THE GREAT PLAGUE AND THE GSEAT FIRE. 



359 



Diary, thus wrote the Facetious 

 One : " After tasting so much, our 

 Party very jolly and noisy, and did 

 "begin to dance and sing, and flourish 

 their Lamps ; and methought I did 

 see the meaning of the Notice out- 

 side, that Ladies could not be ad- 

 mitted after one o'clock. Coming 

 into the open Air, our Company 

 could scarcely stand ; and Mr. 

 Goodfellowe did see them into two 

 Cabs, and I home on Foot I fear 

 not A r cry straight and my Wife 

 wondering at the Redness of my 

 Nose. Good Lack, to see the 

 Quantity of Goods and Wine in 

 the Docks ; and to think what a 

 great and mighty Nation we are, 

 and what Oceans of Liquor we do 

 swill and guzzle." 



MEMORIALS OP THE GREAT PLAGUE 

 AND THE GREAT FIRE IN LONDON. 



The Camden Miscellany recently 

 printed, contains an "Autobiogra- 

 phy and Anecdotes by William 

 Taswell, D.D., from 1651 to 1681," 

 a fragment originally written in 

 Latin, from which it has been trans- 

 lated into English by his grandson, 

 the Rev. Henry Taswell. He re- 

 cords that he saw King Charles on 

 the 29th of May proceeding to 

 Whitehall "with a fine red plume 

 in his hat;" and in the January 

 following, "the bodies of Cromwell, 

 Ireton, and Bradshaw, not long be- 

 fore taken out of the Royal depo- 

 sitory at Westminster, exposed 

 upon Tyburn gallows." About this 

 time he was admitted into West- 

 minster school. 



" In 1666, when the plague com- 

 menced in town, Dr. Busby renu > \ . 1 

 his scholars to Chiswick. But it 

 spread its baneful influence even to 

 this place. Upon this Dr. Busby 

 called his scholars together, and in 

 an excellent oration acquainted 

 them that he had presided as head- 

 master over the school twenty-five 

 years, in which time he never de- 

 eerted it till now. That the exi- 



gency of affairs required every per- 

 son should go to his respective 

 home. I very greedily laid hold of 

 the opportunity of going to Green- 

 wich, where I remained ten months. 

 It was a custom peculiar to this 

 unhappy time to fasten up the doors 

 of every house in which any person 

 had died, and after having marked 

 it with a red cross, to set up this 

 inscription on them 'The Lord 

 have mercy on them ! ' The plague 

 at last reached our house, and we 

 sent two maid-servants to the pub- 

 lic pest-house. At the time my 

 father and mother lay sick in dif- 

 ferent beds, and my eldest brother 

 troubled with a tumour in his 

 thigh; but no one of our family 

 dying, I was soon set at liberty. 

 In the month of September, when 

 six thousand were swept away each. 

 week, my father commanded me to 

 carry some letters to town. It was 

 not without reluctance I obeyed; 

 but at last my duty got the better 

 of my inclinations, and after he had 

 provided me with the herb called 

 angelica and some aromatics, be- 

 sides eatables in a bag, my kind 

 and indulgent mother giving me 

 too some Spanish wine, I made the 

 best of my way to town. There a 

 variety of distressed objects pre- 

 sented themselves to me, some 

 under the direct influence of the 

 plague, others lame throxigh swell- 

 ings, others again beckoning to me, 

 and some carrying away upon biers 

 to be buried. In short, nothing 

 but death stared me in the face; 

 but it pleased God to extricate me 

 IVi uu the danger which threatened 

 me." 



[He did not return to West- 

 minster school until Easter in the 

 following year, * when the violence 

 of the pWue was considerably 

 abated." Here he was witness of 

 the Great Fire of London] : 



"On Sunday, between ten and 

 eleven forenoon, as I was standing 

 upon the steps which lead up to the 



