The 12th of _August_, M. _de Chicoyneau_ and _Verny_, the chief Physicians of _Montpellier_, arrive at the Barrier of _Notre-Dame_, to come and examine, by Order of his Royal Highness, the true Nature of the Distemper that afflicts this City: Lodgings are made ready for them, and a Coach is sent to bring them hither from the Barrier. The 13th, the Marquess _de Pilles_, and the Sheriffs invite them to the Town-House, whither they had summoned all the Physicians and Master-Surgeons of the City; after they had conferred a long Time upon the Symptoms of the Distemper, they agree among themselves, to go together the following Days, to visit as well the sick in the Hospitals, as those in the several Quarters of the Town, and to make such Experiments as they should judge proper. Hitherto the Distemper has not exerted all its Rage; it kills indeed those it seizes, hardly one escaping; and whatever House it enters, it carries off the whole Family; but as yet, it has fallen only on the poorer Sort of People, which keeps many Persons in a false Notion, that it is not really the Plague, but proceeds from bad Diet and Want of other Necessaries: those who use the Sea, and have frequently seen the Plague in the _Levant_, think they observe some Difference: In short, Abundance of People still remain in doubt, and expecting with the utmost Impatience the Decision of the Physicians of _Montpellier_, to determine them whether to stay or fly. The 14th, the Sheriffs write to the Council of Marine, most humbly to thank his Royal Highness for his Care and Goodness, in sending to them these Physicians. The 15th they write to the Marshal _de Villars_, to acquaint him with the Condition of the City, and the extreme Want it is in, having near a hundred thousand Souls in it, without Bread and without Money: they write likewise to M. _de Bernage_, Intendant in _Languedoc_, and to the Marquess _de Caylus_ the commanding Officer in _Provence_, then at _Montpellier_, to desire them to procure them Bread-Corn, to preserve them from Famine, which they had no less Reason to fear than the Plague. The Marquess _de Caylus_ has the Goodness to engage his own Credit for procuring them a good Quantity. The 16th being the Festival of St. _Roch_, which has at all Times been solemnized at _Marseilles_, for imploring Deliverance from the Plague, the Marquess _de Pilles_, and the Sheriffs, for preventing Communication, would have the Procession usually made every Year, in which the Bust and Relicks of that Saint are carried, be now forborn; but they are obliged to yield to the Outcries of the People, who become almost raving in Matters of Devotion, when they are under so terrible a Scourge as the Plague, whose dire Effects they already feel; they even judge it convenient to assist at the Procession themselves, with all their Halbardiers and Guards, to hinder its being followed by a Crowd, and to prevent all Disorder.