EPIDEMIC DELUSIONS. 21 



not known in this country since the great plague of London in Charles 

 IL's time, and one or two smaller outbreaks since, hut which has now 

 entirely left us. The severity of this plague in Europe was so great 

 that upon a very moderate calculation one in four of the entire popula- 

 tion was carried off by it ; and in some instances it is said that nine- 

 tenths of the people died of it. You may imagine, therefore, what a 

 terrible infliction it was. And you would have supposed that it would 

 have called forth the better feelings of men and women generally ; but it 

 did not. One of the worst features, morally, of that terrible affliction, 

 was the lamentable suspension of all natural feelings which it seemed 

 to induce. When any member of a family was attacked by this 

 plague, every one seemed to desert him, or desert her ; the sick were 

 left, to die alone, or merely under the charge of any persons who 

 thought that they would be paid for rendering this service ; and the 

 funerals were carried on merely by these paid hirelings in a manner 

 most repulsive to the feelings : and yet the very people who so de- 

 serted their relatives would join the bands of flagellants, who paraded 

 about from place to place, and even from country to country morti- 

 fying their flesh in this manner for the purpose of saving their own 

 soids, and, as they said, also making expiation for the great sins which 

 had brought down this terrible visitation. This system of flagellation 

 never gained the same head in this country that it did on the Conti- 

 nent. A band of about 100 came to London about the middle of the 

 reign of Edward IIL, in the year 1350. They came in the usual style, 

 with banners and even instruments of music, and they paraded the 

 streets of London. At a given signal every one lay down and uncov- 

 ered the shoulders, excepting the last person, who then flogged every 

 one till he got to the front, where he lay down; and the person last in 

 the rear stood up, and in his turn flogged every one in front of him. 

 Then he went to the front and lay down ; and so it went on until the 

 whole number had thus been flogged, each by every one of his fellows. 

 This discipline however, did not approve itself to the good citizens of 

 London, and it is recorded that the band of flagellants returned without 

 having made any converts. Whether the skins of the London citizens 

 were too tender, or whether their good sense prevailed over this reli- 

 gious enthusiasm, we are not informed ; at any rate, the flagellants went 

 back very much as they came, and the system never took root in this 

 country ; yet for many years it was carried on elsewhere. One very 

 curious instance is given of the manner in which it fastened on the 

 mind that mothers actually scourged their new-born infants before 

 they were baptized, believing that in so doing they were making an 

 offering acceptable to God. Now all this appears to us perfectly ab- 

 surd. We can scarcely imagine the state of mind that should make 

 any sober, rational persons suppose that this could be an offering ac- 

 ceptable to Almighty God ; but it was in accordance with the religious 

 ideas of the time ; and for a good while even the Church sanctioned 



