accounts, that he was altogether as uneasy as he was before he left his house in London.

While they thus lay in Bugby's Hole, the captain and the merchant's second brother, with their boat, had ventured 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 fared on board; and they were the more wary because, besides the town of Greenwich, the plague was raging at Blackwall, also in all that part of the country which contained several villages, all in Stepney and Bromley parishes, such as Blackwall, Poplar, Limehouse, Bow, Old Ford, Bethnal Green, Bromley, Mile End; in the former of which parishes, viz., Stepney, including Whitechapel, there died 1026 people that very week, and the next week 1327.

However, they answered 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 furnished 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, being so differing from their usual way of living; they got also fresh meat, as veal and pork, and, in a word, were very well stored 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 informed by some of the fishermen's smacks 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 weighed and went down the river to a place called Greenhithe; 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 happened to over-blow, they might get some men from the shore.

While they were considering this, they called with a speaking-trumpet to the shore for a boat to come on board; accordingly a boat came off, but they would not let them come on board till they had inquired whether the plague was in the town, nor would the fellows come on board till they inquired whence the ship came 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 Bugby's 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 Blackwall 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 informed, 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 altered their resolutions, and they continued for the present where they were. Though this was no market town, yet they got some fresh provisions, and particularly sent a countryman 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 stored themselves again fully.

But the merchant was still uneasy, for he could not bear to lie anywhere with the ship if the plague was at any town beyond him; so he made the 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 called 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 suffered a violent storm