus, that is to say, we ought to prepare for Death, as if we had the Distemper just now upon us, and my reason is good; because I can assure you when the Body is agitated with that Distemper, there will be as little Capacity as there may be time to look up to God and to prepare for Death. Son. Why Madam, you would have us think our selves all dead Men, or as if we were under a Sentence of Death, only Repriev’d Sine die,110 a little while, and to be Executed at the pleasure of the Judge. Mother. Why truly our Case is no other than that in the whole ordinary Course of Life; but in this of the Plague it is much more so, especially to such whose Business and Circumstances call them to continue in the City on such an Occasion, as you say Son, yours does. Son. Well, Madam, you have been in London during two Plagues, that in 1625 and that in 1636, and you are still alive, Why may not we fare as well now if it should come? Mother. The more I have of the Mercy of God to account for Child, but I cannot say I was in the City all the while, for the last Plague I was absent in Cheshire, but the first indeed, I saw wonderful Things and terrible to relate; and this makes me say that we should all look upon ourselves as dead Persons or as repriev’d Criminals, and giving up ourselves entirely into God’s Hands, should stand ready expecting to answer at the first Call; and say, Come Lord Jesus; for take my Word, Son, if it comes you’ll say, ’tis a time to tremble at, a time to be prepar’d for, not a time to Prepare in. Son. But Madam, it may please God to Avert the Judgment, he may be better to us than our Fears. Mother. If it should be so no Man would ever repent of his Preparations if they were sincere, or say it was so much lost; but flatter not yourself, Son, with its not coming, it is not coming but come, Have you not seen it begun? there are several dead of it already, and more than you think of. Son. There has one or two died in St. Giles’s Parish indeed, but it was last December, and we are now in March, and there has been but one more, so that I hope ’tis over. Mother. That hoping ’tis over, is a Snare of the Devil; flatter not your self with it when the Plague begins, tho’ there be but one or two that die at first, you never hear it goes off so, it always goes on tho’ it begins slowly; 94

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and that slowness of its begining, is what I call the merciful Warning given to us all, of the Approach of the Judgment. Son. So that when one or two die, you would have us take it that the Plague is begun. Mother. Yes, I do insist upon it, and that it always goes on; but farther, let me tell you, I know very well, that when our Weekly Bills set down one or two to die of the Plague, you may depend upon there being more, for People are always diligent to conceal their Families being Infected, because they would not have their Shops forsaken, their Houses shut up, or themselves be shun’d as belonging to infected Families; and therefore in the last Plague of 1636. I remember there was so much Fraud used by the Parish Clarks, in forming the Weekly Bills, that it was certain there died 200 a Week of the Plague, when by the Bills there was only 10, 12 or 15, or thereabouts. Son. So that you look on the Plague as a thing already begun among us? Mother. Indeed, Child, I do! and I believe firmly that it is so at this time. Son. And what would you have us do? Mother. My answers, Son, are short to that Question, whether you mean by US, us of this Family, or US of the Nation: I would have us return to God, lie at his Feet, take the Words of the Scripture, and say, – Thou hast smitten, and thou wilt bind us up, Hos.111 6.1. In a Word, I would have every one prepare themselves for Death, prepare together, and prepare apart. Son. As much as if they were on their Death Beds. Mother. Ay indeed, the very same; and be Thankful, humbly Thankful for the time allow’d for it; Thankful that God had in Mercy spar’d them an Hour with a reserve of Health and Strength, to turn to him and Repent; for then be assured when the Visitation begins, there will be no room for it, all will be fill’d with Horror and Desolation, every one mourning for himself; no Composure, no Compassion, no Affection; none to Comfort, none to Assist; nothing but Death in all its most dismal Shapes, and in its most frightful Appearances. Son. Why, Madam, if your Rule was to be observ’d there should be an immediate Cessation of all Business, from the King upon the Throne, to the School-Boy to the Beggar in the Street; all should fall on their Knees together, like the People of Nineveth?112 Mother. O that such a Sight was to be seen! I am so fully perswaded that the Plague that is coming, and that I say is now begun among us, is a Messenger sent from God, to Scourge us from our crying Sins, that if the Cry of this Nation was as Universally sent up to Heaven, as was that of the Citizens of Nineveth, and with the same sincerity of Humiliation; I say, I firmly 95

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believe, that as was then the Case, God would repent him of his fierce Anger, that we Perish not.113 Son. But you will not see that here Madam? Mother. No Child I doubt not, and therefore I am not talking of National Humiliations,114 but of Family and Personal Humiliations and Repentance, and that, not on expectation that God should withdraw the Judgment from the Country wherein we live, but that he would withhold his Hand, and the Hand of his destroying Angel115 from our Houses, and our Families, and our Persons. Son. Why, Madam, you would put us all into Confusion, you would Fright and Terrify us so, that we must shut up our Shops, Embargo our Ships, close our Ports; the Custom House would have no Business, the Exchange no Merchants, the Merchandize no Market? Mother. I say again, O that I could see such a Sight in London: It is true, it wou’d be as you describ’d it; and indeed it ought to be so. Son. God forbid, Madam, Why we shou’d be all frighted out of our Wits? Mother. Ay, ay, I wish I cou’d see them so out of their Wits as that comes to; I should expect that then some Miracle of Deliverance would follow, as was the Case of Nineveth, but it is not to be expected here. Son. No, indeed, Madam, I believe not? Mother. No, no, there is not a Spirit of National Humiliation among us; but I see National Sins rather, come up to such height as they never were at in this Nation before; the Dregs of the late Wars116 are not purg’d out, and will not be purg’d out but by Fire; that is to say, by the Fire of God’s Judgment, which is already begun among us. Son. But they have been as bad formerly, Madam? Mother. They have been as bad formerly, in the revelling Days of King —117 but never worse than now; and this even under the pretence of greater Reformation; all manner of Wickedness and publick Debauchery being let loose among us, and breaking in upon us like a Flood, encourag’d even by those who ought to suppress them; and by the Example of those from whom we hoped to find Examples of good, and at least to have Prophaneness and Immoralities punished and discourag’d by them. Son. The World was always as wicked, I think, as ’tis now, Madam, since I remember it. Mother. But we hoped this late turn of Times should have given a Blow to the Wickedness of the Times and I think it has rather made them worse. Son. That lies upon the great Men, Madam, who should have reform’d us, and who should have shew’d better Examples to the People; and you see they have appointed Days of Humiliation for us: What can they do more? 96

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Mother. Well, and God may visit our Magistrates as well as others; but certainly this Judgment will fall upon the People too; for tho’ the other are Principal, the People are guilty, and ’tis from them that God expects a general Repentance; and therefore National Humiliations are the Duty of the People on these Occasions. Son. I see nothing in those publick Humiliations but Formality,118 and making a kind of Holiday of it; a Day of Idleness and Sloth. Mother. As to that, I hope among serious People it is otherwise, but in the general it is too true; and therefore to enter no farther into a Complaint of what we cannot mend, this, however, we can do; every one can reform for themselves, and repent for themselves; and this is what I would fain see in our Families, every one mourning apart.119 Son. But even that is not likely to be seen in the Manner you would have it? Mother. No, Son, and therefore I am for having every Body prepare for the Plague, by preparing for Death, as seriously and with as much Application, as if they were actually Infected, and had the Distemper upon them. Son. Preparations for Death, Madam! What do you call Preparations for Death? In the first place, if I am to prepare for Death, I must make my Will. Mother. Dear Child, do not make a Jest of it; I am speaking with a Heart full of Grief, upon a Subject, which when it comes, will perhaps be as terrifying to you as to me. Son. Ay, and more too, Madam, I am not jesting with it I assure you; but I would hope it may not come, it may please God to prevent it; and therefore I cannot think of such a Solemn entring upon Preparations for dying, as if it was this Minute upon me; for then, as I said, I must make my Will, shut up my Counting-House, stop all my Shipping of Goods; and selling of Goods, put off my Servants, and send for the Minister, &c. Mother. This I do really call jesting with it, Son; but since you will speak of these Things, I must tell you, that every Man that has any Family Affairs to settle, ought to do it forthwith; for a time of the Plague will be no time for making of Wills and settling Estates, I assure you, any more than it will be for Repentance, when Ministers will not be found to Comfort the Souls of dying Penitents; it may be found still harder to find Scriveners120 to make their Wills: When Husbands are abandon’d of their Wives and Wives of their Husbands, Fathers of their Children, and Children of their Fathers and Mothers; when every one flies from another for fear of their own Lives, there will be no room for settling Affairs, as you call it.

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Son. Dear Madam, you make ones Blood run chill in the Veins to hear you talk so; come; pray let us talk of somewhat else, this is enough to make one die with the fear of it. Mother. O Child, ’tis much worse to die in that Condition it self, than with the fear of it: I could tell you such Stories of the several dreadful Circumstances of Families and single Persons, in the several times of such Judgments as these, which have happened in my time, and which I have particularly heard, as would make your Blood run chill in your Veins indeed. Son. O Madam, don’t tell us such dismal Stories, you should rather encourage us! Mother. I would say any thing to encourage you to go about the Preparations that I speak of; but I doubt that is not the encouragement you mean? Daughter. No, Madam, that is not the Encouragement my Brother means. Mother. What then, Child? Daughter. My Brother thinks you shou’d rather encourage us to hope it will not come, or that if it should come, we may escape it. Mother. What can the end of such Encouragement be? Son. Why that we should not be always poreing upon it, but might live as chearfully as we us’d to do. Daughter. My Mother seems to intimate, that to encourage us so, can have nothing in it but to encourage us to continue unprepar’d for it. Son. I hope we are all prepar’d for it. Daughter. I can answer but for one; I dare not say I am prepar’d, unless it be to die at the very Thoughts of it. Son. Ay, Why that’s the very Thing I say, my Mother’s enough to fright us all to Death. Mother. Why, as my Daughter said, what can I do? to encourage you, as you call it, is to encourage you to put off all Preparations: Is it possible for me to do that? No, but I would encourage you to be prepar’d, that wou’d be to destroy all the reason of Fear. Son. Why you see my Sister says Madam, that she is ready to die at the Thoughts of it. Daughter. O but Brother, do not mistake me, ’tis not at the Thoughts of preparing, but at the Thoughts of my not being prepar’d. Mother. There is a great deal of difference in that, Son. Son. There is a difference in the Cause of the Fear, but that frighting of People one way or other, is what I cannot think ought to be. Mother. I cannot think that to move People to prepare themselves for the worst, is to fright them; if I was to go to a Condemn’d Criminal in Newgate, would it not be my Duty to Exhort him to prepare for Death? 98

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Son. The very Comparison is frightful, Madam, Are we all Condemn’d then to die? Mother. Yes, in the very common Notion of Life, we are all under a Sentence: we are all appointed to die, and after Death to Judgment, only for the present under a merciful Reprieve: The Comparison may be frightful, but ’tis really not so remote from the Case; and in the present Article,a121 of the Plague breaking out in a City or Town where we live, I think ’tis much more to the Purpose; and to bid us prepare, I think, is not justly to be call’d frighting us. Son. It is alarming us. Mother. Ay, but Son, it is not alarming us when we ought not to be alarm’d, or frighting us without Cause. Son. Well, Madam, I will not oppose your Cautions, I know you mean well; but you will give us leave to hope, that it may not be so bad. Daughter. Dear Brother, I do not find that my Mother insists on what will, or will not be, but as the Danger, at least is real, she moves us to be ready for the worst. Son. But my Mother says the Plague is actually begun, I hope not. Daughter. Well, Brother, I hope not too, but I am afraid it is; and from this Hour, I assure you, if God please to assist me, I will prepare for it, as if it was not only come and broken out in the City, but come upon me, and I was actually infected with it. Son. Well, Sister, and from this time forward I conclude you will have the Plague, nay, you have it already, the very Tokens122 are come out upon you.* Mother. Oh! Son, How can you do so? How can you be so cruel to your Sister? Son. Why now, Madam; did I not say this was frighting People to Death; you see my Sister, that I believe, is as well pepar’d as any of us, cannot bear the talking thus.† Daughter. O Brother, how can you talk so? Son. Why did you not say you were not frighted at the Thoughts of the Distemper, but only at your not being prepar’d for it? Daughter. Then because I am sensible of my not being prepar’d for it, I have reason to be surpriz’d at your telling me I had the Tokens come out upon me. Son. Did not my Mother tell us we ought all to be told so. Daughter. Dear Brother, I am afraid you mistake me and my Mother too; tho’ ’tis frightful to be told so feelingly of the Plague, and to bid look upon * His Sister turns Pale and Faints away, frighted with his possitive telling her she had the Plague. † The Sister after some little time comes to herself again.

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it as actually begun; yet I cannot say but ’tis very necessary we should be so frighted. Son. Well, Sister, then I have done you no harm in frighting you. Daughter. No, you have done me no harm; but from this time forward I shall more seriously apply my self to the great Work of Preparations for Death. Mother. O that the whole Nation were so frighted into the same Resolution; God assist you, my Dear, and cause you to go on comfortably in such a Work. Son. You bring it to a more solemn Extreme than I intended it, Madam: I wish every one may prepare for it, but I cannot say I would have them frighted into their Preparations, that was all I meant; and the Reason is, because such publick alarming the People has in it publick Mischiefs, it does hurt to the Nation in general, injures Trade, wounds the Poor, sets other Nations upon their Guard with us, as if we were already Infected; sinks Credit and discourages the People. Mother. I have nothing to do with your Politicks, all your Reasons of State are of no Weight here; it were better all those mischiefs follow’d, and the People were prevail’d upon to begin a general sincere Repentance, than that all those Things should be avoided, and the poor stupid People be left to Sleep in Security,123 till they sink into Destruction. Son. Well, Madam, that is true too, but these things may be done prudently too, and with respect to the publick Peace; for all such Alarms as disturb Peoples Minds with the Fears of publick Calamities, tend to Confusion, and to putting us all in an Uproar; as Jonah’s preaching to the Men of Nineveth,124 that they should be destroy’d in 40 Days, it put all the City into a Combustion. Daughter. And that Combustion was the saving the whole City from Destruction: Pray Brother, where was the Injury done them, they believ’d the Threatning and Repented? Son. Nay, nay, what with the Mother and the Daughter, you’re sure to carry the Point: I do not see the Case is parallel at all; you do not Prophesy that London shall be destroy’d. Daughter. The Case differs indeed Brother, for let what will be said here, that the Plague is begun, we do not see that the People believe it, or incline to prepare for it; you see how far you are from believing it your self. Mother. But Son, to put an end to all the frivolous Pleadings about frighting and alarming the People: I say, that to perswade People to Preparations for Death because such a Judgment is likely to come upon them, is not alarming or frighting them at all; a serious perswading Men to Repent and Prepare, is perswading them to put themselves into such a Posture, as that 100

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they may not be frighted or surpriz’d or alarm’d, for to be prepared, is to be past being frighted, and to be in the only Condition that gives Courage: You may as well say, John the Baptist frighted the People, when he preached to them, and cried, Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand.125 Son. Then we must come, Madam, to inquire what you mean by Preparations. Daughter. If I may speak before my Mother, I’ll tell you Brother, what I believe my Mother means, or at least how I understand it. Mother. I doubt not but you both understand it, and understand it alike. Daughter. I understand by Preparations for Death, Repentance and a reform’d Life. Mother. They are the general indeed, Child, there may be many particulars in them, but I am no Preacher, take it there, the rest will follow of Course; Repent and Reform, those two will contain all the Preparations you can want or I desire. Son. No Body can Object, that we ought not to Repent and Reform. Mother. Well, Child, I only press to the present126 going about it, because the Judgments of God are at Hand, and you complain that this is frighting People, in which I think you are mistaken. Son. No, Madam, if you mean no otherwise, I join with you with all my Heart, certainly we should be perswaded by all just and reasonable Argument to Repentance and Reformation: I did not deny that, I only said I hope, the Plague may not be so near as you fear it is. Mother. Well, Son, we will not differ about that; if it pleases God to spare us, and to spare the Land in which we live, I shall be one of the first to rejoice and give thanks; and tho’ I dare not say, I expect it, I shall not cease to pray for it, still carrying this along with me in all I have to say of it, That to Repent and Reform our Lives and turn with all our Hearts to the Lord, which is what I mean by Preparations, is the only way to be unsurpriz’d at it when it comes upon us: A Mind suitably prepar’d, is a Mind fortify’d and made bold to meet the Worst; prepar’d to give up its self into the Hands of a merciful Saviour; a Heart prepar’d, is the Heart the Scripture speaks of, when it says, He shall not be afraid of Evil Tidings, whose Heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord, Psalm 112.7. Thus this Conference between Mother and Son ended for that time; it was now about the Month of April 1665, and there had died but one of the Plague since December, and that was in the beginning of February; so that the Eldest Brother us’d frequently to laugh at his Sister about the long Dialogue they had held with their Mother, on the Subject of the Plague coming upon them and how it was actually begun; and once or twice 101

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Jested with her a little Prophanely, as she thought, about her Preparations, as she call’d them, for the Plague. This griev’d the Young Lady, and made her shed Tears several Times; and once she took the Freedom to say, Dear Brother, you Jest at my Preparations with too much Reason, they being but very weak and imperfect; I pray God I may be able to prepare my self better against such a dreadful time, if ever it should come; but I beseech you Brother, to take care that your own Preparation be not a Jest indeed, when such a Time comes; and if it should be so, how you will be able to stand it, for certainly nothing but a Mind well prepar’d, can be able to bear up; How shall our Hearts endure, or our Hands be strong in such a Day as that? It was in the very anguish of her Mind that she said this to her Brother, and not with any Passion or Displeasure at his ill using her; but she did it with such Seriousness, such Gravity, and so many Tears, that he was very much affected with it, ask’d her Pardon, told her he would not jest with her any more upon that Subject, that he was satisfy’d she was much better prepar’d than he was, and that she was in the Right; that he would for the future do all that lay in his Power to encourage her Preparations; that tho’ he had not receiv’d such Impressions himself from his Mother’s Discourse, as she had, yet, he was far from thinking her in the Wrong; and that should such a time come, as their Mother had talk’d of, he could not deny but she was much better prepar’d to stand it than he was, but that his dependance was that God would spare them, and not bring such a Calamity upon them. This heal’d that little Wound his loose way of talking had made, and his Sister was pacify’d; she told him, she was glad to find him more serious on a Subject so Weighty; that as to the Freedom he took with her, that was nothing; but that it griev’d her so, that she cou’d not bear it, to hear him speak slightingly of the most dreadful Judgments of God, that were at that time abroad in the Earth; that as she was entirely of her Mother’s Opinion, that it would not be long before it broke out here, however he might censure, and perhaps ridicule that thought as Melancholly and Vapourish,127 and that, as she said, she was fully possess’d with a Belief of it, so it cou’d not but very sorely afflict her for his sake, to think how light he made of it: And that her Satisfaction was as great, in proportion, to see him abate of the Levity with which he had talk’d of those Things. It was not above a Fortnight after this Discourse, but the Town had another Alarm, and her Brother was the Person that brought her home the News of it; for about the 20th of April, the News was spread all over the Town, that the Plague was broke out again in St. Giles’s Parish, and that there was a whole Family dead of it. 102

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The young Lady was in her Chamber one Morning, when her Brother, having been out about his Affairs, came home in a very great Concern, and coming up to her Door, O Sister, says he, we are all undone. Undone! says his Sister, what’s the Matter; he cou’d not speak again for a good while; but as his Sister was frighted, and press’d him again, with repeating the Words, what’s the Matter? at last he cries out again, We are all undone, Sister! my Mother and you were both in the right, the PLAGUE is BEGUN! He appear’d in the greatest Consternation imaginable, and his Sister had much to do to keep him from Swooning; his Heart, as he said afterwards was sunk within him, his Thoughts all in Confusion, and the Affairs both of Body and Soul, lay heavy upon him (for as I said above, he was a Merchant, and engag’d in a vast Business). His Sister receiv’d the News without any fright or surprize, but with a calm Mind, stood still a while, and as it were musing to bring her Mind to a settl’d Frame, while her Brother went on with his Exclamations, at length lifting up her Eyes and Hands, ’Tis the Lord, cries she, let him do what seemeth Good in his Sight; and immediately apply’d herself to relieve her Brother, and get something for him to take, to restore his Spirits, Comforting him with her Words, as well as Actions. He was not so overwhelm’d, but that he cou’d perceive the surprizing Manner with which his Sister, tho’ so young, receiv’d the News; and how free from any Oppressions or sinking of her Spirits; how it did not discompose her, so as to hinder her Concern for him, and when he came a little to himself, he said aloud, O Sister! you are happy, that took the early Counsel of our Dear Mother; with what a different Courage does a prepar’d mind receive the Impressions of the most dreadful Things, from one that being Careless and Negligent in these Things as I have been, entertains the first Thoughts about them, not till they are just upon him? Dear Brother, says she, do not talk so of me; my Preparations are poor, empty Things, I have no Preparations but these few, an imperfect Repentance, and an humble Resolution to cast my self upon infinite Mercy; and I hope, you have gone beyond me in all these, for you have more Knowledge, more Years, more Experience and more Faith too than I have, or else it is but very weak. You are happy, Child, let the Judgment come when it will, says her Brother, but I have all my Work to do; I have had more Years and more Knowledge you say; and I must add, that I have more Work to do, more Talents to account for, more mispent time to answer for, and I have made no Preparation for this surprizing Condition we are all like to be in, you know I despis’d it all. She had besides this Discourse, inquir’d of him, how Things were, and how he understood that, as he call’d it, the Plague was begun: He gave her an 103

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account that there had been two Men buried in St. Giles in the Fields; that it was true there was but two put in the Weekly Bill; but that he was assur’d there were two or three Houses Infected, and that five People were dead in one, and seven in another; and that the Number of Burials in St. Giles’s Parish, which used to be about 16 or 18 at most, was now Increased to 30, which intimated strongly that the Increase was by the Plague, tho’ they conceal’d it, and put them in of other Distempers. This was a terrifying Account, and he was exceedingly Affected with it himself, as you see; as for the young Lady his Sister, who had long us’d herself to the Thoughts of these Things; who expected it to be as it happen’d, and who from her Mother’s Discourse, having for some Months look’d upon the Distemper as begun, had seriously apply’d herself to the great Work of Preparation for Death, and was come to that happy State of being entirely resign’d to the Disposal of Heaven; this being her Case, I say, she was far less surpriz’d with it than her Brother, and stood as it were, ready to submit to the Will of God, in whatever way it should please him to deal with her; and thus she abundantly made good the Principle her Mother argued upon, viz. that to speak of the Plague before hand as in View, and make Preparations for it as a thing certain, was so far from being a needless allarm to the People and frighting and terrifying them, that it was the only way to preserve them from being frighted and terrify’d at it, when it really came upon them; and was the only way to keep the publick Peace, as he called it, by keeping the People composed, and free from the Confusions and tumultuous Hurries which they are otherwise apt to fall into on such Occasions. But the Scene was not as it were yet spread, or the Tragedy begun; there was another Prelude to appear, even in the narrow compass of this one Family; O may it not be the Case of many among us, upon the present View of Things of the like kind. When the first Disorders of this Thing were a little abated, and this Gentleman come a little more to himself, Things took a new turn with him; he was necessarily embarrass’d in his Business in the Day, and in Company in the Evening; but in the Morning had always a little Conversation with his Sister; and she soon observed that after the first two or three Days, in which he continued much affected with the Danger they were all in, and his own unprepar’d Condition also, as he own’d it to be; I say, after this she observ’d that he dropt the Discourse by little and little; till at last he said nothing at all of it to her for three or four Days; upon this, one Morning as they were talking together, she broke in upon him with it thus: Dear Brother, says she, you tell me no News now, nor how we stand as to 104

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this terrible Stroke that is coming upon us; I cannot but be very much concern’d to hear what Condition we are in, Pray how does it go on? God be praised, says he, the Distemper is stop’d again; they say, it was only a violent Fever seized one or two Families, and that the People have been in such a fright about it, by the rashness of some Old Women that set up a Cry of the Plague, that it has put all the Town in an uproar, but ’tis stop’d; and I saw the Weekly Bill to Day, the Number of Burials in St. Giles are Decreased again, and none of the Plague, or Fever, more than usual. Sister. I am glad to hear it; Brother, I wish it may hold. Brother. I hope it will, Sister; Come, do not be like my Mother. Sister. I wish I cou’d be like my Mother. Brother. Ay, But do not be like her in this, do not be always foreboding. Sister. Dear Brother, I forebode to no Body but my self; I do not take upon me to teach you, or say any thing but just when you ask me. Brother. Well, but do not forebode to your self, Sister; why, you will bring your self to Mope, and be Dull upon it, till you come to have the Vapours, and be half-mad. Sister. I hope not, Brother, I do not think so Disconsolately upon it; I hope I am in the Hands of God, and ’tis my mercy that I am so, I only want more Strength to bring my Faith to an entire Dependance upon him. Brother. But still you go upon the old Story, that the Distemper will certainly come upon us. Sister. Nay, I cannot but say, I expect it as certainly if it were here just now, that I cannot go from. Brother. No, No, I hope not; Come, God may be better to us than our Fears allow us to suggest; it may go off. Sister. Then I hope I shall be thankful, but— Brother. But! What? Prithee, Girl, do not be always Prophesying Evil Tidings, that is, Ringing Knells over us before we are Dead. Sister. O Dear! How can you talk so, Brother? I Prophesy nothing, I do not pretend to it; but the Thing foretells it self. God has given us Notice of it several times, and as good as bid us expect it; Shall I be so blind, and not take the Warning God forbid, indeed, Brother, I cannot help believing that it will certainly come still. Brother. Well, And is not this, as I say, Prophesying Evil Tidings?128 Sister. No, Brother, it is not, because I do not trouble any body with my talk; I should not have said thus much to you, but that you extort it, these are Notices to my self only. Brother. But I would have you be encourag’d, and have you encourage us all, you are our G OVERNESS , and when you are Dull and Melancholly all the Family will be so. 105

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Sister. I am not Dull and Melancholly, but sure, Brother, this is not a Time to be thoughtless, no body can be so that has any common Sense; you was allarm’d enough your self, but a Week ago, I do not think you have lost those just impressions it made upon you then; tho’ you are not willing they should be seen so plain as they were then. Brother. It was all without Reason, I think verily: I see ’tis all nothing but the fright of Old Women, and of foolish People, worse than Old Women, that raised the Tumult all over the City. Sister. Well, Brother, if it prove so it will be well; but I am sorry to see you cool so fast upon it, before you are sure the Danger is over. Brother, Child, the Danger cannot be said to be over, because it was never a real Danger: As an Alarm and Fright, it never had a foundation, but in the imagination of a few foolish People, I say, who have so long talk’d the Town into Expectation of the Plague, that, like Wild-fire, they take at the first touch and away they run Head-long with a Story, as if they would have it be so; for Fright and Wishes equally impose upon People, and make us believe any thing; when we either desire to have a thing, or are terribly afraid of it, we believe it at first word; nay, we believe the very rumour of it. Sister. But you are not sure, Brother, that you have been imposed upon in this? Brother. Yes, Very sure, very sure; I am satisfy’d ’tis all a Rumour, a mere Noise, and there is nothing at all in it, but what I tell you. Sister. You do not know it of your own Knowledge, Brother. Brother. I have not been up there indeed, but if you will, I’ll go to the very Houses, and inquire into all the Particulars, tho’ I think I am very well inform’d how it is. Sister. By no means Brother, I would not have you go for a Thousand Pound. Brother. I don’t think there is any Danger in it at all; I would not value going there a Farthing;129 the People that were sick are in their Graves, or well again, and all is over. Sister. Well, Brother, I can say nothing to it, you know those things better than I; however, as you have no Occasion to go thither, don’t talk of that I entreat you. Brother. There’s no Occasion indeed, for I am satisfy’d of the thing, and so is the whole City in general. Sister. Well, God fit us for all his Will, and grant we may be prepar’d to meet him with a due Submission in all his Providences of what kind soever. Brother. You are mighty solemn, Child, about it, ’tis strange you cannot be satisfy’d as other People are; Why your Fright might be over by this time one would think, why ’tis almost a fortnight ago. 106

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Sister. Dear Brother, I hope I should not be frighted if it were already come, but I desire to be seriously looking up to Heaven for needful Courage against the time, for I am fully perswaded it is not far off. Brother. Well, I see you won’t be beaten off of it, you will be Prophetick; but if it were to be so, Child, we cannot put it off; to what purpose should we anticipate our Sorrow, and be mourning about it, whether it comes or no? Sister. O Brother, let us remember my Mother’s Words; when it is upon us, it will be no time to make our Preparations, then the Weight will be too heavy, the Warning too short; the Plague is not a thing that gives Warning then, or that gives time for Repentance: Now is the time for Preparation. Brother. I hope my Dear, you are thoroughly prepar’d for it, and therefore do not be dejected, do not be so Melancholly: I tell you, Child, you must encourage us all. Sister. No, no, Brother, I dare not say I am prepar’d, and therefore I have cause to be Melancholly, as you call it; I have done nothing, and can do nothing but fly to the Arms of Mercy; Alas! my Preparations are poor mean Things, you are better prepar’d than I to be sure,* Brother, or else you cou’d not have so much Courage. Sister. It is a good thing, Brother, to have so much Temper in a Case of this Consequence, as you have, I wish I had more Courage. Brother. Well, we will talk of that another† time. Well, said he to himself, this poor Child has more Religion, ay, and more Wisdom too than all of us: In short, she is seriously preparing for the Visitation if it should come; and while I reproach her with being frighted, ’tis evident I was more frighted than she was, when the Alarm of its being broke out last Week at St Giles’s run among us; and should it really come upon us, I know not what to say, her Words are very true, ’twill be no time for Preparation then. The same Day in the Evening, being in his Counting House with his Brother, he began to talk a little with him about it: Brother, says he, I cannot help having some dull Thoughts in my Head sometimes about this talk that is so publick, that we are like to have the Plague among us this Summer. 2d. Bro. Some dull Thoughts do you call it! I assure you I am almost distracted about it. 1st. Bro. It would put our Business all into Confusion if it should come. * Here, as he acknowledg’d afterward, he was struck with some terrible Reflections, and he stood mute for sometime, when his Sister, who perceiv’d it, went on again. † He could not hold it any longer, but retir’d.

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2d. Bro. Into Confusion, do you say, nay, ’twould ruin us all. 1st. Bro. No, I hope ’twould not ruin us neither. 2d. Bro. It would ruin me, I am sure, my very Heart sinks within me when I speak of it. 1st. Bro. What do you mean? why you are worse than our Governess. 2d. Bro. She! poor Child, she is in the best Case of us all, she is safe, come or not come; I wish I were in her Condition, then I could have Courage enough. 1st. Bro. You mean as to the Religious part, I suppose, indeed she is a serious dear Child; I have had a long Discourse about it with her, she talks like an Angel! 2d. Bro. She has been preparing for this Calamity a great while, she’s happy; but who can say they have done as she has done? 1st. Bro. But hark’e, you talk as she does in one part, why you talk as if you was sure we should have it among us; I hope the Danger is over. 2d. Bro. Over! How can you talk so, I wonder you can be so secure. 1st. Bro. Why what have you heard about it to Day? 2d. Bro. Nay, I have heard nothing to Day; but you know how it is, as well as I. 1st. Bro. I know there was none in the last Weeks Bill of the Plague; and I am told there will be none in this. 2d. Bro. As to the Bills, I wonder you should lay any Stress upon what they say; you know well enough they are managed not to put them in openly of the Plague, private People get their Dead put in of other Distempers, that their Houses may not be mark’d or order’d to be shut up; they bribe the Searchers and Parish Officers, and on the other Hand, the Publick themselves are not willing to have the Town alarm’d; it would make a terrible Alarm all over the World you know; the Ships will be deny’d PRODUCT all over the World, and it will ruin Trade at Home and Abroad; but alas, that’s a Trifle to what I talk of. 1st. Brother. Why you talk as if it was not over indeed, is it really your opinion then that it is not over. 2d. Bro. My Opinion! ay and every Bodies Opinion too besides mine. 1st. Bro. Why by your Discourse it is really begun. 2d. Bro. Depend upon it, ’tis more than begun, ’tis spread every way into several Streets in St. Giles’s; and they will not be able to conceal it long. 1st. Bro. You are enough to put the whole Town in a fright, Brother; Why you are as bad as my Sister the Governess. 2d. Bro. Would I was as good as my Sister; But what do you mean by being as bad as she is? she is frighted at it then, I suppose, as I am. 108

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1st. Bro. Why truly I don’t know whether she is or no; for when I came about a fortnight ago, and told her the Plague was begun, as you know we all heard it was, she receiv’d the News with such a composure of Mind, as I confess I wonder’d at, and after a considerable time of silence, answer’d only that it was the Hand of God, and he ought to do as pleases him with us. 2d. Bro. That was like her indeed; but don’t say I am like her, I do not pretend to it, I assure you; I am all Horror and Confusion at the Thoughts of it. 1st. Bro. I do not say you are like her so, indeed I don’t know it, but you are like her in this, she is for Alarming every Body, as if the Plague was actually among us, when she knows nothing of it, and so are you. 2d. Bro. Well, but hark’e, Brother, have a care of being in a worse Extreme; for you seem to be for lulling your self asleep, when you know the Flame is kindled. 1st. Bro. Do I know ’tis kindled? don’t say so, I hope it is not. 2d. Bro. You cannot seriously say, you hope it is not; you may say as I do, that you wish it were not, but you cannot but know it is actually begun, ay, and more than begun, it is spread a great way already, and in a very few Weeks will be all over the City. 1st. Bro. You make my Blood run chill in my Veins; what do you mean? I cannot say I know it, I was really of the Opinion that it was stopp’d again, and that the Danger was over, at least for the present. 2d. Bro. And so your first Apprehensions cool’d again I perceive. 1st. Bro. That ’twas too much my Case I confess. 2d. Bro. And was mine too after the first Appearance of it at Christmas last; I have been just like a Sick-Bed Penitent, as soon as the fear was over, the Penitence cool’d and abated; but I feel the Return with a double Reproach upon me; I think it will sink me, before the Distemper comes. 1st. Bro. Well, but do not be so positive, I hope you are not so sure of the bad News, as you make your self. 2d. Bro. Dear Brother, Why you and I know how these Things are abroad, don’t you know how the Plague at Messina came creeping on just when we left the City, and went away again two or three times, but as soon as the Sun advanc’d and they got into May, it broke out like a Fire that had been smother’d with hot Ashes; and what Havock it made, and the like at Gallipoly, and on the Calabrian Coast: depend upon it the Distemper is only smother’d with these Northerly Winds, so that it creeps slowly on, but as soon as the Winds come Westerly, and the Weather is a little close and warm, you will see dreadful Work here: I do not speak to Alarm you, but we should not be blind to our own Danger. 109

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This Discourse ended here for the present, but the very next Day, which was about the third or fourth of May, the youngest Brother having been out in the Morning, and coming into the Counting House, where his Brother was, wanting very much to give vent to his Thoughts, he desir’d one of their Servants who was there to withdraw, and shutting the Door after him, his Brother was just going to open the Door again to go out too, but he said, don’t go out, Brother, I want to speak with you; so his Brother sat down, and seeing him look a little disorder’d, he said, what’s the Matter Brother, have you heard any bad News? 2d. Bro. Ay, ay, bad News enough, I assure you, we are all undone at last. 1st. Bro. What is it, what do you hear any more of the Plague? 2d. Bro. Any more of it! why ’tis come into the City, here’s one dead in the next Street to us almost, tis but in Bear-binder-Lane.130 1st. Bro. What of the Plague it self? 2d. Bro. Ay indeed, my Lord Mayor sent two Surgeons to search the Body, and they have both given it in, that he died of the Plague; he was a Frenchman, I told you how it would be. 1st. Bro. Well, but this may be some straggling loose Fellow, that has come down from St. Giles’s for fear of it because it was there about a fortnight ago. 2d. Bro. Don’t let us flatter ourselves any longer, Brother, or trifle with Heaven, it is spread at the other end of the Town into the Strand, and from thence into Holbourn: You shall see in two or three Weeks more what dreadful Work it will make. 1st. Bro. What shall we do, Brother, what will become of us all, and what will become of the Business. 2d. Bro. Nay, what will become of our Souls? I am undone if I stay here, I’ll go over to France. 1st. Bro. Alas; it is too late for that, Brother; before you can get thither, their Ports will be all lock’d up; they won’t let a Vessel from England come near them, you may be sure. 2d. Bro. I am sure its too late for something else, I have mock’d God with that part once already. 1st. Bro. You are enough to terrify one to Death, let us see a little about us before we talk thus. 2d. Bro. O Brother, you do by the Danger as I have done by my Preparations, put it off as long as you can; you talk of seeing about us, why you will see in a very few Days the Plague be about us, and no room to escape from it: I warrant you will see People preparing to get out of this dreadful 110

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City, as fast as they can, if you go but as far as the Exchange; and all Trade in a kind of Stagnation, and it is time indeed it should be so. 1st. Bro. I do not see that we can go out of it, at least not I; unless I will give up all our Business, and leave every thing to be ruin’d, and be a Booty to the next Comer. 2d. Bro. I am sure if I stay here, I shall look on my self as a dead Man. 1st. Bro. I hope not, Brother, all do not Perish in the worst Plague, though the Plague were to come, sure it will leave some of us behind. 2d. Bro. But I have no room to expect that I should be kept. 1 st. Bro. Why not? I hope you will, do not be frighted. 2d. Bro. O I have mock’d God, I say, with my former Preparations; when I was justly alarmed, I pretended Repentance and Reformation; but when the fright was over, and we flatter’d our selves, that the destroying Angel131 was pass’d over, I cool’d and abated in my Warmth, and became the same loose wicked Fellow I was before, I have broke all my Vows and Resolutions, drop’d my Preparations, and how can I go about the same Work again now? 1st. Bro. I hope it will not be too late, you talk like a distracted Man; why ’tis never too late to call upon God for Mercy. 2d. Bro. No, but it may be too late to obtain it; besides, when the Distemper comes among us, what Time, what Temper, what Power to look up? what Capacity to look in? what calling upon God in the Agonies of a Plague Swelling, or in the Distraction of the Fever? It is too late, Brother, it should have been done before; I am almost distracted already with the Thoughts of it. 1st. Bro. You will distract your self and me too at this rate, why what must be done? 2d. Bro. I may well say, Lord be merciful to me; for I am at my Wits ends, and know not what to do: I wish you would let us shut up the Counting-House and let us be gone. 1st. Bro. Be gone, whether shall we go? 2d. Bro. Nay, any where; I am sure I shall never be able to stand it, my very Heart dies within me at the Apprehensions and fright of it. 1st. Bro. But you must endeavour to rouze up your Spirits and not be cast down. 2d. Bro. O Brother, whose Heart can endure, or whose Hands be strong in the Day that God shall deal with them? God is now taking us all into his own Hands; we shall no more be able to dally with him, repent and go back and repent again, and go back again: O ’tis dreadful Work to make a Jest of our Repentance as I have done. 111

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1st. Bro. I beseech you, Brother, Compose your self, you will die with the Fright indeed at this rate; Come, I’ll go out and see what I can learn of it, and what Measures are to be taken. Thus this Discourse ended also, and the elder Brother went out into the City, and he found it to be all true as his Brother had said; that the Plague now spread into several Parishes at the other end of the Town, and that there was particularly in the old Place, five or six Families Infected, that is, at St. Giles’s near Long-Acre, and about the North End of Drury Lane; also it spread down Drury Lane into St. Clements Parish, and the other way into St. Andrews, Holbourn; so that it apparently went forward towards the City, and the next Weekly Bill had Nine Persons put in of the Plague, besides those that were Conceal’d. The eldest Brother came home in the Evening, and as he found all that his Brother said was true, he was very anxious about it, tho’ he did not discover it so much as his Brother; but in short, the whole House was very Melancholly; it is true the Younger’s Melancholly was different from the rest, and very particular, because it was attended with a Sadness of another kind; I mean the great Concern he was under for his future State. He had several Conversations upon the Subject with his Brother, which chiefly turn’d upon the Measures, that they were to take to preserve themselves, and to put their Business in a Posture to receive as little Damage as possible, by so general interruption as it was like to meet with on this Occasion; but as these Things do not so nearly concern the Affair of religious Preparations, I have no exact Account of them, nor are the Particulars of any Value in this Discourse. Thus much I learn from what I have Collected, namely, that he did not receive any manner of Satisfaction or Comfort from his Eldest Brother, in the particular Thing that afflicted him; and continuing very disconsolate, his pious Sister, who was greatly concern’d for him, came into his Chamber one Day about ten Days after the first talk with his Brother, where he was sitting very Pensive and Heavy, and began to Comfort him. Sister. Dear Brother, I am very sorry to see you in this melancholly, discourag’d Condition; what can I do for you? ’tis a sad time with us all. Brother. Poor Child, thou can’st do nothing for me, but Pray for me, do that, Child, however. Sister. I pray for you, Brother! that I do always; but what am I that you should ask me to pray for you? shall I send for some good Minister to pray with you, and for you, and to Comfort you, that may be of some use to you. 112

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Brother. No, no, Come sit down here, thou art a good Comforter enough to me; tell me my dear, what upholds your Mind in this dismal time, for you have the most Courage, and the most Composure of Mind, they say, of the whole Family? Sister. No, no, you are quite wrong; my Brother out does us all, he is like one above it all, that liv’d unshaken with any Apprehensions whatever; he has a strong Faith. O that I had a Heart so prepar’d, so steady, so unconcern’d as he has. Brother. Sister, Sister, you mistake the Point; my Brother, puts the Evil day far from him, buoys himself up with Hopes that the Judgment will pass over, and that it is not so near or so certain, as we have all reason to see it is; and he flatters himself with this, or with escaping it if it comes: I tell you he has no more Courage than other People; but I think he is stupid. Sister. No, no, my Brother is a good Man, I hope, he is not so secure in a time of such Danger, but upon very good Ground; he has a perfect Calm in his Mind for ought I see, sure that can never be but upon a firm Dependance upon God, and a full Satisfaction of his future State. O if I could arrive to that, if it were God’s Will. Brother. I am sorry to say, Sister that you are mistaken; he knows nothing of that happy Condition you speak of, nor I neither; you are in a better State than any of us. Sister. Dear Brother, do not say so of me, you grieve me extremely, I that am the worst Creature alive. what State can I be in; I hope too you are wrong in the Case of my Brother and your self. Brother. This is not a time, Sister, to flatter or compliment; the Judgments of God are coming upon us, what must be done? what is our Work, what is our Duty? Sister. We talk of Preparations, and some preach up early Preparations; I know nothing we can do, but learn to die at the Feet of Christ, as miserable Penitents; this is all I can come to. Brother. O Sister, if I could do that, I should think my self safe. Sister. He will accept all that come unto God by him. Brother. But I should have come before; to talk of it now, is to talk nothing; we cannot be said to come now; we do not come we are driven. Sister. That’s true, but so his Goodness is pleas’d to act with us, that he will accept those who are perswaded by the Terrors of the Lord, as well as those who are drawn by his Love. Brother. There’s no sincerity in coming now. Sister. I hope there is, Brother; many a Criminal is accepted, even at the Place of Execution, which may be call’d driving, as much as any thing. 113

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Brother. ’Tis hard Work to repent under Distress, and ’tis hard to entertain Notions of our own Sincerity under such Circumstances; how shall I prepare now, that have not gone about it till the Judgments of God are upon us, and I am driven to it, as it were in the Terrors of Death? Sister. Do not discourage me, Brother, while you discourage yourself, the Judgment of God is begun, and we are to prepare for it, that is to say, to be ready to meet him with our Souls prostrate at his Feet: We are to say, it is the Lord, let him do with us what seems good in his Sight; and this is a Work proper to go about, even now; I am sure I must go about it now, as well as you; I entreat you do not discourage me, I want all the helps to it possible. Brother. I do not discourage you, Sister; you have been before Hand with the Work; you have led a Life of Preparations a great while; I have lost all the time past, and that doubles the Work for the time to come. Sister. I have done nothing, and can do nothing; neither can any of us do any thing but submit and be resign’d. Brother. We must submit and be resign’d as to God’s disposing of us; but I speak of another Work, Sister, that lies hard and heavy upon my Spirits: I have a long mispent Life to look back upon, I have an Ocean of Crimes to launch thro’, a Weight that sinks the Soul, and without God’s infinite Mercy will sink it for ever; what is resigning to God’s disposal to this? no Man can resign to be eternally lost; no Man can say he submits to be rejected of God; I could chearfully submit to whatever it pleases God to do with me here, whether to die or to live; but I must be pardoned, Sin must be done away, or I am lost and undone, it cannot be said I can resign that Point. Sister. No, Brother, I did not mean so; we must resign our Bodies, but we are allowed to be humbly importunate for the Pardon of our Sins, the Sanctifying our Hearts, and the saving our Souls; and then we shall do the other with Chearfulness and Satisfaction Brother, Well, Sister, now you come to me; this Pardon is not to be obtained, but upon a sincere Repentance and a firm Faith in Christ; and this is the Work I say I have still to do,132 and that you have not neglected as I have done. Sister, O Brother, I have done little, I have it every day to do as well as you, and ’tis a Work must be renewed every day, I desire to be every day applying to it with all my Power, and I hope you do so too, for we make fresh Work for Repentance every day. Brother. It is a dreadful Work to have to do at such a time as this. Sister. But, Brother, tho’ the having deferred our Repentance to the last Gasp, be a discouraging thing, and that as you say, a Sick Bed or the time 114

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of Visitation, is not a time for it, yet Blessed be God, it is not forbidden then; it does not make our Repentance unlawful, it only unfits us for it; neither, as you suggest, does repenting at last, make the Repentance be less sincere, it may indeed render it suspected to ourselves; but it does not follow that it cannot be sincere because it is late. Brother. It takes away all the Comfort of Repentance, that I am sure of, and much of the hope of it too. Sister. But not to go about it at all, is still worse, Brother. Brother. I know not what to go about, or when to go about it. Sister. I hope you know, Brother, both what to do, and when. Brother. The time is laps’d, Death is at the Door, what can be done now? it is not, what our particular Frame or Temper may be just now, but what the main Course and Tenor of Life has been, we are to be judg’d according to our Works.133 Sister. It is true, the Evil, I doubt is at Hand, tho’ I know nothing how it is; my Brother told me, the Plague was ceas’d again, and all was over; but I lay no Stress upon that; I desire to be always what I should be, if it was upon me particularly. Brother. Indeed ’tis far from being over, ’tis encreasing every Day, ’tis got into three or four Parishes at the other end of the Town, and it spreads this way apace. Sister. Well, Brother, ’tis a loud Call upon us, to improve the few Days we have left. Brother. I resolve not to lose a Moment, but to apply the time that remains, as much as possible; but, alas! what can I do? Is not all a meer Force? a Fright, if the Sickness shou’d go off, I shall be just the same again. Sister. You pass Sentence upon yourself too rashly, Brother, you are no more sure you shall do so, than you are sure you shall go to Heaven. Brother. I have a sad Rule to judge by; I have done so once already, when we had the same Apprehensions five Months ago, and what can I say less? I shall be just the same Man, for this is all the same thing, ’tis being driven into a Harbour by a Storm, as soon as the Storm is over the Ship puts to Sea again, and goes on the same Voyage she was going before, and steers the same Course she steer’d before, and so shall I; I am only driven upon my Knees by the Storm. Sister. I hope not, Brother, you know the Story of the Prodigal,134 he was driven by evident Misery and Starving, as bad a Storm as any Man can be driven with; he tells you, I perish for Hunger:135 He never thought of returning to his Father, till he was ready to Perish, that is, just at the Gate of Destruction. Brother. That’s but a Parable, Sister. 115

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Sister. But remember, Brother, what the Moral of it was, what the Design of the Story was; and above all, who told it. Brother. That’s true, but what is that Moral to my Case. Sister. Why, Brother, he that told that Story with his own Mouth, is the same Father who is to accept of us Prodigals; and, I think, he clearly tells us there, that he will receive us, however late, and by whatever Necessity or Distress we are driven; what else did he tell us that Story for? Brother. That’s a comforting Application of it indeed, and I think it will hold. Sister. *I hope it is a true Application of it, Brother, I am glad it seems to be seasonable to your Case. Brother. It is so seasonable to me, that nothing can be more; Dear Sister, you are a healing Preacher to me: That very Case is my Case, and as you say, our Blessed Lord, gives a plain Call in it to every distress’d Prodigal, to come back when he is ready to Perish. Sister. I am no Preacher, Brother, I am but a Girl, a Child in these things, but the Story of the Prodigal came into my Head just then: I hope you are no Prodigal. Brother. Yes, yes, I am a Prodigal, I have wasted the Substance that I have had given me; the Time, and Talents136 of Health and Strength that has been spar’d me, and now I am just like him, ready to Perish; Death is at the Door; if it come into your Head, as you say, without any fore Thought, it was God’s Goodness put it into your Head, and Thought too; it was spoken for me, I will observe it, I will return to my Father, and say, FATHER, I have sinned against Heaven and before thee,137 &c. Sister. Blessed be God for the Encouragement you have from it, I desire to make the same use of it my self. Sister. †Here’s my Brother, I hear him ring at the Door. Brother. Well; then we shall have some farther account of Things, dreadful News I do not question!‡ Sister. Well, Brother, you have been at the the Exchange I hear, what News have you, how do Things go? 1st. Bro. Truly I know not what to say, ’tis bad enough, but it is not worse than it was, at least they tell us so; I have the Account that will be in to morrow’s Weekly Bill, it was brought to my Lord Mayor,138 as it seems was order’d, every Week before it is Printed. * She perceives that his Countenance alter’d, and that he look’d more Chearful than he did before. † Here they were interrupted by the Coming of their Elder Brother, who had been abroad and came with very bad News to them. ‡ The Brother comes in.

