Footnotes
4 It was popularly believed in London that the plague came from Holland; but the sanitary (or rather unsanitary) conditions of London itself were quite sufficient to account for the plague's originating there. Andrew D. White tells us, that it is difficult to decide to-day between Constantinople and New York as candidates for the distinction of being the dirtiest city in the world.
5 Incorrectly used for "councils."
6 In April, 1663, the first Drury Lane Theater had been opened. The present Drury Lane Theater (the fourth) stands on the same site.
7 The King's ministers. At this time they held office during the pleasure of the Crown, not, as now, during the pleasure of a parliamentary majority.
8 Gangrene spots (see text, pp. 197, 198).
9 The local government of London at this time was chiefly in the hands of the vestries of the different parishes. It is only of recent years that the power of these vestries has been seriously curtailed, and transferred to district councils.
10 The report.
11 Pronounced Hō´burn.
12 Was.
13 Were.
14 Outlying districts; so called because they enjoyed certain municipal immunities, or liberties. Until recent years, a portion of Philadelphia was known as the "Northern Liberties."
15 Attempts to believe the evil lessened.
16 Was.
17 Were.
18 The chief executive officer of the city of London still bears this title.
19 One of the many instances in which Defoe mixes his tenses.
20 Whom. We shall find many more instances of Defoe's misuse of this form, as also of others (see Introduction, p. 15).
21 Used almost in its original sense of a military barrier.
22 Whom.
23 See Matt, xxvii. 40; Mark xv. 30; Luke xxiii. 35.
24 Denial.
25 The civil war between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians, 1642-51.
26 Whom.
27 This argument is neatly introduced to account for the narrator's staying in the city at all, when he could easily have escaped.
28 Explained by the two following phrases.
29 Whom.
30 "Lay close to me," i.e., was constantly in my mind.
31 Kept safe from the plague.
32 "My times are in thy hand" (Ps. xxxi. 15).
33 Dorking is about twenty miles southwest of London.
34 Rather St. Martin's-in-the-Fields and St. Giles's.
35 Was.
36 Charles II. and his courtiers. The immunity of Oxford was doubtless due to good drainage and general cleanliness.
37 Eccl. xii. 5.
38 Have seen.
39 Nor. This misuse of "or" for "nor" is frequent with Defoe.
40 The four inns of court in London which have the exclusive right of calling to the bar, are the Inner Temple, the Middle Temple, Lincoln's Inn, and Gray's Inn. The Temple is so called because it was once the home of the Knights Templars.
41 The city proper, i.e., the part within the walls, as distinguished from that without.
42 Were.
43 The population of London at this time was probably about half a million. It is now about six millions. (See Macaulay's History, chap. iii.)
44 Acel´dama, the field of blood (see Matt. xxvii. 8).
45 Phlegmatic hypochondriac is a contradiction in terms; for "phlegmatic" means "impassive, self-restrained," while "hypochondriac" means "morbidly anxious" (about one's health). Defoe's lack of scholarship was a common jest among his more learned adversaries, such as Swift, and Pope.
46 It was in this very plague year that Newton formulated his theory of gravitation. Incredible as it may seem, at this same date even such men as Dryden held to a belief in astrology.
47 William Lilly was the most famous astrologer and almanac maker of the time. In Butler's Hudibras he is satirized under the name of Sidrophel.
48 Poor Robin's Almanack was first published in 1661 or 1662, and was ascribed to Robert Herrick, the poet.
49 See Rev. xviii. 4.
50 Jonah iii. 4.
51 Flavius Josephus, the author of the History of the Jewish Wars. He is supposed to have died in the last decade of the first century A.D.
52 So called because many Frenchmen lived there. In Westminster there was another district with this same name.
53 "Gave them vapors," i.e., put them into a state of nervous excitement.
54 Soothsayers.
55 In astrology, the scheme or figure of the heavens at the moment of a person's birth. From this the astrologers pretended to foretell a man's destiny.
56 Roger Bacon, a Franciscan friar of the thirteenth century, had a knowledge of mechanics and optics far in advance of his age: hence he was commonly regarded as a wizard. The brazen head which he manufactured was supposed to assist him in his necromantic feats; it is so introduced by Greene in his play of Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay (1594).
