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Causes of Death in the Country.
391

(which I rather believe, because that the Plague was not then considerable at London) but that it was a Malignant Fever, raging so fiercely about Harvest, that there appeared scarce hands enough to take in the Corn: which argues, considering there were 2700 Parishioners, that seven might be sick for one that died: whereas of the Plague more die than recover. Lastly, these People lay longer sick than is usual in the Plague, nor was there any mention of Sores, Swellings, Blew-|91|Tokens, &c. among them. It follows, that the proportion between the greatest and the least Mortalities in the Country are far greater than at London: Forasmuch as the greatest 156 is above quintuple unto 28 the least, whereas in London (the Plague excepted, as here it hath been) the number of Burials upon other Accounts within no Decad of years hath been double, whereas in the Country it hath been quintuple, not only within the whole ninety years, but also within the same Decad: for Anno 1633 there died but 29, and Anno 1638 the above-mentioned number of 156. Moreover, as in London, in no Decad, the Burials of one year are double to those of another: so in the Country they are seldom not more than so; as by this Table appears[1].

greatest least
Decad number of Burials
1 66 34
2 87 39
3 117 38
4 53 30
5 116 51
6 89 50
7 156 35
8 137 46
9 80 28 |92|
  1. The figures of these summaries are the same in all editions of the Observations, but the tables themselves give, in many instances, figures differing from the summaries. Thus, according to the tables, the greatest number of burials in decade four, the least number of burials in decades six and seven, and the least number of births in decades three and eight are erroneous. The discrepancies, however, are not large enough to invalidate the observation which Graunt makes upon the summaries.