in themselves, more than in these Words: That the Execution of them might be very grievous to the Subjects of this Kingdom. But this I have proved to be quite otherwise.

THE Truth of the Matter is this: Some great Men, both of the Lords and Commons, who were in the Opposition to the Court, objected that the Ministry were not to be intrusted with such Powers, lest they should abuse them; since they might, upon Occasion, by their Officers, either remove or confine Persons not favoured by the Government, on Pretence that their Houses were infected.

VAIN and groundless as these Fears were, yet the Clamours industriously raised from them were so strong, that a great Officer in the State[Pg xxxvii] thought fit to oblige his Enemies by giving way to them: and tho’ a Motion made in the House of Commons for repealing these two Clauses had just been rejected; yet upon making the same in the House of Lords, with his Consent, the thing was done.

WHETHER private or public Considerations had the greater Share in bringing about this Compliance, I will not determine. Such Counter-Steps will happen in a Government, where there is too much of Faction, and too little of a Public Spirit. This I very well remember, that a learned Prelate, now dead, who had more of Political than of Christian Zeal, and was one who made the loudest Noise about the Quarantaine Bill, frankly owned to me in Conversation, that tho’ the Directions were good, yet he and his Friends had resolved to take that Opportunity of shewing their Disaffection to the Ministry.

[Pg xxxviii]BUT after all, it contributed not a little to the carrying this Point, that the Plague was now ceased at Marseilles, and a Stop put to its Progress in the Provinces. And I cannot but take notice that this last good Service was done by the same Method, which, tho’ in a more moderate way, I have here proposed. For it is well known that the Regent of France did at last set Bounds to the Contagion by Lines and Barriers guarded by Soldiers: which wise Resolution saved not only his own but other Countries from the spreading of a Disease, which seems to have been of as violent a kind as ever was brought into Europe.

HOWEVER, if there were any Severity in Orders of this kind, every Man ought to consider himself as a Member of the Society; by the Laws of which as he receives many Advantages, so he gives up somewhat of his own private Rights to the Public: and must therefore be perfectly satisfied with whatever is found necessary for the common Good; altho’ it may, on particular Occasions, bring upon him some Inconveniences and Sufferings.

Does any body complain of ill usage upon his House being ordered to be blown up, to stop the Progress of a Fire which endangers the whole Street: when he reflects that his Neighbour, who by this means escapes, must have suffered the same Loss for his sake, had it so happened that each had been in the other’s Habitation?

BUT in truth, there is no Cruelty, but on the contrary real Compassion in these Regulations, with the Limitations I have made: and I am fully persuaded that whoever with Judgment considers the nature of this Disease, will easily see that the Rules here laid down are not only the best, but indeed the only ones that can effectually answer the purpose. And therefore I should not doubt but that, if this Calamity (which God avert!) should be brought into our Country, even the Voice of the People would cry out for Help in this way: notwithstanding wrong Notions of their Liberties may sometimes over-possess their Minds, and make them, even under the best of Governments, impatient of any Restraints.

PART I.

Of the Plague in general.

CHAP. I.

Of the Origine and Nature of the Plague.

My Design in this Discourse being to propose what Measures I think most proper to defend the Nation against the Plague, and for this End to consider the Nature of Pestilential Contagion as far as is necessary to set forth the Reasonableness of the Precepts I shall lay down; before I proceed to any particular Directions, I shall enquire a little into the Causes, whence the Plague arises, and by what Means the Infection of it is spread.

In the most ancient Times Plagues, like many other Diseases, were looked upon as divine Judgments sent to punish the Wickedness of Mankind: and therefore the only Defence sought after was by Sacrifices and Lustrations to appease the Anger of incensed Heaven.[15]

How much soever may be said to justify Reflexions of this Kind, since we are assured from sacred History, that divine Vengeance has been sometimes executed by Plagues; yet it is certain, that such Speculations pushed too far, were then attended with ill Consequences, by obstructing Inquiries into natural Causes, and encouraging a supine Submission to those Evils: against which the infinitely good and wise Author of Nature has in most Cases provided proper Remedies.

Upon this Account, in After-Ages, when the Profession of Physick came to be founded upon the Knowledge of Nature, Hippocrates strenuously opposed this Opinion, that some particular Sicknesses were Divine, or sent immediately from the Gods; and affirmed, that no Diseases came more from the Gods than others, all coming from them, and yet all owning their proper natural Causes: that the Sun, Cold, and Winds were divine; the Changes of which, and their Influences on human Bodies, were diligently to be considered by a Physician.[16]

Which general Position this great Author of Physick intended to be understood with respect to Plagues as well as other Distempers: How far he had reason herein, will in some measure appear, when we come to search into the Causes of this Disease.

But in order to this Inquiry, it will be convenient, in the first place, to remove an erroneous Opinion some have entertained, that the Plague differs not from a common Fever in any thing besides its greater Violence. Whereas it is very evident, that since the Small-Pox and Measles are allowed to be Distempers distinct in Specie from all others, on account of certain Symptoms peculiar to them; so, for the same reason, it ought to be granted, that the Plague no less differs in Kind from ordinary Fevers: For there are a Set of distinguishing Symptoms as essential to the Pestilence, as the respective Eruptions are to the Small-Pox or Measles; which are