57 A fortune teller who lived in the reign of Henry VIII., and was famous for her prophecies.
58 The most celebrated magician of mediæval times (see Spenser's Faërie Queene and Tennyson's Merlin and Vivien).
59 Linen collar or ruff.
60 Him.
61 The interlude was originally a short, humorous play acted in the midst of a morality play to relieve the tedium of that very tedious performance. From the interlude was developed farce; and from farce, comedy.
62 Charles II. and his courtiers, from their long exile in France, brought back to England with them French fashions in literature and in art.
63 To be acted.
64 Buffoons, clowns.
65 About 62½ cents.
66 About twenty-five dollars; but the purchasing power of money was then seven or eight times what it is now.
67 Strictly speaking, this word means "love potions."
68 Exorcism is the act of expelling evil spirits, or the formula used in the act. Defoe's use of the word here is careless and inaccurate.
69 Bits of metal, parchment, etc., worn as charms.
70 Making the sign of the cross.
71 Paper on which were marked the signs of the zodiac,—a superstition from astrology.
72 A meaningless word used in incantations. Originally the name of a Syrian deity.
73 Iesus Hominum Salvator ("Jesus, Savior of Men"). The order of the Jesuits was founded by Ignatius de Loyola in 1534.
74 The Feast of St. Michael, Sept. 29.
75 This use of "to" for "of" is frequent with Defoe.
76 The Royal College of Physicians was founded by Thomas Linacre, physician to Henry VIII. Nearly every London physician of prominence is a member.
77 The city of London proper lies entirely in the county of Middlesex.
78 Literally, "hand workers;" now contracted into "surgeons."
79 Cares, duties.
80 Consenting knowledge.
81 Disposed of to the public, put in circulation.
82 That is, by the disease.
83 Happen.
84 Engaged.
85 Heaps of rubbish.
86 A kind of parish constable.
87 The writer seems to mean that the beggars are so importunate, there is no avoiding them.
88 Fights between dogs and bears. This was not declared a criminal offense in England until 1835.
89 Contests with sword and shield.
90 The guilds or organizations of tradesmen, such as the goldsmiths, the fishmongers, the merchant tailors.
91 St. Katherine's by the Tower.
92 Trinity (east of the) Minories. The Minories (a street running north from the Tower) was so designated from an abbey of St. Clare nuns called Minoresses. They took their name from that of the Franciscan Order, Fratres Minores, or Lesser Brethren.
93 St. Luke's.
94 St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate.
95 St. Giles's, Cripplegate.
96 Were.
97 Chemise.
98 This word is misplaced; it should go before "perish."
99 Before "having," supply "the master."
100 Fences.
101 From.
102 This old form for "caught" is used frequently by Defoe.
103 Came to grief.
104 "Who, being," etc., i.e., who, although single men, had yet staid.
105 The wars of the Commonwealth or of the Puritan Revolution, 1640-52.
106 Holland and Belgium.
107 "Hurt of," a common form of expression used in Defoe's time.
108 Manager, economist. This meaning of "husband" is obsolete.
109 A participial form of expression very common in Old English, the "a" being a corruption of "in" or "on."
110 Were.
111 "'Name of God," i.e., in the name of God.
112 Torches.
113 "To and again," i.e., to and fro.
114 Were.
115 As if.
116 Magpie.
117 This word is from the same root as "lamp." The old form "lanthorn" crept in from the custom of making the sides of a lantern of horn.
118 Supply "be."
119 Inclination.
120 In expectation of the time when.
121 Their being checked.
122 This paragraph could hardly have been more clumsily expressed. It will be found a useful exercise to rewrite it.
123 "To have gone," i.e., to go.
124 Spotted.
125 "Make shift," i.e., endure it.
126 Device, expedient.
127 "In all" is evidently a repetition.
128 Objects cannot very well happen. Defoe must mean, "the many dismal sights I saw as I went about the streets."
129 As.
130 "Rosin" is a long-established misspelling for "resin." Resin exudes from pine trees, and from it the oil of turpentine is separated by distillation.
