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truft my Affairs with, I had little to do but to refolve.

I went Home that Evening greatly opprefs'd in my Mind, irrefolute, and not knowing what to do; I had fet the Evening wholly apart to confider seriously about it, and was all alone; for already People had, as it were by a general Consent, taken up the Custom of not going out of Doors after Sun-fet, the Reafons I fhall have Occafion to say more of by-and-by.

In the Retirement of this Evening I endeavoured to refolve first, what was my Duty to do, and I stated the Arguments with which my Brother had prefs'd me to go into the Country, and I fet against them the ftrong Impreffions which I had on my Mind for ftaying; the visible Call I feem'd to have from the particular Circumstance of my Calling, and the Care due from me for the Prefervation of my Effects, which were, as I might fay, my Eftate: alfo the Intimations which I thought I had from Heaven, that to me fignify'd a kind of Direction to venture, and it occurr'd to me, that if I had what I might call a Direction to stay, I ought to fuppofe it contain❜d a Promise of being preferved, if I obey'd.

This lay close to me, and my Mind feemed more and more encouraged to stay than ever, and fupported with a fecret Satisfaction, that I fhould be kept: Add to this, that turning over the Bible, which lay before me, and while my Thoughts were more than ordinarily ferious upon the Queftion, I cry'd out, WELL, I know not what to do, Lord direct me! and the like; and that Juncture I happen'd to ftop turning over the Book, at the 91st Pfalm, and cafting my Eye on the second Verse, I read on to the 7th Verse exclufive; and after that, included the 10th, as follows. I will fay of the Lord, He is my refuge, and my fortress,

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my God, in him will I trust. Surely be hall de liver thee from the fnare of the fowler, and from the noifom peftilence. He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings fhalt thou trust: his truth fhall be thy fhield and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night, nor for the arrow that flieth by day: Nor for the peftilence that walketh in darkness: nor for the deftruction that wasteth at noon-day. A thousand fhall fall at thy fide, and ten thousand at thy right hand: but it shall not come nigh thee. Only with thine Eyes fhalt thou behold and fee the reward of the wicked. Because thou haft made the Lord which is my refuge, even the most High, thy babitation: There fhall no evil befal thee, neither fall any plague come nigh thy dwelling, &c.

I fcarce need tell the Reader, that from that Moment I refolv'd that I would ftay in the Town, and cafting myself entirely upon the Goodness and Protection of the Almighty, would not seek any other Shelter whatever; and that as my Times were in his Hands, he was as able to keep me in a Time of the Infection as in a Time of Health; and if he did not think fit to deliver me, still I was in his Hands, and it was meet he fhould do with me as should seem good to him.

With this Refolution I went to Bed; and I was farther confirm'd in it the next Day, by the Woman being taken ill with whom I had intended to entruft my House and all my Affairs: But I had a farther Obligation laid on me on the fame Side; for the next Day I found myself very much out of Order alfo; fo that if I would have gone away, I could not, and I continued ill three or four Days, and this entirely determin'd my Stay; fo I took my leave of my Brother, who went away to Darking in Surry, and afterwards fetch'd a Round farther into Buckinghamshire, or Bedfordshire, to a Retreat he had found out there for his Family.

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It was a very ill Time to be fick in, for if any one complain'd, it was immediately faid he had the Plague; and tho' I had indeed no Symptoms of that Diftemper, yet 'being very ill, both in my Head and in my Stomach, I was not without Apprehenfion, that I really was infected; but in about three Days I grew better, the third Night I refted well, fweated a little, and was much refresh'd; the Apprehenfions of its being the Infection went alfo quite away with my Illness, and Į went about my Bufinefs as ufual.

Thefe Things however put off all my Thoughts of going into the Country; and my Brother alfo being gone, I had no more Debate either with him, or with myself, on that Subject.

