Page:History of the Royal Society.djvu/143

 Upon our Return after the abating of the Plague, what else could we expect, but to see the Streets unfrequented, the River forsaken, the Fields deform'd with the Graves of the dead, and the Terrors of Death still abiding on the Faces of the living? But instead of such dismal Sights, there appeared almost the same Throngs in all publick Places, the same Noise of Business, the same Freedom of Converse, and, with the Return of the King, the same Chearfulness returning on the Minds of the People as before.

Nor was their Courage less, in sustaining the second Calamity, which destroyed their Houses and Estates. This the greatest Losers indur'd with such undaunted Firmness of Mind, that their Example may incline us to believe, that not only the best natural, but the best moral Philosophy too, may be learn'd from the Shops of Mechanicks. It was indeed an admirable Thing to behold, with what Constancy the meanest Artificers saw all the Labours of their Lives, and the Support of their Families devoured in an instant. The Affliction, it is true, was widely spread over the whole Nation; every Place was fill'd with Signs of Pity and Commiseration but those who had suffered most, seem'd the least affected with the Loss: No unmanly Bewailings were heard in the few Streets that were preserved; they beheld the Ashes of their Houses, and Gates, and Temples, without the least Expression of Pusillanimity. If Philosophers had done this, it had well become their Profession of Wisdom; if Gentlemen, the Nobleness of their Breeding and Blood would have required it: But that such Greatness of Heart should be found amongst the poor Artizans, and the obscure Multitude, is no doubt one of the most honourable Events that ever happened. Yet still there is one Circumstance Rh