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第10章

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nay; even into the same beds; with those that had the distemper upon

them; and were not recovered。



Some; indeed; paid for their audacious boldness with the price of

their lives; an infinite number fell sick; and the physicians had more

work than ever; only with this difference; that more of their patients

recovered; that is to say; they generally recovered; but certainly there

were more people infected and fell sick now; when there did not die

above a thousand or twelve hundred in a week; than there was when

there died five or six thousand a week; so entirely negligent were the

people at that time in the great and dangerous case of health and

infection; and so ill were they able to take or accept of the advice of

those who cautioned them for their good。



The people being thus returned; as it were; in general; it was very

strange to find that in their inquiring after their friends; some whole

families were so entirely swept away that there was no remembrance

of them left; neither was anybody to be found to possess or show any

title to that little they had left; for in such cases what was to be found

was generally embezzled and purloined; some gone one way; some another。



It was said such abandoned effects came to the king; as the universal

heir; upon which we are told; and I suppose it was in part true; that the

king granted all such; as deodands; to the Lord Mayor and Court of

Aldermen of London; to be applied to the use of the poor; of whom

there were very many。  For it is to be observed; that though the

occasions of relief and the objects of distress were very many more in

the time of the violence of the plague than now after all was over; yet

the distress of the poor was more now a great deal than it was then;

because all the sluices of general charity were now shut。  People

supposed the main occasion to be over; and so stopped their hands;

whereas particular objects were still very moving; and the distress of

those that were poor was very great indeed。



Though the health of the city was now very much restored; yet

foreign trade did not begin to stir; neither would foreigners admit our

ships into their ports for a great while。  As for the Dutch; the

misunderstandings between our court and them had broken out into a

war the year before; so that our trade that way was wholly interrupted;

but Spain and Portugal; Italy and Barbary; as also Hamburg and all the

ports in the Baltic; these were all shy of us a great while; and would

not restore trade with us for many months。



The distemper sweeping away such multitudes; as I have observed;

many if not all the out…parishes were obliged to make new burying…

grounds; besides that I have mentioned in Bunhill Fields; some of

which were continued; and remain in use to this day。  But others were

left off; and (which I confess I mention with some reflection) being

converted into other uses or built upon afterwards; the dead bodies

were disturbed; abused; dug up again; some even before the flesh of

them was perished from the bones; and removed like dung or rubbish

to other places。  Some of those which came within the reach of my

observation are as follow:



(1) A piece of ground beyond Goswell Street; near Mount Mill;

being some of the remains of the old lines or fortifications of the city;

where abundance were buried promiscuously from the parishes of Aldersgate;

Clerkenwell; and even out of the city。  This ground; as I take it; was

since made a physic garden; and after that has been built upon。



(2) A piece of ground just over the Black Ditch; as it was then

called; at the end of Holloway Lane; in Shoreditch parish。 It has been

since made a yard for keeping hogs; and for other ordinary uses; but is

quite out of use as a burying…ground。



(3) The upper end of Hand Alley; in Bishopsgate Street; which was

then a green field; and was taken in particularly for Bishopsgate

parish; though many of the carts out of the city brought their dead

thither also; particularly out of the parish of St All…hallows on the

Wall。 This place I cannot mention without much regret。 It was; as I

remember; about two or three years after the plague was ceased that

Sir Robert Clayton came to be possessed of the ground。 It was

reported; how true I know not; that it fell to the king for want of heirs;

all those who had any right to it being carried off by the pestilence;

and that Sir Robert Clayton obtained a grant of it from King Charles

II。 But however he came by it; certain it is the ground was let out to

build on; or built upon; by his order。 The first house built upon it was

a large fair house; still standing; which faces the street or way now

called Hand Alley which; though called an alley; is as wide as a street。

The houses in the same row with that house northward are built on the

very same ground where the poor people were buried; and the bodies;

on opening the ground for the foundations; were dug up; some of them

remaining so plain to be seen that the women's skulls were

distinguished by their long hair; and of others the flesh was not quite

perished; so that the people began to exclaim loudly against it; and

some suggested that it might endanger a return of the contagion; after

which the bones and bodies; as fast as they came at them; were carried

to another part of the same ground and thrown all together into a deep

pit; dug on purpose; which now is to be known in that it is not built

on; but is a passage to another house at the upper end of Rose Alley;

just against the door of a meeting…house which has been built there

many years since; and the ground is palisadoed off from the rest of the

passage; in a little square; there lie the bones and remains of near two

thousand bodies; carried by the dead carts to their grave in that one year。



(4) Besides this; there was a piece of ground in Moorfields; by the

going into the street which is now called Old Bethlem; which was

enlarged much; though not wholly taken in on the same occasion。



'N。B。 … The author of this journal lies buried in that very ground;

being at his own desire; his sister having been buried there a few

years before。'



(5) Stepney parish; extending itself from the east part of London to

the north; even to the very edge of Shoreditch Churchyard; had a piece

of ground taken in to bury their dead close to the said churchyard; and

which for that very reason was left open; and is since; I suppose; taken

into the same churchyard。 And they had also two other burying…places

in Spittlefields; one where since a chapel or tabernacle has been built

for ease to this great parish; and another in Petticoat Lane。



There were no less than five other grounds made use of for the

parish of Stepney at that time: one where now stands the parish church

of St Paul; Shadwell; and the other where now stands the parish

church of St John's at Wapping; both which had not the names of

parishes at that time; but were belonging to Stepney parish。



I could name many more; but these coming within my particular

knowledge; the circumstance; I thought; made it of use to record

them。 From the whole; it may be observed that they were obliged in

this time of distress to take in new burying…grounds in most of the out…

parishes for laying the prodigious numbers of people which died in so

short a space of time; but why care was not taken to keep those places

separate from ordinary uses; that so the bodies might rest undisturbed;

that I cannot answer for; and must confess I think it was wrong。 Who

were to blame I know not。



I should have mentioned that the Quakers had at that time also a

burying…ground set apart to their use; and which they still make use of;

and they had also a particular dead…cart to fetch their dead from their

houses; and the famous Solomon Eagle; who; as I mentioned before;

had predicted the plague as a judgement; and ran naked through the

streets; telling the people that it was come upon

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