131 As distinguished from fish meat.
132 Defoe uses these pronouns in the wrong number, as in numerous other instances.
133 The projecting part of a building.
134 Their miraculous preservation was wrought by their keeping in the fresh air of the open fields. It seems curious that after this object lesson the physicians persisted in their absurd policy of shutting up infected houses, thus practically condemning to death their inmates.
135 Used here for "this," as also in many other places.
136 Supply "with."
137 Such touches as this created a widespread and long-enduring belief that Defoe's fictitious diary was an authentic history.
138 "Running out," etc., i.e., losing their self-control.
139 Idiocy. In modern English, "idiotism" is the same as "idiom."
140 Gangrene, death of the soft tissues.
141 Before "that" supply "we have been told."
142 Hanging was at this time a common punishment for theft. In his novel Moll Flanders, Defoe has a vivid picture of the mental and physical sufferings of a woman who was sent to Newgate, and condemned to death, for stealing two pieces of silk.
143 Cloth, rag.
144 They could no longer give them regular funerals, but had to bury them promiscuously in pits.
145 Evidently a repetition.
146 In old and middle English two negatives did not make an affirmative, as they do in modern English.
147 It is now well known that rue has no qualities that are useful for warding off contagion.
148 "Set up," i.e., began to play upon.
149 Constrained.
150 Because they would have been refused admission to other ports.
151 Matter. So used by Sheridan in The Rivals, act iii. sc. 2.
152 Probably a misprint for "greatly."
153 This.
154 Are.
155 He has really given two days more than two months.
156 A count.
157 Range, limits.
158 Unknown.
159 Lying.
160 Was.
161 Notice this skillful touch to give verisimilitude to the narrative.
162 Country.
163 "Without the bars," i.e., outside the old city limits.
164 Profession.
165 The plague.
166 The legal meaning of "hamlet" in England is a village without a church of its own: ecclesiastically, therefore, it belongs to the parish of some other village.
167 All Protestant sects other than the Established Church of England.
168 A groat equals fourpence, about eight cents. It is not coined now.
169 A farthing equals one quarter of a penny.
170 About ten miles down the Thames.
171 The t is silent in this word.
172 Hard-tack, pilot bread.
173 Old form for "rode."
174 See the last sentence of the next paragraph but one.
175 Roadstead, an anchoring ground less sheltered than a harbor.
176 Substitute "that they would not be visited."
177 The plague.
178 St. Margaret's.
179 Nota bene, note well.
180 Dul´ich. All these places are southward from London. Norwood is six miles distant.
181 Old form of "dared."
182 Small vessels, generally schooner-rigged, used for carrying heavy freight on rivers and harbors.
183 London Bridge.
184 This incident is so overdone, that it fails to be pathetic, and rather excites our laughter.
185 Supply "themselves."
186 Barnet was about eleven miles north-northwest of London.
187 Holland and Belgium.
188 See Luke xvii. 11-19.
189 Well.
190 With speed, in haste.
191 This word is misplaced. It should go immediately before "to lodge."
192 Luck.
193 Whom.
194 A small sail set high upon the mast.
195 "Fetched a long compass," i.e., went by a circuitous route.
196 The officers.
197 Refused.
198 Nearly twenty miles northeast of London.
199 He. This pleonastic use of a conjunction with the relative is common among illiterate writers and speakers to-day.
200 Waltham and Epping, towns two or three miles apart, at a distance of ten or twelve miles almost directly north of London.
201 Pollard trees are trees cut back nearly to the trunk, and so caused to grow into a thick head (poll) of branches.
202 Entertainment. In this sense, the plural, "quarters," is the commoner form.
203 Preparing.
204 Peddlers.
205 "Has been," an atrocious solecism for "were."
206 To a miraculous extent.
207 "Put to it," i.e., hard pressed.
208 There are numerous references in the Hebrew Scriptures to parched corn as an article of food (see, among others, Lev. xxiii. 14, Ruth ii. 14, 2 Sam. xvii. 28).
