_Plague Stones--Mr. Mompesson_ (Vol. v., p. 571.).--I should be sorry that
anything inaccurate was recorded in "N. & Q." respecting so eminently
worthy a person as the Rev. William Mompesson, Rector of Eyam during the
time that it was scourged by the plague in 1666, when, out of a population
of only 330, 259 died of the disorder. Mr. M. himself did not fall a
victim, as J. G. C. states; but his wife did, and her tomb remains to this
day. He was, indeed, an ornament to his sacred profession. He not only
stood by his flock in the hour of their visitation, but he obtained such an
influence during the panic that they entirely deferred to his judgment, and
remained, as he advised, within the village. He preached to them on Sundays
in the open air from a sort of natural pulpit in the rock, now called
Cucklet Church; and he established the water troughs, or _plague stones_,
into which the people dropped their money, in payment for the victuals that
were brought to them from the surrounding country. When in reward for his
devotedness the Deanery of Lincoln was offered him, he generously declined
it in favour of his friend Dr. Fuller, author of the _Worthies of England_,
who thus obtained the appointment. Mr. Mompesson was subsequently presented
to the living of Eakring in Notts, where he died in 1708.
There has recently been discovered on the moor near Fullwood, by Sheffield,
a chalybeate spring, which flows into a small covered recess formed of
ashlar stone, and this stands just as it did when the wretched inhabitants
of Eyam, believing the water to have sanatory virtues, came to drink of it,
until a watch was placed on the spot by the Sheffield people, and they were
driven back to their infected homes.