Page:A Journal of the Plague Year (1722).djvu/287

 Sheep there; (and who it ſeems had a Cuſtom to blow up their Meat with Pipes to make it look thicker and fatter than it was, and were puniſh’d, there for it by the Lord Mayor) I ſay, from the End of the Street towards Newgate, there ſtood two long Rows of Shambles for the ſelling Meat.

It was in thoſe Shambles, that two Perſons falling down dead, as they were buying Meat, gave Rife to a Rumor that the Meat was all infected, which tho’ it might affright the People, and ſpoil’d the Market for two or three Days; yet it appear’d plainly afterwards, that there was nothing of Truth in the Suggeſtion: But no Body can account for the Poſſeſſion of Fear when it takes hold of the Mind.

However it pleas’d God by the continuing of the Winter Weather to reſtore the Health of the City, that by February following, we reckon’d the Diſtemper quite ceas’d, and then we were not ſo eaſily frighted again.

There was ſtill a Queſtion among the Learned, and at firſt it perplex’d the People a little, and that was, in what manner to purge the Houſes and Goods, where the Plague had been; and how to render them habitable again, which had been left empty during the time of the Plague; Abundance of Perfumes and Preparations were preſcrib’d by Phyſicians, ſome of one kind and ſome of another, in which the People, who liſtened to them, put themſelves to a great, and indeed in my Opinion, to an unneceſſary Expence; and the poorer People, who only ſet open their Windows Night and Day, burnt Brimſtone, Pitch, and Gun-powder and ſuch things in their Rooms, did as well as the beſt; nay, the eager People, who as I ſaid above, came Home in haſt and at all Hazards, found little or no Inconvenience in their Houſes nor in the Goods, and did little or nothing to them.