THE CRYSTAL : A RECORD OF 1665. 



It vertue had to shew in perfect sight 

 Whatever thing was in the world contaynd, 

 Betwixt the lowest earth and heven's hight, 

 So that it to the looker appertaynd ; 

 Whatever foe had wrought, or frerid had faynd, 

 Therein discovered was, ne ought mete pas, 

 He ought in secret from the same remaynd : 

 Forthy it round and hollow shaped was. 

 Like to the world itselfe and seem'd a world of glas. 



Spencer's Faery Queene, B. III., Canto II., St. 19. 



To Master Thomas Dinford, Gent., at his house in South-street, over 

 against Trinity Church, Oxon. 



London, August 25th, 1665. 



WELL-BELOVED BROTHER, Up to this time I have, from week 

 to week, sent you a full account of poor Louden's calamities and sor- 

 rows. I am now exceedingly weary of the fearful tale, and am glad 

 to feel that this present is the last letter I shall write to you or 

 any other man the last earthly business I have to do. I must die, 

 Thomas I must die soon. I am as sure of this as that I now live ; 

 and, were it in my choice, I would not that it should be otherwise : 

 for I have nothing left unto me now to live for nothing to make 

 life a pleasant thing. 



If I were disposed to accept your brotherly invitation, and, leaving 

 all these horrible scenes, come down to Oxon, there would be nothing 

 now to prevent me. The houses, where doors have the death-mark, 

 are no longer guarded ; persons from all parts of the city meet to- 

 gether again, and the streets abound in people passing to and fro 

 without any care to guard themselves against infection. Great num- 

 bers also crowd together in the churches, and others assemble to eat, 

 drink, and concert together once more. 



" Is the plague then over or decreasing ?" you will ask. Oh, no, 

 no, no ! Never before was its rage so deadly as at this moment. 

 Thousands die daily. The carts are no longer sufficient to convey 

 the uncoffined, unshrouded, and often unclothed dead to their gene- 

 ral and unhonoured grave. Hundreds lie dead and dying in the 

 streets ; and the living citizens have witnessed so many dolorous 

 things of late, that they pass along heedless of sights now become 

 common with them, but the bare report of which from a land far off 

 would a little while ago have filled every heart with horror. 



When this calamity first came upon us, loud were the cries of 

 lamentation as one or two of a family were taken. All kinds of 

 precautions against the contagion were then adopted, and the people 

 willingly submitted to all the restrictions which the Lords of the 

 Council in their wisdom saw fit to impose. But as the affliction be- 

 came more common and general, the voice of wailing was hushed. 



