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Memoirs of

tious in ſtirring abroad, when the Country People came freely and boldly to Market, as if there had been no manner of Infection in the City, or Danger of catching it.

It was indeed one admirable piece of Conduct in the ſaid Magiſtrates, that the Streets were kept conſtantly clear, and free from all manner of frightful Objects, dead Bodies, or any ſuch things as were indecent or unpleaſant, unleſs where any Body fell down ſuddenly or died in the Streets, as I have ſaid above, and theſe were generally covered with ſome Cloth or Blanket, or remov'd into, the next Church-yard, till Night: All the needful Works, that carried Terror with them, that were both diſmal and dangerous, were done in the Night; if any diſeas'd Bodies were remov'd, or dead Bodies buried, or infected Cloths burnt, it was done in the Night; and all the Bodies, which were thrown into the great Pits, in the ſeveral Church-yards, or burying Grounds, as has been obſerv'd, were ſo remov'd in the Night; and every thing was covered and cloſed before Day: So that in the Day-time there was, not the leaſt Signal of the Calamity to be ſeen or heard of, except what was to be obſerv'd from the Emptineſs of the Streets, and, ſometimes from the paſſionate Outcries and Lamentations of the People, out at their Windows, and from the Numbers of Houſes, and Shops ſhut up.

Nor was the Silence and Emptineſs of the Streets ſo much in the City as in the Out-parts, except juſt at one particular time, when, as I have mention'd, the Plague came Eaſt, and ſpread aver all the City: It was indeed a merciful Diſpoſition of God, that as the Plague began at one End of the Town firſt, as has been obſerv'd at large, ſo it proceeded progreſſively to other Parts, and did not come on this way or Eaſtward, till in had ſpent its Fury in the Weſt part of