It was now mid-July, and the Plague which had chiefly rag'd at the other End of the Town, and as I faid before, in the Parishes of St. Giles's, St. Andrews Holborn, and towards Westminster, began now to come Eastward towards the Part where I liv'd. It was to be obferv'd indeed, that it did not come ftraight on towards us; for the City, that is to fay within the Walls, was indifferent healthy ftill; nor was it got then very much over the Water into Southwark; for tho' there died that Week 1268 of all Diftempers, whereof it might be fuppos'd above 900 died of the Plague; yet there was but 28 in the whole City, within the Walls; and but 19 in Southwark, Lambeth Parish included; whereas in the Parishes of St. Giles, and St. Martins in the Fields alone, there died 421.

But we perceiv'd the Infection kept chiefly in the out-Parishes, which being very populous, and fuller alfo of Poor, the Distemper found more to prey upon than in the City, as I fhall obferve afterward; we perceiv'd I fay, the Diftemper to draw our Way; (viz.). by the Parishes of Clerken-well, C

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Cripplegate, Shoreditch, and Bishopsgate; which laft two Parishes joining to Aldgate, White-Chapel, and Stepney, the Infection came at length to fpread its utmost Rage and Violence in those Parts, even when it abated, at the Western Parishes where it began.

It was very ftrange to obferve, that in this particular Week, from the 4th to the 11th of July, when, as I have obferv'd, there died near 400 of the Plague in the two Parishes of St. Martin's, and St. Giles's in the Fields only, there died in the Parish of Aldgate but four, in the Parish of WhiteChapel three, in the Parish of Stepney but one.

Likewife in the next Week, from the 11th of July to the 18th, when the Week's Bill was 1761, yet there died no more of the Plague, on the whole Southwark Side of the Water, than fix

teen.

But this Face of things foon changed, and it began to thicken in Cripplegate Parish especially, and in Clerkenwell, fo, that by the second Week in August, Cripplegate Parish alone, buried eight hundred eighty fix, and Clerken-well 155; of the firft, eight hundred and fifty might well be reckoned to die of the Plague; and of the laft, the Bill itfelf faid, 145 were of the Plague.

During the Month of July, and while, as I have obferv'd, our Part of the Town feem'd to be fpar'd in comparison of the Weft Part, I went ordinarily about the Streets, as my Business requir'd, and particularly went generally, once in a Day, or in two Days, into the City, to my Brother's House, which he had given me charge of, and to fee if it was fafe: And having the Key in my Pocket, I used to go into the House, and over most of the Rooms, to fee that all was well; for tho' it be fomething wonderful to tell, that any fhould have Hearts fo hardened, in the midft of

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fuch a Calamity, as to rob and fteal; yet certain it is, that all Sorts of Villanies, and even Levities and Debaucheries were then practis'd in the Town, as openly as ever, I will not fay quite as frequently, because the Numbers of People were many ways leffen'd.

But the City itself began now to be visited too, I mean within the Walls; but the Number of People there were indeed extremely leffen'd by fo great a Multitude having been gone into the Country; and even all this Month of July they continu'd to flee, tho' not in fuch Multitudes as formerly. In August indeed, they fled in fuch a manner, that I began to think, there would be really none but Magiftrates and Servants left in the City.

As they fled now out of the City, fo I fhould obferve, that the Court removed early, (viz.) in the Month of June, and went to Oxford, where it pleas'd God to preferve them; and the Distemper did not, as I heard of, fo much as touch them; for which I cannot fay, that I ever faw they fhew'd any great Token of Thankfulness, and hardly any thing of Reformation, tho' they did not want being told that their crying Vices might, without Breach of Charity, be faid to have gone far, in bringing that terrible Judgment upon the whole Nation.

The Face of London was now indeed ftrangely alter'd, I mean the whole Mass of Buildings, City, Liberties, Suburbs, Westminster, Southwark, and altogether; for as to the particular Part called the City, or within the Walls, that was not yet much infected; but in the whole, the Face of Things, I fay, was much alter'd; Sorrow and Sadnefs fat upon every Face; and tho' fome Part were not yet overwhelm'd, yet all look'd deeply concern'd; and as we saw it apparently coming on,