第 11 节
作者:溜溜      更新:2021-02-25 00:27      字数:9321
  St Giles…in…the…Fields                           140
  Clarkenwell                                       77
  St Sepulcher                                     214
  St Leonard; Shoreditch                           183
  Stepney parish                                   716
  Aldgate                                          623
  Whitechappel                                     532
  In the ninety…seven parishes within the walls   1493
  In the eight parishes on Southwark side         1636
  …
  Total                                      6060
  Here is a strange change of things indeed; and a sad change it was;
  and had it held for two months more than it did; very few people
  would have been left alive。  But then such; I say; was the merciful
  disposition of God that; when it was thus; the west and north part
  which had been so dreadfully visited at first; grew; as you see; much
  better; and as the people disappeared here; they began to look abroad
  again there; and the next week or two altered it still more; that is;
  more to the encouragement of tile other part of the town。  For
  example: …
  From the 19th of September to the 26th …
  St Giles; Cripplegate                           277
  St Giles…in…the…Fields                          119
  Clarkenwell                                      76
  St Sepulchers                                   193
  St Leonard; Shoreditch                          146
  Stepney parish                                  616
  Aldgate                                         496
  Whitechappel                                    346
  In the ninety…seven parishes within the walls  1268
  In the eight parishes on Southwark side        1390
  …
  Total                                4927
  From the 26th of September to the 3rd of October …
  St Giles; Cripplegate                           196
  St Giles…in…the…Fields                           95
  Clarkenwell                                      48
  St Sepulchers                                   137
  St Leonard; Shoreditch                          128
  Stepney parish                                  674
  Aldgate                                         372
  Whitechappel                                    328
  In the ninety…seven parishes within the walls  1149
  In the eight parishes on Southwark side        1201
  …
  Total                                          4382
  And now the misery of the city and of the said east and south parts
  was complete indeed; for; as you see; the weight of the distemper lay
  upon those parts; that is to say; the city; the eight parishes over the
  river; with the parishes of Aldgate; Whitechappel; and Stepney; and
  this was the time that the bills came up to such a monstrous height as
  that I mentioned before; and that eight or nine; and; as I believe; ten or
  twelve thousand a week; died; for it is my settled opinion that they
  never could come at any just account of the numbers; for the reasons
  which I have given already。
  Nay; one of the most eminent physicians; who has since published
  in Latin an account of those times; and of his observations says that in
  one week there died twelve thousand people; and that particularly
  there died four thousand in one night; though I do not remember that
  there ever was any such particular night so remarkably fatal as that
  such a number died in it。  However; all this confirms what I have said
  above of the uncertainty of the bills of mortality; &c。; of which I shall
  say more hereafter。
  And here let me take leave to enter again; though it may seem a
  repetition of circumstances; into a description of the miserable
  condition of the city itself; and of those parts where I lived at this
  particular time。  The city and those other parts; notwithstanding the
  great numbers of people that were gone into the country; was vastly
  full of people; and perhaps the fuller because people had for a long
  time a strong belief that the plague would not come into the city; nor
  into Southwark; no; nor into Wapping or Ratcliff at all; nay; such was
  the assurance of the people on that head that many removed from the
  suburbs on the west and north sides; into those eastern and south sides
  as for safety; and; as I verily believe; carried the plague amongst them
  there perhaps sooner than they would otherwise have had it。
  Here also I ought to leave a further remark for the use of posterity;
  concerning the manner of people's infecting one another; namely; that
  it was not the sick people only from whom the plague was
  immediately received by others that were sound; but the well。  To
  explain myself: by the sick people I mean those who were known to
  be sick; had taken their beds; had been under cure; or had swellings
  and tumours upon them; and the like; these everybody could beware
  of; they were either in their beds or in such condition as could not
  be concealed。
  By the well I mean such as had received the contagion; and had it
  really upon them; and in their blood; yet did not show the
  consequences of it in their countenances: nay; even were not sensible
  of it themselves; as many were not for several days。  These breathed
  death in every place; and upon everybody who came near them; nay;
  their very clothes retained the infection; their hands would infect the
  things they touched; especially if they were warm and sweaty; and
  they were generally apt to sweat too。
  Now it was impossible to know these people; nor did they
  sometimes; as I have said; know themselves to be infected。  These
  were the people that so often dropped down and fainted in the streets;
  for oftentimes they would go about the streets to the last; till on a
  sudden they would sweat; grow faint; sit down at a door and die。  It is
  true; finding themselves thus; they would struggle hard to get home to
  their own doors; or at other times would be just able to go into their
  houses and die instantly; other times they would go about till they had
  the very tokens come out upon them; and yet not know it; and would
  die in an hour or two after they came home; but be well as long as
  they were abroad。  These were the dangerous people; these were the
  people of whom the well people ought to have been afraid; but then;
  on the other side; it was impossible to know them。
  And this is the reason why it is impossible in a visitation to prevent
  the spreading of the plague by the utmost human vigilance: viz。; that it
  is impossible to know the infected people from the sound; or that the
  infected people should perfectly know themselves。  I knew a man who
  conversed freely in London all the season of the plague in 1665; and
  kept about him an antidote or cordial on purpose to take when he
  thought himself in any danger; and he had such a rule to know or have
  warning of the danger by as indeed I never met with before or since。
  How far it may be depended on I know not。  He had a wound in his
  leg; and whenever he came among any people that were not sound;
  and the infection began to affect him; he said he could know it by that
  signal; viz。; that his wound in his leg would smart; and look pale and
  white; so as soon as ever he felt it smart it was time for him to
  withdraw; or to take care of himself; taking his drink; which he always
  carried about him for that purpose。  Now it seems he found his wound
  would smart many times when he was in company with such who
  thought themselves to be sound; and who appeared so to one another;
  but he would presently rise up and say publicly; 'Friends; here is
  somebody in the room that has the plague'; and so would immediately
  break up the company。  This was indeed a faithful monitor to all
  people that the plague is not to be avoided by those that converse
  promiscuously in a town infected; and people have it when they know
  it not; and that they likewise give it to others when they know not that
  they have it themselves; and in this case shutting up the well or
  removing the sick will not do it; unless they can go back and shut up
  all those that the sick had conversed with; even before they knew
  themselves to be sick; and none knows how far to carry that back; or
  where to stop; for none knows when or where or how they may have
  received the infection; or from whom。
  This I take to be the reason which makes so many people talk of the
  air being corrupted and infected; and that they need not be cautious of
  whom they converse with; for that the contagion was in the air。  I have
  seen them in strange agitations and surprises on this account。  'I have
  never come near any infected body'; says the disturbed person; 'I have
  conversed with none but sound; healthy people; and yet I have gotten