History of the Plague in London by Daniel Defoe
really wanted somehouse, rather than huts, to shelter them at that time of the year, itgrowing on towards Michaelmas, they found an old decayed house, whichhad been formerly some cottage or little habitation, but was so out ofrepair as[217] scarce habitable; and by consent of a farmer, to whosefarm it belonged, they got leave to make what use of it they could.
The ingenious joiner, and all the rest by his directions, went to workwith it, and in a very few days made it capable to shelter them all incase of bad weather; and in which there was an old chimney and an oldoven, though both lying in ruins, yet they made them both fit for use;and, raising additions, sheds, and lean-to's[218] on every side, theysoon made the house capable to hold them all.
They chiefly wanted boards to make window shutters, floors, doors, andseveral other things; but as the gentleman above favored them, and thecountry was by that means made easy with them, and, above all, that theywere known to be all sound and in good health, everybody helped themwith what they could spare.
Here they encamped for good and all, and resolved to remove no more.They saw plainly how terribly alarmed that country was everywhere atanybody that came from London, and that they should have no admittanceanywhere but with the utmost difficulty; at least no friendly receptionand assistance, as they had received here.
Now, although they received great assistance and encouragement from thecountry gentlemen, and from the people round about them, yet they wereput to great straits; for the weather grew cold and wet in October andNovember, and they had not been used to so much hardship, so that theygot cold in their limbs, and distempers, but never had the infection.And thus about December they came home to the city again.
I give this story thus at large, principally to give an account[219]what became of the great numbers of people which immediately appeared inthe city as soon as the sickness abated; for, as I have said, greatnumbers of those that were able, and had retreats in the country, fledto those retreats. So when it[220] was increased to such a frightfulextremity as I have related, the middling people[221] who had notfriends fled to all parts of the country where they could get shelter,as well those that had money to relieve themselves as those that hadnot. Those that had money always fled farthest, because they were ableto subsist themselves; but those who were empty suffered, as I havesaid, great hardships, and were often driven by necessity to relievetheir wants at the expense of the country. By that means the country wasmade very uneasy at them, and sometimes took them up, though even thenthey scarce knew what to do with them, and were always very backward topunish them; but often, too, they forced them from place to place, tillthey were obliged to come back again to London.
I have, since my knowing this story of John and his brother, inquired,and found that there were a great many of the poor disconsolate people,as above, fled into the country every way; and some of them got littlesheds and barns and outhouses to live in, where they could obtain somuch kindness of the country, and especially where they had any, theleast satisfactory account to give of themselves, and particularly thatthey did not come out of London too late. But others, and that in greatnumbers, built themselves little huts and retreats in the fields andwoods, and lived like hermits in holes and caves, or any place theycould find, and where, we may be sure, they suffered great extremities,such that many of them were obliged to come back again, whatever thedanger was. And so those little huts were often found empty, and thecountry people supposed the inhabitants lay dead in them of the plague,and would not go near them for fear, no, not in a great while; nor is itunlikely but that some of the unhappy wanderers might die so all alone,even sometimes for want of help, as particularly in one tent or hut wasfound a man dead, and on the gate of a field just by was cut with hisknife, in uneven letters, the following words, by which it may besupposed the other man escaped, or that, one dying first, the otherburied him as well as he could:--
O m I s E r Y! We Bo T H Sh a L L D y E, W o E, W o E
I have given an account already of what I found to have been the casedown the river among the seafaring men, how the ships lay in the"offing," as it is called, in rows or lines, astern of one another,quite down from the Pool as far as I could see. I have been told thatthey lay in the same manner quite down the river as low asGravesend,[222] and some far beyond, even everywhere, or in every placewhere they could ride with safety as to wind and weather. Nor did I everhear that the plague reached to any of the people on board those ships,except such as lay up in the Pool, or as high as Deptford Reach,although the people went frequently on shore to the country towns andvillages, and farmers' houses, to buy fresh provisions (fowls, pigs,calves, and the like) for their supply.
Likewise I found that the watermen on the river above the bridge foundmeans to convey themselves away up the river as far as they could go;and that they had, many of them, their whole families in their boats,covered with tilts[223] and bales, as they call them, and furnished withstraw within for their lodging; and that they lay thus all along by theshore in the marshes, some of them setting up little tents with theirsails, and so lying under them on shore in the day, and going into theirboats at night. And in this manner, as I have heard, the riversides werelined with boats and people as long as they had anything to subsist on,or could get anything of the country; and indeed the country people, aswell gentlemen as others, on these and all other occasions, were veryforward to relieve them, but they were by no means willing to receivethem into their towns and houses, and for that we cannot blame them.
