Plague broke out, upon ſtrict guarding the Houſes that were infected, and taking Care to bury thoſe that died, immediatly after they were known to be dead, the Plague ceaſed in thoſe Streets. It was alſo obſerv'd, that the Plague decreaſ'd ſooner in thoſe Pariſhes, after they had been viſited to the full, than it did in the Pariſhes of Biſbopſgate, Shoreditch, Aldgate, White-Chappel, Stepney, and others, the early Care taken in that Manner, being a great means to the putting a Cheque to it.
This ſhutting up of Houſes was a method firſt taken, as I underſtand, in the Plague, which happened in 1603, at the Coming of King James the Firſt to the Crown, and the Power of ſhutting People up in their own Houſes, was granted by Act of Parliament, entitled, An Act for the charitable Relief and Ordering of Perſons infected with the Plague. On which Act of Parliament, the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of the City of London, founded the Order they made at this Time, and which took Place the 1ſt of July 1665, when the Numbers infected within the City, were but few, the laſt Bill for the 92 Pariſhes being but four, and ſome Houſes having been ſhut up in the City, and ſome ſick People been removed to the Peſt-Houſe beyond Bunhill-Fields, in the Way to Iſlington, I ſay, by theſe Means, when there died near one thouſand a Week in the Whole, the Number in the City was but 28, and the City was preſerv'd more healthy in Proportion, than any other Places all the Time of the Infection.
Theſe Orders of my Lord Mayor's were publiſh'd, as I have ſaid, the latter End of June, and took Place from the firſt of July, and were as follows, (viz.).
