Page:A Journal of the Plague Year (1722).djvu/127

 Plague was fully come into the Eaſtern Pariſhes: The Pariſh of Algate, if I may give my Opinion buried above a thouſand a Week for two Weeks, tho’ the Bills did not ſay ſo many; but it ſurrounded me at ſo diſmal a rate, that there was not a Houſe in twenty uninfected; in the Minories, in Houndſditch, and in thoſe Parts of Algate Pariſh about the Butcher-Row, and the Alleys over againſt me, I ſay in thoſe places Death reigned in every Corner. White Chapel Pariſh was in the ſame Condition, and tho’ much leſs than the Pariſh I liv’d in; yet bury’d near 600 a Week by the Bills; and in my Opinion, near twice as many; whole Families, and indeed, whole Streets of Families were ſwept away together; inſomuch, that it was frequent for Neighbours to call to the Bellman, to go to ſuch and ſuch Houſes, and fetch out the People, for that they were all Dead. And indeed, the Work of removing the dead Bodies by Carts, was now grown ſo very odious and dangerous, that it was complain’d of, that the Bearers did not take Care to clear ſuch Houſes, where all the Inhabitants were dead; but that ſometimes the Bodies lay ſeveral Days unburied, till the neighbouring Families were offended with the Stench, and conſequently infect’d; and this neglect of the Officers was ſuch, that the Church Wardens and Conſtables were ſummon’d to look after it; and even the Juſtices of the Hamlets, were oblig’d to venture their Lives among them, to quicken and encourage them; for innumerable of the Bearers dy’d of the Diſtemper, infected by the Bodies they were oblig’d to come ſo near; and had it not been, that the Number of poor People who wanted Employment, and wanted Bread, (as I have ſaid before,) was ſo great, that Neceſſity drove them to undertake any Thing, and venture any thing, they would never have found People to be employ’d; and then the Bodies of the dead would have lain above Ground, and have periſhed and rotted in a dreadful Manner.

But the Magiſtrates cannot be enough commended in this, that they kept ſuch good Order for the