It is not only the Numbers that fall by the Plague that strike Terror into Men, but the Suddenness and Manner of Dying heighten our Fears, and make every thing more terrible; for Physicians have been Strangers to the Disease, nor have their Remedies been able to give any Check to its Fury. The People die with Medicines and without them, and those that have seemed to be useful in one Case, have seldom failed to prove hurtful in another. No body is found strong enough to resist it, neither they who had the best Constitution, nor they who have been treated in the best Method. But what is most grievous, on those Occasions, is the great Despair that seizes the Infected, who are so far from submitting to the most proper Endeavours that may be made for their Cure, that they abandon, and give themselves up as helpless, and out of the Power of any Relief: while the Disease gets Ground, acquires new Strength, and lays desolate the most populous Cities. I shall end my Remarks on the first Part of the _short Discourse_, in the Words of the late Bishop of _Rochester_[14], who describes this terrible Article very pathetically. _Here, lies a Mother and her Child; The Infant suck’d as yet, and smil’d; But strait by its own Food was kill’d: There Parents hugg’d their Children last; Here, prating Lovers last embrac’d; But yet not parting neither: They both expir’d, and went away together. The Friend does hear his Friend’s last Cries; Parts his Grief for him, and then dies; Lives not enough to close his Eyes. The Father, at his Death, Speaks his Son Heir, with an infectious Breath: In the same Hour the Son does take His Father’s Will, and his own make. The Servant needs not here be slain, To serve his Master in the other World again; They languishing together lie; Their Souls away together flie: The Husband gasps; his Wife lies by: It must be her turn next to die: The Husband and the Wife Too truly now are one, and live one Life: That Couple, who the Gods did entertain, Had made their Prayers here in vain: No Fates in Death could them divide; They must, without their Privilege, together both have dy’d._ [Footnote 14: _Plague of_ Athens, Stan. 19 & 20.] ------------------------------------------------------------------------ [Illustration] PART II. Explained.