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2d. Bro. What, that is I suppose, that the Number may not be made too large in the Article of the Plague: They may do what they will, but the People will know those things, and if they see any Tricks us’d with them, they will think the worse. 1st. Bro. How can you suggest such a thing, Brother? there is no room for it, the Number is known and every Body is allow’d to see it. Sister. And pray how many is it, Brother? 1st. Bro. Why the whole Number is but 17, and there was 14 last Week, so that the Number Increased is but three which is no great matter; and ’tis all at that end of the Town. 2d. Bro. Mark now how partial my Brother is in his relation, he says, there is but 17 of the Plague; But pray how many is there of the Spotted Fever.139 1st. Bro. Truly there is a pretty many of that Distemper indeed, I think ’tis Twenty three. 2d. Bro. That’s part of the Cheat I told you of, People conceal the Distemper as much as they can, that their Customers may not shun their Shops; and so they put them in of the Spotted Fever, or any thing they can get the Searchers to return them of, when they really die of the Plague. 1st.Bro. I can say nothing to that, I take Things always for true when Authority publishes them. 2d. Bro. I am for being impos’d upon by no Body, especially in a Case that so nearly touches my Life, as this does. Sister. I think there is not much in it either way; ’tis plain the Plague is begun, and spreads apace, and it is not much to the Purpose how many it Increases this Week or next, the Case will be decided in three or four Weeks more, beyond all Objection. 2d. Bro. Nay, as it is, we see it spreads apace this way. 1st. Bro. But it is not come into the City yet, except that one Man who died in Bear-binder-lane, a Month ago. Sister. Another Month or two, Brother, will show us a quite different Face, and instead of Seventeen or Twenty, you will see a Thousand a Week, perhaps more. 1st. Bro. God forbid! Sister, I beseech you do not Prophesy evil Tidings. 2d. Bro. Brother, I beseech you do not flatter yourself; will you never be alarmed? Do you consider the Numbers of People that there are in such a City as this? my Sister talks of a Thousand a Week, if it comes to be a thorough Infection, there may be five times so many die in a Week, and the whole Town be a meer Pest-House, and a Desolation.

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Sister. My Brother sees us discourag’d, and ’tis only that he is not willing to have us be too much frighted; but a few Weeks will put us all out of doubt. 1st. Bro. I do not either alarm you, or endeavour to make you secure, but I see you are both resolv’d to have it be thought worse than it is, and I am for having it call’d nothing but what it is: So many have died of it last Week, and as many more have died of several particular Distempers; ’tis time to be frighted and hurried, when we see it come upon us; I am not for making things worse than they are. 2d. Bro. Well, Brother, that is a good way of talking enough, to them that are ready and prepar’d for the worst, as my Sister says you are, and I am glad to hear it; but the more unhappy it is for me, my Work is yet to do, and I have differing Reasons why I am more allarmed than you, for I am utterly unprepar’d for it, God knows. Sister. Ay, and I too. 1st. Bro. You are enough to terrify any one to Death, both of you; if you are unprepar’d, you must go and prepare then if you think fit; for my part I can’t bear to hear you talk thus.* 2d. Bro. That’s very unkind; he seems to Triumph over my being unprepar’d, its my unhappiness; but it can be no Bodies satisfaction, I think. Sister. My Brother, can’t mean so: However, Brother let us take the Hint, and set about the Work. 1st. Bro. O Sister! Is it in any ones Power to prepare themselves for such a terrible time as this? How is it to be done? and what can we do? Sister. The Preparation of the Heart is of the Lord, Prov. 16. 1.140 Brother. We talk of Preparations as if there was a stated settl’d Form of Preparing for the Plague, which when perform’d, we were ready for it whenever it came; for my Part, I know no Preparation for the Plague, but a Preparation for Death; he that is ready to die, is ready to have the Plague. Sister. I understand it so too exactly. Brother. Why then, Dear Sister, you are of my Mind exactly; will you join then with me, and let us set upon the great Work, as well together as apart: Let us set up our rest for Death,141 that is, that we shall certainly die of this Visitation; and endeavour to bring our Souls to such a Frame, as that we may with Chearfulness throw our selves into the Arms of Divine Mercy, thro’ the Merit of Jesus Christ, whenever he shall Summons us, be it by this dreadful Visitation, or by what other Providence he thinks fit.

* He goes out, and as they thought, seem’d to be Angry.

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Sister. I am very little able to forward you in such a Work; but I will join in any thing that I am able, as well with respect to my own part, as to any thing else we can do together. Brother. But what do you look upon to be the first Work? Sister. The first thing I can think of, is a full Resolution, a firm Purpose of Heart, to forsake all our Sins, and to return heartily to God who we have offended. Brother. By returning to God, I suppose you understand repenting sincerely for all our past Sins, mourning unfeignedly over them, and calling upon God for Pardon and Forgiveness. Sister. I do so, and there is great Encouragement for us to do this, in the Scriptures. Hosea 6. 1. Come and let us return unto the Lord: for be hath torn, and he will heal us; he bath smitten, and be will bind us up.142 Isaiah. 55.7. Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. Isaiah. 19 ver. 22. 25. And the Lord shall smite Egypt, he shall smite and heal it, and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them. Whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance. Brother. This is true; but how shall we do this, and who can effectually return to God? ’Tis a hard Work. Sister. We must look up to him for Assistance, even in this very Work. Lam. 5. ver. 21. Turn thou us, O Lord, unto thee and we shall be turned; renew our days of old. Jer. 31. 18. I have surely heard Ephraim, bemoning himself thus, Thou hast chastised me, and I was Chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the Yoke: turn thou me, and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God. Ezek. 18. 30. Repent, and turn yourselves from all your Transgressions; so iniquity shall not be your ruin. ver. 31, 32. Cast away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgressed, and make you a new heart, and a new spirit; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? For I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord God: wherefore turn your selves, and live ye ver. 11. Say unto them, as I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways; for why will ye die, O house of Israel? Brother. There is another Text which touches my very Soul every time I read it, methinks it speaks to me; it is the very sort of turning that I think I want, and it seems to be even a direction to me how to turn, and what turning to God means in his own Sense of it; how he is pleas’d to understand it, or what it is he will accept as a sincere turning to him; it is in Joel Chap. 2. ver. 12, 13. Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning. And rent 119

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your heart and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Sister. That is an extraordinary place, indeed, I had omitted it, but I remember it very well, and the Words of the Verse before it seem to make the reason for that particular Call of turning to God, to be much the same with what is before us. Brother. I did not look at that part, the Call was loud to me, and I see reason enough before me; it affected me indeed exceedingly. Sister. But the Words immediately before, will add to it still; pray look* here. Brother. They are wonderful indeed, ver. 11. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible, who can abide it? Ay, who can abide it? Who indeed can abide it? ’tis our Case just now, the Judgment that is now coming upon us, may well be said to be the day of the Lord; and it is very terrible indeed; none can be able to abide it. Sister. The next Words are usher’d in with this as a reason for them, Therefore turn unto the Lord with all your hearts; with fasting, with weeping and with mourning. Brother. Dear Sister, this is indeed our Direction, let us obey the Voice of our Rule; this is a Scripture Rule,143 and we cannot be wrong in it. Sister. Nay, they are the Words of God himself, that is to say, the Prophet speaks them, as immediately from God, and in his very Name, Therefore, also now, saith the Lord, and the next Words, are as if God spoke immediately, Turn ye even to me.144 Brother. This is a Call to us; to me, Sister, in particular, and I have great reason for it, and to do it in the particular Manner directed: Namely, with Fasting, with Weeping, and with Mourning. Sister. ’Tis a Call to me, as well as to you, Brother, and I have as much reason to think ’tis directed particularly to me as you can have, and more too, much more. Brother. Dear Sister, let us dispute that no longer between us, will you join with me in this Work? Shall we repent together and humble our Souls together? Sister. Ay, Brother, with all my Heart, I will be thankful to you for so much help in such a Work. Brother. We have opportunity now to help and assist one another, God alone knows how long we may be continued together; how long it may be * She turns to the Words, and gives him the Book, and he reads them.

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before we may be snatch’d from one another, or both snatch’d away, as it were together. Sister. I rejoice at the Motion, Brother, I have had no helps before, I have been alone in all things of this Nature; I bless God for the Offer, and will join with you in every thing that you desire of me, and above all, in receiving Help and Counsel and Assistance from you. Here we can follow this happy Couple no farther at present, that is, in their particular Conversation, but it is to be recorded for the Example and Encouragement of others, in like Case, that they agreed to spend two Hours every Evening, and an Hour every Morning together in her Closet, where they pray’d together, read the Scripture together, and discoursed together as their particular Circumstances made it seasonable: In these retirements the Brother pray’d, and made a daily Confession of Sin, the Sister read the Scriptures, and in their Discourses they were mutual. Besides this, they lock’d themselves up every Tuesday and Friday, and kept the whole Day as a Solemn Fast, neither Eating or Drinking ’till about Four a Clock in the Afternoon; where it might be truly said of them both, as was said of Menassah,145 That they humbled themselves greatly before the Lord their God;146 and as the Scripture above mentioned directed, they did it with Fasting, with Weeping, and with Mourning. The young Man in particular, was a Pattern for Penitents; and in an especial Manner he was afflicted, and continually reproach’d himself with having put off his Preparation and Repentance formerly ’till the very Judgment was at the Door; and with having been once before touch’d with a like Sense of the Danger, but growing cold and unconcern’d again, as the Danger abated and went off: This rob’d him of much of the Comfort of his present Application; and he continually upbraided himself with it, as if it was a Test of his future insincerity, and it was very discouraging to him; he would also frequently express himself on that Head, how much it should be consider’d by every one in such Cases, never to fall back from their own Resolutions; and how sad a Token it was of real Hypocrisy; and particularly, how hard it would be for such People, if ever they came to be true Penitents, to believe themselves so, or to receive the Comfort of their own Humiliations. In this distress of his Mind he receiv’d great Assistance from the Comforting Discourses, and excellent Example of his Pious Sister, who was now the Companion of his best Hours, and his support in his greatest discouragements. She had given the first Life to his Resolutions, by hinting to him, that our Blessed Saviour himself was the Author of that Parable of the Prodigal, 121

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and that as it was said, introductory to the Parable of the unjust Judge, that he speaks a Parable to them to THIS END , that Men ought always to Pray and not to faint;147 so that it might be said of the Parable of the Prodigal, that he spake a Parable, TO THIS END, that Men ought always to return to God their Father, when they are in distress, and not to decline for its being late. She had upon all Occasions repeated to him such encouraging Texts of Scripture as occur’d to her to support his Resolutions; and she was daily searching the Bible for such Texts of Scripture, as might be particularly adapted to these Purposes. It happened, that under some of his greatest discouragements, for he had many, and most of them beginning at the Doubts he had upon his Mind, of his own sincerity, and of his being accepted because of his having not applied himself to his Humiliation, till it pleased God to bring the Terror of the Plague upon him, and till the Judgment was, as it were at the Door: I say under one of these worst Dejections, his Sister thought of another Example; Come, Brother, says she, I have another Scripture Instance for your Encouragement, where God accepted one of the worst Wretches that ever was alive, and who never returned till he was brought to the greatest Extremity, a greater Instance of Wickedness never was in the World: Nor did he ever think of returning, as we read of, till God struck him and brought him down to the lowest degree of Misery; and yet upon his humbling himself, he was accepted: Will such an Example Comfort you? says she: I think, says he, you were born to Comfort me, Who was it? Here it is, says she, take it as it is recorded on purpose to encourage Penitents under the worst Circumstances, it is the Story of Menassah, the most Wicked of all the Kings of God’s People, 2 Chron. 33. in the beginning of the Chapter to the 7th Verse, you have an account of his Wickedness; such as the like was never in Jerusalem before him; doing abominable Things, prophaning God’s House and his Altar, Witchcraft, Sorcery, and dealing with the Devil, also, ver. 10. ’tis said, the Lord spake to him, but he would not hearken: So that he resisted even God himself, and rejected the gracious Call of God to him to Repent. This, Brother, was much worse than what you call growing Cold and Negligent, and letting your Sense of Things wear off: Well, after this, ver. 11. Wherefore the Lord brought upon them the captains of the Host of the King of Assyria, which took Manasseb among the thorns, and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon. This was driving him, as you call it, with a witness; he was pull’d down from a Throne to a Dungeon; from a Crown of Gold and Chains of Gold as Ornaments, to Chains of Iron to Fetter and Bind him, as one kept for Execution; but see ver. 12, 13. And when he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers. And prayed unto him, and he was entreated of him, 122

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and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his own kingdom. Then Manasseb knew that the Lord he was God. Now Brother, says she, what think you of all this? Tears of Joy run down his Face while she read the Words of the two last Verses; and when she ask’d him at last what he thought of it; think of it, says he, my Dear Sister! my happy Comforter! I think I will never be discourag’d more; and he was in a great Degree as good as his Word, for he was exceedingly encourag’d by it upon all Occasions, had recourse to that Example, when his reflection upon his late Repentance gave him any sad Thoughts. But he leaves it as a seasonable Caution for us, upon whom the like Circumstance of a National Visitation seem to be coming; that our Preparations may not be adjourn’d till the Judgment is upon us; for that, tho’ it may not be ineffectual thro’ God’s Mercy for any one to repent then, however late, yet that it will rob us of great Comfort, make the Danger a Thousand times more dreadful, and fill us always with dark and discouraging Thoughts, and ’twill be very hard to bear up the Mind under them. He warns all Men by his own Example, that when Preparations for Death have been long put off, ’tis so much the harder to begin them at all, and the Heart once harden’d by frequent delaying and putting it off, is not easily soften’d to the serious Work again; and when it shall at last be brought to go about it heartily, it will yet go with a heavy and afflicted Mind, and those delays of Repentance will be the most abhorr’d Things, even equal to the Sins that are to be repented of; that nothing is more certain, then that when People put off those Preparations to the last, God is often pleas’d in Justice to deny the Gift of Repentance in their Extremity, or at least for a great while, and sometimes the Comfort of it to the last Gasp; but this is a Digression: I proceed to the Story of the Family before me. These two happy Penitents went on in this Course for some time; some short Discourses which happened between them, cou’d they have been entirely preserv’d, might have been very useful to others, the following however, may not be unprofitable; the Brother, it being during one of their private Fasts, as above, began thus. Brother. Sister, we are under the Apprehensions of a terrible Judgment, which is already begun, and encreases dreadfully among us; pray let us state between us, what is our Work upon that account at this time. Sister. I believe I understand you, Brother, you would have us state what we mean by Preparations, for these are the things we talk much of, and others too when they speak of any serious things, indeed I have often ask’d my self, what I mean by Preparations for the Plague? Brother. Well, and how did you answer your own Question? 123

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Sister. Why, I answer’d it as I heard you mention it once to my Brother, and I thought you had given a very right account of it, (viz.) that Preparations for the Plague were Preparations for Death, and that they ought to be understood so. Brother. Well, but the Question is much the same then, (viz.) what is it to make Preparations for Death? or what Preparations are proper to be made for Death? Sister. It is a hard Question, Brother, and requires a better Head than mine to give an answer to it. Brother, But, Sister, that which is worse, is that the Preparations I mean, are to be supposed to be made, by a Man that has been a hardened extravagant remarkable Wretch, for great Crimes, &c. Sister. One that has been old in Sin, and that has put off all the Calls to Repentance, either from Conscience or from Nature, from Reason or from Religion, from God or from Man. Brother. Ay, just as I have done, Sister! Sister. No, no, not as you have done, but as you say you have done. Brother. Well, let that rest; what must such a one do? what must be his Preparations? Sister. The first thing, Brother, I think of, is included in that Scripture, Lam. 3. 40. Let us search and try our ways, and turn again unto the Lord. Brother. The thing is most apt to the Purpose, search and try our ways, which, as I understand it is self Examination in the highest Extreme. Sister. Searching; that is, a looking back upon our past Life, and into every Action of it; not hiding or dropping this Search in any particular part that can be brought to Memory; not covering any part, but searching our selves to the Bottom. Brother. And then trying the quallity of every Action, bringing ourselves to the Bar148 of our Consciences, and there impartially subjecting every Action of our Lives, to the Judgment of our own Reason, and Conscience; determining with an unbyass’d Sincerity, whether such Ways and such Actions are justifiable at the Bar of God, or no. Sister. Blessed be God, there is a Bar of Conscience, at which we may Arraign our selves, and where, if we try the Cause impartially, we may make a right Judgment of our Actions, and know in what Posture we stand. Brother. But O Sister, what is my Case! I see before hand what will be my Case; I cannot stand before the Judgment Seat of my own Heart, how then shall I appear at his enlighten’d Tribunal? Sister. Do not say you are so, as if none were so but you; I am in the same Condition, my own Heart condemns me, and God is greater than our 124

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Hearts: I have nothing to say but this, Enter not into Judgment with me O Lord, for in thy sight shall no Man living be justified, Psalm 142.149 Brother. If then we bring our Actions to the Bar of Reason, and to the Bar of Conscience faithfully, we shall see then our state; we shall see what our Condition is, and what it will be at the Bar of God’s Judgment. Sister. Certainly we may. Brother. Then I must see, and do see, that at that Bar I shall be Condemned. Sister. Yes, Brother, and I too and every one, for in his sight shall no man living be justify’d: In the state as our own Actions brought to Judgment will appear; but let us go back to the Text again, let us search and try our ways; What is next? Brother. It is so Blessed be God; let us search and try, and turn again to the Lord,150 this is then our Work at this time. Sister. Dear Brother, our Work in short, is Self-Examination, and Repentance; first Examination, then Humiliation. Brother. It is plain, first search and try our ways, and then, turn from them to the Lord; it is taken there as a Conclusion, that upon searching and trying our ways, we shall find they will not bear a Trial, either at the Bar of God, or at the Bar of Conscience; therefore we are to turn from them. Sister. That is our next Work, and how is that to be done. Brother. That brings us to the other Text we had before, 2 Joel 12, 13. It must be with all our hearts, with fasting, with weeping and with mourning.151 How shall we do this, Sister? Sister. Well, Brother, but let us go on and see the Fruit of it too, read the next Verse 5. 13. And rent your heart and not your garments, and turn unto the Lord your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.152 Brother. Nay, Sister, go on with them ver. 14. who knoweth if he will Return and Repent, and leave a Blessing behind him. Here’s encouragement, Sister! let us set about this Work, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.153 Here is one of their Discourses, or at least a Part, and herein may be seen something of that true Work of Preparation for the Plague: Let none flatter themselves with less than this; they who pretend to be making Preparations for the Plague, that is to say, for Death, any other way than by searching and trying their ways and turning to the Lord, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning, that is to say, with sincere Humiliation and Repentance, will but mock and deceive themselves, and will find they have made no Preparations at all. 125

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must leave this pious Couple now a while, as to their retreat, and take m in Common, in Conversation with their Brother and the Family. The ation came on, the Plague spread dreadfully, Death come like an ed Man, and swept away the People like an overflowing Stream. was now five Weeks after the last Discourse between the two Brothers the Sister, and since the two Penitents had retir’d themselves; that the nger Brother having been out in the City came in again, and found his r Brother talking with his Sister; and now his manner of talking was e chang’d, his Tale was turn’d, as you shall see.

t. Bro. O Brother, Why will you venture to go out. d. Bro. Out, why what can be done? we must go out for Family essaries. t. Bro. We have been greatly overseen in that, not to have a Store of isions in the House, since we are oblig’d to stay, you know they did e otherwise at Naples. d. Bro. That’s true, but it is too late now. t. Bro. It is not too late for some Things, however; we might get a k of Bread and Beer into the House, and you see my Mother sends us y Week fresh Provisions from the Country sufficient for us in particular. d. Bro. She does just now, but it will not be long; no Messenger or Servwill dare to bring it, in a little more time, for the Plague Increases so h, the other end of the Town is a meer Desolation with it; it begins to e round us, I hear ’tis got over into Southwark this Week, six or eight died on that side already. t. Bro. Well, what shall we resolve to do? shall we venture to stay, or we lock up our Doors and be gone? what say you, Sister? ster. I am not fit to give my Opinion, I see ’tis like to be a dreadful , but what you resolve, shall determine me; because as I have undern the Charge of your House, your Measures makes staying my Duty or my Duty; so you are not to ask my Opinion, but to direct me what to

t. Bro. Well, but if you were not under the Obligation you speak of, d, which you may be sure we would be far from tying you to in such a as this, what would you do then? ster. Why then I should properly belong to my Mothers’s Family, and I ht to go thither, and then to act as she should direct. d. Bro. But tell us what you think of doing now, Child?

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Sister. You may assure your self I will do just as you do, I will live and die with you.* 1st. Bro. This is all nothing; what we do we must do quickly, there’s no time for long Consultations, if we intend to go away, it must be speedily, or no Body will receive us; nay, we may carry the Plague with us, and do our selves more hurt than good. 2nd. Bro. Nay, all the World almost that have any where to go, are gone already; but have you thought of any place where to go? 1st. Bro. No, not I. Sister. Why, Brother, have you made no Provision at all for the time of Distress? 1st. Bro. No not I, Soul nor Body.† Indeed, Sister, you have been in the right all along and my Mother too; I have put this Evil day off, and flatter’d my self it would go off: I have seen such things frequently in Italy, and after the first Frights, the Distemper has vanish’d again: I was indeed alarm’d when I came to you there in April, but I found there were some People, who I thought, made worse of it than they need to do, and I dropt all Concern about it, nor have I suffer’d any Impressions to be made upon me since. Sister. I took it otherwise, Brother, and I always thought it was another way; that you were fortify’d by your Extraordinary Experiences of God’s Goodness and your Faith in him; and that I knew was a good and justifiable Foundation for you, to be easy and settl’d in your Mind on. 1st. Bro. No, no, I am quite unprepar’d, and that with this Aggravation, that I have neglected and slighted all the Warnings of its Approach; and now it comes on like an overflowing Flood, nothing can stand in its Way; we shall see the City in a very little time more, a meer general Grave for all its Inhabitants. 2d. Bro. Not all, I hope, Brother. 1st. Bro. Truly, I believe there will very few remain of those that stay here; they that fly in time, may indeed be preserv’d. 2d. Bro. Well, Brother, we are all to be directed by you; what shall we do? 1st. Bro. Do! I have nothing to say to you, but this, do not follow my dreadful Example, to put off my Repentance and Preparation upon a wild Presumption of escaping the Danger, or indeed of its being more favourable than it is like to be; lose not an Hour, not a Moment; I have lost all my * This she meant of her second Brother in Particular, because of the Work they were engag’d in together. † At this Word he fetch’d a great Sigh, for he spoke it in a kind of secret Passion, and broke out into Tears after it; but when the Agony was a little over he went on.

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time, and now, Heaven is just! I not only have no time for it, but I have no Temper154 for it; when the Danger is at the Door there’s no beginning the Work; ’tis too late then. 2d. Bro. Compose your Mind, Brother, and look up to Heaven for Direction; and if you think of going any where for your safety into the Country, my Sister and I will remain here to look to the House and preserve things. 1st. Bro. No, Brother, I wont go away for my own Safety and leave you expos’d to the Danger. 2d Bro. I hope it may please God to preserve us; but if not, we are in the way of our Duty, and may with the more chearfulness cast ourselves into his Arms. 1st. Bro. You talk very different, Brother, from your Discourse a few Months ago. 2d. Bro. I have had long Experience of things since that, and particularly of the right he has to dispose of me, and all that belongs to me; it is my part to submit, ’tis his part to do whatsoever he pleases. 1st. Bro. I want such a Spirit, Brother: How did you get it? 2d. Bro. There’s* the dear Instructor, she has been the healing Angel. Sister. I intreat you, Brother, do not discourage your self so, I have been capable of nothing, and have done nothing, neither can any of us do any thing. 1st. Bro. Well, you came in, Brother, since I did, what do you hear of the main thing, what Condition are we in? 2d. Bro. Worse and Worse, the Plague advances this way still in a most surprizing Manner. 1st. Bro. Well, what shall we do? 2d Bro. I scarce know what. 1st. Bro. In short there’s no Body left in the City hardly, but in Byplaces, and where People either have had no time to go, as has been our Case, or resolve to stay. 2d. Bro. Let us see a little farther, Brother, there are but very few dead in the City yet, I think not above Fifty or Sixty in all. This Discourse being ended, the second Brother and Sister began to consider that it would be their lot to stay in the City; but being very anxious for their Elder Brother, they resolv’d to perswade him to go away, chiefly with respect to the Confusion which they found he was in about his eternal State: In the mean time as they kept up their daily Conferences and Fasts as before, they were every day more and more Encourag’d and Comforted, * Pointing to his Sister, who he said had been the Cause of all the serious things he had done during the whole time.

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being fully given up to the disposing Will of Heaven, let it be which way it would, whether for Life or Death. But to bring them to this gradually, we must go back to another of their Discourses upon this Subject in one of their retirements; the Brother began the Conference upon the Subject of the last Discourse thus: Dear Sister, I thought we brought our last Discourse to a very happy Point, (viz.) That after Self-Examination, searching and trying our ways, we should turn to the Lord: I have had some difficulties with my self upon this Work of turning to God; we resolv’d it at our last meeting into Repentance; and I think that is plain in the Text we were upon, turn with fasting and weeping and mourning. This I take to be Repentance; but is there nothing to do beside? alas, we may weep and mourn, but as that can make no Compensation for our Sin, we must look farther. Sister, It is very true, there is more to be done, but the Scripture is full and plain even in that, for the Word, turn to the Lord, implies, in my Judgment, flying to him for Pardon; it is true, that the manner of applying to God for Pardon of our Sins, is not express’d in the Prophesy of Joel; because they were then under the old Testament Dispensation. Brother, That is what my thoughts resolv’d it into; now, Sister, I bring it to the New Testament, and I was directed, I hope to that Scripture; Acts 16. 30. where the Jaylor says, Sirs what must I do to be saved? The very Words were upon my Mind before the particular Scripture occur’d to my Thoughts, what is my next Work? What must I do to be sav’d? and the Answer is directed, ver. 31. And they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved, and thy house. Sister. It is most certain, Brother, that to our Repentance, which we have been call’d to, by that Text which we discours’d of last, must be join’d the Gospel Direction of believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, and that is the next Work for us to Examine our selves about. Brother. It is plain, Sister, from another Text, 20, 21. Repentance towards God and Faith, towards our Lord Jesus Christ.155 Sister. Dear Brother, if we have but these, we have finish’d our Preparations. Brother. Then we may say, come Lord Jesus come quickly. Sister. The next question then is to be assur’d in these two Points. Brother. Dear Sister, I have nothing for it but the Example of the Man, in the Gospel, Mark 9. 24. Lord I believe, help my Unbelief: And this is the full Exercise of my Soul; this is what I desire to dedicate the whole remainder of my Time to, be it little or much to obtain a settl’d Dependence upon the Merits and Purchase of Christ the Blessed Saviour of the World. 129

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Sister. There’s no other Comfortable Hope, no other Rock, no Anchor for the Soul, but this, he is the Hope of his People, and their Saviour in the Time of Trouble. This is a time of Trouble, let us not be anxious, whether we are spar’d or not, in this time of Trouble; That Faith which has carried others through the Fire, and through the Water, will carry us through the Fire of a Disease: What is it to die by this infectious Fever, or being spared a few Years more, be carried away by another or by any grievous Distemper? Brother. The Difference is nothing if it be not in things beyond the Grave, for the difference of the time here is so little, that it is not worth naming, at least when we come into that state, we shall esteem it nothing. Sister. Let us then neither wish or fear in the present desolation, but be entirely resign’d, giving up ourselves to him, who has said, he careth for us, and has bid us be careful for nothing; this will be a Comfortable State. Brother. Dear Sister, I have been debating long with myself about the Comfort of our Faith, and about a comfortable Dependance: And I have been long questioning whether ever I may arrive to the Comfort of it or no, whether the Joy and Peace of believing may ever be my Lot: And I have some reason to believe it will not. Sister. I hope for you, that it may, pray do not foreclose your self. Brother. I have such a Weight upon me for a long series of Folly and Wickedness, that the more I search and try my ways, the more I see reason to turn to the Lord with weeping and with mourning: And I believe I shall go so to my Grave. Sister. It may be so; but let me add to you, that it does not follow but you may go so to Heaven, and then all those Tears shall be wip’d away from your Eyes. Brother. I have sometimes brought it to this, and Blessed be God for it, that tho’ Repentance and Faith, be absolutely necessary to our Salvation, yet comfort and assurance is not, and then I remember the Words of Job. Tho’ he slay me, yet will I trust in him.156 Sister. This Faith is as effectual, tho’ not so comfortable as the other; this is my Case, I know he is able to help and to save to the uttermost, and I desire to lie at his Feet and say, as the Apostles, Whether else shall we go?157 Brother. If my Faith will support it self thus far, that I can lie down and die at his Feet, I will not say ’tis all I can desire, but I do say, ’tis all I can expect; and ’tis just with him if he should deny me even that. Sister. We cannot promise or propose to our selves what we shall do when we come to the Extremity: Dear Brother, this is such a time of Trial as we never had before, nor older People than we are, it pleases God we are yet alive; but Death is at the Door, and we have reason to expect it every 130

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Moment, and that a terrible Death too: Nothing can stand us instead, but an entire dependance upon infinite Mercy, thro’ the Merits of Jesus Christ. Brother, I propose nothing to my self, but to depend upon him, and to look to him for Life; for he is the author of eternal Salvation, to all that Believe on him:158 I desire to believe in him, and I rest on him; and this is all my Preparations for this dreadful Time. Sister. I know no other Preparation, and I trust that this Preparation will carry us through whatever it shall please God to suffer us to meet with, in this dreadful time that is upon us. For sometime both before and after this Discourse, the Plague violently Increasing, their Elder Brother, had been very pressing with them to leave the Town and shift all for themselves; but these two well prepar’d Souls, seem’d to receive that part of his Proposal coldly, and began to look upon themselves as determin’d for stay, seeing their Brother, whose Motions they had resolved at first to be guided by, as the head of the Family, had not talked of going away till it was almost impracticable to be done; they had made no Provision, either for leaving the House and Family in Trust with any Body, or securing what in such Cases might be, and was fit to be secur’d: They had provided no Country Being, or Place to retreat to; the Elder Brother indeed, had a House of his own, and an Estate with it as far off as Cheshire; but it was not possible to carry any thing of Goods or Necessaries so far; especially after they had let it alone so to the last, the ordinary Carriers ceas’d going for sometime, and besides all, there was no passing the Roads; the Towns were all Guarded, the Passages stop’d; and tho’ they had gotten Certificates of Health from the Lord Mayor; the City began now to be so Infected that no Body would receive them, no Inn would lodge them on the Way: And these Things had made their removing next to impracticable; so I say, the second Brother and his Sister, concluded they were to stay. They were, as above, come to a happy and steady Calm of Mind with respect to the Danger of Death; besides their private retirement, went together twice every day, to commit their Souls in a more solemn Manner into the Hands of God; hitherto the Infection had not only been kept out of their House but out of their Neighbourhood; no Body had died or been Infected, as they had heard of, in that part of the Street where they liv’d; but as it was now the latter end of July, the City seem’d like a place Invested159 and Besieg’d, for tho’ the Plague was not so violent within the Walls as without, yet it was more or less in most parts of the City. They had for sometime left off to bury the Dead in the usual Forms, and in the Out-parts especially, Carts were appointed to go thro’ the Streets 131

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between the Hours of Twelve and Three in the Night, with a Bell-man, Crying, Bring out your Dead. It was not ’till the first Week in August, that this dreadful Sound was heard within the Walls; and at first it was principally in those Parishes which were next the City Walls, on the Side of Cripplegate and Bishopsgate, and that Week there died of all Diseases above 4000. Their Elder Brother, came in the Week before this, in a very great Concern, having been at the Custom-House, or that Way, where he had some Ware-Houses of Goods, and had met with some frightful Thing in his Way, and finding his Brother and Sister together, he breaks out in a Tone, rather of Horror than Anger. Well Brother, says he, my Sister and you may do what you please, but in short I can stand it no longer. 2d. Bro. My Sister and I too are willing to do whatever you direct, Brothers; but it has been left among us as a thing undetermin’d so long, that I do not see how it can be done now. Sister. There may be as much Danger, Brother, in going as in staying; for I believe you have not yet resolv’d whether to go. 1st. Bro It is true, I have not; I have done by my Family as I have done by my Soul, let it lie without any Concern about it, till it is too late. Sister. I beseech you do not say so, your Family indeed may find it too late to stir, but blessed be the Lord, your Soul is in better Hands. 1st. Bro. I scarce know what hands I am in, I am at my Wits Ends, I’ll take my Horse and go to Chesbire. Sister. That is giving us your Order to stay where we are, for you know we cannot Travel so far as Circumstances now stand, unless we should resolve to lie in the Fields and starve, for no Body would take us in. 1st. Bro. Why not? you may have Certificates of Health from my. LordMayor. 2d. Bro. You have seen Accounts, Brother, of several Families that have been put to all manner of Distresses upon the Roads on this very account, and some are come back again to London, chusing to meet the worst in their own Houses, rather than to wander in the Fields and Roads, where no Body will let them in, or come near them, or let them pass from place to place. 1st. Bro. I know not what to do, I must go some where, I am not able to stay here, my very Blood runs cold in my Veins at what I have met with to day. Sister. Why will you go out into the Streets, Brother? 1st. Bro. Nay, I do not think to go any more, till I go away for good and all. 132

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2d. Bro. Hitherto, Brother, we have been kept, who knows but it may please God to spare us, let us keep within Doors. 1st. Bro. How shall we get Provisions? my Mother’s Servant that furnishes us now, said the last time he came that he was frighted as he came through the Borrough, and that he should be afraid to come much oftner. While they were under these Debates, for it held them three or four Days, there came a Captain of a Ship up to the House, whose Ship they (the two Brothers) were Owners of, and had fitted out for a Voyage to Genoa and Messina, where their chief Dealing lay, and where it seems they had liv’d. They were upon one of these Discourses it seems, when this Captain came into the Counting-House for some Dispatches which he wanted; where he found his chief Merchant under great Perplexity about the encreases of the Plague, and he began himself to tell him, that he wonder’d he had not remov’d his Family all this while; upon which the following Discourse began between those two only, for the second Brother was gone up Stairs with his Sister. Capt. Sir, I perceive you are in some perplexity about your Family in this dreadful time. Mer. Indeed, Captain, so I am, my Brother and Sister too, who are our Governours, would have had me left them, have remov’d into the Country two Months ago, and I laugh’d at them and slighted it, but now I must own I wish with all my Heart I had done it. Capt. I warrant you told them how you us’d to do Abroad, where they make light of such Things, they are so frequent. Mer. So I did indeed, and I told my Brother I thought he had known better, that had liv’d at Naples, where they say there died 20000 in one Day, tho’, by the way, it was not true. Capt. But pray Sir, Why do you not go away still, this Side of the City and the Rotherith160 Side of the River is pretty clear yet, you may all go away that way. Mer. You mistake the Case extremely, Captain, we may go out of the Town several ways still, but there’s no stirring any where when we are out; there’s not a Town upon the Road will suffer any Body to pass that comes from London, or from any Town near London; so that it is impossible to Travel, we must e’en stay all and die here, I see no remedy.* What makes you seem surpriz’d at that, Captain, it cannot be wonder’d at, nor can we blame the People; for who wou’d venture to lodge a Family * Here the Captain mus’d a while, and said nothing, which made the Merchant go on.

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from London; I mean what Inn would venture it, and have the Plague brought among them? Capt. I was not surpriz’d at that part at all; indeed I was not thinking of it, I was at first surpriz’d to think you, Sir, that had so much Knowledge of these Things, should not have made Preparation for your Family’s retreat a great while before it came; for you have had notice that it was coming on above these six Months. Mer. O Captain! wonder no more, we have done by the Family as we do by our Souls, put off the Apprehensions, and that puts off the Preparations, and now it is upon us, we are all in Confusion. Capt. Well, but that was not what I paus’d at, I have a Proposal in my Thoughts that you may if you please, with God’s Blessing, convey your Family out of the City still, and that to such a Distance, as you may at least hope to be safe, and you shall meet with no stops upon the Road at all, tho’ you Travel a great way. Mer. *We will be all greatly oblig’d to you for such a Proposal, nothing can be more acceptable at a time of such extremity; for we look upon ourselves as all dead Bodies. Capt. I have but one question to ask by way of Caution; but if that cannot be answer’d, I can do nothing. Mer. I believe I can guess at that question, the Nature of the Thing guides to it, (viz.) whether we have not the Distemper already among us? Capt. That is the Question indeed, Sir, for if that cou’d not be answer’d, you know no Body could expect to be assisted, neither cou’d any Body assist them, for they would carry Death with them, where ever they should go. Mer. Well, you may be assur’d, and depend upon it, that we are all of us, Blessed be God, Servants and all, as free from the Infection or from any Distemper at present, as ever we were in our lives. Capt. Why then, Sir, the short of the Story is this; have not I a Ship here in the River? and is she not your own? except a sixteenth, which I have by your Friendship and one sixteenth my Brother, who will Consent to whatever shall be for your Service: Here we have Victuals for her, for four Months for twenty two Men, and have put her up on the Exchange for Genoa, Naples, and Messina, but we have taken in no Goods, but some Hogsheads of Sugar, for your own Account, and about 50 Fodder161 of Lead, for Ballast, also of your own; nor as things are now, will any Body Ship off any thing, for all Trade is at a stand; besides, ’tis to no purpose to * The Gentleman was exceedingly pleas’d with the Kindness of the Proposal.