There was one unhappy citizen, within my knowledge, who had been visitedin a dreadful manner, so that his wife and all his children were dead,and himself and two servants only left, with an elderly woman, a nearrelation, who had nursed those that were dead as well as she could. Thisdisconsolate man goes to a village near the town, though not within thebills of mortality, and, finding an empty house there, inquires out theowner, and took the house. After a few days he got a cart, and loaded itwith goods, and carries them down to the house. The people of thevillage opposed his driving the cart along, but, with some arguings andsome force, the men that drove the cart along got through the street upto the door of the house. There the constable resisted them again, andwould not let them be brought in. The man caused the goods to beunloaded and laid at the door, and sent the cart away, upon which theycarried the man before a justice of peace; that is to say, theycommanded him to go, which he did. The justice ordered him to cause thecart to fetch away the goods again, which he refused to do; upon whichthe justice ordered the constable to pursue the carters and fetch themback, and make them reload the goods and carry them away, or to setthem in the stocks[224] till they[225] came for further orders; and ifthey could not find them,[226] and the man would not consent to takethem[227] away, they[225] should cause them[227] to be drawn with hooksfrom the house door, and burned in the street. The poor distressed man,upon this, fetched the goods again, but with grievous cries andlamentations at the hardship of his case. But there was no remedy:self-preservation obliged the people to those severities which theywould not otherwise have been concerned in. Whether this poor man livedor died, I cannot tell, but it was reported that he had the plague uponhim at that time, and perhaps the people might report that to justifytheir usage of him; but it was not unlikely that either he or his goods,or both, were dangerous, when his whole family had been dead of thedistemper so little a while before.
I know that the inhabitants of the towns adjacent to London were muchblamed for cruelty to the poor people that ran from the contagion intheir distress, and many very severe things were done, as may be seenfrom what has been said; but I cannot but say also, that where there wasroom for charity and assistance to the people, without apparent dangerto themselves, they were willing enough to help and relieve them. But asevery town were indeed judges in their own case, so the poor people whoran abroad in their extremities were often ill used, and driven backagain into the town; and this caused infinite exclamations and outcriesagainst the country towns, and made the clamor
very popular.
And yet more or less, maugre[228] all the caution, there was not a townof any note within ten (or, I believe, twenty) miles of the city, butwhat was more or less infected, and had some[229] died among them. Ihave heard the accounts of several, such as they were reckoned up, asfollows:--
Enfield 32 Hornsey 58 Newington 17 Tottenham 42 Edmonton 19 Barnet and Hadley 43 St. Albans 121 Watford 45 Uxbridge 117 Hertford 90 Ware 160 Hodsdon 30 Waltham Abbey 23 Epping 26 Deptford 623 Greenwich 631 Eltham and Lusum 85 Croydon 61 Brentwood 70 Rumford 109 Barking about 200 Brandford 432 Kingston
The ingenious joiner, and all the rest by his directions, went to workwith it, and in a very few days made it capable to shelter them all incase of bad weather; and in which there was an old chimney and an oldoven, though both lying in ruins, yet they made them both fit for use;and, raising additions, sheds, and lean-to's[218] on every side, theysoon made the house capable to hold them all.
They chiefly wanted boards to make window shutters, floors, doors, andseveral other things; but as the gentleman above favored them, and thecountry was by that means made easy with them, and, above all, that theywere known to be all sound and in good health, everybody helped themwith what they could spare.
Here they encamped for good and all, and resolved to remove no more.They saw plainly how terribly alarmed that country was everywhere atanybody that came from London, and that they should have no admittanceanywhere but with the utmost difficulty; at least no friendly receptionand assistance, as they had received here.
Now, although they received great assistance and encouragement from thecountry gentlemen, and from the people round about them, yet they wereput to great straits; for the weather grew cold and wet in October andNovember, and they had not been used to so much hardship, so that theygot cold in their limbs, and distempers, but never had the infection.And thus about December they came home to the city again.
I give this story thus at large, principally to give an account[219]what became of the great numbers of people which immediately appeared inthe city as soon as the sickness abated; for, as I have said, greatnumbers of those that were able, and had retreats in the country, fledto those retreats. So when it[220] was increased to such a frightfulextremity as I have related, the middling people[221] who had notfriends fled to all parts of the country where they could get shelter,as well those that had money to relieve themselves as those that hadnot. Those that had money always fled farthest, because they were ableto subsist themselves; but those who were empty suffered, as I havesaid, great hardships, and were often driven by necessity to relievetheir wants at the expense of the country. By that means the country wasmade very uneasy at them, and sometimes took them up, though even thenthey scarce knew what to do with them, and were always very backward topunish them; but often, too, they forced them from place to place, tillthey were obliged to come back again to London.
