mily, who, if they had
been shut up with the sick person, would inevitably have perished. But,
on the other hand, this was another of the inconveniences of shutting up
houses; for the apprehensions and terror of being shut up made many run
away with the rest of the family, who, though it was not publicly known,
and they were not quite sick, had yet the distemper upon them; and who,
by having an uninterrupted liberty to go about, but being obliged still
to conceal their circumstances, or perhaps not knowing it themselves,
gave the distemper to others, and spread the infection in a dreadful
manner, as I shall explain further hereafter.

And here I may be able to make an observation or two of my own, which
may be of use hereafter to those into whose bands these may come, if
they should ever see the like dreadful visitation. (1) The infection
generally came into the houses of the citizens by the means of their
servants, whom they were obliged to send up and down the streets
for necessaries; that is to say, for food or physic, to bakehouses,
brew-houses, shops, &c.; and who going necessarily through the streets
into shops, markets, and the like, it was impossible but that they
should, one way or other, meet with distempered people, who conveyed
the fatal breath into them, and they brought it home to the families to
which they belonged. (2) It was a great mistake that such a great city
as this had but one pest-house; for had there been, instead of one
pest-house--viz., beyond Bunhill Fields, where, at most, they could
receive, perhaps, two hundred or three hundred people--I say, had there,
instead of that one, been several pest-houses, every one able to contain
a thousand people, without lying two in a bed, or two beds in a room;
and had every master of a family, as soon as any servant especially
had been taken sick in his house, been obliged to send them to the next
pest-house, if they were willing, as many were, and had the examiners
done the like among the poor people when any had been stricken with the
infection; I say, had this been done where the people were willing (not
otherwise), and the houses not been shut, I am persuaded, and was all
the while of that opinion, that not so many, by several thousands, had
died; for it was observed, and I could give several instances within the
compass of my own knowledge, where a servant had been taken sick, and
the family had either time to send him out or retire from the house
and