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
The same Day, M. _de Langeron_ mounts on Horseback, and comes to the
Town-House, to inform himself of the State of Affairs, that he might
thereupon make the proper Dispositions, and take the necessary Measures
for applying speedy Remedies to pressing Evils: He is accompanied by
the Chevalier _de Soissans_, an Officer of the Gallies, whom he has
taken to his Assistance; and who is so ardent for relieving the Town,
that he is every Day on Horseback from Morning till Night, running
wherever any thing is to be done, and to provide against, or redress,
those Inconveniences which appear most insuperable; contemning Danger,
and compelling others, by his Example, not to relax or stop; putting
in Execution Things seeming the most impossible, with that Activity,
Prudence, and indefatigable Zeal, that every thing is done by his Care,
and by his Assistance.
The 13th, the Marquess _de Pilles_ comes to the Town-House; his
Presence, after the Grief and Alarm his Sickness had caused, gives
every one unspeakable Pleasure. M. _de Langeron_ repairs thither
likewise; he never fails to come thither every Day on Horseback, in the
Morning and Afternoon, be what Weather it will, and sits generally till
eight a Clock at Night; 'tis most frequently after he has taken his
Rounds to the Hospitals, the Pits, the Church-yards, and other Places
very dangerous to approach, which he will view with his own Eyes, and
where he exposes himself without Regard to his Health or Life.
The 14th, the Sheriffs continue to appear constantly, each at the Head
of one of the Brigades of Slaves, with the Carts, to set them to work
in different Quarters, to take up and carry to the Pits that prodigious
Number of dead Bodies, with which the City is filled; and though they
take away so many, they find more still, by the Continuance of the
Mortality.
But there is one Part, where they have not been able to set foot yet;
it is at an Esplanade called _la Tourette_, which lies towards the
Sea, between the Houses and the Rampart, from Fort St. _John_ to the
Church of _Major_: There lie extended about a thousand dead Bodies
close to each other, the freshest of which have lain there above three
Weeks; so that had they not been infected, the lying so long in a Place
exposed to the hot Sun all the Day, might have sufficed to render them
contagious: All one's Senses are affected at approaching a Place,
whence one smells afar off the contagious Vapours which Exhale from it:
Nature shrinks, and the firmest Eyes cannot bear so hideous a Sight;
those Bodies have no longer any human Form, they are Monsters that give
Horror, and one would think all their Limbs stir, the Worms are in such
Motion about them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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