209 Supply "(1)."
210 Soon.
211 Substitute "would."
212 Whom.
213 Familiar intercourse.
214 Evidently a repetition.
215 "For that," i.e., because.
216 Singly.
217 Supply "to be."
218 Buildings the rafters of which lean against or rest upon the outer wall of another building.
219 Supply "of."
220 The plague.
221 "Middling people," i.e., people of the middle class.
222 At the mouth of the Thames.
223 Awnings.
224 Two heavy timbers placed horizontally, the upper one of which can be raised. When lowered, it is held in place by a padlock. Notches in the timbers form holes, through which the prisoner's legs are thrust, and held securely.
225 The constables.
226 The carters.
227 The goods.
228 In spite of, notwithstanding.
229 Supply "who."
230 "Cum aliis," i.e., with others. Most of the places mentioned in this list are several miles distant from London: for example, Enfield is ten miles northeast; Hadley, over fifty miles northeast; Hertford, twenty miles north; Kingston, ten miles southwest; St. Albans, twenty miles northwest; Uxbridge, fifteen miles west; Windsor, twenty miles west; etc.
231 Kindly regarded.
232 Which.
233 The citizens.
234 Such statements.
235 For "so that," substitute "so."
236 How.
237 It was not known in Defoe's time that minute disease germs may be carried along by a current of air.
238 Affected with scurvy.
239 "Which," as applied to persons, is a good Old English idiom, and was in common use as late as 1711 (see Spectator No. 78; and Matt. vi. 9, version of 1611).
240 Flung to.
241 Changed their garments.
242 Supply "I heard."
243 At.
244 Various periods are assigned for the duration of the dog days: perhaps July 3 to Aug. 11 is that most commonly accepted. The dog days were so called because they coincided with the heliacal rising of Sirius or Canicula (the little dog).
245 An inn with this title (and probably a picture of the brothers) painted on its signboard.
246 Whom.
247 The Act of Uniformity was passed in 1661. It required all municipal officers and all ministers to take the communion according to the ritual of the Church of England, and to sign a document declaring that arms must never be borne against the King. For refusing obedience to this tyrannical measure, some two thousand Presbyterian ministers were deprived of their livings.
248 Madness, as in Hamlet, act iii. sc. 1.
249 "Represented themselves," etc., i.e., presented themselves to my sight.
250 "Dead part of the night," i.e., from midnight to dawn. Compare,
251 "Have been critical," etc., i.e., have claimed to have knowledge enough to say.
252 Being introduced.
253 The plague.
254 "First began" is a solecism common in the newspaper writing of to-day.
255 Literally, laws of the by (town). In modern usage, "by-law" is used to designate a rule less general and less easily amended than a constitutional provision.
256 "Sheriff" is equivalent to shire-reeve (magistrate of the county or shire). London had, and still has, two sheriffs.
257 Acted.
258 The inspection, according to ordinance, of weights, measures, and prices.
259 "Pretty many," i.e., a fair number of.
260 The officers.
261 Were.
262 "Falls to the serious part," i.e., begins to discourse on serious matters.
263 See note, p. 28. The Mohammedans are fatalists.
264 A growth of osseous tissue uniting the extremities of fractured bones.
265 Disclosed.
266 The officers.
267 Leading principle.
268 Defoe means, "can burn only a few houses." In the next line he again misplaces "only."
269 Put to confusion.
270 Left out of consideration.
271 The distemper.
272 A means for discovering whether the person were infected or not.
273 Defoe's ignorance of microscopes was not shared by Robert Hooke, whose Micrographia (published in 1664) records numerous discoveries made with that instrument.
274 Roup is a kind of chicken's catarrh.
275 Them, i.e., such experiments.
276 From the Latin quadraginta ("forty").
277 From the Latin sexaginta ("sixty").
278 Kinds, species.
279 Old age.
280 Abscesses.
281 Himself.
282 The essential oils of lavender, cloves, and camphor, added to acetic acid.
283 In chemistry, balsams are vegetable juices consisting of resins mixed with gums or volatile oils.
284 Supply "they declined coming to public worship."
285 This condition of affairs.
286 Collar.
287 Economy.
288 Supply "they were."
289 Action (obsolete in this sense). See this word as used in 2 Henry IV., act iv. sc. 4.
290 Which.
291 Sailors' slang for "Archipelagoes."
292 An important city in Asia Minor.
293 A city in northern Syria, better known as Iskanderoon or Alexandretta. The town was named in honor of Alexander the Great, the Turkish form of Alexander being Iskander.
