. A man with a cap upon his head, or
with cloths round his neck (which was the case of those that had
swellings there),--such was indeed frightful; but when we saw a
gentleman dressed, with his band[286] on, and his gloves in his hand,
his hat upon his head, and his hair combed,--of such we had not the
least apprehensions; and people conversed a great while freely,
especially with their neighbors and such as they knew. But when the
physicians assured us that the danger was as well from the sound (that
is, the seemingly sound) as the sick, and that those people that thought
themselves entirely free were oftentimes the most fatal; and that it
came to be generally understood that people were sensible of it, and of
the reason of it,--then, I say, they began to be jealous of everybody;
and a vast number of people locked themselves up, so as not to come
abroad into any company at all, nor suffer any that had been abroad in
promiscuous company to come into their houses, or near them (at least
not so near them as to be within the reach of their breath, or of any
smell from them); and when they were obliged to converse at a distance
with strangers, they would always have preservatives in their mouths and
about their clothes, to repel and keep off the infection.

It must be acknowledged that when people began to use these cautions
they were less exposed to danger, and the infection did not break into
such houses so furiously as it did into others before; and thousands of
families were preserved, speaking with due reserve to the direction of
Divine Providence, by that means.

But it was impossible to beat anything into the heads of the poor. They
went on with the usual impetuosity of their tempers, full of outcries
and lamentations when taken, but madly careless of themselves,
foolhardy, and obstinate, while they were well. Where they could get
employment, they pushed into any kind of business, the most dangerous
and the most liable to infection; and if they were spoken to, their
answer would be, "I must trust to God for that. If I am taken, then I am
provided for, and there is an end of me;" and the like. Or thus, "Why,
what must I do? I cannot starve. I had as good have the plague as perish
for want. I have no work: what could I do? I must do this, or beg."
Suppose it was burying the dead, or attending the sick, or watching
infected houses, which were all terrible hazards; but their tale was
generally the same. It is true, nece