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go to Sea, for no Nation in Europe, will give us Product, or let us so much as come to an Anchor in any of their Ports. Mer. You put a new Thought in my Head I confess. Why Captain, would you take us on Board? Capt. Will I take you on Board? Is she not your own Ship? Is she not fitted out at your Expence? You may, and have a right to Command her and turn me a Shoar if you think fit. Mer. Well, but are you willing to take us in? Capt, How can you ask that Question, Sir? why else do I make that Proposal? Mer. Where does your Ship lie now? Capt. She did lie, Sir, at Rotherhith, in that they call Cherry-Garden-Hole, but you know you order’d me to Fall down to Deptford, and there we Ride ready to Fall down lower if we see Occasion. Mer. And have you room for us all? Capt. Sir, we will make room for you as convenient as if it were in your own House. Mer. Sit down again, Captain; Come I’ll propose it to my Brother and Sister, and hear what they say to it, for I confess your Offer comes to me, as if it came from Heaven, ’tis as if it was a Voice from above, a Message to save us all from the most dreadful Condition that ever Family was in; I wonder I should never think of it before. Upon this he call’d his Brother and Sister; and gave them an account of the Captain’s Proposal, and of his own Opinion of it: They both said the same, that it seem’d to be a merciful Disposition of Providence, for the Deliverance of the whole Family; and the second Brother and Sister receiv’d it with Acknowledgments suitable to their Opinion of it as such: In short, the Merchant and the Captain immediately entred into Measures for the putting it in Execution; and to this purpose, he caused Beds and Bedding, Linnen of all sorts; with all Kinds of Kitchen Furniture, and all other Family Necessaries, to be pack’d up in Cases and Boxes and Bales, as if for the Use of Passengers, with all their Plate and Things of Value, and had it fetch’d away by the Ships long Boat, and another Boat which they borrowed, for three Days together, not suffering the Ship’s Men or any of them to come on Shoar, but had it all put on Board by his own Servants; at the same time the Merchant caused the Ship’s Bills,162 which werea hung up on the Exchange, intimating that She was ready to take in Goods for Italy, to be taken down; tho’ if he had not, there was no great forwardness in any Merchants to Ship any Goods at that time. All these three Days the Captain took to lay in a larger Store of Provisions, and particularly, of Fresh Provisions; and first he dismiss’d all the 135

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Men he had hir’d for the Voyage, except those who were already actually on Board, who were his Chief-Mate, Boatswain, Carpenter and Six Seamen or Fore mast Men; and these he forbid to set their Feet on Shoar or on Board any other Ship on pain of being turn’d off. The History of this Embarkation, tho’ not material to the Subject in Hand; I mean as to the religious Preparations for the Plague: I yet cannot think proper to omit, because it may be a direction for others to take the same happy Measures in the like Danger, and perhaps with as good Success; for this, as you will hear, succeeded very well. The Captain was a good Agent Victualler, he laid in a double quantity of Biscuit, Meal, Beer, Beef, Peas, Fish, and every thing usual in furnishing a Ship for a Voyage; but that was not all, he put on Board a quantity of Hay, and bought two Cows, making a Platform for them in the Hold, which had vacancy enough: He bought a great quantity of Fowls, and twelve Sheep; two or three Sows with Pigs, and the like: And in short, made Provision to a Profusion; and this he did with such Expedition,163 that every thing was on Board before them. The Ship was now fully ready for them to go on Board, and the Boat was order’d to come up to Tower Wharf, to take in the Family as on the Wednesday; when on the Sabbath day in the Afternoon their Sister was taken very Ill, which put them all into a terrible Fright, she continued exceeding Ill, and particularly, Vomited violently all Monday, and they made no doubt but it was the Plague. She carry’d it with an extraordinary Composure of Mind, meekly committing her self into the Hands of him, on whose Mercy she had so long depended; in a Word, she shew’d eminently the difference between a Mind solemnly Prepar’d for Death, and which in earnest had long expected it; and a Thoughtless negligent one, who had put the Evil day far from him. However, as her Distemper was not the Plague, she soon began to mend, her Vomiting abated, and she recover’d Strength; but I mention it to observe the Condition of her Elder Brother, upon this Occasion: Now, and not till now, he was thoroughly alarmed; he was frighted and terrify’d before with the Danger he was in; but now he look’d upon it that God had struck his Family, and that they should all die of the Plague very quickly. He got no sleep that Night, when in the middle of the Night, between Twelve and One a Clock, he heard for the first time, that dismal Cry, Bring out your Dead! the Cart begining to go thro’ the Street where he liv’d, being the Parish of St. Margaret Pattons, that very Night: The Noise of the Bell, the doleful Cry of the Bell-man, and the rumbling of the Cart Wheels, you may suppose, join’d together to present to his Mind the most frightful Ideas, especially Increased by the Apprehensions that the Plague was 136

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already in his House, and that his own Sister might perhaps be to be fetch’d out by the Cart and the Bearers the next Night or two at farthest. He got up and went to his Brothers’s Chamber, thinking to awaken him, and to sit down by his Bed-side; but was surpriz’d to find no Body in the Room, and that the Bed was not unmade; In short, his Brother was up praying with his Sister, and tho’ he believed she had the Plague upon her, yet he would not leave her, or stir from her, but as Necessity oblig’d him; but sat by her, comforting and supporting her Mind, with the Fruit of their former Experiences, and reading comforting Scriptures to her; thus, I say, they were spending the Night, when the Elder Brother; calling his Brother by Name, the Servant that attended, told him, and he went out to him, and their short and confus’d Discourse, was to this purpose. 1st. Bro. O Brother! we are all dead Corpses! There’s a Cart gone by that must fetch us all away. 2d. Bro. What, is the Dead Cart, (so it was generally call’d) come into our Lane? 1st. Bro. Ay, ay, I heard the Bell-man’s dismal Cry. 2d. Bro. Well, God’s Will be done with us, let us settle our Minds on him: He shall not be afraid of evil Tidings whose Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord. 1st. Bro. How can you go into my Sister’s Chamber, you will get the Distemper to be sure? Nay, have you not got it already? 2d. Bro. I cannot tell how I may fare as to that, it shall be as God please; but I will not leave her while she has Life and Sense in her; She has been my Soul’s Comforter, and I will never cease Comforting her, as long as I am able. 1st. Bro. Why you are strangely altered, and comforted indeed, to what you were, when you came into the Counting-House to me, and was for runing away to France. 2d. Bro. Blessed be God, I am altered, and Blessed be that dear Messenger of God that is now languishing, and just entring joyfully, into Heaven: She has been a Thousand times dearer than a Sister to me, she has been an Angel of God to me: O that I was in her Condition, as to the Soul, tho’ I were in her Condition as to the Infection too; as to the last, that is the particular Hand of God, and it is our Duty to submit; blessed be God ’tis no Token of his Displeasure. 1st. Bro. How! Brother, is it no Mark of God’s Displeasure, I think ’tis a sore and heavy Judgment, and a Token of God’s Vengeance upon the Land. 2d. Bro. It is a National Judgment no doubt, and Calls for National Humiliation, but I do not think it must always be call’d a Token of God’s Vindictive Hand to any particular Person; for then no Body could have any 137

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hope of being at Peace with God that had the Distemper; and there’s our dear Sister, bad as she is, she has a Triumphant Joy possesses her whole Soul in the Blessed Assurance of her Salvation.164 1st. Bro. I am glad to hear it, but I am very apt to question those who boast of their Assurances of Heaven; I think they very often prove Hypocrites. 2d. Bro. She is too near Heaven to be a Counterfeit, Brother; besides, she is the humblest most melted Penitent that ever you heard of; the Sense of God’s Pardoning Mercy has melted her very Soul into Penitential Tears, and those Tears have fill’d her with Joy. 1st. Bro. You talk upon Contraries, you are all Mysterious. 2d. Bro. You may call it Mysterious if you will, but ’tis a Blessed Truth, tho’ ’tis a mysterious Thing to those that understand it not: No Repentance, no Humility, no Tears like those that are rais’d by an humble Sense of infinite undeserved forgiving Grace: And no Joy, no Satisfaction of Soul, no Rejoicing, nay, Triumph of Soul like the Joy that is founded in Sorrow, founded in Repentance. 1st. Bro. And is my Sister come that length? These are sublime Things indeed, *O Brother! what have I been doing? I am undone, What shall I do? 2d. Bro. I see, Brother, it has pleas’d God to Visit the Family; I hope you will be preserv’d: I beg of you take Boat and go immediately on Board the Ship; take such Servants as you think fit, and your little Children and go away, for you will but finish the Ruin of the Family if you stay, for if you should be struck they are all undone. 1st. Bro. I cannot go without you, Brother, if you will go with me I will go. 2d. Bro. Do not ask me, I cannot leave her; no, I’ll live and die with her; I am sure if I had been the first, she would not have left me; besides, Brother, it may not be safe for you to have me go, for to be sure I have the Seeds of the Distemper about me by this time. He had with much ado prevail’d on his Brother, to resolve upon going the next Morning, and not to stay for the Ship’s Boat, which was to come for them two Days after, when offering to go into his Sister’s Chamber again, the Servants met him softly at the Door, and told him she was fallen into a Sleep, with a little Sweat; upon which he retir’d into his own Chamber again: He waited four or five Hours, and still his Sister slept most * Here he stop’d a while, as in some little sudden Confusion, and then went on.

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sweetly, upon which he lay down upon his own Bed in his Clothes, and slept several Hours more, and still his Sister was not wak’d. In a Word, she slept till near Nine a Clock the next Morning, when she wak’d wonderfully refresh’d, her Distemper quite abated, the Fever gone; and in a Word, it appear’d that she had not the least Symptoms of the Infection upon her, to the inexpressible Joy of the whole Family. On the Day appointed the Boat came up, and the Eldest Brother with his two Children and one Maid-Servant and a Man-Servant, went on Foot thro’ the Street to Galley-Key,165 where, it being High-water, the Boat came close to the Shoar and they went all away. The next Day, the Boat being order’d up again, the second Brother, the Sister and another Maid-Servant, with an antient Woman, that was formerly the Sister’s Nurse, went all off in the same manner. When they were all safe on Board, the Captain ask’d their leave to bring his own Wife and one Child, a little Boy of five Years old, and a Maid to be with him also, which they all agreed willingly to; and thus they were all Embark’d together. This being the first Week in August, by which time the Burials in the City and Suburbs amounted to no less than 4030 in all, of which of the Plague 2817. They left the House fasten’d up with no Soul in it; but, left the Care of guarding it, to the ordinary Watch by Night, and two poor Men, who by turns kept the outer Door by day, took in Letters and any such Business, as in that time of a Cessation of all Business, might happen; these were particularly directed to take in the Weekly Bill of Mortality, which, with all Foreign Letters they order’d to be sent Weekly to a House at Greenwich, and gave Orders at Greenwich, to have them brought to the Ship side, after they had been Perfum’d and sprinkl’d with Vinegar, and then scorch’d at the Fire, as was then the Usage. The Ship, as I observ’d, lay at an Anchor a little above Deptford, where they continued about a Fortnight longer; but finding by that time the dreadful Increase of the Plague, and that it came on Eastward from the other End of the Town by the North Side of the City into the Parishes of Aldgate, White Chappel and Stepney, and particularly began to rage in Wapping and Ratcliff, and even down to Blackwall; also, that some had died of it in Rotherhith and in Deptford, they found they should be, as it were, surrounded; so the Captain at their Request, weigh’d and Fell down the River, to a Place between Black-Wall and Woolwich, which they call Bugby’s-Hole,166 being a secure place for Ships to ride in. The Vessel they were in, was a Ship of Force, carrying 16 Guns, but could carry 24; so that they liv’d at large and had room enough; the Merchant and his Family had the great Cabbin and Steerage to themselves, 139

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with some Cabbins built on purpose for his Maid-Servants and Children in the Gun-Room; an Appartment was built up out of the great Cabbin for his Sister, and her Nurse and Maid, and himself and his Brother had each of them a large Cabbin built in the Steerage, so the rest of the great Cabbin was their Dining Room: The Captain had the Round-House and the little Room before it, which they call the Cuddie,167 for his Family, and the Quarter-Deck was their Parade or walking Place; over which the Captain had caus’d an Auning to be built, and cover’d it so close, both Top and Sides, that it was like a great Hall. They soon found reason also to remove the Place appointed for their Letters, and order’d them to Woolwich, both the Towns of Deptford and Greenwich being sorely Visited. Here they Rode168 with great Satisfaction, for all the rest of the Month of August, when they receiv’d the last Weekly Bill for the said Month of August, which amounted to no less than 7496, a frightful Number indeed! and which was still dreadfully Increasing having Increas’d almost 2000, that very Week, not reckoning such as died in the Towns of Deptford and Greenwich. This put the Merchant upon a new Proposal to the Captain, which was to go quite away to Sea; for he was now in such a dreadful Consternation on several Accounts, that he was altogether as uneasy as he was before he left his House in London. While they thus lay in Bugsby’s-Hole, the Captain and the Merchant’s second Brother, with their Boat, had ventur’d down to Woolwich, that is to say, to the upper end of the Town, but did not go on Shore, neither were the People of the Town at first willing to let them come on Shore, not knowing whence they came, or how they far’d on Board, and they were the more wary, because, besides the Town of Greenwich, the Plague was raging at Black Wall, also in all that part of the Country, which contained several Villages, all in Stepney and Bromley Parishes, such as Black Wall, Poplar, LimeHouse, Bow, Old-Ford, Bethnal-Green, Bromley, Mile-End; in the former of which Parishes (viz.) Stepney, including White-Chappel, there died 1026 People that very Week, and the next Week 1327. However they answer’d their end at Woolwich, which was first to learn that the Town was not yet Infected, except two Houses at a little Distance towards Greenwich, where three or four had died; that the Market was yet pretty well furnish’d with Provisions; so they got a good Woman of the Town to buy such Provisions for them, as they had Occasion for, such as fresh Butter, some Eggs and a great Quantity of Garden Stuff, such as the Season afforded, with Apples in abundance; all which was a great Relief to them, having been more tied down to Salt Meats, than agreed with them, 140

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being so differing from their usual way of living before; they got also fresh Meat, as Veal and Pork, and in a Word, were very well stor’d with refreshments. But by the next Market Day the Plague was so far got into the Town, that the Country People came but very thin to the Market, by which the quantity of Provisions was lessened, and not to be easily had; nor did the Merchant care to venture the Boat on Shore any more. Then the Captain made a little Voyage in his Boat to Barking Creek, intending to go up the said Creek to Barking Market; but was inform’d by some of the Fishermen’s Smaks169 which lay at the Mouth of the Creek, that the Plague was there also; whether true or not, they did not stay to Inquire, but came back. When they found this, the Merchant grew impatient, and in short, would lie there no longer; so they Weigh’d170 and went down the River to a Place call’d Green-Hithe;171 but there being no Market there, nor any great Store of Provisions, and the Captain thinking their Riding there not so safe as lower down, considering how few Hands they had on Board he proposed going as low as Gravesend, where if it happen’d to over Blow, they might get some Men from the Shore. While they were considering this, they call’d with a Speaking-Trumpet to the Shore for a Boat to come on Board, accordingly a Boat came off, but they wou’d not let them come on Board till they had enquir’d whether the Plague was in the Town; nor would the Fellows come on Board till they had enquir’d whence the Ship come last; but afterwards the Men in the Boat assuring them that the Town was in perfect Health, and the Captain assuring the Town Boat that they came from Bugbys-Hole only, where they had ridden three Weeks, that they were all in perfect Health, and came down lower because they heard that the Plague was at Black-Wall and Woolwich. I say after this they became better acquainted. Here also they had News that the Plague was at Gravesend, and as the People said, at Chatham and Rochester, but it seems, as they were afterwards inform’d, that News was not true; only that a Rumour had spread over the Country to that purpose, a great while before it was so; however, this alter’d their Resolutions, and they continued for the present where they were; tho’ this was no Market Town, yet they got some fresh Provisions, and particularly sent a Country Man with a little Cart and two Horses to Dartford, a Market Town about three Miles up the Country, and which at that time was free from the Infection; and there they stor’d themselves again fully. But the Merchant was still uneasy, for he could not bear to lie any where with the Ship, if the Plague was at any Town beyond him; so he made the 141

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Captain remove the Ship again and fall down to Gravesend, and passing the Town he came to an Anchor below a Place, which is since call’d the New Tavern, being as far as the Custom Officers would let him pass without clearing. Here they were told that the Town of Gravesend was perfectly clear of the Plague, but as they had been told otherwise at Greenwich, he would not suffer the Boat to stir on Shore, or call any Boat to come off to them, but made shift with such Provisions as they had. While they Rode here, they suffer’d a violent Storm of Wind, in which they were in some Danger of driving from their Anchors, and going on Shore; and tho’ there was no doubt of saving their Lives, yet it put them in a very great Fright, least they should be forc’d from this little Sanctuary (the Ship) where they had been hitherto so comfortably shelter’d. However, as they Rode out the Storm with safety, and got over the Danger, the Captain told his Merchant seriously, that he thought it was not safe to Ride so low with so few Hands; that if he was willing to let him go on Shore and get three or four good Seamen, which he believed might be easily done, he would then clear the Ship at the Fort, and fall down into the Hope,172 or go to the Buoy on the Nore,173 where he thought he might Ride as safe as where they did; but if not, that then it would be a better way to go up to the upper End of Long-Reach and Ride there, where he believ’d there lay five or six Ships in the same Circumstances, and on the same Account with themselves. The Merchant wás utterly against going on Shore at Gravesend, but especially against taking any more Seamen on Board, but would have had the Captain have stood away for Harwich, but upon second Thoughts, as it had been said that the Plague came over first from Holland; so to go to Harwich, would be just to go in the way of it, the Packet-Boats continuing to go and come between that Place and Holland; and that they did not know but that Harwich might be Infected, and then they were left to the wide World. In short they agreed at last to come up the River again, not to GreenHithe, where they lay before, but to the upper part of that which they call Long-Reach, which is about three Miles nearer London than Green-Hithe. Here they had very good Riding and safe, though sometimes blustering Weather: Here lay six other Vessels, four above them, and two below them; and tho’ they did not go on Board one another, yet they soon became acquainted with one another, and conversed with one another upon the particular Circumstances of each Ship, and the publick State of Things also; and they found presently, that they were all Outward Bound Ships, but had not their Loading fully in, that they were, as it were, embargo’d by the general Calamity, that the Captains had all their Families on Board, and 142

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most of them had other Families on Board also, and that they had fallen down there for safety from the Plague, and it was to their particular Satisfaction, that they understood that they were all very Healthy so far, and that there had not the least Appearance of Illness been among them. They had not lain here above three Days, but the Head-most Ship, that is to say, that which lay at the upper end of the Reach, made a Signal to the rest, which this Ship did not understand; he found that the rest answer’d it, and tho’ he was going to call to the next Ship to know the meaning of it, when the Head-most Ship’s Boat came off with the Ship’s Mate on Board, and lying upon their Oars, they Hal’d the Captain, who answering, the Mate told him his Captain order’d him to acquaint them, that the next Day was the Day that the Six Ships had appointed ever since they Rode there in Company, to keep as a Weekly Fast on the present sad Occasion, in order to beg of God to preserve them from the Pestilence; and that they should be glad these would please to join with them in it. Our Captain answer’d in the Name of himself and all that were on Board his Vessel, that they would join in it with all their Hearts, and return’d Thanks to the Captain of the first Ship, for communicating it to him, desiring to know the time they begun and ended: The Officer in the Boat told them that they began at eight a Clock, and resolv’d not to eat or drink till six in the Evening; accordingly they kept a most religious Day of Fasting and Humiliation on Board this Ship; but having no Minister on Board, they made it an Act of private Devotion only, except we shall call it Family Devotion: The Captain and his Family kept themselves retir’d the whole time within the Round-House, &c. And not one of them was seen all the Day. Our Family, of which we are particularly treating, and therefore call them so, did the like; but the Elder Brother was still so confus’d in his Thoughts, and had such a reserv’d Melancholly upon him, all the time, that he could do little more than read a Sermon or two out of a Book to his Servants, and then retir’d himself into his particular Cabbin, where he spent his Time as well as he could; but as he afterwards said, very uncomfortably to himself. The second Brother, and the Sister join’d together in the private Devotion of that Day, and spent it as they us’d to do their usual Fasts, namely, in reading the Scriptures, and private Comforting one another, and endeavouring to give themselves up to the disposing of God’s good Providence, and in praying with one another, of which more by and by. About three Days after this, which was the 6th of Sept. 1665 they receiv’d the Weekly Bill of Mortallity, being from the 29th of August to the 5th of Sept. in which the Number of the Dead was 8252, for one Week 143

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only, whereof of the Plague and Spotted-Fever 7145. This was a frightful Account, and particularly to them, because the gross of the Numbers that died, were in the Eastern part of the City, and in Southwark side, where at first they had been longest without the Infection; and in short, that it seem’d to draw apace towards them. This fill’d them all with heaviness, and as by the help of Speaking-Trumpets, they now convers’d freely with all the other Ships, and all those Ships with one another, The Merchant whose mind was still uneasy, caus’d the Captain to call with his Trumpet to the rest of the Ships, and to desire that the Captains of all the Ships a Head, would come to their Round-House Windows, and that the Captains of the two Ships a Stern would come to the Fore-Castle of their Ships, for he had something to propose to them, for the Common good of them all. Accordingly they came, and the Captain, in the Name of his chief Owner who was on Board, ‘Told them how dreadfully the Plague was increased, and how the Weight of it was all at the East part of the Town, and particularly, that the Towns of Greenwich, Woolwich, Black-Wall, West-Ham, and Barking, were all Infected, besides other Towns on both Sides of them, which they yet had had no Account of; that in short they should be surrounded with it on every Side, and should not be able to get Próvisions on Shore, without danger of being Infected; and that since they were all, blessed be God, in perfect Health at present, and while they had sufficient Provisions on Board, his Advice was, that they should join all together, and by Consent put out to Sea, and Sail to such other Port in England, or if need were, in Ireland, where they might be furnished with Provisions, and Ride with safety: That his Merchant assur’d them he would stand by them and assist them, if they would agree together to stand by one another; and that as they were seven Sail of Ships in Company all of good Force, they should be able to Force the People wherever they should come, to furnish them with Provisions for their Money, or to go on Shore and dwell at large, as they found convenient, till this terrible Judgment should be overpast.’ The Captains unanimously agreed, that it was a very good Proposal, and two of them gave a full and free Consent immediately; they two having Authority enough in themselves and having none of their Owners Families on Board, or that if they had, they heard the Offer and consented to it: The other Captains answer’d, That they had every one of them several Families of their Owners, and Merchants on Board, and they would consult with them and give their answer. Accordingly having call’d their said Owners together, and advised about it, some of them agreed to it, and others seem’d rather not to be resolute enough than to differ from it, the Women being afraid of the Sea at that 144

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time of the Year; however their Debates took up a great deal of Time, so that it was never fully agreed to. In this Interval the dreadful height which the Plague was come to, may be judg’d of in the following Partculars, for three Weeks only. Buried in all, in London and the Parts adjacent, within the Bills of Mortallity. From the 29th of August to the 15th of September From the 5th Sept. to the 12th 12th to the 19th Total

8252 7690 8297 24239

And to show how the principal Weight of the Infection lay at the Eastern and Southern Parts of the City, the following Account of the Burials for the same three Weeks in those Parts, will make it out. From the 29th of Aug. to the 15th of Sept. in the Parishes of Aldgate, White-Chappel, and Stepney. 1770 5th Sept. to the 12th 1754 12th Sept. to the 19th 1871 Total

5395 In Southwark-Side.

From the 29th of August to the 5th of September 5th Sept. to the 12th 12th Sept. to the 19th Total

1374 1511 1631 4516

At the same time within the Walls of the City, the Distemper was most violent, too, for notwithstanding the great Number of People which were remov’d from thence, which was judg’d to be five times as many, in Proportion to the Numbers of People, as in the Out-parts; and tho’ in the beginning of August, there died more than twice as many in Cripplegate Parish only as died in the whole City, viz. from the first of August to the 8th. Buried in Cripplegate Parish 691 Buried in the 97 Parishes, within the Walls of the City. 341 145

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On the contrary, in the three Weeks above nam’d, the Numbers Bury’d within the Walls of the City were as follow, From the 29th of August, to the 5th of September 5th to the 12th 12th to the 19th Total

1118 1154 1493 3765

Thus that dreadful Affair stood at that time, and these three dismal Weeks were worn out in Consultations and unsteady Resolutions; the poor Ladies being both afraid to stay, and afraid to go away: At length, the 29th of September, (Michaelmas-day) they were surpriz’d in the Morning early, to hear the Headmost Ship Fire five Guns, and looking out, they found she had spread her Antient and Pendants,174 and all look’d with a Face of Joy; This being indeed so unusual at a time of such Distress, they began to call to one another with their Speaking-Trumpets, to know what the Occasion of it was, when they saw a Boat come off from the Headmost Ship to give them an account of Things. Accordingly the Boat came on to every Ship, and at a Distance, calling to them one by one, as they row’d by, told them that their Captain had receiv’d the Bill of Mortallity for the last Week, and two Letters, with an Account that the Plague was abated in an extraordinary Manner, and that the Number of Burials was Decreas’d near 2000. This was matter of Joy sufficient indeed to them all, and they all fir’d their Guns, and drank to one anothers Health, as well as they could at that distance, and in hopes the Distemper would go on to abate, they laid aside their Thoughts of going all to Sea, as they had intended to do. Nor did their hopes of the gradual Abatement of the Distemper disappoint them, for the next Week after that, the Bills decreased 740, and the next 652, and the third Week 1849; so that the Numbers of Burials between the 19th of Sept. and the 17th of Octob. were decreased from 8297 to 3219, and from 4 Parishes being clear of the Plague to 16 Parishes, and the very next Week after, it decreased 1413 more, and 26 Parishes were entirely clear of the Infection in the City only. Any one will conclude, that from this happy Decrease, they were greatly encourag’d, and indeed they had reason; for notwithstanding the Care they had taken, and the happy retir’d Condition they were in, even as it were separated from all Mankind, yet it was a very dismal View they had of what might happen to be their Lot; for they were as it was, surrounded with the 146

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general Affliction; not only the City was thus terribly Visited, but all the Market Towns and Towns of Note on both sides the River, and a great way into the Country were more or less Infected; as Rumford, Barking, Grayes, and the Villages about on the Essex Side, and Greenwich, Woolwich, Dartford Gravesend, and the City of Rochester, with the Towns of Stroud and Chattam, adjoining on the Kentish Side: So that they had but one Course to take, which was that which they had been Consulting upon: Namely, of putting out to Sea, and going to the North round Scotland to Ireland, which was, at best, a long, and considering it was Winter, a dangerous Voyage. But now they were in great hopes of a compleat Deliverance, for every Week, as above, the Plague abated, and they began to see the Boats pass and repass as usual, to and from London; and several Vessels loaden with Corn from the Coast of Kent and Essex, went up to Market, venturing in hopes of a good Price; as also Coasting Vessels from the Coast of Suffolk, with Butter and Cheese, came up in considerable Numbers; so that Trade seem’d to be restor’d, and the People were not so afraid of one another as usual. However, they continued where they were all of them, and agreed, that they would not suffer any Boat to come on Board them from any place whatsoever, or any of their Company to go on Shore, or on Board any other Vessel, till they found things still better: And in this Cautious manner they liv’d out the whole Month of November; by which time the Distemper was so far abated in London, that the Burials for the whole Week, amounted to but 428, whereof of the Plague but 210; abundance of Parishes entirely clear of the Plague, and but 24 dead of it in the whole City. During this happy Decrease of the Burials, tho’ they kept their Resolutions as to the going up to the City; yet they went on Shoar with their Boats frequently to Purfleet and to Greenhith, and to other unfrequented Places, to get fresh Provisions; Butter, Fowls, Eggs, and such like; also to a little Town call’d Rainham, to which there is a small Creek that their Boats could go up in, and where they employ’d a Butcher to Kill some Sheep on purpose for them; I mean for all the Ships, and where they got Information how the Infection was in the Country; where they found that as it was later coming among them there, so it was not so much abated in Proportion in the Country as in London; and this made them the more Cautious. Besides, as they were thinking of going up to London, they were a little allarm’d with what might indeed be reasonably expected: Namely, That the People flocking on all hands to London by the Necessity of Business, prospect of Gain, or other Things, they would come thither too hastily, and catch the Distemper, before it was quite gone; and indeed so it was, for the very first Week of November, when the Plague was Decreased to 1031 per 147

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Week, it Increased again 400 in one Week; and so again the first and second Week in December, when it was fallen as above to 210, it Increased again, almost a Hundred. This made them more Cautious, and whereas before they were for coming up in the Ships Boats to London, Now they alter’d their Measures, and resolv’d to Weigh their Anchors and come up in the Ships as they were, and come for the first time no farther than to Deptford Reach, where they would continue ’till they heard how Things went. Accordingly they Weigh’d from Long-Reach, and having good Weather, came all together into the lower End, of what they call now LimehouseReach, a little above Deptford; here they came to an Anchor, Mooring their Ships two and two, close a Board one another; whereas they lay before single and separate one from another. And now they began to be better acquainted, to Visit one another, and Congratulate their Deliverance, and be thankful also, that I am to suppose, to their great Deliverer for their Preservation. While they continued here, the Family I am speaking of, sent some of their Servants to Town, to Open and Air the House, make Fires in the Rooms, Air and Warm the Beds, dry the Linnen, and the like; and particularly, the Merchant, the Elder Brother, who had been acquainted with such Things abroad, caused all the Hangings in the House to be taken down, and all, except Tapestry, to be Burnt; the Younger Brother would have had them only Bak’d or Wash’d in Vinegar, and dried very near the Fire; but he was positive to have them Burnt, as what he said might retain an Infectious Air; tho’ they were not sure any such Air was in the House. Thus after almost four Months absence, all things being prepar’d within Doors, and the whole Parish which their House stood in, having been several Weeks free from the Plague, they returned to their Habitation, Sound and in Health, their Measures for Preparation, as well as for Preservation, being such, as we may justly recommend to the Practice of others, if the like Visitation should come upon us as we have but too much reason to fear it may. But I cannot leave this Subject without returning to the blessed Couple, the Brother and Sister, whose Preparations for Death are as Remarkable and Exemplar, as the Preparations of the other were for Life; and which, I hope I may with more earnestness than ordinary, recommend for the Practice of all such who are apprehensive of the same Judgment, and who desire to be supported with the same Courage, and upon the same religious Foundation. From the time that the Elder Brother, who we call the Merchant, accepted the Offer of the Captain of the Ship, they seem’d to be entirely Passive in 148

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the Matter of removing, or not removing, leaving it wholly to Providence, and their Brother’s Direction only; indeed they look’d upon the Captain’s unexpected Motion for it, to be something like a Call from Heaven to them, to come out of the Danger, and therefore when they found that Particular in it, which was not related to them at first, they clos’d willingly with the Offer. While they were in the Ship, they continued their particular Conversations upon the Subject of Death, and their Fasts twice a Week as before; tho’ they had not so good Convenience for their Retirement: They were composedly Chearful, and as they were fully resign’d, and that upon a good and solid Foundation, to the dispositions of Providence; so they left all the other Things, such as removing from one Place to another, down the River and up the River, wholly to the Direction of their Brother the Merchant. This was the sweet and happy Consequence of a serious Preparation; which I cannot therefore but earnestly recommend to every Christian’s Consideration, as that alone which will Compose them and make them present to themselves in the greatest Distress, that can be possible to fall upon them, and in all the Dangers of a general Infection. It may on the contrary be observ’d of the first Brother, (tho’ a religious Man too in his Degree) yet that having put off the Evil Day, and endeavour’d to keep off the Apprehensions of it from his Mind, he had likewise put off his Preparations, as well of one sort as of another, either for Soul or Body; and what was the Consequence? his Passions, not his Piety were Agitated when the Hour came upon him; he was in a continual hurry of Mind, and in a terrible Fright, even to Amazement and Discomposure: He thought himself secure no where, and he made all their Restraints when he was in the Ship, so much the more severe by his Constant uneasiness, least the Infection should reach them. He would not have had the Ship have lain at Long-Reach, because he heard the Plague was at Dartford, tho’ the Town of Dartford lay three or four Miles off in the Country, and up a Creek or River, which few Boats went up or came down, and none near to them; for they lay near a Mile below the Creek: He was also afraid in the Hope, because he heard it was at Gravesend, tho’ no Boat came near them, and he would not let any of the Men go on Shoar, no not in the Marshes where there were no Towns, so much as to Buy Things that they wanted of the Farmers. His Mind was also full of Horror, and when he read the Bills of Mortallity, his Flesh would tremble, and he would fall into such Agonies as can hardly be deserib’d; And thus stood the Difference between the Prepar’d and the Un-prepar’d, Let us chuse for our selves! God grant that every sincere Christian may have his Eyes up to him in all such Cases, and prepare his Mind by a sincere Repentance for all their Sins, and a resolv’d and 149

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steddy giving themselves up to the Divine disposal; then they shall experience that happy Truth, that he shall not be afraid of Evil Tidings, whose Heart is fixed trusting in the Lord.175 FINIS.

150

Mere NATURE Delineated: OR, A BODY without a SOUL.

BEING

OBSERVATIONS UPON THE

Young FORESTER Lately brought to Town from

GERMANY. With Suitable

APPLICATIONS. ALSO , A Brief Dissertation upon the Usefulness and Necessity of FOOLS, whether Political or Natural.

LONDON: Printed for T. WARNER, at the Black Boy, in Pater-Noster-Row. 1726. [Price 1s. 6d.]

THE PREFACE.

A Short Preface may serve to such a Piece of Work as this; and as I would not give you the Trouble of my Opinions where there is no Need of them, I shall make it as short as can reasonably be expected. The World has represented the Phænomenon of a Wild Youth, which is the Subject of these Sheets, in so many Shapes, some inconsistent with themselves, some with Possibility, and most of them with Fact, that ’tis hard to find out the mean Truth, and give you any Idea to form just Reflections from; If, therefore, I should err in some Things, I hope it will be excused from the Goodness of the Design. The End of this Undertaking is not to make you laugh, especially not at the Person; I take him to be, as the King, no doubt, took him; namely, An Object of Pity, and in Consequence of which, his Majesty order’d him to be taken Care of, taught and instructed as far as he might be found capable: A Body without the due Exercise of a Soul, is certainly an Object of great Compassion, and so I treat him all along. But if I take the Liberty to talk with a little Appearance of Levity, it is at our modern Men of Mode, who would be thought wise, when, I think, they want Teaching as much as he does, and, of the Two, something the more; and these I take to be the Objects of a just Satyr: I wish it may be a seasonable Reproof to them, and, in the mean Time, as I name no-body, so I mean no-body, whose Dignity or Authority entitles them to any Resentment; nor are any of our Government designed or aimed at in it; and it must be the worst of Malice in any that shall read these Sheets, so much as to suggest it; And this, I hope, shall be taken for a sufficient Declaration: And so much for the Preface.

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Mere NATURE Delineated: OR, A BODY without a SOUL, EXEMPLIFIED, &c.

PART I. The World has, for some Time, been entertained, or amused1 rather, with a strange Appearance of a Thing in human Shape; but, for ought that yet appears, very little else, and in some Sense, as it were, without a Soul; for Idem est non esse, & non apparere;2 Not to be, and not to be in Exercise,3 is much the same to him; as Not to be, and not to appear by its Operation, is much the same to us. The World, I say, has been entertained with this Appearance for some Time: The present Design is to entertain ourselves a little farther upon the same Subject; but before I go on, I must enter a Caveat here in Favour of some of the Antients who advanced, That the fair Sex were without Souls,4 and my Caveat is against Misinterpretations; for if you understand them, that all the Sex was Soul-less, they must be so that said it;5 but if they mean, that many of them are so, let the modern Fair, the Toasts, and Idols of the Day, shew us, that it is otherwise with them, by discovering some one single Action, except Laughing, that will evidence they have any thing in them like a Soul, or that acts the beauteous Organ, any Intellectuals about them. Of which, more by-and-by. Having thus entered one Caveat, against Misconstruction of others, let me enter another on my own Account; namely, That if, in my abundant Charity for the Frailties of the Sex, and my Regard to the beauteous Images which I see shining sometimes in the habitable Parts of the Town; such as the Park, the Court, the Play, and, some few in the Church, I, through 155

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human Frailty, should grant them to have Souls, Angelick Souls, informing and animating those bright Tenements of burnish’d and polish’d Clay; they will excuse my Mistake when it appears, that many of them, if not most of them, are mere empty Shells, the beauteous Shadows of a Nothing, an inanimate Soul-less Form, made (such is the Will of Heaven) but acted by a Je ne scay Quoy,6 whether Air, Fire, Devil, or other Agent, we shall hereafter inquire. All this gravely premised, I return to my Subject: A Youth is brought over hither, said to be taken up in the Forest or Waste,7 of the Country of Zell,8 near the City of Hamelen,9 or somewhere thereabouts, for it matters not much, in what District or Country, in what Village or Parish it was, any farther than to enquire into the Truth of the Story: Here they tell us, He was found wild, naked, dumb; known to, and knowing No-body: That he lived a vegetative Life, fed on Grass, Moss, Leaves of Trees, and the like; that he acted below Brutal Life, hardly a Sensitive, and not at all a Rational.10 They hardly allow, that he walk’d or step’d erect, but rather creeping on Hands and Knees, climbing Trees like a Cat, sitting on the Boughs like a Monkey, and the like; tho’ in that Part we must not carry our Fancy beyond the Fact, because we see him at present standing upright, as the Soul-informed Part of Mankind do,11 all which we shall examine in its Place. Now as they must allow us to question every thing that it is impossible should be true, so, before we go too far in our Observations upon the wretched Creature himself, and the many Things, whether merry or solemn, that may offer upon that Head, we must be allowed to examine a little into the Relation, and the Circumstance of his Story, and settle the Point about the Person; as, 1. How it is introduced into the World; what they that found, or caught him, as they call it, say of him, or of the Wilderness Posture of his Affairs; and upon what Foot they presented him to the World: And, 2. What is his real Circumstance as he now appears in Life. It is true, there are divers Inconsistencies in his Story, I mean, as the first Tellers of it give us the Relation; though those do not destroy the Reality of the Thing; for that there is such a Person, is visible, and he is to be seen every Day, all wild, brutal, and as Soul-less as he was said to be; acting MERE N ATURE ,12 and little more than a vegetative Life; dumb, or mute, without the least Appearance of Cultivation, or of having ever had the least Glympse of Conversation among the rational Part of the World: This, I say, is evident, He is himself so far the miserable Evidence of the Fact. But yet there are so many shocking Things in the introductory Part of the Story, that, unless we can reduce them to something Historical, and 156

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that Historical Part consistent with common Sense, with the Nature of Things, and, at least, with Probability, it can hardly be rational to make any Observation upon the Particulars; but we shall always be answered with this, That the Foundation is naught; that the whole Business is a Fable; and that they have only brought an Ideot upon the Stage, and made a great Something out of Nothing. The first Objection that offers itself in the Relation, and which, indeed, is considerable, is the Impossibility of it; that a Creature so young, so utterly void of Assistance from without himself, could subsist, could support Life in that Condition and Circumstance, as to Place, and as to the Seasons, and other Difficulties, which he must necessarily go through, and which Nature itself is not equal to: for Example; 1. The Climate in that Part of the World, is known to be cold to Extremity, and unsufferable to Mankind, even cloathed and covered, without other Shelter: it seems impossible that this young Creature could live there, in the Depth of Winter, Naked, and without the least Covering, destitute not of Conveniencies and Shelter only, but of either Food or Fewel; except, as they tell us, Apples and Nuts, Moss and Leaves; and of them I shall enquire farther. We all know the Situation of that Part of Germany where they tell us he was found; the Country is plac’d in the Latitude of from Fifty to Fifty-three Degrees North; the Cold is severe, and sometimes so intense, that the Beasts of the Field are starved with the Severity of it; so that the Wolves range about in Troops, insulting not single Persons only, but even whole Villages; Men cannot only not travel with Safety, but sometimes hardly dwell in their Houses in Safety: How a poor naked defenceless Child could support the Severity of the Cold there without Cloaths, without Covering, without Lodging, without Shelter, and, indeed, without Food, seems to be a Tale that does not tell well; and supposing him able to support that Cold, how he could protect himself from the rapacious Violence of Wolves, and other wild Creatures, starved and made ravenous with Hunger and Cold, is yet to me an unanswerable Difficulty. Upon his being brought among rational Creatures, it does not seem that he had before, either Sense to know his Danger in such Cases, or Sagacity and Caution to shun and avoid it, much less Courage and Strength to resist it: He appears an Object of MERE uninformed NATURE, a Life wanting a Name to distinguish it, like a Creature abandoned by Nature itself, and left in a State worse than that of the Sensitive Part13 of the Creation: Let us a little examine that Circumstance. 1. Creatures placed by Nature in cold Climates, and which are necessarily to bear the Severities and Inclemencies of the Air, are providently 157

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furnished by the same common Parent, with thick Hides, Fleeces of Wool, Coats of Hair, Feathers, and the like, sufficient to preserve their natural Heat from the violent Assaults of the Cold; Thus the Bears and Foxes, even in Greenland, and in Nova Zembla,14 are well covered with warm Cloths; the Goats with long shaggy Hair; the Sables and Ermine, the Beaver the Otter, and all the Creatures found in the Northern Countries, have thick Furs, and soft woolly Hair, sufficient to fence against the Weather; even the Horse and the Cow, the Dog and the Cat, they are all covered against the Cold, and yet sometimes, even those Creatures are unable to support the Extremity of it, and perish by it; but for a Human Body, naked, without a Coat, either made by Nature or by Art, to subsist in a Forest under Fourteen Years old, or thereabouts, and to bear a Winter there, I must confess, ’tis in my Opinion, either untrue in the Fact, or wonderful in the Particulars of it. Come we next to examine how this poor Desolate could provide its Food; the Animals, the Beasts of the Forest eat Grass,15 and the Herbage of the Field, and they are so sagacious, and have such a nice Judgment bestowed on them, that their Smelling judges of their Food; they every one know what is their proper Meat, what is wholesome, and what is noxious; and they know this so accurately and exactly, as to be able to place the Nose as a Centinel over their Stomach, and to judge by the Smell, what is good for them or what is not, and particularly to refuse every noxious Plant. The Creatures (again) are directed where to look for their Food, are furnished with Teeth and Claws, or Bills and Beaks, for enabling them to search for it; and they are sure to find it: The Water Fowl have Feet adapted to swim, Feathers, and a Down prepared to keep out the Water, whereas the other Fowl, their very Feathers, presently taking Water, help to sink and drown them: The Eagle preys with his Talons; the Heron fishes with her long Bill, and Crane-Neck; and so of the rest. But Man, not form’d for a Savage, has neither Weapons to defend himself, nor has he Teeth or Claws to tear and devour; being appointed by his Maker, to supply all these by the Authority of his Person, an Awe of him is placed upon the Beasts,16 and he has Hands given him, first to make, and then to make Use of, Weapons, both to rule them for his Safety, and to destroy them for his Food. A Man is no more fit to be a Beast, than a Beast is to be a Man; the rational Part being taken away from him, his Carcass, left utterly destitute, is unqualified to live; his Skin is tender, not fenc’d against Blows and Disasters, as is that of the Horse or the Ox; the very Bushes and Briers, which are the Safety and Retreat of other Creatures, will wound and tear him, and 158

