againft: It is very certain, that a great many of the Clergy, who were in Circumftances to do it, withdrew, and fled for the Safety of their Lives; but 'tis true alfo, that a great many of them ftaid, and many of them fell in the Calamity, and in the Difcharge of their Duty.

It is true, fome of the Diffenting turn'd out Minifters flaid, and their Courage is to be commended, and highly valued, but thefe were not abundance; it cannot be faid that they all staid, and that none retir'd into the Country, any more than it can be faid of the Church Clergy, that they all went away; neither did all thofe that went away, go without fubftituting Curates, and others in their Places, to do the Offices needful, and to visit the Sick, as far as it was practicable; fo that upon the whole, an Allowance of Charity might have been made on both Sides, and we fhould have confider'd, that fuch a time as this of 1665, is not to be parallel'd in Hiftory, and that it is not the flouteft Courage that will always fupport Men in fuch Cafes; I had not faid this, but had rather chofen to record the Courage and religious Zeal of thofe of both Sides, who did hazard themfelves for the Service of the poor People in their Diftrefs, without remembring that any fail'd in their Duty on either fide. But the want of Temper among us, has made the contrary to this neceflary; fome that ftaid, not only boatting too much of themselves, but reviling thofe that fled, branding them with Cowardice, deferting their Flocks, and acting the Part of the Hirleing, and the like: I recommend it to the Charity of all good People to look back, and reflect duly upon the Tenors of the Time; and whoever does fo will fee, that it is not an ordinary Strength that cou'd fupport it, it was not like appearing in the Head of an Army, or charging a Body of Horle in the Field, but it was charging Death it fel

on

on his pale Horfe; to flay was indeed to die, and it could be efteemed nothing lefs, efpecially as things appear'd at the latter End of August, and the Beginning of September, and as there was reafon to expect them at that time; for no Man expected, and I dare thy, believed, that the Diftemper would take fo fudden a Turn as it did, and fall immediately 2000 in a Week, when there was fuch a prodigious Number of Peopie fick at that Time, as it was known there was, and then it was that many fhifted away, that had flay'd most of the time

before.

Befides, if God gave Strength to fome more than to others, was it to boaft of their Ability to abide the Stroak, and upbraid thofe that had not the fame Gift and Support, or ought not they rather to have been humble and thankful, if they were render'd more ufeful than their Brethren ?

I think it ought to be recorded to the Honour of fuch Men, as well Clergy as Phyficians, Surgeons, Apothecaries, Magiftrates and Officers of every kind,as alfo all ufeful People, who ventur'd their Lives in Difcharge of their Duty, as moft certainly all fuch as flay'd did to the laft Degree, and feveral of all thefe Kinds did not only venture but lofe their Lives on that fad Occafion.

I was once making a Lift of all fuch, I mean of all thofe Profeflions and Employments, who thus died, as I call it, in the way of their Duty, but it was impoffible for a private Man to come at a Certainty in the Particulats; I only remember, that there died fixteen Clergy-men, two Aldermen, five Phyficians, thirteen Surgeons, within the City and Liberties before the beginning of September But this being, as I faid before, the great Crifis and Extremity of the Infection, it can be no compleat Litt: As to inferior People, I think there died fix and forty

Conflables and Headboroughs in the two Parishes of Stepney and White-Chapel, but I could not carry my Lift on, for when the violent Rage of the Difemper in September came upon us, it drove us out of all Meafures: Men did then no more die by Tale and by Number, they might put out a Weekly Bill, and call them feven or eight Thoufand, or what they pleas'd; 'tis certain they died by Heaps, and were buried by Heaps, that is to fay without Account; and if I might believe fome People, who were more abroad and more converfant with thofe things than I, tho' I was public enough for one that had no more Business to do than I had, I fay, if I may believe them, there was not many lefs bu ried thofe first three Weeks in September than 20000 per Week; however the others aver the Truth of it, yet I rather chule to keep to the public Account; leven and eight thoufand per Week is enough to make good all that I have faid of the Terror of thofe Times; and it is much to the Satisfaction of me that write, as well as thofe that read, to be able to fay, that every thing is fet down with Moderation, and rather within Compafs than beyond it.

