Historical fiction; London (England) -- History -- 17th century -- Fiction; Plague -- Fiction
This turned the people's eyes pretty much towards that end of the town;
and, the weekly bills showing an increase of burials in St. Giles's
Parish more than usual, it began to be suspected that the plague was
among the people at that end of the town, and that many had died of it,
though they had taken care to keep it as much from the knowledge of the
public as possible. This possessed the heads of the people very much;
and few cared to go through Drury Lane, or the other streets suspected,
unless they had extraordinary business that obliged them to it.
This increase of the bills stood thus: the usual number of burials in a
week, in the parishes of St. Giles-in-the-Fields and St. Andrew's,
Holborn,[11] were[12] from twelve to seventeen or nineteen each, few
more or less; but, from the time that the plague first began in St.
Giles's Parish, it was observed that the ordinary burials increased in
number considerably. For example:--
Dec. 27 to Jan. 3, St. Giles's 16
St. Andrew's 17
Jan. 3 to Jan. 10, St. Giles's 12
St. Andrew's 25
Jan. 10 to Jan. 17, St. Giles's 18
St. Andrew's 18
Jan. 17 to Jan. 24, St. Giles's 23
St. Andrew's 16
Jan. 24 to Jan. 31, St. Giles's 24
St. Andrew's 15
Jan. 31 to Feb. 7, St. Giles's 21
St. Andrew's 23
Feb. 7 to Feb. 14, St. Giles's 24
Whereof one of the plague.
The like increase of the bills was observed in the parishes of St.
Bride's, adjoining on one side of Holborn Parish, and in the parish of
St. James's, Clerkenwell, adjoining on the other side of Holborn; in
both which parishes the usual numbers that died weekly were from four to
six or eight, whereas at that time they were increased as follows:--
Dec. 20 to Dec. 27, St. Bride's 0
St. James's 8
Dec. 27 to Jan. 3, St. Bride's 6
St. James's 9
Jan. 3 to Jan. 10, St. Bride's 11
St. James's 7
Jan. 10 to Jan. 17, St. Bride's 12
St. James's 9
Jan. 17 to Jan. 24, St. Bride's 9
St. James's 15
Jan. 24 to Jan. 31, St. Bride's 8
St. James's 12
Jan. 31 to Feb. 7, St. Bride's 13
St. James's 5
Feb. 7 to Feb. 14, St. Bride's 12
St. James's 6
Besides this, it was observed, with great uneasiness by the people, that
the weekly bills in general increased very much during these weeks,
although it was at a time of the year when usually the bills are very
moderate.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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