Paid and given Mr. Lyn, the beadle, for a piece of good service to the parish in conveying away of a visited household to Lord’s Pest House, forth of Mr. Higgins’s house at Bloomsbury £0 1 6 Received of Mr. Hearle (Dr. Temple’s gift) to be given to Mrs. Hockey, a minister’s widow, shut up in the Crache Yard of the plague 0 10 0 But now came the awful pestilence of 1665; the streets were so deserted that grass grew in them, and nothing was to be seen but coffins, pest-carts, link-men, and red-crossed doors. The air resounded with the tolling of bells, the screams of distracted mourners crying from the windows, “Pray for us!” and the dismal call of the searchers, “Bring out your dead!”[626] The plague broke out in its most malignant form among the poor of St. Giles’s;[627] and Dr. Hodges and Sir Richard Manningham, both first-rate authorities on this subject, agree in this assertion. In August 1665 an additional rate to the amount of £600 was levied. Independent of this, very large sums were subscribed by persons resident in, or interested in, the parish. The following are a few of the items:-- Mr. Williams, from the Earl of Clare £10 0 0 Mr. Justice (Sir Edmondbury) Godfrey, from the Lord Treasurer 50 0 0 Earl Craven and the rest of the justices, towards the visited poor, at various times 449 16 10 Earl Craven towards the visited poor 40 3 0 There are also these ominous entries:-- August.--Paid the searchers for viewing the corpse of Goodwife Phillips, who died of the plague £0 0 6 Laid out for Goodman Phillips and his children, being shut up and visited 0 5 0 Laid out for Lylla Lewis, 3 Crane Court, being shut up of the plague; and laid out for the nurse, and for the nurse and burial 0 18 6 In July 1666 the constables, etc. were ordered to make an account of all new inmates coming to the parish, and to take security that they would not become burdensome. They were also directed to be careful to prevent the infection spreading for the future by a timely guard of all “that are or hereafter may happen to be visited.”