Upon all thefe Accounts 1 fay I could with, when we were recover'd, our Conduct had been more diftinguish'd for Charity and Kindness in Remembrance of the patt Calamity, and not fo much a valuing our felves upon our Boldnets in ftaying, as if all Men were Cowards that fly from the Hand of God, or that thofe, who ftay, do not fometimes owe their Courage to their Ignorance, and defpifing the Hand of their Maker, which is a criminal kind of Defperation, and not a true Courage.

I cannot but leave it upon Record, that the Civil Officers, fuch as Conflables, Headboroughs, Lord Mayor's, and Sheriff's-men, as alfo Parih-Officers, whofe Bufinefs it was to take Charge of the Poor,

did their Duties in general with as much Courage as any, and perhaps with more, becaufe their Work was attended with more Hazards, and lay more among the Poor, who were more fubject to be infected and in the moft pitiful Plight when they were taken with the Infection: But then it must be added too, that a great Number of them died, indeed it was fcarce poffible it fhould be otherwise.

I have not faid one Word here about the Phyfick or Preparations that we ordinarily made ufe of on this terrible Occation, I mean we that went frequently abroad up and down Street, as I did; much of this was talk'd of in the Books and Bills of our Quack Doctors, of whom I have faid enough already. It may however be added, that the College of Phyficians were daily publishing feveral Preparations, which they had confider'd of in the Procels of their Practice, and which being to be had in Print, I avoid repeating them for that reafon.

One thing I could not help obferving, what be fell one of the Quacks, who publish'd that he had a moft excellent Prefervative against the Plague, which whoever kept about them, thould never be infected, or liable to Infection; this Man, who we may reasonably fuppofe, did not go abroad without fome of this excellent Prefervative in his Pocket, yet was taken by the Distemper, and carry'd off in two or three Days

I am not of the Number of the Phyfic-Haters, or Phyfic-Defpilers; on the contrary, I have often mentioned the regard I had to the Dictates of my particular Friend Dr. Heath; but yet I must ac knowledge, I made ufe of little or nothing, except as I have obferv'd, to keep a Preparation of ftrong Scent to have ready, in cafe I met with any thing of offenfive Smells, or went too near any burying place, or dead Body.

Ꭲ

Neither

Neither did I do, what I know fome did, keep the Spirits always high and hot with Cordials, and Wine, and fuch things, and which, as I obferv'd, one learned Phyfician ufed himfelf fo much to, as that he could not leave them off when the Infection was quite gone, and fo became a Sot for all his Life after.

I remember, my Friend the Doctor us'd to fay, that there was a certain Set of Drugs and Preparations, which were all certainly good and useful in the cale of an Infection; out of which, or with which, Phyficians might make an infinite Variety of Medicines, as the Ringers of Bells make feveral Hundred different Rounds of Mutick by the changing and Order of Sound but in fix Bells; and that all thetePreparations fhall be really very good; therefore, faid he, I do not wonder that fo vaft a Throng of Medicines is offfer'd in theprefent Calamity, and almoft every Phyfician preferibes or prepares a different thing, as his Judgment or Experience guides him: but, fays my Friend, let all the Prefcriptions of all the Phyficians in London be examined; and it will be found, that they are all compounded of the fame things, with fuch Variations only, as the particular Fancy of the Doctor leads him to; fo that, fays he, every Man judging a little of his own Conflitution and manner of his living, and Circumflances of his being infected, may direct his own Medicines out of the ordinary Drugs and Preparations: Only that, fays he, fore recommend one thing as moft fovereign, and fome another; fome, fays he, think that Pill. Raff which is call'd itfelf the Antipeftilential Pill, is the beft Preparation that can be made; others think, that Venice Treacle is fufficient of it felf to refift the Contagion, and I, fays he, think as both thefe think, vis. that the laft is good to take beforehand to prevent it, and the lait, if touch'd, to expel it. According to this Opinion. I

feveral