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he must not come near those Woods, which are the Shelter and Cover of the Hind, and the Stag. He cannot rest on the Ground, or roost in the Bushes; the Trees that are the Habitation of the Fowls, and which cover the other Creatures, scratch and hurt him; He must have a House to live in, or nothing; he cannot Burrow like the Rabit, or earth himself in a Den like the Badger: They are warm and secure from the Weather, safe and preserved from their Enemies, in their Holes and Hollows under Ground; but the poor naked, tenderskin’d Brute of Human Kind, must have a House to keep him dry, Cloaths to keep him warm, and a Door to shut him in, or he is lost: He will either be torn with wild Beasts (even Dogs would devour him) or he would be frozen to Death with Cold, or drench’d to Death with Water and Rain. Now I do not hear, that this poor Child (for he is yet no more) had either House to keep him dry, Cloaths to keep him warm, or Place to secure him against wilder Beasts than himself; I say, I do not hear that he had any of these; the most I can learn, is, That they found a kind of a Couch covered with Moss, which he lay on; nor is even that Part confirmed by the first Relation; but what he had to cover him, or what to protect him from the Violence of ravenous Creatures, that they say nothing of; so that his Dwelling is, at least to me, a Mystery, and all that I have met with, say nothing of it: As for himself, we understand he cannot yet speak a Word, so that he can give us little or nothing Historical of his past Life. We read but of one wild Man, that I remember, in our most Antient Story, I mean in these colder Parts of the World; and that was the famous Orson,17 the Brother of Valentine (if such a Man there was) and his Story Length of Time has so reduced to Fable and Song, that the whole Account, if true, and if ever it had any Substance in it, is lost in the broken Relation; but even in this Part, they make their Tale out handsomely; they make him walk and step erect like a Man; they represent him strong as a Gyant, fierce as a Lyon, bold and daring as a Hero; they cloath him with Skins of wild Beasts, slain by himself; armed with vast Clubs, broken off from the Trees by his mighty Strength; fearless of Man and Beast, and both Man and Beast afraid of him. On the other Hand, this poor Animal is represented as passive, weak, foolish, as well as wild; seeking his Shelter in a hollow Tree (perhaps) or where else they know not; and, indeed, in that Part of the Story, the Article of a Couch or Bed, seems to drop again, which, they told us, he had made for himself in a hollow Tree, spread with Moss and Leaves, like the Nests of Birds, and of some of the Beasts; for how could he form a Place to lie down in within the Hollow of a Tree? so that they must make him sleep standing, or, at least, sitting, or lying round like a Dog, which will hardly do to make 159

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out the Story: Besides all this, they make him defenceless and unprovided, either against Enemies, or any other Distresses: All I can say of it, is, that I hope the Relators have told us a Fib, Or, that the Gentlemen who first caus’d him to be brought to Court, are able to solve all these Difficulties, and give a more rational Account of him, and of his Living. The next Thing, I think, requires some Explication; as particularly it seems in the dark how long Time he had liv’d in this wild Condition, before he was now discover’d, in which this Difficulty offers to me. 1. If it had been long, How was he subsisted, and how preserv’d in the severe Winters which must have pass’d? and in which, as above, I cannot believe it possible for him to have liv’d Naked and Abroad, as he was found; and yet, 2. If it has not been long, how is it that he cannot speak, and is so meer a Part of wild Species as we still find him? uninform’d by Soul, uninhabited by any thing superior to a Beast; nay, not furnish’d with the usual Sagacity of the ordinary Brutes, who all, by that secret Something, which we, for want of a better Word, call Instinct, are ready and apt to every Action needful to themselves? But this poor abandon’d Creature, not qualify’d for a Beast, and but ill to be a Man, could not then, whatever he is now, be sufficient to himself, in the wretched Part of Infant-Life which he was first to act in. This makes me say, That there seems to me to be something irreconcileable in the Thing, as ’tis related from Abroad. I do not say that Relation is the only Account that they who took him up have to give of him; I hope not. The Accounts which we saw in Publick,18 and which I refer to, are as follow. It was publish’d in the Foreign Prints thus. Hanover, Dec. 11, 1725. ‘The Intendant of the House of Correction at ZELL has brought a Boy hither, suppos’d to be about 15 Years of Age, who was catch’d some time ago in a Forest or Wood near Hamelen, where he walk’d upon his Hands and Feet, run up Trees as naturally as a Squirrel, and fed upon Grass and the Moss of Trees. By what strange Fate he came into the Wood is not known, because he cannot speak. He was presented to his Majesty at Herenhausen19 while at Dinner, when the King made him taste of all the several Sorts of Dishes that were serv’d up at Table, in order to bring him by Degrees to human Diet. His Majesty has given special Command that he may have such Provision as he likes best, and that he may have all the Instruction possible to fit him for human Society.’20

Again, a following Publication ran thus: 160

Mere Nature Delineated, Part I Hanover, Dec. 28. ‘The Story of the Boy found in the Wood of Hamelen is confirm’d almost in every Tittle, with this Addition, That he ran away again into the same Wood, but was catch’d upon a Tree, where he thought himself safe.’21

N. B. Hamelen lies upon the Weser, about 27 Miles S. W. of Hanover, and the Forest in its Neighbourhood, as well as all the others in this Country, is a Part of the great Hyrcinian Forest,22 so frequently mention’d in ancient History. In this Relation we ask Leave to observe some Absurdities, or rather Impossibilities, (viz.) That he went upon his Hands and Feet. Where ’tis to be observ’d, that the Relation intimates, not only that he did, or might do so sometimes, but that it was his ordinary Way of going, which we must, with Submission, say, lies open to several Objections. As, First, That it is not likely; because, Secondly, it is not practicable. The Feet of a Man, and his Hands also, are not plac’d in a Position that make it feizable, especially his Feet. Let any Man, that has so much Curiosity, take the most exquisite Tumbler, however dextrous, nimble, or able to distort and turn his Joints and Limbs, even contrary to their natural Position, and to apply them to different Purposes from what Nature prepar’d them to, and let us but see which Way the Feet can be made to answer to the Hands, to form a Progression of the Body: I say, let us see what a strange Creature the human Quadruped would be; what a Figure he would make with his short Arms sinking his Front, and his long Thighs and Legs raising his Haunches in the Air: And how far, or at what Rate of Speed he could walk: So that in a Word, if the Intendant of the Correction-House at Zell gave such an Account of him, we must crave Leave to doubt the Fact; and therefore we rather think it might be added by the News-makers of Holland. He might, indeed, be said to go upon his Hands and Knees; but as that would be a painful and slow Progression, dragging his Heels after him, so it does not seem, even from the Creature itself, to be true; nor, when taken, did he (as we hear) make any Difficulty of standing upright, or of walking erect, as he does now. That Part therefore of his going upon his Hands and Feet, does not appear consistent or agreeable to common Sense; nor are his Knees harden’d to a Callous or Horny Substance, as I can understand, as they must have been, had that been his usual Posture of going. Besides, I do not find, that at any of the Times when he has, for Observation, been turn’d out a Grazing, as in the Park, or in the Paddock, or any where else, that he return’d to that Posture of going; but that he continu’d walking erect as at other Times. 161

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How much might be said here by Way of Excursion upon the happy Disposition of Man’s Body? that, in Spight of a sullen Degeneracy in some Men, shewing their strong Inclination to turn Brutes, they are not really qualify’d for that great Accomplishment; that they can’t throw off the Soul, or its Faculties, and that even the Body itself will not comply with it; when an obstinate Brutality seems to remain, the very Shape and Situation of their Microcosm23 rebels against the sordid Tyranny, forbids the stupid Attempt, and denies them the Honour of being Beasts in Form, and in the ordinary Functions of sensitive Life, whatever they will be in Practice. In a Word, they can’t tread upon all Four; they can’t run, gallop, leap, trot, &c. like the more sagacious and superior Brutes, the Horse, or the Ass: They can’t go naked, I mean in these Parts of the World; and tho’ they can be A LL FACE ,24 when they have Occasion to be foolish, nay wicked, nay impudent, yet they cannot harden their Flesh against Frost and Snow, as they can their Cheeks against Blushing, or their Souls against Shame. But this, I say, would be an Excursion. To return to the Creature we are talking of, and to the Difficulties which offer themselves in the Relation of his Way of Living in the Forest: The next is about his climbing Trees like a Squirril; some have gone further, and said like a Cat: Nature forbids that Part too; ’tis evident, all the Cat-kind Brutes climb, or rather walk or run up the Trees and Walls by the Force of Claws; This he could not do. Monkeys do this by an Agility owing partly to the Practice of hanging by their Hands and Tail, and partly by the Smallness of their Bodies, neither of which could be his Case. But suppose him to have climb’d Trees with unusual Agility, for that is the most that can be made of this Suggestion, yet he could not easily, in his naked Condition, climb at all, without subjecting himself at least to the Hazard of wounding and tearing his Flesh against the Boughs and Bark, and to several other Accidents. As to the Difficulty of getting his Food; this they have very ill put together, and we are much in the Dark about it. One Account says, That his Food was the Moss and Leaves that grew on the Trees. Others tell us, He had laid up a Store of Apples and Nuts. A third Account says, He eat Grass, Nebuchadnezzar like.25 But here a Difficulty or two occurs to me, which they have not taken the least Notice of, and which I do not see how they will get over, (viz.) 1. That whereas it is suppos’d he had liv’d several Years in this Condition, or else he could not have been so well acquainted with the Manner of it, and must, in all Probability, have learn’d to speak: And 162

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whereas ’tis well known, that in those Forests the Surface of the Earth is generally hard, frozen, no Leaves on the Trees, or if on some EverGreens, as Firs and Hollies, no Sustenance in them, What Food, what Support could he possibly find to supply Nature at such a Time? As to Apples and Nuts, the former would be destroy’d by the Frost, and how far the latter would support him, we can make no guess at, having no Precedent in History to refer to. 2. In Case of such severe Frosts as are generally in those Countries, What could he do for Drink? It being very probable, that the Rivers and Springs were often frozen when there might be no Snow upon the Ground; and if the Ground was cover’d with Snow, as is generally the Case in those Countries, and that for a long Time, How would he preserve himself, as to his Food, with Snow-Water, Nuts, and Moss on the Trees? A Sort of Vegetables ill suited to human Sustenance, and which, I must insist upon it, would not sustain him. As to the Extremity of Cold, with neither Cover or Cloathing, that I have spoken of already. In the next Place, it may not be improper to take Notice of the Place he was found in; which, they tell us, was a Wood in the Forest near Hamelen, in the Dukedom of Zell. We are, indeed, something left in a Wood about this Relation. It is true the Dutchies of Hanover and Zell, Brunswick and Wolfembuttle, being Dominions of the House of Lunenburgh, and all adjoining to one another, are not so populous and well cultivated as England or Holland; and there may be, and no doubt are, large Wastes and Woods in several Parts of them; but as they are not so well peopled as these Countries, so neither are they so wild and desolate, such Desarts and Wildernesses, that, like the Desarts in Arabia or Africa, such a Creature as this was (for his Way of living) could live many Years there, and be undiscover’d. The old Hyrcinian Forest, which once was said to spread over great Part of Germany, may, in some Places, be still visible in small Wastes and Commons, with Woods and Hunting-Places, for here are still abundance of Deer; but there are no vast Desarts uninhabited, or Wildernesses unfrequented; unknown Travellers often cross the widest and wildest Parts of them, from one Town and Place to another; Hunters and Gentlemen in Pursuit of their Game, and, above all, the Husbandmen and Boors,26 in quest of their Cattle, traverse the wildest Part of them continually. Hence it could not be possible that this Creature could be there long undiscover’d; and therefore that Notion is as wild as himself, that he was drop’d in the Woods by some unnatural Mother, and left to the Mercy of 163

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Beasts; that Providence directed some Female Brute to nourish him, perhaps a She-Wolf, as Romulus and Rhemus27 are fam’d to be nourish’d, tho’ improbably: That from hence growing up, by the Care of the same Providence, he must have been made able, in that dismal Condition he was in, to support himself in the Manner as above. All which I do not believe a Word of. I think it no Trespass upon the Truth of Fact, to argue the Probability of the Relation, for upon that much of our Belief is to be grounded; and though I cannot see Probability enough in the Story, as we have it told, to make it rational to believe it, yet I do not say, It cannot be true; there may be Mistakes in the relating it, and yet the Substance of the Story remain untouch’d. But let us go on. These Things I must take Notice of, as shocking to our Reason in the Relation of Fact, and which the first Publishers ought to have made a little Enquiry into: But let us take the Story as it is told, and so come to that Part which has an unquestion’d Certainty in it, and from whence we shall take our Rise to what is to follow.28 That there is such a Boy, about 14 or 15 Years of Age, perfectly wild, uninstructed, unform’d, that is, uninform’d, and the Image or Exemplification, as I say in my Title, of Meer Nature; this is certain and undisputed; that he is like a Body without a Soul, that he was found, or, as they stile it, was catch’d in a Wood or Forest about Hamelen in Germany, and brought to Zell; and from thence, as a Curiosity in Nature, for the Rareness of it worth enquiring into, brought to Hanover, when the King of Great Britain was there, and shew’d to his Majesty; and that he is since brought over to England, and every Day to be seen; I believe all this to be true. That his Majesty thought the Object worth Notice, and particularly his Royal Compassion being mov’d by seeing a Youth in human Shape, and suppos’d to have a Soul, the Image of his glorious Maker,29 yet so demented, so depriv’d of the Faculties proper and particular to a Soul, or, at least, of the Exercise of those Faculties, as to be made entirely miserable, void of Speech, of reasoning Powers, and of human Society, the Heaven of Life! I say, his Majesty, mov’d with Compassion, order’d him to be taken Care of, cloath’d, fed, taught, and instructed, and made capable of the ordinary Enjoyment of Life; All this I also allow to be true. How, or by what Prodigy of Cruelty this Youth has been thus expos’d, in the Manner as ’tis related; by what an unheard-of Inhumanity it happens that he has been never taught to speak, or had Opportunity of conversing with human Kind, so as to learn by Imitation, for ’tis evident he can hear; This is all dark and mysterious, nor may it ever come to light; for it is more than probable, being so young, and withal so empty, as he seems to be, he 164

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may not himself remember enough of his Original, to give any Light into the Beginning of the Mystery, even tho’ he should come to the Knowledge of Letters, and a Capacity of expressing himself in Words. He is now, as I have said, in a State of Meer Nature, and that, indeed, in the literal Sense of it. Let us delineate his Condition, if we can: He seems to be the very Creature which the learned World have, for many Years past, pretended to wish for, viz. one that being kept entirely from human Society, so as never to have heard any one speak, must therefore either not speak at all, or, if he did form any Speech to himself, then they should know what Language Nature would first form for Mankind. He confutes the fine-spun Notion of the Ancients,30 that a Person so entirely kept from the Knowledge of Words would say nothing, but pronounce the Letter B, or the Beta of the Greeks, or rather BEH, which they tell us, in the Chaldee31 or corrupt Hebrew, is asking for Bread: But this poor speechless Creature made no such Noise or Sound, as we hear of, no, or any other, that might in the least tend to informing us what he meant, or that any one might understand. It is allow’d, that there are two Testimonies or Evidences of human Soul, which appear in this wild Creature, and which plainly intimate, that he has a Soul, however it may suffer by Organick Deficiencies; now, tho’ I do not grant, that if he has those two Faculties or Powers, that therefore he must have a Soul, unless he had them, in a more particular and explicit Manner, than as some tell us appears yet in him; yet I am willing to let every thing run as far as it will go, and therefore I shall examine these two Heads, perhaps several Times over, and in a differing Manner, to let those that boast of them in other Cases, see how far they will serve their Occasion. The two Powers which they say are Testimonies of his having a Soul, are, 1. That he can Think. 2. That he can Laugh.32 Previous to my examining these two Articles, I must explain a little what I mean by having a Soul, namely, that this Soul is not only in being, and embody’d and cased up in the Cage of his Form as a human Creature, for that I do not dispute; but that it is unfetter’d by Organick Ligatures, at Liberty to act, and not interrupted by the Defects of Nature, only wanting Culture, and Improvements: Upon this Supposition then I am to consider him as a Soul, a rational Creature, and endued with the ordinary Powers of the Soul, as, 1. That he can Think; or, if you will have it critically, we think he can think; for that is the most I can grant; and truly I do not yet see that we 165

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are sure of so much, any more than we may be of some other Creatures, of whom we believe they have no thinking Powers: It is true, that according to the modern Reasoning of the Schools,33 nothing can think which has no Soul,34 and I would by no Means be willing to have it true, on the other Hand, that all those that do not think, are without Souls, because I should effectually Dement so many of my noble and most extraordinary Friends and Favourites of both Sexes, so many Beaus of my Acquaintance, so many of the Toasts and Beauties, Queens of Assemblies, green and blue Masks of the Fair Sex, as I hinted Page 155, that I should hazard being spoken of with some Disgust in the great Circle of Beauties at my Lady —s, once, at least, every Tuesday in the Week: But I am not yet come to Philosophizing upon that Part of our wild Subject, as perhaps I shall do by-and-by, so I say no more to it now. 2. That he can Laugh. I think it is granted he can laugh, tho’, I confess, when I saw him, we could but just make him Grin: Now, as the Learned have not determin’d that the Neighing of a Horse is not Laughing, and so a Horse may have a Soul, as well as the famous Coll— the Elder,35 who is so well known for a Horse-Laugh, and with which he so often surfeits all the Company at —’s Coffee-house; so I cannot yet say, that the Laugh this Animal makes, is sufficient to prove the Existence of a rational Part in him, any more than the Coll—’s uncommon Noise, proves him to be a Stonehorse, rather than a Gentleman: Strange! that to laugh like a Horse should not denominate a Man a Fool, as well as to neigh like a Coll— should entitle a Horse to be a Christian. Thus if our Savage can only Grin like a Monkey, then a Monkey that can Grin like him, has as good a Title to a Soul as he; and perhaps too as good as a certain grinning Gentleman, who, they say, intends to set up for a Man of Soul, tho’ he was never understood to have any, by those whose Judgment is famous in those Things. But to shorten my Discourse, for I must not dwell upon these Things, however weighty; I am just now inform’d, that our wild Creature can really laugh out, as a Man should do, and has done so several Times, tho’ himself cannot be said to understand what laughing is, or what is the proper Object of his Mirth; in all which happy Ignorances, he is so imitated, and so follow’d to a Nicety by several eminent Ridiculators of the Age, that it is impossible I should close this Discourse, without taking some Pains to convince them, how near they come to Meer Nature, and what they have to boast of on Account of their Affinity with the wild Lunenburgher of Hamelen Forest. But if I must allow him to have a Soul, and to Think, which I am very much inclin’d to do, not only because he can laugh, which I must say I only 166

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suppose, but for divers other very good Reasons; some Difficulties then come in my Way, which make the Story more contradictory than it was before. 1. How could it be, that having certainly seen human Creatures in the Forest like himself, and which he must prefer to the Brutes; he did not, even as Instinct guides the Brutes to do, flock to them, run after ’em, and so endeavouring to become like one of them, discover himself to them? This is what Nature dictates to all the Creatures, that they will look out their own Kind, as Birds of a Featber;36 whereas it is pretended, that he fled from his own Kind, and was not found, but Catch’d, intimating, that it was against his Will. 2. What makes him averse to human Kind now, even while he is among ’em? for we are told, that if it were possible, he would, even to this Day, make his Escape, and run wild again, as suitable and most agreeable to his Soul-less Understanding. This last, indeed, affords us several very useful Reflections. They give at first indeed but very mean Testimonies of the Presence of a Soul in him, that he should chuse the Brutal sensitive Life, now, even when he is come among Christians, and when his Soul (if it has any Powers that denominate such a Thing, and that guides him to act rationally) must see and know that it is a Life much happier than that of the Woods and the Forest: How far this evident Desire in him to return to a Brutal Life (if that Part also is true, for I do not affirm it) will go towards proving that he has rational Powers, I cannot tell; I must confess they are not in his Favour at all, so far as my Judgment reaches in the Case. But here too you may observe, that I add, as I go along, a constant Proviso for the Truth of all the Things that are, or have been said of him; for I cannot see that we can depend much upon any Part of common Report, except this only, that such a Creature is, that he is perfectly rude37 and uninform’d, (whether it is from Idiotism,38 or a meer Negative in his Introduction into Life, is not much the Question) that he is untaught, so much as to speak, and not knowing either himself, or any thing else: In a Word, that he is an Exemplification of Meer Nature; this, I think, we may take for certain. For all the Et cætera of his Story, they are either so impossible, or improbable, and, at best, so doubtful, that I can raise no just Observations upon them, without so often begging this Part of the Question, that it would be tiresome; continually making this Condition with the Reader, viz. always provided that the Story be true. I return therefore to that Part of his present Behaviour, which, as they say, lets us see that he has a strong Inclination to 167

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run wild again in the Woods; or, to take it more in general, to live as he did before, let that be how it will. It would indeed be a terrible Satyr upon the present inspir’d Age, first to allow this Creature to have a Soul, and to have Power of thinking, qualify’d to make a right Judgment of Things, and then to see that under the Operation and Influence of that regular and well-order’d Judgment, he should see it reasonable to chuse to continue silent and mute, to live and converse with the Quadrupeds of the Forest, and retire again from human Society, rather than dwell among the inform’d Part of Mankind; for it must be confess’d he takes a Leap in the Light, if he has Eyes to see it, to leap from the Woods to the Court; from the Forest among Beasts, to the Assembly among the Beauties; from the Correction House at Zell, (where, at best, he had convers’d among the meanest of the Creation, viz. the Alms-taking Poor, or the Vagabond Poor) to the Society of all the Wits and Beaus of the Age: The only Way that I see we have to come off of this Part, is to grant this Creature to be Soul-less, his Judgment and Sense to be in a State of Non-Entity, and that he has no rational Faculties to make the Distinction: But even that remains upon our Hands to prove. But now, to leave these weighty Debates for the present, let us take him then as he is, not entirely Demented, as that Word is understood, viz. Without ever having a Soul in him at all; but having a Soul, such as it is, lock’d up and unable to exert itself in the ordinary Manner: And this Way we shall have something material to say to him. We are not easily able to conceive of a Human Body, without any such Thing as a reasonable Soul infused at its first being form’d, unless we had ever seen or read of such a Creature in the World before, or unless we had a Method in Science, to obtain a Mathematical, or Anatomical System or Description of the Soul itself; that it was a Substance capable of Measurement, and having a Locality of Dimensions and Parts ascribed to it; but, as we define Soul by Rational Powers, Understanding, and Will, Affection, Desires, Imagining, and reflecting Operations,39 and the like, we are, I say, at some Difficulty in suggesting a human Body in Life, without those Operations. This, I think then, is the Sum of what we may say of this Creature, viz. That he has a Soul, though we see very little of the ordinary Powers of a Soul acting in him, any more than are to be discerned in the more sagacious Brutes; Now we deny the Capacities of a Soul, such as Reflection and Retention,40 Understanding, Inquiring, Reasoning, and the like, to the Brute Creatures; and we say, That to allow it them, would tend to destroy the Principles of natural Religion,41 and to overturn the Foundation of the Divine Sovereignty and Government in the World: On the contrary, we see 168

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him, as I observed before, in a State of M ERE NATURE , acting below the Brutes, and yet we must grant him a Soul: He has a Body, in its Shape Human, the Organick Parts42 Anatomically, we believe, the same as Human; he acts the Powers and Motions of sensitive Life, and of rational Life, alike, as if they were confused and huddled together undistinguished, and just as Nature directs in other Creatures; but he is a Ship without a Rudder, not steer’d or managed, or directed by any Pilot; no, hardly by that faithful Pilot called Sense, the Guide of Beasts. They tell us, That at first he neither judged what to eat, or what to drink; when the ordinary Evacuations of Nature call’d on him of mere Necessity, he was not guided to them by any thing more than that mere Necessity, and therefore foul’d himself, without offering to do otherwise, and, perhaps, in his Sleep too; a certain Proof (at least in my Opinion) that he had no such Place prepared for his Relief by his own Sagacity, as a Couch, or Nest, or Bed covered with Moss, as has been said above: If such a Place had been found, it would certainly have been found filthy and nauseous, even to a Degree, that the Beasts, nay, even the foulest of all Beasts avoid; for the Swine will not willingly lie down in its own Excrements: I say, It would certainly have been so, seeing, as I am told by such as say they are well informed, that he would since that make the nicest Bed, and cleanest Linnen, in the same Condition. I know, that many People carry this Part much farther than I do, and suggest it to be all a Fraud, an Original Cheat and Delusion; that there is nothing in all the Story of his being found in a Wood, or in a Forest, or naked, and the like; but I can by no means grant that Part, particularly because they name the Person who brought him to the Court, and who neither would, or durst, if he would, impose such a Cheat upon his Sovereign; but I will not deny, but that his Case may be otherwise than it is related from those first Hands who took him up. No doubt, his Majesty has had a better Account of the Case, than we have had without Doors;43 and that, if there had not been more in it, than we are yet Masters of, would not have given Orders to take him in; though, if he is nothing but what we now see him, ’twas highly worthy of a Prince, in mere Charity and Compassion to his Misery, to have Methods used, if possible, to bring him to the Use of his Reason. Neither can I join with those, at least till I see farther, who tell us, he is nothing but an Idiot, or what we call a Natural;44 my Reason is, Because, though he may have some Degrees of Idiotism upon him, yet he seems still to have with it, some apparent Capacities of being restored and improved. Besides, why must an Idiot be dumb? and, which is still more, if he was what we have seen some Idiots be, perfectly void of Sense, Drivlers, unable 169

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to feed themselves, &c. such a one could not have been found in a Forest, make his Escape thither again, endeavour not to be found, and the like: It is evident he has many Degrees of Sense above Idiotism. That he may be what we call a Fool, tho’ I do not grant that neither, yet even in that Case there was no Occasion for his being Dumb, seeing it is apparent he is not Deaf, which, in Nature, is the only absolute Obstruction to learning Words and forming a Sound. I am told, that he hears distinctly; and that in Consequence of the Pains taken with him since he came hither, he has been made to speak, by Imitation, some Words with a clear articulate Voice: There must then be something yet in that particular Part conceal’d from us, and which very well merits to be enquir’d into, (viz.) how it is that he could speak none before. Upon the whole, I make no doubt, but if he can be brought to speak, and to understand what he means when he speaks, he will soon discover whether he has the Exercise of his Soul, or No. And here I must enter a Protest against those who would have us think the Court impos’d upon in bringing him to Hanover, or where-ever else it was, and presenting him to the King; for suppose, tho’ I do not say it is so, that the Story of his being a Savage, running naked in the Forest, and the like, were a Fib, as some say, What then? we are not told that his Majesty took him in as such, or that the King was made to believe those fine Stories: On the other Hand, whether he was represented as such, or as an Idiot, his Majesty, as I said, acted with a Compassion worthy of himself, to cause such a one to be shelter’d, comforted, and reliev’d; for what can be a greater Object of Royal Pity than such a Person? and what more Christian than to cause Endeavours to be used to restore such a one, if possible, to the Use of his Reason, and the Exercise of his Understanding? Now as I do not quite give up his Capacities, I cannot but say, if his uncultivated Soul may be recover’d to Action, and being improv’d, may be brought to the Use of its ordinary Powers, his Majesty will have the Glory to give one of God’s lost Creatures to the World, in a kind of a new Creation, which nothing but an Excess of Christian Compassion could perform; for there may yet go as much Labour to bring it to pass, as is requir’d to make a deaf and dumb Man to speak, which yet we have Examples of among us. But I shall go on with this Part a little farther by-and-by.

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PART II. HAVING thus settled the Point concerning the Person and Circumstance of this Youth, and how we are to take the several Reports concerning him, we shall have nothing to do to look back into his former State any more; but shall take him as he now is, or as he appears to be; that is to say, Cloathed, Fed, and in a Way of being made whatever Nature has thought, or may still think fit to make him capable of. And, indeed, to take him as he appears to be, he is a Subject of Observation, and affords more Speculation to us that look on him, than, I believe, all the World, with the infinite Variety of Objects which it presents to his Eye, affords to him. Nature seems to be to him, like a fine Picture to a blind Man, ONE UNI45 VERSAL BLANK , as Mr. Milton very beautifully expresses it; he sees the Surface of it, but seems to receive no Impression from it of one Kind, or of another: He looks on the infinite Variety, with a kind of equal Unconcernedness, as if every Object were alike, or that he knew not how to distinguish between Good or Evil, Pleasant or Unpleasant. If he has the ordinary Affections of human Soul, they must be seen at Nature’s Leisure, and as she pleases to admit them to exert themselves; for at present we are able to make almost as little Judgment of him, as he can of us: This, in my Opinion, is one of the most curious Things that belongs to him; I mean, as he now appears, that we can give no Account how, and by what secret Power the Faculties of his Soul46 are restrained, or withheld and lock’d up from Action, while yet they are, perhaps, in Being within, and reserved for a proper Season, when he shall be restored to himself. This Secret may, in Time, be discover’d, perhaps, to Advantage; and it may be the best Thing he may be able to do in Life, to make such a Discovery in Nature, as all the World never made before him. As we see him in his ordinary Appearance, his Figure is, indeed, a little differing from what it was represented to be before; but he is still a naked Creature; though he has Cloaths on, his Soul is naked; he is but the Appearance or Shadow of a rational Creature, a kind of Spectre or Apparition; he is a great Boy in Breeches, that seems likely to be a Boy all his Days, and rather fit to have been dress’d in a Hanging-sleev’d Coat;47 and, 171

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if he is not a Fool, or Natural, or Idiot, or a Something that we generally understand by those Terms of Nature, we may be still at a Loss about him. His not speaking, and yet being capable of learning to speak, as it is at present the only Wonder that remains upon our Hands, so, if it be master’d, it may resolve several other lesser Difficulties about his moral Capacities, which are not yet so easy to be accounted for; and therefore we find the learned Dr. A—tt,48 to whom, as we are told, the Nurture of him is committed, wisely makes that Part his first Concern in the Management of him, and applies all possible Means to make him docile, or willing to learn, which, as I am informed, is like to be the most difficult Part of his Introduction: What Language he purposes to teach him first, whether English, or High Dutch, we do not hear; the latter some think to be most proper for him, as being best adapted to his primitive State; perhaps, too, he may learn it soonest. In our farther considering this wild Youth, the Business then is to make his Circumstance useful to the rational Part of the World, whether the World can be made so to him or no; in which, if I do not treat him a la Buffoon, as has been thought proper by a learned Author of Brains and Brass (for he calls himself The Copper-Farthing Author49) or, a la Solemn, as a more learned Divine50 lately proposed to do, who had studied a whole Sermon upon him, making the Words, The wild Beasts of the Forests, his Text; I say, If I fall into neither of these Extreams, I hope the enquiring Reader will not be disappointed. If we may consider this young Creature in his present Appearance, we must necessarily suppose him at Court: I do not say, he is a Courtier; but that he has been seen there, I suppose is certain: The Truth is, ’tis the only Place to look at him; for any where else, they say, he is all lumpish, dull, phlegmatick, sullen, or whatever you please to call it; nor is there, as I can understand, the least instructing Inference to be drawn from his Behaviour in any other Situation; for who can bring any thing from Nothing? who shall refine upon the Stupid, and philosophize upon Indolence? When he comes to Court, he is bright in his Way, that is to say, He appears in some Emotion; I will not say, he puts on an Air of - - - - &c. No, no, how should he put on an Air, or any thing else, that cannot put on his own Cloaths? or dress his Soul, that cannot dress his Carcass? If therefore, he appears to be any thing at Court, it must be all inspired, infused into him from the assimulating Influence of the Place, or the sympathetick Influence of his Brother C—iers,51 as in the old Israelites Time, when, History tells us, Men prophesied merely by coming among the Prophets; as Saul, for Instance, when he came back from seeking his Father’s Asses.52 172

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Nor will our Friends, we hope, be disgusted at the Term used above of Brother C—iers, since, if I am not mistaken, there are Courtiers; and many of them too, in all the Courts of Europe, that of Great Britain only excepted, as dumb as he, though, perhaps, not so silent: And, suppose my Exception to be just, and that all our Courtiers are Men of Sense, speak to the Purpose, understand what they say, and mean what they speak, pray where is there a Court in Europe where they do so, except here? The nameless Philosopher of Atbens,53 who said, All the People at Sparta were dumb, and could not speak, explained himself fully to my Purpose, upon an Enquiry after his Meaning, viz. That the Lacedæmonians54 talking of their Quarrel with the Athenians, could not utter one Word of Reason or Truth, or even common Sense, in that Case; and to utter Nonsense, added he, is to chatter like a Monkey, not speak like a Man. The Truth is, If Noise and Prattle must not be allowed to be Speech, as I begin to be convinc’d it ought not, Mercy upon us! At Co—t,55 and at many other Places too, what Reason have we to fear, the Plague of Dumbness may over-spread us in a very little Time, as Fame says it has already done some of our Neighbours? I must confess, this seems to solve the strange Phænomena of many modern Statesmen, Politicians, Me—rs,56 &c. which often appear among us of late, and who have been famous for the tedious Exercise of this Kind of Dumbness; who may be justly ranked among the Mute Part of the World, having been famous in their Generation, for making long Speeches, and saying nothing. In this Sense I mean, the Lunenburgber appears at Court with some Vivacity in his Countenance, of which, they tell me, very little can be perceiv’d in him any where else; it seems, as I am informed, the Ladies are a little disgusted at him, in that he seems not yet capable of understanding what they are, or what the Intent and Meaning of Beauty is, why given by Heaven to the Sex, and what specifick Difference, or other Difference, there is between fine Pictures in Petticoats, and his Brother Brutes in Breeches; upon which, it is said, A certain Lady looking gravely upon him, shook her Head, and added, ’Tis pity he is not a little older, he would make an admirable - - - - - for he could tell no Tales.57 But if neither the Beauty of the Ladies, or the gay Dress of the Gentlemen at Court, have any Influence upon him, for they say, he has no Notion of Cloaths, or of fine Dressing, what can we say for the Inspiration, and where shall we place it? Why is he less a Forester at St. James’s Park, than at the Wood of Hamelen? The Reason is plain, the sympathetick Part may do it; the Joy at seeing so many Images there, whose Purity of Sense suits them to himself, must go a great Way in the Case: Though I will not allow 173

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him capable of judging of Fools, or of any thing else, in his WildernessCapacity; yet, as, according to the Antients, the Brutes are allowed to know one another under any Disguises, perhaps by the undiscovered Sagacity of the Nose, as well as, and much rather, than the Eyes; so whether this Youth may not smell a Fool when he comes among a Croud, and especially, a Throng where there may be many of that Species, more than of any other, the Learned are not agreed about it, only, that his being so particularly pleasant and familiar with — E— Esquire, my Lord T—, the D—e of —,58 and some other of his Acquaintance, who seem mighty agreeable to him, and are eminent for their Capacities, may be some Guide to their Judgment, in Favour of my Opinion. I had some Thoughts here of taking a little Notice of the extraordinary Usefulness, nay, even the Necessity of Fools at Court (and pray take Notice, that I must always be understood of Foreign Courts, not our own) how needful it is there should be Beasts of Burthen, where there are so many heavy Burthens to be carried; and that there should be many Asses, where there are many Riders: But this is an Article of such Importance, ’tis not to be brought into a Parenthesis, and therefore I have referred it to a Part by itself. Besides, though at most Courts they make good Use of Fools, yet I do not see that the present Subject is yet finished enough for that Part; For, according to my Lord Rochester, An eminent Fool, must be a Fool of Parts.59

However, there is Hope, that in Time, and with some Erudition from the learned Doctor A—,60 he may, as he grows up, arrive (at least) to the Dignity of being an Emblem of Court Fools, and may be made Use of to illustrate several other Species of Fools also, as they come in our Way. But to be a little more serious upon him; As he is in his present Condition, it was expected, that when he came to Court, and when, as above, the lucid Intervals of his Fancy seemed to be upon him, he would discover, by some Means or other, what Notions he entertained of Human Affairs, and of the Things or Persons about him; but very little seems to offer of that Kind, at least, that any Observation can be made from. This led me to enquire, what Perfection of their natural Operations, his ordinary Senses are arriv’d to, or, at least, those less publick, such as his Taste and Smell, his Hearing or Touch; as to his Sight, that appears to be like others, whether of the Brutal, or better-informed Kind; fitted to direct his Feet and Hands, if not his Understanding; and perhaps this may be the greatest Part of the Use he has yet to put it to, for, they tell me, he does not see to distinguish Objects, either of Pleasure, or of Pain, at least, not nicely; 174

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neither can we say, That he would be able to distinguish the Pleasantness of the most beautiful Object, from that of the most deformed. We cannot perceive, that any Influence is conveyed to his Understanding by his Opticks, so as to move Delight, Compassion, Desire, Aversion, much less Envy, or Malice; there, indeed, he has some Advantage of the rational Part of Mankind, for he can see the Felicity of others, without moving his Ambition, and their Misery, without moving his Horror; I make no Question, that the Pleasures of the Court, which he has had Opportunity to see to greatest Advantage, give him not the least Delight; and that, had he seen the late Mrs. Hayes burnt alive at a Stake,61 it would not have been at all any Surprize to him, or have given him him any Ideas differing from a Dance on the Theatre. Thus of his Hearing: I believe he would no more have been moved with her Screiches in the Fire, than he would have been with the charming Faustina,62 singing in an Opera; and this, not that he could not hear both, but that, like a Horse, or any other Fellow Brute, his Ear could convey no Notions to his Understanding, of the Things he heard, or of the Difference between them; and all for want of Instruction. He is, in this Condition, so far from distinguishing Things, that I don’t find he forms any Images in his Mind from any thing that occurs: When a Batallion of Soldiers, exercising in the Park, fired their Volleys, the Horses, the Dogs, the Deer, all discovered an Emotion, but he none at all: The Bells ring, the Guns fire, my Lord D—63 Astmatick and Enrhumée,64 coughs his Heart up, here a Set of (Ladies) Syrens sing, there a Trumpet sounds a Levet;65 but he whose untun’d Ear conveys no Ideas to his Understanding, distinguishes nothing; he starts not at the firing of the Platoons on this Side, stirs not at the Jangle of the Bells on that; he is neither affected with the Barking of a shatter’d Carcass dress’d up with Ornaments, and collared with a Cordon Blue,66 who calls upon his Grave every Two Minutes, and spits up his Lungs, to ease his Throat; he distinguishes it not from the charming Sound of a Consort of Voices; the spiriting chearful Trumpet rouzes him no more than the Croaking of the Frogs, in a hot Summer Evening, or the Houling of a Dog foreboding Death, under the Window of a languishing Sinner; if he laughs, as they say he can, you cannot perceive that he understands the Reason why he does so; nay, it may be enough to us, to suggest, that he knows he laughs only, that seeing others do so, his Face forms the same Figure by an ignorant Imitation. I speak of him now in his Forest Condition, his primitive appearing, without having had either Time, or Helps, to any Improvements; what may have been added to him, if any such Thing should follow, I leave to the Discovery; But I take him, I 175

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say, as they that catch’d him first represent him. Thus we may easily conceive him to be, and behave, as above. Thus, without the least Emotion of his Spirit, suppose he receives all these differing Applications of Nature; so, in a Word, I do not find but his Ears are of very little Use to him, and that he is almost as incapable of receiving Instructions by that particular Conveyance, as any of the Five fine L—s,67 who contended so lately for the Honour of hating to be taught any thing. Naturalists68 say, That the learned Physician, who at present has his Understanding under Cure, should send him to travel; that is, as soon as it is possible to teach him Speech enough to avoid being bought and sold, and that he may not be kidnapp’d on the Road, of which there may be great Danger from the extraordinary intrinsick Value of him; and they assign certain Physical,69 as well as Philosophical Reasons for this Opinion; particularly, they say, the passing through so many differing Climates, and even Regions, as the Alps, or the Pyrenees, or the Appenine Mountains, may have very effectual Operations on the Nerves, the Glands of the Throat, and the Brains (where there are any) and so may facilitate his Capacity of Speech; though some say also, If he happens to pass thro’ those Summits in an acute Cold, he ought to be very cautious; for that it may affect the finer Coats70 of the the Brain in such a Manner that tho’ he may attain to his Speech by it, yet that he will always talk like a Fool, whatever he was before; as it is said has been the Fate of a certain Chevalier,71 ever since his first Settling at Castle Albano,72 where the Air is very serene. This Intelligence was very helpful to my Imagination, when I was the other Day musing upon the lamentable Accident which had befallen a most Noble Person of eminent Quality, of this Nation, and of tolerable Capacities too, though he had the Misfortune to hurt them a little before he went, with writing Satyr, a Thing dangerous to the Head, and quite out of his Way; but of that by itself. That his Grace73 travelled for good Medicinal Reasons, such as Want of Money, hating his Wife, and some other very moving Considerations, I can make no Doubt of; and that he went to the Pretender only to be cured of the King’s Evil,74 I am willing to believe my Share of; but that the bad Air, or some other noxious Vapour which affected him in passing the Mountains, touch’d his Brain, and caused him to act all the weak and distracted Things he has done since, is the kindest Thing can be said of him. However, this Precedent need not obstruct the Proposal for the Benefit of this Youth, especially if he has the Consolation, which, as I am told, upholds another Person of great Figure at home, who designed to take the grand Tour of Italy, but was something discouraged by the Example; 176

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namely, That upon consulting his Physicians, they assured him, he was in no Danger; for that Fools never go mad,75 and that they were able to demonstrate it by anatomical Experiment. Indeed, I think I cannot do my Country better Service, than to publish this new Experiment for the Consolation of my Friends, and to let them know, that the empty Heads, whether of the Paper-Scull Kind (Vapourish), or of the Thick-Scull Kind (Phlegmatick), may travel with the utmost Safety to their Understandings; that they neither can hurt them by the Thin, or by the Thick; for that Non-Entity is a kind of an Eternal, and is always the same; and whatever Changes the Men of Heads and Brains may suffer in their passing and repassing, they that have none, are sure to return just as they went out; and, like one of Nature’s Asses, if you turn it Seven Years to Grass, you will never take it up a Horse. Nor should Fools ever decline Travelling, especially Fools of Quality; for that the Species being so absolutely necessary in Foreign Courts, whatever they are at home, they need never doubt of a favourable Reception, and Preferment too, where-ever they go; especially in Spain, as is abundantly exemplified in the Case of my Lord —, and some other considerable Refugees at the Courts of Madrid, Vienna, Petersburgh, and other Places,76 at this Time. Since then, it is the Opinion of the Learned, That this young nameless Thing we are talking of, should Travel, I would, by all Means, have him go to the Pretender; for if his Head is defective, he may serve him in divers Capacities, to the Advantage of all Sides; particularly, he might take a publick Character there, and be the Representative of the Party in England; and he would have a vast Advantage in that Employ, more than most of the Emissaries, or Agents, they could send over, would be able to obtain; namely, That he might act with all possible Security against our Laws, or the Resentment of our Government, go and come, see and be seen, and give very little Offence; for that it is a known Maxim in a wise Part of our Law, That a Fool cannot be guilty either of Murther, or Treason.77 But then it must be with this Proviso; namely, That it continues as long as, and no longer than, he maintains his Character; for if he should have the Misfortune to come to an Eclairecisement78 with Nature, and have the Use of his Brains and Senses allowed him, he would be quite useless there, grow uneasy, and, perhaps, so distracted, as to come away again, and desert them; nay, and which is worse, expose them; and therefore special Care must be taken of that Part. But to come a little to the useful Part of this Person; for such People are allowed, on all Hands, to be a most useful Part of the Creation, and that on many Accounts. 177

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First, as to his dumb Part. If, at least, as it is in those who are Deaf and Dumb, we must suppose, that as he cannot speak to us, so he does not at all understand what we mean when we speak to one another; my Enquiry then is, By what Images, and in what Manner, does he form the Conception of Objects in his Mind, whereby to consider of Things or Persons, which he sees about him, and of Sounds which he may be supposed to hear; as he understands no Language, so he can form no Words to himself, by which to think either of this or that. Words are to us, the Medium of Thought; we cannot conceive of Things, but by their Names, and in the very Use of their Names; we cannot conceive of God, or of the Attributes of God, of Heaven, and of the Inhabitants there, but by agitating79 the Word GOD , and the Words Infinite, Eternal, Holiness, Wisdom, Knowledge, Goodness, &c. as Attributes; and even the Word Attribute; we cannot conceive of Heaven, but in the very Use and Practice of the Word that signifies the Place, be it in what Language you will; we cannot muse, contrive, imagine, design, resolve, or reject; nay, we cannot love or hate, but in acting upon those Passions in the very Form of Words; nay, if we dream ’tis in Words, we speak every thing to ourselves, and we know not how to think, or act, or intend to act, but in the Form of Words; all our Passions and Affections are acted in Words, and we have no other Way for it: But what do these silent People do? ’tis evident they act their Senses and Passions upon Things, both present, and to come, and, perhaps, upon Things past also; but in what Manner, and how, that we are intirely at a Loss about; it confounds our Understanding, nor could the most refined, or refining Naturalist80 that I ever met with, explain it to me. Every Mute is not an Idiot or Fool; and we see some daily among us, whose Parts are as bright, their Understanding as large and capacious, and their Reason in as full Exercise, and as clear, as, perhaps, any other; which is evident by the great Length they will go to attain Mediums of Conversation, to supply the Want of Voice; nay, we have seen some, who have attained to the Power of expressing themselves articulately, and in Words, which those that stand by, can both hear and understand, though that Person so speaking, cannot hear the Sound he makes. The ingenious Mr. Baker,81 is a living Witness of this, who is eminently known for a surprizing Dexterity in Teaching such as have been born Deaf and Dumb, both to speak, and understand what is said when others speak to them; some living, though wonderful, Examples of which are now to be seen. But this, as I said, is a Testimony of the good Understanding, and Vivacity of Genius in the Subject; for if the Person so born deaf and dumb, had withal a weak and empty Head; had no Capacities or natural Genius for Learning; was 178

