Page:A Journal of the Plague Year (1722).djvu/271

 November, and if I might believe the Phyſicians,. there was above three Thouſand fell ſick that Week, moſt of them new Comers too.

One, a Barber in St. Martins le Grand, was an eminent Example of this; I mean of the haſty Return of the People, when the Plague was abated: This John Cock had left the Town with his whole Family, and lock’d up his Houſe, and was gone in the Country, as many others did, and finding the Plague ſo decreas’d in November, that there died but 905 per Week of all Diſeaſes, he ventur’d home again; he had in his Family Ten Perſons, that is to ſay, himſelf and Wife, five Children, two Apprentices, and a Maid Servant; he had not been return’d to his Houſe above a Week, and began to open his Shop, and carry on his Trade, but the Diſtemper broke out in his Family, and within about five Days they all died, except one, that is to ſay, himſelf, his Wife, all his five Children, and his two Apprentices, and only the Maid remain’d alive.

But the Mercy of God was greater to the reſt than had Reaſon to expect; for the Malignity, as I have ſaid, of the Diſtemper was ſpent, the Contagion was exhauſted, and alſo the Winter Weather came on a pace, and the Air was clear and cold, with ſome ſharp Froſts; and this encreaſing ſtill, moſt of thoſe that had fallen ſick recover’d, and the Health of the City began to return: There were indeed ſome Returns of the Diſtemper, even in the Month of December, and the Bills encreaſed near a Hundred, but it went off again and ſo in a ſhort while, Things began to return to their own Channel. And wonderful it was to ſee how populous the City was again all on a ſudden; ſo that a Stranger could not miſs the Numbers that were loſt, neither was there any miſs of the Inhabitants as to their Dwellings: Few or no empty Houſes were to be ſeen, or if there