This account is nevertheless rendered credible by the ascertained fact, that the palaces of princes are less accessible to contagious diseases than the dwellings of the multitude; and that in places of importance, the influx from those districts which have suffered least, soon repairs even the heaviest losses. We must remember, also, that we do not gather much from mere numbers without an intimate knowledge of the state of society. We will, therefore, confine ourselves to exhibiting some of the more credible accounts relative to European cities. In Florence there died of the Black Plague 60,000[64] In Venice 100,000[65] In Marseilles, in one month 16,000[66] In Siena 70,000[67] In Paris 50,000[68] In St. Denys 14,000[69] In Avignon 60,000[70] In Strasburg 16,000[71] In Lübeck 9,000[72] In Basle 14,000 In Erfurt, at least 16,000 In Weimar 5,000[73] In Limburg 2,500[74] In London, at least 100,000[75] In Norwich 51,100[76] To which may be added— Franciscan Friars in Germany 124,434[77] Minorites in Italy 30,000[78] This short catalogue might, by a laborious and uncertain calculation, deduced from other sources, be easily further multiplied, but would still fail to give a true picture of the depopulation which took place. Lübeck, at that time the Venice of the North, which could no longer contain the multitudes that flocked to it, was thrown into such consternation on the eruption of the plague, that the citizens destroyed themselves as if in frenzy. Merchants whose earnings and possessions were unbounded, coldly and willingly renounced their earthly goods. They carried their treasures to monasteries and churches, and laid them at the foot of the altar; but gold had no charms for the monks, for it brought them death. They shut their gates; yet, still it was cast to them over the convent walls. People would brook no impediment to the last pious work to which they were driven by despair. When the plague ceased, men thought they were still wandering among the dead, so appalling was the livid aspect of the survivors, in consequence of the anxiety they had undergone, and the unavoidable infection of the air[79]. Many other cities probably presented a similar appearance; and it is ascertained that a great number of small country towns and villages which have been estimated, and not too highly, at 200,000[80], were bereft of all their inhabitants.