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not able to understand his natural Defect, know the Value of it, regret the Loss of it, have a Sense of the Want of it, and be earnest to supply it, no Skill, no Art could make Impression; Mr. Baker himself, tho’ he has done more than I believe was ever done before him, could do nothing: In short, no Art can teach a dumb Fool to speak: And this returns me to my Question, which I mention’d above, and which, I think, is of great Importance, tho’, I doubt, impossible to be ever answer’d, till some deaf, dumb Person arrives to the perfect Recovery both of Hearing and Speech, so to inform us from his own Knowledge and Experience, which, I believe, never happen’d, or will happen in the World. The Question, I say, is still difficult, How does a dumb Man think? And as it is the same Thing in an Idiot, it is, I believe, the only Thing wonderful in a dumb Fool, and that not so much as he is a Fool, but as he is dumb, What Ideas do they entertain of Things without their Names? it is indeed inconceiveable. Some to solve it, would tell us, they have no Thought, no Images, can form no Idea, no Conception of Things in their Imagination; that if they did, the Knowledge, or, at least, the Notion of a supreme Being, would occur to them; which infinite Power is able to give them, by Inspiration, as he has done to the rest of Mankind by Revelation, and which yet we see is not done, and that they have not the least Light given them that Way, or the least Inclination to think of, or enquire about it; hence, say they, we may conclude they cannot. If I did not think this Speculation a little too serious in this Place, and too valuable to throw away upon the common Readers of the Times, to whom these Sheets seem to be directed; that they would be made sick of the Work, and so, perhaps, throw it by before they get thro’ it, I would venture being tedious upon so noble an Enquiry as this. It is absurd to think, that all Mutes are Fools; that because they cannot hear, therefore they cannot think, and that the contracted Soul, under the Fetters of misplac’d Organs, or oppress’d with a Defect of the Organ, must not act at all; for at the same Time, we see that imprison’d fetter’d Soul exerting itself in, and acting on a Thousand other Objects, which demonstrate not its Being only, but the full Exercise of its proper Faculties, both Understanding and Will: This is evident, where we have seen those who have been both Deaf and Dumb, fence, fight, dance, learn to carve, paint, sew, embroider, weave, knit, and almost any kind of handy Works, which do not depend upon the Ear or Voice to perform or to learn. It is evident then, that they can act upon material Objects, and even upon some immaterial too, as well as we can; but it is certainly in a different, and, perhaps, superior Way: ’Tis certain they must think without the 179

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Agency or Interposition of Language, because they know it not; they cannot call Light or Darkness, Heaven or Earth, God, the Devil, themselves, or any other Thing, by any Name, or conceive of them under any Title or Hieroglyphick82 Representation; ’tis all a Mystery inconceiveable to us, as entirely as our Way of conceiving Things must be to them. It would then be a still nobler Acquirement, if so much can be expected from Art, if it could be found practicable to do, or we could know when it was done, and when not, that a dumb Person, I mean a Man deaf and dumb, but who has his Understanding, otherwise, in its full Vigour and free Exercise, could be taught to conceive of Things as we conceive of them, or that he could convey to us the Knowledge of conceiving as he does: Whether either of these are possible, or so much as probable to be done, I do not pretend to determine. If this were done, there might be many Ways found out to converse with a deaf and dumb Man, as effectually, as if he could both hear and speak, and he would have less Occasion to feel the Want of his Speech than is now the Case; for, want of Hearing or of Speaking, meerly as such, is not so much the essential Part of the Affliction, but want of conversing with Mankind; and could that be attain’d, the Mute has some particular Felicities join’d with the Infirmity, that, in some measure, may be said to make up his Loss, nay, to be infinitely more to his Advantage, than either Speech or Hearing could be. I hinted at some of these above; as, that he is uncapable of Ambition or Avarice, of Envy, Malice, Revenge; this, as he is suppos’d to be really a living Soul, is a Felicity; but if we consider him in meer Nature, I cannot see that it is any Advantage at all: What Benefit is it to the Horse, that he does not covet more Pasture than he can feed on? or what Virtue, that he is not ambitious to be as his Rider, that he does not envy or bear Malice against either his own Kind, or any other. But speaking of a human Species, the Case alters, and there, I confess, to act as a Man, and to have no Pride, no Ambition, no Avarice, no Rancour or Malice, no ungovern’d Passions, no unbounded Desires, how infinitely more happy is he than Thousands of his more inform’d and better-taught Fellow Brutes in human Shape, who are every Day raging with Envy, gnawing their own Flesh, that they are not rich, great, and cloath’d with Honours and Places as such-and-such, studying to supplant, suppress, remove, and displace those above them, and even to slander, accuse, murder, and destroy them to get into their Places? Had Nature been beneficent to him, in bestowing something more upon him other ways, and yet kept his Soul lock’d up as to these Things, how had he been the happiest of all the Race of Rationals in the World? 180

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And here a Speculation of infinite Force and Signification occurs to me, namely, how impossible it is now, in the Nature of the Thing, for this Youth to attain to the full Exercise of the Faculties and Powers of a reasoning Soul, without taking in, at the same time, and with the same Instruction, all the wicked Part too! Nothing of Virtue, nothing sound, nay, even religious, can be taught him, but all those Hell-born Addenda will be let in with, and break out among them: As soon as he distinguishes of Wealth and Poverty, Avarice is the Consequence; he covets the first, fears and hates the last, and with coveting comes in a Thousand injurious and dishonest, nay, thievish Imaginations to compass83 it: No sooner does he see Wealth, cloath’d with Power and Dominion, but Ambition, the firstborn Child of Crime, the self-begotten Sin of Witchcraft, breaks out in the Soul; attended with all its lesser Devils, inseparable Attendants of its very Nature; I mean Envy, Malice, Rage, Murther, and Blood: Unhappy Man, that his Soul cannot receive the Good without the Evil! Tell us, ye Right Reverend and Reverend, the Guides of the World, whence is it that ’tis impossible to communicate to a human Creature, the Virtues of a Christian Life, untainted with the Knowledge and Gust of Crime; or to bring the Man to the Knowledge of the brightest Part, but the Vice comes in at the very same Door? ’Tis evident, he may learn the wicked Part, even without so much as a Taste of what is Good, the Pollution shall come without the Rectitude of his Soul: But, as if Virtue and Religion were an Introduction to Vice and Prophaneness, he is no sooner instructed in the first, but of Course he understands the last. Even the Tree of Knowledge has this Part discover’d in its Title, and no doubt they came together; it was the Tree of Knowledge84 of Good and of Evil, they were taken in together, and are still inseparable. But whence then comes the Knowledge of Evil to prevail? and seeing Virtue is Beauty in its brightest Perfection, is its own Reward, and infinitely desirable for itself, why does Meer Nature lead to foolish Things by the Course of its own Instinct? Why hurry the Soul down the Stream of his Affections, and, with inexpressible Gust, to what is gross, sordid, and brutish; whereas Wisdom and virtuous Principles are all up Hill, against the Stream, and are rather acquir’d than natural? Let those who deny original Depravity, answer this for me, if they think they can; for my Part, I acknowledge it to be out of my Reach, upon any other Foot. But I leave this as too solemn for the Day, however useful: And to return to our Lunenburgher; Let him be as he is, and let that be as it will, we see a great many merry Things occur to our Thoughts about him, and some very much for the Instruction of our Neighbours, who think they have more Wit than he, and yet hardly give any body Leave to think so but 181

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themselves. But I shall first conclude this Part with a brief Contemplation upon the Misery of Mankind, under the Disaster of being born deaf, and upon the surprizing Operation of teaching such to speak, of which I have taken Notice above, and of which we have some extraordinary Instances at this Time in being. That this Speculation should not appear too grave for the World, for I know they are out of Love with dull Philosophy, as well as with Divinity, I have oblig’d it to jingle a little in Verse; but however Poetical it may be, the Subject being really solemn, it will run into a Vein of solid Thinking: If it should be disagreeable to the fashionable Levity of the Times on that Account, some that have more Wit than I, may turn it into Jest, and Burlesque the Calamity of Mankind, if they think it more agreeable: I am mighty willing to leave it to the learned Dr. S----;85 for he that can Preach and read Prayers in the Morning, write Baudy in the Afternoon, banter Heaven and Religion, and write prophanely at Night; and then read Prayers and Preach again the next Morning, and so on in a due Rotation of Extremes; is much fitter than I am for turning the Tears of the Unhappy into a Ballad, and making a Mock of human Misery. On the Deaf and Dumb being taught to Speak. HOW blest, how much more blest are Beasts than Men! They all can speak, know what to speak, and when; Tho’ we in Scoff pretend to call them MUTES , They’ve all a Voice, we find no silent Brutes; They form a Sound, by which they all convey, As well what ’tis they mean, as what they say; Their differing Notes their different Senses reach, And fully answer all the Ends of Speech. They ask, deny, call, answer, sing, make love, And tone their Voices as their Passions move; Shew Anger, Joy, Grief, Sorrow, Sense of Pain, By these can triumph, and of those complain. Proclaim their Wars, and when their Quarrels cease, In Terms as audible proclaim their Peace. Can quarrel, challenge, threaten, league, unite, Engage in Armies, or by Combat fight; Cry out when hurt, give Warning, and Dispute, All in the Stile and Language of the Brute. 182



Nor is their Speech by Mimickry convey’d, By Sylab, Sound, and Imitation led: Their Voice depends not on the Organ EAR, ’Tis Nature’s universal Character, And all would speak alike, tho’ none cou’d hear: To them sufficient, and to them confin’d, Peculiar not to Country, but to Kind. In every Land their Language is the same, Babel86 no Difference made, no Change to them. The Cock by Nature crows, the Lyons roar, Alike, from Santa Cruze to Salvador,87 On Africk’s Wastes, and the Brasilian Shore.



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But Man unhappy, bound in Nature’s Chain, His Several Powers such Intercourse maintain, His Senses one another circumvent, And he’s a Slave to Chance, and Incident. Dog-like, his Smell’s so coupl’d with his Taste, Is join’d so close, and banded down so fast, That if this fails, that feels the Influence, And dies by sympathetick Consequence. His Tongue, obsequious, on his Ear depends, And Speech on dang’rous Niceties attends: For if the least Mischance affects the Drum, This vibrates not, and that’s of course struck dumb: The Wretch is damn’d to silence by his Ear, And must not speak, because he cannot hear. A Fate so sure, so frequent, and so hard, So ill to cure, and what so few regard; That ’tis so far from strange, some Tongues should fail, ’Tis much whole Nations are not dumb by Tail.88 Happy the Hand could this Connection break, Could loose the Bands, and make the Deaf to speak; The Independence of the Powers restore. And let the Ear tye up the Tongue no more. Surprizing Art!89 but Art’s too mean a Name, ’t must be a Something of superior Frame. Art may Decays of Nature much restore, 183

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But to make Nature, must be something more; For Art’s ty’d down to Method, and to Rules, By Nature works, as Blacksmiths work by Tools: Nor is’t inspir’d, for then ’twould be compleat, And all the Organick Hindrances defeat: The Soul would talk, scorn the reluctant Ear, And by internal Operations hear. And yet ’tis done, the Supernat’ral’s found, They’re taught to form the Words, who know no Sound; They’re taught to speak, who, tho’ they may believe They form a Voice, cannot of Voice conceive. Strange Power of Art, which thus supplies the Ear, And imitates the Sound it cannot hear! In all the general Acts of human Soul, The Understanding does the Will controul; The Life of Sense Organick Power supplies, And Reason leads by Light of Nature’s Eyes.

The Rules of Nature no such Myst’ry show, It forms a Speech, and Words it cannot know, Nor hears itself, whether it speaks, or no. New Powers are rouz’d, new Principles appear, Remote, and Independent on the Ear; On every Side they strive against the Stream, And Nature talks in Sleep, without a Dream. Strange is the Pilot’s Skill, who thus can steer In Nature’s wild unbounded Atmosphere, Without a Compass, Star, or Staff 91 to guide, No Help from Reason’s Wind, or Nature’s Tide. But now let’s view the Objects,92 and Enquire, Whether, indeed, they should a Cure desire; 184





But here, the Soul, as if brought up to Hand, Performs the Thing it cannot understand: So strange the Magick, so profound the Skill, It leads the Understanding by the Will, The Mill turns round the Horse, that should turn round the Mill.90 By Rote and Memory they’re led along, And made to speak, almost without a Tongue.

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Whether, in common Reasoning, ’twould appear, They ought to wish to speak, or wish to hear. ’Tis true, they seem as Exiles in their Place, And sometimes Sense of it may cloud the Face, Or we may think it such; for none can know Whether they taste a Sense of Loss, and how. The Soul’s a Prisoner, fetter’d down for Life, Yet feels no Bonds, and therefore knows no Grief. On the vast Ocean of unguided Sense, They float unhappy; but the Influence93 No Images of Misery presents, No sad Deficience knows, no Loss resents; But tho’ their Minds may feel a constant Calm, They’re still like Vessels steer’d without a Helm: The Soul’s a beauteous Clock, but wants a Spring; A Musick Instrument, without a String: A bright Machine the Wheels and Weights let down; A Monarch on a Throne without his Crown. But still, take Good and Evil in the Gross, There’s always something gain’d in every Loss, And here the vast Advantages they gain, Out-ballance all the Sorrows that remain. Too happy, could they know for their Relief, The solid Negatives of silent Life: How free from all the Clamours of the loud Rage of the Fierce, and Insults of the Proud, With all the dreadful Pangs of Household Strife, An universal Calm o’erspreads their Life.



What, tho’ wise Heaven may this one Sense deny, How easily can Heaven that Loss supply? The Soul, with all its Faculties left free, Be reinforc’d with doubling Energy, And Knowledge flow, as Waters fill the Sea. Besides, what dreadful Evils do they shun? What Risques escape, which hearing Mortals run? What Crimes avoid? what Crimes avoid to hear? Crimes which the Tongue’s debauch’d with by the Ear: 185

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Free from the general Vices of the Times, They feel our Joys, and can’t commit our Crimes. O! who, that knows himself in full Extent, Would not, like them, be Dumb and Innocent. Or, who, that knows himself, and knows how hard It is his Passions, and his Tongue, to guard; What Mischiefs in at those dark Entries come, Would not, like them (and thankful too) be Dumb? They hear no Tempests beat, no Thunders roll, No Subterranean Blasts can shock the Soul; When furious Storms the Earth’s Foundation shake, Those furious Storms on them, can no Impression make; The World’s to them, a soft, a quiet Scene, All calm without, and all serene within: Nature appears a Draught of true Still-Life, They know the pleasant Part, and not the Grief; They see the Face of ev’ry beauteous Thing, And Nature’s Honey taste without the Sting: Nor can the wicked Part so soon break in Nature’s chief Door for Crime’s barr’d up within; No raging Oaths, or Curses, reach the Ear, Nothing prophane, nothing debauch’d they hear; No Relish of the Lewdness of the Town, So to make others Sins increase their own; No vitious Words the Inclinations fire, To taint the Soul, and fan unchaste Desire: Their Passions get no Vent upon the Tongue, Freed from the Rage of Words: The Gall’s unhung;94 They’re freed at once, without the Instructor’s Care, From all those Crimes that enter at the Ear. Scandals, those poison’d Daggers of the Tongue, Which wound so deep, and are uncur’d so long, Affront them not, in them no Passions raise, ’Tis like to them, to Satyrize or Praise: Slander, ill Language, Flattery, or Reproach, Neither their Fancy, or Affections touch; To them the same, the happy Ear unstrung, Feels not the jarring Discord of the Tongue. 186

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O! could the Heavenly Voice but reach the Soul (And who shall Heav’nly Influences controul? For Beams of sacred Light, upon the Mind Shine all spontaneous, free and unconfin’d) How easily would that, find Access here; For Souls, without the Help of Speech, can hear: This Passage soon would open Light divine, Would soon with double Force, and doubling Glory shine. The Mind untainted, and untouch’d with Crime, Stands fitted to receive the true Sublime, Chaste from those Crimes, which, by the Ear or Tongue, Possess Mens Souls, and keep their Hold so long: He that for so much real Innocence, Would not, with Joy, exchange one guilty Sense, And slight his Ears, or Speech, has, certainly, Less Sin, or less a Sense of it, than I. Besides, who knows what Heaven may then supply, By the Auxiliar Hand, or the Confederate Eye?95 The Gust of Knowledge rises from within, And what One Door shuts out, Two Doors let in. Nature, whose Powers these Negatives restrain, Adds double to the Senses which remain: So calmest Waters, when their Stream’s damn’d up, Swell and break out more furious for the Stop. Touch’d with the least Vibration of the Air, They feel the Thunders, which we only hear; Signal, by Points and Marks, for Speaking serves, And makes the Soul interpret by the Nerves: The Intellect to every Medium bends, And feels our Meaning at their Fingers Ends. The Opticks too, the Hearing-Power supply, And drink-in double Knowledge at the Eye; What other Senses should Employ, convey, And much of that which others hear, they see. The Power of Thought’s within themselves confin’d, And forms quite differing Figures in the Mind; The Soul a different Sense of Things affords, And thinks without the Agency of Words. 187

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In all the distant Views their Fancy frames, It forms the Images without the Names: A Flight so high, and so above our Speech, As all the babling World can never reach. If we but think, that Thought’s to Words confin’d; For Thought’s but Speech in Whisper to the Mind; The Strength of Nature can no farther go, And all her Powers thro’ this one Channel flow; Even mental Prayer in Words at length ascends, And silent Speech our very Dream attends: He that without the Help of Speech can pray, Must talk to Heaven by some superior Way. O! could I thus of Things divine conceive, So, Images without their Crime receive, So pray, and so my Soul to Heaven impart, I’d be both Deaf, and Dumb, with all my Heart.

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PART III. I am now come back again to the Image from whence all these Imaginations have taken their Rise: If he is considered as a mere Piece of Nature, I see no Harm at all in considering him as at Court, where so many useful Speculations are drawn from the Object,96 in and under whatever Denomination you are to consider him. And First, It is not improper to ask, What Religion he is of? If that Question is not readily answered, I doubt whether he will not be a standing Objection in Favour of modern Atheism, against that antient Maxim, That Religion is a natural Principle.97 At present I can really perceive nothing of it in him; he has not, as I can hear of, so much as the least Image or Idea of Divinity form’d in his Mind, nor that he has any Notions about Homage or Adoration: How, indeed, is it rational to think he should? or how, as Things were with him, is it like to be otherwise, for he could have no Notion of any thing above himself? And, if you will pardon me an Excursion, let me ask, How should he learn any now? Can any one learn Religion in this Town! or come to the Knowledge of Him of whom they can receive no Notions from any about them? Who should teach him the first Notions of Religion here? Shall he be taught Religion by its Contraries? Will he take the Swearing among the Beaus and Fops, for Religion? Will he not drink in with the Religion he is like to learn here, such horrid and execrable Blasphemies of the God he is taught to fear, as must form incongruous Notions of all Religion in his Head? Here he shall be told, There is a G OD , and the next Thing about it, shall be to hear him blasphemed, his Name prophaned, his Vengeance, and the utmost Execution of it, viz. D AMNATION , imprecated and contemn’d! Unhappy Creature! is he come hither to be taught Religion? How much better a State was he in, at the Forest of Hamelen, if he really, and Bona Fide, was there at all? He might, perhaps, at length have fallen into good Hands, that would have given him, at least, an Opportunity to have heard of a God, a Heaven, a Hell, a Devil, and this with some little Advantage; But at L—n!98 Mercy upon him, what can he learn here! I grant the bringing him to the Court, might have been some Advantage, and his Majesty’s Design was certainly Christian and good; very charitable, and like a Prince always gracious and beneficent; nay, his 189

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putting him since to Doctor Ar—t to be educated, is a Confirmation of his Majesty’s pious Design; would but the King order the Doctor to carry him away from this wicked Town (I don’t say Court) where he might see none of those prophane Atheistick Doings, which we see every Day among us. How much more happy would it be for him to be Dumb, as he is? and that, though he hears the Openings of Hell in the Mouths of the outragious Sons of Belial,99 which throng about this wicked Town, he may neither be able to imitate them, or understand what they mean? But I shall have some Occasion to mention this Part with less Gravity; For the present, let me go on with Things in their Course. Nature, unerring in all her Designs, certainly, like a skilful Architect, always forms the Plan or Ichnography100 of her Building, before the Foundation is begun, or the Ground laid open: This Creature was certainly formed and designed by Nature for a Man; all the Operations necessary in the ordinary Generation, no doubt, passed in the usual Form; the Fætus cannot be enquired into, or where, if any, the Omission of Organicks101 happened: That such Things may happen, we cannot doubt; for, as we see some Births wanting Arms, or Hands, or Feet, or Fingers, so, no doubt, some of the Wheels at the Cistern may be broken,102 some Vessels for the Supply of Nourishment to this or that Part, and for the due Circulation of the Animal Spirits,103 or for conveying them to this or that Part, may be wanting, by which those Parts, deprived of the natural Vigour usual in others, and requisite to the Function and Offices for which they are intended, are disabled from performing their Office; and by which the whole Mechanism appears defective, and out of Order. It is true, we see no apparent Deformity in the Carcass; if there are any such Defects as I speak of, they are in the intellectual Part; and though ’tis easy to know that such Defects really are, yet it is not easy to distinguish of what particular Sort they are, where they lie, or what Application, if any, might be made for a Remedy; nor, indeed, is the Application of Remedy in general easy, if it be at all practicable; no, though the Defect were known; for Example, What Art, what Application to supply a Paucity of Brains, to dilate a contracted Skull, to rectify the distorted Features, &c.? In short, Where is the Operator that can give an Idiot Understanding, a deform’d Body Shapes, or an ugly Face Beauty? No, no more than they can give a Fop Wit, a Beau Manners, or a Whore Modesty. What Defects then are found in the first Production of this Creature we are speaking of, are, as I say above, latent and unconceal’d; as for his Outside, he is, according to Plato’s Description of a Man, Animal Bipes, sine Plumes, An Animal having Two Feet, and without Feathers.104 190

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I know some Pretenders to the Witchcraft of the Phyz,105 tell us, They can see certain Lines in his Face, which intimate the Deficiencies that he labours under; and that they know he is a Fool by their Skill in Aspects and Physiognomy:106 I should, indeed, have been apter to have stumbled at this Block laid in the Way of my Judgment, if I had not known one of those Censurers of his Understanding, to be as empty of Understanding himself, as almost any body that wears a Face; and yet has himself a Countenance as like a wise Man, as most Fools that I have ever seen; nay, and which is worse, still had the Misfortune, while he found out all the Marks of Folly in this Youth’s Countenance, to see none in his own. Guesses therefore at Outsides, will not reach the Case; Fronti nulla fides,107 The Face is not always an Index of the Mind: The Lunenburgher has, indeed, no agreeable Aspect, he has a kind of natural Dejection in his Countenance, looks wild and awkward, like one that has not formed his Mouth yet, that does not know how to look, and, indeed, having no Speech, he seems to look Dumb, if that may be allowed me; he opens his Mouth as if he could not speak; or if you will take another Way of expressing it, he does not handle his Mouth, as if he could speak. This is all Nature still; for the natural Powers come to their Maturity of acting by Gradations, and that such, as are appointed to them by the Laws of Nature, as the Body grows in Strength, and as Habits and Exercise dictate and instruct; so we must allow, where those Gradations are obstructed, or postpon’d, and left to begin out of their proper Time, the Man appears grievously harass’d and perplex’d in the Want of them; as he that was not taught to speak when he was young, certainly will find it more difficult to obtain his Speech when he is old, when the Tongue, having been so long fettered, is not so easily loosed from the Bands of Nature, as it might have been at first. Every Man is born Mute, though not born Dumb; he is mute, because he cannot speak ’till he learns by Imitation; but he is not dumb, because he has a potential Capacity to speak as soon as he can shape his Mouth to form a Sound articulate and distinct. Now this poor Creature has not been taught to form a Sound; How that has happened to him, is, I confess, very mysterious to me; but so it is, and not having been taught at that Time when the Bands of the Tongue were tender, and soft, and capable of being drawn this Way, or that Way, as he pleased, they that attempt to teach him to speak now, will not find it so easy a Work as it would have been, had it been done in the ordinary Way; and this is, no doubt, the Occasion of what I say above, that he looks dumb; his Tongue rolls about in his Mouth, as a Prisoner struggling to get loose from his Chains, and he would bring it to its proper Use, if he knew 191

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how; nor do I make any Question, but it requires almost as much Art to teach him to speak, as to teach one deaf and dumb from his Birth; whether Mr. Baker himself could accomplish it or not, I know not; but I much doubt, whether any Man in England is able to do it; I am told, That nobody can, if he cannot. His Want of Speech, assists very much to keep him just in the same State of Nature, that he was in when brought first among us; and I do not find, that he makes much improvement in any thing, nor can his Teachers, as I understand, give much Account yet, whether they think he is capable of any Instructions or no: This shews us, what a strange Machine the Body of a Man is, that any little Breach in the whole Contexture, interrupts the whole Motion; nay, which is really a miserable Testimony of our Infelicity, it goes farther, and the least Disorder of the Parts, even of the mere Apparatus, as it may be called, made by Nature for the Reception of a Soul, renders that Soul unhappily useless to itself, unable to act, unfurnished with Tools to work with, imprisoned and chained, and, in a Word, fit for nothing. There would offer here, in Consequence of this physical Incapacity, a short difficult Question in Divinity; namely, What shall be required of such a Soul, as by Organick Imperfection, has been limited from Action? My Answer is in general, Nothing but what is just, and which the Soul, so fettered and chained up, shall, when loosed by Death, and delivered, acknowledge to be so, because he that is to judge, is infinitely just and righteous; As to particular Disquisitions, the Enquiries how far a Soul so fetter’d and disabled, can, or cannot offend, can do Evil or Good, and from what Principles it acts, they are Things, though far from being unanswerable, remote from the present Design, and too long to enter upon here: I shall Sum it up in this short Proposition; A Soul imbodied in an imperfect Case of Flesh and Blood, by which it is limited from Action, and made incapable of Good or Evil, seems to be in the same Condition, as before it was embodied; or, as we call it, though improperly, in its pre-existent State; and if they who enquire what shall be required of such a Soul after Death, will tell me, what would be required of that same Soul, if it had not been embodied at all, they will prepare an Answer by it to their own Question, and, perhaps, a better Answer than can otherwise be given to it. The Youth I am now speaking of, is not, indeed, to be rated in the Class of Souls wholly lock’d up, at least, not till we see farther; but however, he gives us a View of mere Nature, perhaps, the clearer for that; and let us therefore, for once, suppose, whether it shall at last be so, or not, that his Soul being capable of Improvement, differs from us only in the Loss it has sustained under so long a deny’d Education. 192

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If that be his Case, he is then only to be considered as an Infant, and that he is just now in the mere State of Infancy and Childhood, with this Disadvantage, as above, That the Soul being left unpolished, and not able to shine, and having lost the Seasons in which it should have been taught and enur’d to its proper Functions, the Organs being grown firm and solid, without being put into a Capacity by due Exercise, are not so easily disposed for the necessary Motion and Application; and so the Difficulty will be the greater to bring it to work, and may not, in a long Time, if ever, be overcome. If this be the Case, it dictates the Necessity of early Education of Children, in whom, not the Soul only, but the organick Powers are, as a Lump of soft Wax, which is always ready to receive any Impression; but if harden’d, grow callous, and stubborn, and, like what we call Sealing-Wax, obstinately refuse the Impression of the Seal, unless melted, and reduced by the Force of Fire; that is to say, Unless moulded and temper’d to Instruction, by Violence, Length of Time, and abundance of Difficulty. Mere Nature receives the vivifying Influence in Generation, but requires the Help of Art to bring it to Perfection of living: The Soul is plac’d in the Body like a rough Diamond, which requires the Wheel and Knife, and all the other Arts of the Cutter, to shape it, and polish it, and bring it to shew the perfect Water of a true Brilliant.108 If Art be deficient, Nature can do no more; it has plac’d the Capacity in the Jewel; but till the Rough be remov’d, the Diamond never shews itself. Thus the Soul, unpolish’d, remains bury’d under the Rubbish and Roughness of its own Powers; ’tis given to us to work upon ourselves, and if we do not think it worth while to bestow the Trouble, we must not expect the Blessing. Hence I could enlarge upon the Benefit of Education, and very well take up the remaining Part of this whole Work in beautiful Excursions on that copious Subject; but I shall satisfy myself, and I promise myself it will satisfy the Reader, that in saying, that Education seems to me to be the only specifick Remedy for all the Imperfections of Nature; that all the Difference in Souls, or the greatest Part at least, that is to say, between the Dull and the Bright, the Sensible and Insensible, the Active and the Indolent, the Capable and the Incapable, are owing to, and derive from this one Article: That the Man is a Rational, or a Stupid, just as he is handled by his Teachers; and that as he can neither speak, read, write, dance, swim, fence, or perform some of the best and most necessary Actions of Life without being taught, so neither can he know, think, retain, judge, discern, distinguish, determine, or any of those Operations, in which the Soul is wholly the Operator, without the Guidance of an Instructor; I mean, without being at first led into these Things by the Hand of a Teacher. It is true, that 193

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when first instructed, he will, by voluntary Application, improve, and by thinking, learn to think; by judging, learn to judge; for the Ear tries Words, as the Mouth tastes Meat, Job xxxiv. 3. But the first Introduction must be by the Help of Instruction, and, without it, the Soul would be unactive, or, at least, unpolish’d: In a Word, the Man would be little more than a ManBrute, as we see this Youth to be. This goes a great way also to confirm me in the Opinion, which was long receiv’d among the Antients, viz. of a Parity of Souls.109 Three Things seem only to have a Power to intervene, so as to make a visible Difference in the Operations of a Soul. 1. Natural Infirmity or Deficiency in the Texture and Tone of the Parts, which the Schools call the Organ,110 by which the Operations of the Soul are perform’d, and to which they are confin’d. 2. Accidental Infirmities, attending or happening to the same Organick Parts, occasion’d by Disease and Distemper, or by Casualties, such as Falls, Blows, Bruises, &c. or by Chyrurgical111 Operations in order to cure other Infirmities, and the like. 3. The Grand Negative mention’d above, namely, the Defects in, or want of Education. If this last was not so eminently needful, and so significant in qualifying, and, as they justly call it, for finishing the Creature, why so many noble Foundations for Erudition? and why so many Masters and Tutors for Science, and for the Encrease of Knowledge? Is it not to make Men know and understand Things, as well as Words, to speak Sense as well as Tongues, to judge and reason upon Objects laid before them, draw Consequences, form Arguments; in a Word, to exert the grand Faculties of the Soul, in a Manner suitable to what it is capable of? And why is it call’d a charitable Deed for Princes, and Men of Wealth, to found Universities, endow Colleges, incorporate Societies of learned Men, for the propagating of these noble Ends, but because polishing the Soul of Man is an Act of the highest Consequence, and the chief Thing that distinguishes him, and enables him to distinguish himself from a Brute; for, if I may venture my own Opinion, I insist upon it, that an untaught Man, a Creature in human Shape, but intirely neglected and uninstructed, is ten thousand times more miserable than a Brute; as is abundantly visible in this unhappy Thing before us, who I take to be, as far as I yet see, a meer Image of unregarded Nature, left to the World in what Manner we yet know not, perhaps, as I have observ’d, not just as has been pretended: But be that as it will, he is certainly just where Nature left him, as to Instruction or Understanding; his Soul, if he has one, untouch’d by any outward Application, no Exercise for his Facul194

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ties, no Speech, no Sense of other Peoples Words, or of the Reason of their Actions; no Knowledge, or even Principles of Knowledge, except what are Dormant, and in Posse.112 He has Eyes, but knows not what he sees; knows not what to call any thing he looks on, or what Uses any thing he sees are appropriated to: When he sees it Rain, he does not know that it is Water, much less that this Water cools, refreshes, and fructifies the Earth; still less, that the Plants and Fruits would not grow without it, and the World be starv’d for want of those Plants and Fruits; least of all, does he know, or has any Notion of, that great Proveditore of the World,113 who makes small the Drops of Water, Job xxxvi. 17.114 who causes the Clouds to pour down Water upon the Earth, who covereth the Heavens with Clouds, and prepareth Rain for the Earth, Psalm cxlvii. 8. It would take up too much of your Time to talk the serious Part; ’tis enough to dwell upon the ordinary Knowledge of Things about him; a compleat Ignorance possesses his Mind, he knows not the Use of his own Passions; he knows not the proper Objects of Grief or Joy, Fear or Anger, much less the Meaning of them; he has no Taste of Knowledge, and, with Solomon’s Fool, has no Delight in Understanding;115 he knows nothing of what will hurt him, or what will help him; he does not so much as know the Water will drown him, or that the Fire will burn him. This is the Figure of a Man, as he comes rough out of Nature’s Hand, and how long he would continue thus, without the Help of Improvement, and the Assistance of Example to imitate, or Instruction to learn from, I cannot undertake to say; but have great Reason to believe, it would be with very little Alteration to his latest Age. Now what better such a one would be by the Maturity of Years, I do not see; but I think it would amount to little, hardly so much as the common Sagacity of the Brutes furnishes them with, viz. To chuse their Food, shun their Enemies, lay up Provision in its Season, fence themselves against Weather; and even in these Things he would have infinitely the Disadvantage of other Animals, by the Texture and Constitution of his Form, of which I have said something already. But not to suppose him so perfectly wild as has been said of this Forester, suppose him to be furnish’d, by Friends or Parents, with necessary Food and Cloathing; but, as above, untaught, uninstructed, state it in what Manner you please, he would certainly know nothing but what he was taught, and if not taught to speak, or had heard some-body speak, he would never speak. I had a Relation of a Case, which, they say, happen’d like this: In a neighbouring Country,116 where a certain Person had five Children, three 195

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Daughters and two Sons, all Deaf and Dumb, and born so. The Father and Mother were both drowned by an Accident, in passing a Stream of Water, suddenly rais’d by a Flood. The Woman had been deliver’d not above four Months before of a Child which could hear; and as her Dumb Daughters were grown up to some Years, the Mother, with the Assistance of Servants, took Care of that young Child that could hear, and nurst it up very well. After the unhappy Disaster of the Mother, the Children, all silent as they were, yet acquainted with the Signals and Tokens, by which they used to converse with one another, kept together in a Family, and did tolerably well: If any Neighbours convers’d with them, it was by the same Tokens and Signs, pointing and nodding, and the usual Gestures which People in that Condition converse by; so that there was no Use of a Voice, tho’ any Person that could speak came into the House. The young Child (a Daughter) by this Means, for a long Time hearing no body speak, but what might be very casual, and which gave her no Notion of the Thing, became mute too, tho’ not Dumb, and, as they liv’d remote from any Town, the young Daughter had no Opportunity to go among People till it was pretty far gone; so that no body let her know what Speech meant, or that all the World was not like her Brothers and Sisters. She talk’d by silent Motions and Gestures so naturally, that it was much readier for her to do so, than to attempt Speech, if she had understood what was meant by it. When upon any Occasion she found People come to the House who could speak, she heard indeed a confus’d Jargon or Medley of Sounds, but understood nothing by it, no, she did not so much as perceive that they spoke to one another in Words, which had a Meaning in them; in short, other People’s Discourses made no Impression upon her, for she observ’d her Brothers and Sisters took not the least Notice of it. Also it occurr’d to her, that if any of their Servants convers’d with her Brothers and Sisters, they did it all by Motions of the Body, by playing upon their Fingers, and the like, and that her Brothers and Sisters did the like to them, and so also to other People. This pass’d with her for Speech; As to the rest, it had a Sound indeed, or Noise, but she understood nothing by it; nor did she entertain any Notion of its being understood by those that made that Sound, much less, that by it they convey’d the Understanding and Meaning of Things one to another. Thus she was as effectually Dumb, as if she had been born Deaf, and knew no more of Speech than if she had never heard it: In Proportion to this, she was utterly deficient in other Cases; she understood nothing of Religion, God, or Devil, Heaven, or Hell, worshipping, or not worshipping; she entertain’d no other Notion of Things than a Deaf and Dumb 196

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Person would have done, nor were the Strings or Bands of her Tongue loosed. This State of Ignorance continu’d, as my Story says, till she was near fourteen Years of Age, when it was discover’d by some, that had Access to the Conversation of the Family, that the Child could hear. It was no sooner understood, as I say, by the People that she could hear, but it was concluded that she therefore might be taught to speak, and Abundance undertook to teach her; but two Things happen’d. 1. So many attempting it at once among the charitable People that came about her, the Multitude of Persons who set up to be her Instructors, set up in an ill Time for her; for they undertook her in, and by a Confusion of Methods, which the very Fowls of the Air might have hoped for Advantage by as well as she, and some of them might as well have been taught to speak; for one taught her by Letters and Syllables, as Children are taught to read, another by whole Words, without Rule, and without the Meaning, another by shewing her what the Words meant, some one Way, some another, and some in one Tone, some in another; so that it was with the greatest Difficulty imaginable that she learn’d to speak, and not under three or four Years Time; nor even then did she speak plain and readily, but a Kind of broken English, with the Accent and Tone of a Foreigner, bringing out her words with hesitation and Difficulty, as if she understood not what she was going to say. This was occasion’d partly, as I said above, by the Variety and Unskilfulness of those about her, who taught her to speak; and partly, or chiefly rather, by the being so old as fourteen or fifteen Years before she began to learn, and, which finishes my Observation, it is most certain, that had she never been taught, she had never spoken at all. Such a plain coarse Piece of Work is a Man in the meer Condition he is born in, just coming out of Nature’s Hand: And, by Consequence, the Improvement of the Soul by Instruction, which we call Educating, is of the highest Importance; without it, the best of us would have been what the young Woman above, was observ’d to be, viz. not able to speak, or able to guess what the Meaning of Speech was, when she heard others speak. And this was the more remarkable too, as it was a particular Addition to her Disaster; had she been by any Means or Methods inform’d, that the Voice of Words which she heard when other People spoke, was an audible Expression of their Minds one to another, and that they understood one another, so as to answer, discourse, and reason with one another: In a Word, had she, by dwelling among those that could speak, seen and learned the Uses and Purposes of Words, she would soon have taught herself by meer Mimickry and Imitation. 197

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But as, on the contrary, she did not know what Words meant, very seldom heard any, and when she did, knew nothing more of them than the Sound, as she said afterwards; they were just to her as the Chattering of Magpyes and Jayes, the Bleating of Sheep, Barking of Dogs, Mewing of Cats; and, in a Word, they seem’d to be only the differing Notes of the Creatures, one Kind expressing themselves one way, one another, the Ox by Lowing, the Sheep by Bleating, the Horse Neighing, the Bull Roaring, the Ass Braying, the Men and Women Rattling, as she might call it, Talking as we call it; and so of the rest. Her great Disaster, and, which was the Foundation of all the rest of her Ignorance, was, that she could see her Brothers and Sisters took no Notice of those Things; that they never made such a confus’d Noise, nor did the People, who chatter’d and rattled, as I call it, in that Manner to one another, use any of that Noise when they had any Business with her Brothers and Sisters. This was a most unlucky Circumstance, for it clinch’d that Delusion upon the unhappy Child; she could not draw a more just Conclusion than this, that if their Noise had any Signification, her Brothers and Sisters would make Use of it; but that since, whenever they came to her Brothers and Sisters, or her Brothers and Sisters to them, then all the Noise ceas’d, and they went to work with their Fingers and Heads, making Signs and Motions, according as they had learn’d to understand one another. Nothing could be more natural than for the Child to conclude, that this Finger Language was the true, and the only Way to understand one another, and converse together; that the other was of no Signification, but meer Noise, not to be imitated or understood: Nay, when she first began to learn to speak, she had no Relish of Words, no Taste; she did not soon conceive how Words could be understood, but thought the conversing by Signs, and by Motions of the Body, pointing and making Figures, and the like, infinitely more agreeable, more significant, easier to be done, more decent and handsomer to do, than to make a Gaping with her Mouth, and a Noise from it with her Tongue. While her Native Reasoning thus confirmed her in the fatal Mistake, what Probability was there, that the Delusion should wear off, or that she should come to better Understanding of Things? Nor, perhaps, had it ever been otherwise, but she had been speechless to her Death, if she had not, by another Accident, been restor’d: This was, by the accidental Coming of a Roman Catholick Priest into the Family, who, after some Time, finding how it was, and what it was which obstructed the youngest of the Sisters; namely, Mere Want of Teaching, undertook to open her Eyes, that so he might, by other Applications, open her Mouth, and give her the Blessing of 198

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Speech, which Heaven had, by no other Interposition denied her, than that of the Misfortune of the Family. The good Father, then took the most regular Methods he could devise, to bring her to a due Pronunciation of the Letters and Syllables of the English Tongue; and, not without great Obstruction, brought her to some articulate Sounds; but still he found a Difficulty to struggle with, worse than her natural Infirmity; and this was, That she had an Aversion to the Thing, she had no Sense of Loss upon her, saw nothing of the Deficiency, or that she wanted any thing to be like other People; she heard the religious Doctor, her new Tutor, make a confused Noise, and found he was desirous to teach her the like; but there was no Musick in it to her; she had no Need of it, as she could understand, nor did she see any Use for it in her Way of Life; that is to say, In the Family; for her Brothers and Sisters she found made no such Noise, and if it was of any Signification, why did not they learn to make the same Sounds, as well as she? No question, they would have had the Priest to have taught them, as well as to teach her; nay, which was more than all, she observed, that the Servants, though they made the like Noises among themselves as other People did, and, which she took to be the utmost Rudeness, yet had more Manners when they talked to their Masters and Mistresses; that then they laid it aside, and ordering themselves with Decency and Respect, received their Commands by the Fingers Ends, and made Returns in the same Manner; and this was all the Way of Speech that she could entertain any Notion of, or that she had any Desire to understand. Nay, she observed, that at the same Time that the Priest seemed by all the silent Ways he could imagine, to persuade her to open her Mouth, and talk, or speak as he did, yet, I say, at the same Time, if he had any Occasion to speak to her Brothers and Sisters, he stopp’d, put an End to the Noise he was making before, and fell to work with his Fingers and Hands, just as they did; and that if they had any Occasion to say any thing to him, they did it by the same Method. This undid all his Work again, and when he had, with the greatest Difficulty, brought her to be a little docile, at least, to seem to be so, if he happened to turn to any of her Brothers or Sisters, and make Signs to them, she would break out at him with a Laugh, and a kind of Triumph, and jumping up like one in a Rapture, would begin to talk by her Fingers again very orderly, would let him see it was the Way she liked by much the best, was natural to her, and that she could relish no other; and this, I say, would, for some considerable Time, break all his Measures again. After some Time, he bethought himself of a Stratagem, which was to try, if by the Means of the Three other Sisters, and the Two Brothers, who 199

