In Purſuance of theſe Orders, the Lord Mayor, Sheriffs, &c. held Councils every Day more or leſs, for making ſuch Diſpoſitions as they found needful for preſerving the Civil Peace; and tho’ the uſed the People with all poſſible Gentleneſs and Clemency, yet all manner of preſumptuous Rogues, ſuch as Thieves, Houſe-breakers, Plunderers of the Dead, or of the Sick, were duly puniſh’d, and ſeveral Declarations were continually publiſh’d by the Lord Mayor and Court of Aldermen againſt ſuch.
Alſo all Conſtables and Church-wardens were enjoin’d to ſtay in the City upon ſevere Penalties, or to depute ſuch able and ſufficient Houſe-keepers, as the Deputy Aldermen, or Common Council-men of the Precinct ſhould approve, and for whom they ſhould give Security; and alſo Security in caſe of Mortality, that they would forthwith conſtitute other Conſtables in their ſtead.
Theſe things re-eſtabliſh’d the Minds of the People very much, eſpecially in the firſt of their Fright, when they talk’d of making ſo univerſal a Flight, that the City would have been in Danger of being entirely deſerted of its Inhabitants, except the Poor, and the Country of being plunder’d and laid waſte by the Multitude. Nor were the Magiſtrates deficient in performing their Part as boldly as they promiſed it; for my Lord Mayor and the Sheriffs were continually in the Streets, and at places of the greateſt Danger; and tho’ they did not care for having too great a Reſort of People crouding about them, yet, in emergent Caſes, they never denyed the People Acceſs to them, and heard with Patience all their Grievances and Complaints; my Lord Mayor had a low Gallery built on purpoſe in his Hall, where he ſtood a little remov’d from the Croud when any Complaint came to be heard, that he might appear with as much Safety as poſſible.
