And here let me take leave to enter again, tho’ it may ſeem a Repetition of Circumſtances, into a Deſcription of the miſerable Condition of the City it ſelf, and of thoſe Parts where I liv’d at this particular Time: The City, and thoſe other Parts, notwithſtanding the great Numbers of People that were gone into the Country, was vaſtly full of People, and perhaps the fuller, becauſe People had for a long time a ſtrong Belief, that the Plague would not come into the City, nor into Southwark, no nor into Wapping, or Ratcliff at all, nay ſuch was the Aſſurance of the People on that Head, that many remov’d from the Suburbs on the Weſt and North Sides, into thoſe Eaſtern and South Sides as for Safety, and as I verily believe, carry’d, the Plague amongſt them there, perhaps ſooner than they would otherwiſe have had it.
Here alſo I ought to leave a farther Remark for the uſe of Poſterity, concerning the Manner of Peoples infecting one another; namely, that it was not the ſick People only, from whom the Plague was immediately receiv’d by others that were found, but THE WELL. To explain my ſelf; by the ſick People I mean thoſe who were known to be ſick, had taken their Beds, had been under Cure, or had Swellings and Tumours upon them, and the like; theſe every Body could beware of, they were either in their Beds, or in ſuch Condition as cou’d not be conceal’d.
By the Well, I mean ſuch as had received the Contagion, and had it really upon them, and in their Blood, yet did. not ſhew the Conſequences of it in their Countenances, nay even were not ſenſible of it themſelves, as many were not for ſeveral Days: Theſe breathed Death in every Place, and upon every Body who came near them; nay their very Cloaths retained the Infection, their Hands would infect the Things they touch’d, eſpecially if they were warm