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were all born Deaf, as well as Dumb, he could bring the younger Sister to a Knowledge of her own Case, and what the Reason of their Silence was; namely, That they could not speak, because they could not hear; and that the Deficiency was their great Misery and Disadvantage; that she being able to hear, might easily learn to speak; and (which was more than all the rest) to bring her to understand, that Speaking was the great Blessing of Mankind; that it was one of the principal Things in which Men and Women differed from Brutes; that the Want of it was esteemed a deplorable Loss, and what rendered her Brothers and Sisters Objects of Pity: And, lastly, That as she, who had her Hearing, and thereby a Capacity of Speaking, as the rest of Mankind enjoy’d it, was ruined merely by the Accident of losing her Father and Mother, and being brought up by her Sisters, who could not speak to her. This, however necessary for her to know it, was impossible to bring into her Understanding by any other Means that could be used; for nothing the Priest said to her, could make any Impression, but what was delivered by Signs, and by the Motion of the Fingers; and he was not acquainted with those Things enough to make himself be understood; he had not been used to preach in the Language of the Fingers; and it was so very difficult to bring her to receive a Notion of Things, so contrary to what she had taken in from her Childhood, that he could do little towards it, ’till he found the Way how to make her Brothers and Sisters sensible of the Case, viz. That their little Sister might be taught to speak; that she had her Hearing very well, and so was capable of learning the Difference of Sounds, and consequently of Words; and that it would be of infinite Advantage to her, if they would convince her of the Advantage she had in her Hand, and dispose her to learn. At last the dumb Sisters, tho’ not without Difficulty to make them understand it, took the Hint, and went heartily to work with the youngest, and soon, by their silent Way of Speech, satisfied her of their Misfortune, and of her Advantage; so that in a very little while, she was as assiduous to learn to speak, as could be desired, and consequently, much the sooner learned it; though, as I have said, never learned to speak so plain, as she would have done, had she been sooner taught; as, I dare say, will be the Case of the Youth we are speaking of, if ever he comes to his Speech, which, I must acknowledge, I very much question. Had not the Ecclesiastick taken this in Hand, ’tis evident the young Woman would not have learned to speak at all; nor, perhaps, have ever been sensible of the Loss, or the Value of Speech; for Nature seems, when she leaves us in these Circumstances, to give us this Felicity with it, That nothing can be said to be really miserable, that does not see itself to be so. 200

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The young Lunenburgher, by all the Accounts I have yet had of him, has not the least Sense of any Unhappiness in his present Condition; not the least Affliction at his not being like those he sees about him; and, to compleat his Felicity, he is so far from Envy or Avarice, as I have hinted before, that he rather covets to be what he was, than what he might be by the Instruction and Assistance, which he is now in the Way to receive. How happy in these Negatives, was the young Woman I have mentioned? And even this Youth at Court, is, in some respect, the same; with this Difference only, namely, That she had an apparent Share of Brains, which, indeed, I do not hear that he is yet charged with; she had a Stock of good Sense to work upon, tho’ all her Work, indeed, was to do afterwards; but yet, I doubt not, it was much easier to her to do it from the Supply of Ingenuity, which she was in Condition to bring in as assistant to her Instructor, than if she had been void of these Helps. But whence came this Supply of good Sense? Whence the Share of Brains? Not that she had a greater Portion bestowed on her by Parent Nature, at least, not that we know of; but she had had the Advantage of Conversation, such as it was, with her mute Relations, her dumb Brothers and Sisters, who were civilized and instructed, as far as they were capable of it, before, and consequently set her an Example; for there are Acquirements even in this State of silent Life, and we have seen dumb People arrive to a very great Share of them. And here I cannot omit a particular Case which occurs to my Thoughts upon teaching a deaf Person to speak: How is it possible they should know, that they pronounce the Words which they are taught to say, and which they intend to speak? They open their Mouths, and form the Word as directed by the ingenious Teacher; but they cannot hear themselves, whether they pronounce audibly and articulately, or no. I knew a Man in the City of London, who so entirely lost his Voice by a Defluxion of Rheum117 upon his Lungs and Throat, that he could not speak one Word, so as to be heard; no, not so much as to whisper, yet he would talk, that is to say, endeavour to talk, he would form the Words in his Mouth, and, by his Tongue and Palate, as usual, and often think he spoke, when he made no manner of Sound to be heard: It was really a moving Sight to see the poor Gentleman striving with the fatal Obstruction, heaving with his Breath to add Force to its passing, and to utter something; and the same Cold or Defluxion, affecting his Hearing too, he was very miserable; for he laboured for Speech, and when he had, with sweating and straining, forced his Words into Sound (as he thought) he would be under grievous Agonies and Disappointments, when he found he had not been heard; for he could not tell when he spoke, and when he did not; sometimes a Word or two 201

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would be heard, and sometimes not; and this Hoarseness continued near two Years upon him, and by the labouring and straining for Speech, together with the Distemper itself, he brought himself into a Consumption,118 which killed him. In the Case of a deaf and dumb Person, it is much worse: That he may be taught to speak, you have heard; but as he does not hear himself make the least Noise, I would be glad to know, if the best Naturalist that ever was, could inform me, by what Means that deaf Person can perform the differing Motions requisite to express the different Words respectively; at the same Time not knowing when he does it, or when he does it not; neither when he performs it right, and when wrong; and even how he knows what he is doing. This Enquiry would take up a little Volume by itself, to have it duly spoken of, so I leave it for the Speculation of the learned Part of the World, as a Difficulty, I confess, I cannot get over. It was observed, when the young Woman I mentioned above, came to her Speech, and (as she could hear before) became capable of Conversation, she became also very sensible of the Time she had lost, and the Injury it had been to her; she was between Seventeen and Eighteen Years old, before, as I said above, she gained the Fluency of her Tongue, and even then, with Hesitation and Impediment; she spoke always like a Foreigner; and particularly it was remarkable, that she found great Difficulty in pronouncing some of the Letters of the Alphabet, as the R especially, which she always pronounced as the Northumbrians do, and which is therefore called, the Northumberland R, speaking in the Throat, and harsh, like Ghr; as also th, which she pronounced like d, as several Foreigners do; but this I take by Report. Now, without confining the Thought to her Personally, or to our new Object in particular, the Disadvantage of such a Circumstance as this, is evident where-ever it happens, and as it was with her, it will be so with him, and with others also, only, perhaps, with this Difference between them, viz. That she was sensible, and greatly afflicted at it; whether every one in the same Condition, will be so or not, is left to be discovered as their Senses and Powers of just Reasoning shall, or shall not, be recovered; but let us take it as it appears, and as it may justly be observed by those who have not the same Unhappiness; I say, Let us take it as it appears in the Object before us. 1. Supposing, after a Year or two, with great Pains being taken upon him by those to whom the Education and Instructing him is committed, he should attain to Speech, which yet, at first Sight, is not easy to see into, or to judge whether he may or no; yet when he can speak, it will require infinite Pains to bring him to know Things, as well as 202

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Words, and to give every thing its right Use, and distinguish it by its right Name, when he has done; for a long Time he will call one thing, by another thing’s Name; as a Man a House, or a House a Man, and the like; and if he should run into the grossest Mistakes in his ordinary Conversation at Co—t, or any where else (as may sometimes happen) we must not wonder at it; for Example, If he should say, The Duke of — was a Philosopher, His Grace of — Uxorious, My Lord — a Conjurer, The learned Dr. — a Speaker of Truth, Justice — sober, The Lady Ann — a Beauty, Bright Mrs. Elen — Dumb, Lady Betty — Chaste, Mrs. W— Witty,119 and the like; I say, If he does commit such Blunders as these, the Honourable Persons concerned, must place it to the Account of his uninstructed Circumstance, and excuse him by this, That he does not know, but that he speaks right, or, in short, does not know what he says. 2. The Work would not be near accomplished, tho’, by long Use, and after innumerable Fauxpas, as above, he had obtained to call Things and Persons, by their right Names, ’till he had so frequently called them over and over in his Mind, as to be able to retain them; and it is to be observed here, as we go on, that even this is a Part of the Faculty called Memory, though we call it Custom only; ’tis by Strength of Memory only, that we are able to know Things, and call them by their Names; that we call the Azure Heavens Sky, the Lights in it Stars, the Water Rivers, or Seas, or Ponds, or Rain, according to their several Situations, Quantity, and Positions: we are first taught to Know; that is a Part by itself; but no-body can teach us to Retain; no, nor can any one be taught to Retain, ’tis the Operation of a particular Power, the Business of an Agent appointed for that Purpose, and nothing else; and this is what we call Memory; by this we retain what we are taught, and were Memory decay’d, we should forget all again, in spight of Fifty, or One hundred Years Usage and Custom: Had Man never had a Memory, he could never have called any one thing twice by the same Name, without being reinform’d, or, as we say, reminded of it; as we see is the Case in those Animals, which we learn to speak, as we say, by Rote; you may teach a Parrot when you say, What is this? to reply, as if he answered the Question, upon your holding up a Candle to him, It is a Candle; but take a Shovel, or any thing else, and hold up to him next Moment, and say again, What is this? and he will answer, It is a Candle; the Reason is, He has no Knowledge of what it really is, and no Memory to distinguish by, if he had been told. 203

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This is a Thing, perhaps, very little consider’d, yet very important to us all: As by Imitation of Sound we first attain to Speech, so it is certainly by the Memory, that we know what to speak; and had the deaf and dumb Man no Memory, who, as I observed, Mr. Baker has taught to speak, I insist, that he could never have called any thing twice by the same Name. 3. When by the Aid of the Memory, he attains to call Things by their right Names, he has yet a main Point to conquer; namely, To know the Uses of Things, and the Meaning of Words, that is, in short, he must learn to mean, as well as speak; indeed I have been taken up here with a smart Reproof, by an ingenious Author, who lately shewed me a Manuscript of his own performing, Intitled, An Essay upon the extraordinary Accomplishment, and the particular Felicity of those who have made a Proficiency in the Art of having no Meaning. ‘To mean’, says my worthy Friend, ‘is the Burthen of Life, eclipses the brightest Parts, dulls the Brain, makes a Man from a happy Fool, become a miserable, poring, caring, distracted Philosopher; a mere Sir Isaac,120 capable of putting Bills for Eight thousand Guineas in his Coat Pocket, and forgetting it there, ’till the Coat goes to the Footman to brush, and comes back without the Paper, Poring into Ethicks and Opticks, Horoscopes and Telescopes, Microscopes and Devilscopes, ’till Brains and Eye-sight sink away together. This is to Mean; The Bane of the Understanding, the Ruin of the Memory, and the Destruction of the Man; whereas he that goes through the World and means nothing, knows nothing; as he means not, he thinks not; he acts a great deal, and does nothing; he passes off Life, as he does Epsom Water,121 it goes out as it comes in; Day and Night, Wet and Dry, Storms and Calms, Clear and Cloudy, all’s alike, he’s secure, he raves without Passion, blasphemes without Prophaneness, Curses without Malice, Drinks without Taste, Sings without Musick, and Talks without Sense; in a Word, He goes to the Pretender without Treason, and goes to the Devil without Fear; O happy unmeaning Beau! from the Cadet in the Guards, to my Lord Duke, with his new Blue:122 How much does the fortunate Wretch live and act above the Understanding of the rest of the World, when he acts without his own?’ But to leave Quotations, and return to my own Reflection; 4. When Words and Names, and the Meaning of Words, are attained, the untrained Youth has yet a great deal to do: He can speak, and converse; but he cannot read the Words he speaks; he pronounces the Sylabs, puts the Sound into Form articulately; but he does not know the same Words again, when they are written, or impressed; he is sur204

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prized, like the Indian that carried a Letter at the first Settling Virginia,123 to see a Piece of Paper speak. This requires a new Mechanism, and all the Powers of his Soul, were he as bright as —, as deep as —, and as capable as —, cannot dictate to him how to do it. Divine Art dictated Letters124 originally upon Mount Sinai in a Flame of Fire, and the first Copy was set by the great first Author of Letters, the Sovereign of Nature; nor was it possible for any thing short of Infinite, to have found a Character for Speech, and joyn Letters by Prolation,125 so as to form a Sound, and make the whole World conversible, and at the greatest Distance. This the unfledg’d Soul of a dumb Person (be it the Forester, or who else you please) will be no more Master of by being taught to speak, than before he can speak; it must be taught him by the HornBook,126 the Primmer,127 the Fescue,128 and the Ferula;129 and he must go to the Spelling School in spight of Dr. A—tt, and any other Education-Undertakers, unless his Doctorship, or some other good old Woman of like Abilities, should turn School-Mistress, and teach him themselves. 5. When Two Years more, at least, are taken up in this immediate Labour, for such it is; nay, even Drudgery, and will be so, both to Teacher and Learner: He may then come to the Pen and Ink; for Speaking and Reading qualifies him little or nothing for the Writing what he can both speak and read. Nor, when he is taught to both read and write, is he taught the Orthography of the Language, or how to spell the Words: How many beautiful Pen-Men, how many that can read very distinctly; in a Word, How many who could both read and write in several Languages, and that have been Criticks in the Greek and Hebrew, have not been able to write true English, or, in short, to spell in any tolerable Manner, their Mother-Tongue? There was a famous General130 in the Service of the great Gustavus Adolphus,131 who commanded on several most important Occasions, and obtained several glorious Victories; who spoke several Languages, Four or Five at least; talk’d like an Orator, fought like a Fury, conquered like a Cæsar, yet could neither read or write, and, to cover the Defect, when he was to sign any publick Acts, Orders, Warrants for Execution of Criminals, Capitulation for the taking Cities or Towns, &c. did it by a Stamp, which had his Name at large, and which he dipp’d in Ink, that he carried with him for that Purpose, and so he strook his whole Name at large, like a Type, or like a Fac-Totum132 in the Printing-Press. 205

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Writing and Reading, however of kin in the Practice, are not at all so in the Learning; nor are they taught by the same Hands, as they are not performed by the same Manner; To read, as I said of naming Things, depends entirely upon Memory; to write, is an Art manual, and is perform’d by a Dexterity particular to itself, nor does it require less Time, or less Application, but rather much more than reading; so that if you take all these together, such a Creature as I am speaking of, has Five or Six Years Work upon his Hands to learn those capital Articles, which are, as it were, but Introductions to the Improvements of Life; and all which, had he been instructed as early as he ought to have been, should have been over before now; and which other Children are generally considerably improved and perfected in at his Age; so that his first Unhappiness is, That he has lived, perhaps, the 14 or 15 Years of his first, and best, Learning Time, to no Purpose at all. This is, by the Way, upon a Supposition, That he is capable of learning at all, which, however, I do not grant, neither am I much preposses’d yet, in Favour of his Capacities. But, supposing all this to be over, and that in about Five or Six Years, that is, perhaps, When he comes to be by Computation about Twenty, he may have learn’d to speak, to call Things by their Names, know some of their Uses; that is to say, some of the most common, as that a Cart, is to be drawn with Horses, or other Creatures, because it cannot move of itself; that a Horse is used to ride upon, and that Men ride for Expedition in Business, as well as Pleasure and Diversion; that Houses are to dwell in, Corn to make Bread of, and the like; in a Word, That he can reason upon the Nature of the Things he sees. When he is come this Length, suppose at 20 Years old, he has yet Seven Years Apprenticeship to serve to the common Systems of human Knowledge, not to speak a Word of Science, Philosophy, or Religion; and we may suppose these Seven Years may make him just fit to come abroad in the World. All this Time, I say, I take no Notice of his having any thing of what we call Academick Learning, or the Knowledge of Language; no, nor of Books, or of Men. As for that Trifle called Religion, I reckon no Time at all to that Part, in which, I know I please many of my Sceptical, Deistical, AnteEnthusiastick133 Readers. I call them Ante-Enthusiasts, because they place so little Weight upon Religion in general, that they never are at the Pains to make Pretensions to Inspirations or Revelations of any kind whatsoever. But I shall be less in their Favour, when I shall tell them, That I set no Years of Time apart for instructing him in the Principles and Practice of Christian Knowledge and Religion, because I would take it for granted, 206

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that his Instructors shall gradually instill the Christian Knowledge into his Soul by constantly blending it together, and joining it to every other Branch of their Instructions; and if they do not, let them account for the Neglect as they think best. Let us then reflect for him at the Age of Six-and-Twenty, or thereabouts, what a terrible Loss he has sustained for want of Speech, and that Speech only lost for want of early Erudition, seeing he could hear from his Childhood. I know I meet full Butt here, a Current Opinion of some Gentlemen of too much Dignity to name, who tell us, ’Tis not genteel to read Books; that ’tis only gratifying Fools, and filling the World with Controversy, only to pick Pockets, and spend Time; that the reading Fools are the worst Fools of the Age, except the writing Fools; that they will never fill their Heads with any Mens Notions but their own; that Nature teaches enough, more than they need to know; and as for learning Things of other People, ’tis below their Quality; that ’tis enough they can read if they please, and when they have nothing else to do, they will consider of it. With the like, or rather with more Contempt, they speak of Writing; and one of those wise, untaught Gentlemen told me the other Day, He would not learn to write any more than just his Sir-Name, for fear the Devil should tempt him to turn Author, and write Politicks; a certain Proof to me, that he had not convers’d with the old Gentleman134 about it; if he had, he would have answered him, That the Devil is too wise to undertake Impossibilities; and that when once a Fool conceits himself wise, the Devil himself cannot undeceive him; but that, by the Way: As to Writing, the same Gentleman added, It did not signify Two Farthings to a Gentleman of Quality. They refer us to King Henry VIII. the gallantest Prince, and the greatest Hero of his Age, who could hardly write his own Name, at least, not so as to be easily read, of which several Testimonies are still to be seen. It is true, my Acquaintance does not lead me to examine into the writing of our British Princes, though I have the Honour to have seen the Hand-writing of Five Sovereigns, and to have in my Possession, the Handwriting of most of them, as of King James II. of King William, of Queen Anne, and of King George; and I can witness, they all wrote very well; though, I think, the Queen wrote the best of them all, and particularly her Majesty spelt very good English: but this is a Digression, and only answers to my Lord —135 and to the Gentleman above, who pretended, that Gentlemen of Quality need not trouble themselves whether they can write or read. It seems, there was a Meeting in a late Reign, of some Persons of Quality, moved by a certain generous Lover of Learning, and who was sensible 207

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of the Deficiency of the rest: His Motion was, That they should form a Society among themselves, for improving their Knowledge, and making them Masters of Stile, as well as of other very needful Qualifications; and it went some Length towards an Agreement; but afterwards broke up upon this Foot, Da—136 it, says Sir Robert R—, I don’t much like this Project; I believe it will be very troublesome, and I hate taking Pains at any thing: But, Sir, says another Sir Robert — we shall learn several good Things that may be very useful to us, and that we hardly look like Gentlemen, much less like Noblemen, for want of: Prithee, Sir Robert, don’t tell us of useful and learning Things, says my Lord — Da— it, I hate to learn any thing; But, my Lord, says another Gentleman, We may improve our Understandings; Pshaw, says my Lord —, don’t tell me of Understanding, I neither have, or ever had, any Understanding in such Things, and I abhor to be taught. My Lord — stood up next, and joyn’d his Da— to the rest; I tell you, says his Lordship very warmly, We won’t hear any more of it, Da— it, it is not genteel to be Bookish, let us sit, and drink, and enjoy ourselves; a Gentleman is always in safe Hands, when he has Two Bottles in his Head. In short, the Discourse went through the whole Society, three-and-thirty in Number, all Gentlemen of Rank, Gentleman of Distinction, and some of Noble Race, and all agreed, to a Man, except those above, That to improve themselves, was a dull, insipid Proposal, beneath their Quality, and unworthy of them, as Gentlemen; in a Word, they thought it not worth their while to be made any wiser than they were, and therefore they would not trouble themselves about it: This so verified Solomon’s wise Words of a Fool in a Mortar,137 that I could not but call him to Mind, and with that Text of Scripture, we may venture to close the Consideration of it; for they who choose Ignorance, should always have it; and the Fools which hate Knowledge,138 should always go without it; As Wisdom and Virtue are their own Reward, so Vice and Ignorance are their own Punishment; and they who choose them, as Solomon says of other Criminals, Let them flee to the Pit, let no Man stay them;139 that is, as I should translate it, Let them be as miserable as they desire to be.

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PART IV. Of the Usefulness and Necessity of Fools in the present Age, and especially at the Courts of some Princes. YOU may see, I have now done with the Lunenburgher: The wild Subject need employ our Thoughts no farther, ’till, in Consequence of the Labours of his learned Instructors, he shall let us see what he really is, whether a Savage, or an Idiot; whether capable or incapable; Statesman or Mechanick;140 and that, according to such Discovery, we may make a Judgment of what may be to come, and of what we may expect from him. But as the various Appearances in which he has been shewn to us, have put the speculating World upon talking gravely about him, so I, among the rest; I hope, without Offence: This gave me some Contemplation upon that Part of Mankind, who, I thought to be most of kin to him; among whom I first consider a Sort which the World calls Politicians, or Statesmen, and which others, with as much Justice as Gravity, tell us, are to be reckon’d among the Savages and wild Creatures of the World, who ’tis very hard to give an Account of. These are a Sort of People, who, indeed, appear in several Shapes, and act several Parts: They are, of late Years especially, found to be very useful, if not necessary to the World, chiefly by being good for nothing; are trusted with the greatest Affairs of the World, even because they are fit to be trusted with nothing, and are sometimes the greatest, the cunningest, the wisest, and the worst of Fools, because of Men. What can be more rational, than to talk of these People under the Head of Savages and wild People? They are ravenous and devouring, as the most Forest-bred Creature in the World; they prey upon their Fellow Animals with an unsatisfied Appetite. Such a Statesman, they say, is like that Sort of Wolf, which the Indians call a Wigocogocomus, which has no Intestines, but the Reception, Digesture, and Evacuation of what it takes in, is all performed in one Rectum, or great Vessel, reaching from the Os141 to the Anus, by the mere Heat of the Appetite; dissolving and diffusing Nourishment in the Passage, with an inconceivable Swiftness; so that it is impossible it should be ever satisfied or full; for what he receives, is no sooner in at his Mouth, but it is out at his Heels, and makes Room for more; and it may be 209

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truly said to devour, rather than to eat, and is therefore so voracious, that it swallows all that comes near it, that is fit for its Food. The Brute which I think is represented by this Allusion, is, indeed, a Devourer and Destroyer not of Men, but of Nations. If he be Intrusted with Power, he Tyrannizes in a manner unsufferable over the inferior People, imposes upon his Equals, and abuses his Superiors, perhaps his Sovereign: How many well-meaning Princes have been ruined by such Monsters as those, when, by loading the People with intolerable Oppressions, they have driven them, by mere Desperation, into Insurrections, and taking up Arms for their Properties, and the Prince has been insulted and deposed for the Malversations142 of his Statesmen and Council? As those Men are far from wise, however cunning, and as they drive at Aggrandizing themselves and Families only, not at the Good and Welfare of their Country, it is with unquestionable Justice, that I rank them among the Fools I am now speaking of; and this leads me to tell you, that there are in the World a great Variety of Fools, besides those which the World generally understands by that Name: I shall enumerate them, or some of them; that is to say,



And

Cunning Fools. Unnatural Fools. Prating Fools. Rogue Fools.



Wise Fools Natural Fools Silent Fools Knave Fools

In which last Sort are included, Politick Fools, State Fools, Church Fools, Cum aliis.143 It is not my Design to go over the several Denominations again, by way of Dissertation, ’tis enough to name them. The State Fool is the Kind that, I think, Europe is now pretty much under the Discipline of; I think some have lately cleared their Hands of such, to their Praise be it spoken: Their Character is easily delineated by only looking into the Foreign History of our own Times: How they are at this Time leading the World Head-long into War (I mean abroad, for I speak now of foreign Nations) and setting whole Kingdoms together by the Ears, may be Part of the Subject of these Sheets, and of many a laborious Volume hereafter; for they are making Work for the Historians of many Generations. Wonder not, that when I talk of the Politicians, Statesmen, and prime Ministers of the Age, I rank them among Fools, their own Conduct, generally speaking, not only shews them to be such, but, as they often live to see themselves to be Fools at last, so sometimes also, they live to be used like Fools too, and as Fools deserve, of which we have Examples even just now 210

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before us, in some neighbouring Countries, besides what we have formerly had in our own. However, as this nice Article is to be handled with Caution, and Fools are to be spoken of wisely, I again enter my Caveat here, that when I talk of Politicians and Statesmen, Fools that are Favourites, and employed as such, I am to be understood to mean, none but such as we see meriting those Characters among our Neighbours, and in foreign and remote Countries; As to our own Statesmen, Ministers, Counsellors, and Politicians (except such as are out of Office and unemploy’d) they are all out of the Question; nothing but Praises and Panegyricks attend them; they are all wise, honest, just, generous (may they be always so) abusing no-body, and no-body abusing them; which last, however, if they escape, they will have more to boast of, than most honest Statesmen that ever went before them; but this is a Digression in order to be rightly understood only. I return to my Subject. This critical Article of State Fools, if, according to the Principles of Medicine, it may be handled, as the learned M—144 has it, like a Doctor, may be of wonderful Use in the World; and first, A Fool, in the Sense I shall at present take the Word, as well as the Person, is a kind of human Vegetable, and may be considered as a mere Simple;145 it may, no doubt, be number’d among the Drugs which Nature has furnished for such Physical146 Uses, as the Politicians, who are the State-Doctors of the Age, may think fit to apply it to; and thus you may place the Fools among the Materia Medica147 of the State. Nor is it any Impeachment of our Skill in Politick Pharmacy, that we take in a living Creature into the List of our Preparations, since, in the ordinary Course of Physick,148 nothing is more common, than to make use of several Species of Animals, such as Vipers, Snakes, Toads, Mice, Swallows, nay, and of the very meanest of Vermin, such as Flies, Spiders, Locusts, Millepeids, Snails, and the like, from which some of the nicest Parts of Compound Medicine149 are prepared. Hence I infer, that Fools have their proper Uses in State-Medicine; that is to say, In Applications for the good Government of Nations; as Poisons in Physick to temper and allay Heats on one Side, or to work up to a Consistency, the noxious Humours150 of the People on the other; and particularly to raise Tumults, popular Clamours, and, in short, Rebellions, as Occasion requires, in which Cases, they often serve for Sacrifices to the Resentment of the Politicians; and when they have been the Cats-Foot151 of a Party for a due Season, are given up at last to skreen their Employers from Punishment, while those Employers in the mean Time, cover themselves behind the Cloud of Dust raised in their Favour, and bring in the Fools to hang for them. Those are such as Hudibras describes thus, 211

Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5 —— —— —— A Tool Which wise Men work with, call’d a Fool.152

We have had many Instances of such as those in all Ages, among ourselves, as well as among our Neighbours, even from the most early Accounts of Time, down to the Year 1720, when the Agents of Agents, being skreen’d from Justice, sacrificed Twenty-six Directing Tools, to cover their own Guilt, and made the Twenty-Seventh a Scape Goat153 to go into the Wilderness with the Sins of his Friends upon his Head, it being a Load too heavy for them to stay at home with. Thus our Friend L— was turned a Drift154 in a neighbouring Country too, while the honest Re—t155 put the Millions in his Pocket, which the People lost; and the Tool was to take it for a Favour, that he was left to nobody’s Mercy, but his Master’s, and to be plundered only by him, for whom he had plundered the whole K— of F—.156 It might be a very improving Undertaking here, and very suitable to the Subject, to enter a little into the several particular Cases wherein these Creatures called Fools, considering them now as Animals, not as Vegetables, are made useful in their Generations; and when, and on what Occasions, they are so necessary as has been said. As, first, We find they are very necessary in all Cases, where-ever ’tis of Use to tell Noses,157 and, therefore, not to instance in Matters of higher Moment, which, however, the Reader may apply as he thinks fit; I take them to be wonderfully convenient in some laudable City-Exercises; such as that of Birding,158 naming F—s159 to Offices that cannot serve them, in order to get Money out of them; of which we have more Examples, than Room to name them in; these People have been useful also in Elections of many Kinds, but especially of Common-Council Men160 in great and renowned Cities; in nominating Committees of the same Bodies, after they are chosen, in marking out succeeding Officers by the Bottle, and the Glass,161 and in like Cases; Also in all Committees, except always Committees of P—t162 (stand clear there) I have found the Vote of a Fool has gone as far in Tale,163 as the Vote of a Counsellor, or of an Alderman; also in all those most regular, however populous and tumultuous Elections by the Hustings, and Common-Hall;164 I have observed the Number of the Hands, whether they had any Heads belonged to them or no, has carried the Day, and the Sheriff declares the Choice by the Appearance of them. Is not then a Fool as significant here, whatever it may be in other Parts of the World, as some wise Men? I might exemplify this also among the Superiors of some Cities; where even a Lord M—,165 and Court of A—men166 among whom, at least, ’till a late Act of Parliament for regulat212

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ing Things of that Kind, was passed, I have seen that a F— has made no indifferent Figure; and even to this Day, I am told, That it is supposed by some to be of no great Signification, whether the Chair be filled with a wise Man, or something else, and that there was very lately an eminent Example of it, The same fine Coach, the same Furr Gown, being as suitable and significant to one, as to the other; just as I have known the same Lawn Sleeves,167 the same square Cap, and other Church Ornaments, adorn the Carcass of an ignorant Priest, or a learned Antiquary, when his Holiness has grac’d them equally with the red Hat, and they have obtained the Favour of a Cardinalate. It might be enlarged on, much to the Advantage of this Argument, if History and Antiquity were search’d, that it has been no more thought necessary, that every Statesman should be a wise Man, than, that every Pope should be an Apostle, every Cardinal be a Scholar, or every Bishop be a Philosopher; it was said of Pope Alexander III,168 that he had too much Sense to be a Pope, the Chair requir’d, it seems, now-and-then a Fool, or else the Cardinals could not make their Market of the Church, so much to their Minds, as they would otherwise do. Nay, History has some Examples in which it might be proved, that if all the Statesmen had been wise Men, the Nations they had governed had been undone; and not to go back too far into Antiquity, let us look but a little into the State of our late Combustions, even in this Country, in the Days of King Charles I. had not his M—y made some Concessions, which the wise Men of that Age, called granting too much, it had been in the Power of arbitrary Instruments, to have left the People not so much as the Name of Liberties for their Posterity to defend. Again, Had not Arch Bishop L—169 been of the Soft Race, he would never have attempted that weak Project of imposing the Service Book in Scotland, by which he afterwards lost the Opportunity of Riding the Church of England to Death, and bringing in a civil Popery upon the People, even under a Prince that abhorred a religious Popery. How necessary an Implement was the immediate Son and Successor of Oliver Cromwell, to whose happy Deficiency of Brains, and to that alone, England, ow’d afterward the Blessing of the Restoration; an Example unexceptionable, unless you would have me suggest, what some ill-natur’d People have suggested; namely, That it may be disputed whether the Restoration has been a Blessing or no. Had Richard170 been stored with Brains, as he was not deficient in Courage, he had certainly accepted of the Offer which the Colonel of his Guards made him, who brought him Word, That there was a great Council of Officers to meet that Evening at Wallingford House, to concert Measures to 213

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depose him, and bring in the King; but that, if he would give him Leave, he would go and surprize them in the Height of their Consultations, and would answer for it, that he would bring them all Prisoners to him to a Man, or cut them in Pieces upon the Spot. Had he taken that bold Counsel, the Restoration had been impossible; nay, and the Revolution too: Richard had new-modelled the Army in a Moment, and he had sat securely upon the Throne ’till the Year 1710, or thereabouts; for he liv’d to be something upwards of Ninety. Come we down lower: Had the restor’d Prince been a true Politician, a Statesman, as well as a King; had he made Use of that vast Interest which he then had in the Affections of his People; had he husbanded the Treasure, and laid up the vast Sums the People gave him, how easily was it in his Power, the Assistance of France included, to have won them into Slavery, by the mere Bait of their Affections, and to have brought them to give up to him their Liberties, as they did their Money? And, to close the List of Precedents, Had King James II.171 been any thing but a —;172 nay, that worst of weak ones call’d a Bigot, and not driven on like Phaeton,173 to the Overturning the whole Fabrick of the Government, how easily, by Time and subtle Measures, had this Nation, who had at that Time, sacrificed their Patriots, and their Properties, been drawn in to submit gradually, first to Tyranny, and then to Popery, even without the least Reserve? But Folly gallopp’d on before, and Precipitation spurr’d behind; and, in a Word, the happy Regency of Fools, sav’d the Nation from Ruin and Destruction; the Priests drove on the King, and the King suffered himself to be Priest-ridden, ’till they both over-rid the Nation, who, like Issachar’s Ass,174 had couch’d and taken up the Burthen; yet being at last overpress’d with the Weight of it, kick’d up her Heels, cast her Riders, burst her Girts,175 and set herself free in a Moment: What need we meddle any farther in History, or look into the Conduct of Princes, Courtiers, and Statesmen, the Rulers of the People? Let us come, in the next Place, a Degree lower, and to the present Age, and here we may look at home too, and enquire among the People, how does that Maxim still hold, and how necessary are those wise People we call FOOLS , among us of the Pleb—?176 Are they not the only Men of Fashion? (asking Pardon of the Hypocrites) Can any thing be now extreamly bright and gay, perfectly fine and agreeable, without coming into the Class of Fools? Is not the very Taste of the Town founded in the Excess of Folly? Where is the Relish of any thing else to be found? And what are your Beau, your pretty Fellow, and your Assembly-Men,177 take them at home or abroad, but the finish’d Fools of the Day? 214

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A Rhiming Friend178 of mine hearing me speak of these grave People the other Day, pulled out a Paper, which he called, Some hasty Thoughts upon that Subject; which, because I thought to my Purpose, I got his Leave to offer to the Publick; they that like them not, may pass them, as if they stood in Parentheses; so they lose no Time, and the Matter goes on.

In doing nothing, is their main Delight, They rise i’th’ Morning, to lie down at Night; A transient View they take of Things; but know No more, than Nature’s Outside’s pleas’d to show; Wrapp’d in a perfect Indigence of Brains, Their lowest Sense, their highest Bliss contains; Do nothing eminently Good, or Evil, Nothing in Favour much of GOD , or Devil: Of Sense so empty, and of Self so full; So very Bright, and yet so very Dull; Nothing’s so Wise, nothing’s so much a Fool.



The World appears, as if ’twas made for Fools, Who live at large, and scorn Restraint or Rules, But rattle on, and seem to move in Haste, Regarding nothing future, little past.

Changes of Fate, with equal Force they stem, Remember nothing, none remembers them: Their Grief’s as superficial as their Joy, Their Thought’s all Trifle, and their Life’s all Toy; Pois’d between Sense and Nonsense, even go, They cannot soar too high, or sink too low: In their compleat Unhappiness they’re blest, They neither live in Earnest, or in Jest, Yet all they do, and all they say, is Best.



Boldly they trample on the eternal Brink, And ’tis their Happiness, they seldom think; But flutter round, borne up with ev’ry Wind, And neither look before them, or behind; They neither do or suffer, teach or learn, Things present know, or, Things to come discern; Yet in their Ignorance so strangely Wise, They all Mens Knowledge, but their own, despise.

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Ev’n Heaven itself, to them imports no more, Than something strange, remote, and never heard before; Serenely careless of Futurity, Brim full of Crime, and yet from Conscience free; With nothing pleas’d, yet nothing can resent; Do nothing well, yet nothing to repent: The World and They, keep all Accounts so clear, They enjoy the Guilt, yet live without the Fear; Lightly they traverse o’er the Stage of Life, Feel all the Joy, and jest away the Grief; Drop eas’ly off, with neither Pain or Fear, And scarce leave Notice, that they have been here. The Learned tell us, That Maxims in Reason, and in Nature, hold in all Places, in all Climates, in all Countries, and among all People, at the same Time, and prevail with a like Force upon the Mind. Methinks, if Fools had not the governing Influence in many of the Councils and Courts of Europe at this Time (those of Great Britain and its Allies excepted; for we must always except our Friends) I say, If Fools did not strangely govern the World abroad, the People and Powers of Christendom, who have so lately, and so deeply suffer’d by War,179 who have lost so much, and bled so much, should not be so foolish to break in upon their own Tranquillity, and drive head-long again into the same Mischief. And because this is a Subject I cannot dismiss so soon as perhaps I may do some other, though of more Moment, let me begin by a grave Enquiry, Why it is, and how it comes to pass, that those Nations, of all the rest of Europe, who are the most unfit for War, the least furnished to carry on a War, the worst Soldiers when they come into the Field, and the unlikeliest to get any thing by fighting, should be the first, nay, perhaps, the only People, or, at least, the most busy in beginning a War, and bringing the rest of Europe to engage in it? That those should be the only People to kindle the Flame, who are sure to be the first that should be scorch’d by it; like the head-long Jews, who burnt their own Temple,180 when the Romans would have saved it, though they were sure themselves to be burnt in it: This can be plac’d to no Account, so rationally, as to this I am speaking of; namely, There being Fools of State in the Administration in such Places; nay, it must be likely too, that they not only are in the Administration, but the Administration is in them; that is, They either are the Majority in Number, as I said above, and so the Fools govern by their Noses (Numbers) or the prime M—rs181 are of the Class; for as to the Sovereigns, give me Leave to tell you, I am so well 216

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bred, and have so good a Stock of Manners, that I never speak indecently of Crown’d Heads, at least, not of those in Being; nor can I allow myself to say, no, nor so much as suggest, that any of the Kings, or Emperors in the World, are meant, when I talk of Fools: Kings are never Fools; and when we speak of any of the particular Parts of their Conduct, as weak or absurd, or however otherwise to be censur’d, we are always to be understood of their Counsellors, prime Ministers, Favourites, and other Managers of them, and their Affairs; whether Male or Female, whether Ecclesiastick or Civil: As in the Reign of King —, when Female Managers guided the State, and Treaties were sign’d in a certain Du—ss’s182 Apartment, she was thence called the prime Minister for some Years after; or, as after that, in the Reign of King James II. when the Church ruled the State, and Father P—183 took upon him the Administration, so renowned for its foolish Part; he had the Honour of that useful Folly which saved three Kingdoms; and as Contraries sometimes bring best to pass the opposite Effects, so by setting up Popery, he most effectually pull’d it down; and by offering to establish it, produc’d the best Establishment against it, that ever was formed since the Reformation. If the like Folly does not hereafter overthrow it again, and the Pretences of adding to its Strength, weaken it, and reduce it to a worse State of Danger, than it was in before; of which, let them take Care whose Business it is. But to return to the Case, and to give some Light to the Reading of it from the History of Facts which are before us: Did ever any thing exemplify this Observation, more than the present Conduct of two particular Nations in the World, which are now much the Subject of our Politick Speculations? I. POLAND . The Affront given to, and the Insult upon the Protestant Powers by the late Massacre at Thorn,184 is a Thing too recent in Memory, and too much Noise has been made of it in Europe, to need any Repetition of the Fact. I do not say, The Jesuites at Thorn were Fools, unless I should rank them among the Cunning Fools, of whom I am yet to speak; no, no, their Design is known and evident; they acted in Concert with, and in Obedience to the whole Body, whose Project has been visible some Time; namely, To kindle the Fire of War in Europe, if possible, on the Account of Religion only, that we might have a Church War, and no other; so that, if it was practicable, they might embark all the Popish Powers on one Side; though, whether their Folly in that Part does not denominate them the greatest, and blindest of all State Fools in Europe, remains to be disputed: Yet, I say, 217

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the Jesuites of Thorn were not the Fools I am speaking of; so we must look farther. Upon the Clamour justly raised by the Protestants, the several Princes and Powers bordering on Poland, as well Guarantees of the Treaty of Oliva,185 as others, take the Alarm: The several Kings of Prussia, Sweden, Denmark, and Great Britain, as especially interested, join in Applications to the King of Poland, for immediate Satisfaction, and giving publick Assurances of supporting one another in the Demand, and in case Force should be required, give Poland plain Hints what they are to expect, if that Satisfaction is not made, and Justice done, upon the Aggressors, and others guilty of the Barbarity. But how does this famous Body act, and what Answer do they make? The King,186 a German by Birth, not a Pole (knowing, not only the Justice of the Demand, but the Unfitness of the blustering People of the Country, to withstand the Protestant Powers demanding, if they should persist in the Resolution of obtaining it by Force) temporizes, gives good Words to both Sides, promises his good Offices, offers his Mediation, and does really what the Interest of the People of Poland calls upon him to do; But what say the Poles themselves? Far from giving Satisfaction to the just Demand, they first make a light Enquiry into, and then an open Justification of the Fact, throwing the Odium of Rebellion and Tumult back upon the Protestants of Thorn, justify what the Jesuites did, and what the Popish Troops did afterwards, in executing the innocent Magistrates, and, in the most insolent and haughty Expressions, as it were, threaten the whole World with the Terror of their Arms, and their carrying on the Tyranny to a farther Height; disdaining the Offers of Mediation, even of the Emperor himself, though a Popish Power, and insulting the King of Great Britain in the Person of his Minister, refusing to admit him even to deliver his Message; with many other Insolencies offered to the Protestant Powers, and even at the same Time, attempt the farther Provocation of falling upon those few Protestants which they have among them in other Parts of Poland; so far they are from granting, that any Injury has been done, or that any Satisfaction ought to be made, that they make Preparations of War, talk of their numerous Armies, and invincible Troops, and bluster with their summoning their Pospolite Russiene,187 mounting on Horseback, and the like, as if they valued not all Europe arming against them. Were the Poles numerous as the Turks, disciplin’d as the Germans, rich as France, or Britain; had they an Army of Veteran Troops, had they experienc’d Generals, establish’d Funds for paying them, and well-stored 218

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Magazines for Arming and Supplying Armies suitable to those Blusters, those Things had some Sense in them. But do we not all know, and has not their King by just Experience found it so, and often complained (nay, they must needs know it themselves) That their Armies are undisciplin’d, ill paid, without Recruits, Arms, Cloaths, Money, or other Necessaries fit for the Field; that their Cavalry are a tumultuous Rabble of Lanciers,188 ill-governed, without Discipline or Experience, and, indeed, without sufficient Courage; so that even the Turkish Spahis189 always, or, at least, often beat them; nay, even the Tartars, and especially the Cossacks; that they neither are, ever were, or can be good for any thing, much less able to stand against the regular Cavalry of the Prussian, and other Protestant Powers, who they find Arming against them on all Sides? How often have the Saxons lost the Day to the Swedes, by the Cowardice, or worse, of those Troops? How often have the Turks defeated them with inferior Numbers, as at the Battle before Pest,190 and as at Barcan,191 was particularly remarkable, where they shamefully fled (King and all) and if the Duke of Lorrain, with the German Army, had not appeared, had been all, with their King, cut in Pieces? How often in their late Opposition against their King’s Foreign Troops, did the Saxon Forces, with half their Numbers, rout and defeat them? Yet this gasconading192 Nation are the People that scorn all your Demands for Satisfaction, refuse to receive your Ministers that come to demand it; seem to invite, nay, challenge the Prussians to attempt them if they dare, as if they coveted a Rupture: What can it be, but that some wild Thing, in a Kind as wild as our Hamelener, is near the Helm of Affairs among them? that a Spirit of Pride and Insult infatuates them? that they know nothing of themselves, or of their Neighbours? in a Word, That they are Fools, or are directed by Fools? The Poles threaten the Protestants with their Power! Mounting on Horseback, and taking the Field! Why it is enough to make the very Children laugh at them; if they have any Helpers, indeed, something may be said for them; and it seems as if the secret League they now talk of, had been long ago concerted among them, which, yet, ’tis evident it was not; for then they would not have rejected the Mediation of the Emperor, which, it seems, was offer’d them: Nothing can reconcile their Proceedings in this Part, but this, That a necessary Mixture of Fools in their Councils, has been their Lot, and they are Blest with them in such a Manner, as may, for ought we know, answer the End of the Clergy; namely, To embroil Europe, and ruin themselves, of which we may soon see the Event. 219

