The Plague at Marseilles Consider'd: With Remarks Upon the Plague in General, Shewing Its Cause and Nature of Infection, with Necessary Precautions to Prevent the Speading of That Direful DistemperBradley, Richard
History
The Plague at Marseilles Consider'd: With Remarks Upon the Plague in General, Shewing Its Cause and Nature of Infection, with Necessary Precautions to Prevent the Speading of That Direful Distemper
Bradley, Richard
Plague -- England -- London -- Early works to 1800; Plague -- France -- Marseille -- Early works to 1800
I Arriv'd here the 8_th_, and enter'd the Gate of _Aix_ which leads to the
_Cours_, which has always been esteem'd one of the most pleasant
Prospects in the Kingdom, but that Day was a very dismal Spectacle to me;
all that great Place, both on the Right and Left, was fill'd with Dead,
Sick, and Dying Persons. The Carts were continually employ'd in going and
returning to carry away the Dead Carcasses, of which there were that Day
above four Thousand. The Town was without Bread, without Wine, without
Meat, without Medicines, and in general, without any Succours.
The Father abandon'd the Child, and the Son the Father; the Husband the
Wife, and the Wife the Husband; and those who had not a House to
themselves, lay upon Quilts in the Streets and the Pavements; all the
Streets were fill'd with Cloaths and Houshold-Goods, strew'd with Dead
Dogs and Cats, which made an insupportable Stench. Meat was Sold at 18 to
20 _Sous per_ Pound, and was only distributed to those that had Billets
from the Consuls: This, Sir, was the miserable State of this City at that
Time, but at present, Things have a better appearance; Monsieur _le
Marquis de Langeron_, who Commands here, has caused the Dead to be Buried,
the Cloaths and Goods to be burnt, and the Shops to be open'd, for the
Sustenance of the Publick.
Two Hospitals are prepar'd where they carry all the Sick of the Town, good
Orders are daily re-establish'd, and the Obligation is chiefly owing to
Monsieur _de Langeron_, who does Wonders. However, there is not any Divine
Service Celebrated, nor are there any Confessors. The People die, and are
buried without any Ceremonies of the Church; But the Bishop, with an
undaunted Courage, goes thro' the Streets, and into Publick Places,
accompanied with a Jesuit and one Ecclesiastick, to Exhort the Dying, and
to give them Absolution; and he distributes his Charity very largely. The
Religious Order have almost all perish'd, and the Fathers of the Oratory
are not exempt; it is accounted, that there have died 50000 Persons. One
thing very particular is, that Monsieur _Moustier_, one of the Consuls of
the City, who has been continually on Horseback ordering the Slaves who
carried away the Dead in Carts, or those that were Sick, to the Hospitals,
enjoys his Health as well as he did the first Day he began; the Sickness
seems at present to abate, and we have the Satisfaction to see several
whom we took under our Care at the Beginning of the Sickness, promise fair
towards a Recovery. The Sickness however, is of a very extraordinary
Nature, and the Observations we have in our Authors, have scarce any
Agreement with what we find in this: It is the Assistance of Heaven we
ought to implore, and to wait for a Blessing from thence upon our Labours.
I am, _&c._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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