The main Import of the _Orders_ issued out at these Times was, As soon as it was found, that any House was infected, to keep it shut up, with a _large red Cross_, and _Lord have Mercy upon us_ on the Door; and Watchmen attending Day and Night to prevent any one's going in or out, except _Physicians_, _Surgeons_, _Apothecaries_, _Nurses_, _Searchers_, &c. allowed by Authority: And this to continue at least a Month after all the Family was _dead_ or _recovered_[13]. It is not easy to conceive a more dismal Scene of Misery, than this; Families seized with a Distemper, which the most of any in the World requires Help and Comfort, lockt up from all their Acquaintance; left it may be to the Treatment of an inhumane Nurse (for such are often found at these Times about the Sick;) and Strangers to every thing but the Melancholy sight of the Progress, Death makes among themselves; with small Hopes of Life, and those mixed with Anxiety and Doubt, whether it be not better to Dye, than to survive the Loss of their best Friends, and nearest Relations. If _Fear_, _Despair_, and all _Dejection of Spirits_ dispose the Body to receive _Contagion_, and give it a great Power, where it is received, as all Physicians agree they do, I don't see how a Disease can be more enforced, than by such a Treatment. Nothing can justify such _Cruelty_, but the Plea, that it is for the Good of the whole _Community_, and prevents the spreading of _Infection_. But this upon due Consideration will be found quite otherwise: For while _Contagion_ is kept nursed up in a House, and continually encreased by the daily Conquests it makes, it is impossible but the _Air_ should by Degrees become _tainted_, which by opening Windows, &c. will carry the Malignity first from House to House; and then from one Street to another. The shutting up Houses in this Manner is only keeping so many _Seminaries_ of _Contagion_, sooner or later to be dispersed abroad: For the waiting a Month, or longer, from the Death of the last Patient will avail no more, than keeping a _Bale_ of infected _Goods_ unpack'd; the Poyson will fly out, whenever the _Pandora's Box_ is opened. As these Measures were owing to the Ignorance of the true Nature of _Contagion_, so they did, I firmly believe, contribute very much to the long Continuance of the _Plague_, every time they have been practised in this City: And no doubt they have had as ill Effects in other Countries.