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The S PANIARD s are the next worthy Example which justifies my Remark. It is not many Years when the Spaniards, not for want of Fools among them, embarrass’d their whole Kingdom in an invasive War, in which they could not but see, that the Princes, the most favouring them, would be obliged to turn against them; and in the Consequence of which, they lost their Fleet,193 and a world of brave Men; brought the King of Great Britain upon them; and even the French themselves, who had been for so many Years before, the Support of their King, and all their Interest, by whom at last being brought to their Senses, they, after some Search, found it out; namely, That they were unhappily in the Management of Two Fools, one a Cunning, and the other a Self-interested ambitious Fool, and both Foreigners;194 and by dismissing those from the Administration, their Friends, who had been forced to use Violence with them, pitied them, and trusted them with the Government of themselves again, in hopes they would have a care how they dealt with Fools again, or, at least, how they came under their Government. But Bray a Fool in a Mortar, says the wise Man,195 he will yet be the same Fool again. Some of these are now, if we are not strangely mistaken, at the Bottom of most of the Projects which bid so fair for the embroiling Europe in a new War, both by Sea and Land; and yet, if they are not the most unfit to carry it on, either by Sea or Land, of all the Nations round them, then they must not be the same Spaniards, that they have been for above an Hundred Years past. Would it not almost make us doubtful, lest the whole Nation of Spain were gotten into a State of Idiotism, when, a few Months ago, they talked of drawing an Army to the Frontiers, to make an offensive War against France?196 We say, The French are not, merely as French, equal in the Field to the Imperialists;197 it appeared often, they were not equal to the late Confederate Armies which they were engag’d with, and it proved their Ruin on several Occasions, when their Numbers were superior, as at the great Battles of Blenheim, Ramilles, Turin,198 &c. But even the French, were they to engage the Spaniards at any Time, either by Sea or Land, I believe, would make no Scruple to fight them with one third less, either of Troops or Ships. Surrounded then, as they are with the French by Land, and having no Fleet at Sea, either to secure their Coasts, or to convey assisting Auxiliaries to them, what can the Spaniards mean, that they, of all the Nations on that Side of Europe, should talk so loudly of an offensive War? Nothing can be in it, in my Opinion, but an Administration of Fools; they had got a new Foreign —,199 to assist the weak Councils of the 220

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old —,200 that infatuated them before; and they seek that very Broil, which they are the most unable, of all the Nations round them, to support. Besides, if the greatest State-F—ls that ever rode on the Back of a wise Nation, had not been at the Helm of Affairs, and had not dipp’d their Hands in the Castilian Councils,201 what should move a Nation that has so much to lose, and which is so easily lost; so much in Hazard, and so very particularly exposed, and they so ill able to protect it; for those to embroil themselves with their Neighbours, who are so much stronger than themselves? Have they not the largest, the richest, and the most remotely situated Dominions of any of the Powers of Europe, on whose Wealth, though they so much depend, yet being now but alarmed with Six or Seven British Men of War gone to the West-Indies,202 they are afraid to bring it away, and hardly durst let their Galloons203 venture to come home? Nor is it more safe at home, than it would be to venture to Sea, if the same Power that sends so many Ships, thought fit but to send Five or Six thousand Men after them; And it is the Opinion of some, That Ten thousand Men, of regular Troops, from hence, might, at any time, take their whole American Empire from them, with all its Mountains, and Millions of Gold and Silver; nor was so large a Dominion, and so rich, as that of America, ever known in the World to be enjoyed under so weak a Defence, so small a Guard, and that Guard of such unsoldierly, cowardly, and wretched People, as have been always placed there, and are there even to this Day, of which innumerable Examples might be given; as particularly, When the Buccaniers, with a Handful of Men, took the City of Panama,204 rifled it, and carried off the Plunder; and when the French, with less than Four thousand Men, took and pillaged the City and Port of Carthagena,205 and would, with the same Support, take it again, if now to be performed, notwithstanding all the Resistance they could meet with, unless it was garrison’d with another Sort of People than West-India Spaniards; So contemptible are those Spaniards in Matters of Fighting! and yet they the most eager to quarrel, and to set the World in a Flame at this Time! Can this be any thing but the Perfection of Folly? People that are poor, Nations whose Soil is Barren, their Country starved, who are neither worth taking, or worth having, almost, when they are taken; such may love to fish in troubled Waters, because, as we say, they may be better, and cannot be worse; but People whose Soil is infinitely rich, whose Rivers flow with Gold, and their Mountains solid Silver; for these to quarrel, and lay themselves open to the Power of an Enemy, who are an Overmatch for them; What can be more absurd? The Occasion of it is evident, and the Reason of Things is often seen in the Event, as it was in Spain some Years ago: A State 221

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Fool206 at the Head of Affairs, bewilders a whole Nation, as a drunken Pilot at the Helm, strands, or splits the best Ship in the World, and runs upon the Rocks, which any Men with their Eyes open, would avoid. We might go round the World, and hardly ever come to a Court (our own excepted) where such Statesmen as these do not take their Turn at the Administration: We have had our Share of them formerly, though now those happy Days are over; Blind Favourites, they say, make Seeing Princes: I explain it thus, They bring the Princes to Extremity, and so open their Eyes by their Disasters; bring them to the Necessity of looking into their Affairs themselves, and so rectify the Mistakes of Government, at the Expence of the Fools that had embroil’d them. Now, as it is really an admirable Piece of Service to any distress’d and oppress’d Nation, to have the Eyes of their Princes open’d, and their Understandings set at Liberty from the Bondage of Sub-Government, How useful, how beneficial, nay, how absolutely necessary is it to such Nations, to have now-and-then a Fool in the Administration? And here, my Friends, I might take up some of your Time in doing Justice to the Spanish Nation; and had I Room for Panegyrick, I should enlarge very much upon it; That being so universally fam’d for Wisdom, and especially that extraordinary Piece of State Prudence, peculiar to themselves, called Spanish Gravity, they are, in the Paucity of the Species, obliged always to look abroad for Fools, that when their publick Affairs stand in need of a Statesman eminent for Precipitation, squandering of Treasure, forming scandalous Leagues, running upon dangerous Enterprizes, breaking with their Friends, making formidable Enemies, and the like wise Undertakings; they are obliged to seek for such extraordinary Managers among Foreigners, and to get Italian Priests, Dutch Burghers, or English Dukes,207 to their Assistance; the latter especially fam’d for their Politicks, as the former are for their Poverty. Unhappy Nation! That Heaven has not bless’d with Fools enough for their own necessary Uses, but they are oblig’d to entertain them where they can find them, and bring them in from the remote Corner of the World! This is a Hardship which, indeed, we do not find any Part of the World so much exposed to as Spain; on the contrary, most of the Nations of Europe are so well furnished by the Bounty of Nature, that they not only have Fools enough for their own necessary Occasions, but are able to spare some to the Help of their Neighbours, as Occasions may require; and that, whether we mean Fool-Statesmen, Fool-Generals, Fool-Dukes, or FoolGrandsons of Dukes, Travelling-Fools, Wandering-Fools, Exile-Fools, or almost any kind of Fools whatsoever, Wise-Fools, Cunning-Fools, Wild222

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Fools, Unthrift-Fools, Fools with Money, and Fools without Money, infinite is the Variety out of which our wiser Neighbours of Spain may always furnish themselves when they have Occasion, and may every two or three Years throw them off, shift Hands, and take a new Set of Managers, as well accomplished as those that went before them. Nor can I refrain here from recommending a late Noble D—208 to his Catholick Majesty, against the next Time that his Affairs want a F— of Parts, an eminent and well-accomplish’d Head, famous for Gravity, though not of the Spanish Kind, remarkable for disposing his Estate one Way, and his Senses another; and for quitting his Country, where he had something left, to go abroad, and get nothing; famous for ill-gotten Sense, worse employ’d, and totally exhausted; who declining the Service of his Prince, that could have employ’d him, and when he had been disposed to deserve, perhaps, would have done so, to seek the Favour of one, that neither could employ him if he had Merit, or was able to discern whether he had Merit or no; who having squander’d away a considerable Part of his Paternals, and most unaccountably wasted a large Fortune, seemed to have reserv’d some of it, merely to have the Satisfaction of forfeiting it, and the Pleasure of saying, How like a F— he lost it. If any Man upon Earth can be better accomplish’d for the present Service of Spain, then I do not yet know what kind of Instrument the Politicks of that Kingdom may have Occasion for at their next Change; But I cannot but think, he may be useful to them, more than to himself; and, I doubt not, but ’tis with such a View, that his Grace is gone to Madrid.

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PART V. Farther Conclusions upon the extraordinary Agency of Fools lately seen in some Courts of Europe, and the usual Fate of the Instruments themselves. I have spent enough of our Time and Paper upon the present Occasion the World has of that particular Species of Fools we are speaking of; it might afford us some Mirth to take a farther Account how the World suffers themselves to be guided and governed by them, not at this Time, but on several most remarkable and critical Occasions in Times past, not forgetting a Word or two of what may be expected for Time to come. Many a Nation have these Politicians embroil’d with one another, to the inevitable Confusion of the Subject, and Dishonour of the Sovereign, yet as these Precipitations have always a natural Tendency to open the Peoples Eyes, if not the Sovereign’s, and so to bring them to the Exercise of their Reason first, and then their Power; and that it always ends in the Deliverance of the People, and often in the Ruine of the Fool-Favourite also; it must therefore be allowed, that this State-Fool is a most useful and necessary Thing in the Common-Wealth. We have no Room to doubt, but we shall see this Principle exemplified in a little while, in several Parts of Europe, and it has in Part been exemplified in some of them already; the Politicians (Fools) who are now drawing up the Nations, as it were, in Batallia,209 to see who and who are together, in order to set all in a Flame, will, I doubt not, first or last, have their Wings scorch’d with the Heat of it; and, like the late Count Piper,210 who led his Master the King of Sweden, into so many Head-strong Enterprizes, that had neither Probability, Prospect, or common Sense in them, and were, at last, his Ruine, yet fell in the Rubbish of his own Precipitations, being taken by the Muscovites at the Battle of Pultowa;211 and though he was Prime Minister and Manager of the whole Kingdom of Sweden, yet was not thought worthy to be ransom’d by his Master who he serv’d, but left his Politick Bones among his Enemies, in the great Church of St. Nicholas, at Moscow; and though they paid dear enough for the Wit he taught them, yet the whole Swedish Nation are the better for it to this Day: Thus the great-

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est of those Politick Fools are useful in their Kind, and even necessary to their Country on many Occasions. We now see a great many Count Pipers, who, if you will pardon me for a Pun, are leading the World such a Dance, that the Blood of Thousands, and, perhaps, of several Hundred thousands, will hardly pay the Musick of it. Let us enquire then, a little for our present Purpose, what is the proper Work of the Day with those Sort of People, and how they ought to be managed, and, I think, the Pattern for our Conduct is set before us; let us look upon them, as we do upon the young Lunenburgher, take them into Cure, send them to a Doctor —, or a Dark House,212 and put the high Operation213 upon them; that is, in a Word, Use them as they deserve, let the Implement made necessary by the Iniquity of the Times, be made for ever useless by the Amendment of those Times; For why should the World be always standing in Need of being instructed by Fools? Why must they always be made wise at their own Expence, and pay so dear for their Learning? Would the Kings of the Christian World learn to govern by themselves, learn the Art of Reigning without Favourites, and of being their own Prime Ministers, take the Reins into their own Hands, and take Pains to be Kings, and not Deputies to their upper Servants, the Rate of State Fools would sink at once, and the intrinsick Worth of them abate; the World would also learn to see with their own Eyes, and the Princes would much easier answer for their own Mistakes, than they can for the Mistakes of their Ministers, whose Scandal, notwithstanding, they are forced to bear. And now, even while these Sheets are in the Press, and this Part unfinished, we have no less than Two living Examples before our Eyes, and let the Princes who have practis’d them, be what they will, I mean, as to Us, as to the Interests which England is engag’d in, for I am not speaking of their particular Interest or Engagement; but, I say, let them be what they will, and the Issue turn which Way it will, yet the Example is Glorious, and the End may Crown it for the Instruction of Posterity. The Examples, I say, are Glorious, not so much in Regard to the Persons displac’d; for, let them be what they will, and let their Administration be what it will, the Principle on which the Example is founded, is particularly to the Purpose here. The King of Spain, say our publick Prints, will employ no more Foreign Politicians; but the Places which were enjoy’d by his late Chief Minister the Duke de Ripperda, who he has thought fit to displace, are given to Native Spaniards, the Nobility of his own Dominions, who had the Direction of his Affairs before, and in whose Hands the Administration prosper’d. 225

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The King of France, laying aside his late Prime Minister the Duke of Bourbon,214 no matter what his Reasons are, or may be, that’s not to my present Purpose, nor is it proper for me to enquire; but, I say, let his Reasons be what they will, he has laid him aside, and calling his Council together, tells them, That being now come to Years and Capacities to do his own Business, he is resolved, according to the Example of his Great Grandfather Lewis XIV. to take the Administration into his own Hands, and to govern his Kingdom without a Prime Minister. Now, though in Spain the changing of Hands may not, perhaps, alter the Measures of that Court with respect to their present Acting, for, or against the Interest of Europe, or our Interest in particular; and though in France, the King talking of imitating, or following the Example of his Great Grandfather, and ruling his Dominions as Lewis le Grand215 governed before him, does not sound very well to us, or to the Protestant World, who suffer’d so deeply by those Measures which advanced his Glory; yet all this is nothing to the Case before me, ’tis still the Glory of those Monarchs, and may, no doubt, be the Advantage of their Kingdoms, that they are pleased, laying aside their Politicians and Instruments of State (I had almost said of Tyranny) to take the Government of their People into their own Hands, and to be always at the Head of their own Affairs, in their own Person. In a Word, I say, Grand Viziers216 may, for ought I know, do well in Turkey, and among the Infidel Nations, where the Emperors are Men of Pleasure, given up to Luxury and Indolence, wallow in their Sensualities, and dwell in their Seraglio, effeminated with Women, and surrounded continually with their Whores, or, you may call them Wives if you please, it alters not the Case, as to them, at all; I say, Grand Viziers may, for ought I know, do well enough there, and the People know no other; but in the Christian Countries, where Kings do not set up to be Idols, or Gods of their People, but the Fathers of their Country; and where they recommend themselves to them by Acts of Royal Beneficence, and are endear’d mutually by the Fidelity of one, and the Affection of the other; there nothing can increase the mutual and joint Felicity, both of Sovereign and Subject, like the personal Administration of their Princes; and we have seen by Examples of the greatest Princes, that the Nations have always been most happy, where those Tools call’d Favourities, have been least employ’d; of which England itself is a glorious Example. It is true, that in Turkey, as I have said, where the Administration, as I have observed, is generally in the Hands of a Favourite, who they call Grand Vizier, they find less Inconveniencies in it, than in other Countries; but then there is a particular Article which alters the Case; namely, That 226

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whenever this Favourite makes a false Step, whenever he offends either his Master, the Sovereign, or his many Masters the People, the Grand Seignor has nothing to do, but bestow a Bowstring upon him, whip off his Head, and put an End to the Grievance; so another steps up in his Place, and all Things are easy in a Moment; and could it be thus in Christendom, though in other Cases it would not do by any means, yet in this of Politick KingRiders, and Christian Viziers, could it go no farther, it might be a wholsome Severity, that would make some Arbitrary Governments much easier to the People than they are.

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THE CONCLUSION. SOME People may, perhaps, maliciously suggest, that this Tract is designed as a Jest upon the Youth who seems to be so much the Subject of it, and upon the making his Appearance at Court so publick, upon so mean a Foundation; but as every Man ought to be understood according to his own declar’d Meaning, and has a Right to explain himself, and declare that Meaning in express Terms; so, to prevent all such false Constructions, I take that Liberty, which, I think, I have an undoubted Right to, and explain myself in the Manner following. 1. As it is usual in all extraordinary Cases, and where any Novelty presents itself to the World, I observed the common Prints217 magnified the Circumstance of this wild, unbred Youth, to a Height which I thought I had Reason to believe was romantick, and much differing from, as well as beyond, the real Matter of Fact; and as far beyond what the Persons particularly concern’d in his new Erudition, gave any just Reasons for; when, therefore, I speak of the Inconsistencies in the Accounts published about him, I am to be understood, not of those Accounts given from those Persons to whom his Erudition is committed; for those we have not yet seen in Publick, much less from those by whose Orders that Erudition is directed, for the same Reason; but either the Accounts in the common Prints from Abroad, or in common Discourse at Home; and, therefore, those who would make this Work be a Satyr, either upon the Court, under whose Charity and Cognizance he has happily been taken in, or upon the Youth himself, who is really an Object of Compassion, not Rallery, are greatly mistaken, and do wrong both to the Author of this Work, and to their own Judgment also, if not to their Christianity. 2. As the Circumstances of this Youth’s Appearance are magnify’d and misrepresented, so the Notions which our People without Doors have entertained of him, are strangely false and misgrounded, or else what we have since understood of him must be so; they representing him as an Idiot, or Lunatick, or something so merely Natural, as not to be capable of receiving any Instructions, or of learning either the Knowledge of Things, or the Names of them; in a Word, As having neither 228

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Speech, or Understanding, the Uses of his Sense, much less of his Reason, and the ordinary Faculties. Thus, I say, he has been represented without Doors, whereas, if either of these had been his Case, it would not have been suitable to the Wisdom and Goodness of our Superiors, under whose Direction he has been, to have taken such Measures with him, which have been taken, and he had been a fit Object for an Hospital, rather than for a Man of Character and Reputation, to take under his Care; for the Doctor is not a profess’d Operator, either upon Idiots or Lunaticks, at least, not as I have ever heard. But the Substance of this Discourse being directed to reprove the Vanity and Pride of a self-wise World, whose modern Conduct is, I think, a very proper Subject of Satyr, and most richly deserves one; I take my Rise from this Object, as Nature seems to present it, and as the People in ordinary receive it, that the Beaus and Wits, as they fancy themselves, the affected Statesmen and Politicians of this pretended Age, may look in this Glass, and know themselves a little better than I think they do; and if they are capable of Instruction, may see how wild and unpolish’d they appear to others, whatever they do to themselves. Doubtless, a half-taught Gentleman, conceited of his own finish’d Capacities and Accomplishments, is much more a Fool, and more an Object of our Pity, than this wild Youth under the worst Circumstance we have ever had him describ’d by; and since Pride has so elevated those meanest of Heads, as to make them scorn our Pity, they must be treated with Satyr; the last is a Debt due to their Vanity, and the first to their real Ignorance and Capacities, since, if I may give my Opinion, a conceited Fool is the worst Sort of Idiots. In my censuring such, I hope I can offend no wise Man, seeing, I dare say, they will all agree, that such are the Torment and Disease of Conversation: Indeed, they were ever so, though I cannot say, that I ever knew any Part of Time, through a long Course of Years, so exceedingly pester’d with them as now: Strange! that an Age so much more Polite than any that has gone before it, and so eminent for being so, should be so much more encumber’d with Affectation of Wit, and the perplexing Throng of Fools, than any other. But thus it is in many Cases, The most warm and comforting Sun-shine, and the most delightful Seasons and Weather, are most perplex’d with Flies and Insects, which annoy us in the Middle of the Enjoyment, and teize and importune us by their Buzzing and Stinging, and are not to be driven away, but with a continued Repulse. 229

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Nor do I look any higher in my speaking of those Fools, than to those who, as I say, interrupt our Conversation; what I have said of State-Fools and Politicians, is openly pointed at Things Abroad, and looks no where else; it cannot, I think, be supposed to do any other, because the Coat fits no where else: we may say so without a Suspicion of Flattery; and we may, to our Satisfaction, say, If we have any State-Fools at Home, they all go Abroad for their Accomplishment, and even for Employment; a plain Hint that there is no Business for them at Home. There would, indeed, be no Occasion for so much as a Mention of this Part, in any other Times but these, when the best Meaning is so generally misconstructed; but since it is so, and Men may be properly said [To watch and pray, to see their Neighbour halt 218] for this Reason I added the last Paragraph. It may be true, that in order to make this wild Youth a just Parallel to the Wisdom of our Brains, who have been taught better, and from whom there was more Reason to expect better Things, I have sometimes been free with his Character, though I have no where gone beyond, no, nor come up to, the Height of common Report; yet, as in that, none but he can be offended, ’tis Time enough to ask his Pardon, when he tells us, that he is so; and even then, I should tell him, that he owes it all, and much more, to common Fame; and that I have forg’d nothing about him, or said so much as has been the ordinary Discourse of the Town about him; and that too, by some of those very People, whose Character I think to be much worse than his; for, let his Character be what it will, it must all be acknowledg’d to be attended with the utmost Innocence, which, at the same Time, that they must own to his Character, they cannot claim to their own. While these Sheets have been in the Press, which has been an unusual Length of Time, we are told (but still only in the printed News, whose Truth we cannot depend upon) That this Youth has so far improved in his Speech, and, which is still more, in his Knowledge, that it has been resolv’d to receive him into the Number of Christians, to have him baptiz’d, and enter’d as a Member of God’s Church; if this be so, I shall no more suggest, much less grant, that he is either an Idiot, or a Lunatick; for I will suppose his Teachers better Christians, than to have him admitted to an Ordinance, which he would not be a proper Subject of; for though I am no Anabaptist,219 yet, as he is an adult Person, with respect to Years, I will suppose the Reverend Minister, whoever he is, that shall administer that Privilege to him, will expect him to make some better Acknowledgement of the Principles of Religion, than a speechless Infant; at least, I suppose they will expect from him, what ought to be expected; and if I conclude from it, that 230

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he has given some Testimonies of his Understanding, more than that of an Idiot, I suppose I should do them no Wrong. The same News that says he is to be baptized, says he can speak; I must confess, if he can but just speak, and learn why, and for what he is to be baptized, I think he is a much fitter Subject for Baptism, than many of the fluttering Generation of atheistical Beaus which I have mentioned, who, I verily think, if they had not been baptized in the Arms of the Midwife, would have no Right to it now, on many Accounts too well known to be spoken of. Having thus professed, as I do here again, That in all that has been said of this Youth, there is not the least Reflection intended, either upon the bringing him over among us, or in any of the Measures taken for his Instruction; I have only this to add, That I wish those Gentlemen, who, as I have said, disgrace their better Education, would reflect from this Object, what ’tis likely they should have been, had they come out of the Forest of Hamelen, as he did. I remember an old Piece of rough Poetry, which I have seen, tho’ I do not remember by what Author, written over the Door of a Free-School in Somersetshire. When Education does adorn The Minds of Children nobly born, They seem of an Angelick Race; But where good Education wants To be engrafted in young Plants, It renders them extreamly base.

And what would you say now, after all that has been suggested, if the Endeavours used, and directed to be used, for introducing this wild Youth into the World, should prove successful, and that he should, after suitable Endeavours used with him, prove a bright Genius, a capable Head, and, which is more than all the rest, willing to be taught and instructed, sensible of the Disadvantage he lies under by his first Entrance into the World, and modest enough, a thing other untaught Animals of the present Age, are very rarely troubled with to believe, that there are some People in the World better furnished than himself, and qualified to teach, pollish, and instruct him? If such a Thing should happen, this Youth may be a farther Satyr upon wilful Ignorance, than he is yet, and may be able to set a Pattern for Imitation to those, who, at present, think no-body so wise as themselves. FINIS.

231

EXPLANATORY NOTES

Due Preparations for the Plague (1722) Advertised as published ‘this day’ in the Post Boy for 6–8 February 1722. 29

30

33

1 Orders of Council: Orders issued by the sovereign on advice of the Privy Council. 2 Directions for Ships … Act of Parliament: The Quarantine Act of 1721 permitted the King to forbid persons travelling to and from an infected place or exporting or carrying goods to and from such places. Penalties included the forfeiture of goods and fines. Persons entering the country from infected places or clandestinely trading in goods could be regarded as felons and were thereby liable to transportation or execution. The breaking of quarantine inside England could also be punished by death. 3 Increase of Plays and Play-Houses: Playhouses or theatres were often viewed as one of the sources of communal sin which incurred God’s wrath in the form of plague. They were also seen as dangerous because plague might be spread in and by the crowds of spectators. Theatres were often closed in plague outbreaks. The only major theatre built in London around this time was the Little Theatre on the Hay (later the Theatre Royal, Haymarket) erected in 1720 by John Potter, but it had run into difficulties the next year. 4 Stock-jobbing: the speculative buying and selling of stock and shares. 5 some Goods are apt … poisonous Effluvia: Goods specifically mentioned under the 1721 Act to Prevent the Clandestine Running of Goods and the Danger of Infection thereby; and to Prevent Ships Breaking their Quarantine included: foreign brandy, arrack, strong waters, spirits. Defoe’s contemporary, Dr Richard Mead suggested in his Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion, and the Methods to be used to Prevent it (London, 1720) that contagious matter was most likely to be retained in cotton, hemp, flax, silk, paper or books, linen, feathers, hair and all kinds of skins. Effluvia were plague-carrying particles usually suspended in the 233

Explanatory notes to pages 35–41

page 35

6

7

8 36

9

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10 11 12 13 14

39

15 16

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17 18

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air, which had come from plague victims, or other sources of plague such as cesspits, sewers, etc. Dr. Mead: Richard Mead (1673–1754). Fellow of the Royal Society and by 1720 part of the governing body of the London College of Physicians, with a fashionable medical practice. He was the government’s advisor on plague measures and his ideas were publicised in his Short Discourse, which by 1722 had been reprinted seven times. The Plague began in Provence: On 8 July, and after several suspicious deaths in the town, the first officially confirmed cases of plague appeared in Marseilles. Incidences of plague in Europe (especially in the area around Marseilles) began to decline in early 1722 as reported in The Daily Post 8 January 1722. On 3 March 1722 The Weekly Journal or British Gazetter reported that letters from Marseilles spoke of the inhabitants enjoying ‘prefect Health’. Other optimistic reports followed, for example, see The Daily Post 16 April 1722. River Verdon: Lies to the east of Marseilles and flows south into the Mediterranean. La Camorgue in the Gevaudan: The Gevaudan was an ancient province which roughly occupied the Lozere area of France. The Daily Courant on 22 September 1721 reported that as the plague spread in France ‘Lines of Soldiers shut up all the Gevaudan, from Florac to Langogne, and all along the river Allier to Langeau, and to Brioude in Auvergne.’ Defoe mentions the spread of plague via a galley slave. A very similar story appears in The Weekly Journal or British Gazetter on 22 September 1721. Bedarides and Sorgues: Two small towns on the river Ouvez about 100 kilometres north west of Marseilles. Barbantine … Orange: Orange is a town on the Rhone. Barbantine lay just to the south of the town of Avignon on the river Rhone. St. Paul de Trois Chasteau: A town which lies about 140 kilometres north of Marseilles. Lauris on the Durance: a small town on the river Durance about 55 kilometres north of Marseilles. shutting up Houses: policy of shutting up the healthy members of a household with those sick with the plague. See Introduction. a Quarantain of Days: The traditional period of forty days quarantine. City of Thoulon: Toulon, a large coastal city about 280 kilometres to the east of Marseilles. Thirdly, That all such … Streets: Here Defoe echoes the provisions of the Poor Law of 1601. no Man should be Arrested for Debt … Sixthly … as above: Defoe had himself been briefly imprisoned in the Fleet prison on a number of occasions. For a discussion of his views on imprisonment for debt, see Introduction to Political and Economic Writings of Daniel Defoe (London: Pickering & Chatto, 2000), vol. 8, ed. W. R. Owens, pp. 14–20.

Explanatory notes to pages 41–8

page 41 42 43 44

45

47 48

19 Blew Coat Boys and Girls: The uniform of the London charity school, Christ’s Hospital, comprised of a long dark blue gown fastened at the waist with a belt and bright yellow stockings. 20 Vinctine: a quarantine of twenty days. 21 the Park shut up: a reference to St James’s park next to Whitehall. 22 Nineveth: see Jonah 4:11 ‘And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than six score thousand persons that cannot discern their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?’ 23 Bills of Mortallity: the weekly returns of deaths compiled by the Parish Clerks of London. See Introduction. 24 Grand Juries: A Grand Jury was a jury of enquiry, accusation or presentment, used in criminal or civil cases. It would also make recommendations about social issues. 25 St George’s Fields … Bandyleg’d-Walk: St George’s Field was an extensive open space between Southwark and Lambeth. Bandy Leg’d Walk was probably Bandy Leg Alley which was by Fleet Ditch. The river Fleet formed the western boundary of the city and had a reputation for being choked by filth. 26 Old Bear Garden … The Mint: Late seventeenth century London supported at least four Bear gardens, the most famous being the one at Bankside, Southwark which Pepys often attended. The Mint in Southwark was a refuge for debtors. 27 Fell Mongers: dealers in animal skins, especially sheep skins. 28 Battle-Bridge to Horsly-Down: Battle-Bridge lay just south of the present London Bridge, Horsly-down, Fair-street, Southwark, about one mile south from London Bridge. 29 Southwark: An area around London Bridge and Blackfriars Bridge. Defoe was very familiar with this area and described it in detail in A Tour Through the Whole Island of Great Britain. See Writings on Travel, Discovery and History by Daniel Defoe, vol. 1, ed. John McVeagh, pp. 203–5. 30 the last great Plague: 1665. 31 St. Olaves: Hart Street EC3. Mary Ramsay, who was said to have brought the Great Plague to London, was buried at St. Olaves. 32 St. Saviours: A parish of Southwark notable for its numerous almshouses. 33 Common Shores … Bog Houses … Kennels: Common Shores were those parts of the Thames open to the community at large, Bog houses were latrines and kennels were the surface drains of a street. 34 Billingsgate: the site of the London fish-market, one of the principal markets in the City. 35 Dowgate: a water-gate to the Thames through which the river Walbrook once ran. 36 Jakes: a privy. Also equated with ‘lay-stalls’ – places where dung, soil or rubbish were disposed. 235

Explanatory notes to pages 48–53

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51 52 53

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37 Scorbutic Distempers: Scurvy-like illnesses, often thought to be caused by foul food and air. 38 particular Constitution … Temperature of his Body and Blood: Every individual was believed to be made from a particular mixture or constitution or temperature of the four humours: blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile. Preventative medical advice was supposed to take an individual’s constitution into account. 39 Mead, is not a great Friend to Evacuations in General: see Mead A Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion … ‘The first step towards which, is to maintain a good State of Health, in which we are always least liable to suffer by any external injuries; and not to weaken the body by evacuations.’ Mead, Short Discourse p. 49. 40 Ferments: chemical reactions, especially of acid-like substances. Chemically-based medicine became fashionable in the later seventeenth century. 41 Salivations: treatments producing saliva. 42 capital: deadly. 43 Spirits: the animal spirits: supposedly very fine particles derived from arterial blood which conveyed sensation and motion through the brain, nerves and muscles. By the eighteenth century they were being equated with vitality and courage. 44 Animal Spirits: See previous note. 45 in Heart: in good spirits. 46 Apprehensions: Fear was supposed not only to weaken the body and so facilitate the plague’s attack, but some writers, notably the medicalchemist J. B. van Helmont and his English followers, believed that fear of the plague produced the plague itself. 47 Catharticks: purgatives. 48 Meats: foods. 49 Drunken sots: a sot was one who stupefied himself with drinking. 50 Fires … Streets … with very good success: Pepys recorded on 6 September 1665 at the height of the plague, ‘I looked into the street and saw Fires burning in the street, as it is through the Whole City by the Lord Mayors order’. (Samuel Pepys, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, ed. Robert Latham and William Matthews, 11 vols (Bell and Hyman: London, 1970–83), vol. VI, p. 213.) 51 Bradley … Consider’d: Richard Bradley FRS. (d. 1732) botanist and horticultural writer. He wrote The Plague at Marseilles Considered: With Remarks upon the Plague in General shewing its Cause and Nature of Infection, with Necessary Precautions to prevent the Spread of that Direful Distemper… (London: Printed for W. Mears at the Lamb without Temple-Bar, 1721).

Explanatory notes to pages 54–62

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55

56 59 60

61

62

52 Sea-Coal: mineral coal, as opposed to charcoal, brought by sea, often from Newcastle. 53 Canary Wine: a sweet light wine from the Canary Islands. 54 London, at the time of the plague… ever since: Defoe is quoting from Richard Bradley, The Plague at Marseilles Considered, pp. 11–12. 55 Chaldron: a dry measure containing thirty six bushells. 56 Coal Meeters Books: to ‘meet’ means to measure. 57 Aquavitae: (‘water of life’), strong distilled spirits 58 Punch Houses: Punch is a beverage usually composed of wine or spirits mixed with hot water or milk and flavoured with sugar, lemons, spice and wine. 59 the Royal Society: the society of eminent scientists founded by Charles II in 1660. 60 Worts: the infusion of malt before it is made into beer by fermentation. 61 Restoration of Civil Peace: the Restoration of Charles II in 1660. 62 Wicket: a little door within a gate or door. 63 Latin: latten, a thin metal composed of copper and calamine. 64 Cake Bread: bread made in flattened cakes; or a finer more dainty quality of cake. 65 Biscuit Bread: a coarse hard bread. 66 Malmsey: By the eighteenth century malmsey was the name given to the sweet wines of Madeira. 67 Malaga Sack: sack is a type of white wine, so Malaga Sack was wine from Malaga, Spain. 68 Runlet of Tent or Muscadine: rundlets were casks for carrying liquors. Tent was a Spanish wine of deep red colour and low alcoholic content. ‘Muscodine’ is an obsolete term for muscatel. 69 Anniseed Water: an infusion of aniseed in water which was considered beneficial for treating stomach complaints. 70 Mithridate … Turpentine: standard remedies for plague. Mithridatum and theriac (treacle) were famous compound remedies made from many ingredients; they originated in classical medicine. 71 Simples: a simple was a medicine made from a single ingredient, usually a herb, but it could also be a mineral or animal part. 72 Prescriptions … the College: the medicines listed in the Advice of the London College of Physicians appended to the Plague Orders. On the latter, see Introduction. 73 Purveyor: buyer or provider. 74 Trigg-Stairs: Part of Queenhithe, one of the City wards, which ran onto the Thames. 75 Flitches: sides. 76 Firkins: small casks.

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Explanatory notes to pages 62–81

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65

67 68

69 71 72

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77 Neats-Tongues: tongues of cattle: cow, ox, steer or heifer. Neats Tongue pudding, and other such recipes, featured in cookery books of the time. 78 Physical: medical. 79 Magazine: a store house. 80 Terras Cisterns: earthen reservoirs. 81 New River: A reference to the scheme to bring a new supply of fresh water to the City by canal and pipe. It was financed by the goldsmith Hugh Myddleton and King Charles 1. Eventually a thirty-eight mile canal from Ware to Islington was built. 82 Higgler: someone who buys goods in the countryside and brings them to town to sell. 83 Sea-Biscuit Bread: a kind of crisp dry bread. 84 Chandlers: sellers of general wares. 85 abroad: outside. 86 Letters … Gunpowder … strong Perfumes: The apothecary William Boghurst in his contemporary account of the 1665 plague reported how letters were sieved or washed in water and dried by a fire; some would ‘air them at the top of a house, or a hedge, or a pole, two or three days before they opened them.’ His account was not published until 1894. See William Boghurst, Loimographia: An account of the Great Plague of London in the Year 1665, ed. J. F. Payne (Shaw and Sons for the Epidemiological Society of London, 1894), pp. 53–4. 87 I must want him: I must do without him. 88 Knells: tollings of church bells on a person’s death. 89 Journeyman: someone who has completed an apprenticeship in a trade or craft and works under a master. 90 Quantity of Lime juice and Limon-juice: it was known to a number of captains and sea surgeons from the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries that limes, lemons and oranges prevented scurvy, but there was no consensus that this was the case until the end of the eighteenth century. 91 Noah, have sent out a Dove: See Genesis 8:8. 92 Hackney Coaches: coaches which plied for hire. 93 Weather … Cool the Distemper abated again: It was well known that plague tended to die down in winter. 94 Tottenham-High-Cross: a place about seven miles north-east of central London which was becoming notorious for ‘tippling houses without licences’. 95 Animalcula: (animalculae) tiny animals only visible with the aid of a microscope. 96 Blanes: (blains) swellings, sores or blisters on the surface of the skin characteristic of the plague.

Explanatory notes to pages 82–94

page 82

85 86

89

90

91

92

93 94

97 in the great Dispute about the Trinity: Defoe is referring to the Salters’ Hall controversy about the Trinity, in 1719, which was the cause of much bitterness in Dissenting circles. See Michael R. Watts, The Dissenters, I (Oxford, 1978), pp. 374–7. 98 we are so perplexed with the Opinions of Physicians: Defoe is referring mainly to the views of Richard Mead who believed that plague was contagious and to George Pye who in A Discourse of the Plague; Wherein Dr Mead’s Notions are Consider’d and Refuted (London, 1721) wrote that the plague was not contagious but was transmitted through the air across large distances. 99 Compound: made from many ingredients. 100 Rue and Wormwood together: Rue (Ruta graveolens) is a perennial evergreen plant with strongly scented leaves. Wormwood (Artemisia absinthium) is a bitter tasting plant whose leaves were used for making absinthe. Both were used to prevent plague-laden air entering houses or peoples’ lungs. 101 Angelica: The aromatic ‘angel herb’ (Herba angelica) with a reputation against poison and pestilence. 102 Dr. Hodges: Nathaniel Hodges MD (1629–88). He was a Member of the College of Physicians, and became well known through remaining in London during the plague of 1665. His Loimologia sive Pestis nuperae apud Londinensem Grassantis Narratio Historica (London, 1672) was translated by John Quincy as Loimologia: Or an Historical Account of the Plague in London in 1665 (London, 1720). Defoe is referring to p. 30 in the translation. 103 Counting-House: A building or private chamber in a commercial establishment used for keeping accounts and correspondence (or by extension the establishment itself). 104 Royal-Exchange: The City of London meeting place, founded by Sir Thomas Gresham in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, where merchants conducted business. 105 1624: she means 1625 as later on p. 91. 106 Luke 24:11: the response of the apostles on being told by Mary Magdalen and other women that Christ had risen from the dead: ‘And their words seemed to them as idle tales, and they believed them not’. 107 Flegmatick: Lacking in joyfulness or spontaneity, owing to a predominance of the phlegmatic humour in their constitution. 108 die in Twelve Hours after they are taken: deaths from plague normally occurred after a few days. Sudden or extremely quick death was also observed. Stephen Bradwell in A Watch-Man for the Pest (London, 1625), To the Reader A2r–v noted that one form of plague struck its victims suddenly with death occurring almost instantaneously. 109 fancy they have it … should have it: see note 46. 110 Sine die: with no set period, or temporarily. 239

Explanatory notes to pages 95–114

page 95 111 Hos: Hosea. 112 fall on their Knees together, like the People of Nineveth: see Jonah ch. 3. 96 113 God would repent … Perish not: After their displaying penitence God reprieved the inhabitants of Nineveh; Jonah 3:9. 114 National Humiliations: During plague outbreaks the state ordered set services of prayer and humiliation to be performed on appointed days in churches throughout the country. 115 destroying Angel: see 1 Chronicles 21:12 and 1 Chronicles 21:30 and 2 Samuel 24:16–17. Defoe resorts to this image in the Bible once more; see p. 111 116 the late Wars: the Civil War. 117 King —: Very probably King Charles II, though since the mother is speaking of 1625 the chronology is confusing. 97 118 Formality: going through the motions, with no sincere feeling of repentance. 119 in our families, every one mourning apart: see Zechariah 12:12–14. 120 Scriveners: professional penmen, or notaries. 99 121 in the present Article: in the present matter. 122 the Tokens: The red, purple and blue spots and skin discolorations appearing at the end stage of plague, believed to indicate certain and imminent death. 100 123 Security: wilfully without care, overconfident. 124 as Jonah’s preaching to the men of Nineveth: see Jonah 3:4. 101 125 Repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at Hand: see Matthew 3:2. 126 present: immediate. 102 127 Melancholly and Vapourish: fearfully fanciful. Vapourish was applied to women rather than men. 105 128 Prophesying Evil Tidings: Possibly another reference to Psalms 112:7 (see p. 101), ‘He shall not be afraid of evil tidings: his heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.’ 106 129 Farthing: the fourth part of a penny. 110 130 Bear-binder-Lane: renamed in the nineteenth century as George Street and thus placing the brothers’ business in the heart of the City of London, somewhere in between the old City market called the ‘Stocks’ and St. Swithin’s Lane. Defoe writes in A Journal of the Plague Year that this was the place where plague first hit the city. 111 131 the destroying Angel: see note 115. 114 132 and this is the Work I say I have still to do: Faith itself was part of the Christian ‘Work’ that needed to be performed daily to ensure entry to heaven. See John 6:28–9. ‘Then said they unto him, what shall we do, that we might work the works of God? Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent.’ 240

Explanatory notes to pages 115–34

page 115 133 we are to be judg’d according to our Works: See Ecclesiastes 12:14: ‘For God shall bring every work into judgement, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.’ 134 Story of the Prodigal: See Luke 15:11–32. 135 I perish for Hunger: Luke 15:17. 116 136 Talents: treasure or riches. 137 I have sinned against Heaven and before thee: see Luke 15:18. 138 my Lord Mayor: Sir John Lawrence (d. 1692), who famously stayed on in London through the plague. 117 139 Spotted Fever: typhus. 118 140 The Preparations . . . of the Lord: Proverbs 16:1. 141 set up our rest for Death: let us decide or settle for death in the remaining time. 119 142 Hosea 6.1 … bind us up: Defoe also used this passage earlier on p. 95. 120 143 Scripture Rule: a rule based on the authority of scripture. 144 Turn ye even to me: a repetition of Joel 2:12. 121 145 Menassah: the long reigning successor to the Davidic throne in Jerusalem who was famed for idolatry and, according to tradition, killed the prophet Isaiah. 146 That they humbled … Lord their God: see 2 Chronicles 33:23. 122 147 speaks a Parable … to faint: see Luke 18:1. 124 148 the Bar: The place where lawyers stand to plead their cases in court. It also refers to the area where prisoners are placed in court. 125 149 Enter not into Judgement … be justified, Psalm 142: correctly Psalm 143: 2. 150 let us search … to the Lord: a repeated phrase. From Lamentations 3:40. 151 It must be with … and with mourning: see Joel 2:12 (not 13). 152 And rent your heart … of the evil: see Joel 2:13. 153 he is gracious … and of great kindness: see Joel 2:13. 128 154 Temper: natural disposition. 129 155 Repentance towards God …Lord Jesus Christ: Acts 20:21. 130 156 Tho’ he slay me, yet will I trust in him: see Job 13:15. 157 Whether else shall we go: This does not appear to be a direct quotation from the Bible. 131 158 the author of eternal … Believe on him: see the Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews 5:9. 159 Invested: enclosed. 133 160 Rotherith: Rotherhithe, a town which lies in a loop of the River Thames, about 2 ¼ miles south-east downstream from St Paul’s. 134 161 Fodder: a measure containing twenty-two hundred and fifty pound weights. Eight ‘pigs of lead’ were called a fodder.

