Page:A Journal of the Plague Year (1722).djvu/48

 the Word Abracadabra, form'd in Triangle, or Pyramid, thus.

I might ſpend a great deal of Time in my Exclamations againſt the Follies, and indeed Wickedneſs of thoſe things, in a Time of ſuch Danger, in a matter of ſuch Conſequences as this, of a National Infection, But my Memorandums of theſe things relate rather to take notice only of the Fact, and mention that it was ſo: How the poor People found the Inſufficiency of thoſe things, and how many of them were afterwards carried away in the Dead-Carts, and thrown into the common Graves of every Pariſh, with theſe helliſh Charms and Trumpery hanging about their Necks, remains to be ſpoken of as we go along.

All this was the Effect of the Hurry the People were in, after the firſt Notion of the Plague being at hand was among them: And which may be ſaid to be from about Michaelmas 1664, but more particularly after the two Men died in St Giles's, in the Beginning of December. And again, after another Alarm in February; for when the Plague evidently ſpread it ſelf, they ſoon began to ſee the Folly of truſting to thoſe unperforming Creatures, who had Gull'd them of their