e officers was such, that the churchwardens and
constables were summoned to look after it; and even the justices of the
hamlets[166] were obliged to venture their lives among them to quicken
and encourage them; for innumerable of the bearers died of the
distemper, infected by the bodies they were obliged to come so near. And
had it not been that the number of people who wanted employment, and
wanted bread, as I have said before, was so great that necessity drove
them to undertake anything, and venture anything, they would never have
found people to be employed; and then the bodies of the dead would have
lain above ground, and have perished and rotted in a dreadful manner.

But the magistrates cannot be enough commended in this, that they kept
such good order for the burying of the dead, that as fast as any of
those they employed to carry off and bury the dead fell sick or died (as
was many times the case), they immediately supplied the places with
others; which, by reason of the great number of poor that was left out
of business, as above, was not hard to do. This occasioned, that,
notwithstanding the infinite number of people which died and were sick,
almost all together, yet they were always cleared away, and carried off
every night; so that it was never to be said of London that the living
were not able to bury the dead.

As the desolation was greater during those terrible times, so the
amazement of the people increased; and a thousand unaccountable things
they would do in the violence of their fright, as others did the same in
the agonies of their distemper: and this part was very affecting. Some
went roaring, and crying, and wringing their hands, along the street;
some would go praying, and lifting up their hands to heaven, calling
upon God for mercy. I cannot say, indeed, whether this was not in their
distraction; but, be it so, it was still an indication of a more serious
mind when they had the use of their senses, and was much better, even as
it was, than the frightful yellings and cryings that every day, and
especially in the evenings, were heard in some streets. I suppose the
world has heard of the famous Solomon Eagle, an enthusiast. He, though
not infected at all, but in his head, went about denouncing of judgment
upon the city in a frightful manner; sometimes quite naked, and with a
pan of burning charcoal on his head. What he said or pretended, indeed,
I could not learn.

I will not say whether that cler