登陆注册
5301800000013

第13章 Part 2(6)

Indeed,the poor people were to be pitied in one particular thing in which they had little or no relief,and which I desire to mention with a serious awe and reflection,which perhaps every one that reads this may not relish;namely,that whereas death now began not,as we may say,to hover over every one's head only,but to look into their houses and chambers and stare in their faces.Though there might be some stupidity and dulness of the mind (and there was so,a great deal),yet there was a great deal of just alarm sounded into the very inmost soul,if I may so say,of others.Many consciences were awakened;many hard hearts melted into tears;many a penitent confession was made of crimes long concealed.It would wound the soul of any Christian to have heard the dying groans of many a despairing creature,and none durst come near to comfort them.Many a robbery,many a murder,was then confessed aloud,and nobody surviving to record the accounts of it.People might be heard,even into the streets as we passed along,calling upon God for mercy through Jesus Christ,and saying,'I have been a thief,'I have been an adulterer','I have been a murderer',and the like,and none durst stop to make the least inquiry into such things or to administer comfort to the poor creatures that in the anguish both of soul and body thus cried out.Some of the ministers did visit the sick at first and for a little while,but it was not to be done.It would have been present death to have gone into some houses.The very buriers of the dead,who were the hardenedest creatures in town,were sometimes beaten back and so terrified that they durst not go into houses where the whole families were swept away together,and where the circumstances were more particularly horrible,as some were;but this was,indeed,at the first heat of the distemper.

Time inured them to it all,and they ventured everywhere afterwards without hesitation,as I shall have occasion to mention at large hereafter.

I am supposing now the plague to be begun,as I have said,and that the magistrates began to take the condition of the people into their serious consideration.What they did as to the regulation of the inhabitants and of infected families,I shall speak to by itself;but as to the affair of health,it is proper to mention it here that,having seen the foolish humour of the people in running after quacks and mountebanks,wizards and fortune-tellers,which they did as above,even to madness,the Lord Mayor,a very sober and religious gentleman,appointed physicians and surgeons for relief of the poor -Imean the diseased poor and in particular ordered the College of Physicians to publish directions for cheap remedies for the poor,in all the circumstances of the distemper.This,indeed,was one of the most charitable and judicious things that could be done at that time,for this drove the people from haunting the doors of every disperser of bills,and from taking down blindly and without consideration poison for physic and death instead of life.

This direction of the physicians was done by a consultation of the whole College;and,as it was particularly calculated for the use of the poor and for cheap medicines,it was made public,so that everybody might see it,and copies were given gratis to all that desired it.But as it is public,and to be seen on all occasions,I need not give the reader of this the trouble of it.

I shall not be supposed to lessen the authority or capacity of the physicians when I say that the violence of the distemper,when it came to its extremity,was like the fire the next year.The fire,which consumed what the plague could not touch,defied all the application of remedies;the fire-engines were broken,the buckets thrown away,and the power of man was baffled and brought to an end.So the Plague defied all medicines;the very physicians were seized with it,with their preservatives in their mouths;and men went about prescribing to others and telling them what to do till the tokens were upon them,and they dropped down dead,destroyed by that very enemy they directed others to oppose.This was the case of several physicians,even some of them the most eminent,and of several of the most skilful surgeons.Abundance of quacks too died,who had the folly to trust to their own medicines,which they must needs be conscious to themselves were good for nothing,and who rather ought,like other sorts of thieves,to have run away,sensible of their guilt,from the justice that they could not but expect should punish them as they knew they had deserved.

Not that it is any derogation from the labour or application of the physicians to say they fell in the common calamity;nor is it so intended by me;it rather is to their praise that they ventured their lives so far as even to lose them in the service of mankind.They endeavoured to do good,and to save the lives of others.But we were not to expect that the physicians could stop God's judgements,or prevent a distemper eminently armed from heaven from executing the errand it was sent about.

Doubtless,the physicians assisted many by their skill,and by their prudence and applications,to the saving of their lives and restoring their health.But it is not lessening their character or their skill,to say they could not cure those that had the tokens upon them,or those who were mortally infected before the physicians were sent for,as was frequently the case.

It remains to mention now what public measures were taken by the magistrates for the general safety,and to prevent the spreading of the distemper,when it first broke out.I shall have frequent occasion to speak of the prudence of the magistrates,their charity,their vigilance for the poor,and for preserving good order,furnishing provisions,and the like,when the plague was increased,as it afterwards was.But Iam now upon the order and regulations they published for the government of infected families.

同类推荐
  • 寄董武

    寄董武

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Martin Guerre

    Martin Guerre

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 湘绮楼评词

    湘绮楼评词

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 身观经

    身观经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 玄怪录

    玄怪录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 世界军事百科之军事将领

    世界军事百科之军事将领

    军事是一个国家和民族强大和稳定的象征,在国家生活中具有举足轻重的作用。国家兴亡,匹夫有责,全面而系统地掌握军事知识,是我们每一个人光荣的责任和义务,也是我们进行国防教育的主要内容。
  • 神兽幻想

    神兽幻想

    人类文明高度发展,也促进了各种生命的进化,成为了“神兽”。这是一个训练师的时代,这是天晶国与魔法岛的一次次较量,这是各个神兽与人类的前生今世,这是一曲生死离歌,如同幻想一般迷离恍惚。
  • 天价囚宠:厉少的专属恋人

