In 1646, the plague again made its appearance in Norwich, but its effects were not very fatal. In 1665, however, it broke out once more, and made dreadful ravages; carrying off 2251 persons. During its continuance, at the instance of the County Magistrates, the Market was held in the Town Close, and the City was not quite cleared of the disease till the end of 1667. The Bishop then ordered September 19th to be observed as a day of general thanksgiving to God for His great mercy in putting a stop to the pestilence. All quite right and proper, but had there been more cleansing as well as praying, the city might not have suffered so severely. The Corporation had utterly and entirely ignored its chief duty in regard to all sanitary rules and regulations. There was scarcely an apology for a system of drainage, and never a sufficient supply of water. The poor people were cooped up in narrow yards, courts, and streets, and, on account of high prices, could seldom obtain wholesome food. They had a terrible revenge in these direful plagues, which destroyed the rich in their fine houses, as well as the poor in their hovels. Some idea of the social state of the city during this period may be formed from a few gleanings from the City Records, from which it will appear, that from the 14th till the 18th century, though the authorities neglected to improve the sanitary condition of the city, they took great care to protect the people from frauds of brewers, traders, and manufacturers, who were at least strongly suspected of being addicted to dishonest practices. Mr. R. Fitch, of this city, has published some interesting notices of “Brewers’ Marks and Trade Regulations.” These are of great historical interest, and we therefore make no apology to our readers for reproducing the following extracts:— “Scarcely a trade was exempt from these regulations, some of which were attended with espionage so peculiar and strict as to lead us to wonder why public opinion, although in those days admittedly weak, was not so far aroused as, by its own voice, to free the community from some of the petty, if not the heavier restrictions. “Brewers, we discover, had especial symbols of their own, which they registered when licensed to follow their occupations, and it was also found that these marks were borne by successive followers of the same trade, until the business of succeeding firms became extinguished by the death or retirement of the last of a long line of brewers, and then only did the particular symbol fall into disuse.