A brief Journal of what passed in the City of Marseilles, while it was afflicted with the Plague, in the Year 1720Pichatty de Croislainte
History
A brief Journal of what passed in the City of Marseilles, while it was afflicted with the Plague, in the Year 1720
Pichatty de Croislainte
Plague -- France -- Marseille -- Early works to 1800
To put into Order as speedily as is requisite, a Pest-House, and to
furnish it with all Necessaries, which are almost numberless, is a Task
no less perplexed with Difficulties. The Hospital _des Convalescens_,
which was resolved to be made use of, is found to be too little; it is
necessary to enlarge it, by joining to it a Building called the _Fas_,
which stands very near it; a thousand Things are to be done, and yet
none could easily be made to stir about them: M. _Moustier_ is obliged
to repair thither, and to abide upon the Spot; and by keeping Hands at
Work Night and Day, he makes such Expedition, that in 48 Hours he gets
it put in Order, all Necessaries sorted and laid ready, and the whole
made fit to receive the Sick.
A very great Difficulty still remains, which is to find Stewards,
Overseers, Cooks, and other lower Officers, and especially so great a
Number of Servants as are requisite to tend the Sick: Advertisements
are affixed throughout the City, to invite those sordid Creatures
whom Avarice draws into Dangers, or those of better Minds, whom
superabundant Charity disposes to devote themselves for the Publick;
and by seeking such out, by encouraging, giving, and promising,
they are procured: Apothecaries and Surgeons are engaged; and two
Physicians, Strangers, named _Gayon_, come in voluntarily, and offer
their Service, and to be shut up in the Hospital: Unhappily, Death puts
an End too soon to their Charity and Zeal.
Three Pits of Sixty Foot long, as many broad, and Twenty four deep, are
begun at once without the Walls, between the Gate of _Aix_ and that of
_Joliette_: To compel the Peasants to work at them, M. _Moustier_ is
obliged to keep with them daily, exposed to the Heat of the Sun.
The Chevalier _Rose_, appointed Captain and Commissary-General at the
_Rive Neuve_, beyond the Port, does the same: He puts into proper Order
another vast Hospital, under the Sheds of a Rope-yard; causes large
and deep Pits to be dug near the Abbey of St. _Victor_; gets together
Carts, Buriers of the Dead, and all Persons needful to look to the
Living, the Dying, and the Dead; and what is no less remarkable than
his Activity, his Courage, and his Zeal for his unfortunate Country,
he furnishes out of his own Purse the great Expences necessary for
maintaining that Hospital, and the many Hands he employs, without
troubling himself when and how he shall be reimbursed.
No sooner are these Pest-Houses in any Readiness to receive the Sick,
but in less than Two Days they are quite filled; but are not long so by
those who are carried thither: The Distemper is so violent, that those
who are brought in at Night are carried out next Day to the Pits; and
so the Dead make Room every Day successively for the Sick.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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