other, made them almost meet at the Garrets, so
that the Air within the Streets was pent up, and had not a due Freedom of
Passage, to purifie it self as it ought; the Food of the People was then
much less invigorating than in these Days; Foreign Drugs were but little
in Use, and even _Canary_ Wine was the highest Cordial the People would
venture upon; for Brandy, some Spices, and hot spirituous Liquors were
then not in Fashion; and at that time Sea-Coal was hardly in Use, but
their firing was of Wood; and, for the most part, Chestnut, which was then
the chief Furniture of the Woods about _London_, and in such Quantity,
that the greatest Efforts were made by the Proprietors, to prevent the
Importation of _Newcastle_-Coal, which they represented as an unwholsome
Firing, but, I suppose, principally, because it would hinder the Sale of
their Wood; for the generality of Men were (I imagine) as they are now,
more for their own Interest than for the common Good.

The Year 1665 was the last that we can say the Plague raged in _London_,
which might happen from the Destruction of the City by Fire, the following
Year 1666, and besides the Destroying the Eggs, or Seeds, of those
poisonous Animals, that were then in the stagnating Air, might likewise
purifie that Air in such a Manner, as to make it unfit for the Nurishment
of others of the same Kind, which were swimming or driving in the
Circumambient Air: And again, the Care that was taken to enlarge the
Streets at their Rebuilding, and the keeping them clean after they were
rebuilt, might greatly contribute to preserve the Town from Pestilence
ever since.

But it was not only in the Year 1665 that the Plague raged in _London_, we
have Accounts in the Bills of Mortality, of that dreadful Distemper in the
Years 1592, 1603, 1625, 1630 and 1636, in which Years we may observe how
many died Weekly of the Plague, and Remark how much more that Distemper
raged in the hot Months, than in the others, and serve at the same time as
a Memorandum to the Curious.

A _TABLE_, Shewing how many Died Weekly, as well of all Diseases, as of
the Plague, in the Years 1592, 1603, 1625, 1630, 1636; and the Year
1665.

_Buried of all Diseases in the Year 1592._

_Total_ _Pla._
March 17 230 3
March 24 351 31
March 31 219 29