294 Though called a kingdom, Algarve was nothing but a province of Portugal. It is known now as Faro.
295 The natives of Flanders, a mediæval countship now divided among Holland, Belgium, and France.
296 Colonies. In the reign of Charles II., the English colonies were governed by a committee (of the Privy Council) known as the "Council of Plantations."
297 The east side.
298 On the west side.
299 See map of England for all these places. Feversham is in Kent, forty-five miles southeast of London; Margate is on the Isle of Thanet, eighty miles southeast.
300 Commission merchants.
301 Privateers. Capers is a Dutch word.
302 Supply "he."
303 Supply "the coals."
304 "One another," by a confusion of constructions, has been used here for "them."
305 By a statute of Charles II. a chaldron was fixed at 36 coal bushels. In the United States, it is generally 26¼ hundredweight.
306 Opening.
307 "To seek," i.e., without judgment or knowledge.
308 Mixing.
309 Him.
310 This unwary conduct.
311 Think.
312 Were.
313 Accept.
314 Personal chattels that had occasioned the death of a human being, and were therefore given to God (Deo, "to God"; dandum, "a thing given"); i.e., forfeited to the King, and by him distributed in alms. This curious law of deodands was not abolished in England until 1846.
315 The southern coast of the Mediterranean, from Egypt to the Atlantic.
316 Censure.
317 Afterward.
318 "Physic garden," i.e., a garden for growing medicinal herbs.
319 Since.
320 Lord mayor of London, 1679-80, and for many years member of Parliament for the city.
321 The workmen.
322 Recognized.
323 Fenced.
324 Members of the Society of Friends, a religious organization founded by George Fox about 1650. William Penn was one of the early members. The society condemns a paid ministry, the taking of oaths, and the making of war.
325 See p. 105, next to the last paragraph.
326 Die. "Of the plague" should immediately follow "died."
327 See Note 3, p. 26.
328 The act of indemnity passed at the restoration of Charles II. (1660). In spite of the King's promise of justice, the Parliamentarians were largely despoiled of their property, and ten of those concerned in the execution of Charles I. were put to death.
329 Family and personal peace.
330 The Established Church of England, nearly all of whose ministers were Royalists. The Presbyterians were nearly all Republicans.
331 The dissenting ministers.
332 The Churchmen.
333 Of.
334 What we should call an assistant minister is still called a curate in the Church of England.
335 "I had not said this," etc., i.e., I would not have said this, but would rather have chosen, etc.
336 See Rev. vi. 8.
337 Moved away (into the country).
338 The duties of headboroughs differed little from those of the constables. The title is now obsolete.
339 Count.
340 "Must." In this sense common in Chaucer. The past tense, "should," retains something of this force. Compare the German sollen.
341 Otherwise known as theriac (from the Greek [Greek: thêriakos], "pertaining to a wild beast," since it was supposed to be an antidote for poisonous bites). This medicine was compounded of sixty or seventy drugs, and was mixed with honey.
342 Supply "died."
343 Supply "of."
344 Substitute "which."
345 Those.
346 A corruption of "benzoin," a resinous juice obtained from a tree that flourishes in Siam and the Malay Archipelago. When heated, it gives off a pleasant odor. It is one of the ingredients used in court-plaster.
347 This word should be omitted.
348 The "press gang" was a naval detachment under the command of an officer, empowered to seize men and carry them off for service on men-of-war.
349 Off Lowestoft, in 1665. Though the Dutch were beaten, they made good their retreat, and heavily defeated the English the next year in the battle of The Downs.
350 See Ps. lx. 11; cviii. 12.
351 Were.
352 See Exod. xiv., xv., and xvi. 1-3.
353 "H.F." is of course fictitious.