241

Explanatory notes to pages 135–55

page 135 162 Ship’s Bills: deeds signed by the ship’s master. They were a receipt of goods and marked an undertaking to deliver them to their destination. 136 163 Expedition: speed. 138 164 in the Blessed Assurance of her Salvation: Defoe may have seen a 1722 reprint of Thomas Vincent’s God’s Terrible Voice in the City. In Vincent’s account, which reflected a widely held hope, Christian plague sufferers were blessed to die with ‘peace and comfort’. According to Vincent, even those who had known Christ for only a short time, and those who had suffered from doubts and fears, had been filled with: ‘assurance, and praise, and joyful expectation of glory, when they have lain on their death-beds with this disease’. Thomas Vincent, God’s Terrible Voice in the City (London, 1722) p. 50. 139 165 Galley-Key: Galley-Quay. 166 Bugby’s-Hole: In Defoe’s Moll Flanders Bugby’s-Hole was where Flanders and her husband awaited transportation. Bugsby’s Marsh is where the Millenium Dome now stands. 140 167 Cuddie: cuddy – a partitioned space near the Captain’s cabin for officers. 168 Rode: rode at anchor 141 169 Fisherman’s Smaks: Smacks are small one-masted vessels. 170 Weigh’d: weighed anchor. 171 Green-Hithe: Green-Hythe, a small town on the Kent Thames estuary, about three miles north-east of Dartford. 142 172 Hope: a village near Romney Marsh on the Thames estuary. 173 Buoy on the Nore: To the north of Sheerness is the Nore, a sandbank marked, since the 16th century, by a buoy. 146 174 Antient and Pendants: An ancient was a flag set at the stern of a ship. Pendants (or pennants) were coloured streamers hung at the heads of masts or on the yard arm. 150 175 he shall not be afraid … in the Lord: see Psalms 112:7.

Mere Nature Delineated (1726) Advertised as published ‘this day’ in Mist’s Journal, 23 July 1726. 155

242

1 amused: mystified. 2 Idem est non esse, & non apparere: It is the same thing not to be as to appear not to be. 3 in Exercise: in the function or performance of an office. 4 That the fair Sex were without Souls: see Plato, Timaeus, 90–1 where he implies that women do not possess the divine part of the soul.

Explanatory notes to pages 155–61

page 155

156

157 158

159

160

161

5 if you understand them … that said it: i.e. anyone who would say that all women were ‘soulless’ (which would be a very uncharitable thing to say) must themselves be without a soul. 6 Je ne scay Quoy: I do not know what. 7 Waste: uncultivated land. 8 Zell: a town in northern Germany. 9 Hamelen: a town twenty-seven miles south-west of Hanover on the river Weser. 10 below Brutal life … not at all a Rational: It was generally accepted that the most fundamental difference between man and animals lay in man’s ability to reason. For example, ‘Reason,’ wrote Samuel Colliber in 1734, ‘is that which makes the chief Distinction between Men and Brutes’. Free Thoughts Concerning Souls in Four Essays (London, 1734) pp. 64–5. 11 standing upright, as the Soul-informed Part of Mankind do: see Plato, Timaeus, 90: ‘for the divine power suspends the head and rest of us from that place where the generation of the soul first began, and thus makes the whole body upright.’ 12 MERE NATURE: simple nature. 13 Sensitive Part: animal part. 14 Nova Zembla: A large island to the north of Russia between the Barents and Kara seas. 15 the Animals … eat Grass: See Genesis 1:30. 16 by the Authority of his Person … Beasts: as in Genesis 1:26. 17 the famous Orson: The story of Valentine and his wild brother Orson can be traced back to fourteenth-century German, Swedish and Dutch poetical works. Although differing in detail these poems deal with the romantic complications of court life. Orson, the wild man, grows up in the forest but is later reunited with his brother. Together they triumphantly win the hand of maidens and fight off the Saracens before rescuing their captive mother from a giant. In 1510 Henry Watson put the story in English and quickly Orson became almost synonymous with ‘wild man’. 18 in Publick: in the press. 19 Hanover, Dec. 11, 1725 … for human Society: This report is taken from St. James Evening Post for 14 December 1725. See also The Weekly Journal or British Gazetter, 18 December 1725. A very similar report is in The London Journal, 18 December 1725 and in Brice’s Weekly Journal, 17 December 1725. 20 Herenhausen: A large palace and gardens which provided the summer residence of George 1 and his court. 21 Hanover, Dec. 28 … he thought himself safe: This report is from the Flying Post, 30 December 1725. 243

Explanatory notes to pages 161–7

page 161 22 Hyrcinian Forest: Vast German forest mentioned by Strabo, Caesar and other Roman writers. 162 23 Microcosm: world in miniature, in this case the body. 24 ALL FACE: brazen-faced and impudent. 25 He eat Grass, Nebuchadnezzar like: An allusion to the King of Babylon d. 562 BC. In the book of Daniel (4:25, 32–3) Nebuchadnezzar was driven away from the people and forced to live like a wild animal, eating grass like cattle. 163 26 Boors: peasants, countrymen. 164 27 Romulus and Rhemus: Ilia, a Vestal virgin, is raped by the god Mars. She is later murdered by Amulius her uncle, but not before she has given birth to two brothers. They are brought up by a she wolf (a Roman symbol of the non-civilised world) and educated by shepherds. The twins eventually revenge their mother’s death and found Rome but ultimately they too fall out and Romulus kills Remus. 28 take our Rise to what is to follow: begin the narration. 29 the Image of his glorious Maker: See Genesis 1:27. ‘So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.’ 165 30 Notion of the Ancients: See Herodotus, Histories, Book 2, ch. 2. 31 Chaldee: the biblical ‘Syriac’ or Aramaic language. 32 Testimonies … Laugh: René Descartes argued the first proposition through much of chapters 4 and 5 of the Discourse on Method (1637). On laughter see Aristotle, Parts of Animals, 673a 4–6, man ‘is the only animal that laughs’. 166 33 Schools: universities. 34 nothing can think which has no Soul: A reference to Descartes’ view that only thinking beings possess souls. See Descartes, Discourse on Method, ch. 5. 35 Coll— the Elder: Just possibly a reference to the famous playwright Colley Cibber (1671–1757), who had a well-known son, Theophilus (1703–58). 167 36 as Birds of a Feather: the proverb continues ‘flock together.’ 37 rude: unlearned or ignorant. 38 Idiotism: Nathan Bailey in his An Universal Etymological Dictionary (London, 1735) defines an idiot as a natural fool or a changeling. Idiot also had legal force, see note 77. Thus, no one who had: ‘… so much Knowledge as to measure a Yard of Cloth, tell or number twenty Pence in small Money, or regularly to name the Days of the Week, or beget a Child, by which it appears he retains some Light of Reason, he shall not by our Laws be accounted an Idiot.’ Moreover, an idiot: ‘ought not to be prosecuted for any Crime; because he wants Knowledge to distinguish

244

Explanatory notes to pages 168–73

page 168 39

40 41

169 42 43 44 171 45 46 47 172 48 49

50 51 52 173 53 54 55 56

Good from Evil.’ Giles Jacob, The New Law Dictionary (Henry Lintot, London, 1743). unless we had a Method in Science … Operations: The early eighteenth century saw much discussion in learned circles on this topic. Important questions included where in the body the soul lay, what its attributes were, and how matter combined with soul to form a person. See for instance Samuel Colliber, Free Thoughts Concerning Souls in Four Essays (London, 1734). Retention: memory. natural Religion: ‘natural religion’ (or ‘natural theology’) was that body of knowledge about God which may be obtained by human reason alone without the aid of divine revelation, as in the Bible. Thus, for example, the design and organisation of the natural world was held to give force to the idea of God as creator. The distinction between natural religion and revelation was worked out in the Middle Ages, and was based on such passages as Romans 1:18. Reformation theologians were inclined to reject the competence of fallen human reason to engage in ‘natural theology’. Organick Parts: organs. without Doors: outside of the Court. or what we call a Natural: i.e. belonging or proceeding from nature, here a natural fool. Defoe makes a distinction between an idiot and a fool; legal writers, however, defined an idiot as a natural fool. ONE UNIVERSAL BLANK: See Milton, Paradise Lost, Book III: 45– 60. Faculties of his Soul: powers or abilities. a Hanging-sleev’d Coat: a coat with a loose open sleeve hanging down from the arm, worn by children. the learned Dr A—tt: The physician John Arbuthnot (1667–1735), physician to Queen Anne and member of the Royal Society and College of Physicians, and of the Scriblerus Club. The Copper-Farthing Author: Swift, who in 1724 strongly opposed the introduction of new copper coinage to Ireland. For Swift’s writing on the ‘Wild Boy’ see: The most Wonderful Wonder that ever Appeared to the Wonder of the British Nation (London 1726), and It Cannot Rain But It Pours: or, London Strow’d with Rarities (London, 1726). more learned Divine: unidentified. C—iers: courtiers. Saul… seeking his Father’s Asses: See 1 Samuel, 10:9 to 10:13. The nameless Philosopher of Athens: The philosopher remains nameless. Lacedæmonians: Spartans. Co—-t: court. Me—rs: Members (of Parliament). 245

Explanatory notes to pages 173–6

page 173 57 ’Tis pity … tell no Tales: This echoes Swift’s It Cannot Rain But It Pours, page 5: ‘His being so young was the occasion of this great disappointment of the ladies who came to the drawing room in full expectation of some attempt upon their chastity’. 174 58 –- E–- Esquire, my Lord T—, the D—e of —: probably made up by Defoe. 59 An eminent … of Parts: Rochester, ‘A Letter from Artemiza in the Town’, l. 161. 60 Doctor A—: John Arbuthnot. See note 48, above. 175 61 Mrs. Hayes burnt alive at a Stake: Catherine Hayes (aged 38) and her two accomplices, Thomas Wood and Thomas Billings, were convicted on 14 April 1726 of the wilful murder of her husband. Hayes was sentenced to be ‘drawn on a Hurdle to the Place of Execution, and there burnt alive’. A Narrative of the Barbarous and Unheard of Murder of Mr. John Hayes (London, 1726). 62 Faustina: Faustina Bordoni (1699–1758) famous opera singer. 63 my Lord D—: possibly made up. 64 Enrhumée: suffering from an ill affection of the lungs, bringing up phlegm. 65 Levet: a call to rouse soldiers in the morning. 66 Cordon Blue: The cordon bleu was the ribbon worn by members of the French order of the Saint-Esprit. 176 67 L—s: ladies. 68 Naturalists: students of natural, in contrast to spiritual things. 69 Physical: medical. 70 Coats: here, convolutions. 71 Chevalier: James Francis Stuart (1688–1766), claimant to the English throne, son of James II and Mary of Modena, called the ‘Old Pretender’. 72 Settling at Castle Albano: Probably a reference to a large house outside Rome, the Palazzo Savelli, lent to James Francis Stuart by Pope Clement XI and where James’s son ‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’ was born. 73 his Grace: The Duke of Wharton (1698–1731), who supported Bishop Atterbury at his trial, left England for Vienna in 1725–6 with huge debts and then travelled to Madrid where he joined the Old Pretender. 74 cured of the King’s Evil: The King’s Evil or Scrofula (now usually identified as a tubercular infection of the lymph-nodes) covered a wide range of pathological conditions, but most usually, was diagnosed from the presence of disfiguring suppurating sores. In France and in England it had been thought that a prayer and the Royal Touch could cure the condition. By the time of Defoe’s writing the practice and belief had fallen into disuse.

246

Explanatory notes to pages 177–84

page 177 75 Fools never go mad: Or as Shakespeare in Twelfth Night puts it (Act IV Scene 2 line 93) ‘Then you are mad indeed, if you be no better in your wits than a fool.’ 76 my Lord —, and … and other Places: By the turn of the eighteenth century Jacobite supporters were scattered across Europe. Some, like Dr Robert Erskine who attended Tsar Peter the Great, found employment in European courts. Many found their way to Madrid. The Jacobite Duke of Ormonde (1665–1745) formerly the commander of the British army, fled to France in July 1715, before moving to Spain. In April 1726 the Duke of Wharton came to Madrid to meet the Pretender and other Jacobite sympathisers. Other prominent Jacobite exiles in Madrid at this time included Francis Wauchope (given an important position in the Spanish army) George Camocke (former commander of the Royal Navy) Colin Campbell of Glendaruel, and Brigadier Archibald Campbell. 77 That a Fool … or Treason: see note 38 above. William Blackstone wrote ‘In criminal cases therefore idiots and lunatics are not chargeable for their own acts, if committed when under these incapacities [‘a defective or vitiated understanding’, or ‘a deficiency in will’]: no not even for treason itself.’ Commentaries on the Laws of England, eighth edn, vol 4, (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1778), p. 24. 78 Eclairecisement: (eclaircissement) a mutual explanation. 178 79 agitating: invoking. 80 Naturalist: See note 41 above. 81 The ingenious Mr. Baker: Henry Baker, FRS. (1698–1774), naturalist and poet who devised a system of education for deaf mutes. He later married Daniel Defoe’s younger daughter Sophia. See Introduction above, pp. 18–19. 180 82 Hieroglyphick: as in Egyptian picture-writing; emblematic. 181 83 compass: achieve. 84 Tree of Knowledge: See Genesis 2: 17. ‘But of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.’ 182 85 Dr. S—: Jonathan Swift. See note 49 above. 183 86 Babel: See Genesis 11:1–9. 87 from Santa Cruze to Salvador: Santa Cruz, town on the east coast of Tenerife. Salvador, city and port in eastern Brazil, founded by the Portuguese in 1549. 88 by Tail: by inheritance or entail. 89 Art: ‘all that is performed by the work and industry of man’ (Bailey). 184 90 The Mill turns round … round the Mill: The line also appears on the title page of Defoe’s A System of Magick (1727). 91 Staff: instrument for measuring altitudes and latitudes. 247

Explanatory notes to pages 184–204

page 184 92 Objects: i.e. the deaf and dumb. 185 93 Influence: Defoe here means the flowing into the deaf and dumb of the ‘Ocean of unguided sense’. 186 94 The Gall’s unhung: bitterness is prevented. 187 95 By the Auxiliar… Eye: by using the hand or the eye as substitutes. 189 96 Object: i.e. the wild boy. 97 Religion is a natural Principle: the assertion that knowledge of God was a universal principle taught by the light of nature. See Romans 1:18–20. 98 L—n!: London. 190 99 Sons of Belial: In the Bible the children of Belial were wicked and idolatrous. See Deuteronomy 13:13. 100 Plan or Ichnography: geometrical plan of an edifice. 101 Organicks: organs. 102 Wheels at the Cistern may be broken: An allusion to Ecclesiastes 12:6. 103 Animal Spirits: See note 43 to Due Preparations for the Plague, above, p. 236. 104 Animal … Feet … Feathers: According to Diogenes Laertius, Plato defined man as a two-legged animal without feathers. 191 105 Phyz: countenance. 106 Physiognomy: art of telling someone’s character from the appearance of the body, particularly the face. 107 Fronti nulla fides: looks can be deceiving. Juvenal, Satires, II, 8. 193 108 a true Brilliant: A diamond of the finest cut and brilliancy. 194 109 Parity of Souls: Perhaps referring to Aristotle, Metaphysics 1035b 14–33. The passage states that ‘the parts of soul are prior either all or some of them to the concrete animal… But man and horse and terms which are thus applied to individuals, but universally, are not substance but something composed of this particular formula [soul].’ 110 the Organ: here, the brain. 111 Chyrugical: surgical. 195 112 in Posse: only potential. 113 that great Proveditore of the World: the great overseer or provider, i.e. God. 114 Job xxxvi. 17: in fact verse 27, i.e. Job 36:27. ‘For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour down rain according to the vapour thereof.’ 115 Solomon’s Fool… Understanding: See Proverbs 18:2. 116 Country: ‘Country’ was often used for ‘county’. 201 117 a Defluxion of Rheum: a flowing downwards of ‘humours’ from the head. 202 118 a Consumption: a wasting, decaying of the body, often identified now as tuberculosis. 203 119 The Duke of –— … Mrs W— Witty: characters made up by Defoe. 204 120 Sir Isaac: Isaac Newton (1642–1727).

248

Explanatory notes to pages 204–5

page 204 121 Epsom Water: Discovered in about 1620, the ‘bitter Purging Waters’ of Epsom in Surrey were believed to relieve gout, diseases of the intestines, worms, diabetes, jaundice, vertigo, head aches, hysterical fits and other disorders. See Nehemiah Grew, A Treatise of the Nature and Use of the Bitter Purging Salt contained in Epsom and other such Waters (London, 1697). 122 the Guards … new Blue: A ribbon of distinction or chivalry in the Horseguards. 205 123 like the Indian … Letter … Virginia: A reference to Captain John Smith asking the king of Paspahegh to ‘send a messenger … with a letter I would write, by which they [the English] should understand, how kindly they [the Americans Indians] used me, and that I was well, least they should revenge my death (in his A True Relation … in Virginia (London, 1608), B4u). The Indian messenger is astonished that ‘the paper could speak’. The story is repeated in Defoe’s An Essay upon Literature (1726), in Writings on Travel, Discovery and History by Daniel Defoe, vol. 4, ed. P. N. Furbank, p. 231. 124 dictated Letters: See Exodus 24:12. God gave written commandments to Moses on tablets of stone on Mount Sinai. Defoe believed that letters and the ability to read were not a human invention but bestowed by God. ‘Divine Power impres’d, by what method we Know not, those Words on the two Tablets of Stone, and at the same time no doubt instructed Moses in the reading of them, and in the Knowledge of their sounds’. See his An Essay upon Literature, in Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, p. 238. See also his System of Magick (1727) p. 67. 125 Prolation: Defoe’s use of the word ‘prolation’ (utterance) is somewhat idiosyncratic. 126 Horn Book: A leaf of paper containing the alphabet, and sometimes the digits and Lord’s Prayer, protected by a thin plate of translucent horn. 127 Primmer: i.e. primer, a little book in which children were first taught to read. 128 Fescue: A small stick used to point out letters to children learning to read. 129 Ferula: A flat wooden instrument for chastising boys in school. 130 famous General: Defoe was an enthusiastic collector of material on the Thirty Years’ War. He is perhaps referring to the artillery man Lennard Torstenson, a Swedish nobleman, because Torstenson was known as a linguist. 131 Gustavus Adolphus: King of Sweden (1594–1632), and champion of the Protestant cause in the Thirty Years’ War. 132 Fac-Totum: i.e. factotum, an ornamental block used in printing where any letter of the alphabet may be placed.

249

Explanatory notes to pages 206–12

page 206 133 Deistical, Ante-Enthusiastick: Deists rejected the notion of revealed religion and belief in miracles. ‘Enthusiasm’ had become a term of abuse at the Restoration. An enthusiast believed that God spoke directly to him or her, and such beliefs were regarded as fuelling the fervour of the Civil War sects. 207 134 the old Gentleman: i.e. the Devil. 135 Lord — : Probably made up by Defoe. 208 136 Da—: damn. 137 Fool in a Mortar: See Proverbs 27:22. ‘Though thou shouldest bray a fool in a mortar among wheat with a pestle, yet will not his foolishness depart from him.’ 138 Fools which hate knowledge: See Proverbs 1:7. 139 Let them flee . . . stay them: See Proverbs 28:17. 209 140 Mechanick: manual labourer or humble craftsman. 141 Os: Latin for mouth. 210 142 Malversations: prevarications or misdemeanours in office. 143 Cum aliis: with others. 211 144 the learned M— : Probably Dr Richard Mead (1673–1754) whom Defoe more than once refers to in Due Preparations for the Plague (see note 6, p. 234) 145 mere Simple: A play on words. A drug made from a single ingredient, often a herb; also simple-minded. 146 Physical: medical. 147 Materia Medica: Comprehensive list of the ingredients of medicines. 148 Physick: medicine. 149 Compound Medicine: A medicine made from more than one ingredient. 150 noxious Humours: applied here metaphorically to poisonous moods. 151 Cats-Foot: a reference to the fable about a monkey who used the foot of a cat to retrieve roasted chestnuts out of burning coals, i.e. to make use of another. 212 152 Hudibras . . . a Fool: Hudibras was the title of a satiric poem by Samuel Butler, featuring the impoverished Presbyterian knight Sir Hudibras. See The First Part (1663), Canto 1, ll. 33–36: The difference was so small, his brain Outweighed his rage but half a grain, Which made some take him for a tool That knaves do work with, called a fool. 153 Scape Goat: Probably refers to Robert Knight, the chief cashier of the South Sea Company, who fled to France after the collapse of the company in January 1721. 154 Thus our friend L— was turned a Drift: John Law (1671–1729), Scottish financier, who, in 1716, encouraged the French Regent to set up a 250

Explanatory notes to pages 212–14

page

212 155 156 157 158

159 160 161 162 163 164

165 166

213 167 168 169

214 171 172 173

174

175 176 177

national bank and who launched the ill-starred Mississippi scheme which came disastrously to grief in 1720. Defoe perhaps refers to him as ‘our friend’ because during his exile from France he spent a brief time in England. Re—t: Regent of France, Philippe duc d’ Orleans. K— of F—: Kingdom of France. tell Noses: count heads. Birding: the name given to a practice used particularly against Dissenters, who were unable to take up a public office to which they were appointed without conforming to the Church of England. F—s: fools. Common-Council Men: Members of the Common-Council of City corporations. by the Bottle, and the Glass: a ritual for nominating for office. P—t : Parliament. in Tale: in counting. Common-Hall: The hall of a guild or city corporation. There was also a Court of Common Hall which incorporated about 8,000 of the city’s electors. M— : Mayor. A—men: Aldermen. Controversially, in 1725 the Court of Aldermen was given a veto over the legislative acts of the Common Council, by Walpole. Lawn Sleeves: forming part of episcopal dress. Pope Alexander III: (d. 1181) encouraged a scholastic revival. Arch Bishop L—-: Archbishop William Laud (1573–1645). Laud’s attempt in 1637 to impose the Anglican Prayer Book on the Scottish church aroused bitter resistance and accusations of Popery, and led to the signing of the Covenant. James II: Displaced from the throne of England in 1688 in favour of William of Orange. a — : a fool. Phaeton: In Greek mythology, Phaeton, son of Helios, persuaded his father to let him drive his chariot (the sun) for a day and nearly set the world on fire by his incompetent driving. Issachar’s Ass: Fifth son of Jacob by Leah, Issachar is described in Genesis 49:14 as a ‘strong ass couching down between two burdens.’ This is a favourite allusion of Defoe’s. her Girts: or girths, leather bands used to secure a saddle on a horse. Pleb—?: plebeians. Assembly-Men: habitués of social gatherings.

251

Explanatory notes to pages 215–20

page 215 178 Rhiming Friend: Most likely the ‘friend’ is a fiction and the rhymer was Defoe himself. 179 War: The War of the Quadruple Alliance (1718–20) in which Britain, France, the Dutch Republic and the Empire were aligned against Spain. However, it could also be a reference to the War of Spanish Succession which rumbled on between 1701 and 1714, or the Great Northern War (1700–21) which saw the establishment of Russian dominance in eastern Europe. 216 180 Jews … Temple: According to Josephus in The Jewish War, the Jews set fire to the temple themselves, and prevented the Romans from extinguishing the blaze. The destruction of the temple in Jerusalem took place in 70 AD. 181 prime M— rs: Prime Ministers. 217 182 Reign of King … a certain Du-ss’s: One of Charles II’s most favoured mistresses, Barbara Palmer (1641–1709), later elevated to the peerage as Countess of Castlemaine and Duchess of Cleveland, was given apartments in Whitehall where the king regularly visited. Pepys wrote of the influence of Castlemaine over Charles. 183 Father P—: Possibly the Jesuit Edward Petre (1631–99) who was implicated in the Popish Plot of 1678 and acted as confessor to James II. 184 Massacre at Thorn: In June 1724, in Poland, a quarrel between the Protestant inhabitants of Thorn and the Jesuit College led to the desecration of the college for which ten Protestants were executed. 218 185 Treaty of Oliva: Signed in 1660, establishing peace between the Emperor Leopold I, the Elector of Brandenburg, and Sweden. 186 The King: Frederick Augustus, Saxon king of Poland. 187 Pospolite Russiene: Polish militia composed of gentry who served for a limited time. 219 188 Lanciers: soldiers armed with a lance. 189 Turkish Spahis: Turkish horsemen. 190 battle before Pest: Pest, the twin town of Buda. Possibly a reference to the successful Turkish campaign of 1690 when they almost completely recovered their territorial losses from Austria. 191 Barcan: The Turkish army defeated forces loyal to Emperor Leopold I at Barkan in 1663. 192 gasconading: extravagant or boasting. 220 193 they lost their fleet: In August 1718 a Spanish fleet sent to invade Sicily was destroyed by Admiral George Byng at Cape Passaro. 194 Two Fools … both Foreigners: Probably a reference to the priest Giulio Alberoni (1664–1752) who rose to become an advisor to Philip V, and the adventurous Dutch nobleman Johann Wilhelm, Baron de Ripperda (1682–1737) who also became a trusted advisor to Philip V. 195 the wise Man: Solomon. For the proverb see note 137 above. 252

Explanatory notes to pages 220–5

page 220 196 offensive War against France: The Spanish–Austrian treaty of 1725 heightened expectations of conflict between Spain and France, Prussia, Great Britain. 197 the Imperialists: i.e. the Austrian Monarchy – otherwise known as the Habsburg empire. 198 Blenheim, Ramilles, Turin: During the War of Spanish Succession the Earl of Malborough’s army, consisting of the English and Dutch, defeated the French at Blenheim in 1704. In 1706 Malborough had a decisive victory over the French under Marshal Villeroi at Ramillies near Tirlemont. In 1706 the French were beaten outside Turin by Prince Eugene of Soissons-Savoy and the Duke of Savoy who fought on the side of Archduke Charles of Austria (Charles III). 199 new Foreign — : new foreign fool. In 1726 Elizabeth Farnese, Queen of Philip V of Spain, acquired a third foreign adviser, Marshal Königsegg, who had come to Spain as imperial ambassador. 221 200 old — : old fool, i.e. Cardinal Alberoni. 201 Castilian Councils: The powerful Council of Castile had considerable influence at the court of Philip. After the death of Philip V’s son, Luis I in 1724, Philip reassumed the throne with its blessing. 202 the West-Indies: It is important to remember that by ‘West Indies’ Defoe meant the whole Spanish Empire in America (i.e. as opposed to the East Indies). 203 Galloons: galleons. 204 Buccaniers … City of Panama: Captain Henry Morgan captured and pillaged Panama in 1671 and it was taken again by buccaneers in 1680. 205 Carthagena: Cartagena, a sea port in present-day Bolivia. In 1697 it was successfully attacked by the French with the aid of pirates. Fever forced the French to withdraw. 222 206 A State Fool: Defoe presumably means Cardinal Alberoni. 207 Italian Priests, Dutch Burgers, or English Dukes: Giulio Alberoni (see note 194 above); Johann Wilhelm, Baron de Ripperda (see note 194 above); James Butler, the Duke of Ormonde (see note 76 above); and the Duke of Wharton (see note 73 above). 223 208 Noble D— : the Duke of Wharton. 224 209 Batallia: order of battle. 210 Count Piper: Confidant of Charles XII, King of Sweden (1697–1718). 211 Battle of Pultowa: In July 1709 Charles XII was defeated by forces loyal to the emperor of Russia, Peter I ‘the Great’, at Pultowa (Poltava). Count Piper and others in the Swedish high command were captured, and Charles had to take refuge in Turkey. 225 212 Dark House: A place of confinement for madmen.

253

Explanatory notes to pages 225–30

page 225 213 the high Operation: Probably a reference to William Cheselden’s horrific operation for bladder stones. See William Cheselden, A Treatise on the High Operation for the Stone (London, 1723). 226 214 the Duke of Bourbon: The Duc de Bourbon, prime minister of France 1723–6. 215 Lewis le Grand: Louis XIV (1638–1715). 216 Grand Viziers: High state officials in the Turkish empire. 228 217 common Prints: newspapers. 230 218 To watch and pray… halt: This seems to allude to two biblical verses. ‘Watch and pray’ is the injunction given by Christ to the disciples in the Garden of Gesthemene (Matthew 26:41 and parallel passages). ‘To see their Neighbour halt’ seems to refer to Jeremiah 20:10, ‘All my familiars watched for my halting’. 219 Anabaptist: Anabaptists argued that only adults who made a personal public profession of faith should be baptised.

254

TEXTUAL NOTES

The textual policy for Writings on Travel, Discovery and History by Daniel Defoe is described in the General Editors’ preface printed in Volume 1, pp. 3–4. Bibliographical details of each work will be found in P. N. Furbank and W. R. Owens, A Critical Bibliography of Daniel Defoe (London: Pickering & Chatto, 1998), referred to as ‘F&O’ below. The numbers in the left-hand column refer to the Pickering and Chatto page numbers.

Due Preparations for the Plague (1722) The copy-text is the first edition, the only one to be published (F&O, 214 (P)). 99a Article] Arccle 135a were] we

Mere Nature Delineated (1726) The copy-text is the first edition, the only one to be published (F&O, 229 (P)). A correction noted in an Errata at the end of the Preface has been carried out.

255

INDEX

Writings by Defoe appear directly under title; works by others appear under author’s name. ‘DD’ indicates Defoe. Index prepared by Douglas Matthews. Alberoni, Cardinal Giulio, 252n194, 253nn200,206,207 Aldgate, 46, 71, 139, 145 Alexander III, Pope, 213 Anabaptists, 230 animals: destruction of, 44, 63 Anne, Queen: writing, 207 Arbuthnot, Dr John, 18, 172, 174, 190, 205 Aristotle, 20 Metaphysics, 248n109 Parts of Animals, 244n32 army: use against plague, 38–9 Avignon, 36 Backscheider, Paula: Daniel Defoe: His Life, 1 Bailey, Nathan: An Universal Etymological Dictionary, 244n38 Baker, Henry, 18–19, 178, 192, 204 Baker, Sophia (née Defoe), 19, 247n81 Bandy-Leg’d-Walk, London, 45 Barkan, Battle of (1663), 219 Barking, 144, 147 Bear-binder-lane (George street), 110, 117 beggars and vagabonds, 41 bell-ringing (and knells), 4, 66, 69

Berwick, James Fitz-James, Duke of, 253n205 Billings, Thomas, 246n61 Billingsgate, 48 Bills of Mortality see Mortality, Bills of Bishopsgate, 53, 66, 132 Black Death, 2, 5 Blackstone, William: Commentaries on the Laws of England, 247n77 Blackwall, 139, 141 Blenheim, Battle of (1704), 220 Blue Coat School see Christ’s Hospital Boccaccio, Giovanni, 3 Boghurst, William: Loimographia, 238n86 Bordoni, Faustina, 175 Bourbon, Louis Henri, Duke of, 226 Bradley, Richard: The Plague at Marseilles Considered, 53n, 237n54 Bradwell, Stephen: A Watch-Man for the Pest, 239n108 Brice, Andrew, 243n19 Bryce’s Weekly, 17 burials and burial grounds, 66–7 Butler, Samuel: Hudibras, 211–12 Byng, Admiral George, 252n193 Camocke, George, 247n76 257

Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5 Campbell, Brigadier Archibald, 247n76 Campbell, Colin, of Glendaruel, 247n76 Caroline, Princess of Wales, 18 Cartagena, 221 Charles I, King, 213, 238n81 Charles II, King: and Duchess of Cleveland, 217 Restoration, 14, 56, 213–14, 237n61 revelling, 96 Charles XII, King of Sweden, 224, 253n211 Charles, Archduke of Austria (Charles III), 253n198 Charles Edward Stuart, Prince (‘Bonnie Prince Charlie’; ‘the Young Pretender’), 246n72 Chatham, 141, 147 Cheselden, Sir William, 254n213 children: evacuation of, 41–4 Christ’s Hospital (Blue Coat School), 41–2 Cibber, Colley, 244n35 Cibber, Theophilus, 244n35 Clement XI, Pope, 246n72 Cleveland, Barbara Palmer, Duchess of (and Countess of Castlemaine), 217, 252n182 coal and coal-burning, 54–5 Colliber, Samuel: Free Thoughts Concerning Souls in Four Essays, 243n10, 245n39 Colonel Jack (DD), 2 common shores, 47 Cripplegate, 53, 66, 71, 73–6, 132, 145 Cromwell, Oliver, 213 Cromwell, Richard, 213–14 Daily Courant, The, 234n9 Daily Post, The, 234n7 Dartford, 141, 147, 149 258

dead carts, 67, 70–2, 131–2, 137 deaf and dumb, 21, 178–80, 182–8, 196, 201–2 see also speech Deism, 250n133 Dekker, Thomas, 3 Denmark, 51 Deptford, 139–40, 148 Descartes, René, 2, 20 Discourse on Method, 244nn32,34 diet, 51–2, 56 Diogenes Laertius, 248n104 Dissenters see Nonconformists Donne, John, 10 Dowgate, 48 drinking (alcoholic): and susceptibility to plague, 52–6 Due Preparations for the Plague (DD): descriptions in, 4 on isolation of victims, 11 on preparation for death, 16 structure, 2 on unhealthy living conditions, 8 writing, 1–2 education, 193–4, 205–8 Elizabeth Farnese, Queen of Philip V of Spain, 253n199 Enthusiasm (religious), 250n133 Erskine, Dr Robert, 247n76 Essay upon Literature, An (DD), 249nn123,124 Finsbury Fields, 67 fires: as precaution against plague, 53 Fleet Ditch, 48 Fleet Street, 64 Florence, 3, 6–7 fools: categorised, 210, 214, 222–3 politicians and rulers as, 209–20, 222, 224–7, 230 France: John Law in, 212

Index measures against plague, 5, 34–7, 84–5, 89 military prowess, 220 Spain threatens war with, 220 Frederick Augustus, King of Poland, 218, 252n186 Genoa: plague precautions, 6 George I, King: wild boy shown to, 17–18, 164, 170, 189 writing, 207 Golgotha Or, A Looking Glass for London (1665), 10 Graunt, John, 13n25 Gravesend, 141–2, 147, 149 Grays, Essex, 147 Great Northern War (1700–21), 252n179 Great Plague (London, 1665): account of two families in, 2, 31 and building density, 53 and evacuation of inhabitants, 43 mortality rates, 43–4, 51, 91 see also Mortality, Bills of Green-Hythe, 141–2, 147 Greenwich, 140–1, 144, 147 Gresham, Sir Thomas, 239n104 Grew, Nehemiah: A Treatise of the Nature and Use of the the Bitter Purging Salt contained in Epsom, 249n121 gunpowder, 60, 69, 71 Gustavus Adolphus, King of Sweden, 205 Hackney, 91 Hamelen, Germany, 156, 160–1, 163–4, 173 Hanover, 170 Harwich, 142 Hayes, Catherine, 175 Helmont, Jean Baptiste van, 236n46 Henry VIII, King, 207

Hobbes, Thomas, 25 Hodges, Dr Nathaniel: Loimologia, 8n13, 239n102 on transmission of plague, 89 Holborn, 64, 66, 71 Holland, 30, 89 Hyrcinian Forest, 161, 163 Islington, 91 Jacob, Giles: The New Law Dictionary, 245n38 Jacobites, 16, 176–7 James II, King, 207, 214 James Francis Stuart, Prince (‘Chevalier de St George’; ‘the Old Pretender’), 176–7 Jesuits, 217–18 Josephus: The Jewish War, 252n180 Journal of the Plague Year, A (DD), 1, 6n10, 11, 240n130 King’s Evil (scrofula), 176 Knight, Robert, 250n153 Königsegg, Marshal, 253n199 Lambeth, 91 language, 178–80 see also speech Laud, William, Archbishop of Canterbury, 213, 251n169 Law, John, 212, 250n154 Lawrence, Sir John (Lord Mayor of London), 241n138 Leake, Sir John, 253n205 Leopold I, Emperor, 252nn185,191 Levant Company, 5 Locke, John: Essay Concerning Human Understanding, 20–1 optimism, 25 Some Thoughts Concerning Education, 22

259

Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5 London: cleansing, 44–5, 48–9 Corporation of (City), 212–13 deaths from plague, 3, 46–8, 58, 69, 73–9, 117–18, 139, 143–4, 145–8 evacuation difficulties and proposals, 40–4 fires and heating in, 53–5 overcrowding, 53–4 see also Great Plague (London, 1665) London College of Physicians, 6, 10, 53, 237n72 London Journal, The, 243n19 Lorraine, Charles V, Duke of, 219 Louis XIV, King of France, 226 Marlborough, John Churchill, 1st Duke of, 253n198 Marseilles: plague (1720), 4, 36, 58, 80, 89, 234n7 Mead, Dr Richard: advice sought from, 4, 6 advocates moving victims to pesthouses, 9 and burning fires, 53 contagionist views, 6, 239n98 on lay diagnostic inadequacies, 13– 14 opposes purging, 12, 48 Pye refutes, 239n98 recommends quarantine, 4 A Short Discourse Concerning Pestilential Contagion, 6, 35, 233n5, 234n6 and shutting-up policy, 9 on treatment of fools, 211 mercury, 50 Mere Nature Delineated (DD): pessimism, 25–6 publication, 18 scepticism and satirical nature of, 16, 19–20, 24 writing, 1

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Milan: plague precautions, 6 Militia: use against plague, 39 Milton, John, 171 Molins, Thomas, 70 Moll Flanders (DD), 2, 242n166 Monboddo, James Burnett, Lord: Ancient Metaphysics, 26 Of the Origin and Progress of Language, 26 Morgan, Captain Henry, 253n204 Mortality, Bills of (London), 13, 44, 58, 64–5, 69, 73, 75–6, 78–9, 88–9, 95, 112, 139–40, 143, 145–6, 149 Myddleton, Hugh, 238n81 Naples, 133 Narrative of the Barbarous and Unheard of Murder of Mr. John Hayes (anon.), 246n61 Newcastle-upon-Tyne: deaths from plague, 3 Newington, Surrey, 91 New River, 63 Newton, Sir Isaac, 204 Newton, Michael, 18 Nonconformists (Dissenters): and death, 15 Norwich: deaths from plague, 3 Novak, Maximillian, 18 Oliva, Treaty of (1660), 218 ‘On the Deaf and Dumb being taught to speak’ (DD; poem), 24 Orford, 1st Earl of see Walpole, Sir Robert original sin, 25–6 Orléans, Philippe, Duc d’, Regent of France, 212, 251n155 Ormonde, James Butler, 2nd Duke of, 247n76, 253n7 Orson and Valentine (mythical figures), 159

Index Oxford: evacuation to in Great Plague, 43 Panama, 221 Paris, 89 Pepys, Samuel: The Diary, 236n51 Perkins, William, 15 Pest, Battle of (1690), 219 Peter I (the Great), Tsar of Russia, 247n76, 253n211 Peter (wild boy): attempted education of, 19, 22–3, 230–1 baptism, 230–1 at court, 172–4, 189 DD’s scepticism over, 19–20, 156– 64, 169, 228–9 discovered and exhibited, 17–18 hearing, 170 Monboddo on, 26 notoriety, 16–17 physical characteristics, 190–2 and religion, 189, 206–7 senses and faculties, 26, 174–6, 195, 228–9 speculations on possession of soul, 20, 22, 164–8, 170–2, 181, 192–3 speech and language, 21–2, 24, 26, 165, 170, 172, 176, 178–80, 191–2, 195, 201, 229–31 Petre, Edward, SJ, 217, 252n183 Philip V, King of Spain, 253nn199,201,205 Piper, Count, 224–5 plague: causes, 5–6, 81–5 contagiousness, 5–6, 34–5, 37–8, 51, 81–3, 85 effects of, 3–4, 13 freedom from, 82–3 medical treatments, 12–13, 49–51, 85–6 origins and spread of, 89–90

and poverty, 7–8, 10 precautions and preparations against, 4–7, 30, 33, 40–2, 83–5, 88–112, 118, 121–4, 126–7, 134 quarantine and isolation (‘shutting up’), 5, 7, 9–12, 14, 38–40, 57, 59–81 religious implications of, 14–16 total deaths, 78–9 see also Great Plague (London, 1665) Plato, 190 Timaeus, 242n4 playhouses and theatres, 30 Poland, 217–19 politicians and rulers: as fools, 209–20, 222, 224–7, 230 Poltava, Battle of (1709), 224 Poor Laws, 7 Potter, John, 233n3 Privy Council: Plague Orders (1578), 6, 9; (1666), 9 Proclamations for quarantine, 29 Purfleet, 147 Pye, George, 5–6 A Discourse of the Plague, 239n98 Quadruple Alliance, War of the (1718–20), 252n179 quarantine: efficacy, 5, 7, 9, 29, 33–4 in France, 35–7 Quarantine Act (1721), 5, 233nn3,5 Rainham, Essex, 147 Ramillies, Battle of (1706), 220 Ramsay, Mary, 235n31 Ratcliff, 139 reading and writing, 205–7 Religious Courtship (DD), 1–2 Ripperda, Johann Wilhelm, Baron de, 225, 252n194, 253n207 Rochester, Kent, 141, 147 Rochester, John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of, 174 261

Defoe: Writings on Travel, Discovery and History, Volume 5 Romford, 147 Romulus and Remus, 164 Rotherhithe, 91, 133, 139 Royal Society, 55 rulers see politicians and rulers St Albans, Wood Street, 59, 66 St Allhallows, Barking, 47 St Allhallows the Great, 47 St Andrew by the Wardrobe, 47 St Andrew’s Holborn, 53, 112 St Ann’s, Blackfriars, 47 St Catharine’s, 48 St Clement’s, 112 St George’s Field, London, 45 St Giles, Cripplegate, 9, 46 St Giles’s-in-the-Fields, 43, 46, 53, 64, 66, 71, 89–90, 94, 103–6, 110, 112 St James’s Park, London, 43 St Margaret Pattons, 136 St Margaret’s, 47 St Martin’s-in-the-Fields, 46–7, 53 St Michael Bassishaw, 47 St Michael, Queenhithe, 47 St Olave, Silver Street, 66 St Olaves, Hart Street, London, 45–6 St Saviours, Southwark, 45–6 St Sepulchres, 66 Savoy, Victor Amedée II, Duke of, 253n198 Scotland, 51 Shakespeare, William: Twelfth Night, 247n75 Shoreditch, 66 slaughterhouses, 45–6 Smith, Captain John, 249n123 Soissons-Savoy, Eugene, Prince of, 253n198 soul: DD’s view of, 20–2, 192–4 and wild boy, 20, 22, 164–8, 170–2, 181, 192–3

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women’s supposed lack of, 155–6 South Sea Company, 250n153 Southwark, 45, 48, 74–6, 144, 145 Spain, 220–3 Spanish Succession, War of (1701–14), 252n179 speech: learning, 196–200, 202–6 and wild boy, 165, 170, 172, 176, 178–80, 191–2, 195, 201, 229– 30 statesmen see politicians Stepney, 43, 46, 53, 66, 71, 75, 91, 139, 145 stock-jobbing, 30 Strand, 64 Stroud, Kent, 147 Sweden, 51, 224 Swift, Jonathan: It Cannot Rain But It Pours, 245n49, 246n57 The Most Wonderful Wonder that ever Appeared to the Wonder of the British Nation, 245n49 on Peter the wild boy, 16, 172, 181 System of Magic, A (DD), 247n90, 249n124 Thames, river, 47–8 Theatre Royal, Haymarket, 233n3 Thorn, Poland: massacre, 217–18 tide-ditches, 45–6, 48 Tories: reject idea of progress, 25 Torstenson, Lennard, 249n130 Tottenham High-Cross, 78 Toulon, 39 trade, clandestine, 34 Trinity, doctrine of the, 82 Turin, Battle of (1706), 220 Turkey, 226 Turquet de Mayerne, Dr Theodore, 6 Venice: plague precautions, 5

Index Villeroi, Marshal François de Neufville, Duke of, 253n198 Vincent, Thomas: God’s Terrible Voice in the City, 242n164 vinctine (quarantine period), 42 Walpole, Sir Robert (later 1st Earl of Orford), 5, 251n166 Wapping, 139 Watson, Henry, 243n17 Wauchope, Francis, 247n76 Weekly Journal or British Gazetter, The, 234nn7,9, 243n19 West Ham, 144 Westminster, 91 Wharton, Philip, Duke of, 176, 223, 246n73, 247n76, 253nn207,208

Whigs: and progress, 25 Whitechapel, 43, 45–6, 53, 66, 139, 145 wild boy see Peter (wild boy) William III (of Orange), King: succeeds James II, 251n171 writing, 207 wines, 54–6 Wood, Thomas, 246n61 Woolwich, 140–1, 144, 147 words see speech workhouses, 41–2 writing see reading and writing Zell, Germany, 156, 160–1, 163–4, 168

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