10 
which terminated on the third of February, 1605, it had nearly, 
but not wholly, disappeared * It was not until towards the end 
of that month that the corporation ventured to introduce into 
the record of their proceedings the grateful and devout acknow¬ 
ledgment, that it had pleased Almighty God, of His great 
mercy, to appease and mitigate this great infection.” 
In the earliest printed notice f we possess of the destructive 
visitation of 1604, we are informed that there died of it 3,512 
persons.+ The parochial registers show that in seventeen of the 
more populous parishes of the city, the total number of burials 
in the last eight months of the year, viz., from the 1st of May to 
the 31st of December, was about 2,000.§ Upon a fair estimate 
of the burials in the remaining parishes of the city and suburbs 
during the same period, they may be taken at about 1,500. 
Thus the traditional aggregate of 3,512 may be reasonably 
concluded to be a close approximation to the truth. That perfect 
accuracy was unattainable, even at the time, is obvious from the 
following remarkable entry in the burial register of Saint Olave, 
Marygate, one of the most populous of the suburban parishes:— 
1604. Thes moiithes followinge, viz., August, September, 
* A considerable number of merchants and tradesmen, ^vbo bad fled from the 
city whilst the plague was raging, had carried on business at Tadcaster, Selby, 
and other market-toTvms in the neighbourhood, where they still remained with 
their merchandize and goods, thereby drawing away the trade from York. On 
the 21st of February, they were required to return to the city and resume their 
callings, under a penalty of £5 for each week of their continued absence. Mr. 
George Eosse, Mr. Lawrence Waide, Mr. William Brearey, Mr. Michael 
Hartford, Mr. Elias Micklethwaite, Mr. Matthew Topham, and 3L.’. Christopher 
Dickinson, were the names of some of the absentees. Several of them afterwards 
held high ofiice in the city. 
t Hildyard’s catalogue of the Mayors, &c., of the city of York, 8vo., York, 
1664, p. 45. 
X By a curious typographical error, the numerals are printed thus: 35012. 
In the republication of this little work, under the name of Torre, in 1719, the 
mistake is rectifled, but no addition is made to the history of the pestilence. 
§ See “Eeport on the Epidemics of York, especially those prevalent in the 
16th, l7th, and 18th centuries, and on their connection with deflcient sanatory 
regulations.” By T. Laycock, M. D. This able and interesting memoir was 
printed with the “First Eeport of the Commissioners for inquiring into the 
state of large towns and populous districts,” presented to the crown in 1844. 
The author, who was then physician to the York Dispensary, is now Professor 
of Physic in the University of Edinburgh. 
