Such was the universal corruption of the air, that the peftilence which burst forth in the fifteenth year of JusTINIAN was not checked or alleviated by any difference of the feaĵons. In time its first malignity was abated and difperfed; the disease alternately languished and revived; but it was not till the end of a calamitous period of fifty years that mankind recovered their health, and the air refumed its pure and falubrious quality. No facts have been preserved to fuftain an account, or even a conjecture, of the numbers that perished in this extraordinary mortality. I only find, fays our elegant historian*, that during three months 5,000, and at length 10,000 perfons died each day at CONSTANTINOPLE,-that many cities of the EAST were left vacant,-and that in feveral districts of ITALY the harvest and the vintage withered on the ground. In 1720, the plague swept away from MARSEILLES 50,000 inhabitants, though this city contains at present no more than 92,000 fouls. In that great plague which defolated the city of LONDON, the constitution of the air previous to it was fingular:-a hard froft during the winter, lasting till near * GIBBON. the the end of March,-a fudden thaw,-the ground covered with water from melted fnow and ice,-and great heats fucceeding;-men were living, as it were, in a room flooded with water, with a great fire. As foon as the nature of the disease was known, 40,000 fervants were difmiffed, and turned into the ftreets to perish, for no one would receive them into their houses; and the villagers near London drove them away with pitch-forks and fire-arms. Sir JOHN LAWRENCE, "London's generous mayor,' supported them all, as well as the needy who were fick, at first by expending his own fortune, till subscriptions could be folicited and received from all parts of the nation. HE "Raised the weak head, and stayed the parting figh, Dr. DARWIN. A pit 40 feet long, 16 feet wide, and about 20 feet deep, was dug in the CHARTER-HOUSE, and in two weeks it received 1,114 bodies. During this dreadful calamity there were inftances of mothers carrying their own children to those public graves, and of people delirious, or in despair for the lofs of their friends, who threw themselves alive into these pits. "One T "One Imiling boy, her laft fweet hope, the warm'd, Daughter of woe!-ere morn, in vain carefs'd, "Long with wide eye-lids on her child fhe gazed, DARWIN. A pious and learned schoolmafter, who ventured to stay in the city, and took upon himfelf the humane office of vifiting the fick and dying, who had been deferted by better physicians, averred, that being once called to a poor woman, who had buried her children of the plague, he found the room where fhe lay fo little that it fcarce could hold any more than the bed whereon she was ftretched. However, in this wretched abode, beside her, in an open coffin, her husband lay, who had fome time before died of the fame diftemper; and whom the, poor creature, foon followed. What fhewed the peculiar malignity of the air, thus fuffering from human miafmita, or effluvia, was, that the contagious teams had produced SPOTS on the very wall of their wretched apartment and Mr. BOYLE'S own study, which was contiguous to a peft-house, was also spotted in the fame frightful manner In the year 1793, the manufactures, trade, and commerce, of PHILADELPHIA, were flourishing in the greatest degree. The number of coaches, chairs, &c. lately fet up in that city by men in the middle rank of life, is hardly to be believed. And although there had been a very great increase of hackney chairs, yet was it next to impoffible to procure one on a Sunday, unless it was engaged two or three days beforehand. Luxury, the ufual, and perhaps inevitable concomitant of profperity, had eradicated the plain and wholesome manners of an infant town. Every one looked forward to the full harvest of profperity. But how fleeting are all human views! how uncertain all plans founded on earthly appearances! All these flattering profpects, as Mr. CAREY beautifully expreffes it, vanished like the baselefs fabric of a vifion. In July 1793 arrived the unfortunate fugitives from Cape Francois. And on this occafion, the liberality *GOLDSMITH. of of PHILADELPHIA was difplayed in a most respectable point of view. Nearly 12,000 dollars were in a few days collected for their relief. Little, alas! did many of the contributors, then in easy circumstances, imagine, that a few weeks would leave their wives and children dependent on public charity, as has fince unfortunately happened. An awful inftance of the rapid and warning viciffitudes of affairs on this tranfitory stage. * At this feemingly propitious moment, the destroying fcourge crept in among us, and nipped in the bud the faireft bloffoms of hope. And, oh! what a dreadful contraft fuddenly took place! Difmay and affright are visible in every one's countenance. Most people, who can by any means make it convenient, are flying from the city. Of those who re *The privateer SANS CULOTTES MARSEILLOIS, with her prize the FLORA, which arrived the 22d of July, introduced the contageous fever. The privateer was in a foul, dirty condition, her hold was small, and perhaps as ill calculated for the accommodation of the great number of people that were on board, as any veffel that ever croffed the ocean. All her filth was emp tied at a wharf between Arch and Race-ftreet. A dead body, supposed to have died of A FEVER, covered with canvass, lay on board the FLORA, for fome time, and was feen by Mr. Lemaigne, and other gentlemen. It is certain that the mortality began about that part of Water-street where the MARY, the FLORA, and the SANS CULOTTES lay. Almost every death which at first occurred could be without difficulty traced to that street. Some French lads were also among the earliest victims. |