    天价囚宠:厉少的专属恋人

    他是欧洲金融霸主厉家孙少爷厉南爵,她是家破人亡的落魄千金苏墨墨,走投无路之下,她成为纸醉金迷拍卖会上的“商品”,被他出天价买下来了。“苏墨墨,你是我花钱一百亿买来的女人,签了这份卖身契,你就是我的专属玩物,除了我,谁也不能碰……”。一觉醒来,男人将她吃干抹净,扔来一份丧权辱国的协议让她签字。“厉南爵,我真的认输了,输掉了自己的心,对不起,我爱你……”。漆黑的病房里,刚流产不久的苏墨墨喃喃自语。第二天,顶楼的VIP病房里传来一阵怒吼:“苏墨墨,你偷了我的心就想逃,哪怕是逃到天涯海角,我也一定会找到你……”。这是一场小野猫囚宠vs恶魔总裁之间征服与反征服的爱情博弈,谁先动情,谁就输了……
  • 盛宠医品夫人

    盛宠医品夫人

    醒来发现自己变成被未婚夫推下湖险些淹死的私生女?被污蔑清白不说,还要置她于死地!“我娶她!”——救了她的人说。“我不嫁!”——她不喜被强迫。“不行!”——他更霸道!嫁就嫁吧,还得为他治病酿酒生孩子,没天理了!只是这日子怎么越过越糊涂?自己不是个小破官的私生女吗?可她的生母居然是……
  • 动物的进化

    动物的进化

    本丛书讲述了人类的进化的繁衍与进化过程;有关科技的基本知识;动物的进化的繁衍与进化过程;有关太空的基本知识;有关植物的基本知识。本系列丛书与时俱进,紧密结合青少年的实际,集最新知识、最新科技、最新发现于一体,阐释了青少年所遇到的各类科学难题,突出了“新”字。可以说,本系列丛书,既有基础性科学知识之奠基,亦有前瞻性科学知识之升华。
  • 灭世天龙

    灭世天龙

    通往十大平行世界大门紧闭,维护各个世界平衡的天棱玉化成碎片整顿天下,但是却被虎视眈眈的魔界污染,重新打开了尘封的大门,妖魔鬼怪都进入其中,只有重新拥有灭世之力的他才可以恢复平行世界,可是最后的结果却是因为他六道再次紊乱平行世界因他而支离破碎,为什么会这么做,十大平行世界的大门就是被他的力量上了锁这背后究竟隐藏着什么。
  • 老人与海

    老人与海

    《老人与海》是海明威于1951年在古巴写的一篇中篇小说,于1952年出版。是海明威最著名的作品之一。它围绕一位老年古巴渔夫,与一条巨大的马林鱼在离岸很远的湾流中搏斗而展开故事的讲述。它奠定了海明威在世界文学中的突出地位,这篇小说相继获得了1953年美国普利策奖和1954年诺贝尔文学奖。
  • 重生女帝玩转天界

    重生女帝玩转天界

    修仙之路,漫漫无期。纵然凌曦前世问鼎天界巅峰,成帝位,踏仙途,成就星灵女帝之名,也终究逃不过漫漫岁月。寻遍万千古迹,携一《轮回灵女决》重生于少女时代,也不过弥补前世遗憾,不辜负爱自己的亲人朋友。这一世,她战无数天骄,领无数传承,也顺便俘获了无数美男的心。#纯良少年害羞抿唇:“姐姐,我最喜欢你了。”#邪肆妖孽勾唇一笑:“可愿做本王一生一世一双人中的一个?”#翩翩公子温润如玉:“再造之恩,无以为报,唯有以身相许。”#冰山美男寤寐求之:“纵江山如画,又怎抵你眉心一点朱砂?”#……世间哪得安全法,不负如来不负卿?情之一字,她生来……就不能拥有。[重生+修仙+无男主][不定时更新,入坑需谨慎]
  • 重修无双

    重修无双

    某大乘期修真者在游历途中,被人偷袭。意外的得以转世,并在机缘巧合下修炼了宇宙间最本源的能量。但我发誓,他真的不是自愿的!………你擅长远攻?好吧,咱们来玩玩近战!你擅长肉搏?那好,站那儿等着被我轰杀成渣吧!小子你还别不服气,这年头,玩的就是一个综合素质!
  • 邪君盛宠迷糊甜妻

    邪君盛宠迷糊甜妻

    17岁花样美好的年龄,她却因为自己150斤的体重遭到同学和家人的讨厌。负气自杀,醒来后竟变得苗条漂亮。但这都不是最让她惊喜的,最让她惊喜的是,醒来后她的身边竟然有着一位超级美男子。荒郊野外的破庙里,她半夜醒来就在他怀里。他照顾她,保护她,就连她中了媚毒,他也没有乘人之危。这样的男人,她抓住了,就绝对不会放手了!他是魔教教主,在外冷血残忍,唯独对她,却是宠爱到了骨子里。为了霸她身,占她心,他甚至不惜用谎言将她留在身边。她是现代被家人和同学都鄙夷的对象,早已不在乎生死问题。直到遇见了他,这个长得好看迷人又温柔待她的男人。她开始珍惜起自己的生命,以及与他的这份感情。