It was indeed, coming on a main; for the Burials that fame Week, were in the next adjoining Parishes, thus, St.Len.Shorditch 64 the next Week 342 84 to the ift. 110 105 of Aug. 116 421 thus. 554 This fhutting up of houfes was at first counted a very cruel and Unchriftian Method, and the poor People fo confin'd made hitter Lamentations: Complaints of the Severity of it, were alfo daily brought to my Lord Mayor, of Houfes caufelessly, (and fome maliciously) fhut up: I cannot fay, but upon Enquiry, many that complained fo loudly, were found in a Condition to be continued, and others again Infpection being made upon the fick Perfon, and the Sickness not appearing infections, or if uncertain, yet, on his being content to be carried to the Peft-Houfe, were released. It is true, that the locking up the Doors of Peoples Houfes, and fetting a Watchman there Night and Day, to prevent their stirring out, or any coming to them; when, perhaps, the found People, in the Family, might have efcaped, if they had been remov'd from the Sick, looked ve ry hard and cruel; and many People perished in thefe mif.rable Confinements, which 'tis reafon. able able to believe, would not have been distemper'd if they had had Liberty, tho' the Plague was in the Houfe; at which the People were very clamorous and uncafie at firft, and feveral Violences were committed, and Injuries offered to the Men, who were fet to watch the Houfes fo fhut up; alfo feveral People broke out by Force, in many Places, as I fhall obferve by and by: But it was a publick Cood that justified the private Mif chicf, and there was no obtaining the leaft Mitgation, by any Application to Magiftrates, or Government, at that Time, at least, not that I heard of. This put the People upon all Manner of Stra tagem, in order, if poflible, to get out, and it would fill a little Volume, to fet down the Arts us'd by the People of fuch Houfes, to fhut the Eyes of the Watchmen, who were employ'd, to deceive them, snd to cfcape, or break out from them; in which frequent Scuffles, and fome Mifchief happened, of which by it felf. As I went along Houndfditch one Morning, about cight a-Clock, there was a great Noife; is true indeed, there was not much Croud, be Cafe People were not very free to gather together or to ftay long together, when they were there, nor did ftay long there: But the Outcry was loud enough to prompt my Curiofity, and I call'd to one that look'd out of a Window, and ask'd what was the Matter. A Watchman, it feems, had been employed to keep his Poft at the Door of a Houfe, which was infected, or faid to be infected, and was fhut up; he had been there all Night for two Nights together, as he told his Story, and the Day Watchman had been there one Day. and was now come to relieve him: All this while no Noife had been heard in the Houfe, no Light had been feen, they call'd for nothing, fent him of no Er rands, rands, which us'd to be the chief Bufinefs of the Watchman; neither had they given him any Difturbance, as he said, from the Monday afternoon, when he heard great crying and fcreaming in the House, which, as he fuppofed, was occafioned by fome of the Family dying juft at that Time: it feems the Night before, the Dead-Cart, as it was called, had been ftopt there, and a Servant-Maid had been brought down to the Door dead, and the Buriers or Bearers, as they were call'd, put her into the Cart, wrapt only in a green Rug, and carried her away. The Watchman had knock'd at the Door, it feems, when he heard that Noife and Crying, as above, and no Body anfwered, a great while, but at laft one look'd out and faid with an angry quick Tone, and yet a Kind of crying Voice, or a Voice of one that was crying, What d'ye want, that ye make fuch a knocking? He anfwer'd, I am the Watchman! bow do you do? What is the Matter? The Perfon answered, What is that to you? Stop the Dead-Cart. This It feems, was about one a-Clock; foon after, as the Fellow faid, he stopped the DeadCart, and then knock'd again, but no Body anfwer'd: He continued knocking, and the Bellman call'd out feveral Times, Bring out your Dead; but no Body anfwered, till the Man that drove the Cart being call'd to other Houfes, would ftay no longer, and drove away. The Watchman knew not what to make of all this, fo he let them alone, till the MorningMan, or Day Watchman, as they call'd him, came to relieve him, giving him an Account of the Particulars, they knock'd at the Door a great while, but no body anfwered; and they ob ferv'd, that the Window, or Cafement, at which the Perfon had look'd out, who had answer'd before, continued open, being up two Pair of Stairs. Upon Upon this, the two Men to fatisfy their Curio fity, got a long Ladder, and one of them went up to the Window, and look'd into the Room, where he faw a Woman lying dead upon the Floor, in a difinal Manner, having no Cloaths on her but her Shift: But tho' he call'd aloud, and putting in his long Staff, knock'd hard on the Floor, yet no Body ftirr'd or aufwered; neither could he hear any Noife in the Houfe. He came down again, upon this, and acquainted his Fellow, who went up alfo, and finding it juft fo, they refolv'd to acquaint either the Lord Mayor, or fome other Magistrate of it, but did not offer to go in at the Window: The Magiftrate it feems, upon the Information of the two Men, ordered the Houfe to be broken open, a Constable, and other Perfons being appointed to be prefent, that nothing might be plundred, and accordingly it was fo done, when no Body was found in the House, but that young Woman, who having been infected, and paft Recovery, the reft had left her to die by her felf, and were every one gone, having found fome Way to delude the Watchman, and get open the Door, or get out at fome Back Door, or over the Tops of the Houles, fo that he knew nothing of it, and as to thefe Crys and Shrieks, which he heard, it was fuppes'd, they were the palionate Cries of the Family, at the bitter parting, which, to be fure, it was to them all, this being the Sifter to the Miftrefs of the Family. The Man of the House, his Wife, feveral Children, and Servants, being all gone and fled, whether fick or found, that I could never learn, nor, indeed, did I make much Enquiry after it. Many fuch efcapes were made, out of infected Houfes, as particularly, when the Watchman was fent of fome Errand; for it was his Bufinefs to go of of any Frrand, that the Family fent him of, that is to fay, for Neceffaries, fuch as Food and Phyfick; to fetch Phyficians, if they would come, or Surgeons, or Nurfes, or to order the Dead-Cart, and the like, But with this Condition too, that when he went, he was to lock up the Cuter-Door of the Houfe, and take the Key away with him; to evade this, and cheat the Watchmen, People got two or three Keys made to their Locks; or they found Ways to unfcrew the Locks, fuch as were fcrew'd on, and fo take off the Lock, being in the Infide of the Houfe, and while they fent away the Watchman to the Market, to the Bakehouse, or for one Trifle or-another, open the Door, and go out as often as they pleas'd: But this being found out, the Officers afterwards had Orders to Padlock up the Doors on the Outfide, and place Bolts on them as they thought fit. At another Houfe, as I was inform'd, in the Street next within Algate, a whole Family was fhut up and lock'd in, because the Maid-Servant was taken fick; the Mafter of the Houfe had complain'd by his Friends to the next Alderman, and to the Lord Mayor, and had confented to have the Maid carried to the Peft-Houfe, but was refufed, fo the Door was marked with a red Cross, a Padlock on the Outfide, as above, and a Watchman fet to keep the Door according to publick Order. After the Mafter of the Houfe found there was no Remedy, but that he, his Wife and his Children were to be lockt up with this poor distempered Servant; he call'd to the Watchman, and told him, he must go then and fetch a Nurse for them, to attend this poor Girl, for that it would be certain Death to them all to oblige them to nurfe her, and told him plainly, that if he would not do this, the Maid muft perifh either of the Diftem per |