I have, since my knowing this story of John and his brother, inquired,and found that there were a great many of the poor disconsolate people,as above, fled into the country every way; and some of them got littlesheds and barns and outhouses to live in, where they could obtain somuch kindness of the country, and especially where they had any, theleast satisfactory account to give of themselves, and particularly thatthey did not come out of London too late. But others, and that in greatnumbers, built themselves little huts and retreats in the fields andwoods, and lived like hermits in holes and caves, or any place theycould find, and where, we may be sure, they suffered great extremities,such that many of them were obliged to come back again, whatever thedanger was. And so those little huts were often found empty, and thecountry people supposed the inhabitants lay dead in them of the plague,and would not go near them for fear, no, not in a great while; nor is itunlikely but that some of the unhappy wanderers might die so all alone,even sometimes for want of help, as particularly in one tent or hut wasfound a man dead, and on the gate of a field just by was cut with hisknife, in uneven letters, the following words, by which it may besupposed the other man escaped, or that, one dying first, the otherburied him as well as he could:--
O m I s E r Y! We Bo T H Sh a L L D y E, W o E, W o E
I have given an account already of what I found to have been the casedown the river among the seafaring men, how the ships lay in the"offing," as it is called, in rows or lines, astern of one another,quite down from the Pool as far as I could see. I have been told thatthey lay in the same manner quite down the river as low asGravesend,[222] and some far beyond, even everywhere, or in every placewhere they could ride with safety as to wind and weather. Nor did I everhear that the plague reached to any of the people on board those ships,except such as lay up in the Pool, or as high as Deptford Reach,although the people went frequently on shore to the country towns andvillages, and farmers' houses, to buy fresh provisions (fowls, pigs,calves, and the like) for their supply.
Likewise I found that the watermen on the river above the bridge foundmeans to convey themselves away up the river as far as they could go;and that they had, many of them, their whole families in their boats,covered with tilts[223] and bales, as they call them, and furnished withstraw within for their lodging; and that they lay thus all along by theshore in the marshes, some of them setting up little tents with theirsails, and so lying under them on shore in the day, and going into theirboats at night. And in this manner, as I have heard, the riversides werelined with boats and people as long as they had anything to subsist on,or could get anything of the country; and indeed the country people, aswell gentlemen as others, on these and all other occasions, were veryforward to relieve them, but they were by no means willing to receivethem into their towns and houses, and for that we cannot blame them.
There was one unhappy citizen, within my knowledge, who had been visitedin a dreadful manner, so that his wife and all his children were dead,and himself and two servants only left, with an elderly woman, a nearrelation, who had nursed those that were dead as well as she could. Thisdisconsolate man goes to a village near the town, though not within thebills of mortality, and, finding an empty house there, inquires out theowner, and took the house. After a few days he got a cart, and loaded itwith goods, and carries them down to the house. The people of thevillage opposed his driving the cart along, but, with some arguings andsome force, the men that drove the cart along got through the street upto the door of the house. There the constable resisted them again, andwould not let them be brought in. The man caused the goods to beunloaded and laid at the door, and sent the cart away, upon which theycarried the man before a justice of peace; that is to say, theycommanded him to go, which he did. The justice ordered him to cause thecart to fetch away the goods again, which he refused to do; upon whichthe justice ordered the constable to pursue the carters and fetch themback, and make them reload the goods and carry them away, or to setthem in the stocks[224] till they[225] came for further orders; and ifthey could not find them,[226] and the man would not consent to takethem[227] away, they[225] should cause them[227] to be drawn with hooksfrom the house door, and burned in the street. The poor distressed man,upon this, fetched the goods again, but with grievous cries andlamentations at the hardship of his case. But there was no remedy:self-preservation obliged the people to those severities which theywould not otherwise have been concerned in. Whether this poor man livedor died, I cannot tell, but it was reported that he had the plague uponhim at that time, and perhaps the people might report that to justifytheir usage of him; but it was not unlikely that either he or his goods,or both, were dangerous, when his whole family had been dead of thedistemper so little a while before.
I know that the inhabitants of the towns adjacent to London were muchblamed for cruelty to the poor people that ran from the contagion intheir distress, and many very severe things were done, as may be seenfrom what has been said; but I cannot but say also, that where there wasroom for charity and assistance to the people, without apparent dangerto themselves, they were willing enough to help and relieve them. But asevery town were indeed judges in their own case, so the poor people whoran abroad in their extremities were often ill used, and driven backagain into the town; and this caused infinite exclamations and outcriesagainst the country towns, and made the clamor
And yet more or less, maugre[228] all the caution, there was not a townof any note within ten (or, I believe, twenty) miles of the city, butwhat was more or less infected, and had some[229] died among them. Ihave heard the accounts of several, such as they were reckoned up, asfollows:--
Enfield 32 Hornsey 58 Newington 17 Tottenham 42 Edmonton 19 Barnet and Hadley 43 St. Albans 121 Watford 45 Uxbridge 117 Hertford 90 Ware 160 Hodsdon 30 Waltham Abbey 23 Epping 26 Deptford 623 Greenwich 631 Eltham and Lusum 85 Croydon 61 Brentwood 70 Rumford 109 Barking about 200 Brandford 432 Kingston