by the purse, then went again and fetched some gunpowder, and cast a good deal of powder upon the purse, and then made a train from that which he had thrown loose upon the purse; the train reached about two yards: after this, he goes in a third time, and fetches out a pair of tongs red hot, and which he had prepared, I suppose, on purpose; and first setting fire to the train of powder, that singed the purse, and also smoked the air sufficiently but he was not content with that; but he then takes up the purse with the tongs, holding it so long till the tongs burnt through the purse, and then he shook the money out into the pail of water, so he carried it in. The money, as I remember, was about thirteen shillings, and some smooth groats, and brass farthings.

There might, perhaps, have been several poor people, as I have observed above, that would have been hardy enough to have ventured for the sake of money; but you may easily you may easily see by what I have observed, that the few people who were spared were very careful of themselves at that time when the distress was so exceeding great.

Much about the same time I walked out into the fields towards Bow; for I had a great mind to see how things were managed in the river, and among the ships; and as I had some concern in shipping, I had a notion that it had been one of the best ways of securing one's self from the infection, to have retired into a ship; and musing how to satisfy my curiosity in that point, I turned away over the fields, from Bow to Bromley, and down to Blackwall, to the stairs, which are there for landing, or taking water.

Here I saw a poor man walking on the bank, or sea-wall, as they call it, by himself. I walked a while also about, seeing the houses all shut up;

at last I fell into some talk, at a distance, with this poor man; first, I asked him how people did thereabouts? "Alas! Sir," says he, "almost desolate; all dead or sick. Here are very few families in this part, or in that village, pointing at Poplar, where half of them are not dead already, and the rest sick." Then he, pointing to one house," There they are all dead," said he, " and the house stands open; nobody dares go into it: a poor thief," says he, "ventured in to steal something, but he paid dear for his theft, for he was carried to the churchyard too last night." Then he pointed to several other houses. "There," says he, they are all dead, the man and his wife, and five children." "There," says

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"they are shut up; you see a watchman at

" Why," says "Why," says

he, the door" and so of other houses. I," what do you here all alone?" he, "I am a poor desolate man, it has pleased God I am not yet visited, though my family is, and one of my children dead. "How do you mean, then," said I," that you are not visited ?" "Why," says he, "that is my house," pointing to a very little low boarded house, "and there my poor wife and two children live," said he, "if they may be said to live; for my wife and one of the children are visited, but I do not come at them." And with that word I saw the tears run very plentifully_down his face; and so they did down mine too, I assure you.

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But," said I, "why do you not come at them? how can you abandon your own flesh and blood?" "Oh! Sir," says he," the Lord forbid; I do not abandon them; I work for them as much as I am able; and blessed be the Lord, I keep them from want;" and with that I observed he liftend up his eyes to Heaven with a counte→

nance that presently told me I had happened on a man who was no hypocrite, but a serious, religious, good man, and his ejaculation was an expression of thankfulness that, in such a condition as he was in, he should be able to say his family did not want. 66 Well," says I, "honest man, that is a great mercy as things go now with the poor: but how do you live then, and how are you kept from the dreadful calamity that is now upon us all?" Why, Sir," says he, " I am a waterman, and there is my boat," says he," and the boat serves me for a house; I work in it in the day, and I sleep in it in the night; and what I get, I lay down upon that stone," says he, shewing me a broad stone on the other side of the street, a good way from his house, " and then," says he, "I halloo, and call to them till I make them hear; and they come and fetch it."

"Well friend," says I," but how can you get any money as a waterman? does any body go by water these times?" "Yes, Sir," says he, "in the way I am employed there does. Do you see there," says he, "five ships lie at anchor," pointing down the river, "a good way below the town: and do you see," says he, "eight or ten ships lié at the chain there, and at anchor yonder," pointing above the town. "All those ships have families on board, of their merchants and owners, and such like, who have locked themselves up, and live on board, close shut in, for fear of the infection; and I tend on them to fetch things for them, carry letters, and do what is absolutely necessary, that they may not be obliged to come on shore; and every night I fasten my boat on board one of the ship's boats, and there I sleep by myself, and blessed be God, I am preserved hitherto."

"Well," said I, " friend, but will they let

you

come on board, after you have been on shore here, when this is such a terrible place, and so infected as it is?"

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Why, as to that,” said he, “I very seldom go up the ship's side, but deliver what I bring to their boat, or lie by the side, and they hoist it on board; if I did, I think they are in no danger from me, for I never go into any house on shore, or touch any body, no, not of my own family; but I fetch provisions for them."

"Nay," says I, "but that may be worse, for you must have those provisions of somebody or other; and since all this part of the town is so infected, it is dangerous so much as to speak with any body; for the village," said I, " is, as it were, the beginning of London, though it be at some distance from it."

"That is true," added he, "but you do not understand me right; I do not buy provisions for them here; I row up to Greenwich and buy fresh meat there, and sometimes I row down the river to Woolwich and buy there; then I go to single farm-houses on the Kentish side, where I am known, and buy fowls, and eggs, and butter, and bring to the ships, as they direct me, sometimes one, sometimes the other: I seldom come on shore here; and I came now only to call to my wife, and hear how my little family do, and give them a little money, which I received last night." "Poor man!" said I, "and how much hast thou gotten for them?"

"I have gotten four shillings," said he, “which is a great sum, as things go now with poor men ; but they have given me a bag of bread too, and a salt fish and some flesh; so all helps out."

66 Well," said I, " and have you given it them

yet?"

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No," said he, "but I have called, and my wife has answered, that she cannot come out yet, but in half an hour she hopes to come, and I am waiting for her: poor woman!" says he, "she is brought sadly down; she has a swelling, and it is broke, and I hope she will recover; but I fear the child will die; but it is the Lord!"- -here he stopt, and wept very much.

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"thou hast a

Well, honest friend," said I, sure comforter, if thou hast brought thyself to be resigned to the will of God, he is dealing with us all in judgment.

"Oh, Sir," says he, "it is infinite mercy, if any of us are spared; and who am I, to repine!"

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Sayest thou so," said I, " and how much less is my faith than thine?" And here my heart smote me, suggesting how much better this poor man's foundation was, on which he staid in the danger, than mine; that he had no where to fly; that he had a family to bind him to attendance, which I had not; and mine was mere presumption, his, a true dependance, and a courage resting on God; and yet, that he used all possible caution for his safety.

I turned a little way from the man, while these thoughts engaged me, for, indeed, I could no more refrain from tears than he.

At length, after some further talk, the poor woman opened the door, and called-Robert, Robert; he answered, and bid her stay a few moments, and he would come; so he ran down the common stairs to his boat, and fetched up a sack in which was the provisions he had brought from the ships; and when he returned he hallooed again; then he went to the great stone which he shewed me, and emptied the sack, and laid all out, every thing by themselves, and then