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73be Conservative. 9
see it : as near as I may judge , it was
about forty feet in length , and about
fifteen or sixteen feet broad , and at the
time I first looked at it , about nine feet
deep ; but it was said they dug it near
twenty feet deep afterwards , in one
part of it , till they could go no deeper
for the water ; for they had , it peems ,
dug several large pits before this ; for
though the plague was long a coming to
our parish , yet when it did come , there
was no parish , in or about London ,
where it raged with such violence as in
the two parishes of Aldgate and White-
chapel.
I soy , they had dug several pits in
another ground when the distemper be
gun to spread in our parish , and especi
ally when the dead-carts began to go
about , which was not in our parish till
the beginning of August. Into these
pits they had put. perhaps fifty or sixty
bodies each ; then they made larger
holes , wherein they buried all that the
cart brought in a week , which by the
middle to the end of August , came to
from 200 to 400 a week ; and they could
not well dig them larger , because of the
order of the magistrates , confining them
to leave no bodies within six feet of the
surface ; and the water coming on , at
about seventeen or eighteen feet , they
could not well , I sny , put more in one
pit ; but now , at the beginning of Sep
tember , the plague raging in a dreadful
manner , and the number of burials in
our parish increasing to more than was
ever buried in any parish about London ,
of no larger extent , they ordered this
dreadful gulf to be dug , for such it was ,
rather than a pit.
They had supposed this pit would
have supplied them for a month or more ,
when they dug it , and some blamed the
churchwardens for suffering such a
frightful thing telling them they were
making preparations to bury the whole
parish , and the like ; but time made it
appear the churchwardens knew the
condition of the parish better than they
did ; for the pit beiiig finished the 4th of
September , I think they began to bury
in it the 6th , and by the 20th , which
was just two weeks , they had thrown
into it 1,114 bodies , when they were
obliged to fill it up , the bodies being
then come to lie within six feet of the sur
face. I doubt not but there may be some
ancient persons alive in the parish who
can justify the fact of this and are able
to show even in what part of the churchyard -
yard the pit lay better than I can.
A Visit to the Pits.
It was about the 10th of September
that my curiosity led , or rather drove ,
mo to go and see this pit again ,
when there had been near 400 people
buried in it ; and I was not content to
see it in the daytime as I .had done be
fore , for then there would have been
nothing to have been seen but the loose
earth ; for nil the bodies that were
thrown in were immediately covered
with earth , by those they call the buri
ers , which at other times were called
bearers ; but I resolved to BO in the night
and see some of them thrown in.
There was a strict order to prevent
people coming to those pits , and that
was only to prevent infection ; but , after
some time , that order was more neces
sary , for people that were infected , and
near their end , and delirious also , would
run to those pits , wrapped in blanlsete
or rugs , and throw themselves in , and ,
as they said , bury themselves : I cannot
say that the officers suffered any will
ingly to lie there : but I have heard , that
in a great pit in Fiusbury , in the parish
of Cripplegate , it lying open then to the
fields , for it was not then walled about ,
some came and threw themselves in , and
expired there before they threw any
earth upon them ; and that when they
came to bury others , and found them
there , they were quite dead , though not
cold.
This may serve a little to describe the
dreadful condition of that day , though
it is impossible to say anything that is
able to give a true idea of it to those
who did not see it , other than this ; that
it was indeed very , very , wry dreadful ,
and such as no tongue can express.
I got admittance into the churchyard
by being acquainted with the sexton.
A Mourner.
There was nobody , as I could preceive
at first , in the churchyard , or going into
it , but the buriers , and the fellow that
drove the cart , or rather led the horse
and cart ; but when they came up to the
pit , they saw a man go to and again ,
muffled up in a brown cloak , and mak
ing motions with his hands , under his
leak , as if he was in a great agony ; and
the buriers immediately gathered about
him , supposing he was one of those poor
delirious , or desperate creatures , that
used to pretend , as I have said , to bury
themselves : he said nothing as he
walked about , but two or three times
groaned very deeply and loud , and
sighed as he would break his heart.
When the buriers came up to him ,
they soon found he was neither a person
infected and desperate , as I have ob
served above , or a person distempered in
mind , but one oppressed with a dreadful
weight of grief indeed , having his wife
and several of his children all in the
cart that was just come in with him ;
and followed in an agony and excess of
sorrow. He mourned heartily , as it was
easy to see , but with a kind of mascu
line grief that could not give itself vent
by tears : and calmly desiring the buriors
to let him alone , said ho would only see
the bodies thrown in , and go away , so
they left importuning him : but no sooner
was the cart turned round , and the
bodies shot into the pit promiscuously ,
which was a surprise to him , for ho at
least expected they would have been de
cently laid in , though , indeed , he was
afterwards convinced thatwns impracti
cable ; I say , no sooner did ho see the
sight than he cried out aloud , unable to
contain himself. I could not hear what
ho said , but he went backwards two or
three steps , and fell down in a swoon :
the buriers ran to him , and took him up ,
and in a little while ho came to himself.
The llurlul.
This was a mournful scene indeed ,
and affected mo almost as much as the
rest ; but the other was awful and full of
terror. The cart had in it sixteen or
seventeen bodies ; some were wrapped
up in linen sheets , some in rugs , some
little other than naked , or so loose that
what covering they had , fell from them
in the shooting out of the cart , and they
fell quite naked among the rest ; but the
matter was not much to them , or the
indecency much to any one else , seeing
they were all dead , and were to bo hud
dled together into the common grave of
mankind , as we may call it ; for here
was no difference made , but poor and
rich went together ; there was no other
way of burials , neither was it possible
there should , for coffins were not to be
had for the prodigious numbers that fell
in such a calamity as this.
HodlcH in the StrcotH.
Innumerable dismal stories we heard
every day on this very account : some
times a man or woman dropt down dead
in the very markets ; for many people
that had the plague upon them , knew
nothing of it till the inward gangrene
had affected their vitals , and they died
in a few moments : this caused that
many died frequently in that manner in
the streets suddenly , without any warn
ing ; others perhaps had time to go to
the next bulk or stall ; or to any door
porch , and just sit down and die , as I
have said before.
These objects were so frequent in the
streets , that when the plague came to
be very raging on one side , there was
scarce any passing by the streets , but
that several dead bodies would be lying
here and there upon the ground : on the
other hand it is observable , that though
at first the people would stop as they
went along , and call to the neighbours
to come out on such an occasion ; yet ,
afterward , no notice was taken of them ;
but that , if at any time we fouud a
corpse lying ( wo would ) go cross the
way , and not como near it ; or if in a
narrow lane or passage , go back again
and seek some other way to go on the
business we were upon ; and in those
cases the corpse was always left till the
officers had notice to come and take
them away ; or , till night , when the
bearers attending the dead-cart would
take them up and carry them away.
Nor did those undaunted creatures who
performed these offices , fail to search
their pockets , and sometimes strip off
the clothes , if they were well drest , as